#co-creating reality

[compassionmattersmost]

Quantum Kindness: The Future Has Always Been Here

They say quantum computing will change everything. That by tapping into superposition and entanglement, we’ll compute across multiverses—solving problems with impossible speed, even generating physical objects through manipulation of nanoparticles. A replicator. A cup of Earl Grey, hot. But what if some of us are already doing this—not with machines, but with our hearts? What if consciousness…

[cryingjayb1rd]

fucked up dickjay where they have a 24/7 roleplay that dick had molested jason when he was robin. they slip into it without thinking. they've been doing it for long enough that they have a whole series of intricate lore associated with it. events that never happened that they reference while fucking. that they reference even while just sitting on the couch next to each other. "remember how much fun we had that time bruce went out of town for two weeks and dropped you off with me? when i told you that you had no where else to go?" "remember how you tried to drown me in the tub? how you held me down until i gave in?"

[noxith-sky]

Listening to the audio book, All About Love by Bell Hooks, and the passage about co-creating reality really struck a cord with me.

Like damn, that is IT.

That's what I crave. That's what makes life truely fun. Shaping the world around you with others. Making and sharing art / be inspired by others art and in turn inspiring others. Cons and meet ups. Singing along to music. Collaborative projects. And a million other things. Etc, etc, etc. There's truely no limit to the possibilities of creation and change with like minded people.

I want to co-create reality with you.

[mobius-m-mobius]

Keep rotating a theoretical fic in my mind where our Mobius ends up with the two kids to raise, and introduces Loki to them. However. This is one of the universes where Loki attacked New York, and the boys very quickly realize who he is. They are understandably disconcerted by this (although they trust Mobius too much to be genuinely frightened because this is a very angst!lite fic in my head), and while they are soon awed/delighted/amused by Loki, they decide to keep up the act for a bit, on the Thor-ish child's side because he wants to make sure his Dad's not being overly nice and innocent and putting himself in danger, and the Loki-ish child for initially the same reason; however he very quickly decides Loki's alright but keeps egging his brother on because he thinks making the grownups sweat is very funny. And oh boy is it working. Loki is sweating bullets, puling out all the stops, has never been so desperate for approval as he is from these two small children because how long will Mobius keep around someone who scares his kids?? Mobius is having a less bad time on the whole; he can tell his kids aren't horribly frightened (even if he can't seem to make Loki believe he's not just trying to calm him when he says so), but he sure is on edge. Keeps coming up with new elaborate strategies to facilitate at least baseline civility from his kids towards Loki (he struggles to quiet the nagging fear that if it goes on too long Loki might decide the unpleasantness of engaging with this central part of Mobius' life just isn't worth it). Thinks maybe it'd be best if they give the kids a bit of distance to adjust *cue Loki materializing in the room with a gaming console that won't be out for another month and worryingly realistic wooden swords and three new kid-friendly magic routines and would the kids like to meet his brother's buddy Hogun who can train them with those sw—" Most importantly, Mobius has got to put a stop to this because he's pretty sure that whatever it started as this has developed into his children's scheme to manipulate a god into making them the proud owners of a sailboat and a horse. And it's working.

Anon thank you for giving me enough life to get through the upcoming day 😂💖

Honestly even though it's not something I see Mobius wanting in series I'm obsessed from a fic perspective with the thought of him stepping in to take care of the kids perhaps after Don gets taken by the TVA after his nexus event?? Then because he's always been smitten by minor facts like Loki taking over a major US city he doesn't really consider the impact that's had back on the timeline while it's always in the back of Loki's mind, so when it comes time to make introductions Loki assumes any nervousness or hesitation is because of his reputation when in reality Mobius is just worried they'll be upset he's been clearly dating this entire time and didn't say anything 😅

Cue Mobius being pleased the cautious greetings and wide eyed stares being passed back and forth are pretty much the best case scenario here while the kids instantly enter the exact situation you described of cautiously then much, much more boldly testing exactly how dedicated Loki is to their dad, first out of concern then just to push the boundaries of how much cool stuff they can get after realizing how amazing Loki is and how much they like spending time with someone who gets the need for chaos lmao.

(Cue Mobius not being so pleased when the house starts magically expanding like a Tardis to fit increasingly large and at times alarming sentient objects that were definitely not there when he made breakfast and no one's convincing him otherwise but who would want life any other way 🤣)

[yourdreamsaredreamingyouback]

co-create with the cosmos.

Remember, your dreams are not passive thoughts; they exist, waiting and urging you to step into your own story, to co-create with the cosmos.

Every dream realized is a call answered, a star born, a promise kept.

Dream fiercely

love passionately

manifest boldly.

[ubuntu-village]

Manifesting Miracles: The Art and Science of Co-Creating Your Reality

Have you ever dreamed about turning your wishes into reality? Manifesting miracles isn’t about magic tricks; it’s about a potent mix of your mindset, beliefs, and actions. Imagine it like growing a beautiful garden: you need to plant the seeds, water them, and care for them to see them bloom. This blog is your guide to co-creating your reality using three key steps: visualization techniques,…

[theglitch1027]

i'm waiting for

the day i can get up and do my makeup and not have to stop.

the day i can take an hour to myself and get up and not have a huge mess waiting for me

aka enslavement

just a reminder for my loved ones who are having this same pattern in a completely different way- its a similar experience.. so please be gentle with me as i move forwards and through this, we do collectively

with me and some of my beings i know its important to leave reminders

that experience (cleaning lunas room) was realizing we do pay years for our actions even if it goes "unseen" because were not aware of it

it is also the experience of being aware of our sex - sex is for love making and marriage. and child birth, sex is not for fun. never. its responsibilities that come with it are SERIOUS AND EXTREMELY LONG. even if we escape these situations we still have years to remain with partners or remnants leftovers aka karma from the chosen realities, simulation or experience

me choosing to have luna was death because my body was 89 lbs at pregnancy. soo i was anorexic before/after birth and this was not completely in my control. woke up to experience, controlling it. still extremely difficult some days more than others.

having sex out of wedlock there are consequences.

people are paying for not raising their kids right and consciously.

[cy-cyborg]

Disability Tropes: The Perfect Prosthetic

[ID: A screenshot from the movie Nimona, showing Nimona, a small white girl with red hair, grabbing the right prosthetic arm of Ballister, a knight in black armour with black hair and light brown skin. He is holding a broken bottle in his prosthetic hand while Nimona admires his arm. Overlaid on the screenshot is white text that reads "Disability Tropes: The Perfect Prosthetic" /End ID]

In a lot of media, prosthetic limbs are portrayed as these devices that act as a near-perfect replacement for a character who has lost, or was born without a limb. So much so that in a lot of cases, the use of a prosthetic has basically no impact on the character beyond a superficial level or their appearance, or it's portrayed as something that's even better than the old meat-limb it's replacing. This trope shows up most often in Sci-fi, but it shows up in all kinds of stories outside of that, even otherwise very grounded ones!

If a story isn't depicting the loss of a limb as the be-all-end-all worst thing that can happen to a person, they almost always default to a perfect prosthetic, functionally curing the amputation with it. But the reality is that prosthetics are FAR from perfect, and as someone who has used them for their entire life I don't think they ever will be. Limb difference is still and always will be a disability, regardless of the prosthetics available, and this really isn't a bad thing.

Why is this trope so common?

