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#Blind and partially Sighted
the-delta-quadrant · 9 months
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normalise disabled eyes. normalise crossed eyes, normalise lazy eyes, normalise nystagmus, normalise how disabled eyes look and move. stop being shitty to vision impaired people and others with eye conditions about our fucking eyes. our eyes tell you fuck all about how "smart" we are (stop being intellectually ableist anyway), they don't tell you if we're listening, they just tell you that we have an eye condition.
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yourdailyqueer · 10 months
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Skyler Davenport
Gender: Non binary - Agender (they/them)
Sexuality: Queer
DOB: 22 May 1992  
Ethnicity: White - American
Occupation: Voice actor, actor
Note: Is visually impaired, following a stroke caused by a hemiplegic migraine
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wonderbutch · 2 years
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here’s a reminder for all you abled fucks bc apparently it needs mentioning again!!
Only 15% of all blind people are completely without sight.
a lot of us, not all, but a lot of us, have some vision. we are still blind. fuck you and your assumptions.
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klavierpanda · 1 year
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"Yeah sorry guys but walking frames are bad and inaccessible because they don't help me at all. We should be using canes instead because those help me"
This is how people sound when they are shitting on tone tags. Literally do not use tone tags if they aren't helpful for you. If someone is using tone tags and you aren't sure what they mean, just ask for clarification. You argue that tone tags don't allow for clearer communication but then aren't willing to put in the effort to ask for clarification if you don't understand. No one is forcing you to learn what every single one means or even for you to use them. I ask kindly that people use them when talking to me because I find them helpful but if people don't use them it's whatever.
No accessibility solution will work for every single person. That is just a fact that we have to live with. That doesn't mean everyone should stop having access to them.
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motherofkittens94 · 8 months
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Let's be real tho Aemond would not be a good swordsman you know what happens when you only have one eye vision? Zero depth perception that's what -you can never judge how close you are to anything you gonna be rubbish at anything that requires hand eye coordination
Sorry
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fairmaidnelly · 2 years
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Finally after nearly 10+ years I got my eyes tested and got some glasses 🤓
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raccooninapartyhat · 2 years
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honestly though being blind is so expensive. do you have any idea how often I need to replace cane tips? it's an extra £15 minimum per month and it's so bullshit. like sure I can make a cane tip last two months but that thing gets constant wear and it's no longer a joy to use. in fact, I think it's actually almost harder for me to get around with a worn out cane tip than without a cane completely. like if I don't have a cane I'll stare directly at the ground so I don't fall over anything (even though I walk into people and chairs and poles and doors and stuff) but if I have a worn out cane tip I don't look at the ground and just end up trusting faulty information (which usually leads to me falling over and spraining something or aggravating my torn cartilage)
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soong-type-notinuse · 2 years
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reminder that "genderblind" is an ableist term. blind and hard of sight people are not your cute metaphors to use to describe carelessness, disregard, ignorance, supposed tolerance. low vision is not a personality trait.
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the-smol-machine · 1 year
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Am I blind? Yes.
Can I see? Also yes.
How much can I see? No.
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tefrin · 1 month
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Third tactile 3d print finished to make my #NotA exhibit accessible to Low vision, partially sighted, and blind patrons. I will have to do some filling, but I loved how the background trees printed. If you would like to donate to help with tactile project materials costs: https://ko-fi.com/tefrin/goal?g=0 https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/2YZMT7J4IVD74?ref_=wl_share
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yarnings · 1 year
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I was today years old when I discovered that Canadian banknotes don’t have Braille on them.
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the-delta-quadrant · 9 months
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i need the time blindness people and the gender blindness people to finally understand that you're not fucking exempt from
"stop using vision impairment as a metaphor"
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yourdailyqueer · 1 year
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Jordan Gray
Gender: Transgender woman
Sexuality: N/A
DOB: 11 January 1989  
Ethnicity: White - English
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, comedian, musician, screenwriter, actress
Note 1: First transgender person to headline the London Palladium
Note 2: As a teenager, she suffered from Persisting Perception Disorder. She is completely blind in her left eye.
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All in the Details - LN
Request from @mountymase-vii - Basically its a best friends to lovers idea They've been friends for a while and like each other and it's very obvious to everybody but they are oblivious, so after they finally get together they comment all the things they did for each other like Lando always noticing when something changes on the reader (hair, nails,etc), always buying her favourite snacks, reader fixing Lando's curls, basically behaving like a couple without being a couple
PS I have made SOOOO MANY gifs from his videos so prepare for those to be featured in quite a few fics
No part 2 requests please
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Lando doesn't exactly remember when y/n appeared in his life, just that she did one day and that was it.
"Where are you going?" Lando asks when they step out the hotel and y/n whips her head around.
