At risk for muscle spasms careplan
Incredible fitness & strength feats using the body!
2018.01.25 09:27 MarcusBondi Incredible fitness & strength feats using the body!
This subreddit features the most extreme, amazing, insane and awesome bodyweight, calisthenics power & fitness moves, reps, tutorials, static holds and videos by the strongest and most skilled practitioners from all over the world. We also feature info/advice on how to achieve these phenomenal feats of fitness and muscular ballistics. Everyone welcome to submit a clip or a concept; BUT IT MUST BE TRULY *AWESOME* and inspiring! We want to help make you AWESOME!!
2012.07.04 01:07 cthulhu_zuul Bringing Characters to Life!
The world might be a stage, but a stage is empty without actors. This subreddit is for the people who live within the worlds you create. A single character, a troupe of characters, a whole culture of people, it all belongs here. Main characters of a story, supporting actors, personal mascot or flagship character, none will be denied! Story snippets, drawings, CG work, the more the merrier!
2012.09.03 05:16 lolwatdahek Klinefelter syndrome
a place to talk about klinefelter syndrome
2024.05.21 10:59 LectureSalt9090 Two questions
- I’m see great progress putting in muscle with TRT. Even my wife is noticing and very pleased. But I always struggle with the food front. I know what I should be doing (macros, calorie tracking etc)- but I have a hard time finding the motivation to stick with it.
- My provider said that after 10 weeks of usage my testosterone cypionate vial is at risk for infection even though it still has medication in it, is disinfected before each use, etc.
It seems terribly wasteful to throw it away.
2024.05.21 10:45 no_anybodies AIO to my dad's loudness?
on mobile. kind of cw for abuse
I (16M) am autistic. One of my symptoms is that I'm very sensitive to noise. The effect that loud noise has on me is kind of like physical pain in my ears and down my neck. Loud noises also cause me to have full body muscle spasms which are quite uncomfortable and painful. I live with my older siblings (23F, 21M) and both of my parents.
My dad is extremely loud. He's very into sports, especially football (soccer) and boxing, so he watches every game with my brother. When something happens in the game that they react to, they shout very loudly, either cheering or shouting out of anger. They watch TV on the opposite side of the house to me and I can still hear them over my own music or TV.
My dad also has a habit of shouting my name very loudly every time he sees me and holding it for about 30 seconds. Imagine someone going "Jamieeeeee" (not my real name) at top volume for a while. He does this every time he sees me without fail. If I tell him that he's being loud, he will talk in an equally as loud fake whisper and doesn't get the hint. In my mind, it feels like an equivalent to someone blasting a car horn at you for 30 seconds.
He's also just generally a loud person. He plays videos on his phone or computer on full volume, or shouts when he's excited or happy, or takes phone calls and talks on full volume no matter where he is in the house.
Though upsetting, I can cope with all of those things. However, he does some things that make this much more difficult.
My dad has a history of being abusive to my family. It's not physical (though it was before I was born) but he causes us a lot of distress. He gets blindingly angry over simple things and takes it out on everyone else. He will get angry over something like his phone being slow because he has every app open. When he's angry, he'll usually throw and break things. There have been multiple times when he will throw his phone out of anger and destroy it. He will punch his computer and shatter the monitor. I have to hide in my room or evacuate the house when this happens.
While he's doing this, he is shouting the entire time, at other people or just at whatever he's angry at. This means that when he shouts playfully, like when he sees me, it makes me panic because of the association with his anger.
It's worth noting that my older brother also has these kinds of anger episodes, however that's because he has special needs and turned to hard drugs to cope, leading to him having violent meltdowns. He has gotten better and has not had a violent spell for a while now, and is a loving older brother. However, the effect of his and my dad's meltdowns on my childhood has impacted me in many ways, including the sensitivity to men shouting no matter the context and the association with it to anger or danger. Add that to the autism and you get this.
The reason I think I might be overreacting is that, when I tell him or my mom that this bothers me, they tell me that it's his house too and he's free to use the space however he wants. My mom says that if he's loud, it means he's happy, and so I should let him be and let him express himself. My dad knows that I have autism and believes that supporting my needs will make me worse, and that putting up with it through exposure will get me used to the real world.
I agree that exposure can be good for me but I'd rather do it on my own terms. I want to come home and relax, not be shouted at until I can't leave my room out of sensitivity. I have my boundaries and I want him to respect them. However, I don't want to dictate what he can or can't do, and I don't want to start an argument.
I think it's reasonable to ask him to be quieter when I'm in the house, but he thinks I should be exposed to it to build up my tolerance and that my boundaries are an overreaction.
Am I overreacting to my dad's loudness?
submitted by no_anybodies to AmIOverreacting [link] [comments]
I (16M) am autistic. One of my symptoms is that I'm very sensitive to noise. The effect that loud noise has on me is kind of like physical pain in my ears and down my neck. Loud noises also cause me to have full body muscle spasms which are quite uncomfortable and painful. I live with my older siblings (23F, 21M) and both of my parents.
My dad is extremely loud. He's very into sports, especially football (soccer) and boxing, so he watches every game with my brother. When something happens in the game that they react to, they shout very loudly, either cheering or shouting out of anger. They watch TV on the opposite side of the house to me and I can still hear them over my own music or TV.
My dad also has a habit of shouting my name very loudly every time he sees me and holding it for about 30 seconds. Imagine someone going "Jamieeeeee" (not my real name) at top volume for a while. He does this every time he sees me without fail. If I tell him that he's being loud, he will talk in an equally as loud fake whisper and doesn't get the hint. In my mind, it feels like an equivalent to someone blasting a car horn at you for 30 seconds.
He's also just generally a loud person. He plays videos on his phone or computer on full volume, or shouts when he's excited or happy, or takes phone calls and talks on full volume no matter where he is in the house.
Though upsetting, I can cope with all of those things. However, he does some things that make this much more difficult.
My dad has a history of being abusive to my family. It's not physical (though it was before I was born) but he causes us a lot of distress. He gets blindingly angry over simple things and takes it out on everyone else. He will get angry over something like his phone being slow because he has every app open. When he's angry, he'll usually throw and break things. There have been multiple times when he will throw his phone out of anger and destroy it. He will punch his computer and shatter the monitor. I have to hide in my room or evacuate the house when this happens.
While he's doing this, he is shouting the entire time, at other people or just at whatever he's angry at. This means that when he shouts playfully, like when he sees me, it makes me panic because of the association with his anger.
It's worth noting that my older brother also has these kinds of anger episodes, however that's because he has special needs and turned to hard drugs to cope, leading to him having violent meltdowns. He has gotten better and has not had a violent spell for a while now, and is a loving older brother. However, the effect of his and my dad's meltdowns on my childhood has impacted me in many ways, including the sensitivity to men shouting no matter the context and the association with it to anger or danger. Add that to the autism and you get this.
The reason I think I might be overreacting is that, when I tell him or my mom that this bothers me, they tell me that it's his house too and he's free to use the space however he wants. My mom says that if he's loud, it means he's happy, and so I should let him be and let him express himself. My dad knows that I have autism and believes that supporting my needs will make me worse, and that putting up with it through exposure will get me used to the real world.
I agree that exposure can be good for me but I'd rather do it on my own terms. I want to come home and relax, not be shouted at until I can't leave my room out of sensitivity. I have my boundaries and I want him to respect them. However, I don't want to dictate what he can or can't do, and I don't want to start an argument.
I think it's reasonable to ask him to be quieter when I'm in the house, but he thinks I should be exposed to it to build up my tolerance and that my boundaries are an overreaction.
Am I overreacting to my dad's loudness?
2024.05.21 10:24 Mololama Half wall preparation at chase sites
Chase sites can have open areas that are quite problematic ( especially if you carry with yourself equipment that hinders your running capabilities). Half walls and fences (but we will talk about fences with flat tops) are often a great solution to hinder the hunted as well. They can be decided into four categories: -Quarter walls, -Actual half walls, -high half walls , -fences.
Quarter walls.
They are great for messing with the hunted grounding perception. They are not much of an obstacle, but they are more friendly to weak jumpers. In order for them to be effective, it is advised for them to be anywhere from 23 to 42 cm (42 the best) high (counting from the floor elevation average within the square meter adjacent to the quarter wall. It is also advised to have elevations or depressions on the other side. Remember to keep to the elevation rule ( wall is 32 cm elevation on the other side is 9 cm, than the wall ( 32-9=23) nearly keeps with the requirements. If it would be 10 cm elevation, you would need a 33 cm wall. Higher walls than 42 cm urge a proper jump within the chased.
Actual half walls.
The recommended height is 84 cm ( don't go any higher. Going higher is a bigger risk for the most chasers), but you can go lower to 72 cm. Any lower wall would be too conspicuous and less effective ( the chased could probably jump through such obstacle with less risk of being caught) . If the chaser legs are developed, they can do hurdle jump's. If not, but your back and abdominal muscles are ( mainly the upper abs and side abdomin muscles ), you can do a vault. Keep in mind that vaults need more side leg space and are more dangerous to execute. Remember to land on the metatarsus, not on only forefoot. It is quite handy to measure the one long step distance with a object next to the wall or paint of sorts that would not be conspicuous, in order to time either right.
High half walls.
They should measure around from 170 cm 185 cm ( about a global average of male height. If you are fit and talk enough, you can do 200 cm approximately. In many cases it will be an dead end for the victim. You want it slightly tilt. Inwards if you are experienced, and outwards if you are not sure about your capabilities. It is a small change, but it will give you a more dynamic crossing than a straight wall. When going over it and it is inward, jump bend your arms, boost yourself from the wall with a double leg kick, and straighten your arms, launching yourself to the other side. You will do a flip, curl your legs to your chest and go smoothly to the other side, or curl your legs to chest and bounce from the top of the wall with your legs again. Outwards tilted walls are easier to get through, as you just need to jump, get some friction from the wall while at the same time grabbing the top of the wall with vent arms, straightening the arms, and performing the launch action in one of the three ways mentioned earlier. Land the same as in Actual half walls.
Fences
Fences are usually thicker than half walls. They will be around the hight of Actual and high half walls. Outside grounding can be more tricky, so a vault is recommended (also fences have gaps in them so the kick would not really work). Higher fences require a launch from two legs Outside spaces have a more friendly Kinetic energy distribution as one might describe
submitted by Mololama to ChasingHumansTips [link] [comments]
Quarter walls.
They are great for messing with the hunted grounding perception. They are not much of an obstacle, but they are more friendly to weak jumpers. In order for them to be effective, it is advised for them to be anywhere from 23 to 42 cm (42 the best) high (counting from the floor elevation average within the square meter adjacent to the quarter wall. It is also advised to have elevations or depressions on the other side. Remember to keep to the elevation rule ( wall is 32 cm elevation on the other side is 9 cm, than the wall ( 32-9=23) nearly keeps with the requirements. If it would be 10 cm elevation, you would need a 33 cm wall. Higher walls than 42 cm urge a proper jump within the chased.
Actual half walls.
The recommended height is 84 cm ( don't go any higher. Going higher is a bigger risk for the most chasers), but you can go lower to 72 cm. Any lower wall would be too conspicuous and less effective ( the chased could probably jump through such obstacle with less risk of being caught) . If the chaser legs are developed, they can do hurdle jump's. If not, but your back and abdominal muscles are ( mainly the upper abs and side abdomin muscles ), you can do a vault. Keep in mind that vaults need more side leg space and are more dangerous to execute. Remember to land on the metatarsus, not on only forefoot. It is quite handy to measure the one long step distance with a object next to the wall or paint of sorts that would not be conspicuous, in order to time either right.
High half walls.
They should measure around from 170 cm 185 cm ( about a global average of male height. If you are fit and talk enough, you can do 200 cm approximately. In many cases it will be an dead end for the victim. You want it slightly tilt. Inwards if you are experienced, and outwards if you are not sure about your capabilities. It is a small change, but it will give you a more dynamic crossing than a straight wall. When going over it and it is inward, jump bend your arms, boost yourself from the wall with a double leg kick, and straighten your arms, launching yourself to the other side. You will do a flip, curl your legs to your chest and go smoothly to the other side, or curl your legs to chest and bounce from the top of the wall with your legs again. Outwards tilted walls are easier to get through, as you just need to jump, get some friction from the wall while at the same time grabbing the top of the wall with vent arms, straightening the arms, and performing the launch action in one of the three ways mentioned earlier. Land the same as in Actual half walls.
Fences
Fences are usually thicker than half walls. They will be around the hight of Actual and high half walls. Outside grounding can be more tricky, so a vault is recommended (also fences have gaps in them so the kick would not really work). Higher fences require a launch from two legs Outside spaces have a more friendly Kinetic energy distribution as one might describe
2024.05.21 08:58 Heroman3003 Wayward Odyssey [Part 3]
This fic flows out of me way too easily, so I'm riding the waves while I can. Glad to see people enjoying it too! We continue where we left off, trying to figure out where to go, both with universe at large and with poor, lost child...
As usual, thanks to SpacePaladin15 for his own great work and letting fanfiction flow, and everyone who supported and enjoyed the fic thus far. So, let's see where this goes from now.
First - Prev - [Next]
Memory Transcription Subject: Dr. Erin Kuemper, SETI Researcher
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Before entering the conference room, I adjusted my dress suit. Even for official meetings, I usually just prefer simpler official outfits, but this time is different. Being invited to observe the first official diplomatic meeting between humanity and aliens, I wanted to be perfect for it, even if it was meeting the baby-eating monster aliens over a video call.
Stepping inside, I see the other people that would be present for it. Normally, as a SETI researcher, I would object to the presence of any military heads at such a meeting, on purely conceptual level, much less two. But with what we have learned I can’t help but almost feel like even entire room filled with generals wouldn’t be enough for this.
“Ah, Dr. Kuemper. Come in, take a seat. We plan to start hailing them in ten minutes.” Secretary-General motions towards one of free seats, so I take the one that’s further away from both generals. As I do though, General Jones starts talking to me.
“So, Dr. Kuemper, how’s our rescue doing? Were there any further incidents?”, she asked.
“No, not yet. She still hasn’t woken up since that last sedation. While we don’t understand nearly enough about her biology yet, drawing some parallels with biology of Earth life we can infer that while her life is no longer threatened, she will likely take a while to fully recover from blood loss and malnutrition. Much bigger problem will be communicating our intentions to her, as well as regaining her trust after... everything.”
“Is it really smart to assign Noah Williams as one of her main caretakers then?” She asked, raising her eyebrow.
“From analyzing the footage of the incident, she reacted the same way to all the humans in the room. I doubt it was Williams’ specific appearance that was the source of such intense fright. And that assignment is not just for the sake of the alien, but Williams himself. Him and Rosario are both, frankly, on suicide watch right now. They need a chance to try and do something to relieve their guilt.”
To that General Jones just hummed, before turning to the screen. I could also hear General Zhao, the Chinese general, snorting in amusement. I am not sure what he found funny about this, but I’d rather not know at all.
It wasn’t a rational call, I knew it, but if there’s anyone who can project most empathy possible towards our alien rescue, it’d be Noah. I have asked Sara if she wished to participate as well, but she struggles to even look at the child without throwing up, so for her, distancing might be for the best.
“We’re beginning to hail the Arxur Dominion now.” Secretary-General announced, standing in front of the screen, facing it. “Not sure how long it will take.”
“I bet time zones get a ton more complicated on interstellar level...” General Zhao grumbled.
Afterwards, there were long twenty minutes of silence, interrupted by an occasional cough or shuffle before finally screen shifted, and displayed the aliens. It appears they also were in a private conference room, like us. In the middle, standing tallest and looking at us was none other than Chief Hunter Isif from photos the Odyssey crew took. Behind him were two more arxur. One was similar to Isif in build and stature, though not quite as tall, and the other was notably shorter and scrawnier, with lighter scale coloration. Part of me almost assumed that was a female, before I remembered that in the data dump there were no signs of easily notable sexual dimorphism among the arxur. An adolescent then, perhaps?
“Humans. I am glad you responded to our invitation. I believe an introduction is in order. I am Chief Hunter Isif of Arxur Dominion.” The alien spoke, translators working already, translating the noises unlike anything human makes into discernable speech.
“Greetings, Chief Hunter Isif. I am Secretary-General Elias Meier. I represent the United Nations, or UN for short, a governing body meant to represent combined interests of all individual nations of Earth. Before we proceed, I need to ask. Will I not be speaking to your leader, Prophet-Descendant, today?”
That was on the agenda for the meeting, if I remembered correctly. Trying to interact with arxur other than Isif. To gauge just how far this goes. Though it doesn’t seem like it’s happening, considering Isif is the one who picked up and how now he was emitting a low hiss that almost felt like it was carrying amusement.
“No. No offense meant to you, humans, but we Chief Hunters are expected to conduct all business in our sectors on our own. You technically fall within my territory. Plus, why would I give up an advantage I have over other Chief Hunters so easily? We may not ever have war against one another, but the competition is fierce, and you might just be the edge I need to curry more favor.”
I noticed General Zhao scoffing at shameless honesty in arxur’s intentions for this ‘alliance’ they proposed in the databanks. Yeah, just use us to gain more advantage over his rivals. I can’t believe Secretary-General elected to deal with them after all.
“I see. I expected that. Still, even if we were granted an audience, our answer would have remained unchanged. Sorry to disappoint, Chief Hunter, but humanity simply cannot afford a full alliance with the Dominion.” Secretary-General spoke in neutral tone, but I could sense the strain in his voice.
The arxur on the screen had his facial features harden.
“I see. You’re still unconvinced of the prey’s threat to your unprepared world. You believe you may parlay with them.”
“Quite the contrary, we’re more than convinced and have no reason to believe you’re lying. However, while an alliance with you would grant us protection... It would also drag us into the war we wish no part of. We’re... grateful to you for showing hospitality to the crew of Odyssey, and for warning us of the threat, but we will not be diving into war we have no interest fighting.”
“You will not be able to hide forever.” Isif kept insisting, seemingly almost growing agitated. “We knew of you because they did, long before us. They may believe you dead, but all it’d take is one stray vessel for you to be doomed.”
Part of me wanted to be relieved that, despite the tense tone, the negotiations so far were going exactly as planned. Another part of me wept that we were intentionally alienating and putting distance between ourselves and the aliens. And a third part of me was disgusted at the fact that we were talking to them at all.
“Trust us, Chief Hunter, we do not plan to merely sit and wait to be discovered and exterminated. We will be preparing. We simply don’t wish to enter the fight without a good reason.” Elias continued, pushing on to the next topic. “That said, just because we don’t wish for alliance, doesn’t mean we can’t mutually benefit from one another still.”
I could see that the shorter arxur behind Isif was about to speak up, but flinched when the larger one glared at them. Isif himself narrowed his eyes at Elias.
“And what benefit do you see that isn’t us joining hands in battle for survival, Elias Meier?”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel Secretary-General smiling at Chief Hunter.
“Trade. Your people are, by your own admission, starving. We could provide a solution. What we lack, however, is information. In this universe, we’re blind, and just sending out probes risks discovery. If you’d be willing to supply us with intel on Federation, we’d be more than glad to relieve your hunger. Maybe not the whole Dominion... But definitely all of your sector’s arxur.”
Arxur behind Isif both slightly opened their mouths, eyes widening in almost human-like expression. Even Isif seemed to be taken slightly aback, though he composed himself much quicker, glaring at his subordinates to make them collect themselves. On our end, I could see General Zhao smirking, and General Jones tapping at her chin in contemplation, while I twiddled my thumbs nervously, waiting for rug to be pulled from under us.
“You promise a lot. Producing food in such quantities with just one planet, even if it were filled with cattle, is impossible. Simply unsustainable.” Isif replied.
“We have our ways, Isif. We solved hunger once, we can do so again. Not immediately, it will take time to ramp up production, of course... But once that happens, all you need to do is name your price in how much meat you need and we will provide. And all we want in return is information to better defend ourselves.”
There was a long pause of contemplation. When looking closely, I could see something that was either agitation... or excitement among Isif’s posse, but Chief Hunter himself remained unimpressed. Eventually he did speak up.
“Don’t think I will fall for such a trick, Elias Meier. You humans are still young, still naive to the cruelty of the universe. We were once like you, and were nearly wiped out for it. I will not have it happen to the only other True Sapient in the galaxy. I will trade information. But I can already sense what the first request will be, and you will not be getting translations for Federation languages.”
That made every human in the room except Elias tense up. I almost flinched at the accusation, Jones hid her mouth behind her hand and Zhao’s smirk turned into a frown. Only Secretary-General remained unshaken. Isif, in meantime, continued speaking.
“If you prove yourself capable of helping us, and manage to provide as much sustenance as you claim you can... I will consider it. But until then, I will not be accelerating your desire to commit extinction by Federation’s hands.”
“Then, if you need to benefit from us first before putting us at risk, we can only thank you again for your concern, Chief Hunter.” Secretary-General replied. I was surprised at how collected he remained despite the arxur completely seeing through our intentions with this ‘trade deal’. “Trust us, we have no interest in getting annihilated in antimatter fire, but we are willing to work to earn your trust. We will be sending lists of information we desire. I hope that partnership can strengthen the bonds between us further.”
“Indeed. We will review and return to you the amounts of food we will require for it. Show us what you are capable of, humans. Now let’s get this over with. Conversing like that is... tiring.”
Right. Arxur are naturally solitary, according to the databank they gave us. A species of biologically predisposed introverts...
“Farewell, Chief Hunter Isif.” Meier replied curtly, before the screen dimmed and camera light disappeared. Contact was over.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, realizing I’ve been holding it in for a while now. There... was a lot to consider about what just happened. I was told footage would be saved, so we can better analyze the arxur nonverbal cues later.
Elias turned to us and put his hands on the table.
“So, that didn’t go as bad as it could have. Any thoughts?”
General Zhao was first to speak up.
“We’ll need information on Federation tactics and weaponry. We’ll have to prepare a strong l space military regardless of whether they can be talked down, but it’s much easier to convince someone not to kill you when doing so risks their own life.”
“I’m more interested in whether there is any technology that could allow us to send spy drones into Federation space without leaving obvious trail back to us.” General Jones countered. “We might not even need arxur translators if we can decode the language via our own surveillance.”
Elias turned his eyes on me expectantly. I considered everything that happened, things Isif said and ways his presumably-lieutenants reacted to conversation, things we learned from their data bank... And it dawned on me.
“They... see us the same way we have seen them before learning of their horrid acts. First contact with someone who treats you like a person, and first people in the galaxy whom you can see as friends. We sought the stars seeking to not be alone in the universe, and while their ways are repulsive to us... It’s not true the other way. This cooperation to them is much more sentimental than it is to us. They want to be able to trust us and rely on us.”
Elias smiled and nodded at my assessment.
“Thank you for your input, everyone. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Dr. Kuemper, I hope you’re ready for tomorrow’s announcement and your promotion?”
Right. Tomorrow we’re revealing that First Contact has occurred to the public. It took a lot of effort to make it presentable without triggering mass panic, and some details will be omitted. That and I’m receiving a new position in the UN related to handling alien affairs. What a joy...
“As ready as I can be.”
“Then let’s get to it. It won’t be easy, people, but our entire civilization is at stake. We need to get this right, and in a way that won’t have our descendants condemning us.”
Right. Cooperation with arxur, this trade... I didn’t like the idea of it, but I understood. We needed their help. Perhaps through this cooperation, rather than them influencing us, reverse can be made true, unlikely as it may seem. Worst part was failing to secure any translators at all. While I’m sure generals are salivating at idea of cyber-espionage against the Federation, I just wanted to be able to communicate with the rescued child, and make sure we could properly help her recover. Still... We will do our best, even without them.
Memory Transcription Subject: Stynek, Venlil Test Subject
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Second time I woke up; the memories came to me much faster. How I was captured during the raid. How I spent months in cattle pens. How I was used as a meal for mystery predators. How they took me with them. And how I was now in their laboratory, or whatever closest thing predators have in their feral science.
Of course, my first instinct was to try and escape, but I couldn’t. I found myself actively strapped to the bed. I was panicked at first, trying to break through the restraints, but to no effect. So I let my head fall back onto surprisingly soft pillow and lay there... Awaiting my fate. But fate wasn’t coming, and I found myself getting a bit bored. So I raised my head and examined the room.
It seemed different from the room I was in before. Most of the machinery was gone, and the only big machine beside my bed wasn’t actually hooked up to me anymore. There was a large, predator-sized closet in the corner, and two big tables with seats. Of course, there was also bed itself. If not for the fact that I was slated to be butchered on this bed soon, it’d be the most comfortable place I got to lay down on since my capture. As is... It felt like cruel irony. I felt my eyes watering again. Did predators want to taunt me? Give me this sense of near-comfort as one last cruelty?
Subconsciously I tried calling out for mom, but felt my throat burn and ended up coughing instead. I think all the screaming recently wasn’t good for it, and with how dry my mouth was it didn’t help. Looking around I spotted it. A glass of water on a small stand beside the bed! Except it was completely out of reach. I tried shifting my tail under me, to try and extend towards it, but I’d need to have the bed flipped to have the chance at reaching. They probably left it like that intentionally... Letting me feel thirst, see the answer, but not be allowed to take it, all to make me suffer more.
I attempted to shift and wiggle against the restraints some more, when it hit me. It finally hit me that my leg was gone, gone for good. Even if I could somehow miraculously break those restraints... And get out of predator captivity... And make it back home to Venlil Prime... It wouldn’t be the same. I’d never live a normal life. My vision blurred with tears again. Why couldn’t they just end it... Why did... they have to make me suffer more.
Then the door opened and my heartbeat quickened. I realized just what I asked for, and looks like the universe itself wanted to give me that. Through the door stepped a figure... No longer clad in big rubbery suit. They probably realized such deception won’t work on me. But which of predators it was made my blood freeze.
It was the same one again... The dark-colored one that was there in meeting with arxur, and when I first woke up... Why was it always this one showing up over and over? Did all those predators look like that? He was wearing different outfit, maybe it was a different predator? No, it’s too similar, it must just be... assigned to me. My personal warden. Just like the pens had specific wardens assigned to them that were in charge of picking out meals.
This is it then. They must have done everything they wanted to do with me while I was unconscious and now that I was awake to feel it, were ready to finish me off. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly shut as the predator approached. I lost count of how many times I was anticipating death recently, but this was it... This must be it, finally, right? Universe can’t be cruel enough to do more to me, can it?
And as I waited for my demise, with held breath I lay. And lay. And waited. Until I realized that by now predator would long be within reach of my throat. I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked a few times to get the tears out. Sight of predator right beside me made me flinch, as it sat down by the bed, looking over me with its hungry, binocular eyes. I could see its mouth, lips quivering in hunger. And yet it did not lunge... Why?! Why can’t they just finish me off already? I felt so exhausted and fatigued by it all...
Predator seemed to lock its horrid eyes with my own eye. The gaze was intense, and I felt frozen. I couldn’t move, not even a muscle, as it just stared at me and I stared back. I felt a tear roll down my face, contributing more to the clump of matted fur, grown stained with so many tears. And that’s when the predator reached its hand for my head. I closed my eyes, recoiling away to the best of my ability. I... I didn’t want it... Please... Why can’t I just wake up back home, why can’t it all just be a nightmare...
I was prepared for its claw to grasp my face, to twist my neck, to scratch at me... But the only thing I felt was a small caress right under my eye, where the tear ran, wiping it off and rubbing at clumped fur, getting bits of dirt out in process. And then it was over. There was no attack. It was just more prolonging of the inevitable. It was so... tiring. I opened my eyes again, to look back at the predator. Really look back in those cruel eyes, to try and understand why the universe would have such evilness exist at all. The binocular gaze was horrible, but no amount of my instinct telling me to flee could help when I had neither the limbs nor freedom to move. So I just looked back. Into those small eyes when they suddenly blinked. And what could only be a tear rolled down the predator’s face. This made me mentally recoil.
How? Did a predator just shed a tear? But that’s... impossible. Only creatures with empathy can cry. That’s the textbook prerequisite for crying! You need to feel things to cry! Predators don’t have that! Arxur don’t have that. We learn that since before school. One of first things parents teach their kids is always the dangers of predators. But this is... Maybe it’s something in the room? Some noxious agent irritating its eyes? Then why can’t I feel it? Is it simply copying me? But why would it do that? Can you even copy something you can’t understand, like feelings? I didn’t understand. Maybe their biology was way more alien? Their skin was naked and had no fur or scales or feathers, maybe their tears are different too? I tried to find any explanation at all, any possible answer to questions swirling in my mind, but nothing made sense. It’s like this one little tear shattered everything I knew about predators. Maybe... They were different somehow? No! That can’t be it. If they were, they wouldn’t... They wouldn’t have been ones to take part in eating me! They wouldn’t deal with arxur! It’s a trick... it must be... But tears are a sign of empathy...
“W-Why...”, I asked in my confusion. My voice came out as ragged and hoarse and I was reminded of how dry my insides felt. I glanced over to the glass at the bedside, still out of reach and now with a predator near it... I stood no chance at reaching it.
Then suddenly, the predator looked over at it as well, and picked it up. I was almost about to cry at the idea that it would drink it in front of me, taunting my thirst further. But it didn’t even bring the glass close to its horrid mouth, instead moving it towards my face. Naturally, I tried pulling back from predator reach, but still restrained, I couldn’t move much. And once the glass was in front of me, predator just tilted it and... left it hovering there.
Was it... offering me a drink? Does that mean the water is poisoned? Why else would it give me some? I didn’t open my mouth, but the predator kept hovering the glass in front of me... Clear liquid inside swishing a bit with unevenness of the movements. Tantalizing... My throat felt drier just looking at it. In the end, base instinct prevailed over reason-based self-preservation. Even if it is poisoned... I was as good as dead in this den of predators, this won’t matter, and at least I’ll die not feeling as dry as a piece of old tree bark. So I let my mouth open and I raised my head as much as I could within the restraints, putting the glass’s rim into my mouth.
That first sip was probably the most heavenly water I’ve ever tasted. It was just normal water, of course, but with how dry I felt, I couldn’t get enough as I started quickly gulping it down. The predator actually helped, tilting the glass, keeping up with how quickly I emptied it. Every gulp was a relief... It was no stale water of arxur pens. It was actually fresh water! But as quickly as it started, the happiness ended, glass fully tilted and empty. I smack my mouth, gathering little bits of moisture gathered on it with my tongue, while the predator moves the glass back onto the counter.
Well, if that had poison in it, I didn’t taste any. And if it was somehow tasteless... It was worth it. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the predator and its actions, so instead I did my best to just ignore it as I savored the feeling of hydration. If I somehow live through this, unlikely though it may be, I will never scorn water again. Though I will probably still prefer some good juice over it...
The predator started moving again, removing the blanket-like sheet that was covering most of my body and reaching to where my restraints connected to the bed itself. It locked its eyes with me again, and this time it at least didn’t cry, but it did start to growl something. It was quiet and subdued, and of course I couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t lunge or reach for me directly and didn’t seem any different from earlier. Was it trying to say something?
Then I heard a small click. The light pressure I felt on my arms and chest from the restraints relaxed. Then the predator just tossed the restraint over me, revealing that they released me. I tested it by raising my arms slightly. Why...? Did they plan on taking me somewhere? I could try running but the feeling of lightness, of hollow emptiness where my leg used to be reminded me of how fruitless the endeavor would be, so I just kept laying in bed. The predator’s mouth curved in some wicked expression before they growled out some more of their crude words and got up.
They moved towards the exit, turning around to give me one last creepy staredown before stepping out of the room. And, unsurprisingly, I heard a soft click from the door itself. Right. I was just free to explore my new pen. But even with the freedom granted, I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. The shock of learning that a predator just shed a tear and fed me water was still too much. What is even happening?
It’s all so confusing. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it over my head, hiding in the dark. I tried to desperately convince myself to not get my hopes up, to remember what those predators did to me... But somewhere I felt like maybe things here will at least be better than they were in arxur pens. At least there’s that to comfort me. That’s right, they probably just... don’t want me to die yet because they haven’t finished experimenting on me... And the tears were just... I don’t know. It makes no sense! It’s stupid!
I let out a breath and snuggled tighter into the blanket. As long as it was dark and quiet like this, I could at least pretend that I was back home... That everything makes sense... That I am just fine... That I'll be okay...
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submitted by Heroman3003 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
As usual, thanks to SpacePaladin15 for his own great work and letting fanfiction flow, and everyone who supported and enjoyed the fic thus far. So, let's see where this goes from now.