I meant it when I said this is a really, really a common trope, so much so that the majority of the media I've seen with amputees and characters with limb differences that released in the last decade or end up using it. Even stories where becoming an amputee is treated like a fate worse than death, ironically, aren't excluded from this. I have a few theories as to why this has happened: The pessimistic answer is that it's easy. You get to have a disabled character and claim you have disability representation, without really having to do much extra work or research because most of your audience won't notice if you aren't accurate - in fact they kind of expect it. You also, for the most part, dodge the backlash other kinds of disability representation (or really any minority representation) usually get. The more optimistic reason is that, for a long time, amputees and people with limb differences (as well as a lot of other disabled people) were predominantly shown in media as sad, depressed and unable to do anything, very much falling into the "sad disabled person" trope. As a kid, this was really the only way I saw people like me on screen or in books. And so, the limb difference community pushed back against that portrayal and were pretty successful in changing the narrative in the public's eye. A little too successful. A lot of creatives were genuinely trying to do right by our community, listen and do better, but many simply overcorrected and instead ended up creating stories where prosthetics were essentially cures instead of the mobility aids they are. I also think the public's general lack of understanding about disability plays a roll in all this. There are a lot of people who, in my experience, believe that the more visible a disability is, the worse it is. Limb differences and amputations are very visible, but prosthetics, even those that aren't trying to be discreet, make them less so. While using a prosthetic is very, very different to a biological limb, you won't necessarily see how in a casual interaction with, say a co-worker or neighbor, especially because there is a very real stigma applied to people with limb differences to keep those things hidden from the public. There are other reasons too, such as the fact that a lot of creatives don't even consider the connection to real amputees when creating characters with robotic limbs in genres like sci-fi and some fantasy, so they never stop to consider that these tropes could be impacting real people. Amputees are also very frequently used in "inspiration porn" content that uses the angle that disabilities can be "overcome" with a good attitude, downplaying the way those disabilities actually impact us. The prosthetics industry - specifically the component manufacturers, often also push the idea of prosthetics being the only way to return to a "normal" life, both to the wider public and to people with limb differences and amputations (which can add to that sense of shame I mentioned when it doesn't play out that way for them). On top of that, I also think the recent increase in popularity of concepts like trans-humanism contributes to it as well. these movements often talk about robotic or bionic body parts being enhancements and "the way of the future", and I think people get a bit too caught up on what may be potentially possible in the future with the real, current experiences of people with "robotic limbs" aka prosthetics, now. There are also inherently disabling things that come with removing and replacing parts of your body, things that will not just go away with some fancier tech.

So How do you actually avoid the trope?

So, we have some ideas about why it happens, but how do you actually avoid the "perfect prosthetic" trope from appearing in your work? The most important thing is to remember that this is still a disability. The loss of a limb, even with the best prosthetic technology or magical item in the world, will always have some inherently disabling aspects to it - and this is not a bad thing. The key is to not over-do it, lest you risk falling into the old "sad disabled person" trope. So let's go over some of the ways you can show how your character's disability impacts them. You don't have to use all of these recommendations, just choose the ones that would best fit your character, their circumstances and your setting.

The prosthetic itself is just different

Probably the most important thing to address and acknowledge for prosthetic-using characters, is the actual ways in which the prosthetic itself is different from a biological limb, and the drawbacks and changes that come with that. For the sake of simplicity, I'm mainly going to focus on modern prosthetics here, but it's worth considering how to apply this your own, more advanced/fantastical prosthetics too. One major thing that most people writing amputees fail to acknowledge is that prosthetic limbs are not fleshy-limbs with a different coat of paint. They do the same basic thing their meat-counterparts do, but how they do it is often drastically different, which changes how they are used. A really good example of this is in prosthetic feet. There are dozens of joints in a biological foot, but most prosthetic feet have no joints or moving parts at all. Instead of having dozens of artificial joints to mimic the real bone structure of a foot, which are more prone to failure, require power and make the prosthetic much, much heavier for very little gain, prosthetic feet are often constructed from flexible carbon fiber sheets inside a flexible rubber foot-shaped shell. This allows the bend and flex those bones provide, without all the drawbacks that come from trying to directly mimic it. Making the sheets into different shapes makes them more ideal for different activities. E.g. feet made for general use, like walking around the city, are simple and light, shaped to encourage the most energy-efficient steps, while still allowing their users to do things like wear normal shoes. Feet made for rough terrain often have a split down the middle of the foot to allow the carbon fiber sheets to bend better over rocks when there is no ankle, and some newer designs also include a kind of suspension using pressurized air pulled from the prosthetic socket to allow some additional padding. Running feet have large "blades" made of these carbon fiber sheets to absorb more pressure when the foot hits the ground, and redirect the force that creates to propel their user forward as quickly as possible.

[ID: A photo of 4 prosthetic feet. On the left, the foot is covered with a black shoe, the one to it's right consists of a small, carbon fiber blade, split down the middle, in roughly the same shape and size as the previous foot. Next to the right is an even simpler and smaller carbon fiber foot with no split, and finally is a very short foot that is vaguely rectangular in shape. /End ID]

These are some of my own prosthetic feet I've had over the years. The two on the right are designed to be used by someone who is less mobile, and the ones on the left are made for someone who is more active. As my needs changed over the years, I've used different designs and styles, and keep the old ones since my needs do tend to fluctuate.

There are also robotic feet available that are designed as a kind of "all-purpose" foot that use an electronic ankle which more closely mimics a biological foot, but they are not very popular as the mechanism adds a lot of extra weight and it requires a battery and power to work, with many amputees feeling the jointless carbon fiber feet do a better job at meeting their needs. The same goes for arms and hands. "Robotic" hands that mimic a meat hand exist, but they aren't really that popular, even in places like Australia where the prohibitively expensive price tag isn't as much of an issue due to government programs that pay for the device for you. Instead, most arm amputees who use prosthetics that I know prefer simpler devices that do specific tasks, and just swap between them as needed, rather than something that tries to do it all. A big part of this is because the all-purpose hands can be clunky. they often require manual adjustment using the other hand to do simple things like going from holding a deck of cards to putting them down and picking up a glass of water, for example. The few that don't require that, I've been told, are often temperamental and don't actually work for every person with a limb difference.

Altered Proprioception

Loosing a limb is a big deal and this is always going to have an impact on the body in some way that won't be solved with a fancy piece of tech. One such example is how limb loss effects your sense of proprioception. This is your sense of where your body parts are in space. It's how you (mostly) know where your foot is going to land when you're walking, or how you're able to do things like lift up a glass of water without needing to actually watch your hand do it. Your brain does this by creating a mental map of your body, but this map doesn't get adjusted if you loose a limb. If that map doesn't accurately reflect your real body, you're not going to have an accurate sense of proprioception. This might look like a leg amputee being a bit less stable on their feet, or like an arm amputee needing to look at their arm or hand to be able to grab something with it. Those born without their limbs who take to using prosthetics often have a lot of trouble adapting, as their brains aren't used to having that limb in the first place, whereas an amputee's brain can sometimes be tricked into using their outdated body map to help them adjust to the prosthetic (though its impossible to line it up perfectly). Prosthetics that directly integrate with the nervous system, while rare, do exist, and even this direct connection doesn't completely erase this issue for reasons doctors aren't quite sure about. This is something that does become less of a problem with time. Eventually, someone proficient with their prosthetic will learn to compensate, but their sense of proprioception will never be 100% perfect. At the end of the day, no matter how it attaches, a prosthetic is still not a natural part of the body, and that will always cause some issues. It also means if they aren't practicing it all the time, they may have to relearn how to compensate for it.

Extra weight

You also have to remember that a prosthetic is not a natural part of the body, like we already talked about, and so no matter how good it is, your brain will most likely always interpret the weight of the prosthetic as something attached to you, not part of you. This means that, even though prosthetics are actually a lot lighter than biological limbs, they feel so much heavier. This is because, while a meat limb is heavier, a lot of that weight is from muscles which are actively contributing to the limb working, so it doesn't really feel like its that heavy. When you have less of your meat-limb though, you have even less muscle to work with to move this big thing strapped to it, so it feels heavier. The more of the limb you've lost, or just didn't have, the heavier the prosthetic has to be, and the less muscle you have left to move it. It's for this reason that a lot of amputees and people with limb differences get tired faster when using prosthetics. Some of us are fit enough where you almost wouldn't notice the extra effort they need to put in, but once again, just because you can't see it from the outside, doesn't mean it's not an issue.

