#I also think using them this way in the field would be safer than the accepted way

[howtofightwrite]

So. There is no safe place (in the body) to be shot. There are places that are slightly safer than others to be stabbed (i.e. being stabbed in the meat of your calf is less likely to be lethal than your torso). For the purposes of an arrow wound, which feels like a combination of shot+stab for a swords n sorcery world, is there a “less lethal” place to take an arrow? My character is traveling with companions and gets into a fun little goblin skirmish. I need her to catch an arrow somewhere that will be concerning, but not immediately fatal. Magic Bullshit™️ will keep the wound from healing properly for a few days, but I’ve accounted for field wound care (cleaning and bandaging and such) as she’s being taken on horseback to get proper treatment.

Not deeply.

So, the problem with all of these is tissue disruption. If the injury gets deep enough, the chances that it will hit something vital (especially on the torso) increase dramatically. So, getting stabbed and having the blade catch bone, instead of getting in deeper is “relatively” safe. Similarly, getting stabbed (or shot) in the hand or foot is unlikely to kill you (though, those injuries are likely to result in permanent damage impairing the use of injured appendage.)

Arrows are a little different, in a couple of ways. First, if you get shot, you do not want to pull that off (nor break it off and push it through.) That will increase the risk of bleeding out. Arrows make fairly large holes in people, but if the arrow sticks in the wound (which, it should) it will actually limit the amount of bleeding. Effectively the wound has a partial plug in it. Pulling out the arrow means that plug is no longer there, and they can happily bleed to death on the spot.

The second thing about arrows is that they actually pin muscle together. Think of it a bit like holding two pieces of meat together with a toothpick. If the toothpick isn't there, the pieces can slide across each other without issue, but that's not possible when there's a wooden shaft running through them. Your muscles are a complex web of meat, that slide over each other as you move. Pinning those together means that part of your body will actually lock up. For example, if you're shot in the shoulder, you won't be able to adjust the position of your arm. It's been toothpicked, and it's not going anywhere.

Arrowheads can get wedged in bone. If it's a broad head, or hunting tip, that will be obnoxious to get out.

At the risk of reading too much into your setting, goblins often means poisons, or other nastiness. Though, really, even just getting a tetanus infection (it used to be called “lock jaw”) from their blades is a pretty horrific potential fate. Even if the wounds themselves were relatively minor (cuts and scrapes, maybe a graze or two), a couple days might still result in some pretty horrific harm after the fact.

Also, remember, it's unlikely that bacteria will be understood by the medical science of your setting. So, first aid would still run a real risk of secondary infections.

Depending on their skill in first aid, anything outside of a severed artery or catastrophic organ damage should be (technically) survivable, though the wounds could easily result in permanent impairments, depending on exactly what was hit. A punctured lung might not kill her, but it could result in permanent respiratory issues, such as a cough, and chronic pain while breathing heavily from then on. It could also result in pneumonia and death, which is also, usually, pretty permanent.

Some of this depends more on where you want to land on a spectrum between dark fantasy and swords & sorcery. The genres are similar (and potentially overlapping), but can scatter out into dramatically different works. But, you do have some options on how you want to proceed.

-Starke

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[thedisablednaturalist]

Is it okay if I use my crutches like weight supports rather than fully weight bearing?

I tried using them to fully take the weight off my legs but my upper arm and core strength aren't strong enough to handle that weight transfer, at least for now. (Example)

The video says at the end if you can't do that you're better off using a wheelchair, which I do but obviously can't use it in the field which is why I got the crutches.

I've been using them as like...extra legs so I can distribute my weight equally throughout my body/the crutches rather than use my upper arm strength to take all the weight off my legs.

When I first used them in public I got looks and my bf said that he doesn't think that's the right way to use them.

I definitely feel more stable having them and walking is easier, but I don't want to be using them in a way that is harmful to myself or offensive to other crutch users.

[blueskittlesart]

Tell me about the road design of Hyrule!

YESSS ok so my tangent last night was mostly about the changes between the botw and totk maps but the map design of botw/totk hyrule in general is a really great example of environmental storytelling imo!!

in botw, most of the roads we see are kind of implied to be pre-calamity remnants. we very rarely see travelers, especially not along roads that aren't stable or village connectors, and a lot of the roads in hyrule field especially are near-deserted and clearly haven't been kept up. many of them lead through the ruins of what would have been villages or cultural hubs pre-calamity but are now either completely deserted or overrun with monsters. if you do come across travelers along the path, there's about a 50/50 chance they'll either be fighting monsters (and losing, badly) or disguised yiga clan members trying to ambush you. (and I think there's an implication in the yiga posting disguised members along the sides of old roads that since so few people use the roads nowadays, it's reasonable for them to use that kind of disguise as a way to catch specifically link--it's probably 10 to 1 that if you meet a traveler along a road, it's gonna be him.) the roads are like the ruins we see scattered around hyrule--reminders of what the kingdom USED to be, back when travel was a safe and sustainable option for its citizens, but now littered with monsters and slowly falling into disrepair.

in totk, though, the map and the roads along it are much more populated. they get WAY more use--you'll almost never follow a road for more than a few minutes without passing an npc now. there are a few new roads that allow for more convenient travel between previously difficult-to-access places. roads that were previously in disrepair and obviously too dangerous for the average person to travel are better-maintained and more populated. new stables are popping up. The observation that prompted this whole thing last night was specifically the walkability of the roads--in botw they tend to be wide and seemingly optimized for horse travel, which, given the amount of monster activity along them, makes sense since horses are the easiest way to travel safely on that map. in totk, though, several of the roads seem narrower and more winding, with sharp turns and obstacles that are hard to navigate on a horse at top speed. This is partially due to the upheaval adding more small obstacles to the map, but I also think it speaks to how post-calamity it's likely become a lot safer to travel on foot, so having wide, straight roads is no longer as much of a practicality issue.

the way the roads are built i think also gives us some insight into how travel worked pre-calamity and just generally what culture was like in different regions of pre-calamity hyrule. the field is heavily populated by roads and old structures, implying a culture of travel between the hylian villages and outposts that would have once been there. races that we know to have been historically more isolated, however, like the zora and the gerudo, only have one road leading in and out of their settlements, and in the gerudo's case the road isn't even clearly marked, making it extra difficult to traverse if you don't know what you're doing. by the time we get to totk, the gorons have gained a couple more roads in and out of their main city, allowing for easier access, which i think implies that their isolation during the calamity was involuntary and they were eager to open up to other races as soon as it was safe to do so!

[unprettyg1rl]

I’m reading a book on the history of invention and how our cultural views of masculinity vs femininity affect our progress and holy shit if women’s needs and preferences were taken seriously we would’ve been using electric cars since the late 1800s instead of just starting to use them now.

In “Att uppfinna världen” (Mother of Invention in the English translation) by Katrine Marçal there is a chapter dedicated to the process of inventing the modern automobile, where I read that there were multiple ways of constructing a car when the invention was relatively recent, as the field was still open to experimentation. Petrol wasn’t an obvious choice for fuelling the engine – in fact, around the year 1900 a third of all cars in Europe were electric cars, and the percentage was even bigger in America. Electrically powered cars were superior to petrol-fuelled ones in many ways: they were quieter, didn’t expel smelly gas, much safer and more reliable, and easy to start and control from the driver’s seat. Cars fuelled by petrol, on the other hand, were loud, more unreliable and required a lot more maintenance, and to start the engine one had to do some serious manual labour involving a crank – which would often leave you sweaty and with oil stains on your clothes, plus a constant risk of causing an explosion if you weren’t careful enough. Naturally, women preferred the former, being more convenient and comfortable and thus more suited to their travel needs, whereas the petrol-fuelled car was marketed as the more adventurous, macho choice for men.

