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Lesson #14 Flexibility

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Thank you to the people proofreading it!!! You guys are my saving Grace!!

@sandersclause

@xushibeetle

To recover, you literally need to manually learn skills that most people learn as a toddler

You need to learn what makes your body uncomfortable, and what to do to fix it

If you are high-masking, that usually means that you have learned to ignore every distress signal your body sends unless it is a distress signal that a neurotypical person would recognize. People have likely been unintentionally gaslighting you about your lived experience your entire life

If you feel bad or panicked for no reason, stop and try to pay attention to your body. Are you tense? You are likely feeling physical pain somewhere. If you've been gaslit about your pain your entire life, you might not be able to identify it.

Go through a sensory checklist.

SIGHT: Try closing and covering your eyes. If this gives you relief, the lights are probably too bright. You may also need differently-colored lights

SOUND: Cover your ears. Does this give you relief? If so, you may need earplugs or noise canceling headphones. You may also benefit from a neutral or pleasant background noise, like soft music or brown noise.

TOUCH: Are your clothes uncomfortable? Your chair? Your body? Do you feel greasy, like you need a shower? Do you need softer, sensory-friendly clothing?

TASTE: Do you need to brush your teeth or tongue? Would chewing on something help?

SMELL: Is there a strong or unpleasant smell in the room? Do you need to clean or empty a trash can? Would an air purifier help? Would a pleasant smell like a candle help?

INTEROCEPTION: Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? How is your posture? Are any of your muscles tight or sore? Scan your body slowly from head to feet, tensing and loosening each group of muscles. Going for a walk or doing a series of quick stretches may help a lot.

Learning how to do this stuff is not intuitive, if you've had an entire lifetime of gaslighting telling you that everything hurting you isn't a big deal and you're being dramatic over nothing.

This takes time, it takes work, it's not intuitive, and it's hard. Most people forget how hard it is, because they learned this as toddlers.

People often ask me about my unmasking journey and express surprise to hear that such a big part of it has been 1) accepting I must avoid light/the sun and 2) wearing clothes I can stand.

I’ll play it jokey and say it like “well it took me far too long to realize that my former wardrobe made me want to jump off a bridge.” Or “turns out my old underwear was anti-autistic.” Or “for whatever reason when it’s too bright, I can’t think.”

Like. This is a fucking game. Two boxers fighting one another in a ring are two gamers playing a game together. I cannot stress the extent to which boxing, MMA, et al are games created and pursued primarily for idle amusement. Just because the game is happening in a ring as opposed to on a pitch doesn't make it less of a game. We are Playing Toys when we glove up and clobber each other. It is For Fun. They're dangerous games, to be sure, but the danger is the chief source of amusement for the participants and the audience. The boxers wouldn't be boxing if they hated boxing.

"If we did co-ed boxing there would be Men Beating Up Women 😡" Last time I checked a fight requires at least 2 active participants unless you're just beating up on yourself alone like Edward Norton in that movie. And as I said above, I presume nobody would pursue a career in boxing if they didn't like doing the boxing.

Like, the question actually made him pause and be like "I hadn't really thought about that" before giving the okay.

The fact this was glossed over in the 20+ years of him writing One Piece and Oda hadn't really considered the common power source for most of the world (as the Grand Line islands have their own unique energy supply, when you think about it), especially when there seems to be obvious moments that a location should be using electricity instead of candlelight..

Cola energy would definitely be still a unique thing for very obvious reasons. Like, hello, powered by carbonation?

Does it really matter? Not really. One Piece is a fantasy focused on adventure.

Cool, so you want natural fiber costumes with no/nuanced corset slander, people wearing colors, historical hairstyles, people wearing hats or headcoverings and long sleeves outside during the day, no potatoes or pumpkins in pre-columbian Europe, actors with textured skin and wrinkles, minimal makeup, consulting HEMA groups and weapons scholars for all the weapons and fight scenes, a good soundtrack that includes traditional instruments?

local school teacher gets main protagonist-ed against his consent, more at 12.

You guys asked and I delivered more of the Star-Spider Grace AU. And guess what? ISSUE#2 is already available on my Ko-Fi!

Also! If you want fics a lot of people started to write the, and you can find them in the PILOT posts i did last week!

" x femreader, including ryland grace, holland march & colt seavers. ★ " –> mostly sfw, fluff, all that lovely sweet stuff. only brief suggestive comments.

tw : drinking & (colt only) puking

RYLAND GRACE ★ :

ryland would never really drink back on earth except back in his good old college days. but now, sat on the ship with just the two of you, a spider/rock alien, and ilyukhina's vodka stashed on the ship, things had changed.

he's unfortunately a lightweight. he can't handle even a few gulps of the stuff, and in around half an hour tops, he's slurring his words and getting slightly incoherent. you had to explain to rocky the concept of getting drunk, and that grace was in no way getting hurt. (not completely, anyway.)

he was never exactly subtle with his crush that he had formed on you while sober, either; cheeks turning pink at the way your hand would brush his own while helping him, his eyes growing stuck to the way your lips curled into a pretty grin, or even the way he'd stammer and trip up on his own words in response to you out-nerding him, he was clueless to how much you knew. and you knew quite a lot.

but now? drunk?

take "obvious" and times it by ten. even rocky, the ALIEN, felt second-hand embarrassment for you. grace would clumsily find his hand trying to hold yours, his sweet blue eyes glued to yours, desperate for you to meet his gaze. you might have even heard him call you "gorr-juss..." (gorgeous) under his breath, all slurred and sweet.

he'd get quite cuddly the more sleepier the alcohol made him, too. very delicately trying to slide the palms of his hands over your waist and holding it, his cheeks flushed from a mix of the alcohol in his blood stream and how much his heart would beat in his chest.

at the end of the night, or whatever time in space had seemed to pass, he'd end up curled right beside you in a very gentle but clingy embrace, right into your side. his cheek would press down to your shoulder as his head lolls with sleep, and his scruffy, blonde locks gently carress your cheek.

you knew he'd feel extremely embarrassed in the morning. worth it.

