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Artfight Boba Attacks pt 12!

For: https://toyhou.se/Cieyzen

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I can’t believe I forgot to upload this guy, but he was my last attack from art fight this year! I really loved this guy’s design, he was a lot of fun and a good character to finish up with. [ID: An illustrated headshot of a stone dragon with glowing green eyes, black fur and bright orange spots. /End ID]

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[ID: An illustration of a red basketball wheelchair with a tall frame, low backrest and slanted wheels, sitting in front of an orange background. White text beside the chair reads: "Disability tropes: Sporting mobility aids as all-purpose ones"]

A visual trope I've noticed popping up more often as of late, is the tendency for artists and character designers to give their physically disabled characters mobility aids specifically made for sport as a daily-use aid. It seems to happen most often with leg amputees, being given running-blade prosthetics or wheelchair users being given basketball, rugby or tennis wheelchairs, but that could also just be because that's what I'm most knowledgeable about and so I just notice it more.

So what's the problem with that? Well, mobility aids designed for sport aren't like, say, running shoes where they're designed for one thing, but can be used for another. They are designed for one thing, and one thing only. trying to use them for literally anything else will... well it won't get you far.

Running Blades

Now look, I get why people want to draw these on their amputee and limb different characters, they look cool as hell AND they make you fast! I pestered my prosthetist for years to let me get a pair, admittedly, mostly because of the aesthetic so trust me, I get it.

But running blades are made to run, and only to run. Sometimes to jump, but mainly to run. You see, running blades look the way they do, because they aren't actually based off of human anatomy at all. The original running blade was inspired by the hind-legs of animals like cheetahs, dogs and other fast-moving land mammals. As the furries among us would already know, a lot of these animals have something called digitigrade legs, meaning they don't stand with their entire back foot on the ground. What we see as their paws is actually just the ends of their toes, and their ankle is held up off the ground. The reason so many animal species evolved with this trait is because it makes you really fast (among other things). The entire leg essentially works like a spring, giving the animal more force to push themselves forward, at the cost of the limb being a little less stable to stand on. that isn't an issue when you have another two legs out in front, but it's part of the reason why you don't see many bipedal creatures in nature with digitigrade legs.

Running blades took this general digitigrade leg layout and kind of simplified it, functionally making the athletes run on their toes. The blades are made out of very strong and very flexible carbon fibre sheets, and when the "toe" of the blade hits the ground, the force of the impact causes the whole blade to bend, then rebound, using the runner's own force and momentum to push them forward again. However, unlike most animals, humans don't have another set of legs out in front to keep us stable, so when the person with the blade prosthetic stops running, they either become very unstable or will fall over. This is because, in order to get that spring-like motion, these prosthetics can't have a heel and the way our body's weight is distributed means we kind of need that. Some leg amputees are able to walk a little bit in these running blades, but its not easy and is generally pretty uncomfortable to do, and for double leg amputees, it's exceptionally difficult.

There's also the fact that the running blades need a lot of force applied to them to actually work. A friend of mine brought her blade to an event we were both at, and you could not get the arch of the blade to bend with your arms. At all. One of the other guys at the event was a Paralympic powerlifter, and even he couldn't do it. even leaning on it with all our body weight wasn't enough to make it bend and push back. The only way to get it to bend was by landing on it while running at full speed - which is no small amount of force. Anything less and it won't budge, making these essentially very poorly balanced peg legs when used for anything other than running and jumping. This was actually the reason my prosthetist never signed off on me getting a pair of running legs, because I had an issue that made my stumps too sensitive to withstand the forces needed for them to work properly.

So unless your amputee character is going to be running everywhere at a full sprint, they don't need and probably won't benefit much from having blades in place of a regular prosthetic foot. However, if you want some extra speed for your amputee character, without the significant balance issues that come with a blade, hybrid feet do exist! These hybrids are made out of the same carbon fibre sheets as the big blades, but are shaped more like a regular leg and ankle, with an additional piece attached to the back to give you the stability of having a heel. These hybrid feet, often called active feet or high-mobility feet, take the best of both kinds of prosthetic, while also allowing their user to wear shoes, thanks to the rubber foot shell that goes over the top. They aren't as great for running as the big blades, but they're a lot better than most other prosthetic feet.

The one exception to all of this is if your amputee or limb different character isn't actually human. Quadrupedal mammals like dogs and cats who have their hind legs amputated often get something that looks like a running blade prosthetic as the shape mimics what they'd naturally have without the need for expensive (and completely impractical for animals) electronic parts. When it comes to furry and anthropomorphic animals, I personally make an exception here as well. Technically, the same rule should apply; they're bipedal, so they shouldn't be able to easily stand on a running blade and it wouldn't be practical. However, that rule should also apply to any furry with digitigrade legs, they should be equally unbalanced on their natural meat legs because that kind of bone structure isn't great for a bipedal creature, but it's just kind of an accepted thing to ignore that within the furry community, as long as you can make it look good. In this case, a running blade is the closest a digitigrade furry could probably come to a functional prosthetic without robotics, so I'm more inclined to let it go in that case.

Sports wheelchairs

The wheelchairs used in basketball, tennis and rugby are all different, but the features I see getting used in character designs are, for the most part, in all three, so for the sake of simplicity, going forward I'm going to refer to them all collectively as sports chairs. "Sports wheelchair" is an umbrella term that encompasses a lot more than just these three types, but I don't think I've seen anyone confuse a racing or golfing wheelchair for a general use wheelchair, so for this article, I'm mainly going to be using it to refer to those three. Likewise, going forward, I'm going to be calling normal, non-sports wheelchairs "day-chairs," which was a popular way of shortening "daily-use wheelchair" when I played wheelchair sports.