The one downside to electric cars was that the battery didn’t last for longer journeys, which in the case for women wasn’t that much of a problem since the majority mainly just made trips within the city or town. This was also an issue that could’ve been fixed, and there were many plans to do so, mainly infrastructure-related ones like battery-switching stations and developing better battery solutions. There were even plans for a net of rentable electric cars for anyone to use, and electric trains, trams, and taxis for public transport (seems very ahead of its time, doesn’t it? A much more environmentally conscious system than our good ol’ “everyone has one or multiple cars that individually expel copious amounts of greenhouse gasses” method). However, investments were too few since the male-dominated society deemed these “women’s cars”. After all, a real man isn’t soft, safe and comfortable – he cranks his own car to life and makes a lot of noise as he travels. A report from 1916 by the magazine Electric Vehicle stated that “The thing that is effeminate, or that has that reputation, does not find favor with the American man. Whether or not he is ‘red-blooded’ or ‘virile’ in the ordinary physical sense, at least his ideals are. The fact that anything from a car to a color is the delight of the ladies is enough to change his interest to mere amused tolerance.”

Like, it’s insane that values such as comfort, safety and convenience were seen as “feminine” and thus dismissed, leading to petrol-fuelled cars completely taking over the market in the end. Imagine what the world would’ve looked like if women were the standard instead of men. It really pains me to think how much damage we’ve done to the planet just because of men’s stubborn macho ideals.

(a lot of this research is quoted from The Electric Vehicle: Technology and Expectations in the Automobile Age by Gijs Mom, a book I’m now very interested in reading in full)

[dragons-and-ages]

I am well aware that I’m delusional, but here’s how Varric-mancers can still win in 2024

But he’s not a companion.

Yeah, so? While he may not be an active companion, he appears to be taking an advisory role. Perhaps he’s a liaison between the Veilguard and the Inquisition remnants. If he is an advisor, that wouldn’t preclude him from being a romance option. See: Josie and Cullen.

But BioWare is going to kill him off.

ngl this prospect scares me.

I’ll admit that he is giving one-week-to-retirement vibes. But maybe he’s just tired of being in the field after so many years. He’s getting older; He doesn’t need to be slogging through the muck with us when his most formidable weapons are pen and paper.

But if he was going to be romanceable, he’d have been an option in an earlier game.

Not necessarily. Again, see: Cullen. It took three games for Cullen to be romanceable, which made sense! Cullen, as a character, was very much NOT mentally in a place that he would be open to romance in DAO and DA2. I’d argue the same for Varric, which I’ll get into below.

But it makes more sense for Varric to romance Hawke.

It’s true that Hawke and Varric are besties. Varric is clearly ride-or-die for Hawkes of all flavors. Varric has also known Hawke longer than any of the other protagonists. However, during those formative years in Kirkwall, Varric was very much still stuck on Bianca. (And let’s not deny that Hawkes of all flavors are also messy). Varric built an intentional wall between himself and Hawke or, you could argue, between himself and the character, the Champion of Kirkwall. See, Varric is a writer and he has a way of idealizing and romanticizing life and the people around him.

Being the teller of the story allows him to be in some kind of control.

Ok, but Varric couldn’t romance the Inquisitor.

That was even more implausible than Hawke. Again, Varric seems to see the people around him like story characters. The Inquisitor, the Herald of Andraste, is this big, potentially tragic, hero figure. DAI takes place over a shorter period of time than DA2, and while you may be able to build a friendly relationship with him, there is still clearly a wall there. Not to mention, he’s still comfortably pining for Bianca until the ‘Well, shit’ quest.

But Varric is in love with Bianca.

Bianca Davri. Gorgeous and brilliant dwarven woman voiced by Laura Bailey. It’s hard for my bi ass not to love her on those points alone. She has an amazing mind and is the only surface dwarf ever to be nominated for paragon status because of her inventions. She and Varric had a romance and were forced apart by the Merchant’s Guild before she was betrothed to a guy in the smith caste. And in the years since, the two of them have kept up a secret correspondence. Tell me all of that doesn’t smack of tragic storybook doomed romance. Of course Varric was stuck on her. Not to mention, he has carried around one of her inventions ever since; one that he named after her.

I think that, in the years since they were forcibly separated, Varric built up an idealized version of Bianca in his mind. You can see he does that to a certain extent with everyone. He separates himself, the writer, from the characters. Sometimes an old hurt is safer than opening up again and Varric has been safe and comfortable with not entering into a new romance. And there’s always that sliver of hope, fed by secret letters, that he and Bianca could be together in the end.

But then ‘Well, shit’ happens in DAI and Varric walks away angry with Bianca after it is revealed that SHE is responsible for leaking the location of the red lyrium. I think (I hope) that this event has shattered the idealized version of Bianca that lives in Varric’s mind. I don’t know how much time has passed since DAI, but I hope that that revelation has started a chain reaction where Varric has reevaluated his relationship with Bianca and is finally ready to put that chapter behind him.

And here’s where my batshit delulu theory starts:

I propose that Bianca the crossbow breaks early on in the game. This would be symbolic of Varric moving from active companion to an advisor status. It’s a sign to Varric that it’s time for a change. On the romance front, it’s the final nail in the coffin of his pining after Bianca.

Rook and The Veilguard are a smaller group than the Inquisition. Stakes are still high, but there’s not this strange reverence for Rook like there was for the Inquisitor. And the group is small and intimate, not a massive, world changing machine like the Inquisition was. I can see Varric being surprised, but cautiously open to flirting overtures from Rook.

It has been so many years since Varric has really allowed himself to love and be loved. It’s been too long since he allowed himself to be a part of the story rather than telling it. He’s getting older now, maybe it’s time to let that chapter close and really try to live and love again.

It has the potential to be a very mature, slow burn, beautiful romance and I know I’m deluding myself but I want it so bad.

[zangtang]

I’m a big fan of your recent creation, especially the chunky chav collect. Are you using a single AI imagine create or a combination of tools? Would really like to learn more.

I'm using https://www.bing.com/images/create?FORM=GENILP (If you lose or don't save the link, it's simply the Bing search engine, choose Images, choose Create) Unlike Midjourney, it doesn't really HAVE any tools - but it's still so much more precise that it doesn't really need them. The prompts for the chavs in full was "very rotund 35 year old chav with a large round belly, tracksuit, washing a car, gold chain necklace, carpark at night" You can remove or add details as you please, just bear in mind some words are more heavily weighted against the censor than others: chav, or fat, can result in more censored work, so using slightly off-kilter words like rotund help to be safer. "Chav" can become "London man" or whatever. The moderation is very reactive, and I think it's already changed considerably since last week - "hugging" and "handsome" seem to be okay words now, but I couldn't get them to work earlier. I've got to give SO much credit to people who have helped me in very surprising ways (I won't name them though, they're free to reply to this if they want credit lol.) Many, many details have been either suggested to me or given directly as tested prompts - for example I'd been trying "man falling over another man" and someone recently simply changed it to "falling over another man, rugby field." I then added "low tackle, handsome" and voila! A world of difference!

i'm sure you're not at all curious but.... just in case you were interested, the specific prompt for these was very rotound man, 25 year old, large round heavy belly, fat rugby player, low tackle, falling over another man, rugby field, raining, italian, handsome

Switch "low tackle" to "slide tackle" for variety, change nationality, other than that, exactly the same Also, I implore you to share anything fun you find, it's how we all find better tricks and make each other better. Good luck!

