#there are a few common causes to consider. Some of these include:

[emergencyplumbingil]

Sewer Ejector Pump.

When it comes to problems with a sewer ejector pump, there are a few common causes to consider. Some of these include:

Clogs: The most common cause of problems with sewer ejector pumps is the buildup of debris, grease, and other substances that can clog the pump or its pipes. This can obstruct the flow of wastewater and potentially lead to pump failure.

Power issues: Sewer ejector pumps rely on electricity to function. Electrical problems, such as a tripped circuit breaker or a faulty motor, can cause the pump to stop working or experience reduced performance.

Float switch malfunctions: Sewer ejector pumps typically have a float switch that senses the level of wastewater in the pump basin. If the float switch is not operating correctly, it may fail to activate the pump or cause it to run continuously, leading to potential issues.

Mechanical failures: Over time, various mechanical components of the sewer ejector pump can wear out or break. For example, impellers can become damaged or worn, resulting in reduced pumping capacity or failure.

Incorrect installation or sizing: If the sewer ejector pump is installed improperly or its capacity is not properly matched to the demands of the system, it can result in operational issues.

It's important to regularly inspect and maintain your sewer ejector pump to prevent these common problems. If you're experiencing difficulties, it may be necessary to consult a professional plumber or technician for proper troubleshooting and repair.

Phone 224-754-1984

[cripplecharacters]

Where to Start Your Research When Writing a Disabled Character

[large text: Where to Start Your Research When Writing a Disabled Character]

So you have decided that you want to make a disabled character! Awesome. But what's next? What information should you decide on at the early phrase of making the character?

This post will only talk about the disability part of the character creation process. Obviously, a disabled character needs a personality, interests, and backstory as every other one. But by including their disability early in the process, you can actually get it to have a deeper effect on the character - disability shouldn't be their whole life, but it should impact it. That's what disabilities do.

If you don't know what disability you would want to give them in the first place;

[large text: If you don't know what disability you would want to give them in the first place;]

Start broad. Is it sensory, mobility related, cognitive, developmental, autoimmune, neurodegenerative; maybe multiple of these, or maybe something else completely? Pick one and see what disabilities it encompasses; see if anything works for your character. Or...

If you have a specific symptom or aid in mind, see what could cause them. Don't assume or guess; not every wheelchair user is vaguely paralyzed below the waist with no other symptoms, not everyone with extensive scarring got it via physical trauma. Or...

Consider which disabilities are common in real life. Cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, stroke, cataracts, diabetes, intellectual disability, neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, thyroid disorders, autism, dwarfism, arthritis, cancers, brain damage, just to name a few.

Decide what specific type of condition they will have. If you're thinking about them having albinism, will it be ocular, oculocutaneous, or one of the rare syndrome-types? If you want to give them spinal muscular atrophy, which of the many possible onsets will they have? If they have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which one out of the 13 different types do they have? Is their amputation below, or above the knee (it's a major difference)? Not all conditions will have subtypes, but it's worth looking into to not be surprised later. This will help you with further research.

If you're really struggling with figuring out what exact disability would make sense for your character, you can send an ask. Just make sure that you have tried the above and put actual specifics in your ask to give us something to work with. You can also check out our "disabled character ideas" tag.

Here are some ideas for a character using crutches.

Here are some ideas for a character with a facial difference (obligatory link: what is a facial difference?).

If you already know what disability your character is going to have;

[large text: If you already know what disability your character is going to have;]

Start by reading about the onset and cause of the condition. It could be acquired, congenital, progressive, potentially multiple of these. They could be caused by an illness, trauma, or something else entirely. Is your character a congenital amputee, or is it acquired? If acquired - how recently? Has it been a week, or 10 years? What caused them to become disabled - did they have meningitis, or was it an accident? Again, check what your options are - there are going to be more diverse than you expect.

Read about the symptoms. Do not assume or guess what they are. You will almost definitely discover something new. Example: a lot of people making a character with albinism don't realize that it has other symptoms than just lack of melanin, like nystagmus, visual impairment, and photophobia. Decide what your character experiences, to what degree, how frequently, and what do they do (or don't do) to deal with it.

Don't give your character only the most "acceptable" symptoms of their disability and ignore everything else. Example: many writers will omit the topic of incontinence in their para- and tetraplegic characters, even though it's extremely common. Don't shy away from aspects of disability that aren't romanticized.

Don't just... make them abled "because magic". If they're Deaf, don't give them some ability that will make them into an essentially hearing person. Don't give your blind character some "cheat" so that they can see, give them a cane. Don't give an amputee prosthetics that work better than meat limbs. To have a disabled character you need to have a character that's actually disabled. There's no way around it.

Think about complications your character could experience within the story. If your character wears their prosthetic a lot, they might start to experience skin breakdown or pain. Someone who uses a wheelchair a lot has a risk of pressure sores. Glowing and Flickering Fantasy Item might cause problems for someone photophobic or photosensitive. What do they do when that happens, or how do they prevent that from happening?

Look out for comorbidities. It's rare for disabled people to only have one medical condition and nothing else. Disabilities like to show up in pairs. Or dozens.

If relevant, consider mobility aids, assistive devices, and disability aids. Wheelchairs, canes, rollators, braces, AAC, walkers, nasal cannulas, crutches, white canes, feeding tubes, braillers, ostomy bags, insulin pumps, service dogs, trach tubes, hearing aids, orthoses, splints... the list is basically endless, and there's a lot of everyday things that might count as a disability aid as well - even just a hat could be one for someone whose disability requires them to stay out of the sun. Make sure that it's actually based on symptoms, not just your assumptions - most blind people don't wear sunglasses, not all people with SCI use a wheelchair, upper limb prosthetics aren't nearly as useful as you think. Decide which ones your character could have, how often they would use them, and if they switch between different aids.

Basically all of the above aids will have subtypes or variants. There is a lot of options. Does your character use an active manual wheelchair, a powerchair, or a generic hospital wheelchair? Are they using high-, or low-tech AAC? What would be available to them? Does it change over the course of their story, or their life in general?

If relevant, think about what treatment your character might receive. Do they need medication? Physical therapy? Occupational therapy? Orientation and mobility training? Speech therapy? Do they have access to it, and why or why not?

What is your character's support system? Do they have a carer; if yes, then what do they help your character with and what kind of relationship do they have? Is your character happy about it or not at all?

How did their life change after becoming disabled? If your character goes from being an extreme athlete to suddenly being a full-time wheelchair user, it will have an effect - are they going to stop doing sports at all, are they going to just do extreme wheelchair sports now, or are they going to try out wheelchair table tennis instead? Do they know and respect their new limitations? Did they have to get a different job or had to make their house accessible? Do they have support in this transition, or are they on their own - do they wish they had that support?

What about *other* characters? Your character isn't going to be the only disabled person in existence. Do they know other disabled people? Do they have a community? If your character manages their disability with something that's only available to them, what about all the other people with the same disability?

What is the society that your character lives in like? Is the architecture accessible? How do they treat disabled people? Are abled characters knowledgeable about disabilities? How many people speak the local sign language(s)? Are accessible bathrooms common, or does your character have to go home every few hours? Is there access to prosthetists and ocularists, or what do they do when their prosthetic leg or eye requires the routine check-up?

Know the tropes. If a burn survivor character is an evil mask-wearer, if a powerchair user is a constantly rude and ungrateful to everyone villain, if an amputee is a genius mechanic who fixes their own prosthetics, you have A Trope. Not all tropes are made equal; some are actively harmful to real people, while others are just annoying or boring by the nature of having been done to death. During the character creation process, research what tropes might apply and just try to trace your logic. Does your blind character see the future because it's a common superpower in their world, or are you doing the ancient "Blind Seer" trope?

Remember, that not all of the above questions will come up in your writing, but to know which ones won't you need to know the answers to them first. Even if you don't decide to explicitly name your character's condition, you will be aware of what they might function like. You will be able to add more depth to your character if you decide that they have T6 spina bifida, rather than if you made them into an ambiguous wheelchair user with ambiguous symptoms and ambiguous needs. Embrace research as part of your process and your characters will be better representation, sure, but they will also make more sense and seem more like actual people; same with the world that they are a part of.

This post exists to help you establish the basics of your character's disability so that you can do research on your own and answer some of the most common ("what are symptoms of x?") questions by yourself. If you have these things already established, it will also be easier for us to answer any possible questions you might have - e.g. "what would a character with complete high-level paraplegia do in a world where the modern kind of wheelchair has not been invented yet?" is more concise than just "how do I write a character with paralysis?" - I think it's more helpful for askers as well; a vague answer won't be of much help.

