Poem: "Brush Yourself Off"
Aug. 8th, 2016 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem was written outside the regular prompt calls, inspired by the "making someone smile" square in my 6-1-16 card for the Cottoncandy Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
Warning: This is mostly fluff, but Turq being Turq, it contains some sensitive stuff too. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It features PTSD, self-criticism, sensory issues, Ansel trying to cope with his chosen but sometimes still disconcerting body changes, Turq struggling to deal with personal interactions, do-it-yourself physical therapy, Turq's peculiar shapeshifting-induced body images, trial and error with body brushes, China is bottom-ten because reasons, and other challenges. There is detailed description of tactile activities, so if you get a lot of vicarious effects from that, make sure you're in the mood for it. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before moving onward.
"Brush Yourself Off"
Turq fretted over his body
and over his behavior
and over his body's behavior.
"Listen," Ansel said to him,
"a lot of bad things have
happened to you. It's not fair
to expect that it won't affect you.
What you need to do is find ways
of dealing with those impacts."
"I know," Turq said glumly.
"That means pick yourself up,
brush yourself off, and move
forward," Ansel said. "It does
not mean pick on yourself."
Turq scratched at the scars
on his forearm. "I guess."
"I wanted to let you know that Ethan
is dropping by today," Ansel said.
"I don't know if I can handle
that," Turq whispered, tilting
his chin toward his chest.
"No pressure," Ansel said with
a smile. "If all you can do is stay
in the same yard with him, that's
better than bolting into the woods."
"And if I can't even manage
that much?" Turq said.
"Then we'll know where you're at
today, and we can try again
another day," Ansel said.
Turq shook himself a little.
"Why's Ethan coming here?"
"He's got an idea that he thinks
will help both of us," Ansel said.
"But there's nothing wrong
with you," Turq said.
"Right, because freaking out
over someone touching my hair
was perfectly normal," Ansel drawled.
"I've gotten more sensitive, and if I
don't integrate that somehow, it's
going to drive me nuts."
"I'll try to stick around," Turq said.
The waiting made him jittery,
but he stayed in the yard and
he stayed in human form, until
Ethan arrived with his teleporter
like an escort on a gentleman's arm.
"Morning, Ethan, thanks for
coming today," Ansel said.
"Any time," Ethan replied,
waving off his teleporter.
A large canvas bag printed
with some inspirational quotes
swung from his right hand,
full of mysterious items.
"So what did you bring?"
Ansel said, fizzing with curiosity.
Turq hung back, but that
was okay; Ansel could
ask the questions for now.
"Brushes," said Ethan. "There
are whole therapy exercises that
rely on brushes, but people use them
for other stuff too. They can stimulate
the lymphatic system, remove dead skin,
spice up the bedroom -- all kinds of things."
"Really?" Ansel said, leaning forward.
"Sure, I was talking with another healer
about it and he gave me some ideas,"
Ethan said. "You can get a therapist
if you want, or you can just try things
yourself to see what works for you.
There are spas that brush people
just because it feels fantastic."
Turq drifted closer, and Ansel
turned to ask, "Do you mind
if we use the gazebo for this?"
"It's your place," Turq said.
"Yes, but I've been sharing it
with you, so it's polite to ask
before barging in," Ansel said.
"It's okay," Turq agreed.
So they sat down in the gazebo,
although Turq stayed near the door.
Ethan poured out a whole heap
of brushes, some with handles
and some without, made of
natural or synthetic bristles,
wood or plastic backs.
"There are therapy brushes,
like this one," he said, pointing out
a white brush with fine nylon bristles.
"They're specially designed for skin.
Really soft hairbrushes like those
meant for babies can work too."
Ansel picked up the pink one
and tested the bristles. They were
so soft, they probably wouldn't control
even his silk-fine hair, but they felt
pretty good against his hand.
Turq rocked back and forth,
almost reaching then pulling away.
"Want one?" Ansel asked, picking up
a pretty blue brush. "I could throw it."
"Yeah," Turq said, spreading his hands.
Ansel gave it an easy, underhanded toss
and it landed neatly in Turq's grasp.
"Is that one a shaving brush?" Turq said.
"Yes, it is," said Ethan. "I've got
a few horse brushes in here, too,
then other textures like sponges and
bathing mitts and stuff. I even brought
fur, velvet, and feathers in case you
like lighter touch. Plenty of people
want to have a range of intensity from
really soft brushes to stiffer ones."
"That sounds like a good idea,"
Ansel said, testing the texture
of some other brushes. "So how
is this supposed to help us?"
"Well, there are some fancy protocols
for therapy, or dry brushing which is simpler.
There are other kinds of sensation play too,"
Ethan said. "My suggestion is that you explore
a few different brushes and vary the pressure
to find what feels good to you. Be careful if
you try brushing over your front -- it can make
some people feel queasy or like they need to pee."
"I like having my tummy brushed,
when I'm furry," Turq said quietly.
"Even in human form, I like being
rubbed or tickled there -- well,
not so much tickled now, but
when I was little I liked it."
"Try it and see what works for you,"
Ethan encouraged. "Usually people
prefer firm strokes, but it can be
overwhelming for others and
they need a lighter touch."
Turq turned the brush over and
over in his hands, testing the bristles.
Tentatively Ansel tried brushing his
forearm. "Oh, wowwww," he said.
"Turq, this is amazing, you gotta try it."
"Stroke toward your heart," Ethan said.
"That's a dry-brushing technique, so it
follows the flow of your lymphatic system.
The therapeutic model uses longer strokes,
moving in different directions, to help
your body connect with itself."
"Yeah, I definitely need that,"
Turq said. "My stupid body
can't even remember how
all the parts go together."
"Be gentle with yourself,"
Ansel reminded him. "Your body
has been through a really rough time."
"I'm no expert, but I've seen some of
the patterns," Ethan said. "Try going
from your wrist to elbow, then back down,
then up to your shoulder in long smooth strokes."
Turq tried it, but had a hard time keeping
the rhythm, and the sensation itself
seemed to distract him from the strokes.
"This is harder than it looks," he said.
"Sometimes it's easier if another person
does the brushing for you, but not everyone
can tolerate that," Ethan mentioned.
"Oh, do me," said Ansel, holding out
his arm. "I want to compare that
against doing it for myself."
Ethan took the pink brush and
went through the same motions,
while Ansel made blissful noises.
It was like massage, and yet not;
like brushing his hair, only not quite.
At first it was almost too much,
his whole skin waking up and
twitching from all the stimulation,
but soon it settled and felt soothing.
"Keep it up for a couple minutes,
it gets more relaxing," he told Turq.
Turq focused on that task.
"Want to try a different brush?"
Ethan asked, waving at them.
"Sure," Ansel said. "Do they
feel different between the ones
with natural or synthetic bristles?"
"Let's find out." Ethan stroked him with
each brush, naming the types of bristles.
"Too scratchy," Ansel said
of the boar-bristle brush.
"I brought that one for your hair,
not your skin, in case you wanted
something to stimulate your scalp,"
Ethan said. "I just thought it would
make a useful comparison against
the softer brushes, so you could
put them on a spectrum."
Ansel reached out and started
sorting the brushes in order
from softest to stiffest.
The shaving brush was in
the middle, but he liked tickling it
against his palm. He used to do that
with his grandfather's shaving brush,
back when he was a little boy.
"So ... how's it supposed
to help?" Turq wondered.
"Some people find brushing to be
soothing," Ethan said. "Long strokes
can help your body 'connect the dots'
from one place to another. If you tend
to feel twitchy about being touched, then
safe touches can remind your brain that
it's not something to panic over."
"Yeah, it's like ... my body and brain
get into arguments a lot," said Turq.
"Sometimes I really love being touched,
and other times I can't stand it."
"It's okay if one of the things you need
is just being able to say no, and have
someone take that for an answer,"
Ethan said quietly. "I can do that.