[karniss-bg3]

I figured you’d be the right person to ask this question, why is Kar’niss’ skin super pale when he was originally a drow? 🖤

I had the same question myself and I did some digging a bit ago. All of the official drider concept art I've seen has depicted driders with dark skin, so it stands to reason that the transformation alone wouldn't be enough to alter his appearance. This leaves one interesting theory at play; Kar'niss was a Szarkai.

Szarkai, which translates to "ghost spiders", are albino drow. This is a very rare mutation that affects only 0.1% of the drow population. Their skin tones are so light in fact that they are able to pass as surface elves with little trouble. Some would think that this would make them outcasts but in fact Szarkai were viewed as a blessing of Lolth, hence their namesake.

There are some interesting crossover traits between Kar'niss and Szarkai that lean me more toward this theory, such as: -Szarkai look almost identical to drow outside of the skin tone. However, they have also been known to have minor deformities. The most notable is "gnarled and claw-like hands" which we know Kar'niss to possess. Originally I thought this was due to the transformation, but now I think he may have had it prior to the change.

-They are very adverse toward combat, preferring to let others do the dirty work so to speak. When the player engages Kar'niss in a fight one of the first things he does after his multi-attack is cast sanctuary on himself, protecting himself from harm and forcing his companions to take the hits. I also saw a video where someone cast banish on Kar'niss and when he returned he disengaged, healed himself, and ran from the fight. Now this was likely a bug, but it'd be on brand for Szarkai's desire to escape a fight rather than engage in it.

-They were mostly used as spies and gathering information since they could easily blend into surface societies. While there isn't much evidence that Kar'niss has much training in this field, what stuck out to me was the professions Szarkai favored. One of them is bard, and we have at least some notion that Kar'niss is linked to one musical instrument by way of the spider's lyre. I recall someone commenting asking if the lyre may have belonged to Kar'niss at one point and while I can't say with certainty, if it was and Minthara was merely holding on to it then it'd lend credence to him being a bard formerly. That and he's super pissed if you play it poorly!

-I haven't done a playthrough with Minthara in my party so I am not familiar with all of her dialogue lines. However, she does know Kar'niss in some capacity and the lyre is used to call him. Her last name is Baenre which is one of the most notable drow houses in all of Menzoberranzan, famous for Jarlaxle the leader of Bregan D'aerthe. I say this because Szarkai seemed to be far more common in noble houses, which Baenre would be. This could, even if loosely, establish a link between them.

IF this is true, that puts a very intense spin on Kar'niss' potential history. Szarkai were protected, considered valuable, and their existence kept secret. They were removed from drow life, and even kept in far safer conditions than others. This didn't mean they were shielded from the cruelty drow are known for but it was a different kind of cruelty. Often trained from a very young age to be spies and saboteurs, and subsequently being shipped to human cities to do as ordered. It makes me wonder what Kar'niss could've done to incur Lolth's wrath to the extent she warped him into a drider. Betrayal? Failure? Weakness? Or perhaps Lolth just really wanted an alabaster pet, it's hard to say.

Thanks for the ask!

[jackgoodfellow]

"Grace" here is being used not in the Christian sense, but rather to broadly refer to the incredible power of human kindness, patience, and love. ❤

High-res closeups:

high-res full image (Google Drive link)

Flower language (or at least the flower language I am using):

Forget-me-nots: these little blue flowers are symbols of memory and remembrance, as well as true love, devotion, and, occasionally, senility

Baby's breath: these tiny white flowers symbolize new beginnings, everlasting love, freedom from corruption, happiness, and thankfulness

Dandelions: A cursory google search says these flowers represent "hope, healing, and resilience," which is apt. But I've included them here as a reference to their symbolism in Fionna & Cake. In this illustration, the field of dandelion puffs that Simon wakes up in at the end of the show has become a field of yellow dandelion flowers.

More analysis, if you're into that kind of thing:

1. I'm never going to get over the fact that Simon saved Marceline for no other reason than to save a child who needed his help, and in doing so - in showing up for his adopted daughter not just once but constantly and for YEARS - he basically saved the world. I think it was a brilliant move to use the narrative to further validate his actions in "The Star" episode of Fionna & Cake.

Marceline is the narrative opposite of Dean and Sam Supernatural.

2. Kindness has a way of spreading and coming back to us in ways we could never predict, which is one reason why I'm ALSO never going to get over how Simon saving Marceline eventually led to Marceline convincing Finn and Jake (and BMO and even Bubblegum) to be more empathetic to the Ice King, who becomes way safer and happier once he is not isolated in his madness.

Finn's kindness towards Simon, both before and after being cured, is a huge deal to me. It's a vital part of his character growth, and I like that Fionna had a parallel moment of growth with the Candy Queen.

Like, yes, it is big and important that Betty saved Simon. But what she couldn't do is love him in his madness. She was unable to love him if it didn't also cure him, and this destroyed her.

And so it is beautiful to me that because of Marcy and her friends, Simon was not left to suffer alone in the darkest depths of his senility. And I really love all the ways the show demonstrates how this deeply affected him even if it didn't make him remember who he was.

I believe this kindness shown to Ice King led to him having the confidence to stand up for himself and accidentally save the world AGAIN when Betty tries to kill everyone to "save" Simon in the Elementals finale because GOD FORBID WOMEN DO ANYTHING.

(Betty is our problematic Queen, and I absolutely love how she's written. The CW could NEVER. The MCU would sooner DIE. 90% of all prestige dramas can only DREAM of having such a complex and dynamic female character.)

3. And finally, there is that most recent and possibly most vital instance of grace of all in Simon's story: the kindness, patience, and forgiveness that he finally learns to start showing to himself.

Simon's is a tale of people being kinder than they have to be and the way that changes everything. I am extremely grateful that his story culminates in him learning that kindness and self-sacrifice are NOT the same thing, and that he deserves his own kindness as much as if not more than everyone else.

[drbased]

Does it ever make you ever feel depressed that men have more variation in IQ? That means even though there will always be more male idiots, there will also be more male geniuses. So women can excel in any field, but a man will almost always be the "best" in it. It just makes me feel inferior every time I think about it, way more than strength difference does. Not only that, but they also have higher variation in all types of brain structure. That would mean men are naturally more diverse, personality-wise.

Sometimes I get into these negative thought processes about stupid shit and it totally consumes me. This is my latest one... Please help

Hmm.

Well firstly, IQ is a completely fake concept designed specifically for eugenicist purposes. You can train for an IQ test, your score can change depending on the day, and your score doesn’t mean anything apart from how good you are at IQ tests. It’s not a measure of intelligence, and ‘intelligence’ isn’t real anyway - as in, there is no such quality of uniform intelligence. I think it stands to reason that the highest IQ scores will be from men, because the tests are constructed around a fundamentally male world-view and value system as well as a white one. And that is what depresses me more - that ‘intelligence’ is viewed as some innate quality that only oppressors can possess so they can prove that they deserve their place in a meritocracy. It’s like that controversy about men winning more at Jeopardy than women - the world is structured around male interests and values, so men achieve in mainstream contests and use that to retroactively justify the legitimacy of those values and interests in the culture.