"Oh, I was just going to wonder around. But on my own..." Y/n smiles which translates to "I'm going to do girlie stuff that you'll get in my way of doing if we go together". But the sight of the pout from him that she's doing her own thing for a couple hours earns a pout. "I'll catch up with you guys."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, yeah of course. Go get your footage to finally post on that movie account and I'll see you later." Y/n nods then hugging him tightly, laughing when he easily picks her up off the ground and spinning her around. "Alright, let me go. I have things to do."
"Have fun!" Lando calls out as she walks away but not without blowing him a kiss.
"She's going to get lost." Max comments making Lando nod.
"Yeah, yes she is. But I made sure she has an air tag in her bag, so I can find her if she gets lost." Lando shrugs while Max laughs at the idea that he really just air tagged y/n.
-
Y/n doesn't get lost. But she does let the boys come to her and find her.
"Hey, I got you, your favourite." Lando states holding out a bag, open so she can look inside.
"You got me an açai bowl?" Y/n gasps with a grin picking it out, but as she holds it with one hand to get the spoon from the bottom of the back, Lando catches her hand looking at her freshly manicured nails.
"Those look nice." Lando smiles smirking a little at the papaya French tips which on her right ring finger towards the nail bed has four little lines. You'd miss it if you weren't looking.
"Thanks, thought it was a nice tribute to my favourite driver." Y/n smiles then swallowing thickly before she pulls her hand back and reaches the spoon again. "How did you guys find me?"
"Lando air tagged you." Max states, speaking up after hardly being acknowledged.
"Sorry but your lack of direction requires extra security." Lando smiles while she grumbles at him, but doesn't argue...partially because her sense of direction really is horrific. "Moving on, we're going shopping do you want to help?"
"Mmm...alright." Y/n nods then giggling as she opens her açai bowl and begins to eat it. "Oh my gosh, this is so good. Want to try?"
Lando smiles getting a mouthful of the smoothie bowl which she made sure to include a bit of everything with.
"Good?"
"Very good."
Now it's points like this that Max has to question if the two of them genuinely are blind. It is the only logical explanation as to how they manage to act not just like a couple but a fully blissfully married for 20 years couple.
Even when they bicker it's intoxicatingly cute. Which would be fine if they would just admit there was more to it between them but they won't.
-
Y/n grins as she does as instructed, sitting on the track like a teddy bear with her legs out in front of her while Lando captures some pictures of her before handing his camera to Max as he rushes to sit in front of her between her legs.
Really. This is really how they act and STILL don't see just see it.
There's a sudden sadness that hits as Max captures the pictures that, he suddenly feels like they at risk of never being more than they are now with each other.
"Let us see." Y/n pouts making grabby hands before Max passes the camera down to Lando who flicks through the photos for them both to see.
"Yeah?" Lando questions looking for y/n's approval.
"Yeah, you're pretty good with a camera, Max." Y/n laughs as Lando stands up then gives her a hand up with him. Then they just stand with Lando somewhat lazily hugging her with one arm around her while he continues to look at his camera.
"You need to have a hair refresh before you come back to media day." Y/n murmurs as she reaches up to try and fix his curls.
"So long as you do it, last time I tried to follow your instructions I got the stupid oil in my eye." Lando smiles earning a hum and nod.
"Alright." Y/n nods with a smile, but she's obviously trying not to laugh at the memory of FaceTiming him and watching him in real time get the oil in his own eye.
-
"So you are not dating y/n?" Carlos questions as they step up onto the driver's parade barge.
"No." Lando frowns as if it should be obvious.
"So I can go for her?" Carlos smiles, purposely trying to provoke the jealous side of the younger driver to force him to have the courage to actually finally make things official with her.
"What? Why would you want to?" Lando asks not even hiding his defensive and angered side just at the mere suggestion of anyone else with her. "She doesn't want to date you."
"Not yet. I think I could get to know her more and-"
"No."
"No what?" Max asks appearing next with a look on his face that seems to suggest he's ready to help with making trouble.
"I was just saying that y/n would make a nice girlfriend." Carlos explains to the dutchman.
"She would." Max confirms while Lando huffs. "Do you think she'd make a bad girlfriend?"
"No! I didn't-But she shouldn't be Carlos' girlfriend."
"Oh right, because she should be yours." Max nods earning a choked out noise. "Mate, the two of you already act like a couple."
"Exactly, you just need to go tell her you love her and ask her to be your girlfriend." Carlos smiles making Lando sigh before deciding to move away from the conversation.
Carlos and Max are far from the first people to try to force Lando to see sense. He's sure y/n's got to have had people speak to her about it and even if she hasn't anyone point out the obvious. The fans in comments online speak for themselves. Lando has featured her in posts and she's featured him, every time they get comments asking if it's a launch, being called "parents" and y/n has gained a followed from fans at races with them asking for to sign things (which she usually says no because she doesn't have an autograph) and photos.
Lando ends ups with George, Oscar, Alex and Logan for the rest of the drivers' parade before he practically marches off.