I've done it before, I can do it again."
"Yeah, it helps when I can say no,"
Turq said. "The rest of this is just ...
I don't know, maybe. It's hard enough
just staying in human form."
"You don't like being human?" Ethan said.
Turq shook his head. "It doesn't
feel like me anymore, as much as
some of the others do," he said.
"It doesn't feel as good, period."
"Okay, what feels different?"
Ethan asked, watching closely.
"I like being the caney, nothing
bothers me as much then," said Turq.
"The only one twitchier than the human
is the deer, and I mostly save that one
for running. But I need my damn hands
for ... just about everything. It's maddening."
"It sounds like the traumatic stress bothers
you more in human form," said Ethan.
"That stuff can really curdle your brain."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Turq said.
"I think you're getting more benefit
from being furry than most people
do from antidepressants," said Ethan.
"You're re-learning what 'comfortable'
feels like. That's a big goal in recovery.
So if this is working, keep doing it."
"You don't think I should ... try
to be human all the time?" Turq said.
His face had a pinched look that
made Ansel wonder who'd said
that bit of nonsense to him.
"Turq, I don't care whether you're
on two legs or four," said Ansel.
"I care whether you're happy,
or at least not hurting."
Ethan nodded. "Look for things
you can do that make you feel good,
or at least, help you feel less awful."
"Brush me?" Turq said,
offering Ansel the brush.
Ansel took it and stroked
the soft bristles upward from
Turq's wrist toward his elbow.
"Gah," Turq said, pulling away.
"No. That's wrong."
"Okay. What's wrong about it?"
Ansel said. He examined the brush
for possible snags or allergens.
"You were messing up
my fur," Turq whined. "You
brushed it sideways."
"Oh, I see," Ethan said.
"The patterns for humans
don't always follow the grain,
because we have less of a pelt."
"It still feels wrong," Turq said,
rubbing his hand over the spot.
"May I try brushing with the grain?"
Ansel asked, lifting the brush.
There was nothing in it that
shouldn't have been there.
"... okay," Turq said,
and settled back down.
Ansel brushed him gently,
carefully, paying close attention
to the direction of the hairs.
"Hmm," Turq said, and then,
"Hhhnnnggg. Oh, that's nice."
He flopped across Ansel's lap,
just like he did in furry form.
Ansel gave Ethan a grin of triumph.
Ethan flashed him a thumbs-up
in reply. This was working.
"Is it good?" Ansel asked Turq.
"Mmmyeah," he said with
a sloppy smile. "Not as good
as when you're brushing the caney,
but better than when you're just petting
the human with your bare hands."
"Is that how Turq usually talks
about himself?" Ethan murmured.
"Yes," Ansel said. "It's not like
every form is a separate person,
but each one definitely has his own
personality and a different perspective."
He lifted the brush to switch sides.
"I just like how it feels when my body
isn't bothering me," Turq said.
"That's good," Ethan said. "It's great.
One of the common problems with PTSD
is that it kills the capacity to feel pleasure.
You can still do that, so you're ahead of
the game. Keep up the good work.
It should help revive your awareness
of other positive feelings in life."
"Uh huh," Turq said, rolling
to present Ansel with his belly.
"Over your clothes, or under
your clothes?" Ansel asked.
"Over, it's too cold to go
bareskin," Turq said.
"I think I need a stiffer brush,"
Ansel said, sorting through
the offerings on the bench.
"How's this one feel?"
"Fiiiiiiine," Turq said.
Mindful of Ethan's warnings
about possible drawbacks,
Ansel used small, light strokes
over Turq's belly and kept most
of the attention on his shoulders
and along his upper thighs.
Turq wriggled against him,
making happy, wordless noises.
It felt so good to see him happy.
"Turq, may I take a closer look,
passive scan only?" Ethan asked.
"Okay," Turq said.
Ethan swept his hand
just above Turq's body,
then said, "Could you sort of ...
try to let me see you? Right now
you look pretty hazy to me."
"Hmm," Turq said, closing his eyes.
He curled his hands as if holding
some kind of wheel over his chest.
"Oh!" Ethan exclaimed. "That did it.
Have you done some energy work before?"
"... yes," Turq said, giving him a wary look.
"I'll tell you, but don't spread it around, and
especially don't tell the Chinese government
because they're a bunch of whackjobs about it."
"Okay?" Ethan said, clearly baffled.
"We'll be discreet," Ansel said.
"My m-- my foster mother, her family got
run out of China for practicing Falun Gong,"
said Turq. "So she taught it to us kids, because
it's a good stretchy exercise and it's relaxing.
Andeana was way better than me at it, but
I just liked spending time with Mingxia."
"You may have gotten better than
you realize," Ethan said. He patted
the air above Turq. "You're definitely
able to affect your own energy. It's not tidy,
but most folks can't do anything with theirs."
"I'm not much," Turq insisted. "You should
watch the masters doing this. They're so good,
you can almost see the energy moving. But it
doesn't turn people into soups, it just makes
them good people in good physical shape."
"Yyyyeah ... the bottom-ten countries
such as China really don't like anything
that can level up supernary skills," Ethan said.
"It seems like Falun Gong could be one of
those. No wonder China went apeshit."
Ansel frowned. "It would make far more
sense to encourage such practices,
to cut down the envy of superpowers.
You want the perks, you do the work."
"Then you're smarter than China,"
Ethan said, "and we need that openness."
He turned back to Turq. "You're doing
better than before. I think that you're still
healing slowly over time. Just keep it up,
and you should come through all right."
"I hope so," Turq said. He looked down
at where Ansel had returned to brushing
his bare forearms with the blue baby brush.
"This reminds me of a moving meditation,
only I'm not the one doing the moves.
It feels a lot like that, though."
"Have you done much meditation?"
Ethan asked. "Some people find that
it helps them with mindfulness."
"I've done a little, but not much," Turq said.
"It's more of a Tibetan thing than a Chinese one.
We don't talk much about the Tibetan helpers,
those are some really sad stories."
Ansel and Ethan shared a look of concern.
"We won't pry, if it brings up bad memories,"
Ansel said, "but if you need to talk about it,
then I'm willing to listen whenever you're ready."
"Mostly I'm trying to get my brain to where
I can live in it without wanting to crawl
out the window," Turq said.
"Okay," Ansel said. At least
the brushing seemed to help
Turq stay calm and focused.
Eventually Turq rolled off his lap
and asked, "You wanna turn?"
"Sure," Ansel said. "I like this pink one,
and the white therapy brush, but not
the scratchier ones in the bunch."
"Except the shaving brush," Turq said.
"Except that," Ansel agreed, grinning.
He was glad that Turq had been
paying enough attention to notice,
a hopeful sign of social engagement.
Turq took a few strokes, then hesitated.
"It's hard for me to tell what I'm doing
when it's not my skin," he said. "Is this
okay? Too hard, or not hard enough?"
"Gentle strokes, but not so light
that they tickle," Ansel coached.
"Do it like you did my hair."
Turq followed the directions,
making soft smooth strokes
along Ansel's forearm. "Better?"
"Yeah, that's good," Ansel said,
his eyes fluttering shut. "Maybe
try the connecting strokes. I like
those, but I can't do them myself."
Turq brushed him from wrist to
elbow, back down to wrist, and
then all the way up to his shoulder.
"That is heavenly," Ansel said.
It felt different than the brisk strokes
moving toward his heart or the soft ones
that followed the lay of his body hair.
He could feel ... something else ... too,
when Turq leaned over him and moved
the brush in those long easy lines.
It wasn't quite like the descriptions of
energy-sensing in the SPOON handouts,
he thought, more like glimpsing something
from the corner of his eye, but with
a touch instead of an image.
Honestly, Ansel didn't care.
It just felt good, the brushing and
whatever Turq might have doing, all of it.
"It's been twenty minutes," Ethan said.