I’m less interested in the concept of a man beating a woman at certain activities because of him being smarter than her, than I am about him beating her because he's socialised from a young age into enjoying and valuing those activities - but also often regardless of his actual performance, he's also by default assumed to be better and more competent than her purely because he's a man. Take for example that study where when they did blind auditions for orchestras, men still got in more than women, but when they put carpeting down so women's heels couldn't be heard, there was finally a more equal ratio of women getting in. Or those studies where identical CVs given out and names that are typical of women, black people etc. get seen as less competent than those with male and white names.

We don't live in a world where we can objectively measure men's 'natural' abilities at anything psychological. But we do live in a world where we know that women's skills are massively undervalued - women have all sorts of intelligences that make the world run round; we're excellent negotiators, we're less violent, we're great at remembering, we have greater compassion, we make good leaders, we are more responsible, we have greater tact, we are safer in the workplace, we're more conscious of social issues and the environment, etc. etc. And none of what we have is seen as 'intelligence'; in fact, quite the opposite - many of our intelligences are dismissed outright as sentimentality and pearl-clutching.

Once again, though, I don't believe these traits are uniform across all women, or that they're 'natural' to us, just as men's traits aren't 'natural' to them. In the nature-nurture debate, there are too many factors in nurture that can't be realistically measured - and I have a suspicion that for many, feminists included, simply saying that men and women naturally possess certain traits is an easier narrative to swallow, because for many women the fear exists that if men can be socialised to be better, then dismissing them as evil would be morally wrong. But I don't think people need to be intrinsically, ontologically evil for us to dismiss them as oppressors - I simply judge by behaviour, which is more measurable.

Going back to intelligence, I think it's also worth saying here that women are socialised into not recognised or appreciating our skills, and to partake in behaviours that psychologically hobble us. Take for example in that orchestra study - under a feminist lens, wearing heels is a form of hobbling that's both literal and psychological. The woman is performing a feminine ritual, wearing a physically debilitating item that submissively marks her as a woman. Not to say that she would be respected more if she was gnc, but I find it interesting how women accidentally lost their spot on the orchestra in the study because their performative clothing made them noisier and easier to recognise as women. And on top of that, we have stereotype threat - there was a study done where men and women were performing some sort of test, and in one half they were in normal clothes, and the second they were in swimwear. In the second one, women performed more poorly than they did in the first, and men saw no change. Once again, we have two inexorably interlinked factors at play, here - women's swimwear is not built for utility but rather to be sexy, and women's bodies are considered inherently sexual; that's not to say that if women were wearing men's swimwear they'd do better at the test, but rather women are socialised to be self-conscious of themselves but also expected to show more skin - we're expected to dumb ourselves down in the name of being sexy.

The upside in all of this is that the moment you recognise that these things aren't set in stone, and rather that these are all skills you can develop if you gain confidence in yourself, you develop a robust sense of self that you can be comfortable and happy with regardless of external measure of male-approved success. I, for example, found confidence in myself and my writing, and now I'm finding success and getting praise online by women on tumblr. It seems you're best finding yourself environments surrounded by other women, especially feminist-minded women who are consciously choosing to fight against established biases by valuing the skills of women that are undervalued by society. Devaluing male interests and achievements in your own head is something you can also do, and I once again recommend feminist spaces as an excellent opportunity to de-program (obligatory plug for my side blog @learningwomanhood where I do exactly that).

For me, the biggest wisdom to be gained from feminism is the psychological distancing yourself from male thought - the more things you reject that you once unthinkingly believed to be normal, the more you feel that you can truly be human, vibrant, unconstrained; and the more silly the whole enterprise of patriarchy looks. It's not nice that rejecting patriarchy means rejecting mainstream society, but the older you get the more you realise that you simply can't dwell on these things and instead have to do what benefits you within it; nobody is owed a perfect existence, and once you realise that you have to choose a life for yourself and choose to be happy with that, your life will be much more comfortable. In the end, life is all about the gestures of love you make to yourself and others. When you realise that it's your job to be your own best friend, you can carry that energy with you your whole life; you will be inpenetrable because all that matters to you, no matter what situation you're going through or what hell you're in, is that you made decisions that showed love to yourself. That could be considered a form of intelligence - perhaps wisdom itself is a form of intelligence that is devalued specifically because it's female-coded. But wisdom sounds like nothing until you internalise it - all the language in the world can't seem to really get to its essence until something inside you clicks and you understand it.

One thing I would like to say is that those negative thought processes you have are not stupid: they are a valuable part of your processing of the world and are worth attention. We have this cultural idea that with regards to mental health, the parts of us that are 'real' and 'valid' and 'truly us' are all the good parts, and the negative thought processes and patterns of behaviour are like cancerous tumours that need to be artifically removed. One of the best things I ever did for myself is to take myself seriously - because that's my prerogative, as myself and my own best friend. The only thing 'bad' thing about those thought processes is that they cause you distress; that's it. So, then, it's up to you to decide how much you want to indulge in them. I find the best way to really tackle unpleasant behavioural patterns is to simply do them shamelessly, because clearly a part of you wants to do them anyway; one of the first ways I got out of my depressive spirals was to decide that I was going to do all the depressive actions (stay in bed, eat junk food etc.) but simply embrace that those are things I want to do and not feel guilty or sad about it. That way, the depression hasn't consumed me and instead I have made a choice - I have reformed my relationship with myself as an active agent and a made a choice to show love for myself through the gesture of taking my desires seriously, not dismissing them as 'mentally ill'. I could go on but the point is that all of your head is necessarily you - as in, it doesn't come from anywhere else but you, and therefore all of it should be respected and valued. Mainstream society won't tell you that - there's always supposed to be a limit, there's always something that's 'unhealthy' in some sort of metaphysical sense, there's always a part of you that's supposed to be beholden to some external standard, that keeps you feeling insecure and needing validation. But there is no true objective measure of a healthy mind; the only thing that matters is if you're comfortable with yourself, and you can always make gestures of love to yourself regardless of your situation.

[invadergia]

Ok story dedicated to @maxicaiman-afterdark

@duvet-detectives @starscreamhasdied

This is only my second fic so if it's not that good that's why.

This story does happen after breakdown dies and shows knockout coping with it still.

Also I do not know all the cybertronian terms yet so sorry but I'm using some human terms.

And please forgive me if there are any spelling mistakes.

Here is part 2

––––––––NSFW–––––––

OPTIMUS PRIME X KNOCKOUT

Knockout had just got out of the wash racks gently drying off his armor being careful not to scratch his finish. Knockout had been feeling a little down as of late. He had failed a few missions and knew Optimus would be talking with him soon about it. He just knew it was going to happen.

Grabbing his polish and buffer knockout began to buff and polish his armor. He really wanted to be useful to his new team. Sure he was a skilled medic but in the field during battle he wasn't really the best soldier. Sure he had his moments but most were because of his old partner Breakdown.

Oh how he missed breakdown. The way his old partner would complement his finish, help buff him in the morning, surprisingly for his size breakdown was always so gentle with him and knockout desperately missed it all. The feeling of being wrapped up in his big strong servos, gently getting kissed and snuggled.

Knockout heard the door to his birth room open. Knockout turned around to see optimus prime standing in the doorway.