Just like the running prosthetic, sports wheelchairs are made to do one thing very well, and only that one thing, which is why people who play wheelchair sports of any kind need to have an entirely separate wheelchair to play in. The wheelchairs designed for Rugby and basketball are made to go on perfectly flat, perfectly smooth, indoor basketball courts. Likewise, tennis chairs are made to play on perfectly flat and smooth tennis courts. But it's pretty hard to find anything that smooth and flat outside of those specific spaces and these chairs don't handle any other type of environment well at all, even including the entrances and exists to the courts. These sports chairs are so bad at dealing with anything else, in fact, that people who play these sports will usually stay in their day-chairs, right up until they're on the court's sideline, then swap into the sports chair only when needed.

This is because the features that make these wheelchairs so good for their respective sports, tend to cause a lot of logistical problems anywhere else. For example, when most people think about sports wheelchairs, one of the first things that comes to mind is probably the big, tilted wheels. The wheels on all sports chairs are angled outwards, with the wheels closer at the top, and wider at the bottom - this is called wheel camber. A standard day-chair, though, usually has no, or very little camber - wheels that are not tilted outwards. Giving sports chairs camber has a lot of benefits, with the main one being added stability. When you're playing a game like wheelchair basketball or rugby, which are contact sports, you need to be able to take a hit without falling over, and a wider base of support helps with that a lot. The larger wheels on these chairs also tend to sit pretty far forward, which shifts the chair's centre of gravity, making it way easier to do precise, tight turns. However, this makes the chair much less stable, which the camber also helps with, which is one of the big reasons you see tilted wheels on tennis chairs too. Finally, you also need your hands and fingers on the wheels to move, but if someone crashes into you, having the wheels tilted this way keeps your hands out of the way of being crushed on impact...usually.

As you can see, this feature has a lot of advantages, but you'll notice that having the wheels tilted also makes the chair very wide. So wide that they don't actually fit most doors, except double doors. When I played basketball, to even get our sports wheelchairs inside the courts we practiced on, which only had standard, single doors for some reason, we had to sit in our day chairs and push the basketball chairs in front of us with the big wheels removed, or they wouldn't be able to fit inside. I'm sure you can see now why this makes these wheelchairs impractical for daily use. It's hard enough getting a normal day-chair through some building's doors, let alone through crowded or tight places like shops with narrow isles or down narrow footpaths. You will occasionally see a day-chair with a very minor tilt on their big wheels, but it's usually only done on very thin chairs with active or experienced users, and it's almost never more than a 2 - 5° tilt (whereas sports chairs can have as much as 15° to 20°, depending on the sport).

But tilted wheels aren't the only thing that makes them impractical for daily use. Another feature of these chairs is their anti-tip wheels; little wheels at the back that stop you from falling backwards out of your chair. A lot of day-chairs have anti-tips too, but the ones on day-chairs are usually positioned so that the wheelchair can still be tilted back enough to get up things like curbs and small steps and mildly rough terrain. However, remember how I said sports chairs have their big wheels moved further forward to help them turn easier? this will cause the chair to tip back way easier, and to account for that, the anti-tip wheels on sports chairs have to be basically touching the ground. If they weren't, every time you pushed forward, you would loose a bunch of your energy and momentum from tipping back slightly. You'd also probably damage the courts after a while too from forcibly slamming your front and anti-tip wheels into the ground repetitively. So they make the anti-tip wheels as close to the ground as practically possible to stop that, and also so you can lean as far back in the chair as you need, without having to worry about falling back but this means the chair is prone to getting stuck on everything and anything if the ground isn't perfectly flat and smooth. Even trying to take one of these chairs down a tiny curb-cut ramp is likely to result in your front wheels getting wedged on the road, while the anti-tips get stuck on the ramp with your big wheels (the ones you use to propel yourself forward) getting stuck in the air.

Finally, there's also the size. Even without tilted wheels, these chairs are often quite a decent bit larger than a day chair, mostly to protect their user. Most sports wheelchairs have a protective bar in front and around the sides of the chair, and the anti-tips add quite a bit of extra length to them in a lot of cases. The bar protects your feet in the event of a collision or fall, and makes the chairs more bottom-heavy to prevent them from tipping over whenever you make a sharp turn, and the anti-tip wheels need to extend a decent way out of the back of the chair or else they can't do their job. These things don't matter too much on the court, but once again, out in the real world, it makes a big difference.

There are a few other little differences too that can, in some cases, make them less practical. things like the fact breaks are never included on sports chairs (anymore) because they just weren't needed during the games and increased the risk of hand injuries - I lost a few thumbnails from snagging them on my day-chair's breaks when I was pushing fast. Sports chairs also can't fold down, as making them able to do so is a safety hazard since it weakens the frame of the chair. So that, combined with their larger shape means they can really only be transported by most people by putting them in the back trunk of the car, whereas even day-chairs that can't fold are designed to be able to be placed on a car seat, meaning they're easier to get in and out of a car when you don't have anyone to help you.

I speak about all of this from experience, by the way. As a teenager, my first wheelchair basketball coach intentionally didn't explain the above points to me when he lent me my first ever sports wheelchair. He knew the first thing I was going to do was try to take it to school, and he knew I wouldn't listen if he just told me not to try it, so it was just better to let me figure it out on my own. My old English classroom's door still has a big chunk of paint missing from where I tried to force this extra-wide sports chair through almost 10 years later, and I was late to every single class that day because the school's elevator had a small lip by the door I kept getting stuck on. Not to mention the several times I got stuck on the curb cut just trying to leave our local courts the day he gave it to me.