"That's a good time for a first session."
"Aww," Ansel said as he sat up.
Turq started packing everything
back into the canvas bag.
"Wait, why don't you keep the blue one?"
Ansel said. "Then you can brush yourself
even when I'm not around to help. Are
there any other brushes you like?"
"I like the therapy brush too,"
Turq said with a fond smile.
"There are duplicates of that style,"
Ansel said. "How about you take one,
and I'll take the shaving brush. Then we
have two each, and the rest to share."
"You can keep the bag, too, I have
plenty of those," Ethan said.
Ansel wasn't surprised that Ethan
frequently ran short of supplies, the way
he gave stuff away -- but then he was
working with deprived clients more often
than not, so they needed the help.
The time Ansel had taken extra shares of
leftover items from the department during
an inventory day -- with the Chief's blessing,
once he knew they were for a street healer --
Ethan had been shocked by the bundle of
space blankets, emergency ration bars,
and random first aid supplies.
"Thanks," Turq said. "It was really nice
of you to bring us stuff. I wish I could
do something back for you but ..." He
shrugged. "I'm not much use yet."
"I've got it," Ansel said. "Police favors
are valuable, and Ethan has my card."
"Turq, just focus on getting better
first," Ethan said firmly. "You can
worry about doing me favors later."
"I guess," Turq said, shuffling in place.
"Jump up and down a little bit.
Flap your arms. Stamp your feet,"
Ethan suggested. "Joint compression
can help you reconnect with your body,
too -- it's in some of the therapy stuff."
Turq gave a few desultory hops,
then he left the gazebo and
bounded around with more vigor.
Ansel stepped down to the yard,
where he went through a quick round
of the calisthenics he liked from work.
He hadn't quite finished his routine
when his vidwatch chimed, but he was
certainly revived enough to trot up
the stairs and retrieve lunch.
The stew was hearty with pork
and a mix of butternut squash,
potatoes, carrots, onions, celery,
and even apples with a side of rolls.
When Ansel came back down the stairs,
Ethan still lounged in the gazebo but
Turq was lolling on the brown grass.
"Lunch is served," said Ansel.
"Brush yourself off and come eat."
Turq and Ethan both perked up
when Ansel set out the crock of
stew and the bowls, along with
enormous crusty rolls twisted
into knots and stuffed with herbs.
It was delicious, the meat falling apart,
the vegetables tender and savory-sweet.
The recipe said it would serve ten, and
Ansel had brought six of the big rolls,
but amongst them they finished
more than half of the crock.
Turq was eyeing the last roll,
but he'd already undone both
the button on his jeans and
the rope he used as a belt.
"Why don't you save that one
for later," Ansel suggested. He
wrapped it in the dishcloth that lined
the basket and handed it to Turq.
"Thank you for taking care of us," Turq said.
"You're welcome," Ansel said.
"Thank you for accepting it.
I like making people smile."
"I will always accept delicious food,"
Ethan said with a satisfied smile.
Turq's answer smile was smaller
and slower, but that was okay.
Ansel knew it had farther to come.
* * *
Notes:
"I'm satisfied and proud of the things I did - even the bumps and the bruises that I've had on the way. You fall down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you keep going. And that's what we're doing."
-- Gucci Mane
Stressful events can cause emotional trauma. Turq's general twitchiness is a symptom of that. Here are some tips for coping with traumatic stress.
Canvas bags are available from various sources as reusable carriers. This one has some inspirational sayings.
Sensory Processing Disorder includes a range of challenges from sensory-seeking to sensory-avoiding. The symptoms can vary widely, and often overlap with many other conditions that can cause numbing or hypersensitivity. There are ways to cope with SPD or similar complaints. Turq and Ansel both show different types and levels of challenge in dealing with sensory input from their changing bodies.
A sensory diet can help people deal with more kinds of stimulation. Here is a sample that can be customized. Notice that this is the kind of normal stuff children used to do all the time, at will, which has been changed into a medical protocol requiring expert assistance to implement. If you simply allow children to explore vigorously on their own in an enriched environment, they very rarely develop these types of problems. However, people can run into similar issues for very different reasons, such as Turq's medical abuse or Ansel's voluntary body modification. Similar solutions may work across many different cases. Know how to create a sensory diet with multiple ways to moderate the senses.
Therapeutic brushing is one type of sensory regulation technique. Here is one pattern for it. This technique can reduce touch aversion and improve sensory integration, but it has its pros and cons. Dry brushing is a cosmetic technique. Spas often offer this service, advertising the health benefits, but a lot of people do it simply because this type of pampering feels good to them. Once again, it takes something perfectly normal (brushing and stroking) and moves it into the clinical realm. By all means, if you're having problems you can't solve on your own, consult an expert if you can find a good one. But mammals are all wired to do this stuff for ourselves and each other, and most can do it without assistance, so don't let anyone make you feel stupid about your own body. Special nerves in the hair follicles make it pleasant to pet or be petted, which including brushing. Do what feels good to you.
Brushes can be made with many types of bristles. What matters is finding one you like. The official therapy brush has soft synthetic bristles. Scroll down this page for a complexion brush. Here are the blue and pink baby brushes. You can find brushes in a range from soft to stiff. There are also bundles of different tactile objects.
Sensation play includes a wide variety of activities which many people enjoy, not just kinky folks. Engage the senses with such things and fur and leather or ticklers and pricklers. There are guides to sensual toys and tutorials for sensation play. It can be erotic, but can also be platonic as presented here.
Taking care of yourself includes being gentle with your pain. Ansel is pretty good at this, but that's because he learned how and makes a point of it; he has the usual heroic tendency to short himself if he doesn't pay attention to self-care. Turq and Ethan are still struggling with this stuff. Here are some good ways to take care of yourself.
Self-compassion is an important emotional practice. There are meditations and other techniques for improving it. Handouts on techniques such as soothing touch can help.
PTSD is notoriously difficult to treat, and it can cause symptoms such as touch aversion and skin hunger -- sometimes at the same time. Medical abuse can also raise issues over painful or conflicted touch. Supportive friends and family can help with the healing process. Understand how to reconnect with your body after trauma. Compare the differences between Turq, who is a wreck and doesn't always know how to cope; and Ansel, who's been handled rudely a few times and usually knows how to handle it.
Anhedonia is a muted or absent ability to feel pleasure. It is a prevailing symptom of PTSD and also appears in abuse survivors.
Calisthenics are bodyweight exercises that require little if any equipment. Here are some general ideas on using calisthenics and fitness tests for SWAT teams. Ironically, the more physically demanding jobs such as police work make it difficult to stay fit by soaking up time and energy needed for a regular exercise program. T-American police departments customarily schedule workout time on the clock for officers, either daily or several times a week depending on their program. Standards are consistently higher than in L-America, but it's not a hardship, because T-American folks are more active on average due to having many more opportunities and places to move around. While the preparatory exercises are similar, the tests are more involved for T-American cops -- let alone the BASH teams -- containing a lot more job-related tasks. Here are some exercises that rely on your own bodyweight. This quick workout video for beginners has lots of nice joint compression. Think about how to plan an exercise program for yourself.
Falun Gong is variously described as a religion, philosophy, or exercise program that is much persecuted in China. You can read about the exercises or watch a video of them.
Enjoy recipes for Pork and Squash Stew and Twisty Herb Bread Rolls.
Making someone smile can improve mood. Here are some tips on how to make people smile.
Warning: This is mostly fluff, but Turq being Turq, it contains some sensitive stuff too. Highlight to read the more detailed warnings, some of which are spoilers. It features PTSD, self-criticism, sensory issues, Ansel trying to cope with his chosen but sometimes still disconcerting body changes, Turq struggling to deal with personal interactions, do-it-yourself physical therapy, Turq's peculiar shapeshifting-induced body images, trial and error with body brushes, China is bottom-ten because reasons, and other challenges. There is detailed description of tactile activities, so if you get a lot of vicarious effects from that, make sure you're in the mood for it. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before moving onward.