I hope that this post is helpful,

mod Sasza

[larasraj]

i know many of you do not give a damn and that is a problem in its own regard but i am posting this in hopes that those who are unaware and who value their morals and their integrity over music will hopefully take something from it.

this seventeen album should be boycotted at all costs. i have been a carat for seven years now and i have a lot of love (as well as frustration) for these guys. i am endlessly proud of them for making it ten years in an industry designed to tear them down and wear them out, to take everything from human beings that it can— and then some. however i cannot allow this to overshadow the negative things surrounding this album, nor should you.

i will preface by saying that seventeen will not see a huge impact from a boycott. they make pennies on the dime per stream, $0.003 cents. seventeen are also far past comfortable financially, they are by all means rich, particularly woozi. they will be a-ok. this will not cause any damage to them outside of potential bruised egos, which is an unfortunate impact however not more important than the overall issues.

i also want to say that we know that boycotting is an effective tool to put pressure on companies to change their ways, but it needs to be an organized effort. it's not something you do for a few months and give up. it's also not something you pick and choose with — you don't avoid streaming songs and then buy a lightstick from the weverse shop because it was pretty, or attend a concert.

that said, you all should be boycotting hybe anyway. this is for multiple reasons. first is their employment and collaboration with people such as scooter braun, a staunch zionist who was outright thanked by the official israel twitter account. when scooter braun found out he was on the zionists in music twitter account, he said it was an honor and he never could've dreamed of such a thing happening to him. scooter braun has a long, problematic history i would encourage all of you to thoroughly research.

hybe has also recruited artists like johnny goldstein to work on their tracks. he is credited on enhypen, illit and txt tracks, and he has also worked closely with j-hope of bts. johnny goldstein is both a ccfp member as well as a former iof soldier. he is quite literally a child murderer and he is sitting in rooms with your favorite artists. that should infuriate you.

if that is not enough, consider the level of overwork that these artists have faced. seventeen is on their sixth album in approxiately 365 calendar days between whole group projects and individual unit projects. these all have one common factor: jihoon. he has produced six albums, short or otherwise, in one year. in one year, seventeen has also done one world tour, a japan tour, caratland, and headlined three festivals. does any of this sound sustainable for human beings? they are treated like products by their company, not human beings.

for these reasons there has been a boycott in place for over a year. many carats have chosen to break it out of 'love', but in reality, they are complicit in the mistreatment of their idols.

if none of this concerns you, there are also massive red flags with this current album.

first, bad influence, which makes up a third of the group songs on the album, is produced by pharrell who is a known zionist. in april 2024, in spite of the current social climate and despite readily available information, pharrell chose to accept an invitation to sing 'happy' to iof soldiers at a fundraising event. this is while carats in gaza are packing their photocards up while they flee their homes. pharrell made the conscious choice to be on the wrong side of history.

next, wonwoo's track credits el capitxn, who in march, took to instagram to brag that his company, vendors, produced a song for kanye's album which kanye himself said was based on 'antisemitic sounds'. they worked on the track ww3, which includes verses about epstein island, voting for djt, and 'rockin swastikas'. all he had to say regarding it was that he was 'proud of his boys' and 'they make it happen'.

you either stand in one of three places.

one, you believe seventeen does not have much autonomy. in that event, you should be angry and embarrassed that such individuals have their hands in their music, muddying everything seventeen is meant to stand for. you should not stand for it and the way to make a stand against it is by boycotting.

two, you believe seventeen does have autonomy and they have the ability to deny or to okay these things. if that is the case, you should feel frustration towards them for not doing their due diligence in these matters, when they are thirteen grown men with full, unrestricted access to the internet, when they have been called out for similar behavior before, when at least one of them has to know better. you can make that frustration known by boycotting.

or you don't really care, and at the end of the day you'll always be spineless, a so called 'real fan' who will buy into everything they do and reserve all your anger for those who want them to do better, who consistently call them out, instead of wishing they would make fewer mistakes. you will always buy the albums and the photocards and the concert tickets because you don't have the strength to be anything more than another cog in the capitalist machine. just know that you are not a fan, you are a consumer, and that your blind support and willingness to throw your money at every endeavor ultimately harms your artists before it helps them.

if you do care... take a stand. take a stand against mistreatment and overwork, against seventeen being pushed towards being another mass produced, western pandering act. take a stand towards seventeen's music having filthy hands involved in it everytime you look up. you should be embarrassed, you should be frustrated and you need to do something about it or nothing will ever change.

there should never be a time in modern history where we are proud for our favorite artists to work with zionists and people who shake hands with nazis. there is no excuse.

seventeen will survive losing streams and chart positions. they will live. and maybe their company will learn a valuable lesson for it. we have the power to do something and it's high time we wake up and do it, all of us.

nobody is saying you can’t listen. but instead of opening spotify up, download the tracks from a third party instead. they will be ok, i promise. boycotting takes no effort, it is literally an act of not doing something. if seventeen means something to you, this is how you should express it right now. please, i want better for them and you should as well.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

When your Character "Lacks Empathy"

A person who lacks empathy - has a difficult time taking on another person’s feelings as their own.

They may struggle with the cognitive and emotional skills to understand, relate, and mutually share in another person’s experience to better understand their emotional pain.

Types of Empathy

There are three common types of empathy that a person may lack:

Cognitive empathy: Also known as perspective-taking, cognitive empathy relies on the listener’s capacity to relate to another person’s perspective without imposing their own experience, point of view, or biases.

Compassionate empathy: A hybrid of cognitive and emotional empathy, compassionate empathy requires analyzing the underlying cause and effect of a situation. After someone explains their circumstances, you can demonstrate that you understand their situation on some level in an unbiased manner.

Emotional empathy: An emotionally empathetic person can mirror another’s struggles. This means they can care for another’s well-being through shared experience of emotional situations.

Signs of Lack of Empathy

While there are many different signs that a person lacks empathy, here are a few common traits that unempathetic people may display:

An inability to understand others: A person who lacks empathy may struggle to understand other people’s feelings, problems, or life situations.

Difficulty regulating emotions: Someone who lacks empathy often has a hard time understanding or regulating their own emotions.

Excessive criticism: Those who lack empathy may criticize others harshly and often. They rarely use validation to make others feel seen or heard.

Impatience: A person who lacks empathy may be extremely impatient with other people, their difficulties, and their emotions.

Minimal forgiveness: Those who lack empathy are often unwilling to forgive others for their mistakes or weaknesses or remember that other people are also human beings.

Poor listening skills: Many people who lack empathy have a hard time listening to other people, whether they’re sharing triumphs or struggles.

Self-centeredness: A person who lacks empathy is often self-centered or self-focused and has a difficult time considering other people.

Victim-blaming: Those who lack empathy are often quick to blame the victim in a situation, rather than considering the perpetrator or system.

Some Causes of a Lack of Empathy

There are many causes of an empathy deficit. They include but are not limited to:

A personality disorder: Some people who struggle to empathize with others may have a personality disorder that inhibits their ability to connect or communicate. Common personality disorders include narcissistic personality disorder (NPD or narcissism), antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (or BPD).

Autism spectrum disorder: Individuals on the autism spectrum may experience different levels of empathy, interpersonal skills, and emotional intelligence.

Lack of awareness: Many people who lack empathy simply don’t realize it and therefore haven’t spent time and energy working to develop empathy. Self-awareness is a key step toward empathy.

Lack of role models: Many people who are unempathetic have not had strong role models for empathetic behavior in their lives—or have had many models of unempathetic behavior instead.

Impact of Lack of Empathy

Empathy is a foundational component to feeling compassion for others, building trust with others, and helping loved ones through hard times.

Without a sense of empathy, a person will struggle to care about anyone other than themselves, and may find it difficult to care about helping or listening to others.

This lack of empathy can severely affect their ability to maintain healthy relationships with others or effect positive change in their community.

Addressing a Lack of Empathy

If you find that someone you know—whether a family member or a coworker—is struggling to be an empathetic person, here are a few techniques you can use to help encourage their sense of empathy:

Address it directly. Many people who lack empathy are simply unaware of themselves or the struggles around them. While it may be hard, consider sitting down one-on-one with the people in your life who lack empathy and talk candidly about the situation. Be patient, kind, and empathetic in your conversation—even if they’re upset, the honest realization that they struggle to experience empathy is the first step toward actively developing the skill.

Model empathic behavior. One of the strongest ways for a person to develop empathy and emotional connections with others is to surround themselves with good role models of empathetic behavior. To help someone who struggles to be empathetic, display empathy in your conversations with them and in your interactions with others, being kind and generous to show them what it looks like.

Practice identifying emotions. Many people who lack empathy struggle to understand others’ emotions and where they come from. They may interpret someone who’s scared as being angry or someone who’s hurt as being aggressive. To help develop their ability to understand others’ emotions, practice identifying emotional reactions in others and discussing potential causes. For example, if a friend is having a hard time, talk through it with the person to identify how that friend might be feeling and why. You can also consider discussing ways in which you both could help.

Recommend professional help. Some people may lack empathy due to a mental health difficulty or major stressor in their life. Consider recommending a visit to a mental health professional or empathy coach to help them get their life back on track and make more room for empathy in their interactions with others.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[pellucid-constellations]

Favoritism

Pairing: Line Cook!Azriel x Reader

Summary: Azriel always seems to be working. Well, not always. Sometimes he's on the phone outside the restaurant with a massive smile on his face.

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: None

a/n: Another little piece for this AU!! I'm loving building it up and including all the characters. I'm also loving characterizing Azriel!!! I can't wait for it to get more juicy and to add some angst in the near future ;) Thanks for reading!!!

Main Masterlist ��

~~

“Here again, Azriel?”