Optimus looked to his lover. Thay haven't been together for long only about 3 months by human time but optimus could pick up on the cues knockout shows when he's feeling saddened or regret, and optimus could see knockout needed someone to talk to right now.

Optimus walked in closing the door behind him for privacy hoping knockout would feel safer knowing he was in a closed environment and away from the team.

"Knockout I've noticed you have been struggling in your recent battles, what seems to be troubling you?"

Knockout was nervous, he hadn't been with team prime long and still sense the team didn't fully trust him yet but knockout didn't fully trust them either. Optimus did assure him that the team just needs to ajust to have him here was all, but knockout wasn't really sure.

Knockout wiped his optics before looking up to prime feeling slightly uneasy. He gave a slight bow before addressing the prime.

"Optimus i know i haven't been here long but trust me when i say I am a valuable asset to this team and I will not fail you again."

Optimus looked to knockout gently raising his hand placing it onto knockouts shoulder seeing knockout ever so slightly twitch.

"Knockout I am aware that you are a capable medic as well as a soldier, I know you are still adjusting to our team but I commend you on your determination to help us all."

Knockout was slightly stunned by this treatment he never really received this kinda thing from anyone on the nemesis except for one mech, one very special mech. It hurt still to think about breakdown but each time he did it got a little easier.

Knockout looked up to optimus seeing a strong caring and reassurance in his optics. Knockout slowly began to settle in the primers gently grasp.

"Optimus are you sure I belong on the team?" Knockout struggled to look back into his lovers optics.

Optimus gently held knockout close giving him a comforting hug, "Knockout you do belong here even if you don't think so, I know it's hard but I also know you are stronger than you know."

Knockout gently hugged optimus back leaning heavily into his bigger frame, oh how he missed this feeling. Knockout snuggled into the prime wanting to be closer.

They stayed there for a few minutes optimus gently rubbing Knockout's back holding him close calming him down. Optimus looked down to Knockout seeing him give a nod optimus picks up Knockout carrying him over to there shared Recharge slab laying them both down on the soft silks and big fluffy pillows optimus holding Knockout close to him, Knockout resting his head on optimus's upper chest.

Optimus smiles as he gently covers them with a blanket letting Knockout relax into him and gently planting a soft kiss to Knockout's forehead. Knockout smiled returning the kiss gently planting his on optimus's cheek.

Knockout gently began rubbing optimus's chest trying to distrac his mind. Knockout absent-mindedly rubbed optimus's side getting brought out of his mind when he heard the gruff laugh of optimus. Knockout looked up to him seeing optimus smiling down at him.

Knockout smiled back whispering a soft "thank you" into optimus's ear. Knockout snuggled more into optimus relishing in the feeling of them together.

Optimus started to gently rub at Knockout's joints smiling as knockout softly moaned feeling the tension leaving his joints. Optimus continued to gently rub at Knockout's joints smiling each time knockout made a noise. "Knockout I want you to relax tonight, I believe you may have been stressing yourself out as of late. I do not wish for you to be stressing over small details. The team will come around but until then just take things slow."

Knockout gently grabbed Optimus's servo looking into his optics. The two of them slowly leaned into each other sharing a kiss.

Knockout gently reached round optimus's sides with one servo pulling him close, his other lightly tapping at optimus modesty panel.

Optimus's smiled nodding to knockout before letting his panel transform away letting his spike pressurize to it's full size.

Knockout smiled teasingly before gently wrapping his servo around optimus's spike pumping it lightly. Optimus let out a few soft moans before Knockout started pumping his servo faster raising optimus's charge.

Knockout leaned down giving optimus a devilishly sly smile before gently taking his spike into his own intake.

Optimus moaned gently thrusting up into knockout but careful not to hurt him. Optimus placed his servo on Knockout's head.

Oh knockout was going to relax tonight, after all he was stressing himself a bit, but Optimus was not going to be walking tomorrow. They both were going to hear the complaints from Ratchet in the morning.

[cyb-by-lang]

okay so i've been thinking about A Ninja's Guide to Gotham and i think i know what Ra's al Ghul's plan is, at least what he (and Zetsu) want to do

the plan to set Kei loose on Konoha didn't go well for Zetsu and Madara, she had her team to help (and the power of foresight) but the gist of the idea could still work, if Zetsu sets up the stage right

Kei has a pretty good grasp on her emotions, but Hayate (specifically, Hayate in danger/hurt Hayate) being her trigger is known to Zetsu. so it makes sense to isolate the two from the rest of their village. drop them into a batshit (ha) crazy city, keep them separated, really pile the stress on Kei and wear her down.

all the while, they've got a Zetsu army cooking for maximum trauma later.

Ra's al Ghul wants to destroy Gotham, and this Zetsu has essentially handed him the trigger for a massive walking bomb, but can only be activated under very specific circumstances. and Kei, as stressed as she is and even with almost losing it a couple of times, has done an excellent job reigning her fury in (thanks Isobu)

AND there's the fear toxin. i imagine they've been adjusting it this whole time to actually work on a Jinchuriki.

i don't think they really want Kei to join them, necessarily (though it might save them a few steps) i think all the attacks serve mostly to increase Kei's stress until she starts breaking.

and then Zetsu was trying to take Hayate. because what would be the one thing to almost certainly break Kei?

idk if this is how it will play out exactly, but i'm guessing this is the gist of Ra's and Zetsu's plan:

Zetsu army attack, with giant Zetsu monster included to spread out the Bats and allies. try and separate Kei from team. keep her focused on the attacks without provoking her yet, but wear her down.

take Hayate, or at least manipulate the field to put him within sight of Kei. kill him where she can clearly see.

use that moment of shock to shoot as many fear toxin darts at her as possible. if she's distracted enough, she might get a few doses. and it doesn't matter much how quickly Isobu burns through the poison, because all they need is that initial ignition of super enhanced terror and trauma for her to explode into a raging Jinchuriki. throw the Zetsu monster back at her, and they take out half of Gotham ripping each other to pieces.

(the Bats and Kei's team hear her agonized beastial screech, even the ones on the other side of the city, and know this is Worst Case Scenario)

this is an excellent narrative strategy for maximum pain and plot drama for Kei and friends, and i can see it coming so close to fruition (if i'm even in the ballpark here, this is all an educated guess)

unfortunately for Ra's and Zetsu, Batman exists. he knows how Ra's operates. once the fear toxin came into play, and Batman listened to Kei talk about her past, i'm pretty sure he could connect those dots.

"Superpowered ninja host of a demon able to level a city, if pressed, and her main trauma trigger is her brother being threatened or harmed in any way. Right. Best keep the brother out of harm's way. If only they could all stay put."

also unfortunate for Ra's and Zetsu, Jason exists. i doubt they were expecting Hayate to adopt Gotham's newest menace, nor for Jason to take to it like a mother goose. Kei might be correct in thinking Hayate is safer with Jason than with her, bc as volatile and explosive as he can be, he's not quite "city-leveling" tier.

as DC stories tend to go, the villains plot usually gets to play out at least most of the way. so maybe Hayate does get hurt at some point, maybe Kei does lose it, but this could be where Jason finally works with the Bats + Team Minato to save the day (and his new little brother....)

anyway, idk how much of this is right, but the pieces have been fitting themselves together in the back of my brain for a while. and if i'm on the money on any of this and you'd rather not post bc spoilers, no worries!! i just wanted to share how much i've been thinking about it, it's on a short list of things i play in my mental movie theater ಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ

[image description: a GIF of Kronk from Emperor's New Groove saying "Oh yeah. It's all coming together." end description.]