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Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Before entering the conference room, I adjusted my dress suit. Even for official meetings, I usually just prefer simpler official outfits, but this time is different. Being invited to observe the first official diplomatic meeting between humanity and aliens, I wanted to be perfect for it, even if it was meeting the baby-eating monster aliens over a video call.
Stepping inside, I see the other people that would be present for it. Normally, as a SETI researcher, I would object to the presence of any military heads at such a meeting, on purely conceptual level, much less two. But with what we have learned I can’t help but almost feel like even entire room filled with generals wouldn’t be enough for this.
“Ah, Dr. Kuemper. Come in, take a seat. We plan to start hailing them in ten minutes.” Secretary-General motions towards one of free seats, so I take the one that’s further away from both generals. As I do though, General Jones starts talking to me.
“So, Dr. Kuemper, how’s our rescue doing? Were there any further incidents?”, she asked.
“No, not yet. She still hasn’t woken up since that last sedation. While we don’t understand nearly enough about her biology yet, drawing some parallels with biology of Earth life we can infer that while her life is no longer threatened, she will likely take a while to fully recover from blood loss and malnutrition. Much bigger problem will be communicating our intentions to her, as well as regaining her trust after... everything.”
“Is it really smart to assign Noah Williams as one of her main caretakers then?” She asked, raising her eyebrow.
“From analyzing the footage of the incident, she reacted the same way to all the humans in the room. I doubt it was Williams’ specific appearance that was the source of such intense fright. And that assignment is not just for the sake of the alien, but Williams himself. Him and Rosario are both, frankly, on suicide watch right now. They need a chance to try and do something to relieve their guilt.”
To that General Jones just hummed, before turning to the screen. I could also hear General Zhao, the Chinese general, snorting in amusement. I am not sure what he found funny about this, but I’d rather not know at all.
It wasn’t a rational call, I knew it, but if there’s anyone who can project most empathy possible towards our alien rescue, it’d be Noah. I have asked Sara if she wished to participate as well, but she struggles to even look at the child without throwing up, so for her, distancing might be for the best.
“We’re beginning to hail the Arxur Dominion now.” Secretary-General announced, standing in front of the screen, facing it. “Not sure how long it will take.”
“I bet time zones get a ton more complicated on interstellar level...” General Zhao grumbled.
Afterwards, there were long twenty minutes of silence, interrupted by an occasional cough or shuffle before finally screen shifted, and displayed the aliens. It appears they also were in a private conference room, like us. In the middle, standing tallest and looking at us was none other than Chief Hunter Isif from photos the Odyssey crew took. Behind him were two more arxur. One was similar to Isif in build and stature, though not quite as tall, and the other was notably shorter and scrawnier, with lighter scale coloration. Part of me almost assumed that was a female, before I remembered that in the data dump there were no signs of easily notable sexual dimorphism among the arxur. An adolescent then, perhaps?
“Humans. I am glad you responded to our invitation. I believe an introduction is in order. I am Chief Hunter Isif of Arxur Dominion.” The alien spoke, translators working already, translating the noises unlike anything human makes into discernable speech.
“Greetings, Chief Hunter Isif. I am Secretary-General Elias Meier. I represent the United Nations, or UN for short, a governing body meant to represent combined interests of all individual nations of Earth. Before we proceed, I need to ask. Will I not be speaking to your leader, Prophet-Descendant, today?”
That was on the agenda for the meeting, if I remembered correctly. Trying to interact with arxur other than Isif. To gauge just how far this goes. Though it doesn’t seem like it’s happening, considering Isif is the one who picked up and how now he was emitting a low hiss that almost felt like it was carrying amusement.
“No. No offense meant to you, humans, but we Chief Hunters are expected to conduct all business in our sectors on our own. You technically fall within my territory. Plus, why would I give up an advantage I have over other Chief Hunters so easily? We may not ever have war against one another, but the competition is fierce, and you might just be the edge I need to curry more favor.”
I noticed General Zhao scoffing at shameless honesty in arxur’s intentions for this ‘alliance’ they proposed in the databanks. Yeah, just use us to gain more advantage over his rivals. I can’t believe Secretary-General elected to deal with them after all.
“I see. I expected that. Still, even if we were granted an audience, our answer would have remained unchanged. Sorry to disappoint, Chief Hunter, but humanity simply cannot afford a full alliance with the Dominion.” Secretary-General spoke in neutral tone, but I could sense the strain in his voice.
The arxur on the screen had his facial features harden.
“I see. You’re still unconvinced of the prey’s threat to your unprepared world. You believe you may parlay with them.”
“Quite the contrary, we’re more than convinced and have no reason to believe you’re lying. However, while an alliance with you would grant us protection... It would also drag us into the war we wish no part of. We’re... grateful to you for showing hospitality to the crew of Odyssey, and for warning us of the threat, but we will not be diving into war we have no interest fighting.”
“You will not be able to hide forever.” Isif kept insisting, seemingly almost growing agitated. “We knew of you because they did, long before us. They may believe you dead, but all it’d take is one stray vessel for you to be doomed.”
Part of me wanted to be relieved that, despite the tense tone, the negotiations so far were going exactly as planned. Another part of me wept that we were intentionally alienating and putting distance between ourselves and the aliens. And a third part of me was disgusted at the fact that we were talking to them at all.
“Trust us, Chief Hunter, we do not plan to merely sit and wait to be discovered and exterminated. We will be preparing. We simply don’t wish to enter the fight without a good reason.” Elias continued, pushing on to the next topic. “That said, just because we don’t wish for alliance, doesn’t mean we can’t mutually benefit from one another still.”
I could see that the shorter arxur behind Isif was about to speak up, but flinched when the larger one glared at them. Isif himself narrowed his eyes at Elias.
“And what benefit do you see that isn’t us joining hands in battle for survival, Elias Meier?”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel Secretary-General smiling at Chief Hunter.
“Trade. Your people are, by your own admission, starving. We could provide a solution. What we lack, however, is information. In this universe, we’re blind, and just sending out probes risks discovery. If you’d be willing to supply us with intel on Federation, we’d be more than glad to relieve your hunger. Maybe not the whole Dominion... But definitely all of your sector’s arxur.”
Arxur behind Isif both slightly opened their mouths, eyes widening in almost human-like expression. Even Isif seemed to be taken slightly aback, though he composed himself much quicker, glaring at his subordinates to make them collect themselves. On our end, I could see General Zhao smirking, and General Jones tapping at her chin in contemplation, while I twiddled my thumbs nervously, waiting for rug to be pulled from under us.
“You promise a lot. Producing food in such quantities with just one planet, even if it were filled with cattle, is impossible. Simply unsustainable.” Isif replied.
“We have our ways, Isif. We solved hunger once, we can do so again. Not immediately, it will take time to ramp up production, of course... But once that happens, all you need to do is name your price in how much meat you need and we will provide. And all we want in return is information to better defend ourselves.”
There was a long pause of contemplation. When looking closely, I could see something that was either agitation... or excitement among Isif’s posse, but Chief Hunter himself remained unimpressed. Eventually he did speak up.
“Don’t think I will fall for such a trick, Elias Meier. You humans are still young, still naive to the cruelty of the universe. We were once like you, and were nearly wiped out for it. I will not have it happen to the only other True Sapient in the galaxy. I will trade information. But I can already sense what the first request will be, and you will not be getting translations for Federation languages.”
That made every human in the room except Elias tense up. I almost flinched at the accusation, Jones hid her mouth behind her hand and Zhao’s smirk turned into a frown. Only Secretary-General remained unshaken. Isif, in meantime, continued speaking.
“If you prove yourself capable of helping us, and manage to provide as much sustenance as you claim you can... I will consider it. But until then, I will not be accelerating your desire to commit extinction by Federation’s hands.”
“Then, if you need to benefit from us first before putting us at risk, we can only thank you again for your concern, Chief Hunter.” Secretary-General replied. I was surprised at how collected he remained despite the arxur completely seeing through our intentions with this ‘trade deal’. “Trust us, we have no interest in getting annihilated in antimatter fire, but we are willing to work to earn your trust. We will be sending lists of information we desire. I hope that partnership can strengthen the bonds between us further.”
“Indeed. We will review and return to you the amounts of food we will require for it. Show us what you are capable of, humans. Now let’s get this over with. Conversing like that is... tiring.”
Right. Arxur are naturally solitary, according to the databank they gave us. A species of biologically predisposed introverts...
“Farewell, Chief Hunter Isif.” Meier replied curtly, before the screen dimmed and camera light disappeared. Contact was over.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, realizing I’ve been holding it in for a while now. There... was a lot to consider about what just happened. I was told footage would be saved, so we can better analyze the arxur nonverbal cues later.
Elias turned to us and put his hands on the table.
“So, that didn’t go as bad as it could have. Any thoughts?”
General Zhao was first to speak up.
“We’ll need information on Federation tactics and weaponry. We’ll have to prepare a strong l space military regardless of whether they can be talked down, but it’s much easier to convince someone not to kill you when doing so risks their own life.”
“I’m more interested in whether there is any technology that could allow us to send spy drones into Federation space without leaving obvious trail back to us.” General Jones countered. “We might not even need arxur translators if we can decode the language via our own surveillance.”
Elias turned his eyes on me expectantly. I considered everything that happened, things Isif said and ways his presumably-lieutenants reacted to conversation, things we learned from their data bank... And it dawned on me.
“They... see us the same way we have seen them before learning of their horrid acts. First contact with someone who treats you like a person, and first people in the galaxy whom you can see as friends. We sought the stars seeking to not be alone in the universe, and while their ways are repulsive to us... It’s not true the other way. This cooperation to them is much more sentimental than it is to us. They want to be able to trust us and rely on us.”
Elias smiled and nodded at my assessment.
“Thank you for your input, everyone. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Dr. Kuemper, I hope you’re ready for tomorrow’s announcement and your promotion?”
Right. Tomorrow we’re revealing that First Contact has occurred to the public. It took a lot of effort to make it presentable without triggering mass panic, and some details will be omitted. That and I’m receiving a new position in the UN related to handling alien affairs. What a joy...
“As ready as I can be.”
“Then let’s get to it. It won’t be easy, people, but our entire civilization is at stake. We need to get this right, and in a way that won’t have our descendants condemning us.”
Right. Cooperation with arxur, this trade... I didn’t like the idea of it, but I understood. We needed their help. Perhaps through this cooperation, rather than them influencing us, reverse can be made true, unlikely as it may seem. Worst part was failing to secure any translators at all. While I’m sure generals are salivating at idea of cyber-espionage against the Federation, I just wanted to be able to communicate with the rescued child, and make sure we could properly help her recover. Still... We will do our best, even without them.
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Second time I woke up; the memories came to me much faster. How I was captured during the raid. How I spent months in cattle pens. How I was used as a meal for mystery predators. How they took me with them. And how I was now in their laboratory, or whatever closest thing predators have in their feral science.
Of course, my first instinct was to try and escape, but I couldn’t. I found myself actively strapped to the bed. I was panicked at first, trying to break through the restraints, but to no effect. So I let my head fall back onto surprisingly soft pillow and lay there... Awaiting my fate. But fate wasn’t coming, and I found myself getting a bit bored. So I raised my head and examined the room.
It seemed different from the room I was in before. Most of the machinery was gone, and the only big machine beside my bed wasn’t actually hooked up to me anymore. There was a large, predator-sized closet in the corner, and two big tables with seats. Of course, there was also bed itself. If not for the fact that I was slated to be butchered on this bed soon, it’d be the most comfortable place I got to lay down on since my capture. As is... It felt like cruel irony. I felt my eyes watering again. Did predators want to taunt me? Give me this sense of near-comfort as one last cruelty?
Subconsciously I tried calling out for mom, but felt my throat burn and ended up coughing instead. I think all the screaming recently wasn’t good for it, and with how dry my mouth was it didn’t help. Looking around I spotted it. A glass of water on a small stand beside the bed! Except it was completely out of reach. I tried shifting my tail under me, to try and extend towards it, but I’d need to have the bed flipped to have the chance at reaching. They probably left it like that intentionally... Letting me feel thirst, see the answer, but not be allowed to take it, all to make me suffer more.
I attempted to shift and wiggle against the restraints some more, when it hit me. It finally hit me that my leg was gone, gone for good. Even if I could somehow miraculously break those restraints... And get out of predator captivity... And make it back home to Venlil Prime... It wouldn’t be the same. I’d never live a normal life. My vision blurred with tears again. Why couldn’t they just end it... Why did... they have to make me suffer more.
Then the door opened and my heartbeat quickened. I realized just what I asked for, and looks like the universe itself wanted to give me that. Through the door stepped a figure... No longer clad in big rubbery suit. They probably realized such deception won’t work on me. But which of predators it was made my blood freeze.
It was the same one again... The dark-colored one that was there in meeting with arxur, and when I first woke up... Why was it always this one showing up over and over? Did all those predators look like that? He was wearing different outfit, maybe it was a different predator? No, it’s too similar, it must just be... assigned to me. My personal warden. Just like the pens had specific wardens assigned to them that were in charge of picking out meals.
This is it then. They must have done everything they wanted to do with me while I was unconscious and now that I was awake to feel it, were ready to finish me off. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly shut as the predator approached. I lost count of how many times I was anticipating death recently, but this was it... This must be it, finally, right? Universe can’t be cruel enough to do more to me, can it?
And as I waited for my demise, with held breath I lay. And lay. And waited. Until I realized that by now predator would long be within reach of my throat. I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked a few times to get the tears out. Sight of predator right beside me made me flinch, as it sat down by the bed, looking over me with its hungry, binocular eyes. I could see its mouth, lips quivering in hunger. And yet it did not lunge... Why?! Why can’t they just finish me off already? I felt so exhausted and fatigued by it all...
Predator seemed to lock its horrid eyes with my own eye. The gaze was intense, and I felt frozen. I couldn’t move, not even a muscle, as it just stared at me and I stared back. I felt a tear roll down my face, contributing more to the clump of matted fur, grown stained with so many tears. And that’s when the predator reached its hand for my head. I closed my eyes, recoiling away to the best of my ability. I... I didn’t want it... Please... Why can’t I just wake up back home, why can’t it all just be a nightmare...
I was prepared for its claw to grasp my face, to twist my neck, to scratch at me... But the only thing I felt was a small caress right under my eye, where the tear ran, wiping it off and rubbing at clumped fur, getting bits of dirt out in process. And then it was over. There was no attack. It was just more prolonging of the inevitable. It was so... tiring. I opened my eyes again, to look back at the predator. Really look back in those cruel eyes, to try and understand why the universe would have such evilness exist at all. The binocular gaze was horrible, but no amount of my instinct telling me to flee could help when I had neither the limbs nor freedom to move. So I just looked back. Into those small eyes when they suddenly blinked. And what could only be a tear rolled down the predator’s face. This made me mentally recoil.
How? Did a predator just shed a tear? But that’s... impossible. Only creatures with empathy can cry. That’s the textbook prerequisite for crying! You need to feel things to cry! Predators don’t have that! Arxur don’t have that. We learn that since before school. One of first things parents teach their kids is always the dangers of predators. But this is... Maybe it’s something in the room? Some noxious agent irritating its eyes? Then why can’t I feel it? Is it simply copying me? But why would it do that? Can you even copy something you can’t understand, like feelings? I didn’t understand. Maybe their biology was way more alien? Their skin was naked and had no fur or scales or feathers, maybe their tears are different too? I tried to find any explanation at all, any possible answer to questions swirling in my mind, but nothing made sense. It’s like this one little tear shattered everything I knew about predators. Maybe... They were different somehow? No! That can’t be it. If they were, they wouldn’t... They wouldn’t have been ones to take part in eating me! They wouldn’t deal with arxur! It’s a trick... it must be... But tears are a sign of empathy...
“W-Why...”, I asked in my confusion. My voice came out as ragged and hoarse and I was reminded of how dry my insides felt. I glanced over to the glass at the bedside, still out of reach and now with a predator near it... I stood no chance at reaching it.
Then suddenly, the predator looked over at it as well, and picked it up. I was almost about to cry at the idea that it would drink it in front of me, taunting my thirst further. But it didn’t even bring the glass close to its horrid mouth, instead moving it towards my face. Naturally, I tried pulling back from predator reach, but still restrained, I couldn’t move much. And once the glass was in front of me, predator just tilted it and... left it hovering there.
Was it... offering me a drink? Does that mean the water is poisoned? Why else would it give me some? I didn’t open my mouth, but the predator kept hovering the glass in front of me... Clear liquid inside swishing a bit with unevenness of the movements. Tantalizing... My throat felt drier just looking at it. In the end, base instinct prevailed over reason-based self-preservation. Even if it is poisoned... I was as good as dead in this den of predators, this won’t matter, and at least I’ll die not feeling as dry as a piece of old tree bark. So I let my mouth open and I raised my head as much as I could within the restraints, putting the glass’s rim into my mouth.
That first sip was probably the most heavenly water I’ve ever tasted. It was just normal water, of course, but with how dry I felt, I couldn’t get enough as I started quickly gulping it down. The predator actually helped, tilting the glass, keeping up with how quickly I emptied it. Every gulp was a relief... It was no stale water of arxur pens. It was actually fresh water! But as quickly as it started, the happiness ended, glass fully tilted and empty. I smack my mouth, gathering little bits of moisture gathered on it with my tongue, while the predator moves the glass back onto the counter.
Well, if that had poison in it, I didn’t taste any. And if it was somehow tasteless... It was worth it. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the predator and its actions, so instead I did my best to just ignore it as I savored the feeling of hydration. If I somehow live through this, unlikely though it may be, I will never scorn water again. Though I will probably still prefer some good juice over it...
The predator started moving again, removing the blanket-like sheet that was covering most of my body and reaching to where my restraints connected to the bed itself. It locked its eyes with me again, and this time it at least didn’t cry, but it did start to growl something. It was quiet and subdued, and of course I couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t lunge or reach for me directly and didn’t seem any different from earlier. Was it trying to say something?
Then I heard a small click. The light pressure I felt on my arms and chest from the restraints relaxed. Then the predator just tossed the restraint over me, revealing that they released me. I tested it by raising my arms slightly. Why...? Did they plan on taking me somewhere? I could try running but the feeling of lightness, of hollow emptiness where my leg used to be reminded me of how fruitless the endeavor would be, so I just kept laying in bed. The predator’s mouth curved in some wicked expression before they growled out some more of their crude words and got up.
They moved towards the exit, turning around to give me one last creepy staredown before stepping out of the room. And, unsurprisingly, I heard a soft click from the door itself. Right. I was just free to explore my new pen. But even with the freedom granted, I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. The shock of learning that a predator just shed a tear and fed me water was still too much. What is even happening?
It’s all so confusing. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it over my head, hiding in the dark. I tried to desperately convince myself to not get my hopes up, to remember what those predators did to me... But somewhere I felt like maybe things here will at least be better than they were in arxur pens. At least there’s that to comfort me. That’s right, they probably just... don’t want me to die yet because they haven’t finished experimenting on me... And the tears were just... I don’t know. It makes no sense! It’s stupid!
I let out a breath and snuggled tighter into the blanket. As long as it was dark and quiet like this, I could at least pretend that I was back home... That everything makes sense... That I am just fine... That I'll be okay...
2024.05.21 08:19 Sin-God A New Chain; Snapshots
The familiar sounds of the office fill the ears of the "Adventurer" as he steps into his home away from home. To him "Familiar sounds" means the voices of about three-quarters of the hundreds of employees who work in this building, thanks to the progressive, passive, perpetual boosts to his senses that he has simply always been accruing. He still can't quite hear everything in the office, indeed as powerful as his senses are he can only actively sense enough space around him to be firmly aware of events occurring about half of the building's length and width away from him at a time, but those are still incredibly powerful senses.
Lucas steps past several cubicles and heads to his own with a calm smile on his face. He actually enjoys his job, not because he finds the work fulfilling but because it presents him with a chance to level up his skills and work towards becoming altogether stronger in a hilariously safe environment. The figure sits in his cubicle and logs into his work computer with a bright grin on his face. As he grabs the last pieces of paper in the backlog that was a big problem when he began to work for this company he feels a pang of pride.
The workday is pleasant enough. He successfully finishes the last pile of paperwork that was considered part of the backlog and this effort is celebrated by his direct supervisor and a few of the friends he's made in his department, a group composed of several men and only a few pair of women, who have been working here for years but lacked the abilities he possesses that allow him to grind out progress at a rapid rate and allow him to improve the work he does every single day without fail. The news quickly spreads throughout the office, and various people, including other departmental supervisors and managers, come to him and congratulate him.
When the day ends Lucas is one of the first people out the door. This is commonly expected Lucas-like behavior at this point so no one bats an eye at it. The figure works and then leaves, and he seems to have an incredibly strict policy about work-life balance to the point that no one from the office has seen his apartment or even seen him outside of the office aside from on social media.
The lad walks towards a nearby mall even as he checks his phone. When the decently cautious man is sure he's not being watched he uses his inventory to swap outfits, changing into something much more casual than his work uniform so he can do his equivalent of trolling. His clothes go from being the professional outfit someone might expect to see an accountant in, to the much more casual clothes of someone who works at a Game Station the local equivalent of a Game Stop.
The minute the figure reaches the mall he relaxes and steps into it with a smile on his face as he is suddenly and powerfully aware of events going on all around him now that the sounds he's been passively hearing for the last few minutes are not muffled by layers of solid American construction. The mall is a favorite haunt of his, a place where there are enough people that even if something goes awry he can pretty easily escape in the chaos and commotion that any sort of hostile actions would necessarily cause. Still, to the figure's credit he has not been caught yet.
The thief begins his training by carefully studying the department store he's in. He can be a bit bolder now than he could weeks ago, as in the time since he began to hone this skill he's enhanced it in such a way that he can teleport objects directly into his inventory, which is a tremendous improvement even if he can't take anything bigger or heavier than a cleaver. He eventually spots a teenager with a wallet that is just visible out of the corner of his pockets. Lucas diligently uses "Observe" on him and the powerful skill is strong enough now that Lucas can use it to determine someone's affiliations. When the young adult spots that the teen belongs to a gang he decides it's worth taking his potentially ill-gotten gains.
The clever trickster points a single finger in the direction of the teen's pocket and silently casts the handy spell. A thin line of energy lances out of his extended digit and sails through the air toward the teenager. When the teen begins to move Lucas hisses in annoyance and expends a bit more magical energy to take advantage of the first skill he's gained as a result of an attribute hitting 50: arcane manipulation.
Days ago the young adventurer's passion for magic and healing resulted in two classes leveling up on the same day: mage and white mage. This resulted in his intelligence going from 49 to 52, and as a result of that he gained the ability to manipulate magical energy, so long as he can detect the magic in question and is willing to spend some magic of his own. In this world, where the figure is reasonably certain that no other magical beings exist, this means that to hone this skill the wizard needs to manipulate his own magic. Still, that hasn't stopped the young professional from tirelessly doing just that.
With a significant amount of focus the mage is able to manipulate the thin beam and twists and turns it so that it circles around the teen before snaking into his pocket and striking the young gangster's wallet. When Lucas feels the wallet enter his inventory he chuckles and makes his way out of the department store. The rest of this particular bout of training is filled with similar feats of arcane finesse and hilariously minor acts that will steal from those willing to enact violence on others in exchange for money. Lucas's clever usage of his skills coupled with his willingness to act in stunningly petty and annoying ways make him great at harassing those he designates his foes. Lucas, lacking an ability to kill those he fights thanks to a drawback affecting him, has thus far refused to actually engage those he has marked as his foes in direct battle but his desire to annoy them has led to willingly target people associated with criminal groups with some of his spatial magic.
In hours the figure is back home and he is toying with the newest toy he's received from his gacha system. A guitar sits on his lap and he fiddles with the instrument, even he listens to a video about how to tune the thing. Lucas is experimenting with something, and behind the tablet he gained some time ago is a book that contains information on tuning guitars. The tablet is in use, recording what the man is up to. An app is in use and it records the sounds the guitar chords make. The self-taught musician relies on some of his new skills for this, as he has only recently gained the "Guitar" and "Guitar Maintenance" skills, and he got them at different times so they are different levels. Nonetheless, the figure patiently records himself, occasionally stopping the recording and examining it. He is diligently using his long-term planning skills and sticking to his broad plan. At the same time the figure patiently uses magic and steadily hones the "Mage" class, using his magic skills to farm multiple sources of experience while adhering to the schedule he has informally given himself.
Eventually the next day rolls around and the figure, predictably, gets out of his apartment and goes to work. If you had explained the concept of "Jumping" to Lucas a year ago and asked him if he thought so much of it would be just working a 9-5 job he'd not have believed you and yet in the context of his experience with the unusual profession a stunning amount of time has just been him being a regular employee of a perfectly mundane business.
Time continues to pass for the would-be adventurer at a steady pace. In this mundane world a figure with legitimate supernatural abilities is a uniquely powerful presence, and this is especially true of one that is determined to keep his head down and nose clean. Lucas's determination to live a regular, relatively risk-free life does not stop him from living, but it does stop him from suffering from some sort of "Middle School Second Year Syndrome" as a result of the fact that he has gained trainable superpowers. Instead of going mad with power or gaining an unhealthy mentality Lucas has just enough knowledge of how jumping works to know that while he might be a big fish in this world he is not a big fish in other worlds like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, or even something as aggressively hostile and oppressive as the general setting of Minecraft is.
If an objective, impartial onlooker viewing Lucas's life is given the chance to describe the sort of "Television Show" that they are watching, they'd say it could easily be considered slice-of-life. For the first few months of his time here the most exciting times are the rare moments he adds something new to his slowly expanding list of activities and the even more slowly growing list of things he can do, such as when he begins to walk the streets of the city he lives in at night and cast healing, positive, restorative magic on the sleeping homeless people he encounters. This activity ultimately earns him the peculiar title of "Unsung Saint", a title which enhances the effectiveness of his restorative or otherwise beneficial magic on those not aware of the fact that he is using magic on them.
Days of work, training, and controlled, planned forays into new pastimes, turn into weeks of steady and anticipated progress. Weeks of steady and anticipated progress turn into months of upward mobility and the healthy establishments of new baseline feats. That said, eventually progress slows and becomes more difficult for the jumper in a world as relatively safe, for supernatural beings, as this one. It doesn't take terribly long for Lucas to go from a somewhat predictable, fairly focused figure who is very specialized in a number of areas, to a somewhat more well-rounded figure with a steadily increasing repository of skills and abilities, thanks to a subtle shift in growth strategies.
Just a few days short of eleven months into his stay in this jump, the jumper is facing a new foe but is participating in an activity he's come to enjoy; sparring.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I dodge a well-aimed right-handed punch intended for my face, though thanks to my agility I easily had enough time to dodge it, It took a long time, from my viewpoint, for it to get close to me so long enough that I only let it get this close on purpose. I'm holding back in terms of my speed and strength but my opponent, a friend I made at the gym a few weeks ago, doesn't need to know that. I have way too many supernatural advantages for it to be a fair fight if I don't hold back.
I give my opponent enough time to register that I've dodged the blow before I begin to telegraph, purposefully, my next attack. I purposefully overextend my left arm and launch a powerful, but slow, strike. The man grits his teeth and moves to intercept my strike. He is fast enough to position his arm in front of it but that is still a mistake. I guide my blow into his arm and watch as he lets out a sincere, pained, grunt. Even with me holding back I still allow DPS to work its magic, and that perk coupled with both my trained and perk-enhanced strength is enough for me to deal him a decently powerful blow.
I retract my fist with a sly smile and note that the bars that cover my field of view are all going up at different rates. The bar for "Brawler", a class that's the result of "Fighter" giving me access to a new class when it hit level 10, my currently equipped class, is going up at a healthy clip as I spar with this man, as is the bar for "Precision Strikes" and "Acting", some of my skills. Most of the things going up at a decent clip are affected by "Jack of All Trades" a perk thatreduces the time and effort it takes for me to train up new skills to around the level of my average. Most of my other bars are only slightly going up, but this is acceptable. This sort of training is vital, long term, for my very survival, and thanks to my perks is pretty easy for me to do.
Behind me I hear a familiar voice cheering; Hannah's. The lovely redhead has begun to accompany me to the gym, but this is a somewhat recent development. Before a few weeks ago we only occasionally saw each other on Saturdays at the cafe she worked at, though we have been texting buddies ever since we met. Marcus, my sparring partner, grins savagely at me as he listens to my friend and gym buddy's cheers.
"I can't let you show me up in front of your girl, Lucas. We're not close like that." Marcus tells me, though the words are insincere. Marcus is a friend of mine, one who has even tasted my food, and that's something I don't let others do as much as I once did, barring people who go to the soup kitchen when I'm one of the volunteers on duty. My cooking can now do some decent stuff so I don't want to get anyone who isn't an ally or someone I need in my pocket overly reliant on my skills. I grin at the muscular bruiser of a warrior and dart back before gesturing for him to come at me like he means it. The man lets out a hearty laugh as he begins to pursue me. He is a touch taller than me and he has muscular, wide arms that take up a lot of space.
I watch, diligently, as he swings them at me when he is in the martial sweet spot of being close enough to hit me with a fully extended fist and being far enough away for me to strike back in an effort to preempt or counter his blow. I dart forward even as he stops advancing and duck underneath the strike before I use an active skill from my "Dancer" class to infuse my agility into my strength and hit him with a blow that disorients him. He steps back, a look of pain and confusion on his face as I step forward and move close enough to hit the man with a much softer blow to the chest. I feel his solid muscles block part of the harm done to him, but the blow is still solid enough that I watch his HP lower.
He gasps in pain and staggers back, and I smile at him and sense my triumph. He's only lost a small portion of his total hit points, but for normal people, one's total stock of HP is an abstraction of their physical health. For me, my HP serves as a skillful shield that protects me at all times, and for me to fall in battle someone has to whittle away my entire bar before they take me out. In fact, right now my HP is not maxed out; earlier I took a hit from Marcus that I'm still recovering from.
I take a step forward before Marcus signals that he needs a break. I laugh, the sound filling the part of the gym we're fighting in, and stop approaching the man. Hannah walks up to the ring and offers me some of her water as I walk toward one of the corners of the small ring. I silently gesture that I'll accept it and she tosses it at me. When the object is in my hand I use subtle telekinesis to mess with my boxing glove just enough to more easily hold onto the water bottle and sip from it. The cool water tastes good, and I smile as I feel it helping me relax as I wait to continue the fight. This is the sixth time I've beaten Marcus, but I'll give the man one bit of praise: he's persistent. He likes fighting enough that he is always eager to try and fight me, and I like fighting just enough to appreciate his resistance to the idea that I can beat him. It's not always easy for me to keep on finding partners that I can spar with.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the days that follow this fight, the young jumper continues to spar with Marcus. He steadily trains his "Brawler" class, and takes on class skills that do things like make him a more efficient hand-to-hand fighter, even gaining skills that he suspects, and hopes that he won't need here; like the ability to launch a punch that can inflict damage at a distance.
The figure's volunteering remains a steadfast facet of his in-jump identity. The man gains popularity throughout the place that is, functionally, his hometown, as he becomes a well-known volunteer. He even makes the places he volunteers at more popular, using a steadily increasing amount of local and online popularity to advocate for the organizations he supports. This first began to occur about three months into his stay in the jump, but he really begins to leverage it at the six month mark and he quickly begins to slowly become a minor force in the community, taking advantage of his heavy charisma build to sway hearts and minds to his cause.
His days at work continue to remain fairly unchanged from how they were at the start of his time in the jump, though on very rare occasions he creates reports and the in-jump equivalent of PowerPoint presentations about the data he has compiled to his supervisor. He has also overseen a day of service for members of his department to go and volunteer at the soup kitchen where he volunteered on the day he met Hannah, allowing him a pleasant chance to practice his leadership skills. He earns his first pay raise just under a year into his stay in this setting.
Minor missteps occur along the way, such as the figure overbooking himself during one particularly hectic weekend, which annoys his friends and fellow volunteers but serves as a decently humbling experience for the overly eager adventurer and also shows his friends that he is, ultimately, human.
Lucas continues his relaxed, fairly peaceful days for more and more time. By the time he has been in the jump for a full two years his pre-jump life feels like a memory or a strange dream, though this change to his state of mind does not actually mean he cannot recall such a time only that he has fully acclimated to the realities of being a jumper. At least as much as someone who is still on their first jump can acclimate to such a thing.