Annoyingly, he spots y/n outside the McLaren unit and all those emotions seep away into nothing.
She's sitting laughing at something Max said, then flicks an almond at him successfully hitting him straight in the forehead which earns a whine and complaint.
"Are you beating up on Max again?" Lando asks as he nears the two.
"He's being cheeky." Y/n states while Max just shrugs at her with a smile. "Why did you look annoyed in the parade?"
"Me? I wasn't annoyed." Lando lies then clearing his throat and holding his hand out to her. "Come on, I want you to choose my pre-race playlist."
"Bye Max." Y/n smiles sticking out her tongue at him. She'll be seeing him again and spending the whole race with him so it's not as if she is escaping him for long.
She keeps hold of Lando's hand as they move through the unit and she sighs once they're in the privacy of his room.
"Why are you upset with Max?" Lando questions making her frown.
"Why were you annoyed in the parade?"
"I asked first."
"You bloody-well did not." Y/n laughs and he huffs almost wanting to cross his arms and stomp his feet.
"Carlos...was saying some stuff and it annoyed me then Max joined it and it annoyed me more."
"Max said stuff that annoyed me." Y/n shrugs making the driver glare at her a little. "He sounded like all the comments on my instagram post. He's been hassling me so much about it since we got here and-and I don't know what I'm supposed to say anymore."
"What do you want to say?" Lando asks making her spine straighten and her body go stiff as she releases she might've just gone a bit too far in addressing the stuff about them.
Neither of them have actually addressed it with each other, they've never talked about it with each other. Instead they always just dismissed it to others.
"What did Carlos and Max say?" She questions making him look at at her for a moment.
"Carlos said you'd make a good girlfriend for him and Max said that you'd make a good girlfriend for me." Lando states earning a small nod. "It made me realise something."
"What?"
Is now really the time to be doing this?
"That if you got into a relationship with someone else then I'd feel the need to hit them with my car." Lando admits making her laugh a little before she swallows. "And maybe people aren't wrong?"
Y/n perks up a little and there's a sudden light behind her eyes that motivates him to keep speaking.
"Maybe...we would make a pretty amazing couple."
"Yeah?"
"I don't see why not." Lando smiles with a shrug watching her stand up.
"We already do apparently...and if it doesn't work out, we can just got back to how things are now. It would be ok." Y/n nods earning a grin before he cups her face, relieved that she's close enough to give him the chance. He closes the space, stopping just short of their lips touching.
"I've been waiting to ask for a proper good luck kiss from you." Lando whispers, so close that his lips brush her own as he speaks. "Can I?"
"Yes."
She hardly finishes the word before he's closed the space and locked her into a world altering kiss.
"Feeling the good luck?" Y/n whispers when he finally breaks the kiss.
"Not quite, might need another one just to be on the safe side."
"I think I can manage that." Y/n laughs going in for another kiss which he smiles into. "Max is going to freak out."
"Yeah, we'll let him just catch on at his own speed." Lando hums then picking up her hand and admiring her nails. "Maybe we need to hard launch ourselves after he's figured it out?"
"Maybe. But we'll figure that out after the race."
Taglist: @namgification @hiireadstuff @jsjcue @geniusalpaca @itsjustkhaos @llando4norris @partyinpitlane @lpab @xoscar03 @harrysdimple05 @mellowarcadefun @cixrosie @scopeiguess
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kneelingshadowsalome · 4 months
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I know we're all focused on Satyr/Faun König but that bull comment... I'm quite partial to minotaur's and whats better than a darling who isn't from the area. Oh yes she's innocent of the crimes against König because she was not raised there.
Some foreign little creature just running blind in a maze trying to see where there might be a way out. It's been days after all and the screaming has gotten quieter and she wonders if she's the last one left alive. He takes his time eating his meals... this can be stretched out for such a long time as she hides herself in a dead end just a short rest... the darling is so tired unaware of the horrifyingly silent steps moving closer to her little haven. It's just her left now.
@kit-williams I've wanted to write for Minotaur!König for ages!
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Minotaur!König x Ariadne!Reader Word count: 5 k oneshot Tags/warnings: Sexual tension, threats of violence and rape, implied cannibalism, power imbalance, moral ambiguity. Predator/prey dynamic, Beauty and the Beast elements, Ancient Greek religion & lore. 18+ MDNI A/N: The Minotaur in this story is not an actual hybrid. Reader is Hecate’s initiate. Merry Christmas y'all! <3
The screams are the worst part.
They echo through the Labyrinth while you wait and wait and wait.
Even the very stones seem to cry and wail as you place your hope on Theseus who descended to this hell along with you and the human cattle. Seven young men and seven unwed women, meant to satisfy a beast...
And judging by the screams alone, it sounds like the monster is satisfied. It sounds like it's having a ball.
Fourteen lives have been lost, their blood swallowed by the earth as if Hades himself is drinking the crimson of Athenian youth in His feast. The flesh is the beast’s to devour: an underworld demon born of tainted lust.
