humans are space orcs
imagine someone with chronic joint pain, whose dream their whole lives has been to go to space and meet the aliens and be a scientist and learn
so they look up the requirements as a kid and go "fuck."
they wouldn't make the cut.
their dreams are dashed. hopes ruined. lifelong dre destroyed.
except....
they've never really said a whole lot about their pain. they don't particularly like doctors, and they think that they've been managing just fine, so they never saw the point.
so maybe... maybe if they just don't say anything, they can make it to space.
they spend all of their time training. doing physical therapy exercises so that their joints aren't so loose, soaking up as much scientific and mathematical knowledge as they can, teaching themselves to push through the worst of it in pursuit of their dream.
and they make it.
they make it to space! it was gruelling, tortuous work, but they made it!
their first mission is an exploratory one, with a diverse crew which only has one other human.
they're thrilled.
they have dozens of alien friends and acquaintances. they spend hours learning and researching alien planets and cultures. it's everything they've ever wanted!
but
it's exhausting.
they're in more pain than they've ever been, more frequently than they ever have.
they keep up their exercises as best they can, but even those are often too much.
they smile when asked if they're alright, tell everyone that "i'm fine! just tired."
but they need a break. they can't imagine going or being sent back to earth, this is their home now, with these people, on this ship. but they don't know how much longer they can take this.
one day, on their day off, a fellow researcher comes and knocks on their door.
"are you here?"
"not today islith."
"but we've been called! there are some exciting new discoveries that need further cataloging and investigation, and carlmoth thought you would enjoy the task!"
"i can't today, islith."
"are you ill?"
"...kind of? but i'll be right as rain tomorrow. it's my day off anyhow."
"nonsense! you should go down to medbay!"
"i'm alright, i promise."
"you get out here right this minute or i'll report you to medbay myself!"
"no!" there's a series of crashes and thumps, and then they open the door.
"oh, you look awful. come on, you really must need medbay, what if you're contagious." islith tries to grab them but they shy away.
"i'm not contagious, i promise."
"how can you possibly know that? what if you picked it up from a sample, or, or, garfon has been sick recently! humans can't survive cerian sicknesses-"
"i didn't catch something from garfon, islith," they sigh and open the door wider. "come in and let me explain."
"alright, but if i think you should go to medbay afterwards then i'm taking you there."
"sure, islith."
islith enters, notices the piles of clothes, rumpled bedsheets, the lights are off and the port window shut.
"what's wrong?"
they sigh again, "my body doesn't work like it's meant to, islith."
islith is wildly alarmed, "and you said there was no need for medbay?!? come with me right now and-"
"no! i can't, islith, you don't understand."
"then explain it to me."
"i've... always been this way, although it's gotten worse as i've gotten older. my body, it just isn't built quite right, there's something wrong with it that makes it not work properly and hurt often."
"you're right, i don't understand. why can't you go to medbay?"
"i'd... be thrown off the ship."
"what?!?"
and so they tell islith a story about a young child whose dream was to touch the stars.
"and now, it's too late. i'd get in huge trouble for lying to the government, especially for so long."
"well- but- but humans are so resilient! you hear all the stories!"
"not every human is the same, islith. some of us are born disabled, and some of us get hurt in accidents, just like any other species."
"well, then, well there must be something we can do?"
they look up in shock, "we?"
"of course we, you ridiculous creature," islith said with a fond sigh. "you didn't think i'd leave you to suffer, would you?"
"but, you could get in so much trouble!"
"that's alright, i don't mind. what else are friends for? and, anyway, we don't have to tell your government, we can tell mine."
"but i'll-"
"we don't have any rules like that. any of us who are disabled can still manage in space just fine with the right support, and i bet you could too."
"i- islith- i don't-"
"don't worry, we'll all back you when it comes down to it. you're out teammate, our family. no one on this ship wants to watch you leave because of something you can't control. now come on, let's talk to glidlep in medical, she'll understand."
and for years, things continued on that way, until eventually it was an open secret that the human with the exosuit was disabled and not technically allowed onboard.
and down the line, when nasa found out and was furious, the entire ship and more stood by their side.
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A while back I finally figured out how to use UBlock's element blocker and promptly went mad with power. Just now I turned off all my extensions to debug something and realized how much more useable it made everything. As soon as I see something annoying I open the Ublock popup, select the element picker, click the annoying thing, and (most of the time) the annoying thing is gone forever and I never have to think about it. So here's my shameless ad pitch for things you can do with it, other than the default "block ads":
Remove all of the UI buttons that are definitely useful for someone but that you're never going to use in your life
Remove UI buttons you use only once, like "register"
Hide the "Posts +" button in tumblr
Clear all of the information your credit card website tries to show you that you don't care about so that you can focus on the couple numbers that you do
Send those pop-up "do you want to chat!" notifications to hell, where they belong
Remove various website overlays
Remove specifically the calorie numbers on food delivery websites
Hide the comments and recommended videos sidebar on youtube
Hide promotions that an adblocker doesn't pick up on because they're native
Hide your facebook newsfeed (if you just use it for chat/events/groups)
Hide discord's sidebar when you just need one channel open and don't want to be distracted, and then unhide it when you want it back
Get rid of distracting moving elements on pages
Hide almost all of the elements on twitter except the actual tweet, if you only interact with twitter via other people's links and don't want to be sucked down the rabbit hole
Generally hide "Related!" or "See also" or "You might like!" type distractions on sites where you only want to see what you came there for, not browse
Remove all of the news from weather websites so that they can actually do their job and show you just the weather
Remove the footer text on websites no one ever reads
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Just a laundry list of stuff from the Terror scripts that doesn’t nearly get as talked about as much as it should and I’m going to make it everyone else’s problem
The way that neptune’s shit in front of hickey is LITERALLY a revenge shit. Puppy knew puppy always knew- but also how neptune is so beautifully and carefully tied into scenes like. The script loved this dog. So fucking much ("we put up with it because the captain loves it" DAMN RIGHT!!!! THATS HIS DOOOOOOG).
As much as I hate these bitches: that extended scene with Sir John and Lady Jane???? Him in bed with the flu and they are literally the picture of casual tenderness and affection and I might never recover from it. He literally asks her to stowaway like I CANNOT with that shit it’s so unbelievably cute. "I'm ill, Jane" will haunt me forever.
Sofia’s “you should marry a pole, not a woman”??? YYYYYYYOWCH
Also the change your jacket before you come down to dinner bit to Francis that was carried over from the book makes me go insane. Yes. Change your whole self to make yourself presentable to good society and then you can be with us. Yeah. Sooo fucking normal (I am yanking that man away from Sofia with my fucking teeth on the scruff of his neck).
Also. The Pelgar Bridgens romance. Is so real. Show gets so subtle with it I read it as a storge kinda bromance first go around but script loved these two guys being in love so much and it was beautiful that it was literally written queer love from the get go. And put up against Hickey and Gibson it’s a stark and beautiful and TRAGIC as fuck contrast. Like show showed it well but the way it was actually written is ascendant to me.
JFJ being at home in combat. Jesus fucking christ. And the crown of thorns. Jesus was a man riddled with scurvy and his name was james fitzjames. also the splinter thing he literally carries the ship with him in the most painful way possible. christ alive.
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