A/N: I like this episodic style for the necessary time skips that a standard (or mostly standard) jumpchain story will require. Now I'm gonna say that this style won't be universal across all jumps since some jumps may be better suited to shorter timeframes. Heck some more story-intensive jumps may benefit from longer focuses on individual events and sequences of events, but we've gone past the tutorial phase for this jump and I think minor episodic looks at broad timescales is better than a thousand chapter story that only hits one year in a jump and ultimately gets dropped. That said, I know that I'm not doing this style of writing PERFECTLY, so I hope that I can use this to grow as a writer and to become better able to convey how long time skips affect the characters, relationships, and strengths of the people involved over time. Still, if nothing else this was fun.
ALSO, as an author's note that is unique to the subreddit: this story is being published on Spacebattles and the white line that cuts through parts of the story indicates a narration/viewpoint shift. On Spacebattles and several other places I write there are in-built formatting options that allow you to cut through a textbox with a horizontal line which serves as a visual marker for some significant change to some aspect of the story. The line I made was my attempt to do that here on Reddit. It's... not perfect, but hey I'm trying.
submitted by Sin-God to JumpChain [link] [comments]
Lucas steps past several cubicles and heads to his own with a calm smile on his face. He actually enjoys his job, not because he finds the work fulfilling but because it presents him with a chance to level up his skills and work towards becoming altogether stronger in a hilariously safe environment. The figure sits in his cubicle and logs into his work computer with a bright grin on his face. As he grabs the last pieces of paper in the backlog that was a big problem when he began to work for this company he feels a pang of pride.
The workday is pleasant enough. He successfully finishes the last pile of paperwork that was considered part of the backlog and this effort is celebrated by his direct supervisor and a few of the friends he's made in his department, a group composed of several men and only a few pair of women, who have been working here for years but lacked the abilities he possesses that allow him to grind out progress at a rapid rate and allow him to improve the work he does every single day without fail. The news quickly spreads throughout the office, and various people, including other departmental supervisors and managers, come to him and congratulate him.
When the day ends Lucas is one of the first people out the door. This is commonly expected Lucas-like behavior at this point so no one bats an eye at it. The figure works and then leaves, and he seems to have an incredibly strict policy about work-life balance to the point that no one from the office has seen his apartment or even seen him outside of the office aside from on social media.
The lad walks towards a nearby mall even as he checks his phone. When the decently cautious man is sure he's not being watched he uses his inventory to swap outfits, changing into something much more casual than his work uniform so he can do his equivalent of trolling. His clothes go from being the professional outfit someone might expect to see an accountant in, to the much more casual clothes of someone who works at a Game Station the local equivalent of a Game Stop.
The minute the figure reaches the mall he relaxes and steps into it with a smile on his face as he is suddenly and powerfully aware of events going on all around him now that the sounds he's been passively hearing for the last few minutes are not muffled by layers of solid American construction. The mall is a favorite haunt of his, a place where there are enough people that even if something goes awry he can pretty easily escape in the chaos and commotion that any sort of hostile actions would necessarily cause. Still, to the figure's credit he has not been caught yet.
The thief begins his training by carefully studying the department store he's in. He can be a bit bolder now than he could weeks ago, as in the time since he began to hone this skill he's enhanced it in such a way that he can teleport objects directly into his inventory, which is a tremendous improvement even if he can't take anything bigger or heavier than a cleaver. He eventually spots a teenager with a wallet that is just visible out of the corner of his pockets. Lucas diligently uses "Observe" on him and the powerful skill is strong enough now that Lucas can use it to determine someone's affiliations. When the young adult spots that the teen belongs to a gang he decides it's worth taking his potentially ill-gotten gains.
The clever trickster points a single finger in the direction of the teen's pocket and silently casts the handy spell. A thin line of energy lances out of his extended digit and sails through the air toward the teenager. When the teen begins to move Lucas hisses in annoyance and expends a bit more magical energy to take advantage of the first skill he's gained as a result of an attribute hitting 50: arcane manipulation.
Days ago the young adventurer's passion for magic and healing resulted in two classes leveling up on the same day: mage and white mage. This resulted in his intelligence going from 49 to 52, and as a result of that he gained the ability to manipulate magical energy, so long as he can detect the magic in question and is willing to spend some magic of his own. In this world, where the figure is reasonably certain that no other magical beings exist, this means that to hone this skill the wizard needs to manipulate his own magic. Still, that hasn't stopped the young professional from tirelessly doing just that.
With a significant amount of focus the mage is able to manipulate the thin beam and twists and turns it so that it circles around the teen before snaking into his pocket and striking the young gangster's wallet. When Lucas feels the wallet enter his inventory he chuckles and makes his way out of the department store. The rest of this particular bout of training is filled with similar feats of arcane finesse and hilariously minor acts that will steal from those willing to enact violence on others in exchange for money. Lucas's clever usage of his skills coupled with his willingness to act in stunningly petty and annoying ways make him great at harassing those he designates his foes. Lucas, lacking an ability to kill those he fights thanks to a drawback affecting him, has thus far refused to actually engage those he has marked as his foes in direct battle but his desire to annoy them has led to willingly target people associated with criminal groups with some of his spatial magic.
In hours the figure is back home and he is toying with the newest toy he's received from his gacha system. A guitar sits on his lap and he fiddles with the instrument, even he listens to a video about how to tune the thing. Lucas is experimenting with something, and behind the tablet he gained some time ago is a book that contains information on tuning guitars. The tablet is in use, recording what the man is up to. An app is in use and it records the sounds the guitar chords make. The self-taught musician relies on some of his new skills for this, as he has only recently gained the "Guitar" and "Guitar Maintenance" skills, and he got them at different times so they are different levels. Nonetheless, the figure patiently records himself, occasionally stopping the recording and examining it. He is diligently using his long-term planning skills and sticking to his broad plan. At the same time the figure patiently uses magic and steadily hones the "Mage" class, using his magic skills to farm multiple sources of experience while adhering to the schedule he has informally given himself.
Eventually the next day rolls around and the figure, predictably, gets out of his apartment and goes to work. If you had explained the concept of "Jumping" to Lucas a year ago and asked him if he thought so much of it would be just working a 9-5 job he'd not have believed you and yet in the context of his experience with the unusual profession a stunning amount of time has just been him being a regular employee of a perfectly mundane business.
Time continues to pass for the would-be adventurer at a steady pace. In this mundane world a figure with legitimate supernatural abilities is a uniquely powerful presence, and this is especially true of one that is determined to keep his head down and nose clean. Lucas's determination to live a regular, relatively risk-free life does not stop him from living, but it does stop him from suffering from some sort of "Middle School Second Year Syndrome" as a result of the fact that he has gained trainable superpowers. Instead of going mad with power or gaining an unhealthy mentality Lucas has just enough knowledge of how jumping works to know that while he might be a big fish in this world he is not a big fish in other worlds like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, or even something as aggressively hostile and oppressive as the general setting of Minecraft is.
If an objective, impartial onlooker viewing Lucas's life is given the chance to describe the sort of "Television Show" that they are watching, they'd say it could easily be considered slice-of-life. For the first few months of his time here the most exciting times are the rare moments he adds something new to his slowly expanding list of activities and the even more slowly growing list of things he can do, such as when he begins to walk the streets of the city he lives in at night and cast healing, positive, restorative magic on the sleeping homeless people he encounters. This activity ultimately earns him the peculiar title of "Unsung Saint", a title which enhances the effectiveness of his restorative or otherwise beneficial magic on those not aware of the fact that he is using magic on them.
Days of work, training, and controlled, planned forays into new pastimes, turn into weeks of steady and anticipated progress. Weeks of steady and anticipated progress turn into months of upward mobility and the healthy establishments of new baseline feats. That said, eventually progress slows and becomes more difficult for the jumper in a world as relatively safe, for supernatural beings, as this one. It doesn't take terribly long for Lucas to go from a somewhat predictable, fairly focused figure who is very specialized in a number of areas, to a somewhat more well-rounded figure with a steadily increasing repository of skills and abilities, thanks to a subtle shift in growth strategies.
Just a few days short of eleven months into his stay in this jump, the jumper is facing a new foe but is participating in an activity he's come to enjoy; sparring.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I dodge a well-aimed right-handed punch intended for my face, though thanks to my agility I easily had enough time to dodge it, It took a long time, from my viewpoint, for it to get close to me so long enough that I only let it get this close on purpose. I'm holding back in terms of my speed and strength but my opponent, a friend I made at the gym a few weeks ago, doesn't need to know that. I have way too many supernatural advantages for it to be a fair fight if I don't hold back.
I give my opponent enough time to register that I've dodged the blow before I begin to telegraph, purposefully, my next attack. I purposefully overextend my left arm and launch a powerful, but slow, strike. The man grits his teeth and moves to intercept my strike. He is fast enough to position his arm in front of it but that is still a mistake. I guide my blow into his arm and watch as he lets out a sincere, pained, grunt. Even with me holding back I still allow DPS to work its magic, and that perk coupled with both my trained and perk-enhanced strength is enough for me to deal him a decently powerful blow.
I retract my fist with a sly smile and note that the bars that cover my field of view are all going up at different rates. The bar for "Brawler", a class that's the result of "Fighter" giving me access to a new class when it hit level 10, my currently equipped class, is going up at a healthy clip as I spar with this man, as is the bar for "Precision Strikes" and "Acting", some of my skills. Most of the things going up at a decent clip are affected by "Jack of All Trades" a perk thatreduces the time and effort it takes for me to train up new skills to around the level of my average. Most of my other bars are only slightly going up, but this is acceptable. This sort of training is vital, long term, for my very survival, and thanks to my perks is pretty easy for me to do.
Behind me I hear a familiar voice cheering; Hannah's. The lovely redhead has begun to accompany me to the gym, but this is a somewhat recent development. Before a few weeks ago we only occasionally saw each other on Saturdays at the cafe she worked at, though we have been texting buddies ever since we met. Marcus, my sparring partner, grins savagely at me as he listens to my friend and gym buddy's cheers.
"I can't let you show me up in front of your girl, Lucas. We're not close like that." Marcus tells me, though the words are insincere. Marcus is a friend of mine, one who has even tasted my food, and that's something I don't let others do as much as I once did, barring people who go to the soup kitchen when I'm one of the volunteers on duty. My cooking can now do some decent stuff so I don't want to get anyone who isn't an ally or someone I need in my pocket overly reliant on my skills. I grin at the muscular bruiser of a warrior and dart back before gesturing for him to come at me like he means it. The man lets out a hearty laugh as he begins to pursue me. He is a touch taller than me and he has muscular, wide arms that take up a lot of space.
I watch, diligently, as he swings them at me when he is in the martial sweet spot of being close enough to hit me with a fully extended fist and being far enough away for me to strike back in an effort to preempt or counter his blow. I dart forward even as he stops advancing and duck underneath the strike before I use an active skill from my "Dancer" class to infuse my agility into my strength and hit him with a blow that disorients him. He steps back, a look of pain and confusion on his face as I step forward and move close enough to hit the man with a much softer blow to the chest. I feel his solid muscles block part of the harm done to him, but the blow is still solid enough that I watch his HP lower.
He gasps in pain and staggers back, and I smile at him and sense my triumph. He's only lost a small portion of his total hit points, but for normal people, one's total stock of HP is an abstraction of their physical health. For me, my HP serves as a skillful shield that protects me at all times, and for me to fall in battle someone has to whittle away my entire bar before they take me out. In fact, right now my HP is not maxed out; earlier I took a hit from Marcus that I'm still recovering from.
I take a step forward before Marcus signals that he needs a break. I laugh, the sound filling the part of the gym we're fighting in, and stop approaching the man. Hannah walks up to the ring and offers me some of her water as I walk toward one of the corners of the small ring. I silently gesture that I'll accept it and she tosses it at me. When the object is in my hand I use subtle telekinesis to mess with my boxing glove just enough to more easily hold onto the water bottle and sip from it. The cool water tastes good, and I smile as I feel it helping me relax as I wait to continue the fight. This is the sixth time I've beaten Marcus, but I'll give the man one bit of praise: he's persistent. He likes fighting enough that he is always eager to try and fight me, and I like fighting just enough to appreciate his resistance to the idea that I can beat him. It's not always easy for me to keep on finding partners that I can spar with.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the days that follow this fight, the young jumper continues to spar with Marcus. He steadily trains his "Brawler" class, and takes on class skills that do things like make him a more efficient hand-to-hand fighter, even gaining skills that he suspects, and hopes that he won't need here; like the ability to launch a punch that can inflict damage at a distance.
The figure's volunteering remains a steadfast facet of his in-jump identity. The man gains popularity throughout the place that is, functionally, his hometown, as he becomes a well-known volunteer. He even makes the places he volunteers at more popular, using a steadily increasing amount of local and online popularity to advocate for the organizations he supports. This first began to occur about three months into his stay in the jump, but he really begins to leverage it at the six month mark and he quickly begins to slowly become a minor force in the community, taking advantage of his heavy charisma build to sway hearts and minds to his cause.
His days at work continue to remain fairly unchanged from how they were at the start of his time in the jump, though on very rare occasions he creates reports and the in-jump equivalent of PowerPoint presentations about the data he has compiled to his supervisor. He has also overseen a day of service for members of his department to go and volunteer at the soup kitchen where he volunteered on the day he met Hannah, allowing him a pleasant chance to practice his leadership skills. He earns his first pay raise just under a year into his stay in this setting.
Minor missteps occur along the way, such as the figure overbooking himself during one particularly hectic weekend, which annoys his friends and fellow volunteers but serves as a decently humbling experience for the overly eager adventurer and also shows his friends that he is, ultimately, human.
Lucas continues his relaxed, fairly peaceful days for more and more time. By the time he has been in the jump for a full two years his pre-jump life feels like a memory or a strange dream, though this change to his state of mind does not actually mean he cannot recall such a time only that he has fully acclimated to the realities of being a jumper. At least as much as someone who is still on their first jump can acclimate to such a thing.
A/N: I like this episodic style for the necessary time skips that a standard (or mostly standard) jumpchain story will require. Now I'm gonna say that this style won't be universal across all jumps since some jumps may be better suited to shorter timeframes. Heck some more story-intensive jumps may benefit from longer focuses on individual events and sequences of events, but we've gone past the tutorial phase for this jump and I think minor episodic looks at broad timescales is better than a thousand chapter story that only hits one year in a jump and ultimately gets dropped. That said, I know that I'm not doing this style of writing PERFECTLY, so I hope that I can use this to grow as a writer and to become better able to convey how long time skips affect the characters, relationships, and strengths of the people involved over time. Still, if nothing else this was fun.
ALSO, as an author's note that is unique to the subreddit: this story is being published on Spacebattles and the white line that cuts through parts of the story indicates a narration/viewpoint shift. On Spacebattles and several other places I write there are in-built formatting options that allow you to cut through a textbox with a horizontal line which serves as a visual marker for some significant change to some aspect of the story. The line I made was my attempt to do that here on Reddit. It's... not perfect, but hey I'm trying.
2024.05.21 07:28 Adept_Gene8477 I believe mewing contributes to self-hatred
TL;DR: I grew to hate how I look as a result of getting into mewing. I feel like we, as a species, were forced into an unnatural lifestyle that caused our bodies to mutate into an unhealthy ugly, mess, and now, because of Mike Mew's work, we have to feel ashamed of it.
I have a lot of things to say, and even though I understand that not all people will read everything, I feel the need to pour my thoughts out.
I am 22 years old, and unfortunately, it so happened that I learned about mewing only a few months ago. Before Mike Mew and his work gained significant popularity among Gen-Zers after the release of his “Ultimate Mewing Guide” on YouTube, I was not even aware this practice existed, which makes me regret many life decisions I made up until this point.
It’s been about a month since I started mewing and I fully believe that tongue posture and craniofacial structure have a direct correlation. When I listen to Mews’ lectures, it feels like puzzle pieces falling into place. Their theories are so logical and spot-on that you begin to question how it is even possible for orthodontics to exist for centuries, or even thousands of years, without dentists realizing that problematic teeth are not a genetic trait. How come these people still treat malocclusion in children using braces? Moreover, mewing improves breathing and can potentially prevent migraines, as those often happen as a result of palatal shrinkage.
But aside from talking about the incredible health benefits of mewing, there is no doubt Mike Mew also places great emphasis on how oral posture affects the attractiveness of one’s face. When you listen to him, it sounds like he is driven to solve the problem of prevailing “ugliness” in the modern population. The amount of work he puts into analyzing the ideal facial structure is astounding. He shares a lot of valuable information on what a person must do to achieve a better-looking face. But my question is, did the problem of ugliness exist in the first place? Do people actually see down-swung faces as unattractive? By providing the instructions on how to improve one’s appearance from the get-go his work automatically assumes that this is the case, but is it really?
While I agree with Mike on most of his theories, whenever I hear things like “A face of a mouth-breather”, it makes me feel nothing but pain, and the reason for that is mewing works most effectively for reshaping the bones in adolescents and young adults, and according to the man himself, after 25 years of age, it is practically impossible to make any significant changes by utilizing proper oral posture.
So, do women really only find men who have a chiseled jawline and pronounced cheekbones attractive? I know I am only one example, but before learning about mewing, I never identified the facial features of a mouth breather as flawed, or even identified them at all, for that matter. I considered a smaller jaw as much of an individual trait as the shape of one’s nose or eyebrows. Yes, looking back on it now, it is an incorrect judgment, as most of the time a weak jawline is a result of an incorrect oral posture and a sedentary, relatively unhealthy lifestyle, but this is beside the point. I distinctly remember having a few crushes on guys in the past who would be considered to have a weak jawline. It’s just to show you how diverse women’s tastes really are.
So why must broad jaws matter, if I was and am genuinely attracted to guys who don’t possess them? Why must it matter, if nowadays, we no longer require large masseter muscles to chew on raw meat for our survival? Why must a slight down-swinging of the maxilla be seen as an unfavorable trait if it did not get so far that it impacts one’s health? Why should the purely aesthetic aspect of all of this matter?
In my opinion, mewing and orthotropics is a wonderful field of study that should be used to spread awareness about the small jaw epidemic and dental malpractices that genuinely ruin people’s faces. It is great for preventing malformities in future generations as well as treating adults who have problematic craniofacial structures that impact their health. But unfortunately, most people, when they hear the word “mewing”, picture a magic exercise that will make them look like sexy Squidward.
I see it very clearly, mewing has become a tool that enables insecurities to grow spread, and fester.
As I stated before, prior to watching videos on orthotropics on YouTube, I was completely unaware of the fact that forward development is deemed as aesthetic perfection. And now, I often subconsciously analyze the facial structure of random people I see in public when I never did in the past. Worst of all, I started seeing my own face as putridly ugly, when in the past, I considered myself to be not very attractive, but at least not looking worse than an average person. And recently, I realized this might be something that is happening not only to me but, probably, to many people interested in orthotropics.
So, do we really care about beauty standards, or is this idea being actively pushed on us by the looks-maxing mentality? To me, personally, it looks like Mike’s focus on looks in relation to mewing not only does not help to solve the problem, but instead, it is actively creating it. Or at least, it makes it severely worse, because, even if there were people like me, who did not care about perfect jawlines before, then from now on, their numbers are going to be dropping in the near future as mewing gets more and more attention.
“You aren’t ugly, you have bad habits», Well, does pushing with all the forces of your tongue on your maxilla in hopes of getting the face of a model sound like a good habit to you? Or performing inter-oral pulling or b0ne-smashing? And also, rating and judging other people’s faces, and suggesting to undergo plastic surgeries in case they are too old for mewing, so “it’s over for them”. Are these the good habits people are talking about?
And if we do follow the logic of “Mouth-breather face = bad habits”, what will the reasons for the malformation of one’s face be? What are the things that ugly no-good modern-day Quazimodos did, that are now being used as a valid excuse for others to judge them for their physical flaws? First of all, according to Mike Mew, breastfeeding plays a huge role in the development of natural proper oral posture. (Only 34.5% of women breast for the first 6 months as of the years 2000-2008 according to this article https://www.cdc.gov/mmwpreview/mmwrhtml/mm6205a1.htm#:~:text=Among%20infants%20born%20in%202000,16.0%25%20breastfed%20for%2012%20months.)) Second, human jaws require a consistent and considerable amount of work for them to achieve good development. (Modern diet is progressively becoming softer, and more processed). And third, the human body requires a lot of physical movement, running, and walking to maintain optimal and healthy back posture, which subsequently affects the structure of the skull. (I don’t know the statistics, but nowadays, most likely most of us can’t survive without sitting at a computer for 6+ hours a day). So, do all these things look like bad habits that one can easily and consciously fix? Adding a bit of exercise to one's life can do some good, that's a nice habit! But what about all the other stuff.... What if you are approaching the age when your bones don't grow anymore?
To get to the point, I don’t understand why people should be ashamed of their appearance when the modern lifestyle is literally doing everything to prevent the healthy growth and physical development of children. Cavemen did have beautifully wide dental arches as a result of chewing on raw meat, running barefoot, and hunting wild animals, but did they also have to spend 12 years of their adolescent life sitting at a school desk, studying, doing homework, and trying to get good grades? Maybe they also produced some impressive pieces of art, music writing, etc.? Then why should we be ashamed of the fact that we did not manage to keep our bodies at peak physical performance, while also studying, or god forbid, having an extracurricular interest that also involves a lot of sit-down work and is time-consuming?
I, myself, wasn’t ever a mouth-breather! I just had an absolutely awful back posture all throughout my life because I decided to dedicate my life to producing electronic music from the young age of about 13 years, which requires an endless amount of hours sitting at the computer. And now I get to be called ugly and lazy for it. I never even played video games in my life, ever! I don’t drink and I don’t smoke, and I’m not overweight, and yet I have to hate myself and how I look?? Just because of my passion?
It feels like we were forced into this unnatural, for our species, lifestyle that causes our bodies to mutate into an unhealthy mess and yet we still have to carry the guilt and shame of its consequences.
It makes me feel awful looking at how quickly the image representing “The face of a mouth breather” vs “The face of a nose-breather” is spreading, thanks to Mike Mew. The way it labels people based on their appearance is almost comparable to a racist caricature. It seeps into young adults' minds and makes them put people into categories, even if they never thought of this stuff before.
I’m not suggesting to ditch mewing as a whole and to continue living as uneducated, unhealthy modern apes. I’m asking people to stop cultivating an environment where we focus on negatively labeling people with unfavorable facial features that they get as a result of, mostly, circumstances beyond their control and that do not carry any health risks. Mewing may bring health benefits in the form of sleep apnea prevention, but it also changes the mindset and I don't think this is a good change.
submitted by Adept_Gene8477 to Mewing [link] [comments]
I have a lot of things to say, and even though I understand that not all people will read everything, I feel the need to pour my thoughts out.
I am 22 years old, and unfortunately, it so happened that I learned about mewing only a few months ago. Before Mike Mew and his work gained significant popularity among Gen-Zers after the release of his “Ultimate Mewing Guide” on YouTube, I was not even aware this practice existed, which makes me regret many life decisions I made up until this point.
It’s been about a month since I started mewing and I fully believe that tongue posture and craniofacial structure have a direct correlation. When I listen to Mews’ lectures, it feels like puzzle pieces falling into place. Their theories are so logical and spot-on that you begin to question how it is even possible for orthodontics to exist for centuries, or even thousands of years, without dentists realizing that problematic teeth are not a genetic trait. How come these people still treat malocclusion in children using braces? Moreover, mewing improves breathing and can potentially prevent migraines, as those often happen as a result of palatal shrinkage.
But aside from talking about the incredible health benefits of mewing, there is no doubt Mike Mew also places great emphasis on how oral posture affects the attractiveness of one’s face. When you listen to him, it sounds like he is driven to solve the problem of prevailing “ugliness” in the modern population. The amount of work he puts into analyzing the ideal facial structure is astounding. He shares a lot of valuable information on what a person must do to achieve a better-looking face. But my question is, did the problem of ugliness exist in the first place? Do people actually see down-swung faces as unattractive? By providing the instructions on how to improve one’s appearance from the get-go his work automatically assumes that this is the case, but is it really?
While I agree with Mike on most of his theories, whenever I hear things like “A face of a mouth-breather”, it makes me feel nothing but pain, and the reason for that is mewing works most effectively for reshaping the bones in adolescents and young adults, and according to the man himself, after 25 years of age, it is practically impossible to make any significant changes by utilizing proper oral posture.
So, do women really only find men who have a chiseled jawline and pronounced cheekbones attractive? I know I am only one example, but before learning about mewing, I never identified the facial features of a mouth breather as flawed, or even identified them at all, for that matter. I considered a smaller jaw as much of an individual trait as the shape of one’s nose or eyebrows. Yes, looking back on it now, it is an incorrect judgment, as most of the time a weak jawline is a result of an incorrect oral posture and a sedentary, relatively unhealthy lifestyle, but this is beside the point. I distinctly remember having a few crushes on guys in the past who would be considered to have a weak jawline. It’s just to show you how diverse women’s tastes really are.
So why must broad jaws matter, if I was and am genuinely attracted to guys who don’t possess them? Why must it matter, if nowadays, we no longer require large masseter muscles to chew on raw meat for our survival? Why must a slight down-swinging of the maxilla be seen as an unfavorable trait if it did not get so far that it impacts one’s health? Why should the purely aesthetic aspect of all of this matter?
In my opinion, mewing and orthotropics is a wonderful field of study that should be used to spread awareness about the small jaw epidemic and dental malpractices that genuinely ruin people’s faces. It is great for preventing malformities in future generations as well as treating adults who have problematic craniofacial structures that impact their health. But unfortunately, most people, when they hear the word “mewing”, picture a magic exercise that will make them look like sexy Squidward.
I see it very clearly, mewing has become a tool that enables insecurities to grow spread, and fester.
As I stated before, prior to watching videos on orthotropics on YouTube, I was completely unaware of the fact that forward development is deemed as aesthetic perfection. And now, I often subconsciously analyze the facial structure of random people I see in public when I never did in the past. Worst of all, I started seeing my own face as putridly ugly, when in the past, I considered myself to be not very attractive, but at least not looking worse than an average person. And recently, I realized this might be something that is happening not only to me but, probably, to many people interested in orthotropics.
So, do we really care about beauty standards, or is this idea being actively pushed on us by the looks-maxing mentality? To me, personally, it looks like Mike’s focus on looks in relation to mewing not only does not help to solve the problem, but instead, it is actively creating it. Or at least, it makes it severely worse, because, even if there were people like me, who did not care about perfect jawlines before, then from now on, their numbers are going to be dropping in the near future as mewing gets more and more attention.
“You aren’t ugly, you have bad habits», Well, does pushing with all the forces of your tongue on your maxilla in hopes of getting the face of a model sound like a good habit to you? Or performing inter-oral pulling or b0ne-smashing? And also, rating and judging other people’s faces, and suggesting to undergo plastic surgeries in case they are too old for mewing, so “it’s over for them”. Are these the good habits people are talking about?
And if we do follow the logic of “Mouth-breather face = bad habits”, what will the reasons for the malformation of one’s face be? What are the things that ugly no-good modern-day Quazimodos did, that are now being used as a valid excuse for others to judge them for their physical flaws? First of all, according to Mike Mew, breastfeeding plays a huge role in the development of natural proper oral posture. (Only 34.5% of women breast for the first 6 months as of the years 2000-2008 according to this article https://www.cdc.gov/mmwpreview/mmwrhtml/mm6205a1.htm#:~:text=Among%20infants%20born%20in%202000,16.0%25%20breastfed%20for%2012%20months.)) Second, human jaws require a consistent and considerable amount of work for them to achieve good development. (Modern diet is progressively becoming softer, and more processed). And third, the human body requires a lot of physical movement, running, and walking to maintain optimal and healthy back posture, which subsequently affects the structure of the skull. (I don’t know the statistics, but nowadays, most likely most of us can’t survive without sitting at a computer for 6+ hours a day). So, do all these things look like bad habits that one can easily and consciously fix? Adding a bit of exercise to one's life can do some good, that's a nice habit! But what about all the other stuff.... What if you are approaching the age when your bones don't grow anymore?
To get to the point, I don’t understand why people should be ashamed of their appearance when the modern lifestyle is literally doing everything to prevent the healthy growth and physical development of children. Cavemen did have beautifully wide dental arches as a result of chewing on raw meat, running barefoot, and hunting wild animals, but did they also have to spend 12 years of their adolescent life sitting at a school desk, studying, doing homework, and trying to get good grades? Maybe they also produced some impressive pieces of art, music writing, etc.? Then why should we be ashamed of the fact that we did not manage to keep our bodies at peak physical performance, while also studying, or god forbid, having an extracurricular interest that also involves a lot of sit-down work and is time-consuming?
I, myself, wasn’t ever a mouth-breather! I just had an absolutely awful back posture all throughout my life because I decided to dedicate my life to producing electronic music from the young age of about 13 years, which requires an endless amount of hours sitting at the computer. And now I get to be called ugly and lazy for it. I never even played video games in my life, ever! I don’t drink and I don’t smoke, and I’m not overweight, and yet I have to hate myself and how I look?? Just because of my passion?
It feels like we were forced into this unnatural, for our species, lifestyle that causes our bodies to mutate into an unhealthy mess and yet we still have to carry the guilt and shame of its consequences.
It makes me feel awful looking at how quickly the image representing “The face of a mouth breather” vs “The face of a nose-breather” is spreading, thanks to Mike Mew. The way it labels people based on their appearance is almost comparable to a racist caricature. It seeps into young adults' minds and makes them put people into categories, even if they never thought of this stuff before.
I’m not suggesting to ditch mewing as a whole and to continue living as uneducated, unhealthy modern apes. I’m asking people to stop cultivating an environment where we focus on negatively labeling people with unfavorable facial features that they get as a result of, mostly, circumstances beyond their control and that do not carry any health risks. Mewing may bring health benefits in the form of sleep apnea prevention, but it also changes the mindset and I don't think this is a good change.
2024.05.21 07:28 faerie4444 No obvious way out of the mold currently…
This is my third exposure ever. I’m currently staying at my dad’s apartment because my boyfriend and I broke up a couple of months ago, couldn’t afford another place to go, so I had to move back home to my dad’s apartment. There’s visible mold in the window sills, on the wall moulding above the carpet, and in the bathroom. I cleaned it off the window sills, use an air purifier, am taking binders, getting out of the apartment when I can, keeping the windows open all the time, having the fan running as much as possible, taking a bunch of alka seltzer gold (a functional medicine practitioner who specializes in mold detox advised this for brain fog), and am going to start going to the gym with my dad just to use the sauna there. I also eat a low fodmap diet, I don’t eat any mold-exacerbating foods, I take magnesium and a B-complex vitamin everyday. Unfortunately, the symptoms have still progressed.
I’ve also been applying for a lot of jobs here in the town he lives, have had a couple of interviews, but nothing has stuck. I turn 26 in a few months so I won’t have my dad’s insurance to be on anymore.
My symptoms are mostly cognitive/neurological and mental health related and have grown worse. At first, I did have random days where I would wake up with body aches. This mold exposure has been mostly cognitive, neurological, and mental health-related, as opposed to my first exposure, which was both physical and cognitive/neurological/extremely mental health-taxing. I started having intense suicidal thoughts (that uncontrollable depression that definitely feels like it’s not coming from me, if you know you know), paranoia, intense fatigue, insomnia, ton of anxiety, feeling like I’m vibrating internally, tremors, LOTS of trouble with focus and word recall, problems with memory, and sometimes muscle weakness in my legs. Obviously none of this is stuff I experience when I’m not in a moldy place.
I don’t have the money to move to another place, and I’m losing hope and motivation but I know I need to keep going and figure it out. I’m worried about my ability to even start a job with all of these symptoms, but am conflicted because I know I just need money to get out, and the job could just also offer another potential way to get out of the apartment more often. I’m scared of starting a job just to not be able to sustain it. I’ve asked all my friends if I could stay with them and none of them are able to have me. I live in California and I have a friend who lives in Santa Fe that would be down to have me visit/stay with them for a couple weeks, so it COULD be an option to move there (it is dry there in Santa Fe and I’m currently living in a beach town), but I don’t have another place lined up for after if I were to visit her and it feels like a huge jump/risk to move to another state with little money. I just don’t want to be without shelter.
I also don’t have a car. I was living in a walkable place before I was here at my dad’s. My dad and my brother don’t understand the mold symptoms and they think I’m a bit crazy, so I’ve stopped confiding in them about it, because my dad is just honing down on the fact that I need to get a job and move my life forward, and I totally understand his point of view (especially since he really doesn’t understand the mold thing at all), but he does not get the whole picture of what I’m going through and refuses to understand. Him funding any way out of this is not an option.