"Brush Yourself Off"
Turq fretted over his body
and over his behavior
and over his body's behavior.
"Listen," Ansel said to him,
"a lot of bad things have
happened to you. It's not fair
to expect that it won't affect you.
What you need to do is find ways
of dealing with those impacts."
"I know," Turq said glumly.
"That means pick yourself up,
brush yourself off, and move
forward," Ansel said. "It does
not mean pick on yourself."
Turq scratched at the scars
on his forearm. "I guess."
"I wanted to let you know that Ethan
is dropping by today," Ansel said.
"I don't know if I can handle
that," Turq whispered, tilting
his chin toward his chest.
"No pressure," Ansel said with
a smile. "If all you can do is stay
in the same yard with him, that's
better than bolting into the woods."
"And if I can't even manage
that much?" Turq said.
"Then we'll know where you're at
today, and we can try again
another day," Ansel said.
Turq shook himself a little.
"Why's Ethan coming here?"
"He's got an idea that he thinks
will help both of us," Ansel said.
"But there's nothing wrong
with you," Turq said.
"Right, because freaking out
over someone touching my hair
was perfectly normal," Ansel drawled.
"I've gotten more sensitive, and if I
don't integrate that somehow, it's
going to drive me nuts."
"I'll try to stick around," Turq said.
The waiting made him jittery,
but he stayed in the yard and
he stayed in human form, until
Ethan arrived with his teleporter
like an escort on a gentleman's arm.
"Morning, Ethan, thanks for
coming today," Ansel said.
"Any time," Ethan replied,
waving off his teleporter.
A large canvas bag printed
with some inspirational quotes
swung from his right hand,
full of mysterious items.
"So what did you bring?"
Ansel said, fizzing with curiosity.
Turq hung back, but that
was okay; Ansel could
ask the questions for now.
"Brushes," said Ethan. "There
are whole therapy exercises that
rely on brushes, but people use them
for other stuff too. They can stimulate
the lymphatic system, remove dead skin,
spice up the bedroom -- all kinds of things."
"Really?" Ansel said, leaning forward.
"Sure, I was talking with another healer
about it and he gave me some ideas,"
Ethan said. "You can get a therapist
if you want, or you can just try things
yourself to see what works for you.
There are spas that brush people
just because it feels fantastic."
Turq drifted closer, and Ansel
turned to ask, "Do you mind
if we use the gazebo for this?"
"It's your place," Turq said.
"Yes, but I've been sharing it
with you, so it's polite to ask
before barging in," Ansel said.
"It's okay," Turq agreed.
So they sat down in the gazebo,
although Turq stayed near the door.
Ethan poured out a whole heap
of brushes, some with handles
and some without, made of
natural or synthetic bristles,
wood or plastic backs.
"There are therapy brushes,
like this one," he said, pointing out
a white brush with fine nylon bristles.
"They're specially designed for skin.
Really soft hairbrushes like those
meant for babies can work too."
Ansel picked up the pink one
and tested the bristles. They were
so soft, they probably wouldn't control
even his silk-fine hair, but they felt
pretty good against his hand.
Turq rocked back and forth,
almost reaching then pulling away.
"Want one?" Ansel asked, picking up
a pretty blue brush. "I could throw it."
"Yeah," Turq said, spreading his hands.
Ansel gave it an easy, underhanded toss
and it landed neatly in Turq's grasp.
"Is that one a shaving brush?" Turq said.
"Yes, it is," said Ethan. "I've got
a few horse brushes in here, too,
then other textures like sponges and
bathing mitts and stuff. I even brought
fur, velvet, and feathers in case you
like lighter touch. Plenty of people
want to have a range of intensity from
really soft brushes to stiffer ones."
"That sounds like a good idea,"
Ansel said, testing the texture
of some other brushes. "So how
is this supposed to help us?"
"Well, there are some fancy protocols
for therapy, or dry brushing which is simpler.
There are other kinds of sensation play too,"
Ethan said. "My suggestion is that you explore
a few different brushes and vary the pressure
to find what feels good to you. Be careful if
you try brushing over your front -- it can make
some people feel queasy or like they need to pee."
"I like having my tummy brushed,
when I'm furry," Turq said quietly.
"Even in human form, I like being
rubbed or tickled there -- well,
not so much tickled now, but
when I was little I liked it."
"Try it and see what works for you,"
Ethan encouraged. "Usually people
prefer firm strokes, but it can be
overwhelming for others and
they need a lighter touch."
Turq turned the brush over and
over in his hands, testing the bristles.
Tentatively Ansel tried brushing his
forearm. "Oh, wowwww," he said.
"Turq, this is amazing, you gotta try it."
"Stroke toward your heart," Ethan said.
"That's a dry-brushing technique, so it
follows the flow of your lymphatic system.
The therapeutic model uses longer strokes,
moving in different directions, to help
your body connect with itself."
"Yeah, I definitely need that,"
Turq said. "My stupid body
can't even remember how
all the parts go together."
"Be gentle with yourself,"
Ansel reminded him. "Your body
has been through a really rough time."
"I'm no expert, but I've seen some of
the patterns," Ethan said. "Try going
from your wrist to elbow, then back down,
then up to your shoulder in long smooth strokes."
Turq tried it, but had a hard time keeping
the rhythm, and the sensation itself
seemed to distract him from the strokes.
"This is harder than it looks," he said.
"Sometimes it's easier if another person
does the brushing for you, but not everyone
can tolerate that," Ethan mentioned.
"Oh, do me," said Ansel, holding out
his arm. "I want to compare that
against doing it for myself."
Ethan took the pink brush and
went through the same motions,
while Ansel made blissful noises.
It was like massage, and yet not;
like brushing his hair, only not quite.
At first it was almost too much,
his whole skin waking up and
twitching from all the stimulation,
but soon it settled and felt soothing.
"Keep it up for a couple minutes,
it gets more relaxing," he told Turq.
Turq focused on that task.
"Want to try a different brush?"
Ethan asked, waving at them.
"Sure," Ansel said. "Do they
feel different between the ones
with natural or synthetic bristles?"
"Let's find out." Ethan stroked him with
each brush, naming the types of bristles.
"Too scratchy," Ansel said
of the boar-bristle brush.
"I brought that one for your hair,
not your skin, in case you wanted
something to stimulate your scalp,"
Ethan said. "I just thought it would
make a useful comparison against
the softer brushes, so you could
put them on a spectrum."
Ansel reached out and started
sorting the brushes in order
from softest to stiffest.
The shaving brush was in
the middle, but he liked tickling it
against his palm. He used to do that
with his grandfather's shaving brush,
back when he was a little boy.
"So ... how's it supposed
to help?" Turq wondered.
"Some people find brushing to be
soothing," Ethan said. "Long strokes
can help your body 'connect the dots'
from one place to another. If you tend
to feel twitchy about being touched, then
safe touches can remind your brain that
it's not something to panic over."
"Yeah, it's like ... my body and brain
get into arguments a lot," said Turq.
"Sometimes I really love being touched,
and other times I can't stand it."
"It's okay if one of the things you need
is just being able to say no, and have
someone take that for an answer,"
Ethan said quietly. "I can do that.
I've done it before, I can do it again."
"Yeah, it helps when I can say no,"
Turq said. "The rest of this is just ...
I don't know, maybe. It's hard enough
just staying in human form."
"You don't like being human?" Ethan said.
Turq shook his head. "It doesn't
feel like me anymore, as much as
some of the others do," he said.
"It doesn't feel as good, period."
"Okay, what feels different?"
Ethan asked, watching closely.
"I like being the caney, nothing
bothers me as much then," said Turq.
"The only one twitchier than the human
is the deer, and I mostly save that one
for running. But I need my damn hands
for ... just about everything. It's maddening."