Sometimes kids just have to learn through trial and error, and I definitely tried, which is why it's so funny to me when I see wheelchair using characters in fiction either using just a straight-up sports wheelchair as a day-chair, or who's day-chair was designed by someone who very clearly just googled "cool/sporty/fast wheelchair" and slapped a bunch of features they saw onto a more standard wheelchair without understanding what those things actually do.

Conclusion

Honestly, as far as disability tropes go this one is mainly harmless. Personally, I find it more funny than annoying or harmful like most of the tropes I talk about, but it does come across to those of us who have used these mobility aids that you haven't really done much more than superficial research.

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Your telling me they can make targeted ads that somehow find my legal name and a concerning amount of personal info, but they can’t even give me ads relevant to the whole hemisphere of the planet I’m in? [ID: A comic with 4 panels featuring Nix, an anthropomorphic purple dragon, looking at their laptop and sitting at a desk. Panel 1: In the top corner is a box that says “All winter”. Nix is wearing a thick scarf that comes up and over their snout, a beanie to cover their horns, a thick fluffy jacket and green mittens. An ad plays on their laptop. We can’t see the screen but the audio, displayed in a large spikey speech bubble reads “IT’S SUMMER! Beat the heat with this deal! Doesn’t this whether just make you want to go to the beach?? Get Ice Cream?? Lay in the sun??” Panel 2: Nix replies, though their mouth is covered and they’re shivering “y-y-yeah nah, I Th-Th-Think I’m G-G-Good…” and the speech bubble is shaky looking, with icicles hanging from the bottom. Panel 3: A new scene, mostly the same as the last one, except Nix is wearing a singlet now and is visibly sweating. A fan and air conditioner in the background have been turned on and are blowing air towards nix. In the top corner is another box that says “meanwhile, all summer” and another ad plays on Nix’s laptop with the same spikey speech balloon “THIS WINTER, KEEP WARM WITH ALL THESE AMAZING DEALS! Doesn’t it just make you want to curl up beside of the fire with a hot drink and this COZY WARM JACKET?” Panel 4: Nix replies, “No, it absolutely F@!#ing does not…” /End ID]

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This is my partner, he's been working on this book for the entire time we've known eachother and it's finally almost ready to be published!

If you like books about dragons and want to support a disabled, indigenous Peurto Rican author, you should go check it out!

The prologue of Dragon's Reign: The Lost Society

Hey everyone, my name is Jesse Quinones, and what you’re about to read will be the prologue of my very first story, “Dragon’s Reign: The Lost Society”, which you can pre-order here: [Amazon] Feel free to checkout the GoodReads page as well if you wished: [GoodReads]

Ashfin’s claws tapped eagerly against the cold glass of the tower window, frustration growing inside him. Why does Zarius always get the spotlight? His brother soared in the sky, locked in midair combat with their father. Blurs of red and orange scales clashed against each other as blood flew off their bodies, or more specifically, Prince Zarius’s body. Ashfin’s heart pounded, equal parts excitement and envy.

King Boedan, known to all as the Red King, coiled his tail like a whip and lashed out, seizing Zarius by the throat. There was no hesitation in the movement, only power, control, and ruthlessness. Zarius's wings fluttered uncontrollably as King Boedan hurled him to the ground with a thunderous crash. The force of the impact rattled the window. Ashfin leaned closer, his breath obscuring his vision. Before Zarius could recover, Boedan summoned a sapphire blue fireball and hurled it downward at his defenceless son. The fireball exploded on impact as waves of heat rolled through the tower walls, and the shockwave rattled the entire castle. The world beyond the window vanished beneath thick smoke that curled and snaked across the courtyard.

Great, now I can’t see if Zarius is dead! Ashfin growled inwardly, his jaw tightening.

His mother’s gentle voice called out to him to ruin his fun. “Ashfin? Are you paying attention?”

Ashfin’s pointed ears twitched at the sound, though he refused to turn around. Instead, his ruby gaze lingered on the scene below, where Zarius fired an orange fireball upwards at their father, just for Boedan to open his wings and summon blue fiery chains to catch the orange fireball. After the chains snagged the fireball, Boedan turned it blue, spun around, and threw it back at his third-born but oldest living child. The blue fireball came at Zarius with double speed and four times the power. Ashfin had to look away but could feel the impact as it created a shockwave that rocked the castle.

It was at this point he noticed his mother’s glare in the window. “Huh?” he mumbled, the word slipping out before he realised why his mother was upset. “Oh, yeah. Knowledge is power; stay smart, stay alive. But look at Father! Who needs smarts when you can beat everyone with sheer power?”

The queen chuckled, her voice warm with mirth. “I’ll let your father know you don’t think he’s smart.”

Ashfin froze. The reflection of him in the window slowly transitioned to his grave. He spun around and begged his for his mother’s kindness. “Please don’t! The last time you did that, I had to fly around the castle until I collapsed!” That memory sent a shiver down his spine.

His mother snickered as if the idea of punishing her son was entertaining. Or maybe it was the joy of watching him squirm at the idea of his father’s punishments. “Tell me, what good is all that power if you don’t know how to use it? If all you need is power to win a war, how come this war has been going on for years? The smart live. Even a weak fighter can beat a stronger one if they’re smart about it. Come, get away from the window. Your lesson isn’t done for today.”

Ashfin took one last glance at the window, to see his brother fly away in the distance as drops of blood scattered like rain fell from his body. “If only the smart live, why is he still alive?” His voice was edged with defiance. He lingered by the window a bit longer, letting the sun’s warmth soothe him, the light making his red scales shine like a ruby. After feeling recharged, he approached his patient mother.