I’m just…scared. The cognitive and mental decline is so scary. And I’m young. I just want a normal 20-something life. If anyone has any ideas on what I could do, wants to talk, has words of encouragement even (I need a ton of that right now also because this is just…insane and I’m trying to hold on)…I would really really appreciate it.
submitted by faerie4444 to ToxicMoldExposure [link] [comments]
I’ve also been applying for a lot of jobs here in the town he lives, have had a couple of interviews, but nothing has stuck. I turn 26 in a few months so I won’t have my dad’s insurance to be on anymore.
My symptoms are mostly cognitive/neurological and mental health related and have grown worse. At first, I did have random days where I would wake up with body aches. This mold exposure has been mostly cognitive, neurological, and mental health-related, as opposed to my first exposure, which was both physical and cognitive/neurological/extremely mental health-taxing. I started having intense suicidal thoughts (that uncontrollable depression that definitely feels like it’s not coming from me, if you know you know), paranoia, intense fatigue, insomnia, ton of anxiety, feeling like I’m vibrating internally, tremors, LOTS of trouble with focus and word recall, problems with memory, and sometimes muscle weakness in my legs. Obviously none of this is stuff I experience when I’m not in a moldy place.
I don’t have the money to move to another place, and I’m losing hope and motivation but I know I need to keep going and figure it out. I’m worried about my ability to even start a job with all of these symptoms, but am conflicted because I know I just need money to get out, and the job could just also offer another potential way to get out of the apartment more often. I’m scared of starting a job just to not be able to sustain it. I’ve asked all my friends if I could stay with them and none of them are able to have me. I live in California and I have a friend who lives in Santa Fe that would be down to have me visit/stay with them for a couple weeks, so it COULD be an option to move there (it is dry there in Santa Fe and I’m currently living in a beach town), but I don’t have another place lined up for after if I were to visit her and it feels like a huge jump/risk to move to another state with little money. I just don’t want to be without shelter.
I also don’t have a car. I was living in a walkable place before I was here at my dad’s. My dad and my brother don’t understand the mold symptoms and they think I’m a bit crazy, so I’ve stopped confiding in them about it, because my dad is just honing down on the fact that I need to get a job and move my life forward, and I totally understand his point of view (especially since he really doesn’t understand the mold thing at all), but he does not get the whole picture of what I’m going through and refuses to understand. Him funding any way out of this is not an option.
I’m just…scared. The cognitive and mental decline is so scary. And I’m young. I just want a normal 20-something life. If anyone has any ideas on what I could do, wants to talk, has words of encouragement even (I need a ton of that right now also because this is just…insane and I’m trying to hold on)…I would really really appreciate it.
2024.05.21 06:31 No_Marzipan_1230 Death is a social construct - Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
Synopsis:
An engineer in another world—blending science and magic to achieve greatness in a world where skills and levels reign supreme.
—
Ethan was just a plain old engineer, but everything changed when he was reborn into a world of skills, levels, and magic. With his advanced knowledge far ahead of the time period he finds himself in, this new reincarnated life will be much different than his last, especially because he can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct runes—something no one else can do.
But with royal politics, looming tax collectors, a mountain of debt, dungeon incursions, cults, and hostile fantasy races mixing together into a cocktail of bullshit that threatens to bury his dreams; Ethan must bridge the gap between steel and sorcery to grow stronger. — Runecrafting is slow burn. — What to Expect: - Weak to very strong progression - Hardcore wish fulfillment - A balance of action, kingdom building, and runecrafting. - MC will trigger an industrial revolution, revolutionize magic, modernize agriculture, communication, commerce, textile production, education, transportation, sanitation, weapons manufacturing, leisure & entertainment, and medicine.
Next >
Ethan’s fists pounded the punching bag, sending a rapid series of jabs that landed with resounding thumps, each strike punctuated by ragged breaths. Sweat dripped from his brow, stinging his eyes, but he refused to stop, refused to surrender to the burning in his muscles or the rawness of his knuckles. He remained focused on punching.
Around him, the rest of the boxing team rested, even the coach looked like he needed a breather. But Ethan couldn’t afford to slow down—not with the first round of eliminations looming.
More, Ethan thought, his muscles burning as he threw another combination of jabs and cross punches. More, more, more.
Boxing had never been his choice; it was a path forced upon him by a father with unfulfilled dreams. Yet somewhere along the way, the thrill of the fight had ignited a fire within Ethan—a primal need to test the boundaries of his endurance, to feel alive in a way no textbook could provide.
But now his father lay dying in a hospital bed, and Ethan was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. His muscles burned and his knuckles were raw. But he couldn’t stop.
“Oy, mate, you should take a break.”
Jacob’s voice cut through Ethan’s reverie, and he turned to face his friend, chest heaving. “I can keep going. I’m fine.”
Jacob shook his head, concern etched across his features. “You’re going to end up hurting yourself. Listen, I know you’re worried about the eliminations and your dad, but you’ve got this. You’ll be fine. You’ve trained so hard. Harder than any of us, mate.” Jacob placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up.”
“It’s not enough,” Ethan stepped away from the punching bag. “Not yet.”
“What do you mean? You’ve improved a ton since you first started, and you’ve gotten to this level faster than anyone else. There’s no way you’re getting cut from the team.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Ethan said, sighing as he ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair.
“Listen, man,” Jacob said, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I get that you’re nervous. It’s normal, okay? But I’ve seen you out there. You’re good. Really good. If anything, the rest of us are the ones who should be worried—”
Before Jacob could continue, Ethan’s phone rang, the sound loud in the otherwise silent gym.
Looking at his phone made him frown and excuse himself. The caller ID was a familiar one. With his phone pressed against his ears, he walked down the corridor, leaving the other members of the boxing team behind.
“Hello?” Ethan said into the phone.
Then, his world tilted on his axis.
-2-
Ethan hated funerals.
It was a strange thing to say, and yet, there he was, thinking that exact same thing as he stood at the side, watching as a small crowd gathered around. The smell of freshly turned earth was thick in the air, along with a heavy dose of sorrow and grief. Or maybe that was his imagination; after all, most were likely putting on a show. A wake that lasted all of ten minutes. A quick eulogy. The final plop of dirt onto the polished wood coffin. Then they were gone. Just like that, they were gone.
His father’s funeral was over just like that.
Ethan waited a while longer after all the mourners had dispersed, then finally turned to look at his mother. His mother sat slumped in the front pew of the church; her gaze fixed on the ground. He sat beside his mother silently. She looked older today, like all the fight and life had just seeped from her body. They didn’t speak a word for the longest while, but finally, his mother broke the silence.
“Do you blame me?”
“No,” he said automatically.
You do, a small voice said in the back of his head. Because maybe, if they hadn’t sent him away, he could’ve pursued his dreams...
“Thank you,” his mother said, the relief in her eyes far too apparent. She wrapped her arms around herself. Her hands trembled. She swallowed audibly before she continued. “I was such a stupid little girl when we married. I had no choice but to leave for Dubai because...”
“You don’t need to explain anything.” Ethan looked down at his knuckles. “I understand.”
“He always blamed himself,” she said suddenly, and Ethan frowned. “For not just letting you into civil engineering. For pressuring you into, well, violence.”
Ethan smiled wryly, staring up at the empty rafters overhead.
Such violence, Ethan, a voice whispered into his ears. Focus on your studies, not on hurting people. You’ll have a bright future, I’m sure of it.
Ethan sighed as he felt the memory rise unbidden in his mind. It wasn’t the first time his mother had spoken to him like that, and it wouldn’t be the last.
You can’t always rely on your fists, she would say. Sometimes, words are all you need. They can change lives, even save lives. They can be the difference between a happy life and a miserable one. Remember that.
Yeah, well, she failed to see it wasn’t hurting people he was after, but pushing himself beyond his limits. To prove to himself that he could. To feel the limits of his body, and surpass them.
To feel alive.
“Your father wanted the best for you,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Ethan gave his mother a sad smile. He talked with his mother a little bit after, but eventually, he excused himself.
She hugged him before he left. A tight, almost desperate squeeze that seemed to drag out for longer than it really did. Ethan wasn’t entirely sure how to respond and wasn’t able to think of anything better than giving her a couple of awkward pats on the back.
Then, when somewhere nice, he lit a cigarette. Stupid, useless, and unhealthy, but he had to do something to let off steam or his entire body was going to burst apart like a firecracker.
When it was nearly time for the cigarette to burn itself out, he suddenly got engulfed in bright light. He didn’t think, nor could he; it was just way too fast.
The last thought he had was something along the lines of ‘the fuck?’ before he crashed face-first into space-time itself.
-3-
Ethan slammed his head against the plush velvet pillow, groaning. Post-reincarnation—transmigration?—headaches were a real pain, especially when you woke up in the body of a drunken wastrel named Theodore Lockheart, the most indebted, despised, fucked up noble in the entire bordertowns—lands that were on the border of the world of the living; lands that were under the constant threat of the dead.
He was tired, irritable, and he had a headache so annoying it was almost as if his skull was split open. Not to mention, his nose was throbbing in pain from what he could only guess had been a one-sided beatdown.
Had the Baron gotten beaten to a pulp somehow?
It was possible, after all, Ethan did remember snippets of Theodore’s recent memories—nothing more than that, though. Theodore tended to suit up as a rich merchant. And he’d likely gone to the bar after losing his fortune earlier in the night, and then had likely fucked a wench or two, vented on the poor women, gotten punched and kicked out.
Groaning, Ethan peeled himself out of bed and forced himself to move. He had things he wanted to do today, like sit somewhere nice and contemplate the meaning of existence—or smoke cigarettes. But sadly, he had none, and he despised alcohol.
Strange, Theodore—no, Ethan, thought. Why do I so easily believe in all this? And why am I so easily accepting that I’m this bastard now?
Though the question was there, Ethan found that it didn’t bring up any emotions. It was like an empty sentence in his thoughts, with nothing behind it.
Ding! System Initiating…
Consciousness transferred...
Subject: Ethan
Social integration protocols activated.
Linguistic database uploaded. Communication in all known languages will be facilitated.
Confirmation: Subject has all their memories upon induction. Check.
Disclaimer: This is not a dream simulation. This is a permanent transfer. Subject has been induced to fully believe this reality, but nothing else inside the subject has been altered.
Confirmation: Memories and core identity remain unaltered.
Warning: The subject will perceive everything as real.
Directive: Enjoy the New World. Second chance protocols initiated.
The System has awoken within you. [Nur] is a world unimaginable power awaits. You, Ethan, have the chance to become extraordinary.
A [Quest] approaches!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Magic Sensitivity]!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Magic Perception]!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Myriad Tongue]!
Ding! Please brace for loss of consciousness!
“What in the god-fucking-damned hell—?” Ethan muttered, then fell unconscious. When Ethan woke up again, a screen flashed in front of him.
Please select your preferred Class...
The screen, Ethan found, didn’t elicit any reaction out of him. It wasn’t shocking, nor unbelievable, it was just as if it was a universal truth he’d come to believe since childhood. Like a phone’s existence, or the internet, perhaps. The fact that he thought that way made him sigh. He just hoped anything else inside him hadn’t been changed.
Ethan looked through the page that appeared in front of him.
[Warrior (Common)]
Function: Frontline combatant
Prerequisite: None
Description: A Common-Ranked Class. Grants basic proficiency with all melee weapon types (sword, spear, ax, etc.)
Specialization Paths: Available after further training and/or meeting certain requirements: [Barbarian], [Knight], [Paladin], [Cavalryman], [Mercenary] (and more)
[Archer (Common)]
Function: Ranged Damage Dealer
Prerequisite: None
Description: Basic proficiency with bows and arrows.
Specialization Paths:
Adjacent: Unlockable after further training: [Thief], [Assassin] (and more)
Advanced: Upon reaching specific requirements: [Spirit Archer], [Magic Archer] (and more)
[Mage (Common)]
Function: Ranged Magic User
Prerequisite: None
Description: Basic application of magical abilities.
Specialization Paths: Unlockable after further study: [Warlock], [Alchemist], [Summoner] (and more)
[Healer (Common)]
Function: Support - Restoration and Enhancement
Prerequisite: A [Faith].
Description: Devoted healer, blessed with divine magic, requires [Faith] in a deity. A healer’s heart heals the spirit of ailing beings, providing great spiritual buffs. Can heal wounds and ailments of allies. Can enhance allied attributes and resistances.
Specialization Paths: Unlockable after advanced training (may vary by race or deity): [Temple Priest], [Battle Medic], [Nature Mender] (and more)
After looking through the available Classes, it didn’t take long for Ethan to immediately dismiss both the [Healer] and [Warrior]. [Healer] would be too weak unless he got to its Specialization Paths—not to mention he’d need to have faith in some god, which he did not—and [Warrior] meant he’d need to be close range all the time. Ethan didn’t like risk, thus that idea went to waste as fast as a blade through butter. That left him with two options, and a more or less clear idea of which choice to make.
[Archer] was dismissed for the sole reason that it didn’t appeal to him much, although he was indeed curious as to why it had [Thief] and [Assassin] as its Adjacent Specialization Paths. Regardless, there was only one choice left: Mage—something he’d have chosen anyway given that the system had given him [Magic Sensitivity] and [Magic Perception], although he’d yet to test those skills out. They seemed passive anyway.
Ethan selected his chosen Class.
Congratulations! You are now an [Unranked Mage].
You are capable of casting minor, beginner-level magics.
You can use magical implements and perform incantations with limited versatility.
Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Basic Magic Script]!
Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Elemental Spells]!
Due to your [Magic Perception] and [Magic Sensitivity], the effectiveness of magical spells and skills are now increased by 10%!
“That’s it?” Ethan blinked. “I would’ve expected, I don’t know, for my entire body to feel on fire, or something.”
Not that he ever had that happen in his life. Fiction really put false expectations into his mind.
Theodore Lockheart
[Race: Human]⨽[Rank: G]⨽[Level: 0]
[Class: Mage]⨽[Rank: Unranked]⨽[Level: 0]
[Skills]: Basic Magic Script (Lvl. 1), Elemental Spells (Lvl. 1), Magic Sensitivity (Lvl. 1), Magic Perception (Lvl. 1), Myriad Tongue (Lvl. 1)
[Titles: None]
Ethan sifted through the skills to better understand what he could do now.
Basic Magic Script – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: This skill allows you to understand and write basic magical notation of the world. Connection Effect: [Basic Magic Script] has established a Connection with one of your existing skills [Magic Perception], essentially giving you the ability to not only comprehend simple spells but also create the runes required to cast them. However, complex and advanced theories will likely be beyond your grasp at this level.
Elemental Spells – Level 1
Type: Active
Effect: You can cast basic elemental spells. At this level, your spells are limited in power and complexity.
Magic Sensitivity – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You possess a heightened awareness of magical energies in your immediate surroundings. You can feel faint tingles or experience subtle temperature changes when magic is being used nearby. This ability helps you identify areas with magical activity or sense the presence of magic. However, pinpointing the exact source or nature of the magic might be difficult at this level.
Magic Perception – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You can see the underlying runes whenever a spell is cast in front of you. However, deciphering complex spells to view their runes will likely be blurry or misleading at this level***. Connection Effect:*** [Magic Perception] has established a Connection with one of your existing skills, [Basic Magic Script], essentially giving you the ability to not only comprehend simple spells but also create the runes required to cast them. However, complex and advanced theories will likely be beyond your grasp at this level.
Myriad Tongue – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You can understand and speak all the languages of this world. This skill allows you to communicate with most of the species you encounter. Complex conversations will likely require further development of this skill. Connection Effect: [Myriad Tongue] has established a Connection with [Basic Magic Script], essentially giving you an inherent understanding of the runic language of magic.
Holy... So, this world’s really like a game, huh? There are no stats, though. Why? Ethan rubbed his chin. The skills were nice. Ethan was excited to test his skills out when someone knocked once on the door and entered. “My lord,” said the man Ethan quickly recognized as one of his advisors, Cedric, “I’ve received notice that the duke’s men have begun their journey from the Capital.” He bowed. “They’re coming to collect tax.”
Saying so, Cedric left Ethan to ponder.
Tax? What?
In this world of swords and spells, tax consisted of the rarest of monster parts and materials. Priceless Relics were found in the Deadlands just out the border—lands that were full of dangers of the highest caliber, along with endless rewards. And because these materials and items were all of a higher value, not paying tax could easily put a small town like this into debt, unless the town managed to somehow attract a wealthy and profitable industry or find themselves a noble willing to spend his coin to help their people.
Such a noble couldn’t be Theo, clearly. After all, he was just a run-of-the-mill spoiled brat from a prominent aristocratic family—the typical wastrel born lucky into money and power without ever needing to work a single day in his entire life.
Regardless, the tax was Ethan’s issue now, and he wasn’t ready to deal with it given that Theo already had quite a debt in the first place.
Ethan’s eyes deadened.
Next >
Patreon Discord
submitted by No_Marzipan_1230 to HFY [link] [comments]
An engineer in another world—blending science and magic to achieve greatness in a world where skills and levels reign supreme.
—
Ethan was just a plain old engineer, but everything changed when he was reborn into a world of skills, levels, and magic. With his advanced knowledge far ahead of the time period he finds himself in, this new reincarnated life will be much different than his last, especially because he can construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct runes—something no one else can do.
But with royal politics, looming tax collectors, a mountain of debt, dungeon incursions, cults, and hostile fantasy races mixing together into a cocktail of bullshit that threatens to bury his dreams; Ethan must bridge the gap between steel and sorcery to grow stronger. — Runecrafting is slow burn. — What to Expect: - Weak to very strong progression - Hardcore wish fulfillment - A balance of action, kingdom building, and runecrafting. - MC will trigger an industrial revolution, revolutionize magic, modernize agriculture, communication, commerce, textile production, education, transportation, sanitation, weapons manufacturing, leisure & entertainment, and medicine.
Next >
Chapter 01
-1-Ethan’s fists pounded the punching bag, sending a rapid series of jabs that landed with resounding thumps, each strike punctuated by ragged breaths. Sweat dripped from his brow, stinging his eyes, but he refused to stop, refused to surrender to the burning in his muscles or the rawness of his knuckles. He remained focused on punching.
Around him, the rest of the boxing team rested, even the coach looked like he needed a breather. But Ethan couldn’t afford to slow down—not with the first round of eliminations looming.
More, Ethan thought, his muscles burning as he threw another combination of jabs and cross punches. More, more, more.
Boxing had never been his choice; it was a path forced upon him by a father with unfulfilled dreams. Yet somewhere along the way, the thrill of the fight had ignited a fire within Ethan—a primal need to test the boundaries of his endurance, to feel alive in a way no textbook could provide.
But now his father lay dying in a hospital bed, and Ethan was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. His muscles burned and his knuckles were raw. But he couldn’t stop.
“Oy, mate, you should take a break.”
Jacob’s voice cut through Ethan’s reverie, and he turned to face his friend, chest heaving. “I can keep going. I’m fine.”
Jacob shook his head, concern etched across his features. “You’re going to end up hurting yourself. Listen, I know you’re worried about the eliminations and your dad, but you’ve got this. You’ll be fine. You’ve trained so hard. Harder than any of us, mate.” Jacob placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up.”
“It’s not enough,” Ethan stepped away from the punching bag. “Not yet.”
“What do you mean? You’ve improved a ton since you first started, and you’ve gotten to this level faster than anyone else. There’s no way you’re getting cut from the team.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Ethan said, sighing as he ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair.
“Listen, man,” Jacob said, giving him a sympathetic smile. “I get that you’re nervous. It’s normal, okay? But I’ve seen you out there. You’re good. Really good. If anything, the rest of us are the ones who should be worried—”
Before Jacob could continue, Ethan’s phone rang, the sound loud in the otherwise silent gym.
Looking at his phone made him frown and excuse himself. The caller ID was a familiar one. With his phone pressed against his ears, he walked down the corridor, leaving the other members of the boxing team behind.
“Hello?” Ethan said into the phone.
Then, his world tilted on his axis.
-2-
Ethan hated funerals.
It was a strange thing to say, and yet, there he was, thinking that exact same thing as he stood at the side, watching as a small crowd gathered around. The smell of freshly turned earth was thick in the air, along with a heavy dose of sorrow and grief. Or maybe that was his imagination; after all, most were likely putting on a show. A wake that lasted all of ten minutes. A quick eulogy. The final plop of dirt onto the polished wood coffin. Then they were gone. Just like that, they were gone.
His father’s funeral was over just like that.
Ethan waited a while longer after all the mourners had dispersed, then finally turned to look at his mother. His mother sat slumped in the front pew of the church; her gaze fixed on the ground. He sat beside his mother silently. She looked older today, like all the fight and life had just seeped from her body. They didn’t speak a word for the longest while, but finally, his mother broke the silence.
“Do you blame me?”
“No,” he said automatically.
You do, a small voice said in the back of his head. Because maybe, if they hadn’t sent him away, he could’ve pursued his dreams...
“Thank you,” his mother said, the relief in her eyes far too apparent. She wrapped her arms around herself. Her hands trembled. She swallowed audibly before she continued. “I was such a stupid little girl when we married. I had no choice but to leave for Dubai because...”
“You don’t need to explain anything.” Ethan looked down at his knuckles. “I understand.”
“He always blamed himself,” she said suddenly, and Ethan frowned. “For not just letting you into civil engineering. For pressuring you into, well, violence.”
Ethan smiled wryly, staring up at the empty rafters overhead.
Such violence, Ethan, a voice whispered into his ears. Focus on your studies, not on hurting people. You’ll have a bright future, I’m sure of it.
Ethan sighed as he felt the memory rise unbidden in his mind. It wasn’t the first time his mother had spoken to him like that, and it wouldn’t be the last.
You can’t always rely on your fists, she would say. Sometimes, words are all you need. They can change lives, even save lives. They can be the difference between a happy life and a miserable one. Remember that.
Yeah, well, she failed to see it wasn’t hurting people he was after, but pushing himself beyond his limits. To prove to himself that he could. To feel the limits of his body, and surpass them.
To feel alive.
“Your father wanted the best for you,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Ethan gave his mother a sad smile. He talked with his mother a little bit after, but eventually, he excused himself.
She hugged him before he left. A tight, almost desperate squeeze that seemed to drag out for longer than it really did. Ethan wasn’t entirely sure how to respond and wasn’t able to think of anything better than giving her a couple of awkward pats on the back.
Then, when somewhere nice, he lit a cigarette. Stupid, useless, and unhealthy, but he had to do something to let off steam or his entire body was going to burst apart like a firecracker.
When it was nearly time for the cigarette to burn itself out, he suddenly got engulfed in bright light. He didn’t think, nor could he; it was just way too fast.
The last thought he had was something along the lines of ‘the fuck?’ before he crashed face-first into space-time itself.
-3-
Ethan slammed his head against the plush velvet pillow, groaning. Post-reincarnation—transmigration?—headaches were a real pain, especially when you woke up in the body of a drunken wastrel named Theodore Lockheart, the most indebted, despised, fucked up noble in the entire bordertowns—lands that were on the border of the world of the living; lands that were under the constant threat of the dead.
He was tired, irritable, and he had a headache so annoying it was almost as if his skull was split open. Not to mention, his nose was throbbing in pain from what he could only guess had been a one-sided beatdown.
Had the Baron gotten beaten to a pulp somehow?
It was possible, after all, Ethan did remember snippets of Theodore’s recent memories—nothing more than that, though. Theodore tended to suit up as a rich merchant. And he’d likely gone to the bar after losing his fortune earlier in the night, and then had likely fucked a wench or two, vented on the poor women, gotten punched and kicked out.
Groaning, Ethan peeled himself out of bed and forced himself to move. He had things he wanted to do today, like sit somewhere nice and contemplate the meaning of existence—or smoke cigarettes. But sadly, he had none, and he despised alcohol.
Strange, Theodore—no, Ethan, thought. Why do I so easily believe in all this? And why am I so easily accepting that I’m this bastard now?
Though the question was there, Ethan found that it didn’t bring up any emotions. It was like an empty sentence in his thoughts, with nothing behind it.
Ding! System Initiating…
Consciousness transferred...
Subject: Ethan
Social integration protocols activated.
Linguistic database uploaded. Communication in all known languages will be facilitated.
Confirmation: Subject has all their memories upon induction. Check.
Disclaimer: This is not a dream simulation. This is a permanent transfer. Subject has been induced to fully believe this reality, but nothing else inside the subject has been altered.
Confirmation: Memories and core identity remain unaltered.
Warning: The subject will perceive everything as real.
Directive: Enjoy the New World. Second chance protocols initiated.
The System has awoken within you. [Nur] is a world unimaginable power awaits. You, Ethan, have the chance to become extraordinary.
A [Quest] approaches!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Magic Sensitivity]!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Magic Perception]!
Congratulations! You have unlocked the skill: [Myriad Tongue]!
Ding! Please brace for loss of consciousness!
“What in the god-fucking-damned hell—?” Ethan muttered, then fell unconscious. When Ethan woke up again, a screen flashed in front of him.
Please select your preferred Class...
The screen, Ethan found, didn’t elicit any reaction out of him. It wasn’t shocking, nor unbelievable, it was just as if it was a universal truth he’d come to believe since childhood. Like a phone’s existence, or the internet, perhaps. The fact that he thought that way made him sigh. He just hoped anything else inside him hadn’t been changed.
Ethan looked through the page that appeared in front of him.
[Warrior (Common)]
Function: Frontline combatant
Prerequisite: None
Description: A Common-Ranked Class. Grants basic proficiency with all melee weapon types (sword, spear, ax, etc.)
Specialization Paths: Available after further training and/or meeting certain requirements: [Barbarian], [Knight], [Paladin], [Cavalryman], [Mercenary] (and more)
[Archer (Common)]
Function: Ranged Damage Dealer
Prerequisite: None
Description: Basic proficiency with bows and arrows.
Specialization Paths:
Adjacent: Unlockable after further training: [Thief], [Assassin] (and more)
Advanced: Upon reaching specific requirements: [Spirit Archer], [Magic Archer] (and more)
[Mage (Common)]
Function: Ranged Magic User
Prerequisite: None
Description: Basic application of magical abilities.
Specialization Paths: Unlockable after further study: [Warlock], [Alchemist], [Summoner] (and more)
[Healer (Common)]
Function: Support - Restoration and Enhancement
Prerequisite: A [Faith].
Description: Devoted healer, blessed with divine magic, requires [Faith] in a deity. A healer’s heart heals the spirit of ailing beings, providing great spiritual buffs. Can heal wounds and ailments of allies. Can enhance allied attributes and resistances.
Specialization Paths: Unlockable after advanced training (may vary by race or deity): [Temple Priest], [Battle Medic], [Nature Mender] (and more)
After looking through the available Classes, it didn’t take long for Ethan to immediately dismiss both the [Healer] and [Warrior]. [Healer] would be too weak unless he got to its Specialization Paths—not to mention he’d need to have faith in some god, which he did not—and [Warrior] meant he’d need to be close range all the time. Ethan didn’t like risk, thus that idea went to waste as fast as a blade through butter. That left him with two options, and a more or less clear idea of which choice to make.
[Archer] was dismissed for the sole reason that it didn’t appeal to him much, although he was indeed curious as to why it had [Thief] and [Assassin] as its Adjacent Specialization Paths. Regardless, there was only one choice left: Mage—something he’d have chosen anyway given that the system had given him [Magic Sensitivity] and [Magic Perception], although he’d yet to test those skills out. They seemed passive anyway.
Ethan selected his chosen Class.
Congratulations! You are now an [Unranked Mage].
You are capable of casting minor, beginner-level magics.
You can use magical implements and perform incantations with limited versatility.
Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Basic Magic Script]!
Congratulations! You have gained skill: [Elemental Spells]!
Due to your [Magic Perception] and [Magic Sensitivity], the effectiveness of magical spells and skills are now increased by 10%!
“That’s it?” Ethan blinked. “I would’ve expected, I don’t know, for my entire body to feel on fire, or something.”
Not that he ever had that happen in his life. Fiction really put false expectations into his mind.
Theodore Lockheart
[Race: Human]⨽[Rank: G]⨽[Level: 0]
[Class: Mage]⨽[Rank: Unranked]⨽[Level: 0]
[Skills]: Basic Magic Script (Lvl. 1), Elemental Spells (Lvl. 1), Magic Sensitivity (Lvl. 1), Magic Perception (Lvl. 1), Myriad Tongue (Lvl. 1)
[Titles: None]
Ethan sifted through the skills to better understand what he could do now.
Basic Magic Script – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: This skill allows you to understand and write basic magical notation of the world. Connection Effect: [Basic Magic Script] has established a Connection with one of your existing skills [Magic Perception], essentially giving you the ability to not only comprehend simple spells but also create the runes required to cast them. However, complex and advanced theories will likely be beyond your grasp at this level.
Elemental Spells – Level 1
Type: Active
Effect: You can cast basic elemental spells. At this level, your spells are limited in power and complexity.
Magic Sensitivity – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You possess a heightened awareness of magical energies in your immediate surroundings. You can feel faint tingles or experience subtle temperature changes when magic is being used nearby. This ability helps you identify areas with magical activity or sense the presence of magic. However, pinpointing the exact source or nature of the magic might be difficult at this level.
Magic Perception – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You can see the underlying runes whenever a spell is cast in front of you. However, deciphering complex spells to view their runes will likely be blurry or misleading at this level***. Connection Effect:*** [Magic Perception] has established a Connection with one of your existing skills, [Basic Magic Script], essentially giving you the ability to not only comprehend simple spells but also create the runes required to cast them. However, complex and advanced theories will likely be beyond your grasp at this level.
Myriad Tongue – Level 1
Type: Passive
Effect: You can understand and speak all the languages of this world. This skill allows you to communicate with most of the species you encounter. Complex conversations will likely require further development of this skill. Connection Effect: [Myriad Tongue] has established a Connection with [Basic Magic Script], essentially giving you an inherent understanding of the runic language of magic.
Holy... So, this world’s really like a game, huh? There are no stats, though. Why? Ethan rubbed his chin. The skills were nice. Ethan was excited to test his skills out when someone knocked once on the door and entered. “My lord,” said the man Ethan quickly recognized as one of his advisors, Cedric, “I’ve received notice that the duke’s men have begun their journey from the Capital.” He bowed. “They’re coming to collect tax.”
Saying so, Cedric left Ethan to ponder.
Tax? What?
In this world of swords and spells, tax consisted of the rarest of monster parts and materials. Priceless Relics were found in the Deadlands just out the border—lands that were full of dangers of the highest caliber, along with endless rewards. And because these materials and items were all of a higher value, not paying tax could easily put a small town like this into debt, unless the town managed to somehow attract a wealthy and profitable industry or find themselves a noble willing to spend his coin to help their people.
Such a noble couldn’t be Theo, clearly. After all, he was just a run-of-the-mill spoiled brat from a prominent aristocratic family—the typical wastrel born lucky into money and power without ever needing to work a single day in his entire life.
Regardless, the tax was Ethan’s issue now, and he wasn’t ready to deal with it given that Theo already had quite a debt in the first place.
Ethan’s eyes deadened.
Next >
Patreon Discord
2024.05.21 04:24 TheNuklearMan L5/S1 Herniation - Baths?
I have a protruding disc at l5/s1 that is compressing the nerve root.
Baths seem like a bad idea - I'm too tall for my tub so I'm not stretched out properly, getting in and out involves a lot of questionable movement, and even adjusting involves pressing against the basin with my feet to move backward, like a leg press.
However, when I'm in the bath my symptoms all but disappear, and presumably the hot water both relaxes the spasming muscles and takes pressure off of the spine.
I've noticed my symptoms are better the day after bathing at night, but that could easily be pure coincidence based on so many other factors.
Is there a general consensus on the efficacy of baths for disc herniation recovery? Has anyone heard one way or another from a doc?
submitted by TheNuklearMan to Sciatica [link] [comments]
Baths seem like a bad idea - I'm too tall for my tub so I'm not stretched out properly, getting in and out involves a lot of questionable movement, and even adjusting involves pressing against the basin with my feet to move backward, like a leg press.
However, when I'm in the bath my symptoms all but disappear, and presumably the hot water both relaxes the spasming muscles and takes pressure off of the spine.
I've noticed my symptoms are better the day after bathing at night, but that could easily be pure coincidence based on so many other factors.
Is there a general consensus on the efficacy of baths for disc herniation recovery? Has anyone heard one way or another from a doc?