Half bull, half man, you always thought the stories were only tales told by the fire to scare children. Turns out that the stories, for once, are true. There's something even worse in this maze, something cursed and foul... Hecate herself would shiver if She were here, in the womb of the earth, witnessing what you’re witnessing now.
You don’t actually see the Bull of Crete cut or hack or slash anyone, and you can only imagine what the monster does to the bloody, gutted corpses of the young. The only thing you see are the hollow, dark walls carved out of soil, sand, and clay, the intestine-like route dug deep into the earth. And you don't have to see the massacre: the screams tell you enough. The silence that follows betrays even more.
Your only light is flickering, waning: the candle will hardly last an hour. If the hero from Athens won’t arrive soon, you will have to leave this place. 
And oh, how you want to leave… You were a fool to follow him here. Blinded by love and hope, you thought Theseus of Athens would be your way out of Crete, but it’s clear that the only thing the young hero is capable of loving is fame. The only time his eyes turned to yours was when you said you might be able to help him with a small bundle of yarn.
Red as the setting sun or spilling blood, the thin woollen string is your only way out now. It’s ironic how a heap of twine is the only thing that can help you out of this hellhole, but the Fates always did possess a cruel sense of humour. Your silly daydreams might’ve cost your life, and even if you’re sworn to the dark goddess, you would rather die anywhere but here. In the darkness, all alone, with nothing but eyeless worms to keep company to your decaying bones.
The sudden draft from the outside world is warm but threatens to blow out your candle. It’s a sign from Apollo: if you don’t leave now, you’re dead. Theseus has to manage without you because you’re not dying in this underworld prison because of some man’s stupid lust for fame.
There's only deafening silence in the maze as you scurry up, taking support from the wall as your sight darkens for a moment. You rose too soon: you can’t even remember the last time you ate. And it appears that even the sun god has abandoned you because there's a faint echo of steps in the tunnel, and they don’t belong to a man. They’re too thick, unduly heavy, and it’s not a pair of sandals that are thumping against the soil.
So, Theseus is dead...
So much for the legend, the myth, the demigod.
Heart thumping in your chest and in the hollow of your throat, it threatens to drown the sound of approaching footsteps. They’re all dead, the people who descended here with you. The only thing you are right now is prey. You're being hunted; whether the Minotaur knows you're here or not, you know you're being hunted. You can feel it in your gut.
You cover the candle with one hand, hoping that the flickering light doesn’t reach around the bend. The falling thump of the footsteps stops, and you still your breath, hoping that the beast would turn around and search the other way.
You hear it sniffing behind the wall. It's trying to catch your scent in the air, the smell of dread and terror, sweat so thick it must reach his nostrils and make them flare with lust. Your heart is thundering in your chest, and the tunnel is so quiet that that you’re certain the creature will hear that, too. (Your heart always betrays you.)
And your luck is cursed.
The beast shifts. 
You can’t see him yet, but you can hear it: the scraping sound underneath his feet as he aligns himself anew, choosing the path that leads straight down to you.
“Hecate save me,” you whisper into the air that seems to grow denser as he approaches, loud thumps of feet now accompanied by metal grating against clay. 
“Hear me, flame-bearing guide... Darkness, protect me…”
He’s dragging bronze against the wall, announcing that he’s carrying a weapon with him, the strength of a bull apparently not satisfying enough if he wants to break your bones with metal.
Don’t blow out the candle... 
If you blow it out, you’ll die.
It’s a clear message, a knowing voice in your head that says it. It’s not young, it’s not old: just knowing. Alert. Wise beyond ages. 
So you still your breath and wait.
Shadows fill the curve of the tunnel just before he emerges: thick like thunder, a darkness so deep that even the name of the twilight goddess escapes your tongue. 
And he’s big. Bigger than the bulls you used to dance with, bigger than kings, or heroes, bigger than even Theseus, the man you thought was a myth walking. His head is enormous, bigger than the rest of him, awkward and rough like it’s not quite part of him even though he’s supposed to be half ox. 
The gigantic, horned figure stops when it sees you. Vast shoulders tense; the fat, double-edged sword falls to his side when he settles to loom between you and your only way to escape this place. You’re oddly thankful that the horrible screeching stopped, but then you notice that his blade is drenched in blood: actually, his torso, thighs, even the buckskin loincloth – the only garment this monster has chosen to wear – is spattered with red dots. 
The bronze tip drips with crimson, and the earth drinks it all. Hades is never satisfied: this beast is never full. Everyone who was sent down here is dead: everyone else has met their doom except you. You wonder if your mother would cry if she heard her only daughter died because she fell in love with a fool.
“I killed your hero,” the walls of hell boom. 
His voice is thick like tar, dark and foul like it’s the God of Earth himself speaking.