"It sounds like the traumatic stress bothers
you more in human form," said Ethan.
"That stuff can really curdle your brain."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Turq said.
"I think you're getting more benefit
from being furry than most people
do from antidepressants," said Ethan.
"You're re-learning what 'comfortable'
feels like. That's a big goal in recovery.
So if this is working, keep doing it."
"You don't think I should ... try
to be human all the time?" Turq said.
His face had a pinched look that
made Ansel wonder who'd said
that bit of nonsense to him.
"Turq, I don't care whether you're
on two legs or four," said Ansel.
"I care whether you're happy,
or at least not hurting."
Ethan nodded. "Look for things
you can do that make you feel good,
or at least, help you feel less awful."
"Brush me?" Turq said,
offering Ansel the brush.
Ansel took it and stroked
the soft bristles upward from
Turq's wrist toward his elbow.
"Gah," Turq said, pulling away.
"No. That's wrong."
"Okay. What's wrong about it?"
Ansel said. He examined the brush
for possible snags or allergens.
"You were messing up
my fur," Turq whined. "You
brushed it sideways."
"Oh, I see," Ethan said.
"The patterns for humans
don't always follow the grain,
because we have less of a pelt."
"It still feels wrong," Turq said,
rubbing his hand over the spot.
"May I try brushing with the grain?"
Ansel asked, lifting the brush.
There was nothing in it that
shouldn't have been there.
"... okay," Turq said,
and settled back down.
Ansel brushed him gently,
carefully, paying close attention
to the direction of the hairs.
"Hmm," Turq said, and then,
"Hhhnnnggg. Oh, that's nice."
He flopped across Ansel's lap,
just like he did in furry form.
Ansel gave Ethan a grin of triumph.
Ethan flashed him a thumbs-up
in reply. This was working.
"Is it good?" Ansel asked Turq.
"Mmmyeah," he said with
a sloppy smile. "Not as good
as when you're brushing the caney,
but better than when you're just petting
the human with your bare hands."
"Is that how Turq usually talks
about himself?" Ethan murmured.
"Yes," Ansel said. "It's not like
every form is a separate person,
but each one definitely has his own
personality and a different perspective."
He lifted the brush to switch sides.
"I just like how it feels when my body
isn't bothering me," Turq said.
"That's good," Ethan said. "It's great.
One of the common problems with PTSD
is that it kills the capacity to feel pleasure.
You can still do that, so you're ahead of
the game. Keep up the good work.
It should help revive your awareness
of other positive feelings in life."
"Uh huh," Turq said, rolling
to present Ansel with his belly.
"Over your clothes, or under
your clothes?" Ansel asked.
"Over, it's too cold to go
bareskin," Turq said.
"I think I need a stiffer brush,"
Ansel said, sorting through
the offerings on the bench.
"How's this one feel?"
"Fiiiiiiine," Turq said.
Mindful of Ethan's warnings
about possible drawbacks,
Ansel used small, light strokes
over Turq's belly and kept most
of the attention on his shoulders
and along his upper thighs.
Turq wriggled against him,
making happy, wordless noises.
It felt so good to see him happy.
"Turq, may I take a closer look,
passive scan only?" Ethan asked.
"Okay," Turq said.
Ethan swept his hand
just above Turq's body,
then said, "Could you sort of ...
try to let me see you? Right now
you look pretty hazy to me."
"Hmm," Turq said, closing his eyes.
He curled his hands as if holding
some kind of wheel over his chest.
"Oh!" Ethan exclaimed. "That did it.
Have you done some energy work before?"
"... yes," Turq said, giving him a wary look.
"I'll tell you, but don't spread it around, and
especially don't tell the Chinese government
because they're a bunch of whackjobs about it."
"Okay?" Ethan said, clearly baffled.
"We'll be discreet," Ansel said.
"My m-- my foster mother, her family got
run out of China for practicing Falun Gong,"
said Turq. "So she taught it to us kids, because
it's a good stretchy exercise and it's relaxing.
Andeana was way better than me at it, but
I just liked spending time with Mingxia."
"You may have gotten better than
you realize," Ethan said. He patted
the air above Turq. "You're definitely
able to affect your own energy. It's not tidy,
but most folks can't do anything with theirs."
"I'm not much," Turq insisted. "You should
watch the masters doing this. They're so good,
you can almost see the energy moving. But it
doesn't turn people into soups, it just makes
them good people in good physical shape."
"Yyyyeah ... the bottom-ten countries
such as China really don't like anything
that can level up supernary skills," Ethan said.
"It seems like Falun Gong could be one of
those. No wonder China went apeshit."
Ansel frowned. "It would make far more
sense to encourage such practices,
to cut down the envy of superpowers.
You want the perks, you do the work."
"Then you're smarter than China,"
Ethan said, "and we need that openness."
He turned back to Turq. "You're doing
better than before. I think that you're still
healing slowly over time. Just keep it up,
and you should come through all right."
"I hope so," Turq said. He looked down
at where Ansel had returned to brushing
his bare forearms with the blue baby brush.
"This reminds me of a moving meditation,
only I'm not the one doing the moves.
It feels a lot like that, though."
"Have you done much meditation?"
Ethan asked. "Some people find that
it helps them with mindfulness."
"I've done a little, but not much," Turq said.
"It's more of a Tibetan thing than a Chinese one.
We don't talk much about the Tibetan helpers,
those are some really sad stories."
Ansel and Ethan shared a look of concern.
"We won't pry, if it brings up bad memories,"
Ansel said, "but if you need to talk about it,
then I'm willing to listen whenever you're ready."
"Mostly I'm trying to get my brain to where
I can live in it without wanting to crawl
out the window," Turq said.
"Okay," Ansel said. At least
the brushing seemed to help
Turq stay calm and focused.
Eventually Turq rolled off his lap
and asked, "You wanna turn?"
"Sure," Ansel said. "I like this pink one,
and the white therapy brush, but not
the scratchier ones in the bunch."
"Except the shaving brush," Turq said.
"Except that," Ansel agreed, grinning.
He was glad that Turq had been
paying enough attention to notice,
a hopeful sign of social engagement.
Turq took a few strokes, then hesitated.
"It's hard for me to tell what I'm doing
when it's not my skin," he said. "Is this
okay? Too hard, or not hard enough?"
"Gentle strokes, but not so light
that they tickle," Ansel coached.
"Do it like you did my hair."
Turq followed the directions,
making soft smooth strokes
along Ansel's forearm. "Better?"
"Yeah, that's good," Ansel said,
his eyes fluttering shut. "Maybe
try the connecting strokes. I like
those, but I can't do them myself."
Turq brushed him from wrist to
elbow, back down to wrist, and
then all the way up to his shoulder.
"That is heavenly," Ansel said.
It felt different than the brisk strokes
moving toward his heart or the soft ones
that followed the lay of his body hair.
He could feel ... something else ... too,
when Turq leaned over him and moved
the brush in those long easy lines.
It wasn't quite like the descriptions of
energy-sensing in the SPOON handouts,
he thought, more like glimpsing something
from the corner of his eye, but with
a touch instead of an image.
Honestly, Ansel didn't care.
It just felt good, the brushing and
whatever Turq might have doing, all of it.
"It's been twenty minutes," Ethan said.
"That's a good time for a first session."
"Aww," Ansel said as he sat up.
Turq started packing everything
back into the canvas bag.
"Wait, why don't you keep the blue one?"
Ansel said. "Then you can brush yourself
even when I'm not around to help. Are
there any other brushes you like?"
"I like the therapy brush too,"
Turq said with a fond smile.
"There are duplicates of that style,"
Ansel said. "How about you take one,
and I'll take the shaving brush. Then we
have two each, and the rest to share."
"You can keep the bag, too, I have
plenty of those," Ethan said.