I love it when readers send me their analysis. It really helps me figure out what's working when I write and what is sticking with people.

And I hope you feel like a detective for having figured out most of today's evil plan (credit to Ra's al Ghul) before a fair number of the characters in Gotham have. I'm glad you picked up on it!

[ummick]

"Keep an eye on Formula 1"

Alpine newcomer Mick Schumacher will be competing in the WEC Sports Car World Championship for the first time at the beginning of March. In the interview he talks about getting used to the LMDh racer A424 and explains why the long distance increases his chances of getting into Formula 1.

Interviewer: "How many test kilometers have you already been able to collect in the Alpine A424?" Mick: "I would estimate the total distance at 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers." Interviewer: "What's the first thing a Formula 1 driver notices when he switches to a prototype?" Mick: "You suddenly have a disc in front of you. [laughs] As a driver, you naturally notice the higher weight, which cannot be compensated for by the aerodynamics. That will always be part of the car and therefore also the driving experience. This is a big point for me. The vehicle feels very sluggish and very heavy. Compared to the other cars in the field, it is of course just as heavy. It's only when you switch directly from a Formula 1 vehicle that you think to yourself: What's going on here? Only after you get used to it does it feel relatively good." Interviewer: "At the same time, you are a simulator and test driver for Mercedes. How quickly can you make the change?" Mick: "That's no problem at all. As a professional racing driver you have to be able to change. Habit and muscle memory help." Interviewer: "Do your experienced colleagues also help?" Mick: "Absolutely. I'm learning a lot of new things and I'm looking forward to starting in Qatar soon. There I will drive more GT3 cars and hypercars on the track. That will be a big difference. It certainly helps that I know Qatar. This gives me the advantage of feeling comfortable a little quicker."

Interviewer: "Will getting through traffic quickly be the biggest challenge?" Mick: "Yes, you have to make the right decisions. Sometimes it's better to let the slower cars get ahead first and then overtake them when it's safer. Many of the other drivers have an amateur background-simply the surgeon or dentist next door-and need more time for themselves than the professionals." Interviewer: "It is also important to be considerate within the team. How do you adapt to your colleagues?" Mick: "I don't think it's as difficult as you might imagine. In the end you have to perform and look after yourself. I want to do the best possible job for myself. Outside the car we need to communicate and help each other more. This is a completely new approach for me, but one that I find relatively positive because you learn a lot of new tricks and can try them out." Interviewer: "How different are the tires?" Mick: "We don't have electric blankets in the WEC. That means we drive out onto the track with ice-cold tires. The big factor this year will be getting the tires to work. For me it's a positive experience because then, when I hopefully return to Formula 1, I will be used to driving without electric blankets. Interviewer: "Are the energy management systems of the two hybrid car concepts comparable in any way?" Mick: "There are different approaches. In hypercars, state-of-charge is not such a big issue. We get a certain total amount of energy that we can use. The more we hold back, the longer we can drag out the stint. This reduces pit stops. We put a lot of effort into the distribution, especially for Le Mans." Interviewer: "Your debut at Le Mans is scheduled for mid-June. What do you expect from the highlight of the season?" Mick: "I'm just happy! I've never been there before and only watched it once on my cell phone. Basically, Formula 1 has always been the only goal for me. But now I have the chance to experience it myself as a driver, and after my teammates told me how great the event is, I'm approaching the weekend with an open mindset." Interviewer: "Do you see any parallels to your father's Le Mans program, which paved the way to Formula 1? Or could the long-haul also become a perspective?" Mick: "I missed racing and the WEC was the best possible option for it. Of course, I keep one eye on Formula 1 and could imagine that one or two doors will open in the current chaos. Nothing will change about the big dream." Interviewer: "What does the double program mean for your travel planning?" Mick: "That's a few more race weekends than I'm used to. There is also a fairly large test program with the hypercar. I hope I can get the best out of it despite the six overlapping dates. I'm looking forward to the challenge. It will definitely be one."

[the-gateway-to-madness]

I haven't really... clarified what this blog is, huh

Hi folks, I'm Mad. I'm mostly just here to vibe with whatever fandom is on my mind at any given moment. My main ones are Rise of the Guardians, Big Hero 6/the series, and Tales of Arcadia, but I go in for Encanto, Ducktales (2017), Tangled/the series, Elemental, and crossovers like The Big 4/ROTBTD and the Futuristic Four. I play video games such as Skyrim and Baldur's Gate 3. Casually, for enjoyment. I will yeet my thoughts at you and I cannot guarantee I will do more than that. Sometimes there will be art maybe.

I shalst enclose a list of OCs.

Mahina, Rise of the Guardians. Clever, calm most of the time but prone to anxiety, sharp-minded, and reserved. Very genuine sort. She's into Jack Frost, like most things on Tumblr are.

McKenzie Jamesson, Big Hero 6. Quick-witted, fascinated by brains, caring, protective. All she really wants is to give and tell her loved ones all the amazing things they deserve. And also to use force fields to make them all safer. She's a cinammon roll. And a big ol Hiro Hamada simp.

Cara Okhrana, Tales of Arcadia, noblewoman of Akiridion-5 and sworn protector of Krel Tarron. She grew up on earth from age 6 on, and has self-esteem issues due to only vaguely recalling the way that Akiridions consider honor- and thinking other Akiridions, if they could ever find her, would believe she'd failed her oath to House Tarron. She's fierce, outgoing, tactical, sassy and sarcastic, but only really emotionally opens to a handful of close, trusted people. Cara Williams is her human disguise name. Also she's into Krel, but no way in heck is she bold enough to tell him. She sees the way he acts about romance. She's not that stupid.

Brook Ripple Jr., Elemental, named after her aunt (Wade's mother, I believe). Wade's cousin, as introverted as water gets. Emotional as any of her family, though in more of a stressed depressed lemon zest way. And dating fire runs in the family.

Madeleine "Mad" Corr, Ducktales. Eldest of ten, chaotic, a bit sketchy- imagine Louie but more emotionally genuine, and instead of a good liar she can pick locks, and she genuinely loves the thrill of stealing stuff over the payoff. She talks Louie out of his truly terrible ideas, only to offer more practical alternatives.

Betania Madrigal, Encanto. My brain said, "Hey, they never told us if Bruno was ever married in the past" and so I came up with idea that he was, his wife left the Encanto 17 years prior to the movie for her own protection, and whoops she was pregnant and now he's got a long lost daughter. She's shy and uncertain but sweet and smart and oh gosh that's such a Y/N description... anyway. Stuttery clumsy baby who just wants to get to know her long-lost dad and figure out how to control her new ability to go into/change people's dreams.

Aelvy, Tangled the Series. Once a dryad, she gave up her tree and longevity to experience the full range of human emotion.

Long story short, for the most part they're just normal people in weird universes who just wanna be loved.

[amberlide]

Leander Prewett Head-canons

After Natty here's Leander Prewett :) The more I write about him, the more I like him! These are my personal head-canons as I put them in my fanfiction.

He’s loyal; for Natsai and Garreth, he would walk into fire, no questions asked!

His favorite spell is Incendio. Why? It’s easier to use and safer than Confringo (which is kind of illegal). It’s short-ranged, meaning you have to be closer to your opponent, but it also allows for better aim. Since there are always spectators during his duels, he doesn’t want to endanger them. When still inexperienced, Sebastian’s use of Confringo caused issues more than once in this sense.