Yasminthia smiled. “Prince Zarius is smarter than you give him credit for. Underestimating your opponent is the quickest way to get defeated by them.”

Ashfin sighed as he took in a breath. A sharp yet refreshing scent of eucalyptus hung around the library where Ashfin and his mother resided. It was the kind of scent that cleared the mind, like a gentle breeze through an old forest.

Ashfin spoke once he felt relaxed. His mother was the only dragon he could converse with in the city of Savan. His Father ignored him, and the servants would agree with anything he said. “This war has only been going on for as long as it has because we have to keep supporting our allies, they hold us back. Father even claimed it to be true! Clevtra needs to be punished, squashed like bugs. It’s only fair after they assassinated Grandfather.”

With a groan of annoyance, he continued to speak out, “Why can’t my lessons be about fighting, like what Father was doing with Zarius?”

“Prince Zarius will be our future king, and many will challenge him for his title. He needs to be strong enough to stay alive while also possessing the necessary knowledge to do so. You don’t have to worry about that, so you should put your skills to other matters.”

“If Zarius is going to be the next king, why can’t I train to be the next Guardian?” whined Ashfin.

“You can’t train to become a Guardian; the crystal decides for itself who becomes one,” Yasminthia said with a bit of a stern voice, as if that was a stupid question.

“I mean, looking at Guardian Aggol, I would say it’s all about strength. I heard he killed one hundred dragons by himself in one battle! And that was before he became a Guardian!��� 

“Oh, it’s a hundred now? Last I heard, it was fifty.” The queen said with a bit of a laugh. “Come now, you can’t train to become one, and it’s up to our crystal to make that decision. So there’s no point in worrying about that and continuing your history lesson for the day.”

Ashfin slammed his tail against the floor. "It’s not fair! Zarius gets to do all of the cool stuff, and I get to learn about history!”

Queen Yasminthia chuckled. “After how poorly your father reacted to Queen Velsnach’s dinner, we need a prince who can socialise with other countries while controlling Zerue. Which is why I get to educate you about history while Zarius learns how to fight.”

“But what if Zarius gets killed before having children? What if both Father and him get assassinated? Then I’ll be the one to have the throne. I should learn how to fight as well!”

“You already know how to fight, and you’re very good at it, but if you want to be a leader, you’ll need to master other skills,” she told him with a smile as she looked behind her to view a collection of books. 

Stories and diaries from past kings, queens, and other politicians could all be read in this one place. However, neither she nor King Boedan had written their own story yet. Queen Yasminthia often discussed creating a guide on how to play The Game, but she never explained what that meant. It’d always been one of those lessons she’d teach him once he was older, but he never got old enough. King Boedan didn’t think he needed to write down his legacy, as others would speak about his reign for generations to come.

“The past can teach us so much,” Yasminthia explained as she gracefully touched the books individually with her tail. “If we forget our mistakes, we’ll repeat them in the future.” She paused at one book titled ‘The Lonely Prince,’ a story about an unknown prince in a giant egg group. This prince never became a king and never found love since he was more intelligent than everyone around him and couldn’t see himself settling down with the uneducated. The prince never mentioned his name because he doubted anyone would be clever enough to where they could understand his complex words. “I believe this prince’s hubris caused him to be forgotten. If he could have put aside his pride and educated others, history may remember Prince Calric.”

“Wait? You figured out who the unknown prince is? How?”

Queen Yasminthia snickered. “It wasn’t difficult, especially since he mentioned how many eggs he was hatched with and that he never had children. All I had to do was go through your ancestor logs to figure it out.”

“Why, though? What’s the point in knowing a dead guy’s name? How does knowing this will help me win a war or lead a country? If knowledge is power, what kind of power does this give me?”

“Problem-solving,” Yasminthia said with a smile before she walked out of the library. Ashfin followed. “If you do what your father tells you and try to brute force the unknown prince’s name from that book, do you think you’ll get any results? If your only strategy is brute force, what happens if you encounter a foe stronger than you? Do you believe the dragons in Tanafer, who control water, are weaker than us? Last I checked, fire can’t swim in the ocean.”

“But fire can boil the water,” he protested.

Queen Yasminthia let out a burst of joyous laughter at his statement. “How much fire? And how hot does it need to be to boil the entire ocean?” There was a little pause before she continued, “Every country has strengths and weaknesses, but if you can’t identify their weaknesses, no amount of sheer force will win a war. Take, for example, the Vaxitans; they might be the most powerful and smartest dragons alive with their use of electricity. They can fire lightning bolts powerful enough to destroy boulders, and their technology far surpasses ours; not to mention, their natural speed gives them a significant advantage over us. Now tell me, Prince, if you’re so smart, how would we defeat them in war?”

Ashfin hesitated. He hadn’t studied them long enough to know the answer to her question since they were allies. “I...don’t know?”

Yasminthia smirked. “Perhaps if you do a bit more reading, you’ll figure out there’s a common trend with the Vaxitians. They hate waiting. They need to move and keep themselves busy. I figure it must be the one downside of how their brains work.” Queen Yasminthia paused as she looked out a window to observe her city, where red and orange dragons flew across the sky. “Even another group of dragons who seems to beat us in every category we hold dear has a weakness. Knowing that weakness, understanding it, and using it to your advantage are skills you can only learn if you know how to problem solve.”

“A servant approached them, bowing low to Queen Yasminthia and saying, “Operation Calric is going smoothly.”

“Wait,” Ashfin interrupted. “What’s Operation Calric?”