The flame in your hand quivers from fear, and you slowly remove your palm, the tiny candle illuminating the beast with warm homely yellow, making the prominent muscles of his chest even bigger. 
He’s carved like the statues in Athens, only, this giant is far hairier than the painted marble heroes of the city. The hair on his chest is thick and wild; it shoots down his abdomen and disappears underneath the loincloth, spreads over his inner thighs, even covers his shins in dark mats. He looks like a wild man, a beast indeed: sweaty, filthy and thick. But you never knew a beast like him could talk…
“A coward, that one,” he snarls, the voice reverberating oddly like it’s a human man speaking from under a wooden mask or inside a clay jug.
And you believe every word he says.
Theseus was strong and able-bodied, but he had built his strength just to show it off. This man’s body speaks of pure, ripe survival.
A hulking shadow with shoulders that barely fit the tunnels of the Labyrinth, with palms nearly twice the size of yours, he’s the myth walking instead of the hero whose blood now adorns that dull bronze blade. The Minotaur who survived his father’s wrath, his mother’s absence, these bleak surroundings, and all the heroes sent down to get his head… His weapon isn’t even sharp anymore, and still, he managed to cut through the sacrificial humans like butter. And what a horrific death it must’ve been to be hacked to pieces by a dull blade.
Is it evil of you to hope that the death of your “hero” wasn’t a quick one…?
Theseus was a fool and a coward, rotten to the core, but you saw all of that too late. He never cared about the human sacrifices or the king’s wrath; he never cared about digging into Pasiphae’s sorrow. He only cared about getting his face depicted on a pot or having his deeds played out in amphitheatres, his name uttered in song, accompanied by harp and flute.
“I know.”  
Your voice gets sucked into the earth: it doesn’t echo from the walls like his. It’s thin, damp, and frail, just like everything else meant to walk under the sun instead of stand buried under the earth.
But the beast before you tilts its head a little. It’s curious. 
Why would you say that? 
Why don’t you cry from hearing the news...? Why don’t you howl out your hero’s name and beg the gods to heed your grief? Why don’t you run away from a monster?
The candlelight is puny and weak, but it’s bright enough to bring out the eyes of an animal. You draw breath in the dampness of the earth when you finally see it: the bull’s head is devoid of eyes, and yet, the beast still has them. Blue as the summer sky, stern as the death grip of winter just before spring.
There’s nothing but ripped shreds of skin where the eyes should be, and instead of looking at you from the sides, they’re greeting you from the front. The horns are sturdy, but otherwise, the colossal head is a bit skewed... Thick patches of fur sticking out as if it was years and years old, and then – you realize it’s not his head; it’s only an illusion. 
There’s a man under there. A full, grown man who’s made himself a terrible helmet out of a bull’s carcass. 
“You’re a man,” you say out loud, earning yourself another shift of the colossal head.
“...What?”
The muffled echo confirms it: he’s speaking from inside the bull, moving only slightly to get a better look at you. 
“You’re not a monster. You’re just a man.”
His eyes are wild but intelligent; they pierce you from inside the inanimate shield. The large chest heaves, his ribs flare like sails as he draws air through what must be the foul stench of a long-dead animal.
He takes a step, and you shrink, almost dropping your candle and the roll of red yarn.
“You think talking will save you, female?”
He speaks like a man, walks like a man, but his moves are an animal’s. Shoulders slightly hunched like he’s a bull about to attack, you recognize the way his muscles quiver from the times when you used to do bull leaping. You don’t dance with Rhea’s oxen anymore: your tasks at Hecate’s temple are more suitable and less wild for a maiden your age. Back when you were younger and more agile, you used to jump from the back of one bull to the next, clouds of dust swirling around you as you showed your prowess to the priests.
But you can’t charm this ox by dancing. This one can’t be tricked or fooled: he will pierce you with those horns or his brazen sword if you take even a step.
“I can get you out of here,��� you wet your lips, noticing that the blue eyes shoot straight to your mouth when you do that. “I know the way out.”
“What makes you think I want out,” he says, so tight and tense that you fear he’s either about to leap at your throat or plunge his sword into your chest.
And you should be concerned about your own safety, not about his sensibilities – if he even has such things – but hearing this beast man’s reply is like drinking bile. 
Why would anyone want to stay here?
You don’t know if he eats human flesh; you don’t know if he had to in order to survive. Everyone knows why his father threw him down here, but no one knows he’s not half the things the people above say he is. And if half of it isn’t true, what other lies have been told about the Minotaur? 
Even most prisoners see the sun, yet this man has been deprived of that, too. He’s been robbed of mother’s love, of father’s mercy, of friends and foes, of mentors and guides. He’s been robbed of life, of stars, of fires and summer skies, of women’s giggles, of fistfights with fellow men. Of songs and plays, of festivals and games, of bull dances, and maidens that leap…
“Have you ever been up there…? On the surface?”