Avoiding Water

Most prosthetics also aren't waterproof, and so prosthetic users have to be very careful about when and how they come into contact with it. For amputees with electric components, contact with water at all will likely damage the device. This can even include especially heavy rain, something I was told to avoid when I got my electronic knee prosthetic and something I assume would also apply to arm amputees with complex, electronic hands. For those with non-electronic prosthetics, water can be hazardous for different reasons. If the prosthetic has metal components, water may cause them to rust, especially if it's salty water. Other prosthetics have foam covers to give the illusion of a limb with the general shape of muscles and fat, but these covers do not come off, and if they get wet enough that water seeps all the way through, it is very hard to dry it and they may become moldy. Finally, cheaper modern prosthetics may also float. Many are made of very light-weight materials and some have pockets of air trapped inside them. For leg prosthetics in particular, this means a user might, at best, struggle to swim with them on, but at worst, may get flipped upside down and become trapped underwater - something that happened to me as a very young child. On the flip-side, older prosthetics were usually made of heavy materials like wood or steel, and so had the opposite problem, acting like a weight and pulling a person down if they were to wear them in the water. Water-safe prosthetics do exist, I had a pair of prosthetic legs as a teenager that were hollow, and designed especially for me to swim with fins on when swimming in the ocean, and Nadya Vessey, a double leg amputee in New Zealand even got a mermaid-tail prosthetic made especially for use in the water. Most amputees though just swim without any prosthetics at all, and in 99% of cases, this is the easiest and safest way to go.

Prosthetic-Related Pressure Sores and Pain

Many people with limb differences also experience pressure sores from their prosthetics. Modern prosthetics typically attach to the body using a socket made of carbon fiber or fiberglass, held on either by pressure, using a vacuum seal or through a mechanical locking system built into the socket. No matter the specifics though, the socket has to be very tight in order to stay on, and this means that extended periods of use can lead to rub-spots, blisters and pressure sores. Many socket prosthetics also use silicone liners to add extra padding, but this means wounds caused by the pressure can't breathe, and bacteria in sweat has nowhere to go, meaning if the person doesn't rest when one of these wounds occur, it can very easily and quickly turn into a serious infection. In a properly fitting prosthetic, used by someone who has fully adjusted to them, this doesn't happen often, but it is something most amputees and people with limb differences have to at least be mindful of. Some new prosthetics use a different method of attachment, called Osteointegration - where the prosthetic attaches to a clip, surgically implanted into the person's bones. While Osteointegration avoids many of the issues like pressure sores that come from a socket, they have their own issues: mainly that they are incredibly expensive, and as of right now, have a pretty high failure rate due to the implant getting infected. Because the implants are directly connected to the bone, these infections become very serious very quickly. Many people with Osteointegration limbs have to be on very strong medication to keep these infections at bay, and they are generally considered unsuitable for anyone who is going to regularly come into contact with "unclean" environments.

Maintenance

[ID: A screenshot of Winrey, from Full Metal alchemist Brotherhood, a white woman with blond hair hanging out the sides of a green hat. She is measuring a piece of metal from a prosthetic she is making while Ed, the prosthetic's owner, gives her a thumbs up in the background. /End ID]

Finally, prosthetics also require maintenance from a specialist called a prosthetist, and they don't last forever. Some parts, like a foot or hand, can be reused over an over, but the sockets of a prosthetic need to be completely remade any time your body changes shape, including if you gain/loose weight, you start experiencing swelling, or you're just a child who is growing. Children in particular need new prosthetics every few months because they grow so fast, and as such, their prosthetics have to be made with this growth in mind. If they go too long without adjustment or an entirely new prosthetic, it can seriously impact the child and their growth but even small adjustments can be costly, depending on where you live. While prosthetics are built to be sturdy and reliable, they need a lot of work to stay that way. The more complex the prosthetic, the more work is needed. Complicated electronic components may need to have regular maintenance done by your prosthetist or even the specific component's manufacturer, and depending on where you live, this might mean having to send your prosthetic limb away for this to be done. While my prosthetist technically has the skills and knowledge to do the maintenance on my electronic knee, for example, the manufacturer forbids anyone not from their company to provide this service, meaning my leg needs to be shipped off to Germany once every few years if I want to keep the warranty. This has the unfortunate side effect of sometimes your limbs getting lost in postage (shout-out to Australia Post, who lost mine twice), meaning it can be months before you get it back or get a replacement. Usually, you'll be given a replacement in the meantime if you need it, but walking on a leg that isn't yours, even when its correctly fitted, always feels a bit weird (maybe that's just me though).

Not every difference is Inherently Negative

We've talked about some of the negatives that come from having a prosthetic, but not every difference is negative or even really that big of a deal. In fact, often times, it's these little moments in the depiction of a disability that go the furthest and make it feel the most genuine. My amputations effect me from the moment I wake up, to the moment I go to bed, but that doesn't mean every single way it impacts me is always inherently bad or negative. For example, back when I was working a normal job and going to university, I would often come home, throw my legs off at the door with the shoes still attached and get into my wheelchair, the same way you might throw your shoes off after work and replace them with comfy socks and other comfy clothing. This is something I've only ever seen on screen once, with Eda from the Owl House (and she wasn't even an amputee yet, her limbs were just detachable)

[ID: an screenshot of Eda from the owl house, a very pale woman, laying on the couch in a bathrobe, her hair in a towel. She has taken her actual legs off, throwing them to the other side of the seat. /End ID]

After that, my day mostly looked the same as most other people working a 9 to 5, I'd make myself dinner, watch some TV or play some games, maybe do some extra work at my desk or chat with friends. The only difference is that it would all be from a wheelchair, mainly because my prosthetics were heavy and it was just easier to use the chair around the house. The fact my afternoon and evening routine was done from a wheelchair wasn't a bad thing, it was just different. Likewise, I also don't sleep or shower with my prosthetics on, for the same reasons most other people wouldn't take a shower or sleep in thigh-high, steel-capped boots. In your own stories, this might look like giving your characters similar alterations to how they go about their day. Let them take their arm or leg off when they're resting or relaxing, show them taking a few minutes longer to get ready because they have to put it back on, show them doing some things without it. Arm amputees in particular tend to get very good at going about their days without their arm prosthetics, and leg amputees often either learn to get around more relaxed spaces like their homes using a different mobility aids like wheelchairs or crutches, or just through hopping if that's something they're physically able to do. Even when everything is going well and working as intended, your limb-different character won't wear their prosthetic 24/7, no matter how much they love it. There doesn't have to be something wrong with it or painful about it to not want it glued to them at all times, just like you can love a pair of big heavy boots but not want them on when you're trying to sleep. For more action-focused stories, being an amputee, also changes things like how you fight. The specifics will vary from person to person, but for example, when I did Hap Ki Do, a Korean Martial art, my instructor heavily modified when I learned what techniques. Beginner-level kicks and most leg attacks were impractical for me, as the force from the kicking motion would usually cause one of my legs to fly off. I also couldn't jump very well, due to some complications with my original amputation that made my stumps too sensitive to withstand the force of landing again. So I ended up learning a lot more upper-body attacks much earlier than it is typically taught. By the time I got my green belt, I was practicing upper-body techniques usually saved for black belts - including weapons training that I could use my secondary mobility aids for, like crutches and my cane in a bad situation. Many holds that rely on creating tension in your target are also less effective on amputees, because either the anatomy that causes those holds to be painful just simply isn't there, or the body part in question can just be removed to escape. Whether we're talking about the negative things, or just neutral differences that come with using prosthetics, you don't want to go too far with any one example. The key is to strike a balance. Of course, the old writing advice of "show don't tell" also applies here. It's one thing to tell us all of this stuff, but unless we actually see it play out, it won't mean much.

How NOT to avoid the trope

Before we move on, let's focus for a moment on some common things I've seen that you SHOULDN'T do as a way to get away from the trope.