Yasmithia smiled at him. “It appears you lack knowledge, and brute force won't make me or my servants open to you. How about you go back and read that story? Maybe you could figure out where I go for my meetings. Maybe then we can discuss your education training further?”

***

Months passed, and Ashfin spent more and more time not only in the library but at his mother’s side. She taught him how to master his fire abilities, while King Boedan taught Zarius how to control light. Yasminthia believed that since fire is a combination of both heat and light, mastering fire was more impressive; however, since only the highly skilled could use light abilities, To Boedan, light was the rightful power of a king. Rare, controlled, and deadly. But he never used it against Zarius. He’d learned that lesson the day the firstborn died.

Every time Ashfin thought he could outsmart Yasminthia, she proved to him just how much he still needed to learn. It became a game, and the location of Operation Calric was the end goal. However, trying to figure out where his mother was having secret meetings was difficult when you had an older brother who always wanted to fight.

“Come on, Ashy! What’s Mother teaching you?” joked Zarius. His orange body stood a bit away from Ashfin, who lay on the ground after taking a powerful orange fireball in the chest. Ashfin wheezed, at least Zarius fireballs didn’t break bones like Father’s. “What good is all of this learning if you have no skills to prove it?”

“I got skills,” Ashfin told him as he slowly got up. “I just divvy up my time, unlike you, who only trains in combat.”

“Oh, please, combat training is a reward. Do you think I enjoy going over makeshift battle plans? How to lead a country? I have no desire to do such things. Why can’t I lie in the sun every once in a while? I’m at least graceful knowing once you get to my age, you can properly start learning how to be a politician and start coming with me as my advisor.”

“About that…Why can’t I do that now?”

“You’re too stupid,” Zarius said in a joking manner. “Mother wants you to learn about history before you embarrass us on your first outing.”

“I’m not stupid!” Ashfin snapped back as Zarius continued to giggle to himself. “Besides, I don’t know why Father can’t just make me the next in line. I clearly want it more than you.”

“I don’t know, rules? Tradition? Look, I’m told this will be my life, and I shouldn’t complain, so I don’t. Honestly, life is easier if you stop asking questions.”

“According to Mother, life is all about discovering answers to questions you don’t know yet.”

“Mother doesn’t have to lead a country; she can sit in her library and pounder all she wants, and honestly, I’m jealous. She got it made. No responsibilities, and she can do whatever she wants.” Zarius looked around before he spoke in more of a whisper, “Besides, once I’m king, who’s to say I can’t just give you my throne?” 

“Zarius!” shouted the king of the Zeren dragons. Even from a distance, it shook Ashfin, but it left Zarius un-startled. King Boedan was an imposing figure; his crimson-red scales shimmered like molten lava as the sunlight flowed through a stained-glass window, casting a kaleidoscope of colours on the stone floor. “We don’t speak ill of your mother. Not everyone can be fit to egg royal children, and I’ll have you know you can easily be replaced.” He looked at Ashfin, but never once did he smile at him. “That goes for you, too.”

“I apologise,” Ashfin told his father with a bow of his head. He was unsure what he was apologising for, but it felt like this was the only acceptable response.

Boedan's eyes snapped to him. “Royals...Do….Not...Bow.”

Ashfin straightened instantly, his muscles stiff with shame.

“Come, Zarius,” Boedan continued, his tone dismissive. “We’re going to Andaheer, King Edron wishes to meet, and your political experience is lacking.”

“Father!” Ashfin blurted out before King Boedan could walk out of the training room. “Should I come as well? As the future advisor for the future king, I need to interact with our allies, right?”

Boedan stopped walking and only silence filled the space between them before he turned slowly. That gaze, the same one he used on his doubters before he incinerated them. Locked on Ashfin.

“You bow. You apologise. You ask.” Boedan’s voice was low but heavier than a mountain. “The deal was to prepare you for politics. Not to turn you into a simpering servant.”

He took one step forward. Ashfin couldn’t breathe.

“Listen here. We Zerens are the strongest and the best dragons in the entirety of Azela. Everyone apologises, bow, and give suggestions to us.” His nostrils flared with blue fire. “Prove you’re not another corpse warming my throne, and maybe I’ll teach you what I know.”

Ashfin’s face lit up. “Of course!” But his happiness quickly went away. “What can I do to prove to you I’m not a waste of space?”

“Figure...It...Out.”

***

While Boedan and Zarius were gone, Ashfin worked hard to figure out how he could be useful to his father. His mother continued his training and taught him how to use heat vision, a skill only dragons who specialised in fire could learn. Though he still believed turning invisible was cooler. Whenever he expressed this, Queen Yasmithia always replied with, “Turning invisible takes away your opponent’s knowledge of where you’re at. However, being able to see heat will cancel out that lack of knowledge, which makes that skill useless. Wouldn’t you agree?” Ashfin paused briefly, and his mother asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. Actually, I’m just upset with myself. I haven’t figured out how to prove myself to Father. What can I do that’ll make him trust me?”

“While your father and I have two very different teaching methods, he, like most dragons, hates not knowing things. Give him information he doesn’t know, information that might benefit him, and maybe he’ll see you and your brother as equals.”

The problem with that was that Ashfin wasn’t sure what kind of information his father didn’t already know. He was the smartest dragon in Zerue, maybe all of Azela. He knew everything... Well, perhaps everything but one. Operation Calric. And if Ashfin could figure out what Operation Calric was, his father would be proud of him!

So, the following night, Ashfin made his way to the library and reopened ‘The Lonely Prince’ to discover...nothing. The only thing Prince Calric spoke about was how he loathed the fact he was more intelligent than everyone in Zerue. The only thing he never understood was the stars. It was the one thing he couldn’t figure out, and he often spent many lonely nights trying to study them. But Ashfin remembered most of their knowledge of the stars came not from Prince Calric but from a noble dragoness.