“I picked up Lucien’s shift,” Azriel explained, moving the pan side to side atop the flame. 

Elain hummed, her hip against the counter. “You all have such weird names.” 

Azriel rose a brow. “Your sister’s name is Nesta. And Feyre isn’t very common either.” 

“Yes, well my sisters are included in my definition of ‘all’.” 

Azriel hummed, pinching salt into the pan and flipping its contents. The heat from the stovetop warmed his fingers as he went, calling his attention to the tan lines along his knuckles—rings he constantly needed to remove for work, an action that had been even more prevalent in recent weeks. 

Elain spoke up again. “I feel like I see you here every time I work.” 

“You call out every other shift. Of course you’re going to see me on the off-chance you come in,” Azirel droned, but there was a hint of a smile on his face that had Elain scoffing out a laugh. 

“Oh, ha ha,” Elain mocked. “But seriously, Az, you’re always in this kitchen. I know for a fact that Rhysand wouldn’t make his best friend work so much. What’s the deal?” 

Azriel knocked his head to the side as he considered Elain’s question. He plated the meal he had been working on—the one that would send Elain and her barrage of questions away—and set it on the counter she occupied. He gave his hands a quick wash, flipping a hand towel over his shoulder and crossing his arms. The waitress had not moved from her spot. 

“Money.” 

Elain did not budge. “Money? You? I know you can afford that house of yours without all of these hours. Rhys pays you far too much.” 

Azriel gave her a look as if to say that’s my explanation. Take it or leave it. 

Elain was not taking that explanation, clearly. Azriel watched her roll her eyes and let out another scoff before swiping the plate from the counter. 

“Always so stupidly secretive,” she huffed. “You are ridiculous.” 

Elain missed the small laugh Azriel breathed out as she left in a flurry.

Azriel then noticed the small break in orders that was typical for this time of day and used the opening as an excuse for his break. He called out to the others in the kitchen and then made his way to the dining room with his phone loosely gripped in his hand. 

A few taps on the screen and your voice came through. 

“Hi, Az,” you greeted, a smile clear in your words.

“Hi, baby,” he smiled right back. The earring on his right ear clicked against the phone as he licked his lips and continued. “You not in class?” 

“I tried to plan my schedule around your lunch rush. No class between the hours of two and four.” 

Azriel felt his face heat a fraction. “Right. Forgot about that.” 

You giggled. “So, how’s work? I didn’t expect you to go in this morning.” 

“It’s fine. Work. I was just picking up a shift as a favor. But I’ll be off in time to get you for dinner.” 

Azriel listened as something shuffled in the back of your call—bikers whizzing past you, he assumed. That damn campus always gave him a heart attack. You called out a small apology he was sure no one was listening to before speaking to him once more. 

“You seem to owe a lot of favors, Az. Are you causing that much trouble over there?” you joked.  A small pause. “Also, do you think we could eat in? I don’t really have the money for a restaurant right now. My financial aid is not aiding me in the ways it should.” 

Azriel felt his heart clench at the humorless laugh you released. You lived on campus and relied on the school’s dining plan which did very little for you nutritionally and emotionally. He had offered—countless times—for you to live with him or let him buy you groceries or just straight-up give you money, but none of that made you comfortable. 

So, Azriel found other ways to solve this problem. 

Azriel hummed in feigned contemplation. “We could. But the boss gave me a gift card to that new place downtown. I figured we could use it to celebrate.” 

“Oh yeah? And what are we celebrating?” 

“You.” 

“Me?” you asked with an incredulous laugh. “Why on earth would we be celebrating me? All I’ve done recently is complain and cry a few times.” 

Azriel couldn’t remove the smile from his face. He slotted his wrist in the crook of his elbow as he leaned against the wall outside the restaurant. Damn you and all the ways you made him melt in public. 

“You only cried twice this month. We should celebrate that record. Not to mention you were crying over chemistry which we established was an acceptable response to that class.” 

You gasped and began rambling about your chemistry professor. Azriel briefly checked his watch and relished in the fact that he had twenty more minutes to listen to you speak. He happened to miss, however, the waitress who was listening in just around the corner. 

Elain was furious. 

First, Azriel had a girlfriend that she had no idea about. Which was ridiculous because Elain considered Azriel to be one of her closest friends. And second—and perhaps most appalling—Rhysand was handing out gift cards to the staff and she had not been a recipient of this graciousness. 

Elain narrowed her eyes and glared and the stucco lining the building before she slammed her way through the restaurant and straight into Rhysand’s office. The man calmly glanced up from his computer upon her arrival, an amused brow raised at her apparent fury. 

“Hello, Elain,” he greeted. Rhysand leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers at his stomach. “You seem in high spirits.” 

“Where’s my gift card?” she demanded, closing the door behind her with a harsh click. “You’re giving out gift cards and I have yet to receive one.” 

Rhysand blinked. “I haven’t given out any gift cards.” 

“And now you’re lying—great.” Elain plopped down in the cushioned chair on the other side of Rhysand’s desk. “I just heard Azriel talking about a gift card to that insanely expensive place that just opened. Rita’s or something. And he was talking to his girlfriend—did you know he had a girlfriend?” 

“I did—” 

Elain hadn’t been looking for a response. “He said you gave it to him. If you’re playing favoritism I will call the Better Business Bureau. And I’ll tell Nesta. You know how she gets around you. Also, why does Azriel, like, live here? Aren’t there laws around overtime? None of his seems fair and—” 

“Elain,” Rhysand calmly interrupted. “May I answer any one of your questions? Or, perhaps, speak?” 

Elain bit the inside of her cheek and nodded in annoyance. 

“Perfect.” Rhysand crossed his ankle over his knee. “I haven’t given out any gift cards. If I do, I promise you’ll be the first to know. It’s possible that Azriel used me as a way to take his girlfriend out to dinner—as he has done countless times. If you were to meet her, you’d see why that was a necessity. She’s very much like Feyre in that way. In that explanation is also the reason why Azriel is always here, working.” 

Elain felt her vexation deflate, but some of it lingered. “And why are you so knowledgeable about this mysterious girlfriend?” 

Rhysand only shrugged. “Azriel’s private. Protective. He knows all of you are a bunch of gossips.” 

Elain scoffed for the countless time that afternoon, still pissed that there was no gift card to be had.

[toxicanonymity]

Dear Anon Haters (Not just mine),

You don't have to like everyone. People can rub you the wrong way. But sometimes hate without real cause goes too far. Hating Elon Musk or Stephen Miller? Rational. *Productive* even, if it leads to activism or building community. Hating members of fandom so much that you can't stop watching them or sending hate? That's a problem.

The solution isn't to justify the emotion by convincing yourself that anyone you hate must be doing real harm. Slapping them with labels that are universally considered vile and hate-worthy is a desperate move. Doing this serves no one except those who benefit from the dilution and misuse of those terms. Like predators and the far right. It hurts everyone else, including you.

Obsessive hate is a form of self sabotage.

It can raise cortisol, disrupt sleep, and weaken libido. Hate is a black hole that sucks up mental energy and space that could be used on things with actual payoff. You don't wanna look back and wonder what you could've done with all the time and effort you spent stalking, dragging, or stewing over someone. You'll never know what you could've created, learned, or experienced. If you're in an echo chamber, it's robbing you of these things.

Making someone else's life miserable will never make you fulfilled. I'm not asking you to swear off being a hater for life, and I'm not saying no one is ever worthy of hate. But for your own good, try being honest with yourself and open to the idea that there is a better use for that energy, even if your only motivator is self-interest.

I know you care less about the impact to the other person, especially if you've truly deluded yourself into believing everyone you dislike is a terrible person. But it is worth remembering that behind every screen, there is a real person with an entire life and inner world and people in their life. People behind the screen have their own responsibilities, goals, regrets, dirty dishes, bills, trauma, shortcomings, failures, losses... You might have more in common with them than you think. They might even be actively involved in something IRL that you would support. And you never know what someone is going through. But you do know they are not responsible for your core insecurities.

You and the person you hate have common enemies, for sure. Like the ones devaluing human life and taking health care away and militarizing ICE, sending BIPOC and immigrants to alligator alcatraz, destroying the earth, and literally poisoning marginalized communities. If spite/hate is the only motivation that works for you, maybe try a placebo like redirecting it to one of these common enemies.

These common enemies are so insidious, so much more worthy of that hater energy. But you already know that, so what's the deal? Maybe the idea of upsetting someone lets you feel some kind of power and control you lack elsewhere. Maybe, with those more deserving of hate, the instant gratification isn't there compared to lashing out at someone more likely to read your message. But where is that gratification even coming from? What is it made of? What does it say about you? Because I promise you, it doesn't say anything at all about the person you hate.

Ty for reading, even if you hate-read. 🖤 ☠️

Managing your tumblr experience

How to stop obsessing over someone you hate

12 steps to stop feeling bitter:

1. Do a genuine re-evaluation, being honest with yourself. Often, in telling our story to others, we stop telling the truth to ourselves. What actually haunts you, versus what you tell your friends bothers you because they all agree it should?