Ansel wasn't surprised that Ethan
frequently ran short of supplies, the way
he gave stuff away -- but then he was
working with deprived clients more often
than not, so they needed the help.
The time Ansel had taken extra shares of
leftover items from the department during
an inventory day -- with the Chief's blessing,
once he knew they were for a street healer --
Ethan had been shocked by the bundle of
space blankets, emergency ration bars,
and random first aid supplies.
"Thanks," Turq said. "It was really nice
of you to bring us stuff. I wish I could
do something back for you but ..." He
shrugged. "I'm not much use yet."
"I've got it," Ansel said. "Police favors
are valuable, and Ethan has my card."
"Turq, just focus on getting better
first," Ethan said firmly. "You can
worry about doing me favors later."
"I guess," Turq said, shuffling in place.
"Jump up and down a little bit.
Flap your arms. Stamp your feet,"
Ethan suggested. "Joint compression
can help you reconnect with your body,
too -- it's in some of the therapy stuff."
Turq gave a few desultory hops,
then he left the gazebo and
bounded around with more vigor.
Ansel stepped down to the yard,
where he went through a quick round
of the calisthenics he liked from work.
He hadn't quite finished his routine
when his vidwatch chimed, but he was
certainly revived enough to trot up
the stairs and retrieve lunch.
The stew was hearty with pork
and a mix of butternut squash,
potatoes, carrots, onions, celery,
and even apples with a side of rolls.
When Ansel came back down the stairs,
Ethan still lounged in the gazebo but
Turq was lolling on the brown grass.
"Lunch is served," said Ansel.
"Brush yourself off and come eat."
Turq and Ethan both perked up
when Ansel set out the crock of
stew and the bowls, along with
enormous crusty rolls twisted
into knots and stuffed with herbs.
It was delicious, the meat falling apart,
the vegetables tender and savory-sweet.
The recipe said it would serve ten, and
Ansel had brought six of the big rolls,
but amongst them they finished
more than half of the crock.
Turq was eyeing the last roll,
but he'd already undone both
the button on his jeans and
the rope he used as a belt.
"Why don't you save that one
for later," Ansel suggested. He
wrapped it in the dishcloth that lined
the basket and handed it to Turq.
"Thank you for taking care of us," Turq said.
"You're welcome," Ansel said.
"Thank you for accepting it.
I like making people smile."
"I will always accept delicious food,"
Ethan said with a satisfied smile.
Turq's answer smile was smaller
and slower, but that was okay.
Ansel knew it had farther to come.
* * *
Notes:
"I'm satisfied and proud of the things I did - even the bumps and the bruises that I've had on the way. You fall down, you get up, you brush yourself off and you keep going. And that's what we're doing."
-- Gucci Mane
Stressful events can cause emotional trauma. Turq's general twitchiness is a symptom of that. Here are some tips for coping with traumatic stress.
Canvas bags are available from various sources as reusable carriers. This one has some inspirational sayings.
Sensory Processing Disorder includes a range of challenges from sensory-seeking to sensory-avoiding. The symptoms can vary widely, and often overlap with many other conditions that can cause numbing or hypersensitivity. There are ways to cope with SPD or similar complaints. Turq and Ansel both show different types and levels of challenge in dealing with sensory input from their changing bodies.
A sensory diet can help people deal with more kinds of stimulation. Here is a sample that can be customized. Notice that this is the kind of normal stuff children used to do all the time, at will, which has been changed into a medical protocol requiring expert assistance to implement. If you simply allow children to explore vigorously on their own in an enriched environment, they very rarely develop these types of problems. However, people can run into similar issues for very different reasons, such as Turq's medical abuse or Ansel's voluntary body modification. Similar solutions may work across many different cases. Know how to create a sensory diet with multiple ways to moderate the senses.
Therapeutic brushing is one type of sensory regulation technique. Here is one pattern for it. This technique can reduce touch aversion and improve sensory integration, but it has its pros and cons. Dry brushing is a cosmetic technique. Spas often offer this service, advertising the health benefits, but a lot of people do it simply because this type of pampering feels good to them. Once again, it takes something perfectly normal (brushing and stroking) and moves it into the clinical realm. By all means, if you're having problems you can't solve on your own, consult an expert if you can find a good one. But mammals are all wired to do this stuff for ourselves and each other, and most can do it without assistance, so don't let anyone make you feel stupid about your own body. Special nerves in the hair follicles make it pleasant to pet or be petted, which including brushing. Do what feels good to you.
Brushes can be made with many types of bristles. What matters is finding one you like. The official therapy brush has soft synthetic bristles. Scroll down this page for a complexion brush. Here are the blue and pink baby brushes. You can find brushes in a range from soft to stiff. There are also bundles of different tactile objects.
Sensation play includes a wide variety of activities which many people enjoy, not just kinky folks. Engage the senses with such things and fur and leather or ticklers and pricklers. There are guides to sensual toys and tutorials for sensation play. It can be erotic, but can also be platonic as presented here.
Taking care of yourself includes being gentle with your pain. Ansel is pretty good at this, but that's because he learned how and makes a point of it; he has the usual heroic tendency to short himself if he doesn't pay attention to self-care. Turq and Ethan are still struggling with this stuff. Here are some good ways to take care of yourself.
Self-compassion is an important emotional practice. There are meditations and other techniques for improving it. Handouts on techniques such as soothing touch can help.
PTSD is notoriously difficult to treat, and it can cause symptoms such as touch aversion and skin hunger -- sometimes at the same time. Medical abuse can also raise issues over painful or conflicted touch. Supportive friends and family can help with the healing process. Understand how to reconnect with your body after trauma. Compare the differences between Turq, who is a wreck and doesn't always know how to cope; and Ansel, who's been handled rudely a few times and usually knows how to handle it.
Anhedonia is a muted or absent ability to feel pleasure. It is a prevailing symptom of PTSD and also appears in abuse survivors.
Calisthenics are bodyweight exercises that require little if any equipment. Here are some general ideas on using calisthenics and fitness tests for SWAT teams. Ironically, the more physically demanding jobs such as police work make it difficult to stay fit by soaking up time and energy needed for a regular exercise program. T-American police departments customarily schedule workout time on the clock for officers, either daily or several times a week depending on their program. Standards are consistently higher than in L-America, but it's not a hardship, because T-American folks are more active on average due to having many more opportunities and places to move around. While the preparatory exercises are similar, the tests are more involved for T-American cops -- let alone the BASH teams -- containing a lot more job-related tasks. Here are some exercises that rely on your own bodyweight. This quick workout video for beginners has lots of nice joint compression. Think about how to plan an exercise program for yourself.
Falun Gong is variously described as a religion, philosophy, or exercise program that is much persecuted in China. You can read about the exercises or watch a video of them.
Enjoy recipes for Pork and Squash Stew and Twisty Herb Bread Rolls.
Making someone smile can improve mood. Here are some tips on how to make people smile.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 04:47 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-09 05:36 am (UTC)Yay! :D
>> So thoughtful, <<
It is that. Ethan is better than he thinks.
>> and drawing together many different threads for Turq and Ansel and Ethan. <<
A lot of what I laid down earlier is really coming together now. I look forward to bringing Turq's family into the storyline more directly.
>> I am a happy cat after reading this. <<
It's a very tactile piece, and I was hoping that folks would enjoy that aspect.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-09 06:16 am (UTC)I am very lucky in that most days I get to both give and accept pets. Brushing is something I more often do for myself, but it is a very nice thing to give and/or receive. I hope there are good equivalents in your life, but I have no intent of prying, so please feel free to just accept the hope without comment.
The line about brushing the wrong way made me laugh because I 100% identify with that - as both pettee and frequent cat-petter. Must Pet Right Way. There may be more than one right way, but most definitely, the wrong ways are Wrong. It also reminded me of my mom doing my hair as a kid, which is a pleasant but complicated set of memories.