You turn your voice into soft water on pebbles, a soothing pour of persuasion and goodwill. His pecs contract, strong abs under thin hair and body fat bunch like you’re about to hit him there. You take a step, and now it’s his turn to shun away. It’s only half an inch, but he actually moves away from you. 
“I can take you there,” you offer gently. “Have you ever seen the sun…?”
It’s like talking to a starved predator, trying to entice them to follow you with a fresh steak in hand, hoping that the fanged mouth won’t take more than was promised if it decides to accept the offering.
And the beast accepts. 
“As a boy,” he grunts, a tad more softly. 
Those eyes are fixed on you, reminding you of horses when they’re slightly afraid. The glint of white and blue behind the carcass is fiercely alive, quite unlike the hollow, disinterested stare of the Athenian hero who was only interested in himself.
But this beast is interested. Oh, the Bull Man of Crete is wildly, fiercely curious about you. 
“You’ll take me to the sun,” he repeats, an affirmation rather than a question.
“Yes. To the surface. I promise.”
He moves. Like an animal who learned long ago to drive others into the corner so that he wouldn’t get forced there himself, he’s primal, sensual in the way that oracles in a trance are sensual.
Approaching you in silence that’s almost eerie, the hairs at the nape of your neck stand on end by the time he’s only an arm’s length away. Why announce his coming earlier if he can move so quietly?
“You’ll lead me to my father.” 
His gaze bores into you, and not even the warm draft from the tunnels can prevent you from shivering. He’s distrustful, and it’s no wonder. It must be odd that some girl with a candle and a bundle of yarn is suddenly waiting for him around the bend, and doesn’t even flee. He’s a behemoth, but he’s not stupid. A stupid man would not have been able to survive, let alone thrive in this place.
And why should he trust you? Who is he supposed to trust in this maze when every person he has seen has either run away from him or tried to kill him? His father will slaughter him if he ever escapes the Labyrinth, so what else is a priestess in his kingdom but a squealing mouse, trying to feed him lies and then guide him to the surface and into a forest of spears? 
“No,” you shake your head slowly. “No, I promise I know the way. There will be no soldiers–”
You shut your mouth just before a huge palm closes around your throat. 
Gods, but he moves fast when he wants to… 
The candle and the yarn drop the instant his hand seizes your neck, strong fingers nearly meeting at the back as he squeezes your windpipe ever so slowly.
And he’s so close now. The carcass reeks of death, but the man underneath stinks of plain human sweat. His musk is a peculiar mix of blood, earth and soil, something both stale and invigorating, the thin sheen of sweat and dirt covering his muscles making him look like a common builder. It’s strange that the bull’s head hasn’t yet decayed in this place, that the man doesn’t reek of bodies and bones that must be scattered around like debris further down the tunnels. 
Another thing that’s strange is that he doesn’t seem to want to simply silence you.
He also wants to touch you.
A wide thumb strokes the underside of your jaw as he studies you. It slides down the column of your throat, the blue eyes gleaming with fascination when you swallow against him.
He drinks in the sight of you: the lips that part with fear, the frail collarbones that breathe against the side of his palm. The promising crevice between your breasts, the enticing softness of your teats. 
You can hear his breath grow heavy under ox skin and bone, the rugged, vicious helmet he has chosen to wear. What lies under, you can only imagine, wherein he has little left to the imagination when taking in the curve of your breasts, your nipples rising to peaks under the thin white linen only temple virgins use. 
Seeing your reaction to his touch makes him growl -- he actually growls like an animal, a deep, low rumble of approval rising up his throat when he sees how different your body is from his. How supple and cushy it is, soft and plump like a peach, covered only barely as if to tease a best like him. You wonder if he ever took pleasure in the maidens sent here by the king… If he ever thrust the sword between his legs into their weak bodies before giving them the mercy of his actual blade. Would he even know what to do with a woman, having lived here for so long?
“Please,” you whisper, bringing his eyes back to yours, the ice in them now liquid sapphire of pure want. 
Gods… You need to bring his attention back to your offer of help before he sees it more compelling to just stay here and play with his new, plump little mouse. Virgin or not, you wouldn’t survive a mating with this man. 
“I swear on Hecate’s torch that it’s not a trap. You have my word: I’m a priestess soon to be.”
He’s entranced. Hypnotized by your lips. You lick them to confirm your fears true: the man grunts with pleasure, out of instinct, absentmindedly like an animal who reacts to the sight of a fat, meaty bone. 
Oh, he might not know what to do with a woman… But he would try his best to find out. 
“Priestess…?” He rasps.
“It’s a holy woman,” you explain. “I serve the Goddess of the Crossroads.”
He snorts, either because he’s not impressed or because he’s downright amused by your vocation. The eyes, warmer, more demanding now, are far from the eyes of a bewildered beast.
“Little female of the crossroads... You will take me to the king. And then, I will kill him.”
He puts weight into his words, tries to make you understand. 