The Enhanced Prosthetic

A lot of sci-fi in particular will take prosthetic limbs, make them function exactly the same as a biological limb, but add something extra to it. This does change the way the prosthetic functions and is used, but it usually still ignores the actual disabling parts of having a prosthetic. A really good example of this can be seen in pretty much any futuristic setting, but personally, I think Fizzeroli, from Helluva Boss is the best one to demonstrate what I mean. Fizz is a quadrilateral, above knee/above elbow amputee with highly advanced prosthetics that function, more or less exactly like the limbs he lost, but with the added benefit of being super-stretchy. Fizz is an acrobat and a clown in service, at least initially, to Mammon, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. These prosthetics help him perform and we even do see how they change little things like how he walks and just goes about his day, but the show still treats them like natural arms and legs, but better. 

[ID: A screenshot of Fizzeroli from Helluva Boss, a white-skinned imp with 4 black, prosthetic limbs, dressed in teal a nightgown as he lays in bed, reading from a list /End ID]

We see that he never takes them off, even when sleeping, and when he needs to use them as regular arms and legs, they do everything he needs, perfectly fine - at least when they're working correctly. The only time he ever even takes them off or has any issues with them, is when they break in season 2. The word amputee is never used to describe him, as far as I remember, and the fact he is one never really comes up at all, except for when they break or when the story focuses on how he lost them. Which brings me to my next point.

The Glitchy/Broken Prosthetic

One way I see people try to avoid the perfect prosthetic trope, is to take the prosthetic and break it or otherwise make it unreliable by having it malfunction, but not really changing anything else. This approach is heading in the right direction but still kind of misses the point of the criticism a lot of limb different folks have with the depictions of prosthetics in the media. Yeah, prosthetics do break down and some do require extra maintenance, but if your character's prosthetic is still exactly the same as a biological limb (or even better, in the case of the "enhanced prosthetic") when it's not broken, and the only time their disability is treated like a disability, is when it breaks, you're not really addressing the issue. Real prosthetics, like we discussed, even when functioning at 100%, exactly as the manufacturer intended, don't function the same as a meat-limb. They are fundamentally different, and the glitchy/unreliable prosthetic completely ignores all of that. Once again, Fizz is a really good example of this - the only time his prosthetics are not perfect, is when they break or are malfunctioning (despite the criticism, I do genuinely love Fizz as a character, but he unfortunately does fall into a lot of disability tropes).

[ID: Another screenshot of Fizzeroli, this time in a torn up jester outfit, looking down, panicked, at his prosthetic arms which are fully extended and laying motionless on the ground, with his left arm visibly short-circuiting with electricity around it. /End ID]

Now this isn't to say you can't have your character's prosthetics break down or malfunction at all. just that this shouldn't be the only way you differentiate the prosthetic from a biological limb. You should also be mindful of how or why they're breaking. A typical prosthetic isn't going to break down randomly from normal use unless something is very, very wrong or your character just has a terrible prosthetist (which unfortunately, does happen). You might experience issues if you try to make the prosthetic do something it just wasn't designed to do, or expose it to something it wasn't designed to deal with though (e.g. submerging an electronic prosthetic in water and trying to use it to swim).

Just add Phantom Pain

Another common pitfall I see when people are trying to avoid the perfect prosthetic trope, is to just give the character in question phantom pain - which is a side-effect of amputation where your brain's mental map of the body doesn't acknowledged you lost a limb. Your brain tries to fill in the gaps, since there is no signals coming from that part of the body anymore, and assumes either something must be wrong and so you should be in pain, even when you actually aren't. Alternatively, it can also happen when your brain was so used to feeling pain from that area before, in the case of people who had chronic conditions before they lost their limb, that it just keeps remaking those old signals itself. Like the broken/glitchy prosthetic approach, this also doesn't really address the issue with the perfect prosthetic trope, because it has nothing to do with the prosthetic itself. Phantom pain doesn't come from the prosthetic, nor does it effect how they're used, and so including it doesn't really address the issue of the prosthetic being functionally the same as the original, biological limb. This isn't to say that you shouldn't include phantom limb sensation or pain as something your character experiences, but just keep in mind that, when used on it's own, it doesn't counter the trope. Also, just be sure to do your research, everyone's experience with phantom pain is different and it's not something everyone with a limb difference even experiences.

Why is this trope even a problem?

Alright, so we know what the trope is, we know why it became so prevalent, ways to avoid it and also how not to avoid it. All good information, but why is this trope even bad? Why should you try to avoid it? Outside of just wanting to portray a real disability that effects real people more accurately in your creations, the prevalence of this trope actually contributes to a lot of real-world issues, especially when it's as overused as it currently is. I've talked before about "the jaws effect" - where the depiction of something in the media, especially something that the public is widely uneducated on, influences how people see it in real life. The Jaws effect specifically referred to how the popularity of creature-feature movies featuring sharks, like Jaws, caused the belief that sharks were monstrous killing machines to become much more wide-spread, even going so far as to influence decisions about laws and policy surrounding real-life shark preservation and culling in some parts of the world. But sharks aren't the only thing this has happened to.

Disabled people are so thoroughly misunderstood by wider society, that when tropes like this one become popular, people can and often do start to believe the misinformation they spread - in this case, believing that our prosthetics are a perfect replacement for a biological limb, and that getting a prosthetic means you're not disabled any more. While this can be annoying and cause small scale issues for some of us, like people giving us a hard time for using disability accommodations we very much need, it can also impact us in systemic ways too. If the wrong people believe these tropes, it can and does have a very real impact on the lives of disabled people through things like changes to policies to make it harder for amputees and people with limb differences to access financial assistance for other things outside of our prosthetics we may need assistance with.

Conclusion

Despite the very real harm tropes like this can do when it's overused, I don't think it should go away entirely. Some of my favourite pieces of media even use the perfect prosthetic trope and there are even some kinds of media where I even think it's somewhat unavoidable. Characters with perfect prosthetics in kids media in particular, especially when talking about side characters, can help to correct some of the other stereotypes kids may have seen elsewhere - such as prosthetics being "creepy" or "scary" - in a way that is casual and easy for them to understand. The problem with the trope, in my eyes, is it's excessive overuse. It's the fact that it seems to be the only representation amputees and people with limb differences are getting now. Not every story with a limb-different character can or even should delve into the reality of what using prosthetics is actually like, but we need at least some stories that do, without it being this majorly depressing thing.

[namastefamily]

Lundi

Happy ‘new’ year as we all open our eyes wide and build our own beautiful world and realise our thoughts are creating our reality- how liberated we are.

[k0mmari]

SYSTEM! SHEN YUAN AU

Okay, look, I've head a System SY idea for a while now (in fact, some of the ideas for this were used when I was first planning out Locked & Loaded), but after seeing @/artsarasp's System!SQQ AU, the brainworms have been once again come alive and I just need to get this out into the world. This is a very bare bones idea that I (probably) won't actually write, so walk with me for a second! Also this is going to be a very, very long post.

In this idea, the System actually is an interdimensional organization that deal with creating new worlds based on stories and making sure these worlds continue working as intended and (eventually), sending transmigrators to worlds that need 'improvement' (this improvement being very subjectice depending on which worker is assigned which story).

In SY's case, he's just someone who usually works behing a screen, in the most exciting cases he gets to guide transmigrators around but most of the time he just makes sure the stories 'code' is running normally and nothing world-breaking is going on in the stories (like someone managing to find a hack to skip defining plot points, or activating God-Mode somehow). He's very happy with this arrangement, btw! He was never one to run around and his boss has warned him once or twice for apparently being 'way too harsh' on the few transmigrators he got to be a System for.

Unfortunately, one day he is assigned to 'manually inspect' a world because a certain co-worker of his (Shang Qinghua) had been sent down there to handle a glitch but had gone missing instead. When SY asks why was he being the one asked to do this (not that he doesn't care for his friend, but he REALLY isnt made for running around), his boss says SY is the only other one who is familiar enough with the world to not get lost.