Glad Turq and Ansel succeeded their "communicate and try again" check. If there was a medal for successful negotiations for pleasant close touch between non-sexually involved people interacting on a personal level, I'd give it to them. Great role models, actually, and that just now occurs to me because it's been awhile since I negotiated touching boundaries that weren't either mostly-off (professional roles, casual acquaintances) or mostly-close (partner, family, dear friends). I might want to level up that skill set at some point.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-10 07:24 pm (UTC)Yay! :D
>> I would seriously read a poem that was nothing except down and up and back and forth described the way you describe things. <<
Vicarious massage is a thing, too. People do all kinds of tactile play in chatrooms and it seems to work for them. Once I heard about that, I started writing tactile scenes with it in mind. Feel free to prompt for more of this during any open prompt call, since Turq and Ansel are using tactile methods a lot. So do some of my other characters.
>> I am very lucky in that most days I get to both give and accept pets. Brushing is something I more often do for myself, but it is a very nice thing to give and/or receive.<<
That's good to hear.
>> I hope there are good equivalents in your life, but I have no intent of prying, so please feel free to just accept the hope without comment. <<
My partner and I are both into massage. We also do various other types of cuddling, petting, skritching, and so forth.
>> The line about brushing the wrong way made me laugh because I 100% identify with that - as both pettee and frequent cat-petter. Must Pet Right Way. There may be more than one right way, but most definitely, the wrong ways are Wrong. <<
:D Yep. I've noticed this as one of the more salient distinctions of furry folk. Most humans are less fussy about their body hair. Most furry folk are more sensitive and will object to having even a thin human pelt brushed or petted in the wrong direction.
It's important because there are different reasons for the different directions. To stimulate blood or lymph flow, you need to work toward the heart. To connect mismatched body parts, you need long flowing strokes and those often go up and down. But the hairs grow in different directions on different places, and rarely the same way as those other types of strokes would call for. So if someone is very sensitive to fur orientation, you need to make some changes. If the provider is not willing to do that -- which is a serious risk, the more clinical these things get -- then what should be pleasurable becomes miserable. If you look across the brushing protocols, not just the good ones I selected, you'll see references on how to make children tolerate it if they hate it. Which is basically training them to sit still while people touch their bodies in ways that hurt. 0_o Brushing should feel nice, or it's liable to do more harm than good. You don't have to be an expert to do this stuff right. You just need to be a mammal and attuned to what mammal bodies like.
>>It also reminded me of my mom doing my hair as a kid, which is a pleasant but complicated set of memories. <<
Yeah, that happens.
>> Glad Turq and Ansel succeeded their "communicate and try again" check. <<
I'm glad that worked for you. I wanted to show that process because it's a big part of Turq's recovery. He urgently needs people around him who will take no for an answer, and work to fix the inevitable minor disagreements. Most problems are fixable if people talk them out. They're also learning about soup care, where you really can't rely on solutions working straight out of the box. You get a set of things that often work, but you have to check each thing against each person you try it on, because different things work for different people. This is true for ordinary people too, of course, but the shear is wider when you add superpowers.
Turq's periodic furriness has made his human body hair more sensitive -- and for that matter, something similar has happened with Ansel. Crayon soups have a set of related traits that sometimes come along for the ride, which are not usually listed as separate powers. So for instance, Ansel also has the UV vision and enhanced tactile awareness, he just hasn't recognized them as such yet.
>> If there was a medal for successful negotiations for pleasant close touch between non-sexually involved people interacting on a personal level, I'd give it to them. Great role models, actually, <<
Yay! That's what I'm aiming for. :D Turq and Ansel are developing a very close relationship. It's not sexual, and not quite romantic, but it's very sensual and it's becoming more intimate.
I think we need to see more of this stuff. So much of entertainment is filled with very dysfunctional relationships. :/ I want to see more healthy interactions between people, and more types of relationship than sex/romance which form an important part of people's lives.
>> and that just now occurs to me because it's been awhile since I negotiated touching boundaries that weren't either mostly-off (professional roles, casual acquaintances) or mostly-close (partner, family, dear friends). I might want to level up that skill set at some point. <<
That's a good goal. You might look for cuddle parties or networks, where people do a lot of negotiating for casual contact. Kink is another possibility; while most people focus on the famous aspects of pain and sex, there are a lot of other options. Some folks are much more into the platonic and sensory aspects, and pet play is a whole branch unto itself. Then there are things like partner yoga or social dance which involve specific patterns of touching, sometimes between established partners but if you show up without one then you can find someone at the event.
brush brush brush
Date: 2016-08-11 06:49 pm (UTC)My physical responses to written descriptions are different from my responses to actual touch, but both exist. I’m glad that this exists, as it’s very valuable for people to be able to have in their minds and stories *anything* they have a hard time getting enough of in physical presence.
>> Most furry folk are more sensitive and will object to having even a thin human pelt brushed or petted in the wrong direction. <<
Huh. Interesting. I guess I just assumed that people *knew* what the “hair ruffled wrong way” sensation was even if they were less acutely sensitive to it. Once again I am reminded that the universe is consistently weirder than even an active mind imagines.
>> It's important because there are different reasons for the different directions. <<
Nodding.
>> To stimulate blood or lymph flow, you need to work toward the heart. <<
Okay! I would have to read a reference to really get this, but I remember some massage training materials I looked at mentioning the dangers off too much pressure along the direction of pre-existing blood flow in the forearms, etc.
>> To connect mismatched body parts, you need long flowing strokes and those often go up and down. <<
Okay.
>> But the hairs grow in different directions on different places, and rarely the same way as those other types of strokes would call for. So if someone is very sensitive to fur orientation, you need to make some changes. <<
Yes, that makes sense. With a friend, partner, or family member, “Is it okay if I try X? Sure. Um, that feels a little Y. What if I Z? Oh, that’s better (mumble mumble melt)” seems to work pretty well. With a clinical provider, the client and/or spotter needs to be vigilant and explicit about boundaries just because there isn’t that level of familiarity at least to start with.
>> If the provider is not willing to do that -- which is a serious risk, the more clinical these things get -- then what should be pleasurable becomes miserable. If you look across the brushing protocols, not just the good ones I selected, you'll see references on how to make children tolerate it if they hate it. Which is basically training them to sit still while people touch their bodies in ways that hurt. <<
ALL THE NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE.
>> Brushing should feel nice, or it's liable to do more harm than good. <<
Like massage that hurts and/or violates boundaries - so not worth it, you’ve added tension instead of removing it and also gunked up a perfectly good tool. Mammals need mutual grooming, but it has to be *mutual.*
>> You don't have to be an expert to do this stuff right. You just need to be a mammal and attuned to what mammal bodies like. <<
Yup. That attunement can be easy or hard to achieve, but I think most people can do better at gentle touch than they give themselves credit for, with communication and practice. For practice, if wanted, I think it's a good idea for people to deliberately try to do something gently and mindfully for themselves. How many times have I yanked my brush through my hair in a hurry instead of making it feel nice? Too many.
Re: brush brush brush
Date: 2016-08-11 07:19 pm (UTC)I agree, that's useful.
>> Huh. Interesting. I guess I just assumed that people *knew* what the “hair ruffled wrong way” sensation was even if they were less acutely sensitive to it. Once again I am reminded that the universe is consistently weirder than even an active mind imagines. <<
Possible factors:
* Furry people remember what full-pelt feels like and can extrapolate that even from a human-pelt base.
* What creates directional sense in fur is a special type of nerve which grows about halfway around the follicle. If it wraps around more or less than that in some people, they may perceive directional touch differently.
* Some people just innately have more or less body sensitivity. This is currently classed as Sensory Processing Disorder. It is only sometimes an actual disorder (i.e. based on damaged organs or misfiring brain or insufficient bandwidth) and other times just super-senses the person has not been taught how to handle.