2. Put your story on hold. What would happen if, just for a week, or even a few days, you take a break from telling it?

3. Take what responsibility you can for your feelings. The point is not to blame yourself, but to reclaim your personal power.

4. Stop spying. Spying on the person who triggered your upset is self-torture that inevitably lowers self-esteem. Spying on others can also be addictive. If you can’t stop spying, you might need support.

5. Face up to your hidden fears. Bitterness often is a perfect disguise for fear of failing. If the odds are stacked against you and nothing is fair, it's not your fault if you don't succeed how you want. If you deal with the fear, you won’t need the bitterness.

6. Forgive when feeling bitter? Sure, but only at your own pace. Fake forgiveness can be a way of just denying how you feel, or even hold you back from processing emotions and situations.

7. And don’t forget to forgive yourself, too. It’s possible to hold on to feeling bitter for a long time so you can focus your anger on someone else because the hard truth is that you are furious at yourself.

8. Step into the now. Bitterness lives in the past and the future. Get into the now moment by concerning yourself with current opportunities and goals.

9. Branch out from feeling bitter. Bitterness tends to fade in the face of excitement and joy. In other words, new and better experiences.

10. Set mini goals for yourself each day. Bitterness is a powerful tide, and best intentions to try new things and be mindful can soon be caught in its tug. The way around this is to not just make big goals, but also small, achievable goals that keep you on the road away from feeling bitter.

11. Try a new perspective. Feeling bitter can have us seeing life from a very narrow perspective indeed. Imagine what the situation you are struggling with would look like from a different viewpoint entirely.

12. Seek support. Feeling bitter can be quite the battle to move on from. And sometimes the strongest tactic and easiest way forward is to accept help.

----

[wired-arteries]

Evidence for plurality outside of DID is NOT hard to come across.

The existence of multiple selves in normality, spirtuality and also in other disorders that arent just DID are pretty well studied. Here are a few sources that I found just today and im sure by reading these texts yourself and by following up on the references cited within them, you can find even more evidence. btw, definitely do not use z-library or sci-hub to access these sources if they are paywalled.. thatd be just awful...

On Multiple Selves, By David Lester This book is fantastic for talking about plurality not just in DID but in many different situations. It mentions the theories of dozens of psychologists which include the experience plurality-- not just in DID or pathology --showing that this subject IS well studied. A lot of these experiences and theories are remarkably similar to what endogenic systems commonly purport online as I will show in screenshots below. Even though there are screenshots i implore you to access this resource yourself, it's great and has so many different viewpoints on this subject.

Handbook of psychiatric measures (2nd edition., pages 587–599). by American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Description: This resource is specifically on psychiatric measurement tools and diagnostic tools, but mentions DID and non pathological forms of plurality briefly. note "e.g." means EXAMPLE not the only possible experience of non-pathological dissociation.

Moreira-Almeida A, Neto FL, Cardeña E. Comparison of brazilian spiritist mediumship and dissociative identity disorder. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2008 Description: Studies about mediumship and a comparsion to those with DID, note that mediumship is being studied as a psychological dissociative phenomenon here and not particularly as a solely religious one, they are considering psychological explainations & factors. It is stated literally "there is empirical evidence that nonpathologic dissociative and mediumistic states have occured throughout history and in most societies". Though mediumship is often a spiritual experience I think the underlying psychological causes can be studied and equated to non-pathological/non-traumagenic plurality.

Lewis-Fernández, R. (1998). A cultural critique of the DSM-IV dissociative disorders section. Transcultural Psychiatry, 35(3), 387–400. Description: Addresses concerns that the DSM-IV criteria for DID does not properly address non-pathological dissociation considered a part of normality in many cultures. Here it mentions that in some cultures dissociation in rituals and practices is normal and not pathological. I believe that this same view could also be applied to types of western endogenic plurality, as these also could be influenced by cultural factors as a form of dissociation that is not pathological. I would like to see more research specifically into western endogenic plurality!

If you want papers directly stating "Endogenic plurality is real & DID isnt the only way to experience it" there just probably isnt any. I dont think many of these researcher even know of online communities and our terms, but there is LOTS of research into plurality outside of DID & pathology, you just have to look for it and fit it to your use-case. A lot of these are talking about spiritual and cultural experiences, this doesnt mean they arent real or arent based on underlying actual psychological experience, and most these studies/articles are specifically focusing on the psychological aspect. Mediumship is a common example of non-pathological dissociative experience, mainly because its more known and well studied, but I believe studies on western endogenic plurality would likely have similar studies. Nonetheless it does confirm that non-pathological & non-traumagenic dissociative experiences have led to plurality-like experiences, at least in some cultures around the world.

[sheepispink]

Yknow when you randomly have a dream about someone, like a random person u see in the hallway or just literally a friend of a friend. Ok imagine this, but it’s Simon Riley in your dream. (technically platonic, and fully sfw)

(Simons reaction , He dreams of you )

———

You consider yourself to be pretty attentive to your job, even so far as to push out the chance of a romantic relationship whilst you balance it. Infact, you’re so dedicated it’s been years since you’d even had a partner. Alright, maybe that’s not exactly something to brag about. Point is, it’s hard to juggle a relationship in the military. Between deployments, utmost secrecy and the constant pressure from your commanding officer, it’s tough to even text your friends on a weekday let alone have to reassure a partner. It’s not like relationships between soldiers are allowed anyway, considering the threat that could cause others in times of emotional turmoil.

So, since your first day, you’ve barely had any romantic interaction if not none at all. And you intended to keep it that way, well at least, the front part of your brain did.

Johnny knew something was up with you, the problem was that he just couldnt place where it laid at all. You were all cheery with Gaz, holding intrigue to all the extensive topics Price liked to talk about with you— plus you even sat together in your free time to learn how he draws so well. But he just couldn't fathom why you had suddenly never been seen near Ghost. Sure, he never really interacted that much with anyone outside the taskforce, but you were practically part of it now with how often you were included in their get togethers.

It’s been going on since a few days after the last mission you and Ghost had returned from. He had been your lieutenant for it, a one off, and only lasted two weeks anyway. The week you had returned, the taskforce had bundled into the common room for a premier league match, everyone save for you watching intently. Ghost hadnt arrived just yet, but when he did, Johnny took his eyes off the screen for the first time to see you instantly stand up straight, make an excuse and scurry elsewhere.

That wasn't the first time though. You sat farthest from him in debriefings, even going as far to make sure he wasn't anywhere in your line of view, changed your training times that would usually clashed with Ghosts. It was safe to say that you were avoiding the large man like he was the damn plague. At first, Johnny had questioned if it was Ghost’s fault, seeing as he wasnt typically one to soften a blow or have much mercy. Though, when he posed a question about the mission he just shrugged and said you did well, as you usually did. “Half the base is scared o’ me, what’s another?” The masked man had scoffed, eyebrows furrowing a lot more than they usually would before he pushes the weights up again before lowering them down with a strain of his muscles.

So now Johnny had no choice— he’d have to get the truth directly from you.

“Alright spit it, you got a crush on the Lt or wha’ ?”

He had just snatched the gun from your hands, leaving you annoyed as you tried to grab it back from him to continue your practice. “I do not have a crush on anyone! You know i’m dedicated to my work.” You complain, still trying (and failing) to get the right angle and get your gun back from him. However, before he can question you further, Gaz conveniently appears, a small grin on his face.

“Not a crush per say, but definitely some thoughts.” He gives Johnny a cheeky look, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walks forward towards you two. “She’s been having dreams.”

“Gaz!”

“How come you told him about your steamy dreams and not me?”

“They’re not steamy!” You snap at him, causing a few of the other soldiers to turn around. Now you’re all groaning, especially you with two men desperately trying to embarass you in this training room.

The problem was that when the sleep after the last deployment stopped feeling like a coma, your mind began to wander in your sleep again. It started out simple, maybe it was you and Soap in a cartoon you used to watch when you were a kid. Maybe you and Gaz were fighting off some crazy invasion with zombies and the like. Whatever it was, it was lighthearted and funny, something you’d tell them and you’d all snicker over. Though this one, these occuring dreams with Ghost— they were very different. It wasnt just the contents, the hand holding, the soft words and whispers, it was the way it made your heart spike, like it never has before. Definitely not in a way you’ve ever thought about with the Lieutenant either. First you thought that maybe it wasnt him, plenty of people wore masks around base, and you’ve seen a fair shair of masked men before. It was likely someone else, that’s it, something silly your mind brewed up since you were feeling more relaxed these days, happier. By the end of this week you were proven sorely wrong as you had yet another two dreams with him in it.

You huff and cross your arms over your chest, eyes averted to the floor. “Okay, okay, can we just take this outside?”

—

You should’ve remembered to make Johnny swear he’d never tell Ghost, because now you were sat beside the man himself as he glanced down at you. It’s obvious he knows—even the damn captain teased you about it earlier. “Whatever Soap told you, it’s not like that.” You scoff, crossing your arms over your chest in an attempt to preserve some dignity despite the fact Ghost now knew all about the way your mind wanders when you fall asleep. Surprisingly, there’s an amused glint in his eye as he leans back on the couch, huffing out a gruff chuckle. “Sure looks like it. You had me worried for a moment, thought I scared the team’s bird off.”