He wants you to guide him to his father. 
To the King who claims his son is half bull, to the husband who claims his wife was adulterous with an ox. To the King who demands tribute as virgins so that he can send them down to hell. The dark goddess screams justice, but you're at a horrible stalemate.
The gods will curse you for this… They will smite you with a bolt of lightning or drown you next time you cross the great sea if they see you’ve helped this half-beast escape. If you guide him to Minos, you’re a participant in kingslaying, and the gods never forget things like that.
“He’s your father and the king of Crete,” you whisper in fear. “The gods will strike you down–”
“Gods?” He spits. “I piss on the gods. I fuck their corpses and leave them to rot.”
You almost choke on the blasphemy levelled at you. The shadows creep closer, the stare behind the black fur is dark and amused, burning with the crooked wrath of a thousand years. 
“Perhaps I’ll fuck you too.”
It’s unnerving that you don’t find the threat wholly unappealing.
If anything, your eyes drift down to the hairs of his chest, to the two big muscles that resemble the work of the best sculptors in Athens. 
“Are you a virgin, female of the crossroads?”
His eyes search for your response: they want to see your fear and disgust. You swallow again, arduously against his hand, both caressing and testing you. 
The beast leans forward, as if weighing if he could somehow insult the gods by pillaging you. The rough hair of his chest meets the white cloth, it brushes against your nipples as he bends down to have a good sniff of you.
“You smell like a virgin,” he growls.
The hand leaves your throat, only to travel down your sternum. He grabs your breast nonchalantly, a little too roughly, the hot palm closing around the teat and squeezing it like it’s a toy. When you don’t react, he squeezes it again, this time hard enough to coax a whimper out of you.
“Sound like a virgin…”
Without warning, the hand dives straight between your legs next, palm forcing its way through your thighs and curving to cup your sex, moulding around it with barbaric thirst.
“Feel like a virgin, too.”
It’s thick, hot, and heavy, how he simply tries you through your dress. Fingers testing your folds, he’s clearly enjoying the subtle wetness he finds down there. You can hear another hitched grunt pushing up his throat, rugged and whiny this time, a broken groan that dissipates because of how dry his throat is. 
No man has ever dared to lay his hands on you... Many have wanted, but none have tried. Even drunkards and fools respect women who belong to the dark goddess.
But he doesn’t care about the wrath of Hecate. He doesn’t give a shit about the gods. He simply takes what he wants, what falls into his lap. The fifteenth offering, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in devouring your flesh. 
How easily he could simply yank that loincloth aside and drag your dress up. Force his cock into your tight, wet heat without uttering a word. You doubt that he would even take the trouble of laying you down on the ground for taking... Beasts rut when they want to: this man could fuck you against this wall if his loins demanded so, guttural groans being the last thing you hear before the candle goes out. 
You don’t know if you have to spread your legs for him before this is over, but you reckon you will do even that if it means you’ll see the sun again. You’ll endure every thick thrust, and gods be cursed, you wouldn’t even be solely disgusted if this half-animal chose to breed you... As shameful as it is, you would somewhat enjoy having him rut you like an animal in heat.
And you’ve gone mad, surely. 
You want to touch him too, just to test another theory. 
Deciding that it's a good idea to stick your hand into the maw of hell, your fingers lift. They meet his bicep, and the lewd panting stops.
He’s not even breathing… He’s just drowsy and drunk, looking at you with a mixture of soft sleepiness and awe in his stare. Like a dog who has never been petted, even his eyes drift half closed when he forgets to threaten you, now focusing solely on your hand. 
And you start to caress him, slowly, so slowly… Tracing the muscle all the way up where it meets the shoulder, you stroke even the thick cord that leads to his neck. The rest of him disappears under the bull, but the man behind it already shivers under your touch. He even bends his head a little in hopes that you would go under the mask and touch him there, and the gesture reminds you of an animal exposing its vulnerable areas, baring its very throat in submission. 
Braving a quick peek down, you notice that the buckskin cloth is stretched high and wide. His whole body is tense and immobile: you could cup him through the soft animal skin and he would probably shoot his seed from a single stroke of your palm. 
If this is not a virgin, you don’t know what is...
In a way, it would perhaps be wise to shove your hand down and disarm this man. That way, you would be safe for a few more minutes. Instead, you lay your palm over his chest, right over where his heart should be. 
“So do you, Bull of Crete...”
His gaze flickers.
The darkness hesitates, widens, nearly swallows the azure pools whole. But he doesn’t look irate or wild... Only shocked.
It’s an impasse. A thicket. His hand on you, your hand on him.
He surrenders first: the underworld budges before the utterly pure. You bless him with grace the instant he withdraws his hand from between your legs – slowly, reluctantly, like leaving a place that belongs to him. Or to which he belongs…
“I promise I’ll help you, Minos Tauros. But I need you to give me something in return.”