HOLLAND MARCH ✿ :

holland is the drunk. of course you've seen him drunk. so many times, in fact, you're used to his calls on the telephone, at a dark time of night, his raspy and slurred coo speaking gently into your ear, pleading for your presence. you knew yourself how lonely he gets after drinking one too many, and you're his source of affection.

it's not exactly subtle with holland, either. he definitely adores you, and in the most clumsiest, stupidest way possible. he'd almost die doing something and end up staring at you lovingly at the end of it. he just loves you so much.

he'd call the phone, you picking the device from where it had mounted on the wall, starting to slowly fiddle with the coiled wire. he'd whisper something stupid, then something sweet, a few silly pet names slipping out like “doll,” “angel” or “sweetheart.” of course it'd make you blush, but you'd never verbally admit that to him. not when he's drunk like this, anyway.

he'd also maybe let a few lewd things slip, embarrassingly; ask you what you're wearing, or even bolder and ask what panties you're wearing underneath. you'd have to lightly scold him, but part of you wishes he was sober so you could indulge his comments. you knew he'd be a little too awkward to ask those things sober, though.

the night would always end in one of two ways:

one, you end up going over to his house and giving him that oh so needed affection, him staring up at you and giggling awkwardly as he talks your ear off, holding your arm or leg as a way to just touch you, before slowly finding himself falling asleep beside you on the couch,

or two, he'd end up somehow falling asleep on the phone. you'd notice his silence immediately as it being a sudden change from all that talking, and repeatedly ask if he was alright. in response? you'd get a big, loud, dorky snore.

you'd always regret hanging the phone up as he sleeps, but you knew he'd forget about it in the morning anyway.

COLT SEAVERS ♡ :

while colt is the type to get drunk, you never thought he'd be so... hammered. it's a party, and he had a shot too many as he stumbles towards you, a lazy, big grin plastered on that rugged face. you could only expect trouble from colt, as you have to hold his arm in your palm to prevent him from completely toppling over. when you ask if he's okay, he looks up lovingly and gives that stupid thumbs up he always does.

of course, you did have to help him into the bathroom to puke. as much as the blonde tries to flaunt how well he can take his liquor, he definitely can't hold it. you gently push hair from his sweaty forehead as he retches down into the toilet, groaning softly.

despite the fact his body is forcing him to vomit up into the toilet violently and disgustingly, the only thing his drunken brain can fully focus on is your sweet, soft fingers brushing through his hair. it felt so gentle.

his cheeks flushed, and it wasn't from the alcohol. once he was done puking, he wiped his mouth and swallowed thickly, avoiding your eyes. he was slightly embarrassed to be so vulnerable, puking like this, in front of you. he always wants to be cool, confident, risk taking in front of you, to impress you. not... this.

when your voice sounds, he looks up and finally meets your eyes. his admiration, even when still drunk, is obvious. he's watching you with a gaze that's fascinated and somewhat loving. the sudden intensity of it takes you off guard, an awkward smile reaching your face. “maybe we should go home?” you offered.

he just gave a nod. a brief nod. he doesn't really want to speak right now, so instead, his hands did the talking. right in front of that gross toilet, he just held your face in between his palms, still staring at you. part of you is very worried the alcohol will cause him to kiss you, but he doesn't. instead, he lets a small exhale out. a laugh. he knows your nervous. even when hammered, he can read you like a book.

the rest of the night, he just simply followed you, letting you take him home with a lazy grin and love in his eyes. surprisingly, he didn't do much talking. he was just taking in your beauty the whole time.

ask box is open for prompts! ~

We're having our turn in the heat wave and reports from the National Mall are brutal already this week. That screenshot is today's forecast (courtesy of the Capital Weather Gang) and tomorrow and Saturday are confidently going to be worse than this is.

The national Mall has no shade on the grass and you will be exposed to the sun constantly while also experiencing extremely high humidity. You will not be allowed a bag over a certain size to enter the mall and it has to be clear. You cannot have an insulated water bottle, it has to be clear. Reports are that there are two entrances to the area so you'll have to wait in line to even get in. I cannot find a number on how many cooling stations there are, except that it's "few" to "none" depending on what accounts I read online. Vendors are allegedly charging more than the posted prices and seem to be unprepared for actual crowds - these are the official vendors not the scam food trucks that park all around the edges of the mall. And that's the extent of the planning done because it was not a priority to make sure attendees don't pass out.

My local friends and I have reached a consensus that tourists are going to get extremely sick and none of us know what the EMT response or planning is on the mall this year. People are going to die.

There is historically an assumption that attendees will have access to planned amenities. It's not in place this year of all years. There is a very real risk here and I'm trying to warn people, because people simply don't know how awful this is about to be.

and dc is a swamp, literally. when we hit a heat wave like this, the heat just settles; it doesn't break at night and there's just zero relief, especially without shade in places like the mall. and without cooling stations or literally any other planning or precautions, people will get sick. they will get hurt. they will die.

if you know anyone planning on going, please tell them to stay home or find something else to do. watch the fireworks from somewhere else.