The faux title is affectionate, something Johnny came up with when you squeaked in surprise once. Plus, with the way you’re always cheery with them all you might as well be a little robin singing in their ears. Even so, your cheeks tinge pink, the dreams flashing back like they do every time he’s in a close proximity. They’re not even all that bad, barely even romantic but it’s the fact you’ve never even seen him in that way that gets you. “Clearly you can't get rid of me that easily.” You huff, almost annoyed at your subconsciousness’ own insistence to cling onto the taskforce. He chuckles again, and stretches his arm to rest on the couch, brushing the back of your head. You blink at the feeling, glancing back up at his masked face that crinkles near his cheeks.

Now that you think about it, he doesn't usually sit near you, nor does he approach you other than you and Soap’s shared conversations. But now here he is, right beside you. He startles you from his thoughts when his hand somehow finds itself appearing around your waist, tucking you right beside him as his other hand turns the tv on. “Huh-“ You squeak in your typical fashion, snapping your head to face him.” What are you doing?”

”It’s a friday, you have nothin better to do.” He grunts, like this was normal, before searching through Netflix for his usual wildlife documentary that you’ve seen him watch quite a few times. It’s hard to ignore how warm his hand is on your side, how loose the grip is—almost as if you’re a delicate vase—and how soft his breathing is. “You’re not mad..? That i’ve been having weird dreams?”

”It’s not a dream if it’s real, is it?” He’s not wrong, this is exactly how your head painted this situation the other night. You blink in response, and then slowly relax, your shoulder bumping against his side as your head falls against his shoulder. Sure, it wasnt no fleeting romance, but it sure did feel good to grab what most deemed impossible— the attention of the base’s feared lieutenant. Unfortunately, Soap would be dead if he spilled the beans of the Lieutenant’s actual reaction to the news of your dreams, but you may be able to find the dent of the weight haphazardly covered by a rug.

——-

His reaction

[passionateseadruid]

do you guys know what a common law marriage is?

common law marriage is basically when two people live together for so long that they can consider themselves married without actually being married.

(And I’m pretty sure everyone knows about FWB)

So imagine that but Lucifer.

After his wife left him for 7 years Charlie pushes him to get back out there. He’s not quite ready for an emotional connection, but he finds someone who’s looking for a long term casual connection.

So that’s how you guys start this FWB situation. And after a few months of meet-ups he decides to just ask you to move in to his penthouse at the Hazbin Hotel so that he could have you close whenever he wants.

From there his touches becomes less raunchy and more sensual. It’s clear he’s using you to fill the emotional void in his heart. He’s very Chivalrous so he lets you use his black card. He files all the paperwork, including taxes, for you (realistically he pays someone to do it). You two seem to keep this exclusive. Plus he’s constantly buying you gifts and being super affectionate with you. This is Lucifer “Wife-Guy” Magne Morningstar we’re talking about, after all.

(Side note! I actually have a theory that Magne was the last name he had in Heaven but once people synchronized Lucifer with the Morningstar he just went with it.)

You guys aren’t exactly ready to call it a real relationship so you just take things slow. He starts to heal the wounds of the divorce and after a while it’s actually him that wants to break off the arrangement. The two of you continue to be friends and you move a few floors down on his side of the hotel.

However it’s been a few years at this point and once you move out it causes a huge scandal! Some of the Goetia, Shark Demons, and Overlords are trying to sue him for you! (To get a cut of the earnings of course.)

Neither of you know what’s going on! Suddenly Lucifer finds this really old bill he stuffed into the back of his filing cabinet (That or Asmodeus showed him). It was a bill from the beginning of his reign as the king of Hell. With how hell’s society runs only royals really ever use the court to get married. It’s just considered a faux pas for the lower class demons. Still a good chunk of them acted like married couples so Lucifer passed a Common Law Practice Act.

Cohabitation is required

The community must repute them as husband and wife (basically you just need to have a reputation of being an intimate couple)

The couple must have consented to the arrangements

Now because you had been willing living together for a few years and made no effort to hide any PDA consent had been given prematurely. (Like when you don’t read a TOS and just scroll to the bottom and click “I agree”)

You felt so bad. Lucifer laughs it off and just casually says, “we might as well get married for real now!”

And that’s how you accidentally got married

[legalandnotease]

One claim I often see Tony fans making is that Steve was being selfish for not "considering children born during the Snap" in the team's desire to bring everybody back.

This is obviously a form of emotional blackmail After all- how could *anybody* want to erase *billions* of children?

Well, this claim is wrong for a number of reasons

1: There is no evidence of large-scale births or an increasing birth rate during the Snap. Tony fans often say that there must have been millions and milions of children born during the Snap, but this makes no sense because, as a general rule humans do not simply "get over" losing their entire family an "move on".

Even losing one child can be an emotional blow that person never recovers from. Clint Barton lost all 3 of his children, and we know he did not simply "move on" and start a new family.

People do not simply recover from such things in a few years and create new families. It almost never happens.

Furthermore, population dynamics come to play: some planets lost as much as 3/4 of their population due to Thanos pre-Snap genocides.

Even for those who lost "only" half though this would mean half of all birthing females and existing children snapped.

Fewer birthing females means..... a lower birth rate. Also take account of things like infertility and the fact that some women who lost thier children would have been beyond childbearing age: notable case - Queen Ramonda.

Even assuming people were interested in relationships and reproduction (and most were not) the birth rate during the Snap would have been expontentially lower then it was before.

Real life disasters and catastrophes also reveal that it takes a long time for the population to recover. The Black Death killed 1/3 to 1/2 of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages- and it took something along the lines of 3 to 4 centuries for the population to reach the level that it had been before the plague struck.

Literally: it can take HUNDREDS of years for the population to recover. The idea that the world would have returned to normal after only 5 years is ludicrous.

2: The children killed by the Snap.

Half of the human race were snapped. This would have included children. Potentially hundeds of millions of children were killed by the Snap. This is far more than the number who who have been born during the Snap.

There's another issue however: many children would have died after the Snap.

Sick children whose parents or doctors were snapped and were unable to get the medical treatment they needed

Young children whose parents were snapped would have died within a few days if nobody found them.

Children in poorer countries would have been the first to succumb to things like famines and food shortages caused by the Snap.

However, children in rich countries would have followed. Food shortages and the breakdown of intractructure would have caused problems witht the availability of food and medical supplies. Diseases would have become more common without the medicines to keep them in check, and poor sanitation.

In other words, potentiallly hundreds of millions more children would have died after the Snap in addition to those who had been Snappped.

None of those children would have been bought back by Bruce's Snap in Endgame. They would have stayed dead. All because of Tony's selfish insistence that he "didn't change anything from the last 5 years".

So, no matter how Tony fans want to try and twist things: Tony Stark was quite prepared to sacrifice *hundreds of millions* if not billions of children for the sake of his desire to preserve his personal paradise.

He did not, in fact, "save everybody" at all. He saved only those bought back after the Snap and ... not really even them as they had to contend with years of social and economic problems.

You know what the most interesting irony of it all is though? Tony fucked over all those people for nothing. Pepper was already pregnant before the Snap, so reversing it would not have erased Morgan anyway.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

Not covid specific, but good to remember: Masking and other airborne disease prevention keeps you from getting other diseases like the flu too. Covid's not the only threat to your long-term health out there.

By Felicity Nelson

A study of around 500,000 medical records suggested that severe viral infections like encephalitis and pneumonia increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Researchers found 22 connections between viral infections and neurodegenerative conditions in the study of around 450,000 people.

People treated for a type of inflammation of the brain called viral encephalitis were 31 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. (For every 406 viral encephalitis cases, 24 went on to develop Alzheimer's disease – around 6 percent.)

Those who were hospitalized with pneumonia after catching the flu seemed to be more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Intestinal infections and meningitis (both often caused by a virus), as well as the varicella-zoster virus, which causes shingles, were also implicated in the development of several neurodegenerative diseases.

The impact of viral infections on the brain persisted for up to 15 years in some cases. And there were no instances where exposure to viruses was protective.

Around 80 percent of the viruses implicated in brain diseases were considered 'neurotrophic', which means they could cross the blood-brain barrier.

"Strikingly, vaccines are currently available for some of these viruses, including influenza, shingles (varicella-zoster), and pneumonia," the researchers wrote in their paper published last year.

"Although vaccines do not prevent all cases of illness, they are known to dramatically reduce hospitalization rates. This evidence suggests that vaccination may mitigate some risk of developing neurodegenerative disease."

In 2022, a study of more than 10 million people linked the Epstein-Barr virus with a 32-fold increased risk of multiple sclerosis.

"After reading [this] study, we realized that for years scientists had been searching – one-by-one – for links between an individual neurodegenerative disorder and a specific virus," said senior author Michael Nalls, a neurogeneticist at the National Institute on Aging in the US.

"That's when we decided to try a different, more data science-based approach," he said. "By using medical records, we were able to systematically search for all possible links in one shot."

First, the researchers analyzed the medical records of around 35,000 Finns with six different types of neurodegenerative diseases and compared this against a group of 310,000 controls who did not have a brain disease.