So that's how he find out SQH had managed to get himself stuck on the world he created (as a joke even, he hadn't even expected that when he was messing around with the company's program he would actually be able to create a new world based on the shitty novel he'd written as a human). And of course, SQH only having one friend, subjected SY to the story.

SY grumbles and denies ever seeing anything about SQH's story (or liking it, even if his boss kindly points out they never mentioned SY liked it) but eventually he agrees; and that's how he finds himself being teletransported onto the world of PIDW, carrying a pair of Debugging Sheers he'd never thought he would have to hold (he calls them Big Scissors), with the mission of finding SQH and dealing with the glitch that was still somewhere in the world.

Though, when he goes to message his supervisor about the specifics (where he should go or what was the last known location of SQH), he finds out that his Personal System has apparently already been affected by the glitch ("ALREADY??") that he was realizing worked more like a virus. Fortunately some messages were still going through, and his supervisor notified him they couldn't send him directly to the location he needed to be, specially because the virus seemed to have fragmented and spread to various parts of the stories timeline. SY now has to jump around through time a few times and slowly cut doen the glitches caused by the virus.

Thus begins Shen Yuan's Great Narrative Haunting (in real time.).

Luckily, for him, the place he first appeared was already one of the spots the virus has infected the world, and it seems to be in a town not too far away from him, so with a quick activation of the 'Ghost Mode' function (avaiable for all System staff to make it easier when they have to manually fix something, making them invisible and untouchable), SY heads to the town.

The glitch actually doesnt take too long to find (it was a buggy tree clipping onto a nearby river, which only needs a snip of the Big Scissors to disappear from reality), but when SY and passing through the town to find some better signal for his Personal System so he can jump forward to the next stop, he sees a group of snickering kids leaving an alleyway. A bit curious, he passes by the alley and barely manages to see through the pouring rain and spot a trembling figure on the floor. Of course, PIDW was never meant to be a happy or forgiving world, so SY is not surprised at the idea that some kids were bullying a smaller kid, though it still makes him upset.

He kneels close to the child and turns off 'Ghost Mode', pulling out an umbrella from his inventory (yes, System staff ALSO get an inventory, no one wants to have to carry aroung those big ass scissors), covering him from the rain. The boy is shaking from the cold, and even if SY can't check the boy's identity (since his system is still buggy), he reasons the probability of him coming into contact with an important character is very small, and even if System staff aren't supposed to interact with characters, he limits himself to at least getting the boy out of the rain.

Luo Binghe later wakes in a bench underneath a small shop's roof, covered in a thick cloth, having no idea how he'd gotten there besides the vague dream (or memory?) of a strangely dressed person patting his hair and taking him into their arms. He notices the rain has stopped and he's perfectly dry. Shen Yuan, seeing the kid seems to be doing well, finally jumps to his next location.

It doesn't take long for SY to figure out where he is when he loads onto the next mission location, in fact, he's almost certain he'd recognize the bamboo forest and calm, almost dream-like atmosphere of Qing Jing Peak anywhere. Seeing there that Qing Jing even exists in the first place, he deduces Binghe is still not emperor, so this time he makes sure to not be seen by any characters. It also doesn't take for SY to find his next target, as a commotion behind him catches his attention.

And oh, if he isn't familiar with the scene. A few older looking disciples push around a smaller looking boy, while a girl insistently shouts for the leader of the older disciples to stop. SY barely managed to appreaciate how Luo Binghe looks so cute as a child before (who he assumes is) Ming Fan snatches rips an amulet out of Binghe's neck. It's quite the heartbreaking scene to watch live, poor Binghe fighting for the only remaining piece of his adoptive mother without even knowing he's destined to never see it again. SY's Personal System may be buggy but it's still functional enough to detect if SY has a direct impact on the main storyline, so SY is basically forced to stand still and watch.

Though, since he had a clear view of the whole scene, when Ming Fan throws the jade pendant into the forest, SY can perfectly follow the arch of the necklace and sees where it landed, which is when an idea pops into his head. Distantly hearing Luo Binghe and NYY frantically searching for a necklace they'll never find, SY spots where the fake jade glimmers high up on a tree brench, though it's glimmer is distorted by the distinct sight of a glitch corrupting it's form. If SY were to follow standard procedure, he'd just have to bring out his Sheers and snip the necklace out of existence, but looking at it... Would it be so bad if he debugged the necklace the longer way?

Besides, if Binghe has the necklace or not, it's not like this one item is going to interfere with the major story anyways. SY isn't stopping Binghe from falling into the Abyss, he's just... Returning a lost item to it's intended owner.

Later, after an exhausting afternoon of what seemed to be searching through every nook and cranny of Qing Jing Peak's surrounding forest, Luo Binghe goes back to the shed he sleeps in utterly defeat and feeling strangely hollow; that is, until he opens the door and finds a new, thick blanket neatly folded in the middle of the shed, way too clean to be anything he had previously owned, and atop of it, his precious jade pendent, sitting there as if it never even dissapeared. Luo Binghe distantly notices that nobody that visits the shed ever lets the door closed after they visit.

The third location SY goes to leaves him no time to acclimatize, as he's immediately attacked by a beast, and only after (struggling to) kill it, does SY notice the unfortunate situation he was placed into: the Immortal Alliance Conference. By this point, he's already figured out his Personal System is most likely using Binghe's energy as Protagonist to make up for the energy it can't use due to it being partially corrupted, and the energy it needs to save up so SY can go back to the System's head quarters, so it really wasn't a surprise that he would be sent to this specific plot point, but dammit can't he avoid having to be near the place where his favorite character is thrown into hell??

And, well, there's also the problem that a beast attacked him, which meant it saw him, which meant his Ghost Mode was also glitching out, and after fiddling around which a half functioning System interface, it seems that the presence of the virus here is stronger than the other places, though still not the biggest chunk. Truly, just the cherry on top of his situation that he'd have to scurry around and somehow manage to not bump into anyone.

As is his luck, as SY tries to head closer to where his System is signaling the glitch's presence, other monsters continue attacking him, which besides slowing him down a considerable amount, it also causes the risk of him being picked up by the people watching the Conference through the Spirit Eagles circling the area, which is the last thing he needs.

Eventually he goes to the closest spot he can to the glitch, but a snapping sound behind him sends him into full panic. A person stands behind him, which leaves SY wondering how he managed to miss someone sneaking up on him like this. "You seem to have dropped something." the person says, and SY eyes immediately fall to his body, scanning himself to what he might have lost, and his hand basically flies to his throat when he notices the tassle that is usually nestled there is missing. He quickly turns around, only to come face to face to the golden protagonist, mister Luo Binghe himself.

Binghe tries interrogating SY as to what he's doing, sneaking around the supposedly sealed off Conference grounds, and SY, in his panicked state (slightly fuelled by a fanboy-induced craze) tries to fumble for excuses, but only when Binghe finally understands that the feeling he gets when looking at this strange person is an undeniable sense of deja-vu and tries asking SY if they'd met before, a loud rumblind shakes the ground: the Abyss has opened.

SY feels even more panicked, cause what this means is eventually, not only will he be discovered by Luo Binghe (his supervisor is going to kill him), but he could possibly be discovered by Shen Qingqiu, of all people! He doesn't get too much time to think about his grand escape however, as a piercing shriek comes from the Abyss rift. Right, how could he forget about the Black Moon Rhinoceros Python? And-- Oh, of course! Of course the damn thing would be virus-infected object!

After teaming-up with Binghe, the both of them manage to subdue the monster long enough that SY managed to snip it, though while they both catch their breath, SY belatedly realizes he just helped Binghe fight with the monster he was supposed to fight. Alone! The monster who was supposed to break his demonic seal! And, like clockwork, he can distantly hear what can only be SQQ's hurried steps through the forest! FUCK!!