2024.05.21 03:58 Chonkin_GuineaPig How do I deal with out of control anxiety that's destroying my ability to grip objects and walk straight?
Blood tests appear fine, but I can't get my guardians to set me up with a primary care provider. Symptoms include constant chills to the point of not being able to walk, constant stomach pain, dropping and breaking things almost 24/7, and tripping to the point where I can barely get up out of bed and walk without being in pain from muscle weakness anymore. I take sleeping meds along with anxiety pills, but I don't know if they're enough anymore. . . . . . . . . . . . .
I've had labels thrown at me ranging from bipolar like my mother from a licensed psychologist to a schizophrenic who thinks they have ghosts in their bones by EMTs. They constantly ask how much caffeine I drink even though I only drink one cup a day (ranges in size). I would switch over to decaf in a heartbeat, but it's no longer sold on store shelves where I live and I'm stuck with what's available. I've tried to cut back on soda/kool-aid/etc. and mostly drink cold water from their dispenser to save money. I usually go for a sprite when I'm out at a restaurant. All my blood tests come back fine aside from Vitamin D and my stool looks completely normal. I do have the rounded gels for vitamin D, but I forget to take them.
I left my phone at therapy on accident so using this time to see if I can make sense of the outside world, but all it really does so far is prove the point of why I'm addicted to my phone in the first place. While everyone else aimlessly scrolls through TikTok, browsing actual social media like Twitter and Reddit is the only way to connect with the outside world in a small rural town with next to nothing but a trashed up Dollar General. I feel hopeless when it comes to everyday civil rights issues taking place around the world while I'm stuck with old boomers who pray for our demise.
It's not safe to get an apartment where I live because of all the drugged up deadbeats banging on people's windows and helping themselves to everyone else's spaces while the cops do nothing. I've also had all kinds of people come up to me and fantasize about wanting to kill my pets in front of me, so that's another thing I have to worry about as well. There's even been issues with people pulling out knives on each other, so even though I've bought pepper spray for myself I dont think it's enough to protect my entire living space from being pillaged. It might injure my pet if the perpetrator decides to aim for my pet first and I can't spray them in time.
Steel padlocks don't mean jack fucking shit when people can pick up a screwdriver from somewhere and unscrew the hinges off the door while I'm gone just like my sister's kids did to me growing up. Security cameras don't mean much either if all the meth heads are just gonna come back and rip through all the replacements without any consequences from the police whatsoever. Not only is it unsanitary and unsafe, but I wouldn't be able to find clothes that fit me without traveling out of state either. I would like to start walking again, but I'm scared of falling in the middle of a busy highway or tumbling into a ditch somewhere. Even then it wouldn't matter how much weight I lose due to cup size being controlled by horomones. The only reason I'm so concerned about my heart is because my mother's side of the family has heart issues really bad.
I do go to group therapy (CBT), but they've practically given up on the "mental health" aspect because it triggers all the other clients into not wanting to come anymore, with some being in even worse conditions than I am (CSA, domestic violence, etc). Whenever we try to provide reasonable explainations on how coping mechanisms can trigger volatile reactions out of other family members, we're constantly being invalidated and told that we're just choosing to be miserable. Everyone is always a stuck up about how family is so important and how we need to "love" them from a distance. However, I can't just go anywhere else for therapy because the only other psychologists they have for miles (ones at the facility) will literally raise their voice and scream at residents in front of everyone else if they don't get their way. I can't go to the other group therapy that the residents because some of them reek so bad to the point of giving me flashbacks of my parents' roach infested hoards.
Everyone gets onto my ass about leaving things on the table when I go use the restroom, but the truth is that I'm already tired of having my all shit stolen since I was 10 while everyone in my life sat around and told me to quit crying and bitching about everything. I do try to watch other residents and keep my personal items within arms reach, but I can't keep up when I can barely exit my bed and walk down the fucking halls just to eat. That's all on top of my parents consisting of three different hoarders and losing track of everything I bring over there (not to mention all the roaches, mice, and animal waste all over the floor).
I've gotten a lot more freedom since moving away from the cult, but everything I did to cope has practically gone out the fucking window due to thieves and lack of internet (they won't fix the damn router bc they dont know anything about tech). I used to have a Bluey box full of different characters from the show (ordered online ofc), but everything's so filthy that I can't really bring anything out besides toys or stuffed animals. I have an entire tote of books I've never even touched because the place is way too nasty to have them out and risk them getting ruined.
Whenever my belongings do go missing, I'm told to just suck it up and forget about it. I'm scared to fucking death end up with holes in them from being burnt or get mixed up with other women's clothes and get caught being worn them when they supposedly "know better" according to staff. I had a female resident at the religious group home scream and cry to the point that my entire fucking body weight against the damn door wasn't enough to stop her from barging into my bedroom and harass me for shit (that's after all the BS with my sister's kids for over a decade), so I'm not even gonna try to talk to anyone directly anymore.
If I told anyone in my family about my concerns, they would just get pissed and ramble on about how it's my choice to be there, how I need to stop bitching about everything not going my way, and that I should've just stayed at the religious group home. Therapists keep acting like it's all my fault in regards to my emotions, that I just need to work on myself and tell me there's nothing else they can do. Nothing fucking matters when everything on my broken ass tablet requires internet and my consoles are broken. Hell, I'd be having a blast with my 2DS XL if the thing didn't fall apart within the first month. All I really wanted it for was to emulate old PC games and hook it up to the TV. I figured that if I had all my games on one device with the bare minimum accessories needed to make it function, I wouldn't have to feel like a damn hoarder anymore.
I love the tiny library of games I have on my Wii, but my remote is absolutely dirty as fuck with roach poop and other crud. There's no way to clean it without literally soaking it in something. The console itself has all kinds of encrusted gunk on the side from where my hoarder father attached velcro to the side of it. Constant chills makes it practically impossible to sit up and play the games as well (I'm lucky just to be able to stand up anymore). My library is small enough that I'm willing to fuck around with gyroscopic controls for fun. It's not even the biggest priority to me anyway because there would be so many other games to play in the mean time.
I figured with the Steamdeck I could could prop it up against the bed or set it on a table use a controller with it if I reach a point to where I can't see the TV screen from my bed. I can't apply for a job at Walmart to pay for the thing myself because of my balance issues causing me to fall and the inability to grip anything (which would result in massive damages to inventory). I'm also worried about them taking all my earnings since my SSI check isn't enough to cover rent and I need state supplement. I thought about selling my art on Redbubble and save up that way, but my 2022 Samsung tablet that I got a few months ago glitches out when I try to draw stuff and crashes whenever I try to play certain games.
I can honestly forget about recieving one for Christmas/birthdays because for whatever reason, everyone has to have their way when it comes to gift giving and god fucking forbid you try to establish the most basic of boundaries or else you're nothing a spoiled bitch. It's one thing for the Steamdeck to be out of budget, and it's another to deliberately go against a person's wishes when it comes to simple shit like candy or soda when they obviously fucking know better. It doesn't help that everyone goes apeshit over the concept of making a "wishlist" like their life depends on it, only to hand me a sack full of random shit from the Dollar Tree and call it a day. It's also impossible to give it all away when nobody else wants it (I don't have transportation to Goodwill) and throwing away new items is a trigger for me.
I know the Steamdeck wouldn't really fix anything outside of the clutter issue and I probably shouldnt be getting one with my current impairments, but it would provide me with something to do outside of being on social media 24/7. Given the total squalor I grew up in as a child, I'd be genuinely happy with a lot of things outside of the Steamdeck if it weren't for my living situation literally preventing me from doing so:
_ toys
_ art
_ exercise bike
_ walking outside
Even if all of this is just anxiety, I'm still fucked over when in it comes to actual health issues like gingivitis (as confirmed by Aspen Dental) and getting my wisdom teeth removed due to the lack of a primary care physician. I've done everything I can to and they just won't do anything to get me in to see a doctor. I try to brush my teeth when I can but hurts too much to do so. I also feel overwhelmed with trying to organize everything as I keep getting way more brushes than I possibly need and people will not take no for an answer. I don't even know how to prepare for death anymore as I don't even have loved ones. The only people I've ever been given true contact with are my hoarder parents and mentally unstable sister and that's it; no friends or anything.
There's nothing I can really do to repeal the guardianship without taking everyone to court, which is impossible with my sister's busy schedule and unwillingness to work with anybody else. I only because it gives me something to do finally outside of being locked up all week until I go to a half-assed therapy session for three hours. However, they usually go straight home and aren't really willing to go anywhere that costs money aside from restaurants since we have next to no food at the house (even then it becomes unsafe to eat due to all the roaches and mice).
The bane of her existence is to scream about how much of a lazy ass I am despite turning my parents basement into a hoarded up shithole that's flooded out with animal waste to the point of attracting mice. I know her issues aren't my problem, but back in the day she'd come up behind me and pinch my sides to aggrivate me. She also threw pants/shoes/etc. at me while I was on the bed and even shoved me out of the way after accusing me of hiding something I wasn't supposed to have in the kitchen drawer (I was a legal adult at the time). I usually lay flat in bed to avoid confrontation, but ignoring her makes her volatile so I'm screwed either way. I'm pretty sure she's beating and starving her dogs as well, but nobody really gives a fuck. I've got too many of my own issues to even try worrying about them. She's known to be a neurotin junkie for years since moving in with my parents and was even caught smuggling Adderall at work while the cops didn't give a fuck and turned her loose the next day.
I would've called the cops only if there was another child still in the house, but can't do so otherwise because of the risk of charges being brought against me for slander and libel (APS labeled the case as unsubstantiated). I can't just go around risking all my freedom and housing over sick animals that would more than likely be euthanized anyway. Not that animal control would do anything to begin with, of course. I know it feels redundant to even go over there every weekend in those conditions, but I'm tired of being cooped up all day. I'm tired of not having access to a PC with internet and not being able to breathe due to all the secondhand smoke.
I have finally have regular access to food and meds at the facility, but I'm bored with nothing that makes me feel comfortable anymore. I used to walk around town because of my issues with knocking stuff off tables, bumping into everything, and tripping all the time. I used to play games on my tablet to get through the day, but the internet no longer works since switching it over to a new name and the staffare too lazy to just reset the router (everything is infested with ads). We do have bingo during the week, but most people only play for cigarettes and that's it. I can't hold any kind of conversation with anyone else because they'll just ramble on and on about random shit that happened thirty years ago. I used to play Fortnite and Warframe on my Switch Lite, but it broke after I dropped it and we don't have repair shops where I live. It would only hold charge from 45 minutes to an hour with half the games being broken anyway, so I don't even know if it's even worth saving at this point.
I can barely make use of group therapy (CBT) because of how cold I am and how much my stomach hurts. I try to sit outside when I'm not cold as there's nothing to really do around town anyway, but it's nothing more than cigarette butts and spit everywhere (along with rotten food that attracts flies). There's nothing the staff can really do to make the residents pick up after themselves and they can't ban smoking (even if other residents have health issues) because it's the only reason why anyone gets out of bed. The people where I live don't really believe in PTSD outside of veterans, let alone C-PTSD. The mere concept of it would go against everyone's idea that "family is everything, even if they do things we don't like". We barely have mental health services as it is so I'm basically screwed into staying where I'm at even though I live in fear of being punished. I'll see what I can do to get the medicine lady to up the hydroxozine a bit, but I don't know what else there is to even do beyond that point aside from huddling in bed and freezing 24/7 for the next decade until I'm approved for the waiver.
submitted by Chonkin_GuineaPig to CPTSD [link] [comments]
I've had labels thrown at me ranging from bipolar like my mother from a licensed psychologist to a schizophrenic who thinks they have ghosts in their bones by EMTs. They constantly ask how much caffeine I drink even though I only drink one cup a day (ranges in size). I would switch over to decaf in a heartbeat, but it's no longer sold on store shelves where I live and I'm stuck with what's available. I've tried to cut back on soda/kool-aid/etc. and mostly drink cold water from their dispenser to save money. I usually go for a sprite when I'm out at a restaurant. All my blood tests come back fine aside from Vitamin D and my stool looks completely normal. I do have the rounded gels for vitamin D, but I forget to take them.
I left my phone at therapy on accident so using this time to see if I can make sense of the outside world, but all it really does so far is prove the point of why I'm addicted to my phone in the first place. While everyone else aimlessly scrolls through TikTok, browsing actual social media like Twitter and Reddit is the only way to connect with the outside world in a small rural town with next to nothing but a trashed up Dollar General. I feel hopeless when it comes to everyday civil rights issues taking place around the world while I'm stuck with old boomers who pray for our demise.
It's not safe to get an apartment where I live because of all the drugged up deadbeats banging on people's windows and helping themselves to everyone else's spaces while the cops do nothing. I've also had all kinds of people come up to me and fantasize about wanting to kill my pets in front of me, so that's another thing I have to worry about as well. There's even been issues with people pulling out knives on each other, so even though I've bought pepper spray for myself I dont think it's enough to protect my entire living space from being pillaged. It might injure my pet if the perpetrator decides to aim for my pet first and I can't spray them in time.
Steel padlocks don't mean jack fucking shit when people can pick up a screwdriver from somewhere and unscrew the hinges off the door while I'm gone just like my sister's kids did to me growing up. Security cameras don't mean much either if all the meth heads are just gonna come back and rip through all the replacements without any consequences from the police whatsoever. Not only is it unsanitary and unsafe, but I wouldn't be able to find clothes that fit me without traveling out of state either. I would like to start walking again, but I'm scared of falling in the middle of a busy highway or tumbling into a ditch somewhere. Even then it wouldn't matter how much weight I lose due to cup size being controlled by horomones. The only reason I'm so concerned about my heart is because my mother's side of the family has heart issues really bad.
I do go to group therapy (CBT), but they've practically given up on the "mental health" aspect because it triggers all the other clients into not wanting to come anymore, with some being in even worse conditions than I am (CSA, domestic violence, etc). Whenever we try to provide reasonable explainations on how coping mechanisms can trigger volatile reactions out of other family members, we're constantly being invalidated and told that we're just choosing to be miserable. Everyone is always a stuck up about how family is so important and how we need to "love" them from a distance. However, I can't just go anywhere else for therapy because the only other psychologists they have for miles (ones at the facility) will literally raise their voice and scream at residents in front of everyone else if they don't get their way. I can't go to the other group therapy that the residents because some of them reek so bad to the point of giving me flashbacks of my parents' roach infested hoards.
Everyone gets onto my ass about leaving things on the table when I go use the restroom, but the truth is that I'm already tired of having my all shit stolen since I was 10 while everyone in my life sat around and told me to quit crying and bitching about everything. I do try to watch other residents and keep my personal items within arms reach, but I can't keep up when I can barely exit my bed and walk down the fucking halls just to eat. That's all on top of my parents consisting of three different hoarders and losing track of everything I bring over there (not to mention all the roaches, mice, and animal waste all over the floor).
I've gotten a lot more freedom since moving away from the cult, but everything I did to cope has practically gone out the fucking window due to thieves and lack of internet (they won't fix the damn router bc they dont know anything about tech). I used to have a Bluey box full of different characters from the show (ordered online ofc), but everything's so filthy that I can't really bring anything out besides toys or stuffed animals. I have an entire tote of books I've never even touched because the place is way too nasty to have them out and risk them getting ruined.
Whenever my belongings do go missing, I'm told to just suck it up and forget about it. I'm scared to fucking death end up with holes in them from being burnt or get mixed up with other women's clothes and get caught being worn them when they supposedly "know better" according to staff. I had a female resident at the religious group home scream and cry to the point that my entire fucking body weight against the damn door wasn't enough to stop her from barging into my bedroom and harass me for shit (that's after all the BS with my sister's kids for over a decade), so I'm not even gonna try to talk to anyone directly anymore.
If I told anyone in my family about my concerns, they would just get pissed and ramble on about how it's my choice to be there, how I need to stop bitching about everything not going my way, and that I should've just stayed at the religious group home. Therapists keep acting like it's all my fault in regards to my emotions, that I just need to work on myself and tell me there's nothing else they can do. Nothing fucking matters when everything on my broken ass tablet requires internet and my consoles are broken. Hell, I'd be having a blast with my 2DS XL if the thing didn't fall apart within the first month. All I really wanted it for was to emulate old PC games and hook it up to the TV. I figured that if I had all my games on one device with the bare minimum accessories needed to make it function, I wouldn't have to feel like a damn hoarder anymore.
I love the tiny library of games I have on my Wii, but my remote is absolutely dirty as fuck with roach poop and other crud. There's no way to clean it without literally soaking it in something. The console itself has all kinds of encrusted gunk on the side from where my hoarder father attached velcro to the side of it. Constant chills makes it practically impossible to sit up and play the games as well (I'm lucky just to be able to stand up anymore). My library is small enough that I'm willing to fuck around with gyroscopic controls for fun. It's not even the biggest priority to me anyway because there would be so many other games to play in the mean time.
I figured with the Steamdeck I could could prop it up against the bed or set it on a table use a controller with it if I reach a point to where I can't see the TV screen from my bed. I can't apply for a job at Walmart to pay for the thing myself because of my balance issues causing me to fall and the inability to grip anything (which would result in massive damages to inventory). I'm also worried about them taking all my earnings since my SSI check isn't enough to cover rent and I need state supplement. I thought about selling my art on Redbubble and save up that way, but my 2022 Samsung tablet that I got a few months ago glitches out when I try to draw stuff and crashes whenever I try to play certain games.
I can honestly forget about recieving one for Christmas/birthdays because for whatever reason, everyone has to have their way when it comes to gift giving and god fucking forbid you try to establish the most basic of boundaries or else you're nothing a spoiled bitch. It's one thing for the Steamdeck to be out of budget, and it's another to deliberately go against a person's wishes when it comes to simple shit like candy or soda when they obviously fucking know better. It doesn't help that everyone goes apeshit over the concept of making a "wishlist" like their life depends on it, only to hand me a sack full of random shit from the Dollar Tree and call it a day. It's also impossible to give it all away when nobody else wants it (I don't have transportation to Goodwill) and throwing away new items is a trigger for me.
I know the Steamdeck wouldn't really fix anything outside of the clutter issue and I probably shouldnt be getting one with my current impairments, but it would provide me with something to do outside of being on social media 24/7. Given the total squalor I grew up in as a child, I'd be genuinely happy with a lot of things outside of the Steamdeck if it weren't for my living situation literally preventing me from doing so:
_ toys
_ art
_ exercise bike
_ walking outside
- playing games on the 2DS again
Even if all of this is just anxiety, I'm still fucked over when in it comes to actual health issues like gingivitis (as confirmed by Aspen Dental) and getting my wisdom teeth removed due to the lack of a primary care physician. I've done everything I can to and they just won't do anything to get me in to see a doctor. I try to brush my teeth when I can but hurts too much to do so. I also feel overwhelmed with trying to organize everything as I keep getting way more brushes than I possibly need and people will not take no for an answer. I don't even know how to prepare for death anymore as I don't even have loved ones. The only people I've ever been given true contact with are my hoarder parents and mentally unstable sister and that's it; no friends or anything.
There's nothing I can really do to repeal the guardianship without taking everyone to court, which is impossible with my sister's busy schedule and unwillingness to work with anybody else. I only because it gives me something to do finally outside of being locked up all week until I go to a half-assed therapy session for three hours. However, they usually go straight home and aren't really willing to go anywhere that costs money aside from restaurants since we have next to no food at the house (even then it becomes unsafe to eat due to all the roaches and mice).
The bane of her existence is to scream about how much of a lazy ass I am despite turning my parents basement into a hoarded up shithole that's flooded out with animal waste to the point of attracting mice. I know her issues aren't my problem, but back in the day she'd come up behind me and pinch my sides to aggrivate me. She also threw pants/shoes/etc. at me while I was on the bed and even shoved me out of the way after accusing me of hiding something I wasn't supposed to have in the kitchen drawer (I was a legal adult at the time). I usually lay flat in bed to avoid confrontation, but ignoring her makes her volatile so I'm screwed either way. I'm pretty sure she's beating and starving her dogs as well, but nobody really gives a fuck. I've got too many of my own issues to even try worrying about them. She's known to be a neurotin junkie for years since moving in with my parents and was even caught smuggling Adderall at work while the cops didn't give a fuck and turned her loose the next day.
I would've called the cops only if there was another child still in the house, but can't do so otherwise because of the risk of charges being brought against me for slander and libel (APS labeled the case as unsubstantiated). I can't just go around risking all my freedom and housing over sick animals that would more than likely be euthanized anyway. Not that animal control would do anything to begin with, of course. I know it feels redundant to even go over there every weekend in those conditions, but I'm tired of being cooped up all day. I'm tired of not having access to a PC with internet and not being able to breathe due to all the secondhand smoke.
I have finally have regular access to food and meds at the facility, but I'm bored with nothing that makes me feel comfortable anymore. I used to walk around town because of my issues with knocking stuff off tables, bumping into everything, and tripping all the time. I used to play games on my tablet to get through the day, but the internet no longer works since switching it over to a new name and the staffare too lazy to just reset the router (everything is infested with ads). We do have bingo during the week, but most people only play for cigarettes and that's it. I can't hold any kind of conversation with anyone else because they'll just ramble on and on about random shit that happened thirty years ago. I used to play Fortnite and Warframe on my Switch Lite, but it broke after I dropped it and we don't have repair shops where I live. It would only hold charge from 45 minutes to an hour with half the games being broken anyway, so I don't even know if it's even worth saving at this point.
I can barely make use of group therapy (CBT) because of how cold I am and how much my stomach hurts. I try to sit outside when I'm not cold as there's nothing to really do around town anyway, but it's nothing more than cigarette butts and spit everywhere (along with rotten food that attracts flies). There's nothing the staff can really do to make the residents pick up after themselves and they can't ban smoking (even if other residents have health issues) because it's the only reason why anyone gets out of bed. The people where I live don't really believe in PTSD outside of veterans, let alone C-PTSD. The mere concept of it would go against everyone's idea that "family is everything, even if they do things we don't like". We barely have mental health services as it is so I'm basically screwed into staying where I'm at even though I live in fear of being punished. I'll see what I can do to get the medicine lady to up the hydroxozine a bit, but I don't know what else there is to even do beyond that point aside from huddling in bed and freezing 24/7 for the next decade until I'm approved for the waiver.
2024.05.21 03:50 fullmoonz89 Looking for experience/advice concerning elderly cats and dementia. When do you know “it’s time”?
I have a 16 year old Russian Blue. She’s my soul kitty. I’ve had her through all the craziness of life. Crap jobs, rough breakups, 4 moves, and 2 human babies. She’s my girl.
About 3 months ago she stumbled and fell. I thought she misjudged a jump but she kept shaking her head and doing a strange sneeze. I had noticed sneezing previously, but myself and our vet had been monitoring. She’s had asthma since I got her and has been off and on steroids since diagnosis. Took her to the vet. They can’t find anything other than being elderly but the vet said her head shake is highly indicative of a neurological issue. Upon visual exam the vet thinks it’s a brain tumor. She’s back on steroids. She has weird breathing attacks still but has stopped stumbling. She’s too high risk to be put under anesthesia due to asthma and age. She is also on a vitamin for elderly cats the vet gave us.
I suspect that she might have some kind of dementia, whether related to the brain tumor or not. Here are her current symptoms:
Right now she seems stable. Some days she seems in pain or distressed because of her breathing. I believe it is my responsibility to make sure she does not suffer. My vet basically said the same and offered the advice of “you’ll know when it’s time”. But she is my baby and to be honest I’m afraid I won’t know when it is time.
A bit of a wall of text but I’m looking for advice on how to help her and make her time as happy as I can while she’s here’s But also, how will I know when it’s time?
submitted by fullmoonz89 to Pets [link] [comments]
About 3 months ago she stumbled and fell. I thought she misjudged a jump but she kept shaking her head and doing a strange sneeze. I had noticed sneezing previously, but myself and our vet had been monitoring. She’s had asthma since I got her and has been off and on steroids since diagnosis. Took her to the vet. They can’t find anything other than being elderly but the vet said her head shake is highly indicative of a neurological issue. Upon visual exam the vet thinks it’s a brain tumor. She’s back on steroids. She has weird breathing attacks still but has stopped stumbling. She’s too high risk to be put under anesthesia due to asthma and age. She is also on a vitamin for elderly cats the vet gave us.
I suspect that she might have some kind of dementia, whether related to the brain tumor or not. Here are her current symptoms:
- Yowling at night when I go upstairs. She does stop when I speak to her or come back down and get her. She has always been very vocal generally.
- Licking/grooming things like tennis balls or stuffed animals. She’s always tried to groom me and my children/dog whenever anyone would let her.
- The sneeze twitching she has I described above.
- Episodic breathing episodes where she open mouth breathes for 5-10 min. She once did this for an hour and was seen by a vet, but had stopped before we got there. They could not find a cause. She does this between 2 and 5 times a day.
- Occasionally vomits. This is random. She used to do this from hairballs in spring and about 10 years ago she did it from food that was bothering her. Sometimes she vomits 3x a week.
- Seems uncomfortable sometimes and unable to “settle”. This is often at night.
- She is thin and has lost significant muscle mass in the last 3 years.
Right now she seems stable. Some days she seems in pain or distressed because of her breathing. I believe it is my responsibility to make sure she does not suffer. My vet basically said the same and offered the advice of “you’ll know when it’s time”. But she is my baby and to be honest I’m afraid I won’t know when it is time.
A bit of a wall of text but I’m looking for advice on how to help her and make her time as happy as I can while she’s here’s But also, how will I know when it’s time?
2024.05.21 03:25 EmberinEmpty Keeping my meat machine running is exhausting.....
I know and do all the things and tricks. Dear god, I have all the visual prompts and reminders and systems in place, and even a LOVELY wife who reminds me of the things I need to do to survive. But like GOD. Why does it require SO MUCH.
Keeping this meat machine running is becoming a whole full time job. For context I have ADHD, ASD, Ehlers Danlos (Accompanied by bouts of Dysautonomia and POTS), and PMDD/PME meaning my PMS phase is EXTRA cooked turning me into a deep-fried werewolf half the month. Oh and i'm trans-nonbinary and have undergone top surgery and low dose testosterone....
So first off there's the BASICS OF LIFE eating breathing sleeping, homeostasis. WELL SOMETIMES MY BODY WONT DO IT AND I HAVE TO STEP IN.
Gotta feed myself every day multiple times a day. Sometimes body won't tell me i'm hungry until its too late. Repeated alarms get ignored /cause me misophonia and rage.
Gotta decide what to eat every time.
Gotta be mindful about getting good nutrition.
Gotta hope i haven't lost a safe food for some unknown reason wherein the sight smell idea and texture makes me suddenly go from pleasure to gagging.
Gotta have variety tho. Brain won't eat the same thing every day so there has to be a variety of "safe food" b/c ASD and "dopamine food" b/c ADHD available.
Gotta get groceries then too. But don't shop when you're hungry b/c thats how you blow the budget. It's worse on T b/c T makes me hungry as FUCK especially once we upped my dose( I'm actually going back down b/c this effect is UNBEARABLE. )
Gotta put water ON my body/clothes in the sun b/c I don't regulate my temperature.. I get cold when its less than 65' outside and overheat when its hotter than 78'.
Gotta wear and manage layers of clothing b/c of said inability to regulate temperature properly.
Gotta put water IN my body too but I don't know what thirst even feels like so i have to do it consciously or else I just....won't drink water. Which means....
Gotta keep enough water bottles of the RIGHT TYPE on hand b/c I just WONT drink out of a normal cup. I'll sip but to meet water need it's gotta be those chewy nip coleman bottles. don't ask me why maybe it's the mouthfeel ????
Gotta take drugs to regulate my HBP b/c i've got POTS. We actually suspect hyperadrenergic POTS b/c I respond well to Guanfacine and Clonidine and watesalt intake wasn't changing it.
Gotta take ALL MY MEDS EVERY DAY SAME TIME. Even with the autoreminder I miss it a lot especially if I flip it and forget to unflip it. or drop the batteries etc.
But if I take the POTS meds then the side effect is that if I forget the meds for even a DAY my body gets rebound effects which debilitate me worse than the POTS itself. So I stop taking the meds regularly and only take them as needed when I'm having more symptoms than usual.
Which is fine and dandy 2 weeks out of the month but the other 2 weeks .....fuck me.
Gotta batten down the hatches every month for werewolf week Because I have PMDD!! And I get POTS symptoms real bad during luteal phase b/c my body decides i'm a topsy tervy WEREWOLF???? and wants to crawl out of my skin. do all the drugs and bite my leg off/harm myself. So then i'm flippy, brain foggy, agitated anxious sensory overwhelmed and brutally insomniatic for 1-2 weeks EVERY MONTH.
Gotta remember tho take the gabapentin it really helps during wolf week. Whoop one more med to manage.
Gotta go to the pharmacy everywhenever. B/c of course they don't pill pack, or autoship and you take 2 controlled meds which must be picked up in person.
Now you might wonder....well why are you still having luteal phases if you're trans and on T? WELL B/C MY OVARIES JUST WONT QUIT. I'm in the male range for Testosterone even when I was at "low dose". My estrogen level is in the guttenearly undetectable but my body JUST KEEPS CYCLING. I even took nuvaring for 6 months no change. and I've tried two types of combo birth control and one makes me sex-repulsed/depressed and the other made me dysphoric and suidcidal. So now we're trying the POP. I don't think it'll work.... But its something to try. Also gotta take topical E for my hoo-ha b/c ....well I don't want atrophy. But that one seems to be treating me okay.
Gotta take my T shot every week and the topical finasteride every day. But T relieves my gender dysphoria significantly, reduces a lot of my PMDD SI/RAGE symptoms, and T is fantastic because it increases my muscle mass which reduced my joint slippage reducing pain? All good right?
Gotta see a derm b/c you're having a scarring alopecia flare up! But then that pesky scarring alopecia comes back. I had it before T, I actually had low T levels back then and i've been on finasteride my whole transition. It seems to run in my family. I've been symptom free for 7 years but something this year restarts the inflammatory process (probably surgery). Typical treatment is topical steroids and topical minoxidil. I have THREE cats. I will not kill my cats for my hair.
Gotta take the minoxidil now too. So they put me on oral minoxidil (and topical steroids). Which lowers my BP great but increases my HR not great. Now i'm constantly anxious about my HR my BP whether i'm fine or normal or having an episode or need to stop my treatment or restart it.
Gotta take more meds and see my GP. Great.
Gotta massage those top surgery scars every night. B/c mobility matters! Adhesions are bad. And the hEDS makes me scar like a weirdo. (hypertrophic and atrophic O.o) plus I want tattoos.
So lets assume i've managed the baseline physiological needs. Fed my body, watered my soul, sacrificed my cats to the three headed god of bendy elbows. Not having insomnia so bad the tech at your sleep study goes ....."is it always like this for you?".
Well then there's the psychological needs and problems.
Gotta take the ADHD meds or I literally won't get out of bed, will doomscroll for hours and watch my life fall apart.
Gotta take the SSRIs or else the crippling rumination, depression and obsessive body checking behaviors interrupt my life.
Gotta take Buspirone otherwise the SSRIS make me unable to orgasm and obliterates my sex drive. Thankfully my spouse's has also lowered these days due to her own meds so it's not causing conflict in the relationship like it used to. Sex is the only place in my life where I haven't experienced trauma and it's important to me personally as well for all the reasons.
Gotta work**.** Thats all i'll say there. b/c that is its own laundry list.
Gotta to do my accounting, pay bills etc.
Gotta do hygiene every single day 2x a day.
Gotta watch what I eat b/c i'm severely sensitive to gluten which limits eating out. So it's harder to do fun things with people/go out to eat with friends or order take-out.
Gotta remember to call/text my friends.
Gotta remember to call/text my father.
Gotta see all the fucking drs about all my fucking medical issues. Schedule and attend the appointments. Yes we hit our OOP MAX EVERY YEAR.
Gotta work out or else risk physical decompensation with increased joint subluxation or dislocations. And also for my MH/because I love acrobatics/aerials. I started decomping after surgery and the pain was atrocious and the injury cycle was beginning. I forgot just how fast the slipping happens.
Gotta attend to my loved ones. my wife and her needs, and my dog and my 3 cats.
Gotta clean the house, gotta wash the sheets, gotta treat the folliculitis infection I gave myself shaving, gotta tidy up after my hyperfixation projects and keep tidying my special interest projects.....
Gotta find/eliminate all the mold bombs regularly. b/c i'm horribly allergic to mold. So you know all the cups of coffee I didn't finish, hidden bowls of half eaten food lost under a shirt, or accidently left in on a bookshelf or in a bathroom, or orange peels dried too slowly or fruit in the fridge left a day too long....