This analysis yielded 45 links between viral exposure and neurodegenerative diseases, and this was narrowed down to 22 links in a subsequent analysis of 100,000 medical records from the UK Biobank.

While this retrospective observational study cannot demonstrate a causal link, it adds to the pile of research hinting at the role of viruses in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

"Neurodegenerative disorders are a collection of diseases for which there are very few effective treatments and many risk factors," said co-author Andrew Singleton, a neurogeneticist and Alzheimer's researcher and the director of the Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias.

"Our results support the idea that viral infections and related inflammation in the nervous system may be common – and possibly avoidable – risk factors for these types of disorders."

This study was published in Neuron.

Study link: www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(22)01147-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627322011473%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

[bleedingichorhearts]

Hello Ichor

I saw your requests are open and Wh40k is on the list, so can I request a yandere!Emperor of mankind x reader with SMUT?

The plot is reader is a qualified mercenary and busy doing her mercenary stuff. She met Big E (not knowing it was him) and impressed very much so he decided to take her with him. The reader wasn’t pleased and tried to do what she could do to get the Emperor off her back…but didn’t reach success)

“Hello Anon! It seems the Yandere!Emperor has made a few of you… worship him unintentionally like with his son…” - Ichor

Summary - “Being a skilled mercenary means you would have some unusual employers… You didn’t think it would include a huge red flag covered in gold.”

||Taglist has been moved to the bottom for a more organized look, and so people don’t have to scroll a mile just to see any writing.||

||Words: 1.4k||TW// Yandere, Entrapment, Smut, Noncon/Dubcon Fingering(I do not condone these actions.)

“You sicken me.” You lowly growl your words at him. Eyes narrowed at him from where you stand: high above and away from his grasp. You weren’t a fool to be so close to a figure of ultimate power like him. A proclaimed god; an Emperor. “You tricked me.”

However, you have been a fool not to realize the mask’s he wears.

You have this Emperor on… “common grounds” you would like to say, but considering you were on the job, taking care of things that your job required? It was more or less on enemy grounds, and he was in the way. In front of your target; talking to them as if this person didn’t cause atrocities that would have an hit on their back.

This target of yours has done the common thing: Pissed off a higher power. Something that not many would want to ever do, or even dare to do, and yet here’s your target. Wanted for foul words and… unholy actions upon young with the price of his head being quite a generous mount for such an easy kill. Well, besides the damn Emperor in your way, or at that time he called himself “Hercules.” A name you did hear upon history…

Besides positively feeling he was giving you a fake name. You usually don’t take missions from the rich, you didn’t like the dance between them and how they hold themselves above, but there are some poor that can be just as evil as them. All because they might not have lived correctly. A saddening reason, honestly.

“Tricked you?” The golden titan below you looks up at you with a blank, eerie stare. His eyes softly glowing with hidden mysteries and power. “You came to me willingly, little one.”

“Don’t bullshit me.” You dare to curse, your eyebrows coming together in anger. Your hand tightening into a fist around your bladed weapon. “You manipulated me, made me trust you despite my refusal to do so.”

“Did I now?” He just hums at you, tilting his head as his hair falls from his shoulder. “Should I remind you of your times together? Or will I have to remind you.”

You would have winced at his words, but you didn’t want to lose your pride in front of this… asshole. He didn’t deserve it, but his simple words do remind you of the times you did have together. Only because you didn’t know the man was the Emperor despite your gut churning tightly inside of you, but it also fluttered for a moment too. Your heart being slowly charmed by this man’s persistence until he showed his true colors.

“Really?” You scoff, shifting your weight. Pointing at him with your weapon. “We only had our moments because you made it so, not I.”

“It takes one and some dedication to start something, no?” He smiles up at you, all full of false disgusting charm. You might even have preferred Nurgle right there instead of a man. You hear how well the followers are…

You would have winced at his words again though. He was always finding a way to contradict you by the smallest amount. It almost felt degrading, like he was nit picking at everything you have done and turning it against you like some drama filled family.

“One has to reciprocate the feeling.” You retort, folding your arms in a way where you can still have your weapon in your hand. “I did not.”

“Hmm, but you did.” The fucker almost sings, you can hear it in his tone, and you swear to god (not him) that you find a way to kill this man over and over. “You cried out to me, raked those little claws of yours at my back while I stuffed you full of me.”

You blink at his words, a bit surprised by his boldness to even voice such actions out before an embarrassed blush over comes you. You head moving to look away from this bastard. “You tricked me.”

“No, I courted you.” He rumbles lowly, finally moving from his spot and suddenly appearing right besides you. Your arms unfolding as you stumble back while you look up at his towering figure. Your thoughts breifly wondering how you even took this guy. “And you, little one? Fell for it.”

“Did not.” You argue quickly, without thinking. The hairs on the back of your neck standing up while you continue to take steps backs away from him while he advances. “I never accepted anything from you.”

“Oh, but you did.” He sighs, almost groans. The top of his body curling down to your height to quickly grasp at your neck. His touch surprisingly gentle with how he was portraying himself at the moment: imitating, dangerous. A grunt leaving you as you found yourself back against one of the many walls this being keeps you trapped in. “You took me.”

"Taking your cock doesn't mean shit." You spit at him. Glaring up at him even if he had the advantage on you. His face wincing slightly back. "If anything, that was a one-night stand."

"Foul woman." He sighs before tightening his hand on your neck, restricting some of your air flow. His turn to down glower down upon you. "You hurt me with your words."

"Bullshit, you don't have any feelings." You call him out, not even knowing if he had any or not but your mind thinks so. Your neck going under a bit of strain by his hand, but you will not oppose to his pleasure. "You're not even human. You don't deserve the title of "Emperor of Mankind.""

He gives you a sudden huff of a laugh, his form coming in closer as he painfully makes you look up at him. His breath painting your cheek as his eyes seem glow a bit more brightly. "You have no idea, little one-"

"I don't want to have an idea." You cut him off, testing his patience. The room feeling like it has gotten incredibly cold as this man snarls at you before coming forward to thrust is tongue into your mouth. His actions forceful, exploring your mouth anyway he likes while his other hand comes down to wrap around your waist a pick you off the ground.

“I’m going to break you, little one.” He growls into your lips rather calmly for a being that is angry. One of your hands having to brace yourself on his shoulders while the other hand with your weapon rises high above. His own strength hauling you up more upon him with ease. Stealing everything he can from you, the oxygen in your lungs included. “Then, you would have no other objections to spare.”

“You’re a cunt.” You manage to breath out, sacrificing you own air and energy to the man in order to try and get an hit on him as your thrust your armed hand down. “Gah!”

He makes you fall backwards onto a silky bed, making you miss your hit as his hands roam. Going from your waist and all the way up to your torso and to your armed hand. One of his hands wrapping around your wrist to keep such dangerous object out of the way, and to keep you pinned in place. The other hand? Sneaks under your waist line, sliding quickly over your folds and teasing you.

“Such a violent woman you are…” He purrs, his body looming over you, casting a shadow. His eyes watching every twitch of skin that betrays you. Upping the game by sliding his middle finger inside of you, making you still and gasp out for a second. “…All the more intriguing.”

He moves the finger inside of you, curling it in all the best places. Carefully watching you every single time you whither and groan out to his stoic amusement. His actions being particularly hard when you try and reject him.

"F-fuck you." You moan out, your body arching in unwilling pleasure. His hand around your armed hand tightening while his fingers go deep inside of you, making sure you are feeling him in any way. "Y-You are no g-god."

"Hmm." He hums at you, leaning down closer to you before giving you a chuckle. The sound masculine and seductive. His lips too close to your neck for your liking. His finger hitting just right inside of you where you gasp near his ear. "That's right, I am not."

“@kit-williams, @egrets-not-regrets, @bispecsual, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog.”

“+@c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @marcela2000, @passionofthesith, @insanity6666.”

[cripplecharacters]

Disabilities that You Should Consider Representing in Your Writing More… part 1

[large text: Disabilities that You Should Consider Representing in Your Writing More… part 1]

While all disabilities are underrepresented in basically all sorts of media, it’s hard to not notice the trend in what disabilities make up the majority of representation. It’s especially visible when having a blog like this, where we can see what disabilities writers even consider including in their writing, and which ones never come up.

One in four people are disabled. With eight billion people alive it means there’s a lot of disabled people, and a lot of reasons why they are disabled in the first place - but this diversity is rarely represented, even on this blog, and anyone who has been following for a while has probably noticed that fact.

To be blunt: there are disabilities other than “amputee” and “invisibly disabled mobility aid user”. Does that mean that it’s wrong to write either of those? No, and we don’t want to imply that it is. Does it mean that either of these have a lot of good representation? Absolutely not, half of all the amputee characters out there are written by people who don't seem to be even aware they're writing a disabled character. Does it mean that when you are deciding on what to give your character, you should think beyond (or along! people can be, and often are, multiply disabled!) just those two? Absolutely. Disability is a spectrum with thousands of things in it.