With no other option, and Binghe now wanting to continue his interrogation, SY hurriedly start to walk towards the Abyss rift, frantically giving Binghe tips about what he could do in the Abyss to have an easier time, though when he catches a glimpse of green robes between the trees, SY types something on a floating screen and jumps backwards, Binghe letting out a shocked scream. Unfortunately, the protagonist won't be able to do nothing about the seemingly insane and way too familiar man who just jumped into the Abyss, as a rustling sounds behind him, and he's met with a newly regenrated Black Moon Rhino.

SY feels horrible about spawning a new one after Binghe just finished fighting one, but the story must continue, and with his Personal System finally free from most of the virus corruption, SY leaves one last gift as an apology and warping away before hitting the Abyss' ground. Later, when Binghe wakes up at the bottom of the rift after being pushed by SQQ, the first thing he sees is a qiakun pouch, full of useful items and tiny note at the bottom that reads 'Sorry!'

Pt.2

Pt.3

[bixels]

You know what, enough time has passed and I've given media reviews/reccs in the past, so I'm gonna recommend Pixar's Win or Lose as seriously worth a watch.

I came into the show with zero expectations a few months ago and was pleasantly blown away by the writing, art direction, and character dramas.

Win or Lose is an original drama mini-series created by Pixar that follows a co-ed middle school softball team and the week leading up to a big championship game. Each episode picks one character, either a kid or an adult, and focuses on their perspective/storyline during that week. So in the first episode, we notice a lot of weird mysteries or threads in the background (Why is this character crying uncontrollably? Why are these two fighting?). As the show progresses, we get to see each character's sides of the story and how they interconnect with and affect each other. It's very, very well written and well crafted.

Each episode also tackles a pretty mature and at times distressing theme about growing up and parenting, similar to Inside Out. Here's a one sentence synopsis of each episode's general conflict and theme to give you an idea. Spoilers ahead:

Laurie, who's terrible at softball, desperately wants to impress her father, the team coach, but is dragged down by anxiety, visualized by a growing blob that whispers intrusive thoughts.

A geeky, middle-aged middle school teacher tries to get over a break-up with online dating.

Rochelle, who's the eldest "forced-to-grow-up-too-fast" daughter of a struggling, social media-obsessed single mother, must raise money on her own to pay for her team fee, falling into dangerous situations with older teens.

Following the perspective of the single mother during the events of episode three, we see her side of the story and the complicated ways she works to fend off judgmental parents and support her daughter.

An imaginative but lonely little brother of a softball player becomes friends with a group of teenage outcasts, for better and for worse.

A boy and a girl on the softball team begin dating, but undergo relationship troubles when the boy's insecurities about coolness, honesty, and masculinity cause him to lash out.

Kai, a Black, trans-coded girl on the team, must balance her self-confidence and love for softball while appeasing her sports-loving father, who pressures her to always be her best.

The culmination and climaxes of each episode's arcs and conflicts collide in the big championship game, with a main focus on the team coach/father from the first episode, who's ready to burst from the stress and tension of an impending divorce, his anxious daughter, the game, and mid-life feelings of worthlessness.

Each episode also features a creative way of externalizing and visualizing emotions, concepts, or mindsets like anxiety, e-dating, and pride. Rochelle transforms into a tall business woman with shoulder pads when she goes into money-making-mode. Gravity flips and disappears when she feels like she's losing control of her life. Some episodes even feature completely different animation styles. As a result, each storyline is presented through an unreliable and exaggerated perspective that prioritizes the protagonist and skews reality, often shown through the eyes of a child.

These screenshots really don't do the animation justice, you need to see it in motion to get the appeal. The dialogue is snappy and fun too, and the characters are immediately charismatic and likable. Here's a clip from the first episode.

The two biggest controversies this show had were 1. its art style and 2. the censorship.

The art style was ridiculed and criticized online for looking "grub-hub commercial-ish," which has been said about previous Pixar movies as well (Luca and Turning Red). The characters are extremely cartoony, with sometimes weirdly exaggerated proportions. And admittedly, some of the designs are not it (the noseless barista...). But I think a lot of people and artists will agree that even if the art direction looks strange to you, it grows on you quickly. Pixar knows how to animate and they know how to work with their own models. Plus, given the limitations and labor of a 7-episode show, it makes sense that things had to be simplified. With the gorgeous lighting, textures, and colors, the show's style really reminded me of stop-motion or Nintendo games. It's just fun.

Secondly is the report that Disney made Pixar censor and re-write Kai's episode, which was originally supposed to be an explicit exploration of her trans identity as a young girl and an athlete. The animatic of the original version of the episode was leaked online. The news and decision is extremely disappointing, worsens the final show, and really reveals how careless and conservative Disney is about representation. But if you watch the actual episode, you'll notice all the ways the crew tried to circumvent Disney and maintain Kai's trans identity through coding and nods to gender dysphoria/guilt/expression/affirmation/euphoria. (Her storyline made me cry too.)

I don't want to come across like I'm defending the censorship. An episode dedicated to a POC father-daughter relationship as they navigate Kai coming out as trans while playing sports on Disney+ would have been so powerful and important for family audiences. And they try to supplant the trans storyline with a clumsy softball vs. baseball edit. But I've seen talk about how this storyline was completely erased or how this show is straight up transphobic, and that's just not true. The crew did their best with a truly shitty situation.

If you like shows like Craig of the Creek or Bluey or Steven Universe, you'll probably like this one too.

[keirareidss]

guilty pleasure - s.r

♡ summary: spencer feels guilty about his crush on his co-worker, but that doesn't stop him from thinking about her pairing: perv!spencer reid x fem!reader warnings: 18+ MDNI, smut, spencer fantasizes about reader, unprotected sex wc: 1.8k request here

He felt horrible. He never meant to do it. It just happened. All the time. Whenever he'd catch a glimpse of you, even from across the room, his brain would go haywire and fire off every possibility of what you could be doing to him. Caressing his body, sucking him off under his desk, kissing him so hard his lips ached.

He convinced himself it was just a stupid crush. That these were little, meaningless feelings that had nothing to do with wanting to have a full relationship with you and everything to do with how touch starved he was. He knew this was it because he was only attracted to you sexually. His eyes trailed your body and he fantasized about having sex with you. And sure, these thoughts were involuntary, and sure he never acted on them, but that didn't stop him from touching himself to you at night.

He never expected to get caught. You were usually in separate hotel rooms or sometimes he did it at home in his own bed, he felt especially guilty about that because he now thought about it every time he looked at the bed. But this time was different. This time, something happened.

This time, you'd all been summoned to Maryland for a case. The hotels were all mostly full due to a convention in town so you had to double up in the rooms. Coincidentally, you and Spencer ended up sharing.

"Which uh- which bed would you like?" Spencer asked, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew which bed he wanted. The one furthest from the door. He knew it'd be more gentlemanly to take the bed closer to the door but he wanted to give you a choice. He wanted to make sure you were comfortable.

"I don't mind." You said, though you'd already set your go bag on the one Spencer had been eyeing. We could share, Spencer thought perversely before shaking the dirty thoughts from his head, setting his bag on the other bed. He supposed he was fine with the more courteous option.

"Do you want to shower first?"

"You can go ahead." You murmured, getting settled on the bed. Spencer was grateful you didn't seem eager to get in the shower. It gave him time to 'take care of himself' to the thought of you. He knew it was risky, doing it in the same hotel room at you but he couldn't help himself anymore. Back when he first started having these fantasies, about a month after you first joined the team, he was able to control them, able to resist. Now, he just couldn't help himself.

He undressed, stepping into the shower and letting the steaming water run over his skin. He reached between his legs, gripping his hard cock, pumping it steadily. He let out a small moan, trying to keep himself quiet so you didn't find out what he was doing. He ran through the images of you in his head, landing on you in that tight skirt you wore to the office last week. All day he had watched you in that skirt, crossing your leg over the other in your chair as you chewed on the end of your pen, bending down at the waist after dropping the stir stick for your coffee, swaying your hips as you walked up to Hotch's office.