You remove your hand too. Softly, slowly, like a horse master who trains and tames wild things. All words seem to have escaped his tongue: he only grunts, unsure of what a beast like him could give you in return for your help.
“You must promise to be kind to me.”
“Kind...?”
“I need you to behave,” you explain. “No bad things on the way up... No fucking.”
Everything else, he seems to accept, but during the last sentence the Minotaur blinks at you, utterly confused.
“But... You smell like you want to fuck.” 
Your jaw drops open a tiny bit. Then you remember that a priestess of Hecate doesn’t gawk.
“I don’t–How would you know that…?”
The beast only shrugs. Then he leans forward and takes another sniff as if to prove it’s true that you want his cock inside you.
“You smell good,” he grunts. “Different... Female, not afraid.”
“That doesn’t mean I want to…”
He even raises his hand to inspect the slight wetness there. Fascinated by the thin film on his fingers, he rubs his thumb in it, probably thinking about bringing it under his mask to get a good sniff of your juices too.
You grab his wrist without thinking, mortified to your core by the prospect of him getting high on your slick. 
“Look. We need to leave before the candle burns out.”
The obsessive stare threatens to swallow you once more, so you let go of his wrist and steel your resolve. Scooting down to grab your things, you try to ignore the violent erection still pointing straight at you.
Hecate keep you from offering yourself to this man out of your own free will...
And you don’t have a torch, only a candle and a skein of blood-red yarn, but you know the way out, so there’s hope. There’s always hope.
“I need you to promise me,” you turn at the mouth of the tunnel, seeing that he’s still standing there, in the place where he almost took you like his first whore. As if waking up from a thrall, he straightens to his full height, picks up his sword and looks like a half-human, half-bull once more.
“I promise,” comes a booming voice from under the animal skull. “No fucking… I’ll behave.” 
You nod. There's a sense of trust in the air. A promise of hope... It's mutual, invigorating -- life-giving, like the sun and blood in your hands.
You don't know if the son of Minos has ever smiled in here, but from the quick glint in his eyes, you suspect that he's smiling right now, the man under that animal mask. Somehow, it reminds you of the stars in the sky.
“Lead the way, maiden.”
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afeelgoodblog · 5 days
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The Best News of Last Week
1. A branch of the flu family tree has died and won't be included in future US vaccines
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A type of flu virus that used to sicken people every year hasn't been spotted anywhere on Earth since March 2020. As such, experts have advised that the apparently extinct viruses be removed from next year's flu vaccines.
The now-extinct viruses were a branch of the influenza B family tree known as the Yamagata lineage. Scientists first reported the apparent disappearance of Yamagata viruses in 2021.
2. Hospitals must obtain written consent for pelvic and similar exams, the federal government says
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Hospitals must obtain written informed consent from patients before subjecting them to pelvic exams and exams of other sensitive areas — especially if an exam will be done while the patient is unconscious, the federal government said Monday.
New guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now requires consent for breast, pelvic, prostate and rectal exams for “educational and training purposes” performed by medical students, nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
3. Germany approves new law that will allow adults to carry up to 25 grams of cannabis for their own consumption and store up to 50 grams at home.
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Germany's upper house, the Bundesrat, cleared the way to partially legalize cannabis on Friday. Adults aged 18 and over will be allowed to carry up to 25 grams of cannabis for their own consumption.
4. Tick-killing pill shows promising results in human trial | Should it pan out, the pill would be a new weapon against Lyme disease.
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Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is developing a pill for humans that could provide protection against the tick-borne disease for several weeks at a time. In February, the Irvine, California–based biotech company announced results from a small, early-stage trial showing that 24 hours after taking the drug, it can kill ticks on people, with the effects lasting for up to 30 days.
5. Thailand moves to legalise same-sex marriage
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Thailand has taken a historic step closer to marriage equality after the lower house passed a bill giving legal recognition to same-sex marriage.
It still needs approval from the Senate and royal endorsement to become law but it is widely expected to happen by the end of 2024, making Thailand the only South East Asian country to recognise same-sex unions.
6. French Revolution: Cyclists Now Outnumber Motorists In Paris
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Official measurements have found that Paris is rapidly becoming a city of transportation cyclists. In the suburbs, where public transit is less dense, transport by car was found to be the main form of mobility. But for journeys from the outskirts of Paris to the center, the number of cyclists now far exceeds the number of motorists, a huge change from just five years ago.
7. 'Miracle' operation reverses blindness in three-year-old girl giving her 'promising' future
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A three year old with a genetic condition that causes blindness is doing incredibly well after unique pioneering operation to restore her sight.
The UK is the only country performing keyhole eye surgery to inject healthy copies of a gene into sufferers’ eyes. It is being used to reverse blindness in children born with a rare condition which means they can only distinguish between light and dark. And it has given little Khadijah Chaudhry, born with Leber congenital amaurosis-4, a chance at seeing properly again.
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That's it for this week :)
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