This is, simply, a list of common disabilities. This is just a few of them, as this is part one of presumably many (or, at least three as of right now). By “common” we rather arbitrarily decided on “~1% or more” - so at least 1 in 100 people has the disabilities below, which is a lot. Featuring!: links that you should click, sources of the % that are mostly just medical reports and might be hard to read, and quick, very non-exhaustive explanations to give you a basic idea of what these are. 

Intellectual disability (about 1.5%) Intellectual disability is a condition we have written about at length before. It’s a developmental disability that affects things such as conceptualization, language, problem-solving, or social and self-care skills. ID can exist on its own or be a part of another condition, like Down Syndrome, Congenital Iodine Deficiency, or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. This post covers a lot of basic information that you might need. We have an intellectual disability tag that you can look through!

Cancer survivors (5.4% in the US, about 0.55% worldwide) A cancer survivor is a pretty self-explanatory term. There is a lot of types of cancer and some of them are very common while others are very rare, which makes this a very diverse category. Cancers also have different survival rates. While not every survivor will have disabling symptoms, they definitely happen. Most of the long-term side effects are related to chemotherapy, radiation, and other medication, especially if they happened in children. They can include all sorts of organ damage, osteoporosis, cognitive problems, sensory disabilities, infertility, and increased rate of other cancers. Other effects include removal of the affected area, such as an eye, a spleen, breasts, or the thyroid gland, each of which will have different outcomes. Cancer, and cancer treatments, can also result in PTSD.

Diabetes (about 8.5%, ~95% of that are type 2) Diabetes is a group of endocrine conditions that cause hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) for various reasons depending on the type. The vast majority of people have type 2 diabetes, which can cause fatigue, poor healing, or feeling thirsty or hungry. A diabetic person will use insulin when needed to help manage their blood sugar levels. There are many complications related to diabetes, from neuropathy, to retinopathy, and chronic kidney disease, and there's a lot of disabilities that coexist with diabetes in general! You might want to check out the #how to write type 1 diabetes tag by @type1diabetesinfandom!

Disabling vision loss (about 7.5%) Blindness and low vision are a spectrum, ranging from total blindness (around 10% of legally blind people) to mild visual impairment. Blindness can be caused by countless things, but cataracts, refractive errors, and glaucoma are the most common. While cataracts cause the person to have a clouded pupil (not the whole eye!) blind eyes usually look average, with strabismus or nystagmus being exceptions to that fairly often (but not always). Trauma isn't a common cause of blindness, and accidents are overrepresented in fiction. A blind person can use a white cane, a guide dog or horse, or both. Assistive solutions are important here, such as Braille, screenreaders, or magnifying glasses. We have a blindness tag that you can look through, and you might want to check out @blindbeta and @mimzy-writing-online.

Psoriasis (about 2-4%) Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition with multiple subtypes; it can cause intense itching, pain, and general discomfort, and often carries social stigma. It’s an autoimmune and non-contagious disability that affects the skin cells, resulting in raised patches of flaky skin covered with scales. It often (30%) leads to a related condition, psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain, tenderness, and fatigue, among other things.

Stroke survivors (0.5-1%) A stroke survivor is a person who has survived any kind of stroke (ischemic, hemorrhagic, etc.). While the specific symptoms often depend on the exact location on where the stroke happened, signs such as hemiplegia, slurred speech, vision problems, and cognitive changes are common in most survivors to some degree. When someone has a stroke as a baby, or before they are born, it can result in cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and other disabilities. We have a brain injury tag that you can look through!

Noonan Syndrome (about 0.1-1% - mild is 1%, severe 0.1%) Noonan Syndrome is a disability that is almost never mentioned in any context, but certainly not around the topic of writing disabled characters. It’s a congenital condition that can cause cardiomyopathy, chronic joint pain, hypermobility, short stature, facial differences such as ptosis, autism, and various lymphatic problems among other things. Some people with Noonan Syndrome might use mobility aids to help with their joint pain.

Hyperthyroidism (about 1.2%) Hyperthyroidism is a condition of the endocrine system caused by hormone overproduction that affects metabolism. It often results in irritability, weight loss, heat intolerance, tremors, mood swings, or insomnia. Undertreated hyperthyroidism has a rare, but extremely dangerous side effect associated with it called a thyroid storm, which can be fatal if untreated.

Hypothyroidism (>5%) Hypothyroidism is an endocrine condition just as hyperthyroidism is, and it causes somewhat opposite symptoms. Due to not producing enough thyroid hormones, it often causes fatigue, depression, hair loss, weight gain, and a frequent feeling of being cold. It’s often comorbid with other autoimmune disabilities, e.g. vitiligo, chronic autoimmune gastritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Extreme hypothyroidism can also be potentially fatal because of a condition known as Myxedema coma (or “crisis”), which is also rare.

Deafblindness (about 0.2-2%) Being DeafBlind is often considered to be an extremely rare disability, but that’s not really the case. DeafBlindness on its own isn’t a diagnosis - it can be caused by a wide range of things, with CHARGE syndrome (congenital), Usher syndrome (born deaf, becomes blind later in life), congenital rubella, and age-related deafness and blindness being some of the most common reasons. DeafBlindness is a wide spectrum, the vast majority of DeafBlind people aren’t fully blind and deaf, and they can use various ways of communication. Some of these could be sign language (tactile or not), protactile, the deafblind manual, oral speech (aided by hearing aids or not), the Lorm alphabet, and more. You can learn more about assistive devices here! Despite what various media like to tell you, being DeafBlind isn’t a death sentence, and the DeafBlind community and culture are alive and thriving - especially since the start of the protactile movement. We have a DeafBlindness tag that you can look through!

It’s probably worth mentioning that we have received little to no asks in general for almost all the disabilities above, and it’s certainly not due to what mods answer for. Our best guess is that writers don’t realize how many options they have and just end up going for the same things over and over.

Only representing “cool” disabilities that are “not too much while having a particular look/aura/drama associated” isn’t what you should aim for. Disabled people just exist, and all of us deserve to be represented, including those whose disabilities aren’t your typical “cool design” or “character inspo”, and literally all of us deserve to have good, informed representation. Sometimes we are just regular people, with disabilities that are “boring” or “too much”, and don’t make for useful plot points.

mod Sasza (with huge thank you to mod Sparrow, Rot, and Virus for their contributions with research)

[cor-lapis]

I decided to have a go at doing my own redesigns because these three are my favourites and I love them very much. further notes + sources under the readmore (warning: lots of text). I did my best with the research, but if there's anything I overlooked, I'd really appreciate people letting me know :)

Tighnari:

My main source for Tighnari was this excellent thread, from which I looked up each item of clothing individually. Since djellabas tend to be quite long, and Tighnari needs mobility for forest ranger activities, I figured he would cut and re-hem the lower half. He also has a lot of clothing pieces that are traditionally multicoloured, but to keep his design cohesive I decided to use the same colours across different items, but using a larger palette of colours than I would usually. I like the bright colours on him a lot though!

There are also some minor details I just changed because I wanted to. The flower on his chest is now a nilotpala lotus, because I thought it was nice to include his acension material/the material he asks you to help gather. The dirt stains/scuff marks are because rainforests are muddy and I wanted the design to emphasise Tighnari being very practical and hands-on with his work (see also, the specimen belt).

Finally, I shrunk the magnifying glass on his back (because I'm pretty sure it's meant to be his first magnifying glass toy and that thing is very large for a child to handle) and gave him an undercut because it seemed right. Also, I merged his front and back trailing cloths into a scarf type of thing that he could wrap around his nose and mouth to prevent inhaling spores from mushrooms.

Collei:

COLLEI my beloved. I had a mild nightmare trying to figure out a specific source culture for her design, but nobody seemed to know specifics and her outfit wasn't matching with any traditional dress I looked up, so in the end decided to keep the overall look the same. Just in case I assigned her something else, but then it turned out I missed her actual inspiration.

Anyway, I made her shoes simpler (no fur, heels, and open toes in the rainforest seemed reasonable to me), and gave her shorts. I liked the green colour because it's pretty unique under a dark dress, and pairs nicely with Nahida's white dress + green undersides. Amber's tie stays, but I made most of her jewellery smaller since it felt a little clunky for a trainee ranger.

Her earring and necklace(?) are allusions to the Evil Eye and the Khmissa/Hamsa, both symbols of protection. Especially considering the fact they're meant to ward off evil, and very common across multiple MENA cultures, it seemed fitting for Collei to have them. Also, she has Eleazar scars, and I used the design for her stockings as inspiration for the combination knee braces (similar to those used for arthritis, since Eleazar also causes stiff limbs and I HC that people affected would probably still need some recovery support)/knee pads (in the case of a fall). I like the idea that Kaveh would have helped make them for her (tangent but the fic Here is the House explores similar ideas; it's really really good, I heavily recommend it). Finally, she has curly hair because I thought it would be cute.