Ashfin began to review this dragoness’s studies of the stars, discovering that, at one point, she had given credit to an unnamed lover and their children. Of course! Ashfin shouted in his mind. No wonder I can’t find Mother! Her operations happen at night, and most likely in the watchtowers where she can view the stars! There’s no chance of eavesdropping because it’s only big enough for two, maybe three dragons, so it’s the perfect spot to speak in private and conduct operations!

Ashfin felt a bit of joy after he discovered the secret location of Operation Calric, as much as he’d didn’t want to admit it. He did enjoy it whenever he could figure something out, but he’d never confess this to his mother. Otherwise, he’d never hear the end of it.

To confirm that this was, in fact, the secret location, Ashfin made his way to the watchtower and focused his vision to detect heat signatures. Sure enough, he saw two of them. He couldn’t make out what they were doing, so he moved closer. He quietly made his way up the winding stairwell until his vision sharpened. His mother lay on the ground next to another dragon, their tails intertwined. Mother is gonna be so proud of me when I tell her I figured it out!

Before he confronted his mother, though, he thought about his father. On the other wing, if I inform Father what Operation Calric is, he’ll let me join Zarius in his training! Ashfin pondered the idea. He knew where his mother was but not what she was doing. There were likely more things he didn’t know, too, and she always told him to never strike his opponent without first knowing how they might respond. She could lie and say this was a place she came to sit and relax. He needed more information before he confronted her. Maybe he could eavesdrop on their conversation? 

He slowly kept going up the stairwell as he kept his eye on the two dragons. However, he ended up slipping, which made a lot of noise. He quickly lowered the heat in his body so it’d be difficult for his mother to see him with her heat vision. He could see the silhouette of his mother staring at him while the other dragon flew away. Ashfin quickly and quietly made his way down the stairs…he could’ve sworn his mother smiled at him.

The next day, Yasminthia was in the training room with Ashfin. She lay on the ground while she breathed heavily, and Ashfin stood tall, also breathing heavily. “You’re getting better,” she told him, out of breath. “If you put this much effort into finding out what Operation Calric is, perhaps you would've figured it out by now.”

“I’m just...confused,” Ashfin told her with a sigh. “I figured out where you’re having your secret meeting, but I don’t know what about or how to retrieve that knowledge. I’m trying to pretend you’re the Clevtrums, and we’re at war. What are you planning?”

Queen Yasminthia got up with a smile on her face. “I see you found only the information you wanted to see but not why you needed to see it.” Ashfin didn’t say anything. “The Lonely Prince was lonely because there wasn’t anyone who could match his intellect. Yet he found happiness in the stars. Why is that?” 

“Because there’s much we don’t know about them?”

“Yet everything we know comes from a dragoness who was around at the same time as Prince Calric, and all we know about her personal life was that she had a mate who wasn’t named in her studies yet was credited for his work. An odd choice, wouldn’t you agree? I feel as if I can relate to Prince Calric as a lonely queen.” She gave Ashfin a kiss on his forehead before saying anything else. “You’re almost there. Once you’ve figured it out, make sure to come directly to me, and I’ll explain everything. I think you’re just about ready to learn the rules of The Game, which is good because I could use some more allies.” She chuckled before leaving the training room.

Before Ashfin could understand or process the information his mother told him, his father came back early.

Ashfin’s heart clenched as Zarius crashed against the brick floor and groaned in pain. The smell of burnt scales flooded Ashfin’s nose while his father yelled at his brother, “I told you not to eat Queen Velsnach’s food.” Boedan snarled, his red scales glowed like molten lava. “But you had to embarrass me.” His anger dissipated only when his piercing gaze landed on Ashfin.

Ashfin swallowed hard. This could be my chance to prove I’m better than Zarius! He tried to stand taller, but his legs quivered under the weight of his father’s presence. The king’s lip curled in disdain. “You. Prove to me you’re not a waste of space.”

“Uh…” He didn’t know what to say.

Boedan let out a snort through his nose. “Of course. Just my luck to have not one but two useless princes. You actually got my hopes up. I guess I was right, though. Teaching you to be more patient only made you weaker. You’ll never be fit to be king.”

“I know where Mother goes at night!” Ashfin shouted in a panic.

[cy-cyborg]

Free Customisable (and Animateable) Wheelchair Model

This is the last of the free downloads I had planned for Disability pride month, and it's the one I'm most excited about!

This wheelchair model made for Blender is able to be customised to suit a wide variety of characters with different personalities, lifestyles, needs and disabilities. Everything from the overall shape to the colours and (in some cases) textures can be controlled via a customisation rig, with several parts that can be enabled or disabled entirely. The rig is also animateable (via a different set of controllers to prevent conflict).

You can get the model for free on my Ko-Fi store

or you can download it from my Google Drive.

This Download includes:

The original .Blend file to edit in Blender.

an .obj file of the default version of the wheelchair that can be imported into programs like Clip Studio Paint.

A texture file for the spoke cover + .clip/.psd templates for making your own custom cover (overwrite the original file and restart Blender to replace it on the model)

a HDRI texture for lighting (from Polyhaven)

A link to the user's manual (found here) for more detailed instructions on how to use the model.

I plan to update and continue adding more options to the model over time too, including things like higher/more supportive back rest options, different types of side guards/arm rests, handles and spokes, and power-assist modules. I'd also like to add the option for a foldable frame at some point, though that may take some time (or it might have to be a different model entirely, we'll see).