Gotta get my blood drawn again for the 7th time this year.
Gotta schedule more medical tests.
Gotta let the ASD gods rule the weekend and worldbuild for 11 straight hours b/c I may be a sexless angelic demigod but hey at least I ENJOY my special interests again.
All this so that I don't fall apart. So I can get up, work, earn money, make friends, enjoy my special interests , care for myself and my wife and my cats and my dog , and hopefully live on past 30 without succumbing to either my demons or the inevitable progressive worsening of my physical disabilities.
Some days I just wanna be sedated.
submitted by EmberinEmpty to AuDHDWomen [link] [comments]
Keeping this meat machine running is becoming a whole full time job. For context I have ADHD, ASD, Ehlers Danlos (Accompanied by bouts of Dysautonomia and POTS), and PMDD/PME meaning my PMS phase is EXTRA cooked turning me into a deep-fried werewolf half the month. Oh and i'm trans-nonbinary and have undergone top surgery and low dose testosterone....
So first off there's the BASICS OF LIFE eating breathing sleeping, homeostasis. WELL SOMETIMES MY BODY WONT DO IT AND I HAVE TO STEP IN.
Gotta feed myself every day multiple times a day. Sometimes body won't tell me i'm hungry until its too late. Repeated alarms get ignored /cause me misophonia and rage.
Gotta decide what to eat every time.
Gotta be mindful about getting good nutrition.
Gotta hope i haven't lost a safe food for some unknown reason wherein the sight smell idea and texture makes me suddenly go from pleasure to gagging.
Gotta have variety tho. Brain won't eat the same thing every day so there has to be a variety of "safe food" b/c ASD and "dopamine food" b/c ADHD available.
Gotta get groceries then too. But don't shop when you're hungry b/c thats how you blow the budget. It's worse on T b/c T makes me hungry as FUCK especially once we upped my dose( I'm actually going back down b/c this effect is UNBEARABLE. )
Gotta put water ON my body/clothes in the sun b/c I don't regulate my temperature.. I get cold when its less than 65' outside and overheat when its hotter than 78'.
Gotta wear and manage layers of clothing b/c of said inability to regulate temperature properly.
Gotta put water IN my body too but I don't know what thirst even feels like so i have to do it consciously or else I just....won't drink water. Which means....
Gotta keep enough water bottles of the RIGHT TYPE on hand b/c I just WONT drink out of a normal cup. I'll sip but to meet water need it's gotta be those chewy nip coleman bottles. don't ask me why maybe it's the mouthfeel ????
Gotta take drugs to regulate my HBP b/c i've got POTS. We actually suspect hyperadrenergic POTS b/c I respond well to Guanfacine and Clonidine and watesalt intake wasn't changing it.
Gotta take ALL MY MEDS EVERY DAY SAME TIME. Even with the autoreminder I miss it a lot especially if I flip it and forget to unflip it. or drop the batteries etc.
But if I take the POTS meds then the side effect is that if I forget the meds for even a DAY my body gets rebound effects which debilitate me worse than the POTS itself. So I stop taking the meds regularly and only take them as needed when I'm having more symptoms than usual.
Which is fine and dandy 2 weeks out of the month but the other 2 weeks .....fuck me.
Gotta batten down the hatches every month for werewolf week Because I have PMDD!! And I get POTS symptoms real bad during luteal phase b/c my body decides i'm a topsy tervy WEREWOLF???? and wants to crawl out of my skin. do all the drugs and bite my leg off/harm myself. So then i'm flippy, brain foggy, agitated anxious sensory overwhelmed and brutally insomniatic for 1-2 weeks EVERY MONTH.
Gotta remember tho take the gabapentin it really helps during wolf week. Whoop one more med to manage.
Gotta go to the pharmacy everywhenever. B/c of course they don't pill pack, or autoship and you take 2 controlled meds which must be picked up in person.
Now you might wonder....well why are you still having luteal phases if you're trans and on T? WELL B/C MY OVARIES JUST WONT QUIT. I'm in the male range for Testosterone even when I was at "low dose". My estrogen level is in the guttenearly undetectable but my body JUST KEEPS CYCLING. I even took nuvaring for 6 months no change. and I've tried two types of combo birth control and one makes me sex-repulsed/depressed and the other made me dysphoric and suidcidal. So now we're trying the POP. I don't think it'll work.... But its something to try. Also gotta take topical E for my hoo-ha b/c ....well I don't want atrophy. But that one seems to be treating me okay.
Gotta take my T shot every week and the topical finasteride every day. But T relieves my gender dysphoria significantly, reduces a lot of my PMDD SI/RAGE symptoms, and T is fantastic because it increases my muscle mass which reduced my joint slippage reducing pain? All good right?
Gotta see a derm b/c you're having a scarring alopecia flare up! But then that pesky scarring alopecia comes back. I had it before T, I actually had low T levels back then and i've been on finasteride my whole transition. It seems to run in my family. I've been symptom free for 7 years but something this year restarts the inflammatory process (probably surgery). Typical treatment is topical steroids and topical minoxidil. I have THREE cats. I will not kill my cats for my hair.
Gotta take the minoxidil now too. So they put me on oral minoxidil (and topical steroids). Which lowers my BP great but increases my HR not great. Now i'm constantly anxious about my HR my BP whether i'm fine or normal or having an episode or need to stop my treatment or restart it.
Gotta take more meds and see my GP. Great.
Gotta massage those top surgery scars every night. B/c mobility matters! Adhesions are bad. And the hEDS makes me scar like a weirdo. (hypertrophic and atrophic O.o) plus I want tattoos.
So lets assume i've managed the baseline physiological needs. Fed my body, watered my soul, sacrificed my cats to the three headed god of bendy elbows. Not having insomnia so bad the tech at your sleep study goes ....."is it always like this for you?".
Well then there's the psychological needs and problems.
Gotta take the ADHD meds or I literally won't get out of bed, will doomscroll for hours and watch my life fall apart.
Gotta take the SSRIs or else the crippling rumination, depression and obsessive body checking behaviors interrupt my life.
Gotta take Buspirone otherwise the SSRIS make me unable to orgasm and obliterates my sex drive. Thankfully my spouse's has also lowered these days due to her own meds so it's not causing conflict in the relationship like it used to. Sex is the only place in my life where I haven't experienced trauma and it's important to me personally as well for all the reasons.
Gotta work**.** Thats all i'll say there. b/c that is its own laundry list.
Gotta to do my accounting, pay bills etc.
Gotta do hygiene every single day 2x a day.
Gotta watch what I eat b/c i'm severely sensitive to gluten which limits eating out. So it's harder to do fun things with people/go out to eat with friends or order take-out.
Gotta remember to call/text my friends.
Gotta remember to call/text my father.
Gotta see all the fucking drs about all my fucking medical issues. Schedule and attend the appointments. Yes we hit our OOP MAX EVERY YEAR.
Gotta work out or else risk physical decompensation with increased joint subluxation or dislocations. And also for my MH/because I love acrobatics/aerials. I started decomping after surgery and the pain was atrocious and the injury cycle was beginning. I forgot just how fast the slipping happens.
Gotta attend to my loved ones. my wife and her needs, and my dog and my 3 cats.
Gotta clean the house, gotta wash the sheets, gotta treat the folliculitis infection I gave myself shaving, gotta tidy up after my hyperfixation projects and keep tidying my special interest projects.....
Gotta find/eliminate all the mold bombs regularly. b/c i'm horribly allergic to mold. So you know all the cups of coffee I didn't finish, hidden bowls of half eaten food lost under a shirt, or accidently left in on a bookshelf or in a bathroom, or orange peels dried too slowly or fruit in the fridge left a day too long....
Gotta get my blood drawn again for the 7th time this year.
Gotta schedule more medical tests.
Gotta let the ASD gods rule the weekend and worldbuild for 11 straight hours b/c I may be a sexless angelic demigod but hey at least I ENJOY my special interests again.
All this so that I don't fall apart. So I can get up, work, earn money, make friends, enjoy my special interests , care for myself and my wife and my cats and my dog , and hopefully live on past 30 without succumbing to either my demons or the inevitable progressive worsening of my physical disabilities.
Some days I just wanna be sedated.
2024.05.21 03:20 holly121tho 23 year old with weekly visits to ER and no answers
My 23 year old daughter has been in the E.R. once a week for the past 5 weeks due to the following symptoms:
• resting pulse rate of 140 • difficulty breathing (she describes it as a very hot feeling in her neck and then swelling in her throat, behind her thyroid) • Her oxygen level fluctuates during these episodes • she begins to lose consciousness to where she has blurred vision and becomes weak • fever of 101 • the last week she has experienced severe muscle spasm-like episodes, where her hands go numb and joints lock. She is unable to move them for 3-7 minutes. • Today, her feet, calves, and stomach muscles tensed up to the point she's unable to walk or have control of movement in those affected muscles.
The first two visits, she was admitted due to her WBC being at 38,000. After 24 hours, the symptoms subside, her vitals stabilize and WBC returns to near normal. The doctors have run every blood test/culture imaginable and other than her WBC, the only other abnormal level was her thyroid peroxide ab was at 158.
She has a history of Hashimoto's but docs are out of ideas other than a possible secondary autoimmune disease. She saw an endo last week, ultrasound yesterday, showing thyroid tissue consistent with hashimotos but no other abnormalities.
PCP also recently sent referral to rheumatologist but was denied due to no definitive diagnosis
This is happening nearly every Tuesday and usually while she's at work. We've logged her activity, diet, routine and nothing is out of the ordinary.
We’re at a loss and don’t know where to go from here. Has anyone had a similar experience?
submitted by holly121tho to Autoimmune [link] [comments]
• resting pulse rate of 140 • difficulty breathing (she describes it as a very hot feeling in her neck and then swelling in her throat, behind her thyroid) • Her oxygen level fluctuates during these episodes • she begins to lose consciousness to where she has blurred vision and becomes weak • fever of 101 • the last week she has experienced severe muscle spasm-like episodes, where her hands go numb and joints lock. She is unable to move them for 3-7 minutes. • Today, her feet, calves, and stomach muscles tensed up to the point she's unable to walk or have control of movement in those affected muscles.
The first two visits, she was admitted due to her WBC being at 38,000. After 24 hours, the symptoms subside, her vitals stabilize and WBC returns to near normal. The doctors have run every blood test/culture imaginable and other than her WBC, the only other abnormal level was her thyroid peroxide ab was at 158.
She has a history of Hashimoto's but docs are out of ideas other than a possible secondary autoimmune disease. She saw an endo last week, ultrasound yesterday, showing thyroid tissue consistent with hashimotos but no other abnormalities.
PCP also recently sent referral to rheumatologist but was denied due to no definitive diagnosis
This is happening nearly every Tuesday and usually while she's at work. We've logged her activity, diet, routine and nothing is out of the ordinary.
We’re at a loss and don’t know where to go from here. Has anyone had a similar experience?
2024.05.21 03:05 __augustus [21M] Intense chest pain coming in waves with no apparent trigger, EKG appears fine
Hey, I’m a 21 year old American (5’9” 130 lbs), I’ve been experiencing intermittent chest pain for about a month, located behind the breast bone that lasts on average 15-60 mins. Severity fluctuates, but I hardly get more than 5-30 mins with either no pain or low pain before pain begins again.
I’ve had two major attacks with the worst pain I’ve felt in my life (past dislocated shoulder doesn’t even compare), the first occurring a month ago while laying in bed reading, the second last night which sent me to the E.R. at 1 AM. The first seemingly random attack dissipated after building for 10 mins, and ending with the feeling that someone reached into my ribcage and gripped my heart with their nails, Mortal Kombat style. Since that first attack a month ago, this chest pain has built from a hardly noticeable tightness to debilitating pain.
Associated symptoms are shortness of breath, rapid and pounding heart rate, fatigue, dizziness, and intense anxiety (with typical anxiety symptoms).
The idea of having a heart attack at my age is silly, but last night’s attack sure felt like one would, sending me to the hospital. Vitals, labs, EKG, and X-ray appear perfectly fine with no complications, asserting that my cardiovascular system is okay. Docs sent me home saying that I do not appear to be dying or at risk, and that they can’t really identify what it is without talking to a specialist.
My lungs also appear fine, and breathing deeply does not affect the pain. Neither are muscles the cause, since touching, pressure, or exertion do not affect pain either. Anxiety MAY be a cause, with the most intense attacks correlating with intense anxiety about the issue, but pain occurs at all hours of the day even at rest.
This kind of pain is new to me, as I never experience heartburn or indigestion, but scary, as my mom and her side all have severe heart issues (she’s had four open heart surgeries).
Pain medications do NOT help, and neither do antacids. They gave me a gram of acetaminophen (Tylenol) at the ER alongside fluids to no avail.
I have tried vaping recently, for only about a month and a half and sparsely at that. Quitting was no issue, going for two weeks without cravings, and trying again a week ago to find it slightly alleviates pain, if not for a few moments. I have since thrown it out, knowing it isn’t worth adding another concern to the equation.
~~~
Endless research has found two possibilities.
Any ideas or suggestions?
Thank you, and God bless!
submitted by __augustus to DiagnoseMe [link] [comments]
I’ve had two major attacks with the worst pain I’ve felt in my life (past dislocated shoulder doesn’t even compare), the first occurring a month ago while laying in bed reading, the second last night which sent me to the E.R. at 1 AM. The first seemingly random attack dissipated after building for 10 mins, and ending with the feeling that someone reached into my ribcage and gripped my heart with their nails, Mortal Kombat style. Since that first attack a month ago, this chest pain has built from a hardly noticeable tightness to debilitating pain.
Associated symptoms are shortness of breath, rapid and pounding heart rate, fatigue, dizziness, and intense anxiety (with typical anxiety symptoms).
The idea of having a heart attack at my age is silly, but last night’s attack sure felt like one would, sending me to the hospital. Vitals, labs, EKG, and X-ray appear perfectly fine with no complications, asserting that my cardiovascular system is okay. Docs sent me home saying that I do not appear to be dying or at risk, and that they can’t really identify what it is without talking to a specialist.
My lungs also appear fine, and breathing deeply does not affect the pain. Neither are muscles the cause, since touching, pressure, or exertion do not affect pain either. Anxiety MAY be a cause, with the most intense attacks correlating with intense anxiety about the issue, but pain occurs at all hours of the day even at rest.
This kind of pain is new to me, as I never experience heartburn or indigestion, but scary, as my mom and her side all have severe heart issues (she’s had four open heart surgeries).
Pain medications do NOT help, and neither do antacids. They gave me a gram of acetaminophen (Tylenol) at the ER alongside fluids to no avail.
I have tried vaping recently, for only about a month and a half and sparsely at that. Quitting was no issue, going for two weeks without cravings, and trying again a week ago to find it slightly alleviates pain, if not for a few moments. I have since thrown it out, knowing it isn’t worth adding another concern to the equation.
~~~
Endless research has found two possibilities.
- Angina — with symptoms matching exactly. However, my EKG and vitals do not indicate anything related to the heart.
- Undiagnosed Panic Disorder — symptoms also matching exactly, with intensity being the only questionable variable. I’ve played down my anxiety for many years, being a typical guy, and choosing to instead face stress head on as a treatment. Maybe it’s catching up with me. I am also going through an intensely stressful and emotionally distressing part of my life currently, but my own feelings and rationality towards it do not reflect the anxiety I might be feeling. I’m fairly in tune with things like that, but who knows.
Any ideas or suggestions?
Thank you, and God bless!
2024.05.21 02:59 __augustus [21M] Intense chest pain coming in waves with no apparent trigger
Hey, I’m a 21 year old American (5’9” 130 lbs), I’ve been experiencing intermittent chest pain for about a month, located behind the breast bone that lasts on average 15-60 mins. Severity fluctuates, but I hardly get more than 5-30 mins with either no pain or low pain before pain begins again.
I’ve had two major attacks with the worst pain I’ve felt in my life (past dislocated shoulder doesn’t even compare), the first occurring a month ago while laying in bed reading, the second last night which sent me to the E.R. at 1 AM. The first seemingly random attack dissipated after building for 10 mins, and ending with the feeling that someone reached into my ribcage and gripped my heart with their nails, Mortal Kombat style. Since that first attack a month ago, this chest pain has built from a hardly noticeable tightness to debilitating pain.
Associated symptoms are shortness of breath, rapid and pounding heart rate, fatigue, dizziness, and intense anxiety (with typical anxiety symptoms).
The idea of having a heart attack at my age is silly, but last night’s attack sure felt like one would, sending me to the hospital. Vitals, labs, EKG, and X-ray appear perfectly fine with no complications, asserting that my cardiovascular system is okay. Docs sent me home saying that I do not appear to be dying or at risk, and that they can’t really identify what it is without talking to a specialist.
My lungs also appear fine, and breathing deeply does not affect the pain. Neither are muscles the cause, since touching, pressure, or exertion do not affect pain either. Anxiety MAY be a cause, with the most intense attacks correlating with intense anxiety about the issue, but pain occurs at all hours of the day even at rest.
This kind of pain is new to me, as I never experience heartburn or indigestion, but scary, as my mom and her side all have severe heart issues (she’s had four open heart surgeries).
Pain medications do NOT help, and neither do antacids. They gave me a gram of acetaminophen (Tylenol) at the ER alongside fluids to no avail.
I hardly drink and almost never smoke weed.
I have tried vaping recently, for only about a month and a half and sparsely at that. Quitting was no issue, going for two weeks without cravings, and trying again a week ago to find it slightly alleviates pain, if not for a few moments. I have since thrown it out, knowing it isn’t worth adding another concern to the equation.
~~~
Endless research has found two possibilities.
Any ideas or suggestions? Thank you, God bless!
submitted by __augustus to AskDocs [link] [comments]
I’ve had two major attacks with the worst pain I’ve felt in my life (past dislocated shoulder doesn’t even compare), the first occurring a month ago while laying in bed reading, the second last night which sent me to the E.R. at 1 AM. The first seemingly random attack dissipated after building for 10 mins, and ending with the feeling that someone reached into my ribcage and gripped my heart with their nails, Mortal Kombat style. Since that first attack a month ago, this chest pain has built from a hardly noticeable tightness to debilitating pain.
Associated symptoms are shortness of breath, rapid and pounding heart rate, fatigue, dizziness, and intense anxiety (with typical anxiety symptoms).
The idea of having a heart attack at my age is silly, but last night’s attack sure felt like one would, sending me to the hospital. Vitals, labs, EKG, and X-ray appear perfectly fine with no complications, asserting that my cardiovascular system is okay. Docs sent me home saying that I do not appear to be dying or at risk, and that they can’t really identify what it is without talking to a specialist.
My lungs also appear fine, and breathing deeply does not affect the pain. Neither are muscles the cause, since touching, pressure, or exertion do not affect pain either. Anxiety MAY be a cause, with the most intense attacks correlating with intense anxiety about the issue, but pain occurs at all hours of the day even at rest.
This kind of pain is new to me, as I never experience heartburn or indigestion, but scary, as my mom and her side all have severe heart issues (she’s had four open heart surgeries).
Pain medications do NOT help, and neither do antacids. They gave me a gram of acetaminophen (Tylenol) at the ER alongside fluids to no avail.
I hardly drink and almost never smoke weed.
I have tried vaping recently, for only about a month and a half and sparsely at that. Quitting was no issue, going for two weeks without cravings, and trying again a week ago to find it slightly alleviates pain, if not for a few moments. I have since thrown it out, knowing it isn’t worth adding another concern to the equation.
~~~
Endless research has found two possibilities.
- Angina — with symptoms matching exactly. However, my EKG and vitals do not indicate anything related to the heart.
- Undiagnosed Panic Disorder — symptoms also matching exactly, with intensity being the only questionable variable. I’ve played down my anxiety for many years, being a typical guy, and choosing to instead face stress head on as a treatment. Maybe it’s catching up with me. I am also going through an intensely stressful and emotionally distressing part of my life currently, but my own feelings and rationality towards it do not reflect the anxiety I might be feeling. I’m fairly in tune with things like that, but who knows.
Any ideas or suggestions? Thank you, God bless!
2024.05.21 02:47 Infamous-Interest52 Extreme neck spasms that are debilitating- what do?
Hello. I am 19, I have mild cerebral palsy (if that’s relevant) I’ve always had a bit of a sore neck, nothing too serious, just from staring at my phone all day long probably. But today I woke up, everything was fine until I sat up really fast, and got the worse neck pain of my entire life. Like to the point I can’t move my neck without extreme effort and I’m like a baby that can’t hold its own head. It’s my left side, closer to the back of my head. I’ve genuinely been stuck in the same position all day.
The pain isn’t too bad when I’m still, but sometimes when I even move my left arm forward too fast, I’ll get a neck spasm that practically takes over my whole body. It starts out with an extremely sharp pain in my neck on the side of the injury, and the pain is so intense and fast that it hurts in my shoulders and arms. My entire body tightens up and i seize up entirely and practically crumble over for a few seconds. (I doubt cerebral palsy helps this as my muscles are already extremely sensitive and tight) I look like the kid from the Exorcist failing around when it happens. This comes in waves. I’ll get a few back to back for a few minutes then it will settle for a few.
What is this? Pinched nerve? Sprain? What’s going on?
submitted by Infamous-Interest52 to Advice [link] [comments]
The pain isn’t too bad when I’m still, but sometimes when I even move my left arm forward too fast, I’ll get a neck spasm that practically takes over my whole body. It starts out with an extremely sharp pain in my neck on the side of the injury, and the pain is so intense and fast that it hurts in my shoulders and arms. My entire body tightens up and i seize up entirely and practically crumble over for a few seconds. (I doubt cerebral palsy helps this as my muscles are already extremely sensitive and tight) I look like the kid from the Exorcist failing around when it happens. This comes in waves. I’ll get a few back to back for a few minutes then it will settle for a few.
What is this? Pinched nerve? Sprain? What’s going on?
2024.05.21 02:45 Infamous-Interest52 Extreme random neck spasms and inability to move
Hello. I am 19F, I have mild cerebral palsy (if that’s relevant). I’m 5’1 and weight 121 lbs.
I’ve always had a bit of a sore neck, nothing too serious, just from staring at my phone all day long probably. But today I woke up, everything was fine until I sat up really fast, and got the worse neck pain of my entire life. Like to the point I can’t move my neck without extreme effort and I’m like a baby that can’t hold its own head. It’s my left side, closer to the back of my head. I’ve genuinely been stuck in the same position all day.
The pain isn’t too bad when I’m still, but sometimes when I even move my left arm forward too fast, I’ll get a neck spasm that practically takes over my whole body. It starts out with an extremely sharp pain in my neck on the side of the injury, and the pain is so intense and fast that it hurts in my shoulders and arms. My entire body tightens up and i seize up entirely and practically crumble over for a few seconds. (I doubt cerebral palsy helps this as my muscles are already extremely sensitive and tight) I look like the kid from the Exorcist failing around when it happens. This comes in waves. I’ll get a few back to back for a few minutes then it will settle for a few.
What is this? Pinched nerve? Sprain? What’s going on?
submitted by Infamous-Interest52 to AskDocs [link] [comments]
I’ve always had a bit of a sore neck, nothing too serious, just from staring at my phone all day long probably. But today I woke up, everything was fine until I sat up really fast, and got the worse neck pain of my entire life. Like to the point I can’t move my neck without extreme effort and I’m like a baby that can’t hold its own head. It’s my left side, closer to the back of my head. I’ve genuinely been stuck in the same position all day.
The pain isn’t too bad when I’m still, but sometimes when I even move my left arm forward too fast, I’ll get a neck spasm that practically takes over my whole body. It starts out with an extremely sharp pain in my neck on the side of the injury, and the pain is so intense and fast that it hurts in my shoulders and arms. My entire body tightens up and i seize up entirely and practically crumble over for a few seconds. (I doubt cerebral palsy helps this as my muscles are already extremely sensitive and tight) I look like the kid from the Exorcist failing around when it happens. This comes in waves. I’ll get a few back to back for a few minutes then it will settle for a few.
What is this? Pinched nerve? Sprain? What’s going on?
2024.05.21 02:05 mandyallstars Hanging gymnastic rings from basement ceiling
 | I am contemplating hanging gymnastic rings from my ba$ement ceiling. I have the access to the ba$ement ceiling joists right now but will have it drywalled soon so want to do anything that I need to before that. The joists look like the ones shown in the pictures. From my research, I understand that I should aim to spread my the load across multiple joists. I also tried to look up information from the manufacturer but could not find so looking for some information from the experts here. I was thinking to add some blocking to the joists by adding 2x4 between the joists, supported by the bottom flange of the joists. I was also thinking to double up or triple up the 2x4 so as it make it more sturdier and “verticle” looking while still maintaining enough thickness to drill the screws through. To spread the load, I was thinking to put the stud blocking at position 1 and 2. Should I also put one at position 3? Would this design work sufficiently for gymnastic ring exercises such as pullups, dips, muscle ups? I am around 160lbs and occasionally do weighted exercises as well with 20-30lb additional weight. What else would I need to make it more stable and reduce risk? Any and all suggestions are welcome. Also, let me know if this is a bad idea overall. submitted by mandyallstars to StructuralEngineering [link] [comments] |
2024.05.21 01:59 PowerfulHour8141 Risk of CTE (brain damage) in Judo assessed
To answer the commonly asked question once and for all, I have done a deepdive and summarized the findings of all relevant research I could find.
I've established a benchmark for what level of sub concussive head impacts can be tolerated and for how long without developing CTE to compare with Judo.
It's crucial to recognize that while concussive impacts are associated with clinical signs and symptoms, sub‐concussive impacts are defined as occurring below this range and do not result in clinically‐diagnosed concussions. However, studies have proposed that an accumulation of these low‐level repetitive impacts does compromise the brain over time and may result in CTE later in life. (Source 1,2,3)
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is the neurodegenerative disease that may be defined by symptoms of dementia, memory loss, and emotional instability. It's famously observed in American football and other athletes of full contact sports. (Source 1)
The two measures I will quote for head impact are G force for linear acceleration and rad/s2 for rotational acceleration. Rotational acceleration is believed by many to be a primary mechanism for diffuse brain injury, which is seen in CTE. Rotational acceleration is more dangerous than linear acceleration because it creates greater tension on bridging veins and brain (Source 3, 12)
Benchmark from American football study (source 2)
In all cases, the average head impact was ~1500 rad/ s2 and 19 G. What differentiated the players without CTE from the ones with CTE wasn't the magnitude of the head impacts but rather the accumulation of these sub concussive impacts.
Players without CTE = 4500 hits over 10 years with 6.57 M rad/s2 and 87k G accumulated to the head
Players with low stage CTE = 5500 hits over 12 years with 8.32 M rad/s2 and 107k G accumulated to the head
Players with high stage CTE = 7600 hits over 15 years with 12.26 M rad/s2 and 150k G accumulated to the head
Another study suggests that 1230 rad/s2 is to be used as the lower threshold for low severity injury, but does recognise that a definitive threshold separating impacts causing injury from impacts resulting in no injury is currently not known. (Source 1)
Now that we have these benchmarks, let's look at the Judo research to understand how much impact the brain sustains from being thrown on the ground with perfect ukemi (break fall).
First study (source 4)
Performed by two judo black belts with Tori doing Osoto Gari and Uke performing ukemi (break fall) on tatami with a forehead sensor.
Second study (source 5)
14 black and brown belt practitioners with forehead sensors performing ukemi on 6 different throws. (tomoe-nage, tai-otoshi, harai-tsuri-komi-ashi, seoi-nage, deashi-braai, uchi mata), and only impacts over 16G was captured with their measurement equipment.
Results
10% of 70 Uchi mata throws resulted in an impact over 16G. These inpacts have an avg of 28 G impact on the head and 3940 rad/s2. Uchi mata had the highest incidence of sub-concussive head accelerations.
Osoto gari had linear force: between 8.7 - 11.9 G, median 10.3 G Rotational force: between 506 - 852 rad/s2, median 679 rad/s2
The other five throws in the study had a very low incidence rate of exceeding the 16G threhold, at around 1% of the throws. When they did exceed the threhold, the results were 21-28 G and 1600-2800 rad/s2
Conclusion
Given the chosen threhold of 1230 rad/s2, which has been suggested as the lower limit for diffuse brain injury. It appears that for most of the time, Judo is safe when Ukemi (break fall) is applied correctly. Uchi mata had the highest risk of exceeding the threshold and would be dangerous in about 10% of the time, despite proper Ukemi. Osoto gari is often close to the threshold at 852 rad/s2.
However, there is currently no definitive threshold for impacts causing diffuse injury to the brain. It should be noted that Judo is often on the border to dangerous when throws are executed with high power. (Source 1)
Thought experiment
Each club and practitioner's training patterns and Ukemi skill may vary, but if we were to assume that you take a hard fall (exceeding the safe threshold of 1230 rad/s2) in 10% of the larger hip throws, as shown in source 5. Then, you might sustain 3 hard falls per training. Given 3 training sessions per week, 40 weeks per year, you will accumulate 360 hard falls per year (3×3×40). This means that after 12 years of practice, you will have endured 4500 hard hits. This is the same as an American football player without CTE. But if you were to continue at this pace for an additional 3 years (total 15 years), you will have accumulated 5500 hard hits. This is the same as a player with low stage CTE. After a total of 21 years of Judo, you would then have developed high stage CTE (7600 hits).
Now, if this calculation assumes only 1 hard hit per session, the outcome would be enormously different. It would then take 45 years of Judo before you risk developing low stage CTE.
This thought experiment highlights the importance of limiting your number of hard landings per training as much as possible. Note that these hard landings occur despite proper Ukemi in blackbelts, according to the cited studies. It means that you need to be careful with the intensity of Randori you tolerate from your partner and maximize the use of crash pads during static training. It's also advisable to avoid training with larger partners (>18 kg/ 40 pounds heavier than you), if possible. (Source 4,5,6)
If you are comparing judo to other forms of martial arts it should be noted that although judo carries risks it is much lower than for example MMA sparring where the average linear acceleration in head impacts are 38 G and the average rotational acceration is 2567 rad/s2 per hit. This means that the average hit in MMA is dangerous high above the safe threshold. (Source 7)
Additional conclusions from the cited studies to help minimize risk in Judo:
Novice vs experienced judokas
It's important to also make note that novice judokas experience much higher impacts compared to blacks belts. This is due to their lower proficiency in Ukemi (break fall) Just to mention a few things, the experienced judokas have greater knee extension when falling backwards and their motion is greater in the extended position when the hand contact the mat and at the end of the motion. Novice judoka tends to flex the knee more than experienced judokas. Greater knee extension during the backward fall helps to control the velocity of backward falls better. Experienced judokas roll more on the back while landing and immediately lift the hands after slapping the ground to not impede the rolling motion. The timing of the ground slap is of importance.
Novices often hit their head on the tatami mat because of their delayed response to throwing techniques and their inability to instantly contract their neck muscles to perform a backward breakfall. Therefore, to reduce the risk of head injury in judo, it is desirable to actively introduce training in which an athlete is pushed by another person and the athlete instantly performs a backward breakfall. (source 6, 9, 10, 11)
Fatigue and Ukemi effectiveness
Ukemi (break fall) effectiveness is significantly affected by fatigue following high intensity exercise. To stay safe, it's recommended to rest properly between your set of throws or Randori rounds to let your heart rate come down before engaging again. (source 8)
Expected vs. unexpected throws
Additionally, it is shown that anticipating the impact improves the effectiveness of Ukemi and helps lower the impact forces to the brain. This is why being surprised by a throw in, for example Randori, carries much higher risk than static training, especially for novice practitioners. Therefore, it is necessary to develop backward breakfall training that incorporates unexpected conditions, while considering safety (Source 3,6)
Weight difference
Higher body weight of the thrower than that of the person being thrown is a factor in the occurrence of head injuries, with the risk of head injury increasing when the thrower is ≥ 18 kg heavier than the person being thrown. These findings suggest that practice with such a weight difference between judo practitioners should be avoided (source 6)
Undermat
The use of an under-mat did not prove to be adequate in reducing head impact. Although it lowered the linear acceration of the head, it did not impact the rotational acceleration, which has more severe outcomes (source 10)
Neck strength
No correlation was found between cervical (neck), muscle strength (anterior flexion), and head rotational acceleration. Although it is important to have at least average neck strength, improving neck strength further is not the simple solution to reducing impact on the head and neck. Instead, mastering optimal Ukemi technique to be able to disperse energy more through better movement patterns is a more viable solution. (Source 6, 10)
The most dangerous judo throw (immediate danger, not in terms of long term CTE risk)
From 1983 to 2011, 118 fatalities were reported in junior high and high schools in Japan. It was pointed out that being thrown by “osoto-gari” was the major cause of fatalities (18 cases, 25%). In an experiment involving adolescents who were not judo specialists, the risk of head injury was higher when the “osoto-gari” or “ouchi-gari” throwing technique was used than when the “ippon-seoi-nage” or “tai-otoshi” throwing technique was used.