Cyno:

Here's the thread I found for Cyno. The main critique was to do with the eras from which each aspect of his clothing drew inspiration, but I admittedly wouldn't be able to do much about this without a lot of research. One thing I did try and verify was the small strip of cloth on the left of his chest, and I found a few wall murals where the people seem to be wearing similar strips of cloth? (example here; rightmost figure) Therefore, I didn't remove it, but if someone wants to explain Ancient Egyptian clothing history to me I'd be really interested to hear it 6.6

I might iterate on the design in the future, but for now the changes are mostly HC territory. Cyno wearing his hair in locs (a protective hairstyle) makes sense for someone who does a lot of hiking after rogue scholars, and I also gave him quite old and faded top surgery scars because healthcare is canonically free in Sumeru (thanks for that information, al-Haitham)(though tbf Cyno makes bank anyway). I also adjusted the colours a bit, since Genshin tends to use desaturated shades for metallic elements.

I also considered giving Cyno more scars, but figured that it could indicate Hermanubis' presence that someone you'd expect to get injured a lot is relatively scar-free (i.e. some sort of godly healing factor/resistance to damage). However, we know next to nothing about Hermanubis, so Cyno having a lot of scars also makes sense. This paragraph is mostly just a cry for help cyno story quest 2 literally any more elaboration about the nature of Hermanubis' pact and the Temple of Silence.

Conclusion

I wasn't intending to write one when I started the explanations but this got REALLY long so if you made it this far, thank you so so much ToT please check out the links; the threads especially were a great resource, and I'm grateful that people take the time to make them <3 genshin's character design department are cowards but I'm glad I learned some new things through the redesign process

[literaryvein-reblogs]

What is the difference between urban fantasy and low fantasy?

Using the Fantasy Fiction Continuum, urban fantasy is closer to "reality" in comparison with low fantasy. But also consider other elements that further distinguish both of these fantasy subgenres.

Urban Fantasy - fantastical characters and concepts are placed in a real-world urban setting, often in the present day; also sometimes called "Modern Fantasy"

Low Fantasy - set in the real world, and includes unexpected magical elements that surprise ordinary characters

Urban Fantasy can also be split into 2 distinct subgenres of its own:

The fantasy elements are out in the open

Or they exist in a kind of a shadow society, with the rest of the world operating normally, generally unaware of its existence.

Elements of Urban Fantasy

If you’re asking yourself “what is urban fantasy?” think of it this way: Imagine a book that combines the dense worldbuilding of fantasy and science fiction with the gritty grounded reality of contemporary novels set in New York City, Chicago, or other iconic urban locales. That’s the urban fantasy genre. Here are some key elements of urban fantasy novels, short stories, and films:

Fantasy tropes: Urban fantasy storylines combine the real-life grit with of modern world with fantastical worldbuilding.

An urban setting: Although small town urban fantasies do exist, most take place in present-day major cities.

Magic: Supernatural elements, sci-fi technologies, fairy tales, and folk mythologies are all found throughout urban fantasy novels.

A noir aesthetic: Urban fantasies lift genre conventions from noir and gritty police procedurals.

Mythical creatures: Urban fantasies are populated with supernatural creatures including (but not limited to) undead zombies, vampires, werewolves, druids, demons, shapeshifters, and perhaps a mage or wizard.

A protagonist with a foot in both worlds: The main character of an urban fantasy is typically savvy to the real-life ways of their urban environment yet can also wield or exploit magical powers.

A young protagonist: Relatively young characters who practice wizardry or witchcraft are common in urban fantasy series.

Elements of Low Fantasy

Low Fantasy is a catchall, and inexact, term for secondary world (i.e., a constructed world; a completely fictional setting, rather than our world) fantasy.

The designation is not a description of the quality of the work, but rather the prevalence of fantastic elements.

Tends towards less “traditional” (simplistic) morality.

Sometimes comedies are also excluded from the genre, but either way the works that remain don't have a natural unity.

However, while there is no complete list of defining features, there are features and tropes common to many Low Fantasy works that can help distinguish them from other fantasy works; each tends to be the opposite of one of the defining features of High Fantasy. Examples:

Magic: While Magic is prominent in High Fantasy, it's generally rare if not non-existent in Low Fantasy. What magic does exist is complicated, ambiguous, reserved for a very select few and/or has specific scientific rules. It's also likely to be dangerous, corruptive, or difficult to control, and magic-users are likely to be distrusted and often genuinely untrustworthy sorts.

Heroes: Usually normal people that have taken up a cause rather than The Chosen Ones of High Fantasy. It's not uncommon for them to be an Anti-Hero of some kind and/or have non-heroic motives (e.g. they take up a cause for personal ambition, for vengeance or just to survive as opposed to doing it for the 'greater good').

Shades of Grey: While High Fantasy usually features Black-and-White Morality with clear-cut heroes and villains, many Low Fantasy works have Grey and Gray or Black and Gray. More importantly, the success of the victor often has no bearing on their motives or honor.

Methods: Victories are usually achieved through physical combat and cunning, not magical battles and certainly not by moral superiority.

Scope: Down to Earth. Tends to focus more on the survival and tribulations of one or a few individuals rather than the whole world.

Examples of Urban Fantasy Works

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher (2000)

The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch (2011)

The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (2007)

The Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton (2000)

The Hollows series by Kim Harrison (2004)

The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs (2006)

The Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter (2009)

The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris (2001)

Moonheart by Charles de Lint (1984)

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1987)

Examples of Low Fantasy Works

When the plastic figurines come to life in Lynne Reid Banks’s The Indian in the Cupboard (1980).

A Song of Ice and Fire is a generally low-magic setting, with a cynically pragmatic worldview and a focus on political maneuvering between rival factions who are all at least morally gray; however, the politics spans two continents and reaches epic levels on its own even without more traditional, stirring High adventure elements. However, because The Magic Comes Back slowly over the course of the story, the fantasy does get progressively Higher as the series goes on, even though the general tone remains Low in nature. The magic and other mysteries are treated as ambiguous, yet highly dangerous, potentially world-changing and complicating factors in an already combustible political and social situation.

Tangled has very little magic — with the only source of it being Rapunzel's hair. Besides the animals being somewhat more intelligent than normal, there's little else. The protagonists are all human, and the story is mainly Rapunzel's journey to the kingdom. The antagonist is said to be a witch, but she has no powers other than knowing how to activate Rapunzel's magic. As far as Grey-and-Gray Morality goes, one of the lead characters is an unrepentant thief and various side characters are implied criminals with Hidden Depths.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Do go through the sources for more details and examples. Hope this helps with your writing!

[dollivue]

my thoughts on bda 6

beware that im not someone who usually has super outstanding analyses or theorizes very often BUT i wanted to get my thoughts out since we're right at the tail end of tetro pink:

based on what we know from the investigation and the states of the remaining cast, i don't see this being anything other than a sacrificial suicide. as of right now, it simply doesn't make any sense to me that any of the other students would go after or be able to overpower HAYASHI MAI of all people. sure, she wasn't in the best state due to loyalty game, but i still think she would have a lot of fight left in her.

after going through the body investigation, it sounds to me like hayashi stabbed herself. the reason for her being in the actual pool itself is pretty vague. "Look at her hands... They're all cut up." "Do you think she fought back?... But it doesn't exactly look messy." depending on how the cuts looks, it's likely they come from hayashi's hands slipping - it's quite common in murder cases when a killer stabs their victim multiple times that their hand ends up slipping and gets cut on the blade due to the amount of blood. if i had to guess? maybe the length of the sword or some type of liquid like water caused her hand to slip.

since hayashi is the one who took inventory of all the supplies in the arsenal, it wouldn't be a far fetched idea to believe that she used that knowledge to her advantage in order to supply herself with a weapon (likely a sword, considering there is an exit wound on her back) and use bombs in order to A. deter the students from specific rooms due to there being no evidence, or B. using them to put more emphasis on certain rooms she wants them to investigate.

wada masanari — he... quite literally didn't have access to the basement where hayashi's body was found. he's also been incredibly weak and sick, not having eaten in DAYS. there's also a vast weight and height difference; wada being 154cm, 73.4lb and hayashi being 198cm. even in her wounded state, she could easily overpower wada if he tried to attack her.

taking suspicion off the students:

yanagi shigeki — the NUMBER ONE person who cared for hayashi, literally confessing his love for her MULTIPLE TIMES just hours before she died. he's also one of the two who were trapped in medbay all night, rendering it practically impossible for him to touch hayashi.

hasegawa ken — again, trapped in medbay all night. if i ABSOLUTELY HAD to, gun to my head, pick a student who killed hayashi, i would pick ken simply because i also think he was the one leaving those notes to hayashi and setting the door traps. don't necessarily have any evidence for this one, just a hunch.

tamba ruiko — someone who was also quite close with hayashi, often seen with her ever since chapter 1. it would be incredibly difficult for her to attack hayashi, let alone kill her due to her broken leg and need crutches.

ojima takeshi — this guy has been drunk the last 2-3 days. while there have been instances where he harms himself or others while spaced out (picking at his stitches, grabbing ken's arm), i seriously don't think he would full on kill someone while drunk or spaced out. it seems like too far-fetched of an idea that von wouldn't ever include in her writing

hiroaki nakamigawa — THIS GUY has been high and sick. he's been feeling absolutely god awful the past few days, and has also made it incredibly obvious that he can't stand being near anything gorey or gross.

however, at the end of the day i could be completely wrong about everything and look like a fool after next week's trial LMAO. either my thought will change during the trial or i'll be deadset on this theory 🤷‍♀️