I've also included a bug report and feature request form here in the User Manual, so if there's anything you want to see or you find any problems, let me know!

More info below:

At first, I had just planned to update the original 5 wheelchair models but the problem with making active-style wheelchair models, is that in real life, these chairs are made to fit their users perfectly. As a result, It's basically impossible to create a pre-made one for artists to use as reference and have it actually fit their characters the way it should. So instead, I made a model with a Blender rig that can be adjusted to best suit your character. Just like the previous models I made, you can export the whole thing to an .obj to use it in Clip Studio Paint and other 2D art programs.

As well as the overall shape, the colours and materials can also be edited through the rig, so you don't need to know much about Blender's material editor to change things (in general, I've tried to make the rig as beginner-friendly as possible). The only exception to that is the texture on the Spoke Cover. You can change that the usual way via the material settings, or simply overwrite the texture file and restart Blender. There are also .clip and .psd templates included to show you how to make your own custom texture for it. Finally, There's also an option to swap out all the metal shaders for ones that resemble wood for a more fantasy vibe (though I want to continue to edit that so it will eventually look more like a fantasy wheelchair rather than just a pallet/texture swap)

[cy-cyborg]

ArFight: Alejandro

My 8th Art Fight attack, revenge on CobaltIngot! I had a lot of fun with this one! Especially with trying out a more toony style! [ID: A digital half-body illustration of a half-dog-half-snake. Aside from his colouration and long serpentine neck, he looks like a dog with pointed ears and pale pink eyes. He is green with scale-like spots and a more yellow-green underbelly. He is wearing a poncho and holding a potted Bonsai tree in his paws. /End ID]

[cy-cyborg]

Art fight: Dragon chaser

My 7th Art fight attack on BlackLightningDragon as revenge for the attack they included me in. I had to take a few days off from doing art fight attacks to recover from a flare up and work on some other stuff, but I had fun with this one. I haven’t drawn a (regular looking) horse in years! I finally had an excuse to use my mum’s old “horse encyclopedia” book that she gave me over Christmas 😂

[cy-cyborg]

Free Wheelchair Reference models (Basketball wheelchairs)

I've got another pack of disability reference models! This time the pack is for sports, specifically, basketball wheelchairs!

These are slightly modified versions of models I'm using in one of my webcomics, but I've been planning to release them as a pack for others to use as well for a while

The pack includes 1 high-pointer's wheelchair and two variations of a low pointer's wheelchair (High pointers are people who's disability mainly effects the lower body, and low-pointers are those who's disabilities mainly effect their upper or whole body).

You can get the individual model packs on my Ko-Fi, or download all of them directly through google drive

Just like with the previous download pack, the pack includes the original .Blend file (which can be used to make edits to the shaders (or just used as a regular unrigged model) and an .obj and .mtl file that can be imported into art programs like Clip Studio Paint to be used as references.

Also like last time, they are free to download and use for personal and commercial use. Credit/attribution isn't necessary but it is appreciated! As are tags so I can see what you make with them!

There is also one final pack I plan to release before the end of Disability Pride month, hopefully by the end of the week if all goes to plan

[cy-cyborg]

I really dig the official Paralympics logo for the shooting competitions

[cy-cyborg]

My 6th art fight revenge on @aberrantcreature of their character Niko. I had a lot of fun with this guy’s eyes! [ID: A digital headshot illustration of a black, furry snake-like creature with big, wolf-like ears. It has a hood like a cobra, though shaped more like butterfly wings with multi-coloured eyes covering them. The eyes on it’s head are also multicoloured, with one blue, and another visible on top of it’s head that’s orange /End ID]

[cy-cyborg]

Free Manual Wheelchair Reference Models (Version 2)

ID: A 3D render of 5 brightly coloured manual wheelchairs in front of a disability pride flag. White text overlaid on the image reads "Manual Wheelchair Models" "Version 2". /End ID

I've updated the wheelchair models I released for last year's Disability pride month to include adjustable shaders/materials that carry over into programs like Clip Studio Paint for folks who just want to use them as reference, and (what I hope is) a clearer guide on how to use, import/export and make alterations to them!

Each chair is designed to suit different kinds of characters with different disabilities and lifestyles. The chairs available right now are:

2 Active urban-style chairs (one of which includes a rear-mounted power assist)

1 off-road active chair

1 children's wheelchair

and 1 standard "hospital" wheelchair.

and I'm planning to add 2 more by the end of disability pride month (2025)

You can download them for free On Ko-Fi!

Or you can download the pack directly from Google Drive

included in each download is:

the original .blend file for each wheelchair model

an .obj and .mtl file for each chair that can be imported into other 3D modelling software or into some art programs like Clip Studio Paint

A link to a user's manual that explains how to make alterations to the files for those less familiar with Blender, and how to import and save them to your Clip Studio Paint Asset/Material library on both desktop and ipad versions of CSP.

I would really like to keep updating these files and eventually include rigs for each (one of these was rigged previously, but I'm not sure what happened, it seems to have broken after one of the Blender updates)

Just like last time, they're completely free to use, with the caveat that they can't be resold or used in AI training. Credit isn't required but is greatly appreciated (as are tags so I can see art that used them!)

[cy-cyborg]

tags from @raaorqtpbpdy : #disabled people are getting shit on from both sides of this AI debacle#pro-AI assholes screaming 'think of the poir disabled ppl who can't think for themselves! they need AI to create for them!'#anti-AI assholes screaming 'Just look at how they write! they're definitely using AI!'#despite disabled people constantly refuting both arguments#I have yet to meet a pro-AI disabled person (and I know a lot of disabled people)#and also I myself have been accused of using AI to write texts and emails because ig my autism was too apparent and I came across as a robot#and in both cases it's just ableism

YES!