The reason for this has been suggested to be that novice judokas were likely to take a more flexed upper body posture than the experienced judokas, especially from the middle to late phase of the osoto gari break fall. The flexed posture may lead to greater velocity due to the smaller contact of the arms made to the ground in that posture. Therefore, maintaining a straight posture during the breakfall motion may lead to a reduced risk of head injuries associated with osoto-gari. (Source 6, 13)
Sources can all be found by searching the following names on google:
submitted by PowerfulHour8141 to martialarts [link] [comments]
I've established a benchmark for what level of sub concussive head impacts can be tolerated and for how long without developing CTE to compare with Judo.
It's crucial to recognize that while concussive impacts are associated with clinical signs and symptoms, sub‐concussive impacts are defined as occurring below this range and do not result in clinically‐diagnosed concussions. However, studies have proposed that an accumulation of these low‐level repetitive impacts does compromise the brain over time and may result in CTE later in life. (Source 1,2,3)
CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is the neurodegenerative disease that may be defined by symptoms of dementia, memory loss, and emotional instability. It's famously observed in American football and other athletes of full contact sports. (Source 1)
The two measures I will quote for head impact are G force for linear acceleration and rad/s2 for rotational acceleration. Rotational acceleration is believed by many to be a primary mechanism for diffuse brain injury, which is seen in CTE. Rotational acceleration is more dangerous than linear acceleration because it creates greater tension on bridging veins and brain (Source 3, 12)
Benchmark from American football study (source 2)
In all cases, the average head impact was ~1500 rad/ s2 and 19 G. What differentiated the players without CTE from the ones with CTE wasn't the magnitude of the head impacts but rather the accumulation of these sub concussive impacts.
Players without CTE = 4500 hits over 10 years with 6.57 M rad/s2 and 87k G accumulated to the head
Players with low stage CTE = 5500 hits over 12 years with 8.32 M rad/s2 and 107k G accumulated to the head
Players with high stage CTE = 7600 hits over 15 years with 12.26 M rad/s2 and 150k G accumulated to the head
Another study suggests that 1230 rad/s2 is to be used as the lower threshold for low severity injury, but does recognise that a definitive threshold separating impacts causing injury from impacts resulting in no injury is currently not known. (Source 1)
Now that we have these benchmarks, let's look at the Judo research to understand how much impact the brain sustains from being thrown on the ground with perfect ukemi (break fall).
First study (source 4)
Performed by two judo black belts with Tori doing Osoto Gari and Uke performing ukemi (break fall) on tatami with a forehead sensor.
Second study (source 5)
14 black and brown belt practitioners with forehead sensors performing ukemi on 6 different throws. (tomoe-nage, tai-otoshi, harai-tsuri-komi-ashi, seoi-nage, deashi-braai, uchi mata), and only impacts over 16G was captured with their measurement equipment.
Results
10% of 70 Uchi mata throws resulted in an impact over 16G. These inpacts have an avg of 28 G impact on the head and 3940 rad/s2. Uchi mata had the highest incidence of sub-concussive head accelerations.
Osoto gari had linear force: between 8.7 - 11.9 G, median 10.3 G Rotational force: between 506 - 852 rad/s2, median 679 rad/s2
The other five throws in the study had a very low incidence rate of exceeding the 16G threhold, at around 1% of the throws. When they did exceed the threhold, the results were 21-28 G and 1600-2800 rad/s2
Conclusion
Given the chosen threhold of 1230 rad/s2, which has been suggested as the lower limit for diffuse brain injury. It appears that for most of the time, Judo is safe when Ukemi (break fall) is applied correctly. Uchi mata had the highest risk of exceeding the threshold and would be dangerous in about 10% of the time, despite proper Ukemi. Osoto gari is often close to the threshold at 852 rad/s2.
However, there is currently no definitive threshold for impacts causing diffuse injury to the brain. It should be noted that Judo is often on the border to dangerous when throws are executed with high power. (Source 1)
Thought experiment
Each club and practitioner's training patterns and Ukemi skill may vary, but if we were to assume that you take a hard fall (exceeding the safe threshold of 1230 rad/s2) in 10% of the larger hip throws, as shown in source 5. Then, you might sustain 3 hard falls per training. Given 3 training sessions per week, 40 weeks per year, you will accumulate 360 hard falls per year (3×3×40). This means that after 12 years of practice, you will have endured 4500 hard hits. This is the same as an American football player without CTE. But if you were to continue at this pace for an additional 3 years (total 15 years), you will have accumulated 5500 hard hits. This is the same as a player with low stage CTE. After a total of 21 years of Judo, you would then have developed high stage CTE (7600 hits).
Now, if this calculation assumes only 1 hard hit per session, the outcome would be enormously different. It would then take 45 years of Judo before you risk developing low stage CTE.
This thought experiment highlights the importance of limiting your number of hard landings per training as much as possible. Note that these hard landings occur despite proper Ukemi in blackbelts, according to the cited studies. It means that you need to be careful with the intensity of Randori you tolerate from your partner and maximize the use of crash pads during static training. It's also advisable to avoid training with larger partners (>18 kg/ 40 pounds heavier than you), if possible. (Source 4,5,6)
If you are comparing judo to other forms of martial arts it should be noted that although judo carries risks it is much lower than for example MMA sparring where the average linear acceleration in head impacts are 38 G and the average rotational acceration is 2567 rad/s2 per hit. This means that the average hit in MMA is dangerous high above the safe threshold. (Source 7)
Additional conclusions from the cited studies to help minimize risk in Judo:
Novice vs experienced judokas
It's important to also make note that novice judokas experience much higher impacts compared to blacks belts. This is due to their lower proficiency in Ukemi (break fall) Just to mention a few things, the experienced judokas have greater knee extension when falling backwards and their motion is greater in the extended position when the hand contact the mat and at the end of the motion. Novice judoka tends to flex the knee more than experienced judokas. Greater knee extension during the backward fall helps to control the velocity of backward falls better. Experienced judokas roll more on the back while landing and immediately lift the hands after slapping the ground to not impede the rolling motion. The timing of the ground slap is of importance.
Novices often hit their head on the tatami mat because of their delayed response to throwing techniques and their inability to instantly contract their neck muscles to perform a backward breakfall. Therefore, to reduce the risk of head injury in judo, it is desirable to actively introduce training in which an athlete is pushed by another person and the athlete instantly performs a backward breakfall. (source 6, 9, 10, 11)
Fatigue and Ukemi effectiveness
Ukemi (break fall) effectiveness is significantly affected by fatigue following high intensity exercise. To stay safe, it's recommended to rest properly between your set of throws or Randori rounds to let your heart rate come down before engaging again. (source 8)
Expected vs. unexpected throws
Additionally, it is shown that anticipating the impact improves the effectiveness of Ukemi and helps lower the impact forces to the brain. This is why being surprised by a throw in, for example Randori, carries much higher risk than static training, especially for novice practitioners. Therefore, it is necessary to develop backward breakfall training that incorporates unexpected conditions, while considering safety (Source 3,6)
Weight difference
Higher body weight of the thrower than that of the person being thrown is a factor in the occurrence of head injuries, with the risk of head injury increasing when the thrower is ≥ 18 kg heavier than the person being thrown. These findings suggest that practice with such a weight difference between judo practitioners should be avoided (source 6)
Undermat
The use of an under-mat did not prove to be adequate in reducing head impact. Although it lowered the linear acceration of the head, it did not impact the rotational acceleration, which has more severe outcomes (source 10)
Neck strength
No correlation was found between cervical (neck), muscle strength (anterior flexion), and head rotational acceleration. Although it is important to have at least average neck strength, improving neck strength further is not the simple solution to reducing impact on the head and neck. Instead, mastering optimal Ukemi technique to be able to disperse energy more through better movement patterns is a more viable solution. (Source 6, 10)
The most dangerous judo throw (immediate danger, not in terms of long term CTE risk)
From 1983 to 2011, 118 fatalities were reported in junior high and high schools in Japan. It was pointed out that being thrown by “osoto-gari” was the major cause of fatalities (18 cases, 25%). In an experiment involving adolescents who were not judo specialists, the risk of head injury was higher when the “osoto-gari” or “ouchi-gari” throwing technique was used than when the “ippon-seoi-nage” or “tai-otoshi” throwing technique was used.
The reason for this has been suggested to be that novice judokas were likely to take a more flexed upper body posture than the experienced judokas, especially from the middle to late phase of the osoto gari break fall. The flexed posture may lead to greater velocity due to the smaller contact of the arms made to the ground in that posture. Therefore, maintaining a straight posture during the breakfall motion may lead to a reduced risk of head injuries associated with osoto-gari. (Source 6, 13)
Sources can all be found by searching the following names on google:
- Angular Acceleration Responses of American Football, Lacrosse and Ice Hockey Helmets Subject to Low‐Energy Impacts
- Leveraging football accelerometer data to quantify associations between repetitive head impacts and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in males
- Rotational Head Kinematics in Football Impacts: An Injury Risk Function for Concussion
- Ukemi technique prevents the elevation of head acceleration of a person thrown by the judo technique 'Osoto-gari'
- Florentin, T. and Henry, S. O. (2017) "HEAD ACCELERATIONS OF SIX TYPICAL JUDO THROWS AND BREAK FALL TECHNIQUES
- Effects of unexpectedness on the risk of head injuries in judo novices and experts
- Concussion and the Severity of Head Impacts in Mixed Martial Arts
- Influence of fatigue on head angular acceleration in judo high-intensity exercise
- Biomechanics of judo backward breakfall for different throwing techniques in novice judokas
- A Systematic Review on the Biomechanics of Breakfall Technique (Ukemi) in Relation to Injury in Judo within the Adult Judoka Population
- Biomechanics of the judo backward breakfall: comparison between experienced and novice judokas
- Biomechanical Analysis of Judo-Related Head Injuries: A Pilot Study over Ages and Experience Levels
- TRUNK BIOMECHANICS DURING BREAKFALL FOR OSOTO-GARI AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH JUDO-RELATED HEAD INJURY RISK IN NOVICE JUDOKAS
2024.05.21 01:53 DazednConfused2308 Seeking advice for workplace incident
Hello all, I'm new to this sub and decided to join simply because I don't know where else to turn. I can't risk the employer finding out about this and attempting to physically harm me. Or fire me (I've applied at places today but haven't heard back yet)
I find myself needing advice about work, more so my work place and the person I work for. No names or locations will be used in this, I will just give some background info on what has happened and what has been happening.
The owner of this business I work for contributes greatly to my faltering mental health. He is extremely vindictive and berates me constantly sometimes going as far to do it in front of customers. Today was one such day. I recently partially tore a muscle in my back (weed wacking his house no less Because he told me to) and I was unable to work Friday or Saturday as a result of this injury (I had a doctor's note and everything) I go in today and he immediately begins fighting with me even going as far as to make fun of me to my face in front of one of my coworkers. He have me two sets of directions which contradicted each other. He told me to work on one thing for a customer and then 12 seconds later told me to go work on something that had to do with him because he didn't want to do it. I looked at him with a puzzled look unsure of which order I should follow. He then became extremely angry with me. Nearly got up in my face and said something along the lines of "don't look at me with that dumb fucking face when I tell you to do something, you look at me and go "duuuuur my name's Shawn were you talking to me" and he began making fun of my name and tried to initiate a physical confrontation with me stopping just short of calling me retarded. He then told me I had to get my shit together and start working harder (mind you I literally tore my back muscle weed wacking his house because he's too lazy to) and proceeded to tell me "don't fuckin look at me like that again "
I was then punished for not being there from injuring myself weed wacking his house by being told to weed wack the rest of the property the business is on and he then forced me to go back to his house to weed wack the entire thing again even after I told him I tore a muscle in my back weed wacking his property and he told me to do it anyway. Naturally I have since aggravated this injury again and I'm going to struggle working.
My question is. Would I have been wrong to retaliate against this person for essentially calling me a retard to my face and speaking to me so disrespectfully. Would I have been wrong to escalate things and defend myself even if it meant losing my job and I'm I wrong for trying to be the bigger person and let it go.
I apologize for how long this all is and if anyone does read this far thank you.
submitted by DazednConfused2308 to Advice [link] [comments]
I find myself needing advice about work, more so my work place and the person I work for. No names or locations will be used in this, I will just give some background info on what has happened and what has been happening.
The owner of this business I work for contributes greatly to my faltering mental health. He is extremely vindictive and berates me constantly sometimes going as far to do it in front of customers. Today was one such day. I recently partially tore a muscle in my back (weed wacking his house no less Because he told me to) and I was unable to work Friday or Saturday as a result of this injury (I had a doctor's note and everything) I go in today and he immediately begins fighting with me even going as far as to make fun of me to my face in front of one of my coworkers. He have me two sets of directions which contradicted each other. He told me to work on one thing for a customer and then 12 seconds later told me to go work on something that had to do with him because he didn't want to do it. I looked at him with a puzzled look unsure of which order I should follow. He then became extremely angry with me. Nearly got up in my face and said something along the lines of "don't look at me with that dumb fucking face when I tell you to do something, you look at me and go "duuuuur my name's Shawn were you talking to me" and he began making fun of my name and tried to initiate a physical confrontation with me stopping just short of calling me retarded. He then told me I had to get my shit together and start working harder (mind you I literally tore my back muscle weed wacking his house because he's too lazy to) and proceeded to tell me "don't fuckin look at me like that again "
I was then punished for not being there from injuring myself weed wacking his house by being told to weed wack the rest of the property the business is on and he then forced me to go back to his house to weed wack the entire thing again even after I told him I tore a muscle in my back weed wacking his property and he told me to do it anyway. Naturally I have since aggravated this injury again and I'm going to struggle working.
My question is. Would I have been wrong to retaliate against this person for essentially calling me a retard to my face and speaking to me so disrespectfully. Would I have been wrong to escalate things and defend myself even if it meant losing my job and I'm I wrong for trying to be the bigger person and let it go.
I apologize for how long this all is and if anyone does read this far thank you.
2024.05.21 01:08 AridOrpheus Processing what feels like a betrayal
I'm tagging this as a discussion and not a rant, because I do want input. I want people to be honest with me. I'm going to low-key rant, but then I want to know how you would feel if it were you - and maybe if you agree with my also chronically ill friend.
I was in a pretty serious car wreck on May 10th. I have some pictures from when I went to see my car finally on Thursday (? I think) and... and honestly, it was worse than I thought it was at first. I had snapped one picture for my mom but I was very, very stunned at the time. Later got diagnosed with a concussion, so that makes sense that I was out of it), and the picture didn't pick up the damage... At all. My entire front console and dashboard separated from the frame of the car. The passenger door can't open. My windshield severely cracked, it's a miracle it didn't shatter all over me. My wheel airbag went off, but the knee airbag malfunctioned (impound lot guy said he sees that a lot with my model car and to report it to the highway safety commission). Parking brake jammed on, hood bent in half, entire front part of the car crushed underneath the car in front of me.
I was EXTREMELY lucky. I cannot stress... How lucky. And this friend who I'm about to bring up agrees with that, because even when I sent the only picture I had, I think they understood more than I did how close it had been. I was transported by ambulance, with concern for a spinal injury as well as abdominal bleeding and minor concern for shoulder injury. Most assuaged, I was released the same day (many hours later), all good. Obviously, extremely in pain and with some anti inflammatories, muscle relaxers, and they gave me Rx lidocaine patches. (On top of my normal pain management meds). They diagnosed whiplash and that was all.
The following week (so last week), I went to my PCP, who ordered a wrist X-ray for severe bruising that had popped up and the pain that never stopped, and he diagnosed a sprain when it came back clear (although that hand keeps going numb, so we'll see). He diagnosed the concussion as well and muscle spasms in my back and shoulders, the one shoulder's acute pain from the seatbelt, gave me a higher dosage muscle relaxer and stronger anti-inflammatory. I mentioned my ribs, again (as I had in the ER), but then played it down. That was my own fault. He mentioned my being out of breath, and again, I played it down.
The very next day I was even more out of breath and I had to go to urgent care to get a drug test for my job (because I had been working at the time of my crash - company policy). While there, I asked if she could glance at my ribs - and she noticed the deep bruising. She ordered an X-ray when I told her the whole thing, because, in her words, she was slightly worried about the possibility of a pneumothorax and wanted to rule it out.
I mentioned this to my friend group discord chat. The very last part - that I was now getting a chest x-ray because of what that doctor said. The friends response was... odd. They seemed to want to be riling me up? Like, immediately began going 'prepare for surgery' etc., almost... egging on the worst case scenario. And I basically went... can you, like, not joke about this? I already have enough going on, I really don't need more anxiety.
And they went, "who said I was joking?" and the some other comment I can't remember. And then said "In my opinion you seem to thrive on the negative medical things that happen in a way."
So yeah. I'm usually extremely calm. But I very coldly went "What the fuck does that mean?"
They told me I SEEK OUT medically complex things to worry about and hyperfixate on. Then said that I had "rampant hypochondria."
...huh??? I'm sorry, what? This is all coming from someone who ALSO has complex health. I so don't get it. This person basically said, oh, I'm saying this for your own good, because I was a hypochondriac too, etc etc. and basically... I was like I have no clue what the fuck you're talking about. Because I don't go do research and look for anything at all. Anything and everything I updated my friends on is told to me by my doctor's as either the next step, a possibility, like an ACTUAL likely possibility that we are actively exploring as a team together focused on my health; or it's HAPPENING. And my feelings on that might be anxious because I don't know what comes next, because we don't have answers. But being anxious about something that is actually REALISTIC and being actively explored and presented by DOCTORS as a possibility is not hypochondria.
This friend then tried to fight me on that definition, which is just .. absolutely wild. Because again, hypochondria is undue and abnormal health anxiety. I dare anyone with my health to not be anxious about it. 😂 I literally get compliments and comments from the people in my daily life about how they cannot imagine how I'm doing it. And that's after they see ONE episode. And some of that is coming from people who ARE HEALTHCARE WORKERS, literally!!!
I'm just... I'm still so wildly stunned. I'm so caught off guard. I'm hurt. I'm angry. I'm betrayed. This person is the LAST one I thought it would come from.
I make it a POINT to never compare. Whenever others try, they say 'oh, but I shouldn't complain XYZ," I am SO quick to correct that. We don't play that game, here. Not in my house, not in my bubble, not in my circle of love and support and friendships. But this friend also said in this whole thing that they're uncomfortable talking about their health issues because of... Me talking about mine??? And I basically said a much longer version of that , but then added, y'know, I'm sorry you feel uncomfortable but at the end of the day, you can't put that on me or anyone else. It's really ableist to be thinking like that. Everyone is different and me sharing updates with y'all because you've told me you want to hear them and you love me just like I want to hear yours and love you all , has nothing to do with your ability to share your stuff too? And if that's an obstacle for you that's something you need to work on, not take out on me.
There's so much more. I'm just going to stop there. I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm sick to my stomach. Of all the people in that server, a server I have been in for... I mean, over 5 years, now, I want to say? My second family? What was supposed to be. What claimed to be. Of all of them, one person stood up for me. And maybe because only one was online. But no one else except one of the teens has reached out, and of course I let him know I was alright and wished him luck, gave him my email for if he ever needed something. (It was very sweet that he checked in, I really only responded because I didn't want him to worry.) But I won't maintain a 1-1 conversation with a minor. Especially as a teacher, that's highly inappropriate - my typical rule is I won't even converse with minors 1-1 on the internet, I just won't. This server has many minors who stick together and a few educators who look out for them, so I know they're safe and all. Everyone there takes safety very seriously at least.
I'm just... Ridiculously disappointed. More than disappointed. I don't know if I can trust people again, honestly. I've worked really hard to open up. It took me... years, after a lifetime of trauma and being guilted for having human needs, much less adding in disability and extra things. I don't see it happening again.
submitted by AridOrpheus to ChronicIllness [link] [comments]
I was in a pretty serious car wreck on May 10th. I have some pictures from when I went to see my car finally on Thursday (? I think) and... and honestly, it was worse than I thought it was at first. I had snapped one picture for my mom but I was very, very stunned at the time. Later got diagnosed with a concussion, so that makes sense that I was out of it), and the picture didn't pick up the damage... At all. My entire front console and dashboard separated from the frame of the car. The passenger door can't open. My windshield severely cracked, it's a miracle it didn't shatter all over me. My wheel airbag went off, but the knee airbag malfunctioned (impound lot guy said he sees that a lot with my model car and to report it to the highway safety commission). Parking brake jammed on, hood bent in half, entire front part of the car crushed underneath the car in front of me.
I was EXTREMELY lucky. I cannot stress... How lucky. And this friend who I'm about to bring up agrees with that, because even when I sent the only picture I had, I think they understood more than I did how close it had been. I was transported by ambulance, with concern for a spinal injury as well as abdominal bleeding and minor concern for shoulder injury. Most assuaged, I was released the same day (many hours later), all good. Obviously, extremely in pain and with some anti inflammatories, muscle relaxers, and they gave me Rx lidocaine patches. (On top of my normal pain management meds). They diagnosed whiplash and that was all.
The following week (so last week), I went to my PCP, who ordered a wrist X-ray for severe bruising that had popped up and the pain that never stopped, and he diagnosed a sprain when it came back clear (although that hand keeps going numb, so we'll see). He diagnosed the concussion as well and muscle spasms in my back and shoulders, the one shoulder's acute pain from the seatbelt, gave me a higher dosage muscle relaxer and stronger anti-inflammatory. I mentioned my ribs, again (as I had in the ER), but then played it down. That was my own fault. He mentioned my being out of breath, and again, I played it down.
The very next day I was even more out of breath and I had to go to urgent care to get a drug test for my job (because I had been working at the time of my crash - company policy). While there, I asked if she could glance at my ribs - and she noticed the deep bruising. She ordered an X-ray when I told her the whole thing, because, in her words, she was slightly worried about the possibility of a pneumothorax and wanted to rule it out.
I mentioned this to my friend group discord chat. The very last part - that I was now getting a chest x-ray because of what that doctor said. The friends response was... odd. They seemed to want to be riling me up? Like, immediately began going 'prepare for surgery' etc., almost... egging on the worst case scenario. And I basically went... can you, like, not joke about this? I already have enough going on, I really don't need more anxiety.
And they went, "who said I was joking?" and the some other comment I can't remember. And then said "In my opinion you seem to thrive on the negative medical things that happen in a way."
So yeah. I'm usually extremely calm. But I very coldly went "What the fuck does that mean?"
They told me I SEEK OUT medically complex things to worry about and hyperfixate on. Then said that I had "rampant hypochondria."
...huh??? I'm sorry, what? This is all coming from someone who ALSO has complex health. I so don't get it. This person basically said, oh, I'm saying this for your own good, because I was a hypochondriac too, etc etc. and basically... I was like I have no clue what the fuck you're talking about. Because I don't go do research and look for anything at all. Anything and everything I updated my friends on is told to me by my doctor's as either the next step, a possibility, like an ACTUAL likely possibility that we are actively exploring as a team together focused on my health; or it's HAPPENING. And my feelings on that might be anxious because I don't know what comes next, because we don't have answers. But being anxious about something that is actually REALISTIC and being actively explored and presented by DOCTORS as a possibility is not hypochondria.
This friend then tried to fight me on that definition, which is just .. absolutely wild. Because again, hypochondria is undue and abnormal health anxiety. I dare anyone with my health to not be anxious about it. 😂 I literally get compliments and comments from the people in my daily life about how they cannot imagine how I'm doing it. And that's after they see ONE episode. And some of that is coming from people who ARE HEALTHCARE WORKERS, literally!!!
I'm just... I'm still so wildly stunned. I'm so caught off guard. I'm hurt. I'm angry. I'm betrayed. This person is the LAST one I thought it would come from.
I make it a POINT to never compare. Whenever others try, they say 'oh, but I shouldn't complain XYZ," I am SO quick to correct that. We don't play that game, here. Not in my house, not in my bubble, not in my circle of love and support and friendships. But this friend also said in this whole thing that they're uncomfortable talking about their health issues because of... Me talking about mine??? And I basically said a much longer version of that , but then added, y'know, I'm sorry you feel uncomfortable but at the end of the day, you can't put that on me or anyone else. It's really ableist to be thinking like that. Everyone is different and me sharing updates with y'all because you've told me you want to hear them and you love me just like I want to hear yours and love you all , has nothing to do with your ability to share your stuff too? And if that's an obstacle for you that's something you need to work on, not take out on me.
There's so much more. I'm just going to stop there. I'm angry. I'm hurt. I'm sick to my stomach. Of all the people in that server, a server I have been in for... I mean, over 5 years, now, I want to say? My second family? What was supposed to be. What claimed to be. Of all of them, one person stood up for me. And maybe because only one was online. But no one else except one of the teens has reached out, and of course I let him know I was alright and wished him luck, gave him my email for if he ever needed something. (It was very sweet that he checked in, I really only responded because I didn't want him to worry.) But I won't maintain a 1-1 conversation with a minor. Especially as a teacher, that's highly inappropriate - my typical rule is I won't even converse with minors 1-1 on the internet, I just won't. This server has many minors who stick together and a few educators who look out for them, so I know they're safe and all. Everyone there takes safety very seriously at least.
I'm just... Ridiculously disappointed. More than disappointed. I don't know if I can trust people again, honestly. I've worked really hard to open up. It took me... years, after a lifetime of trauma and being guilted for having human needs, much less adding in disability and extra things. I don't see it happening again.
2024.05.21 00:55 Successful_Cut5317 Dungeon Dungeon Fruit
The Dungeon Dungeon Fruit is a paramecia-type devil fruit that allows the user to become a living dungeon, making them a Dungeon Master.
The user also gains the ability to transform their body into a full-size dungeon matching the pocket dimension one as it is just the pocket dimension one expanding into the world and transforming the user into the building. If the user is above ground their dungeon will resemble a tower as it towers above the ground with its height dependent on the number of flours the user has created. If the user does it above ground the dungeon's rules of floors get flipped and the lower floors are weaker with the higher ones being stronger. Also, there will be an entranceway for people to enter or exit at the bottom of the "tower" form. If the user is underground their dungeon will meld with the environment and go down with the height dependent on the number of flours the user has created, additionally, the user will rise or sink to have an opening on the surface marking the entrance into the dungeon. When transformed the user has complete control over the dungeon, allowing them to manipulate its structure, features, and contents as if it were an extension of their own body. The user can enhance the durability of their dungeon, fortifying it against environmental hazards and potential threats.
Inside the dungeon, the user is able to create anything that can be found in a dungeon, including but not limited to, weapons, monsters, treasures, puzzles, traps, etc. The user is able to take out their creations however they must keep physical contact with it constantly and if they don't it will disappear and reappear back in their dungeon when the user has the energy to create it again.
Inside the dungeon, the user has absolute control capable of creating and controlling anything and everything in relation to dungeons.
Floors: The user has to separate the structure of their dungeon into floors, with every floor down able to create stronger entities and items with more elaborate and stronger traps and treasures.
Creatures: The creatures that the user creates in the dungeon are able to be influenced and controlled by the user's direct orders but anything besides the user's direct orders can possibly be disobeyed or dismissed by the creatures.
Outside contact: Items and creatures that the user made within their dungeon will turn into dust once they are apart from the user. Meaning that an item or creature can be taken out but only partially. The user can take out a sword and use it as a weapon but once they discard it or it no longer makes physical contact with them it will start to turn to dust.
Energy: It takes energy for the user to make anything within the dungeon be it items, monsters, or even them manipulating the dungeon to their will to make the impossible happen, or even remake the dungeon and its contents. The stronger the things/creatures that they create the more energy it will cost the user.
Space & Haki: Strong haki can neutralize creatures within the dungeon and make passage throughout the dungeon really easy, additionally any space manipulation can enable people the ability to escape from the user's Dungeon unless the user is constantly twisting space to prevent them from doing this.
'Magic': The dungeon is filled with the user's energy which they can use like magic. The 'Magic' within the dungeon can only ever be the user's energy that they used to create phenomenon, it is not real magic but the user using their ability to create anything within the dungeon. Haki can disrupt this energy and make the user's control over the dungeon unstable/erratic and it acts as a kind of anti-magic.
Destruction: Vistors can destroy the dungeon and trigger a full-scale collapse in order to get out of the dungeon quickly.
Dungeon Limit: The Dungeon can be of any size be it 1 floor, 10 floors, 100 floors or even 10,000 floors as many as the user wants, and these floors can be as big or as small as the user wants with space distorting to the users will. As well as the contents being however the user wishes them to be. However, the user is limited to having only one Dungeon created at a time.
Dungeon Gate: The user is able to create a portal on any part of their body, this portal can connect to anywhere within their dungeon. The user can use this to take out something or someone from their dungeon temporarily, the user can also use this to make an opening for one of their creatures to attack from the portal or to take out an item.
Treasure: The user can create valuable items or weapons from their dungeon and bring them into the real world by maintaining physical contact. However, these items will disappear if contact is broken.
Monster Maker: The user manifests fearsome creatures within their dungeon, bringing them to life from the depths of their imagination. By channelling their energy and focusing their will, the user can create a wide variety of monsters, each with unique abilities, characteristics, and behaviours. These creatures serve as guardians, minions, or challenges within the dungeon, obeying the user's commands and defending their domain against intruders. To create a creature the user goes through three steps; Visualization, Energy Channeling, and Materialization. Firstly the user begins by visualizing the creature they wish to create, envisioning its form, size, and attributes in vivid detail. They draw upon their knowledge of mythology, folklore, and imagination to craft a truly unique monster. Then with a focused mind and a surge of energy, the user channels their power into the creation process, infusing the imagined creature with life force. This energy serves as the catalyst for bringing the creature into existence within the dungeon. Lastly, as the energy takes shape, the creature materializes within the user's dungeon, emerging from the depths as a tangible entity. The user can control the creature's appearance, abilities, and behaviour to suit their needs and objectives. The user can make any type of monster that they like, the only limit is their energy and their imagination, but some examples include; Beasts: Ferocious creatures such as dire wolves, giant spiders, or griffins, possessing keen senses and formidable physical abilities. Undead: Reanimated corpses, skeletal warriors, or spectral apparitions, instilling fear and dread in those who encounter them. Elementals: Living embodiments of natural elements, including fiery salamanders, watery serpents, or earthen golems, each with unique elemental powers. Aberrations: Bizarre and otherworldly entities, such as tentacled horrors, shape-shifting mimics, or mind-controlling aberrations, capable of confounding and terrifying intruders. Constructs: Artificial beings crafted from magical or mechanical components, ranging from clockwork automatons to golems forged from enchanted stone or metal. They can also create many more, but these are only some examples. The user can control their creations in multiple ways and command them to act together; The user can maintain their control over the monsters they create, commanding them with their will and asserting their dominance as the Dungeon Master. The monsters obey the user's orders without question, serving as loyal guardians or relentless assailants. Also, the user can tailor the behaviour and objectives of the monsters to suit their needs, directing them to patrol specific areas, guard valuable treasures, or attack intruders on sight. The main limitations of Monster Maker are its energy consumption, maintenance, and the limits of the user's control, just meaning that the monsters can possibly rebel if they are strong enough and the user has mistreated them.
Fake Floor: The user creates a temporary floor within their dungeon that can hold illusions, making it seem like a normal, physical floor with traps, monsters, or treasures. All of the illusions on this floor seem real and can actually work to a degree on this floor with illusions capable of causing damage (although weaker than normal and unable to cause any damage if the illusion is seen through) and even treasures appearing to work within the fake floor, but upon exit of the fake floor, they will find out that everything they gained from the floor was but an illusion.
Safe Floor: The user creates a temporary floor within their dungeon that can act as a sanctuary for those within the dungeon. This floor is imbued with a protective aura that prevents any monsters or hostile entities from entering. Additionally, it has a restorative effect, healing anyone inside over time. The effect of keeping monsters out acts as a semi-permeable barrier and can be broken or pierced by high-ranking creatures.