He’s a great teacher; he taught Natsai how to channel her magic into her wand during duels and he’ll help Penelope as well with counteracting non-verbal spells <3

He also mentors newcomers in the Crossed Wand Club.

He's a Chaser in the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

A fierce competitor both in duels and on the Quidditch field, his rivalry with Sebastian started during their second year. The Slytherins won the very first game in which Leander played, thanks to a Bludger from Seb that sent the Gryffindor Seeker to the infirmary. And he got jealous of him, since he claimed it was pure luck and not skills XD

He thinks Sebastian is unnecessarily reckless, but he admires how Ominis tries to "keep an eye" on him.

He has two older sisters, Cassandra and Nancy Prewett. Being the youngest in the family, he was always on the lookout for their pranks, especially Cassandra’s. That’s why he has a good sense of his surroundings.

His friendship with Garreth started on a rocky road; at the beginning, everyone thought he was a Weasley because of his appearance, which annoyed him so much. He thought Garreth was just a privileged brat because of his connections with the Deputy Headmistress and despised his calm nature. When asked why Garreth didn’t mind being associated with him, he said that he liked the idea of having such a talented brother (another one), admired his confidence, and his passion for duels and Quidditch. This answer struck a chord with Leander. He soon found out Garreth was just a goofy and sweet guy, and after the 10th detention from his aunt, not so privileged. XD

He was the first one to encourage Garreth when he decided to start his potion business at Hogwarts.

He admires the way Garreth always finds a way to avoid fights.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Hey mystery I have a question. While trapped in the tube frozen, do you think that Shadow could dream or anything? Do you think that he had a level of awareness of what was going on? Asking for research for a fanfic I’m writing. Also, you’re the smartest person I know so I wanted to ask.

Hello, my dear!❤️✨

This is a very interesting question. To be honest, I feel that it really depends on Shadow’s situation. I’m not entirely sure as to what direction you’re writing Shadow’s experience in for your project. (When you’ve finished, please send it to me. I wanna read it). It kinda factors into what answer I give you in the long run. For this ask, I feel that it would be safer to supply more than one potential scenario so that you have that information in hand.

Let’s make a little disclaimer first: most of what I’m sharing with you are hypothetical scenarios. As much as I would love to delve deep into this topic, I find that my answers might be… hmm… taken with a grain of salt. I express this because this is a developing field. There either isn’t much research to it, or existing case studies haven’t been updated since the early-to-mid 2000’s. Research of the topic barely have much to contribute to it for multiple reasons (I.E., finding volunteers, researchers, funding. You know, fun stuff). While these ideas and concepts are fantastic, the best I can offer are educated guessed with some research that brings some support to a claim.

It’s also important to keep in mind that this is a fictional character. Not everything needs a scientific explanation. Sometimes it’s just fun to bend the rules a little bit and let your imagination run wild! You can take all of my ideas to heart and use them, or you can throw them away in the trash. It’s not gonna hurt my feelings, Let Shadow be whatever you want him to be in your project, okay?

Alright, now for the fun stuff. Here we go!

What is REM Sleep?

To put simply, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is the state of consciousness in which an individual experiences low function of the body to gain full rest. This is the state of sleep in which people experience dreams from as well. With this rapid eye movement, we can infer that a person is engaging with either a memory or a dream! It’s a form of memory that allows an individual to remember muscle spasms, movements, sights, smells, sounds, etc., and process nearly everything that was absorbed through an engaging environment (NSF, 2020). REM sleep play a crucial part in development of the mind. Having that down time to experience dreams and memories allows for a sense of mental and emotional maturity of past/current situations.

Infant-Like Slumber:

If the question in mind is geared towards him being created, then possibly? More than likely not. We run into a couple of problems when exploring this topic:

A). We don’t have enough information on fetal and infant development to make a logical conclusion.

B). We don’t have enough technological advances and volunteers to make this happen.

The best that I could describe is this: he would have lots of muscle spasms, but he’s dream with select sound and no pictures. His form of “dreaming” would be sensory-based and how he engaged with his environment. “Environment” being him in his stasis pod. This is the same way that newborn infants engage with their REM sleep (American Institute of Physics, 2009).

Let’s create a hypothetical scenario for you here: If Shadow’s stasis pod was built to be interactive, then I think that he would be able to hear and sense touch pretty well! His little pod could allow him to hear Maria, Gerald, and all of the other scientists in the lab while he’s still “cooking.” If touch was implied as well, then he could reflect on that physical contact. It could help create an emotional connection and recognition of safety establish with everyone even before opening his eyes (Harmon, 2010). Anthropologist like myself make it a point to share that physical touch is important through cultural and social teachings. When I mean “physical touch,” I mean along the lines of hand holding, high five, hugging, kissing, anything! Not only does it help create of safety and familiarity, it helps individuals recognize and distinguish people to form inner circles. Individuals need physical touch for emotional development and a boost in physiological development (Cekaite et Al., 2011).

Again, this is hypothetical scenario. I did not find any indication through Gerald’s journals (SA2, Sonic Battles), Rouge’s field report, and trivia from his creators on Twitter that he was able to hear things around him while he was in his stasis pod.

Cryogenic Hypothesis:

Cryogenically freezing—otherwise known as Cryopreservation—is another iffy scenario to explore as well. Traditionally, cryogenically suspended individuals are deceased… and have bee deceased for mere minutes. Cryopreservation is not flash freezing an individual like a popsicle, these are individuals that are kept in a temperature controlled environment for extended periods of time in a liquid nitrogen temperature (Paulo, 2012).

This is a topic in the scientific community that is considered a bit controversial. Some believe that it can be real and life saving, others believe that it’s completely a pseudoscience. And then there’s a small cluster of scientists who don’t really have an opinion on it because there isn’t a lot of information on it. If there was more funding and willingness to explore this topic, then sure! I’m positive that there will be more researchers out there that would like to explore cryopreservation on human and their mental state more.

What I can tell you is that there can’t be any form of dreaming in cryopreservation. There would be cellular damage. There isn’t a trace of brainwave activity that could display REM from cryopreservation individuals. This would not be plausible for Shadow if you’d like for him to dream in your fanfic.

Comatose Hypothesis:

My final thought would be to portray him as if he were in a coma-like state for there to be a form of dreaming.

Medical research has strongly indicated that a patient’s brain does not show signs of normal sleep and wakefulness cycles, meaning that they more than likely cannot dream in a coma (Blackburn, 2023). However, it depends on the state in which the coma is caused (I.E., if the visual context of the brain is damaged or medically induced to help patients heal). Some patients that have awaken from their comas shared that they’ve felt as if they were in a dream-like state/nightmare loop. J. Schradar, a psychologist reporter for Psychology Today, shared that when she was in a coma it felt as if she viewed “memories upon memories and violently ripped away from them (Schradar, 2021).

It’s like being trapped in a maze with fuzzy feelings. You’re aware that you lived a life, but you can’t make out what you did and what happened. There would be speech and compression problems with retaining new memory. We do know that coma patients can respond to select sound as well (Blackburn, 2023). As stated in a previous section, sound plays a vital role in creating a memory. With sound—as well as following under the idea that Shadow’s in the process of being sealed away by GUN after the raid on the ARK—Shadow can build upon that and form dreams. He can form memories and emotional responses to them.