Like I said, I'm vehemently anti-ai, but I have... thoughts about how both sides keep dragging us into this and using us as either punching bags or gotchas. It goes deeper than just these points you mentioned, even the way I've seen people refute both these arguments end up leaning into ableism in different ways, but I don't know how to put it into words without writing an full-blow essay and I don't have the spoons to deal the trash-fire I know it would start in my comments and DMs 😂

Is the person you’re shitting on using AI or are they just disabled?

My partner @jessequinones is autistic and has some learning disabilities that affect the way he speaks and writes, which, apparently, is making some people think the posts he’s writing are AI. I can confirm they’re not, we share an office space and I watched him write them myself. We’re also both vehemently anti-ai in general.

Look, I get it, we have to be vigilant about AI in our spaces, especially in the writing spaces, but please remember a lot of the “obvious AI writing tells” are also common in Autistic speech, and in the speech of people with learning/intellectual disabilities. AI is getting harder to spot, and a lot of these tells don’t even apply anymore, but that’s not stopping disabled people from getting accused, so please be mindful before you start claiming random people are using it.

[cy-cyborg]

My 3rd art fight Revenge on SparkyDaParrot of their character Voidmaster! [ID: A digitally illustrated headshot of a creature with dark blue fur and a long-snouted animal skull for a face. One of it’s eye sockets contains a glowing blue dot for an eye, and 4 black and white banded horns grow from the back of the skull. It’s teeth and the inside of the nose hole are made of a glowing blue crystal /End ID]

[cy-cyborg]

Is the person you’re shitting on using AI or are they just disabled?

My partner @jessequinones is autistic and has some learning disabilities that affect the way he speaks and writes, which, apparently, is making some people think the posts he’s writing are AI. I can confirm they’re not, we share an office space and I watched him write them myself. We’re also both vehemently anti-ai in general.

Look, I get it, we have to be vigilant about AI in our spaces, especially in the writing spaces, but please remember a lot of the “obvious AI writing tells” are also common in Autistic speech, and in the speech of people with learning/intellectual disabilities. AI is getting harder to spot, and a lot of these tells don’t even apply anymore, but that’s not stopping disabled people from getting accused, so please be mindful before you start claiming random people are using it.

[cy-cyborg]

How to Write When You’re Not Inspired

I’ve been writing for...let’s call it a year or two. Or twenty. And honestly? There are months when I just don’t write. It’s not because of a lack of motivation. It’s more that sometimes, I simply don’t want to. And that’s okay.

The creative bug, as some call it, died in winter (because, of course, it’s winter). It won’t crawl back out until summer, and honestly? It’s infuriating. I want to write. But I can’t.

This isn’t about losing motivation or writers block. It’s the sheer gravitational pull of everything not writing: video games, naps, watching shows/movies, etc.

When this happens, especially to others, they begin to doubt themselves. “Did I ever even love writing?” Might be a question they asked themselves. They haven’t touched it in months, but they’re happy doing other things. And yeah, I’ve had those same thoughts too.

Here’s the first thing I remind myself: There’s no harm in needing a break. Some people swear by the “just write one word!” advice, but honestly? If that one word takes me hours and leaves me frustrated, I haven’t achieved anything. I’ve just made myself miserable. And in a world that’s already exhausting? I’d rather just stay happy.

So how do I fix this?

Honestly? I don’t have a perfect answer. Sometimes, I just have to wait for summer to roll back around before I can write again. But there are a few things that help me ease back into the flow.

1) I Get Jealous

Weird? Maybe. But it works.

I’m in a bunch of writing groups, and when I see them posting about their word counts, their edits, or, their upcoming book releases, that little bug starts gnawing at me. And you know what? It’s weirdly effective. Suddenly, I’m back in my chair, typing away.

Now, let’s be clear: I don’t write because I think I’m better than them (have you seen their work? It’s incredible). I write because I want to keep up. I want to share my own progress, to feel that same pride, to inch closer to finishing my own story. So yeah, sometimes jealousy isn’t a vice. It’s a spark.

2) Write Something Else

Picture this: I should be working on my book. But it’s cold, inspiration is hibernating, and my electric blanket + coffee combo is calling my name louder than my manuscript. (This may or may not be how I procrastinated before writing this.)

Then, the guilt hits. I haven’t written in weeks. But instead of forcing my book, I wrote a random Facebook post, and somehow...it worked.

Weird? Maybe. But sometimes, you need to grease your gears with something completely unrelated. A silly post, a rant about your pet’s weird habits, anything to remind your brain that writing can be easy and fun.

This is why “uninspired” isn’t the same as “unmotivated.” The desire is there; the engine’s just stuck. And sometimes, a low-stakes warm-up is all it takes to get the real work moving again.

3) You Can’t Write on a Cloudy Day

For me, writing requires a clear mind, one that can fully immerse me in my characters and stories. But inspiration refuses to show up, no matter how badly I want to write. Sometimes, the best course of action is to walk away.

Sure, that might mean not writing for three months. But if my brain’s fogged over, forcing it only leads to awful drafts I’ll despise later (and inevitably rewrite).

To ensure I don’t fall behind with my writing, I keep a notebook of ideas. Jotting down random thoughts means I never truly “lose” them. Weeks later, re-reading those scraps might spark excitement all over again.

The planets don’t need to align, just my focus. If my mind’s not on the page today, that’s fine. I know it’ll be there another day.

As long as the want to write is still there, the inspiration will circle back. And when it does? You’ll find me at my desk on a sunny day, ready to go.

[cy-cyborg]