Empty Floor: The Empty Floor is the start and the end of the dungeon, it will always be present and from here the user can create the dungeon, store whatever they want to, keep others safe here, etc. The empty Floor will be present even when the dungeon is destroyed, it can never be destroyed except with the death of the user. This floor is free from all laws, no laws from the universe exist in this space without the user making them. No laws not even life, death, time, space, reality, cause and effect are present within this floor without the user making them exist. In the case of Life and death do not exist here letting those who die in the dungeon live here should the user want them to, the user can even reincarnate them into a creature however this would make them completely reliant on the dungeon and die should they leave the dungeon and the connection with the user. Anyone within this floor is capable of moving throughout the dungeon as they please and even leave as they, please.
Dungeon Collapse: The user can start a dungeon collapse, making their dungeon and all of its floors begin to collapse, starting from its first floor and going to its last floor. Space will begin to distort and the monsters will either flee to other floors in order to survive a little longer or crumble to dust from the cataclitic wave of destruction that the user set in motion. The user can send any creatures that they wish to survive into the Empty Floor. Any visitor within the Dungeon will have to flee from the dungeon collapse as quickly as they can and reach the exit, if they cannot make it in time then they will be heavily wounded and possibly killed by the collapse of the dungeon depending on debre, and they will wake up in the Empty Floor dead or alive.
Treasure Trove: The user can create hidden chambers within their dungeon filled with valuable treasures and artefacts. These chambers can only be accessed through secret passages or by solving intricate puzzles. Creating elaborate treasures consumes a significant amount of the user's energy.
Gate: The user can create temporary portals within their dungeon that allow instant travel between different locations. These portals can be used for rapid deployment of allies or for quick escapes. Gates require precise control and consume a large amount of energy. Misuse can lead to unintended destinations or portal malfunctions.
Dungeon break: The user is able to create a gate that connects to the inside of their dungeon and then releases whatever they want, may it be the creatures, treasures, or even the dungeon itself causing space to distort and merge the dungeon with the world around them. Creatures will pour out of the gate in a stampede, treasures and items can pour out of the gate like a sea of gold, and the dungeon can expand out of the gate like a crawling calamity. The gate while being a spatial distortion can still be broken with enough force. Once the gate(s) are closed then the creatures, items, and/or dungeon will be sucked back into the gate returning to the user's dungeon.
Trap Reave: With a single gesture, the user can implant numerous traps in their immediate environment or even within themselves that can then be activated and affect those nearby. These traps can have a multitude of hidden triggers and can be adjusted to be more potent, and capable of protecting larger areas with complex mechanisms.
Heart of the Dungeon: While the user is merged with their dungeon the dungeon will be taking damage directly making every hit they take shake the dungeon and possibly collapse it. Additionally when the user is using a creature(s) and they take a serious hit that creature will die if that hit is strong enough to kill the creature(s). The same applies to treasures.
Dungeon Awareness: The user may need to split their awareness to monitor the larger area of effect of their dungeons and mini-dungeons, which can leave them blind to certain regions or overextended in their vigilance.
Waning Authority: Granting authority to too many individuals could dilute the user's overall control and open up the possibilities for internal conflict or sabotage.
Gate Fragility: The gates, while powerful and useful, are a lifeline for the user and their comrades getting in and out of the dungeon. The gates themselves are fragile and can be destroyed with enough strength or anyone capable of cutting space temporarily severing the user's lifeline in and out of the dungeon and cutting off a large amount of their powers until another can be made.
Dungeon Dissonance: The larger-scale dungeon transformations(brought into the environment) may not be as finely tuned as smaller-scale manipulations leading to instability or flaws that clever opponents can exploit.
Complexity: As old techniques are powered to new heights, the complexity of managing and understanding them also increases, which can lead to mistakes or malfunctions in their execution. Or it can just make it where the user is unable to make new techniques for most techniques.
Sensory Feedback: When the user possesses a creature they feel everything their controlled creatures feels, and then they might suffer from sensory overload or distraction during critical moments.
submitted by Successful_Cut5317 to DevilFruitIdeas [link] [comments]
Strengths
Upon consuming the Dungeon Dungeon Fruit, the user will gain a permanent pocket dimension of a dungeon within themselves which they are able to customise however they like. The user can teleport people and objects into their dungeon through touch, shrinking them down and transporting them into the dungeon's interior.The user also gains the ability to transform their body into a full-size dungeon matching the pocket dimension one as it is just the pocket dimension one expanding into the world and transforming the user into the building. If the user is above ground their dungeon will resemble a tower as it towers above the ground with its height dependent on the number of flours the user has created. If the user does it above ground the dungeon's rules of floors get flipped and the lower floors are weaker with the higher ones being stronger. Also, there will be an entranceway for people to enter or exit at the bottom of the "tower" form. If the user is underground their dungeon will meld with the environment and go down with the height dependent on the number of flours the user has created, additionally, the user will rise or sink to have an opening on the surface marking the entrance into the dungeon. When transformed the user has complete control over the dungeon, allowing them to manipulate its structure, features, and contents as if it were an extension of their own body. The user can enhance the durability of their dungeon, fortifying it against environmental hazards and potential threats.
Inside the dungeon, the user is able to create anything that can be found in a dungeon, including but not limited to, weapons, monsters, treasures, puzzles, traps, etc. The user is able to take out their creations however they must keep physical contact with it constantly and if they don't it will disappear and reappear back in their dungeon when the user has the energy to create it again.
Inside the dungeon, the user has absolute control capable of creating and controlling anything and everything in relation to dungeons.
Weaknesses
Standard devil fruit weaknesses apply.Floors: The user has to separate the structure of their dungeon into floors, with every floor down able to create stronger entities and items with more elaborate and stronger traps and treasures.
Creatures: The creatures that the user creates in the dungeon are able to be influenced and controlled by the user's direct orders but anything besides the user's direct orders can possibly be disobeyed or dismissed by the creatures.
Outside contact: Items and creatures that the user made within their dungeon will turn into dust once they are apart from the user. Meaning that an item or creature can be taken out but only partially. The user can take out a sword and use it as a weapon but once they discard it or it no longer makes physical contact with them it will start to turn to dust.
Energy: It takes energy for the user to make anything within the dungeon be it items, monsters, or even them manipulating the dungeon to their will to make the impossible happen, or even remake the dungeon and its contents. The stronger the things/creatures that they create the more energy it will cost the user.
Space & Haki: Strong haki can neutralize creatures within the dungeon and make passage throughout the dungeon really easy, additionally any space manipulation can enable people the ability to escape from the user's Dungeon unless the user is constantly twisting space to prevent them from doing this.
'Magic': The dungeon is filled with the user's energy which they can use like magic. The 'Magic' within the dungeon can only ever be the user's energy that they used to create phenomenon, it is not real magic but the user using their ability to create anything within the dungeon. Haki can disrupt this energy and make the user's control over the dungeon unstable/erratic and it acts as a kind of anti-magic.
Destruction: Vistors can destroy the dungeon and trigger a full-scale collapse in order to get out of the dungeon quickly.
Dungeon Limit: The Dungeon can be of any size be it 1 floor, 10 floors, 100 floors or even 10,000 floors as many as the user wants, and these floors can be as big or as small as the user wants with space distorting to the users will. As well as the contents being however the user wishes them to be. However, the user is limited to having only one Dungeon created at a time.
Techniques:
The core of the Dungeon: This technique allows the user to merge their physical form with their dungeon, becoming the true core and centre of the Dungeon. When activated, the user's body undergoes a transformation, imbuing them with the visual appearance of their dungeon while retaining their base form's humanoid shape. The user appears as their usual self but with subtle manifestations of their dungeon's architecture spread across their entire body visible both internally and externally. Parts of the user's body may take on a spectral or ethereal quality, resembling stone, wood, or other materials found within their dungeon. Floors within the dungeon will be visible on the user's body and the user can interact with them like normal. While in this state, the user's control of their dungeon and sense of the dungeon as a part of their body is strengthened, granting them unparalleled control over its features and inhabitants. They can sense disturbances, manipulate the environment, and summon forth creatures or objects from within their domain with ease. The user's thoughts and intentions shape the very fabric of their dungeon, allowing them to adapt and respond to any situation. The Core of the Dungeon technique offers numerous tactical advantages. In addition to serving as a formidable defensive measure, it enables the user to access their dungeon's resources and defences instantaneously. They can summon forth weapons, traps, or allies as needed instantaneously. Additionally, the strongest part of this technique is that the user is able to take on the full condition of the dungeon allowing them to be as durable as the entire dungeon combined, as smart as the entire dungeon combined, and the user is able to draw on all the strength of the entire dungeon, etc.Dungeon Gate: The user is able to create a portal on any part of their body, this portal can connect to anywhere within their dungeon. The user can use this to take out something or someone from their dungeon temporarily, the user can also use this to make an opening for one of their creatures to attack from the portal or to take out an item.
Treasure: The user can create valuable items or weapons from their dungeon and bring them into the real world by maintaining physical contact. However, these items will disappear if contact is broken.
- Eternal Chalice: A mystical cup that, when filled with any liquid, will never run out of that liquid until the cup is turned over completely and the contents are completely spilt out.
- Golem's Heart: A magical gem that, when placed on the ground, summons a powerful stone golem to protect the owner of the treasure. The Golem is about the same size as a goblin and is made of solid stone, it will last until it is completely broken.
- Chrono Amulet: An amulet that allows the wearer to slow down and speed up their movements at will, giving them a significant advantage in battle. However, there is a high energy consumption which increases the more the wielder wants to speed up or slow down.
- Spectral Lantern: A lantern that can summon spirits to aid the user in various ways, such as scouting, fighting, or showing the way. The wielder must make sure the spirits they summon listen to them and make sure that the spirits don't try to lead the wielder to the dead's same fate.
- Serpent's Eye: An orb that grants the user the ability to see through illusions and detect hidden objects or beings. The orb has a swirling pattern inside that resembles a serpent's eye. However, Continuous use can strain the user's eyesight.
- Dragon’s Eye: A gem that allows the wielder to see through illusions and detect lies by emitting a faint glow when deception is present. The wielder must be paying attention to the gem to see it glow, plus someone may be talking too fast for the wielder to understand what words they said are a lie or not. It also has a limited range of effectiveness.
- Death's Whisper: A pendant that allows the user to communicate with the dead, gaining their knowledge and advice. The pendant is shaped like a skull with glowing eyes. However, communicating with the dead can attract malevolent spirits.
- Spirit Stone: A gemstone that can capture and contain the essence of defeated enemies, allowing the user to temporarily harness their abilities. The stone has a limited capacity and requires time to recharge between uses. Using too many abilities at once can overwhelm the wielder or allow them to be possessed by the collective spirits within the gemstone should their spirit not be strong enough.
- Starlight Pendant: A pendant containing a fragment of a fallen star. It allows the user to harness the power of starlight, creating blinding flashes, energy beams, and shields of light. The pendant's power diminishes in the absence of starlight or strong light sources. Continuous use can cause the pendant to overheat, requiring a cooldown period.
- Serpent's Fang Dagger: A dagger crafted from the fang of a mythical serpent. It can inject a potent venom that paralyzes or weakens its victims. The venom needs time to replenish after each use, limiting the number of effective strikes in a short period.
- Starry Night Robe: A robe adorned with patterns that mimic the night sky, granting the wearer the ability to blend into their surroundings and move silently. The camouflage effect is less effective in brightly lit environments.
- Abyssal Grimoire: A dark tome filled with forbidden knowledge and powerful spells. Reading from the grimoire allows the wielder to cast devastating dark magic at the cost of their own vitality. Each spell cast siphons a portion of the wielder’s life force, and prolonged use can lead to severe consequences, including physical and mental corruption.
- Eclipse Ring: A ring that harnesses the power of lunar and solar eclipses, allowing the wielder to cast powerful light and shadow magic. The ring’s power is tied to the phases of the moon and solar cycles, making it weaker during certain times.
- Whispering Leaves: An enchanted book filled with ancient knowledge of nature magic. When read, it allows the wielder to communicate with plants and animals. Requires time to read and understand the spells. Using powerful spells can drain the wielder's energy and concentration.
- Evil Dispelling Talisman: A talisman that wards off evil spirits and curses, providing protection against dark magic and supernatural threats. One-time use.
- Talisman of Fortitude: A talisman that increases the wearer’s resilience, providing protection against physical and magical damage. The protection requires energy to maintain and can fail if the wielder is overwhelmed by powerful attacks. One-time use.
- Shadow Dagger: A dagger that allows the user to merge with shadows, becoming invisible and intangible while within them as well as allowing them to directly attack someone's shadow as if it were tangible. It is ineffective in well-lit environments, and cannot physically harm anyone bar their shadows.
- Vortex Gauntlet: A gauntlet that can create and control miniature vortices, allowing the wielder to manipulate wind and suction forces. The gauntlets have high energy consumption and limited range. Overuse can cause severe strain on the user’s arm.
- Stockpile Gauntlet: A gauntlet encrusted with crystals that can absorb and store magical energy, which can then be released in powerful bursts. Has a limited capacity for storing energy and can become unstable if overloaded. The release of energy is also taxing on the user’s arm causing it to strain from the backlash of powerful attacks/blasts.
- Warlock's Staff: A staff imbued with dark magic that enhances the wielder's spellcasting abilities and allows them to drain the life force of enemies. The staff’s dark magic can corrupt the wielder over time, leading to physical and mental deterioration.
- Harmony Orb: An orb that balances opposing forces, allowing the wielder to neutralize magic. The orb’s power can be overwhelmed by extremely powerful magic.
- Tempest Bow: A bow that allows the wielder to shoot arrows infused with the power of wind, capable of creating powerful gusts and small tornadoes on impact. The bow has a high energy cost and requires the wielder's energy to create wind-infused arrows. The bow's effectiveness is reduced in enclosed or windless environments.
- Blazing Quiver: A quiver that enchants any arrows placed within it to become flaming arrows, capable of setting targets ablaze on impact. The fire enchantment drains the user’s stamina, and arrows can be extinguished by water or strong winds.
- Seeker’s Map: A magical map that reveals the location of hidden treasures, secret passages, and important landmarks. It can easily be burned or torn and damaged by water like aged papyrus.
- Orb of Whispers: A crystal ball that allows the wielder to communicate telepathically with anyone they have met before, no matter the distance. The telepathy is one way and there is no way to know if the message they sent was successful without meeting up with them.
- Frostfire Lantern: A lantern that can switch between emitting a freezing cold light or a searing hot flame, depending on the wielder's needs. The lantern drains energy quickly when used in either mode, and the user must be careful to avoid harming themselves or allies with the extreme temperatures.
- Mermaid’s Locket: A locket that grants the wearer the ability to breathe underwater and communicate with aquatic creatures. The locket’s power is limited to water environments and drains energy if outside of water for extended periods.
- Phoenix Tear Flask: A flask containing a single, precious tear from a phoenix, which can heal any wound or cure any illness when consumed. The flask only contains a single use, and once used, it cannot be refilled. The healing effect can be overwhelming and incapacitating for a short period.
- Shifting Sands Bottle: A bottle filled with enchanted sand that can transform into various shapes and forms at the wielder's command. Controlling the sand requires mental concentration, and the transformations are temporary, reverting to sand if not maintained.
- Thunder Drum: A drum that, when played, can summon thunder and lightning to strike at the wielder's command wherever they are looking. Playing the drum is physically demanding, and summoning lightning requires precise timing and significant energy.
- Astral Compass: A compass that points towards the nearest source of magical energy, helping the user find enchanted objects and places. The compass can be misleading if multiple sources of magic are nearby, and it requires mental focus to interpret correctly.
- Seraphim’s Feather: A single, radiant feather that grants the wielder the ability to manifest wings and fly and create protective barriers of light. When the wielder manifests wings they gain a slight regeneration capable of suppressing minor illnesses and closing small cuts. However, flying and creating barriers drain the user’s stamina quickly, and the feather’s power diminishes if used excessively without rest.
- Celestial Harp: Crafted from the finest celestial metals and adorned with shimmering angelic runes, this harp produces music that can heal wounds, soothe minds, and uplift spirits. When played, it can calm storms, mend broken hearts, and bring peace to troubled souls. However, its power can only be harnessed by those with a pure heart.
- Saint's Cloak: A cloak woven from threads of starlight and blessed by archangels. It grants the wearer invisibility, protects them from harm, and allows them to move silently and swiftly. The cloak also has the power to create protective barriers that can shield allies. Only those with a heart dedicated to good can wear the cloak without it losing its power.
- Inferno Ring: A ring that grants the wearer the ability to control and manipulate fire, allowing them to create fireballs, walls of flame, and other fiery constructs. The ring consumes a significant amount of energy, and the ring is unable to be used when it is covered in water or ice.
- Moonstone Pendant: A pendant that enhances the wearer’s intuition and allows them to see in complete darkness. The enhanced intuition can be overwhelming, causing sensory overload if used for extended periods.
- Gauntlet of Titans: A gauntlet that grants the wearer immense strength, allowing them to perform feats of great physical power. The increased strength drains the user's stamina rapidly and can cause muscle strain if overused.
- Enchanted Quill: A quill that can write on its own, create detailed maps, transcribe spoken words, or draw intricate designs. The quill requires the wielder's concentration and drains mental energy, becoming less effective if used for extended periods.
- Gale Fan: A fan that controls the wind, allowing the user to create powerful gusts or gentle breezes. The fan requires physical effort to use effectively, and prolonged use can cause fatigue.
- Slothful Amulet: An amulet that induces a state of lethargy and apathy in the wearer, allowing them to no longer feel fatigued more than the amulet makes them, making them capable of doing strenuous activity while having the same amount of energy. However, prolonged use leads to a life devoid of purpose or ambition, trapped in a perpetual cycle of laziness and stagnation.
- Prideful Armour: Armour adorned with intricate designs and enchantments, the more prideful the wearer is the stronger the armour becomes allowing it to take attacks that appear instantly fatal. However, once the user takes off this armour they will feel worthless and will despair until they wear the armour again or learn to live without it.
- Greed's Coin: A golden coin that multiplies the wielder's wealth with each transaction, bringing untold riches to its owner. However, every gain comes at the expense of others, leading to exploitation and manipulation. The insatiable desire for wealth will eventually drive the user to commit increasingly ruthless acts, ultimately isolating them from all but their material possessions.
- Glutton's Chalice: A chalice that endlessly produces the finest foods and beverages, satisfying every craving of the user. Indulging in its offerings grants temporary pleasure and sustenance but leads to insatiable hunger and addiction. Over time, the user becomes enslaved by their own desires, unable to resist the allure of excess.
- Wrath's Broken Sword: A broken Zweihänder infused with the fury of the enraged, granting the wearer immense strength and destructive power. When activated, the sword will grow as if healing itself from all of its lifetime of damage, and then it engulfs the user in a raging aura of flames, enhancing their combat prowess but clouding their judgment with unbridled anger. Prolonged use risks losing control and becoming consumed by rage.
- Envy's Mirror: A mirror that reflects the desires of the beholder, showing them what they covet most in the world. When gazed upon, the user can see what they want the most in the world, and then they can take it out of the mirror, a mirrored copy of what they want the most. However, the more they use the mirror the more they will begin to envy those around them succumbing to its temptations which can lead to obsession and eventual downfall.
- Lust's Mask: A mask that enhances the allure and charisma of the wearer, captivating all who gaze upon them with irresistible charm and desire. While wearing it, the user can manipulate others to fulfil their every whim and desire. However, once the mask is removed the user will look disfigured permanently, with only a holy artefact that can remove curses capable of dispelling the terrible effects.
- The Crown That No One Wanted: A Crown that once worn will grant its wearer the power to be empowered by every sin they commit and others commit in the wearer's vicinity. However, this crown can not be removed except upon the wearer's death, and everyone the wearer sees the wearer will be able to see all of their sins and the next sin they are about to commit.
- Amulet of the Demi-Lich: An ancient amulet crafted from obsidian and etched with ominous glyphs, housing the imprisoned essence of a powerful demi-lich. When worn, the amulet bestows upon the wearer all the Demi-Lich's knowledge of dark magic and necromancy, granting access to the lich's vast repository of forbidden spells and arcane rituals. The wearer gains the ability to draw upon the demi-lich's powers, wielding dark energies to bend the forces of life and death to their will. Shadows obey their command, and the air grows thick with the whispers of the undead. However, with each use of the amulet's power, the malevolent consciousness of the demi-lich begins to seep into the wearer's mind, whispering temptations and promises of unimaginable power. The wearer's thoughts become consumed by the lich's desires, their will is slowly eroded by its relentless influence. If the wearer succumbs to the lich's control, their body becomes a vessel for its resurrection. The amulet shatters, releasing the demi-lich's essence to merge with the wearer's soul, transforming them into a vessel of undeath. From the ashes of the wearer's humanity, the demi-lich rises once more, eager to unleash its reign of darkness upon the world once more.
- Lich's First Wand: Crafted from the ancient and gnarled wood of the Veilwood trees, this wand holds the essence of the lich's earliest forays into magic, before corruption took hold. The wood is smooth to the touch, with delicate carvings depicting scenes of nature and life. When wielded by a skilled mage, the Veilwood Staff channels the untainted magic of its creation, granting the user the ability to manipulate the forces of nature and harness the primal energies of the earth. It can conjure gentle breezes, summon vines to entangle foes, and heal wounds with the touch of its tip. Unlike the dark artefacts associated with lichdom, the Veilwood Staff does not seek to corrupt or dominate its wielder. Instead, it serves as a reminder of the lich's origins and the purity of their magical pursuits before succumbing to the allure of immortality. However, despite its benign nature, the staff still bears the lingering echoes of the lich's ambitions and desires. Those who wield it may experience faint whispers and visions of the lich's past, offering glimpses into the choices that led to their transformation. The lich's pleads for help to find the one that he could not echo in the wielder's dreams, to complete what he never could.
Monster Maker: The user manifests fearsome creatures within their dungeon, bringing them to life from the depths of their imagination. By channelling their energy and focusing their will, the user can create a wide variety of monsters, each with unique abilities, characteristics, and behaviours. These creatures serve as guardians, minions, or challenges within the dungeon, obeying the user's commands and defending their domain against intruders. To create a creature the user goes through three steps; Visualization, Energy Channeling, and Materialization. Firstly the user begins by visualizing the creature they wish to create, envisioning its form, size, and attributes in vivid detail. They draw upon their knowledge of mythology, folklore, and imagination to craft a truly unique monster. Then with a focused mind and a surge of energy, the user channels their power into the creation process, infusing the imagined creature with life force. This energy serves as the catalyst for bringing the creature into existence within the dungeon. Lastly, as the energy takes shape, the creature materializes within the user's dungeon, emerging from the depths as a tangible entity. The user can control the creature's appearance, abilities, and behaviour to suit their needs and objectives. The user can make any type of monster that they like, the only limit is their energy and their imagination, but some examples include; Beasts: Ferocious creatures such as dire wolves, giant spiders, or griffins, possessing keen senses and formidable physical abilities. Undead: Reanimated corpses, skeletal warriors, or spectral apparitions, instilling fear and dread in those who encounter them. Elementals: Living embodiments of natural elements, including fiery salamanders, watery serpents, or earthen golems, each with unique elemental powers. Aberrations: Bizarre and otherworldly entities, such as tentacled horrors, shape-shifting mimics, or mind-controlling aberrations, capable of confounding and terrifying intruders. Constructs: Artificial beings crafted from magical or mechanical components, ranging from clockwork automatons to golems forged from enchanted stone or metal. They can also create many more, but these are only some examples. The user can control their creations in multiple ways and command them to act together; The user can maintain their control over the monsters they create, commanding them with their will and asserting their dominance as the Dungeon Master. The monsters obey the user's orders without question, serving as loyal guardians or relentless assailants. Also, the user can tailor the behaviour and objectives of the monsters to suit their needs, directing them to patrol specific areas, guard valuable treasures, or attack intruders on sight. The main limitations of Monster Maker are its energy consumption, maintenance, and the limits of the user's control, just meaning that the monsters can possibly rebel if they are strong enough and the user has mistreated them.
Fake Floor: The user creates a temporary floor within their dungeon that can hold illusions, making it seem like a normal, physical floor with traps, monsters, or treasures. All of the illusions on this floor seem real and can actually work to a degree on this floor with illusions capable of causing damage (although weaker than normal and unable to cause any damage if the illusion is seen through) and even treasures appearing to work within the fake floor, but upon exit of the fake floor, they will find out that everything they gained from the floor was but an illusion.
Safe Floor: The user creates a temporary floor within their dungeon that can act as a sanctuary for those within the dungeon. This floor is imbued with a protective aura that prevents any monsters or hostile entities from entering. Additionally, it has a restorative effect, healing anyone inside over time. The effect of keeping monsters out acts as a semi-permeable barrier and can be broken or pierced by high-ranking creatures.
- A Sanctuary For Everyone: If a low-lever monster is pulled into the safe zone by others then it can turn into a normal harmless creature like a deer, squirrel, badger, etc.
Empty Floor: The Empty Floor is the start and the end of the dungeon, it will always be present and from here the user can create the dungeon, store whatever they want to, keep others safe here, etc. The empty Floor will be present even when the dungeon is destroyed, it can never be destroyed except with the death of the user. This floor is free from all laws, no laws from the universe exist in this space without the user making them. No laws not even life, death, time, space, reality, cause and effect are present within this floor without the user making them exist. In the case of Life and death do not exist here letting those who die in the dungeon live here should the user want them to, the user can even reincarnate them into a creature however this would make them completely reliant on the dungeon and die should they leave the dungeon and the connection with the user. Anyone within this floor is capable of moving throughout the dungeon as they please and even leave as they, please.
Dungeon Collapse: The user can start a dungeon collapse, making their dungeon and all of its floors begin to collapse, starting from its first floor and going to its last floor. Space will begin to distort and the monsters will either flee to other floors in order to survive a little longer or crumble to dust from the cataclitic wave of destruction that the user set in motion. The user can send any creatures that they wish to survive into the Empty Floor. Any visitor within the Dungeon will have to flee from the dungeon collapse as quickly as they can and reach the exit, if they cannot make it in time then they will be heavily wounded and possibly killed by the collapse of the dungeon depending on debre, and they will wake up in the Empty Floor dead or alive.
Treasure Trove: The user can create hidden chambers within their dungeon filled with valuable treasures and artefacts. These chambers can only be accessed through secret passages or by solving intricate puzzles. Creating elaborate treasures consumes a significant amount of the user's energy.
Gate: The user can create temporary portals within their dungeon that allow instant travel between different locations. These portals can be used for rapid deployment of allies or for quick escapes. Gates require precise control and consume a large amount of energy. Misuse can lead to unintended destinations or portal malfunctions.
- Defensive Gate: The user creates a gate on their body which either pulls in someone who makes contact with it, or it takes in an enemy's attack making that attack directly damage the dungeon in the location of wherever the user set the destination of the gate.
- Pocket Gate: The user creates a gate on their body and pulls out an item or stores an item in it allowing for quick storage and allowing the user to take out weapons from seemingly nowhere.
- Gate Binding: The user makes multiple gates on their body and traps a target's limbs in the different gates stopping their movements. The gates are not strong enough to rip the target apart but the user can use creatures on the other side of the gates to hold the target in place.
Awakening:
With the awakening of the Dungeon Dungeon Fruit, the user can now use their abilities on a much larger scale, with their mind finally caught up with their powers, their powers are able to affect the world around them spreading much further than their body once stopped them. Their power spills over into the world around them, letting them expand their dungeon into the environment shaping it to their desire. The user is able to extend their abilities to what could be considered impossible or illogical, empowering old techniques to new heights and creating new ones that were not possible before.Awakening Techniques:
Heart of the Dungeon: Similar to "The Core of the Dungeon," the Heart of the Dungeon allows the user to merge their physical form with their dungeon, but it comes with even greater powers and capabilities. When the user activates the Heart of the Dungeon, they gain the extraordinary ability to morph and reshape their immediate surroundings to form the intricate corridors, chambers, and traps of their dungeon. This transformation is both fluid and immediate: walls sprout from the ground, ceilings stretch overhead, and floors ripple like liquid, all under the user's absolute control. The entire dungeon environment responds to the user's movements and commands, making it a living extension of their will. Moreover, the Heart of the Dungeon bestows upon the user the power to draw strength from everything within their dungeon. This includes the treasures hidden within its depths, the creatures that inhabit its halls, and the traps laid to ensnare intruders. Every element of the dungeon, whether animate or inanimate, contributes to the user's power, enhancing their physical abilities, powers, and overall resilience.Dungeon break: The user is able to create a gate that connects to the inside of their dungeon and then releases whatever they want, may it be the creatures, treasures, or even the dungeon itself causing space to distort and merge the dungeon with the world around them. Creatures will pour out of the gate in a stampede, treasures and items can pour out of the gate like a sea of gold, and the dungeon can expand out of the gate like a crawling calamity. The gate while being a spatial distortion can still be broken with enough force. Once the gate(s) are closed then the creatures, items, and/or dungeon will be sucked back into the gate returning to the user's dungeon.
- Creatures: The user is able to create a massive amount of creatures within their dungeon and then release them from themselves pouring all the creatures with weapons and items that the user has created come out of a gate they created able to be used freely without fear of them disappearing until the user has run out of energy to sustain them.
- Dungeon: By creating a gate connecting to the user's dungeon, the user causes the surrounding area to 'fold' into their dungeon, effectively transporting portions of the external world into their dungeon and vice versa, until the gate is closed.
- Limited Trust: Limit the granted authority by time or a specific action, automatically revoking control after a certain period of specific condition(s) are met, ensuring temporary stewardship.
- Delegate: The user can specifically define the level of control an individual has over creatures and traps, fine-tuning the balance between autonomy and oversight.
Trap Reave: With a single gesture, the user can implant numerous traps in their immediate environment or even within themselves that can then be activated and affect those nearby. These traps can have a multitude of hidden triggers and can be adjusted to be more potent, and capable of protecting larger areas with complex mechanisms.
- Chains: The user summons chains from the depths of their dungeon, binding and dragging enemies into their dungeon, whether it be from their gate or their main body, forcing targets to escape their dungeon.
- Gate Landmark: The user can use the Mini-dungeon as a spatial anchor to allow them to teleport to the inside of the dungeon from their own dungeon and then exit it letting them be able to have a limited form of teleportation outside of the dungeon.
- Dungeon Master's Watch: Through the mini-dungeon core, the user can spy on those trapped inside the mini-dungeon, gathering information or learning from the way they handle the challenges presented to them.
- Dungeon Master's Hidden Influence: The user can control the creatures within the mini-dungeon core remotely, using them to perform tasks or relay messages to the outside world as if they were puppets. The user can also possess the creatures allowing them to share their senses and see through the creature's eyes and control them as easily as they can control their own body, however, the user will feel all of the body's physical pain and will also feel it's death should the creature die with the user possessing it.
- Fake Core: This generates a copy of the mini-dungeon core, which operates as a decoy, with both the original and the duplicate appearing legitimate to outsiders.
Awakening Weaknesses:
Energy: The vast expansion of power and control can be incredibly draining, meaning the user could risk total exhaustion or burnout if they use these abilities too frequently or for extended periods of time.Heart of the Dungeon: While the user is merged with their dungeon the dungeon will be taking damage directly making every hit they take shake the dungeon and possibly collapse it. Additionally when the user is using a creature(s) and they take a serious hit that creature will die if that hit is strong enough to kill the creature(s). The same applies to treasures.
Dungeon Awareness: The user may need to split their awareness to monitor the larger area of effect of their dungeons and mini-dungeons, which can leave them blind to certain regions or overextended in their vigilance.
Waning Authority: Granting authority to too many individuals could dilute the user's overall control and open up the possibilities for internal conflict or sabotage.
Gate Fragility: The gates, while powerful and useful, are a lifeline for the user and their comrades getting in and out of the dungeon. The gates themselves are fragile and can be destroyed with enough strength or anyone capable of cutting space temporarily severing the user's lifeline in and out of the dungeon and cutting off a large amount of their powers until another can be made.
Dungeon Dissonance: The larger-scale dungeon transformations(brought into the environment) may not be as finely tuned as smaller-scale manipulations leading to instability or flaws that clever opponents can exploit.
Complexity: As old techniques are powered to new heights, the complexity of managing and understanding them also increases, which can lead to mistakes or malfunctions in their execution. Or it can just make it where the user is unable to make new techniques for most techniques.
Sensory Feedback: When the user possesses a creature they feel everything their controlled creatures feels, and then they might suffer from sensory overload or distraction during critical moments.