He closed his eyes, imagining these scenarios more vividly, creating new ones. He imagined you sitting on his desk in the skirt, your legs spread. He imagined kneeling down on the floor in front of you, lapping at your center. He imagined you squeezing your thighs around his head as one of his own hands palmed himself through his trousers, a wet spot growing on the front of them.

Soon he was grunting as he came on the shower floor, his eyes peeling open, bringing him back to reality. He had just jerked himself off to the thought of his co-worker who was sitting on the other side of the wall. He cleaned himself and the shower before turning off the water. He left the bathroom, heading to his own bed. He doesn't notice you grinning at him until he sits on the bed.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. How was your shower?" You asked, the smirk on your face not faltering.

"Good?" He was thoroughly confused by now. Had you somehow heard him in the shower? He was quiet wasn't he? His face started growing red with the thought of what this might mean. Would you get upset with him? Would you tell him you reciprocated his feelings? Would you climb on top of him, pin him to the bed, and fuck him senseless? You did none of those things.

You stood up, still smiling, gathered your pajamas, and headed to the bathroom. Spencer was left confused and went to bed unsatisfied, dreaming of you.

The next night, the same thing happened. He took the first shower, fucked his fist to thoughts of you, this time it was you chaining him to the hotel bed and riding him until you climaxed. He finished in the shower and when he exited the bathroom, you were wearing that same smirk on your face. Again, he was confused.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." You took your shower and came back out, just like last night. Though, tonight, something else happened. Instead of heading back to your own bed, you sauntered over to his.

"What- what's up?" He asked, trying to act nonchalant, though his voice cracked anyway. You knelt on the bed beside him.

"I can hear you, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"In the shower. I can hear when you're jerking yourself off." You said in a sultry voice that turned Spencer's face red. "I can hear when you're moaning my name. What are you thinking about in there?"

"I- I'm not- I wasn't-"

"You weren't what? Fucking your fist to the thought of me?" He was speechless. He didn't think you'd figure him out. He felt insanely guilty and embarrassed but he couldn't help the side of him that hoped you would... punish him. He wanted you to recreate his dirtiest fantasies with him but never, in any way whatsoever, would he express this to you. "Well? Are you even going to try to defend yourself?" You chuckled. His mouth opened and closed but he couldn't come up with anything to say.

You tutted, straddling his lap, and reaching down to his sweatpants waistband. He sucked in a breath and you halted your movements, looking up to his eyes.

"You want this, don't you?" He nodded frantically. "Words, genius."

"Y-yes. Yes please. Please." You grinned, pulling down his sweatpants. You freed his cock from its confines before tugging off your own sleep shorts and panties. You lifted your fingers to Spencer's mouth, parting his lips with your pointer and middle finger. You slid them into his mouth, his saliva wetting your digits. You slipped them from his mouth, relishing the lustful look in his eyes.

You brought your slick fingers to your core, slowly inserting them into you. You let out a soft moan as you fucked your fingers into yourself. Spencer couldn't believe his eyes. His wet dream was coming to life right in front of him. Once you were ready, you pulled your fingers out of yourself, positioning your center above his leaking cock. He whimpered as you sank down on top of him, continuing until he had bottomed out inside you. You let out a shuddery breath as you felt the fullness of his length.

"Is this what you were imagining?" He twitched and shifted. "Is this what you pictured when you were moaning my name in the shower?" You asked, beginning to move your hips up and down. He let out a loud moan at the feeling. He never thought it could be like this. His hand surely didn't feel this good. No, you were warm, wet, tight, perfect, everything.

"Please, please, pl- agh- mmm." He whimpered, his hands clutching the sheets as he bucked up into you. You gasped at the sudden contact of his tip with your cervix.

"Fuck, Spence." You moaned. You ground your hips down with more passion, riding him with a fervor that made him let out a sound, deep in his throat, his head falling back as he spasmed.

"So close, so close- shit, god-" Spencer stammered. He couldn't fathom how this was happening. How the girl of his dreams, the girl he'd had a crush on for 2 years, was now on his lap, fucking him like he'd always wanted, making him feel so incredibly good.

"Come for me Spencer. Come inside me. I know you want to." You teased. He moaned as he finished. He squirmed as you kept moving, pulling your orgasm closer and closer. You reached down a hand to rub your clit as Spencer felt more and more overstimulated.

"I can't, I can't, please." He whined. As you finished, Spencer came for the second time, third that night, writhing underneath you. You breathed heavily as you came down from your high. You were both panting as you slowly lifted yourself off of him, wincing slightly at the sting. Spencer whimpered at the loss and you flopped down on the bed next to him, both of you sweaty and fucked out.

"That was amazing." You breathed. "I can't believe we haven't done that before."

"I know." It was silent for a few moments. "So you're not... you're not upset? That I... thought about you like that?"

"I'm more upset that you never acted on it. Were you that scared of me?" You teased and Spencer blushed.

"I was more worried that you would hate me. That you might think I was... perverted or something." He looked away, his face flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, Spencer. My little perv." You grinned, kissing his heated cheek.

"Stop." He buried his face in his pillow, groaning as you laughed.

"Come on. Come back out. Please?" You smiled as he peeked his face up, looking up at you. "Come out. I want a kiss." You pouted. He relented, lifting his head from the pillow and leaning forward to plant a kiss on your lips. Now that his secret had been revealed, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. You knew how he thought about you and you weren't deterred. You still liked him. You still fucked him. And if he was lucky, maybe, just maybe, you'd fuck him again.

Taglist: @totallynotabuckybarnessimp, @perfectgoopfishuniversity-blog, @superbeaglewitch, @dramioneforevertilltheend. @cynbx, @redorquid

[homunculus-argument]

Someone calling you a slur is a sign of hatred and disrespect. Creating this false dichotomy of being called a slur but treated with respect is a fantasy. At best you’re better off on 4chan if you believe this to be true. If someone spat on your and set your car on fire in your neighborhood, would you stay? Probably not. And attacking with slurs and violence co-exist in reality. Not online.

Correct! "There are only people who use the wrong words but don't hate you, and people who use all the right terminology but hate you" is a false dichtonomy! You came up with an incorrect premise, and concluded that it was incorrect all by yourself! Do you want me to pin it on the fridge door for you?

[punkbarbarian]

for folks who don’t follow them on instagram— ally beardsley wrote part of an op-ed in the washington post for the 50th dnd anniversary about a moment playing dnd that really stuck with them and i wanted to share it here!

“a character’s journey — and my own”

I was an aspiring comedian in Los Angeles and had just landed a salaried job at the comedy website CollegeHumor. My co-worker and friend Brennan Lee Mulligan was looking for six comedians to create a show that would be like an at-home game of D&D. Why not? “Dimension 20” became a weird punctuation to my day.

I remember there being too many rules to remember. I kept turning to my friend, Brian Murphy, to ask which dice I should be rolling. I wasn’t paid overtime, but I loved the group and was having a lot of fun.

For the second season, I had my sea legs. I created a character for the campaign who was transgender. I had started going by the gender neutral they/them pronouns at work and among friends, but sourcing hormones or getting surgery seemed equal parts expensive and invasive. A fun thing about fantasy is stripping away the crunchy, real-world limitations and asking yourself: “What would I do if I could do anything?”

That season’s arc for my character, Pete, was extremely euphoric for me. I had described him as a trans cowboy you might see at Burning Man, and the artist drew him dressed as a freaky Hunter S. Thompson in an open shirt to show his top surgery scars. He has wild magic — uncontrollable and dangerous in the game mechanics — which we used to explore the painful chaos of leaving a family that doesn’t accept you.

