The-nyx-mere - Theme? What Theme?

Dog refuses to get out of bed then proceeds to fall asleep looking after baby

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your parents headcanon you as cishet

girl in a horror movie: vomits up black liquid or blood, screams at the top of her lungs and tries to hurt anyone that goes near her

me: it be like that sometimes

One of my biggest reasons for why low-empathy autistic Martin is my favorite is how much it demolishes the whole “empathy = morality” and “low empathy = bad, feels other people don’t matter” thing.  I have a lot of feelings so am gonna just dump ‘em all here in a disjointed manifesto.

Just look at it:  He has a reputation for caring and for doting on people, but relies on tangible, accessible ways to show it.  Bring them tea.  Tell them to sleep.  Listen to their problems.  It’s very learned, or self-taught rather, and makes so much sense in the context of how he grew up caring for his mother.  He flounders when those scripts are rejected:

Basira:  You can’t just stand next to someone with a cup of tea and hope everything’s gonna be all right.

Martin: That’s not fair.  You don’t even know me.  

Basira:  Prove it.

Martin:   Oh–h-hi!  Hey, hey Melanie, uh–  Can I get youuuu… a… cup… of… tea?

Even when the apocalypse happened, he was using those scripts.  Jon is in pain, Jon is despairing, time to make him a cup of tea!  Martin’s never been in a “tea will solve everything” denial, but it’s a reliable, tangible way he uses to offer comfort and make someone feel supported.  He doesn’t have a script for how to respond to “was just mentally tortured by our boss” or “blaming self for ending the world.”

We see him develop a new way to choose to care and be kind as their journey begins: treating the victims they meet as people, even if the victims can’t hear.  

Also building off of the “the masking is lower priority in the apocalypse” ideas!!  There’s a matter of who he’s around.  For most of season 5, it’s just Jon!  Jon who has so much faith in him, Jon who he knows loves and accepts him.  There’s less of a need to perform and fit in, and the same goes the other way around.  This is supported even more by how quickly Martin shifted back when Basira showed up: this is familiar territory again, defusing arguments and being group glue, and it quickly feels like we’re back to “the old Martin.”  

I also love this for how it plays out in him and Jon being in a relationship.  It’s very likely this is new territory for Martin!  He demonstrates his caring by pushing Jon to share his feelings, but rarely shares his own.  When he actually hears what those feelings are, they’re often hard for him to process, or he responds in ways that feel overly pragmatic or insensitive.  It doesn’t come naturally to him.

There’s a jab Peter keeps returning to during season 4 as he tries to groom Martin for the Lonely:  Be honest with yourself, Martin.  You don’t really care, Martin.  You never really cared, it’s all just habit.  It’s so on-the-nose targeted towards someone where caring for others is a choice, not based on empathetic feelings.  It’s so in line with how people talk about the idea of “low empathy.”  But Martin threw it right back in his face, and it couldn’t be more satisfying.

This is what Native American fashion looks like without the cultural appropriation

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Honestly as a blind person I’m so tired of seeing fictional blind characters who don’t use white canes or other guides. “They have special powers so they know what’s around them” or “they’re confident enough to not need a guide” are common tropes, and I’m tired.

Are people scared that using a white cane will make their blind character seem weak? They can’t use a cane because they’re so special that they already know what’s around them, and other blind people who use guides are inferior because they’re not special?

I’m tired. Give your blind characters white canes and other guides. Let them hold onto their friends, let them have guide dogs. Don’t make white cane users feel ostracized for not being “strong enough” to go without.

Another thing that pisses me off is when a sighted character comes up with the fantasy equivalent of braille and teaches it to the blind character. Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a blind man, in 1824. The blind character should be the one coming up with it.

Tldr I’m blind and tired of sighted people lol

🔪 Sighted People MUST Reblog This 🔪

When writing a blind character, what are some things to avoid?

Ah! So this is definitely a bit of a broad question, but I can give a few basics:

Blind people don’t actually give a shit about touching faces, so please, please stear clear of that. The only exceptions may be the same way sighted lovers may caress each other’s faces and parents may hold a child’s face in an emotional moment, but it’s just like a sighted lover or parent would, nothing more.

Please avoid giving your character a cure. One of the most crushing things as a disabled reader is to finally have a disabled character, but for them to end up with a fantastic magic cure half-way through. It rarely makes for a good story, and often a much better story is that person’s journey in understanding themselves as equal and learning that they aren’t broken and useless and can do whatever they want, overcoming internalized ableism rather than “overcoming the disability.”

Few blind people actually wear sunglasses or eye coverings, so your character probably won’t either if the likelyhood says anything. Chances are they will not be part of that minority, so probably better not to do that.

Something similar can be said for characters with white or cloudy eyes. The vast majority of blind people will not have very abnormal-looking eyes, so chances are your character will not be part of that minority.

Another very similar thing should be noted about the level of vision they will have. Somewhere between 80 and 90% of blind people have some level of remaining vision, weather it be little more than light perception or enough that they were forced to use their eyes a lot growing up and weren’t taught braille or to use a cane because they could get by well enough not to die most of the time.

So these are just the first several things I can think of at the moment, but definitely feel free to ask about more things!

Noice

can a guy not braid his hair in peace

SMASH that mf reblog button if u love she/they nonbinary people!! Youre never gonna be Woman Lite, your gender and indentity are all you own!!! Kiss your local she/they square on the lips