Discussion:

We know that Shadow was created with the intentions of being a cure for illness, as well as a cure for immortality (Sonic Heroes game manual). However, there are some limitations. We don’t know the true extent of his immortality. He could easily die depending on the extremity of the situation. All that we know about our ageless hedgehog-alien hybrid is that he’s got kickass air shoes and a sense of immortality.

I am much more inclined to believe that Shadow was put into an induced coma before being sealed away. Dreams and memories that Shadow had experienced in the past are behind metaphorical doors and locked away. His subconscious walks around through an endless maze of distorted images of what he engaged with in the past. He—supposedly—can hear sounds, but we’re not entirely certain of his surroundings and mental state of mind. He could absolutely have an idea of him being trapped in the fog of his mind. The only thing that he could do is relive memories of the past and be haunted by nightmares. I’m also willing to believe that he had a state of conscious (to a certain degree) while being created aboard the ARK. We’ve seen through the games that each time Shadow awakens from stasis, he already has a knowing. He displays the ability to react quickly and speak by the time his eyes open. He already has a stream of consciousness.

I feel that either of these would be an interesting approach to your personal project to explore. I’d like to share one more with you for your story. One that is a bit more of a stretch, but would be interesting to explore.

As soon as Shadow awakens by Dr. Robotnik in SA2, Shadow says the line “my name is Shadow. Since you’ve been so kind as to release me, my master, I will grant you ONE wish.” I feel that this line has a lot more meaning to it than what fans give it credit for. I don’t believe that this line was put in the game for the sake of the scene being cool and relatively cheesy. Of all the things that Shadow could have said when he was awaken, why that line? I feel that this particular line strengthens the idea that Shadow had dreams as if he were in a coma-like state. This one line could indicate that he just awoke from a revisited memory of him and Maria having philosophical talks about fulfilling their wish to go to Earth. This one line foreshadows that both Shadow and Maria had wishes. And maybe, just maybe, that would be his “dream.”

Anyways. I hope that this helps with your research for your fanfic. These are my thoughts on the subject. I’ve made sure to put sources to my thoughts for you to read further if you’re interested. Again, you don’t have to use these ideas if you don’t want to, or you can 100% use them to your full advantage. I don’t necessarily believe that we’re supposed to be thinking that hard when it comes to Shadow being awaken from his 50+ year sleep, but I can completely understand the need to question. If you have any further questions or thoughts, please feel free to ask! I’m more than happy to help! Best wishes❤️✨

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 30: The First Toss

The problem with Mat chapters is going to be that almost all the fan art is very much about how his endgame wardrobe and not at all about his book 3 stuff. I try not to have spoilers for the end of the series in the part before the "Keep Reading", so I am forced to use increasingly dubious images. That's your spoiler warning.

This chapter has the dice icon because it's a Mat chapter and because boy howdy is he going to gamble. Or at least play dice. It might not be gambling when you can't lose.

She put her hands on his head and sent cold chills through him. It was the One Power, he decided, not simply being touched by an Aes Sedai.

Well he's probably right but also it's probably that the Aes Sedai have shitty, emergency weaves at this point whereas in the AoL if they didn't just pull out a tricorder ter'angreal they probably still could do it without you feeling a thing.

As she turned from him, her eyes fell on the quarterstaff he had brought from the practice yard, propped in the corner of the room. “You do not need to protect yourself from us, Mat. You are as safe here as you could be anywhere. Almost certainly safer.”

Anaiya is a pretty good judge of Mat's character (as Mat himself acknowledges obliquely in the narration) for not thinking that the quarterstaff is a mere trophy of beating the shit out of the princes.

If you can’t hide what you are going to do, do it so everybody thinks you are a fool. Then they stand around waiting to see you fall on your face.

And Mat wonders why everyone thinks he's a fool.

With as light a heart as he could remember having in years, or so it seemed, he began to hum “We’re Over the Border Again,” heading toward the harbor where vessels would be sailing down to Tear and all the villages along the Erinin between. He would not be going so far as that, of course.

Wrong!

He had always won more than he lost, as far as he could remember, and there had been times with Hurin, and in Shienar, when six or eight tosses in a row won for him. Tonight, every toss won. Every toss.

Mat didn't need to absolutely dominate the field in previous games of chance, so he was just naturally lucky as some people probably are. Now though, fate's on a schedule so every lucky break that comes Mat's way is about getting him to Tear.

Somewhere during the night, the dark sailor—Raab, he had said his name was—staggered away, exhausted but with a full purse; he had decided to put his wagers on Mat.

Raab never shows up again, but I assume he's got a bright future ahead of him thanks to the winnings. Mat's ta'veren nature pulls people about in his own fashion.

Mat was scarcely aware of moving before he had the bulky man by the collar, hauling him to his feet, slamming him back against the wall. “Don’t you say that!” he snarled. “Don’t you ever say that!”

Mat's supposed to be free of the dagger, but since this is quite a strange outburst at an expression I'm pretty sure we've seen him acknowledge before, I think there's still some after effects.

He remembered playing at dice back home with a sharp-eyed, skinny man who worked for a merchant come down from Baerlon to buy tabac. He remembered the strapping his father had given him, too, on learning Mat owed the man a silver mark and four pence.

I'm not entirely sure how much money is worth in this series but I suspect that this is a value that Mr. Cauthon *can* pay readily enough but will really feel all year.

Maybe it was something the Aes Sedai did. Something they did Healing me. By accident, maybe. That could be it. Better that the other. Those bloody Aes Sedai must have done it to me.

I don't think Mat really believes this for a second, considering how against Healing he's going to be for the rest of the series.

“Way past time. Or one of them will come pick me up with her fingers and stick me in her pouch.”

I expect that all the Aes Sedai except the most bookish or pillowish are long asleep at this point Mat.

In an instant he ducked into the shadowy corner where one building stuck out further than the next.

Mat observes he's lucky to avoid these thieves, but it's several lucky breaks when you think about it: the friendly architecture here, the guy who scared him earlier getting him on his guard, the "strange things" moving around at night (what might those be?)

Three more times he climbed, each time gaining one story. The slightly sloping, tiled roofs ran some distance at that level, and there was a breeze at that height, prickling the hair on the back of his neck with its chill and almost making him think he was being followed.

The wind is *trying* to warn Mat, but he doesn't listen. This is probably why he gets the dice in head later.

Mat grabbed at the hand as the knife darted toward his throat. He barely caught the fellow’s wrist with his fingers, and then the quarterstaff between them tangled itself in his legs, tripping him to fall back against the railing, to fall half over it pulling the other man on top of him.

Note how what seems to be bad luck is exactly the thing that sets Mat up for the lucky kill.

He expected the other man to be dead—not many could survive a thirty-foot fall to cobblestones with another’s weight on top of him—but what he had not expected was to see the fellow’s dagger driven to the hilt into his own heart. Such an ordinary-looking man to have tried to kill him. Mat did not think he would even have noticed him in a crowded room.

Lanfear must have been super extra pissed that he tried to talk to her, huh?

He realized he was standing over a dead man with a dagger in his chest, just waiting for someone to come along and run shouting for city guards with the Flame of Tar Valon on their chests.

Again we see a ta'veren pushed into a position where he has to act the way the Pattern wants him to because literally every other avenue is closed off. Mat needs a safe haven so he has to stop at the conveniently nearby inn.

Next time: Thom Merillin returns in yet another coincidental encounter!