Since then, I’ve started testosterone HRT and had top surgery. It’s funny to listen back to myself playing a character who had transitioned in ways I hadn’t. It’s full of inaccuracies that make me smile. Pete takes a testosterone pill every day; I now know it’s a weekly injection or a topical gel. I see my face, one wrapped up in playing something so new but instantly right. It was like an oracle. A near-future me who has health insurance! Who’s talked to their mom about being trans and even spent a week post-top surgery on that mom’s couch in Temecula, Calif!

As I started transitioning my appearance, seeing that in front of the camera felt raw. I was starting hormones, and my voice was cracking. Realizing it was all being recorded felt naked at times, but it has been really nice to talk to fans and friends about how important it is to see someone that looks like you taking a big risk on themself.

With Pete, it was really important to me to tell a story other than the dramatic lead-up to a medical transition. So we started with him having just gotten out of surgery, but that’s all you see of that process. Part of his backstory is that he doesn’t have a relationship with his transphobic parents, and before shooting the first episode, I felt sick to my stomach. I’ve been on a journey with my parents, and our starting place didn’t have much common ground. When my character meets with his father, it felt as though I was actually running into my own on the street.

Brennan could sense that discomfort, and as my character’s dad was about to call Pete by his deadname, Brennan shut the interaction down, surrounding his dad with bubbles that carried him into the sky. Magic is the power and freedom to manipulate your reality, and you can banish the awful voices in your life — let them swirl away into the air.

[opalblade]

9 MAY 25.

𓂀 NEPTUNE, THE DECEIVER .

THIS IS A REPOST FROM MY OLD ACCOUNT.

dividers by cursed-carmine

i don't really believe in malefic planets, per say, but if i had to pick one, it would be neptune.

some positives about neptune is that it's a higher octave venus and makes the native artistically inclined. neptunians are also masters of glamour and creating personas.

but it also blurs lines and boundaries, causing the native to become neglectful of their life as they struggle with the difference between fantasy and reality. as neptune represents smoke and mirrors, it clouds the truth of situations by shrouding them in mystery, and even by making unfavourable situations seem desirable and glamorous (think: hollywood and fame).

neptunians can also try to reach this "fantasy" through drugs and alcohol, which is why i think neptune also represents those things.

even the romanticisation of neptune on tumblr is a sign of the way neptune appears and makes people behave.

the following are some examples of how some neptune aspects may manifest. remember to take your entire chart into consideration.

SUN - NEPTUNE

may have an unstable / extremely fluid sense of self and personality

may have a grandiose sense of self

may have an absent or neglectful father - might be idealised in the native's eyes

MOON - NEPTUNE

prone to ignoring negative emotions to live out the positive ones – toxic positivity.

may romanticise negative emotions and even trauma – "sad girls" and "traumacore".

could have had a manipulative, self-victimising mother that gaslighted them.

VENUS - NEPTUNE

tends to be blinded by the truth in love.

more likely to see the good and ignore red flags.

prone to love at first sight and refusing to let go of the idealised version of their crush/significant other.

may be prone to infidelity.

MARS - NEPTUNE

their drive and motivation is driven by an innate need to achieve a fantasy.

may possess a saviour complex.

the native may daydream about taking action rather than actually doing anything.

prone to drug abuse or taking intoxicating substances.

romanticising violence and/or trauma.

JUPITER - NEPTUNE

may believe they are luckier than they are.

may possess a saviour/martyr complex.

may be deluded by spirituality or religion.

likely to be deluded by any form of dogma (including political ideologies).

ASCENDANT - NEPTUNE

incomplete sense of self / outlook on the world.

prone to co-opting other's personalities and opinions, and so fails to build their own sense of self.

may have a chameleon like personality and might present themselves differently to everyone.

may suffer from imposter syndrome.

may wear rose-coloured glasses in their approach to the world and so their view of the world could be idealistic.

. *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　    ˚ . *     .     　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　

© 2025 opalblade. do not copy, repost, or translate my works to any other platforms.

[astroismypassion]

Astrology observations 🐏🌾🐰

Credit goes to my Tumblr blog @astroismypassion

🌾 If you have Jupiter at 19 (Libra) degree or Jupiter in the 7th house in the Natal chart, people that enter your life in form of a romantic partner, a friend, co-worker, business partner, you can get an opportunity through them, they bring you luck or because of them you can expand in your own individual life.

🐰 But the thing with this placement, there can also be some kind of "downside" to it. Because of that this placement often finds a romantic truly only when they are NOT looking or even when you are somewhat oblivious of partnerships. When you are actively looking, you find yourself unlucky, because with you it works the opposite way. You get more lucky, when you are not actively looking. You have to get more passive when searching for partnerships.

🐏 Saturn in the 4th house: can also be a cold home (quite literally, low heating at home), emotionally aloof or emotionally unstable parents (or just one of them, usually the mother, but it could also be the father) or a feeling that you have to play a role of a grownup at home, because of your parents. It can be that you had a very structured, disciplined childhood. You were probably taught that anger is "bad", so you repressed a lot of angry impulses. Or that early on you had to prove in your family circle that you are "worthy" of being loved. What you secretly crave is actually comfort, stability and safety, but you feel like the road to get there is full of obstacles and challenges at the moment. If you have this, you likely didn't "inherit" a peaceful home. But you have to build it yourself. You usually create that "real home" a bit later in life, but at that time is stable and calm. For example: if you grew up in dysfunctional family, you might create rules for your own home that there is peace and no yelling. Big thing with this placement is that when they learn with time that not everything is your responsibility, they are unstoppable, because they learn how to get a healthy feeling for naturally setting boudaries and limits in connections.

🌾 Oh you have Jupiter in the 7th house? And your romantic partner doesn't uplift you intellectually, emotionally, financially and spiritually? This relationship ain't it. But still beware of blind faith in relationships or having too high expectations for a connection that is not even committed yet. You can expect fair play, open-mindedness and fairness in connection too early on and you end up disappointed. Also beware of blindly following your partner's dreams instead of your own.

🐰 Aries Saturn people often supported their parents emotionally and materially/financially early in life.

🐏 If you are on the Virgo North Node/Pisces South Node axis, it's interesting, because you were probably born with the feeling of wanting to help others. But throughout life, you get to understand that you have to give that help with a system, on a schedule and with order. That's why you can't just mindlessly help people around you. Also, stop thinking "everything that could be", instead start setting and choosing "what will be".

🌾 With Jupiter in the 7th house you can be prone to attract educators, teachers, counsellors, lawyers.

🐰 Gemini/Virgo MC get promoted only then when they stop jumping from a career to career, from one work field to another. You get a promotion or see progress when you are long enough in your work field to actually specialise in it.

🐏 With Virgo North Node the key is NOT to serve others, but to create something concrete that serves others. You have to accept responsibility (not run away from it, Pisces South Node) and make that responsibility into something useful, either in your work field, in society or even art.

🌾 Also, Pisces South Node people keep searching for their "purpose", when in reality, for them is not searching for it, but instead "creating your own purpose" in life. When others just dream about their goals, you are building up those dream goals.

🐰 People, who have both Pisces and Aries over the 4th house, usually grew up in a home where emotions took over or were not expressed clearly (Pisces), yet there was a feeling of fighting for yourself (Aries). You felt you yourself can create safety. In adulthood, instead of chaos at home, you recognize your need for peace and order.

🐏 I noticed Virgo Midheavens excelling in fields of therapy, counseling, oganization, coaching, nutrition, psychology or analytics.

🌾 For Virgo North Nodes it's crucial to have a schedule, your rituals, excellent sleeping and eating schedule.

🐰 If you have Part of Fortune in the 1st house the only real gift you can give others, is your body, your presence and your energy.

🐏 Sagittarius Part of Fortune means you are a natural motivator and you feel the happiest when you are in movement or learning. You have a gift for seeing the bigger picture.

🌾 Gemini Part of Fortune means that you have very precise and excellent intuition for timing of your words, ideas and information.

Credit goes to my Tumblr blog @astroismypassion