* Probably the most common is that people are trained to ignore their bodies, and eventually a lot of stuff simply stops registering. Think about how small children alert to all kinds of stuff like scratchy tags or having their hair pulled while brushing or cutting it. After years of being told to stop whining, some of them lose connection with their bodies.
>>Okay! I would have to read a reference to really get this, but I remember some massage training materials I looked at mentioning the dangers off too much pressure along the direction of pre-existing blood flow in the forearms, etc.<<
Easy version: Lymph is a fluid that circulates just below the skin. Very light pressure affects it. There are bodywork techniques for this, but it's more advanced than most people bother with. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, deep inside the body. Veins carry blood toward the heart, close to the surface. Therefore, surface strokes in massage can aid circulation if done from the extremities toward the heart.
The reason I listed multiple options and drawbacks, and encouraged people to explore those, is simply because the factors point in different directions. To get positive results for a given body, you need to identify which of those factors feels most important to that person. Some people feel bloated if you rub against the blood flow. Some people twitch if you rub their fur the wrong way. Most people feel disconnected if you rub one body part at a time (which is always necessary unless you have half a dozen people doing a team massage) so the customary end of a massage is long body strokes to reconnect the parts. And if you're dealing with someone who has a persistent problem in not being able to feel their body, it's very useful to know things which are annoying and attention-grabbing so you can stimulate the nerves enough for them to feel. It's why one of the first aid techniques for drug overdose is rubbing the skin with a rough or damp cloth. If you can hold their attention, keep them anchored to their body, it's easier to keep them alive until expert help arrives.
>> Yes, that makes sense. With a friend, partner, or family member, “Is it okay if I try X? Sure. Um, that feels a little Y. What if I Z? Oh, that’s better (mumble mumble melt)” seems to work pretty well. With a clinical provider, the client and/or spotter needs to be vigilant and explicit about boundaries just because there isn’t that level of familiarity at least to start with. <<
A good bodyworker typically develops a spiel about allergies and other contraindications, which includes instructions on how to respond if something they do feels wrong. Different schools have different comfort levels. Most bodywork is meant to be pleasant, but there are a few which are notorious for being unpleasant, such as Rolfing, that nevertheless have benefits some people find worth the trouble. So you need to know how it's supposed to feel, compare that to the experience as it happens, and communicate accordingly. But there are always people who interpret things differently -- some pressure junkies adore Rolfing for exactly the reasons most people hate it, because it's deep-tissue work.
Conversely, there are bodyworkers who specialize in folks with less body awareness (certain physical conditions, or abuse survivors, etc.) and have more experience compensating for someone who may not be able to provide fluent feedback.
>> ALL THE NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE. <<
Yeah, it frustrates me how much "therapy" is abuse, and how much damage it does, which often requires a lot of work to repair as adults. All perfectly legal, unless they get caught on camera actually beating a child or the therapy puts someone in the emergency room enough times to raise suspicions. So I try to keep an eye on that, and if I see warnings from survivors who hated the thing, I look for a decent pro-and-con post to include. A lot of things which are helpful to some people are destructive to others.
>>Like massage that hurts and/or violates boundaries - so not worth it, you’ve added tension instead of removing it and also gunked up a perfectly good tool. Mammals need mutual grooming, but it has to be *mutual.*<<
Exactly. The difference between lovemaking and rape is consent. Boundary violations cause trouble, even if they're socially permitted.
>> Yup. That attunement can be easy or hard to achieve, but I think most people can do better at gentle touch than they give themselves credit for, with communication and practice. <<
This is why it bothers me to see more and more of life relegated to clinical activity by trained experts. The main reason experts are needed in the first place is because people have quit doing another thing for themselves and each other. Seriously, they're down to making play into trained therapy just because kids aren't permitted the freedom to move anymore, and develop nerve damage as a result. You can see a glimpse of that in the brushing protocols where it calls for joint compression. How do healthy kids get joint compression? They jump off of things. How do they get brushing over the skin? They roll on floors, crawl through blanket forts or leafy thickets, play dress-up, etc. You don't need to get an expert. You need to get a life.
>> For practice, if wanted, I think it's a good idea for people to deliberately try to do something gently and mindfully for themselves. How many times have I yanked my brush through my hair in a hurry instead of making it feel nice? Too many. <<
Good idea.
Re: brush brush brush
Date: 2016-08-11 07:40 pm (UTC)Nodding here. It's the social and body-movement equivalent of otherwise working immune systems being out of whack due to under-exposure to healthy ecosystems including live dirt. It's valuable that there *are* experts because there will always be someone who really does need some special help for some reason. But we're creating so many of our own problems as a society, and then trying to stick a band-aid over them *years* after the fact.
I eat windfall fruit that I've brushed off. Does it have germs? You betcha. Will they kill me? Possible, but I think it's a lot less likely than that my Aspie body will develop chronic inflammation due to thinking that EVERYTHING is a potential threat if I don't keep giving myself some perspective through exposure to nature and whole foods.
I also clamber up and down steep hillsides. Do I fall and get dirty and/or scratched occasionally? Yup! Is it worth it to me for the exercise, the different view, the thrill of exploring? What do you think?
(There are things I don't do because they don't work for me. I wouldn't go to a bar to dance and listen to a DJ all night. I can't climb a vertical rock face. I wouldn't have a clue how to handle certain activities, tools, assistive devices, or experiences. Is it fine if other people do? Yup.)
The thing is, I'm a legal adult. I can do my own thing. I could do similar things when I was a kid because my parents tacitly permitted me to wander. If they had chosen to instead "treat" my "dysfunction" by keeping me confined to the house/yard "until" I developed "normal" traits, I would NOT have the level of physical, mental, or emotional function I do today. Also, I would have had no real recourse.
As a kid, I met plants and animals and fell off of fences and got yelled at for going in people's yards. I got lost running away a mile or so from home and cried and had a time-out when I got home, I threw walnuts at someone's car and lost my allowance, I got upset and dashed outside and took refuge with a neighbor who listened to me, I got in trouble and got back out again. I pulled on vines, I took apart tulips, I put rocks in my mouth, I learned how to recognize wild onions and tried putting them on toast, I read books sitting in trees (some of them had scenes ABOUT sitting in trees, or taking off in a rocket which also goes well with being up in the sky) and came down and told people all about them. My actions had consequences that made sense. My environment had things that were alive and of interest and were functioning in their own rights, not exclusively there because they were manufactured belongings. Without that context it would be very hard to trust and know the physical and biological world around me. With that context, I can bring my curiosity about how things work indoors or inside myself and examine the things there with an eye to how they work, and keep myself usefully entertained.
Re: brush brush brush
Date: 2016-08-12 09:08 am (UTC)Yes, exactly. Things like allergies and asthma are rising just because people don't get enough exposure to the world, so the body doesn't learn to recognize it as other-but-normal and then goes haywire.
>> It's valuable that there *are* experts because there will always be someone who really does need some special help for some reason. <<
Sooth. But it should be just a few people, not vast numbers.
>> But we're creating so many of our own problems as a society, and then trying to stick a band-aid over them *years* after the fact. <<
Yep. Like drugging kids to make them complacent in an impoverished environment. People don't stop to think about state-dependent memory and how when the kids grow up and stop taking the drugs, most of their school career will fog over.
>> I eat windfall fruit that I've brushed off. <<
LOL yes.
>> The thing is, I'm a legal adult. I can do my own thing. I could do similar things when I was a kid because my parents tacitly permitted me to wander. <<
When I was little, I got to wander too. I still do better now that I can make more of my own choices. When other people decide what happens to my body, the results are consistently bad.
>> If they had chosen to instead "treat" my "dysfunction" by keeping me confined to the house/yard "until" I developed "normal" traits, I would NOT have the level of physical, mental, or emotional function I do today. Also, I would have had no real recourse.<<
That's exactly what happens to kids now, and then people wonder why the kids have nerve damage, mental illness, and the suicide rate is alarmingly high. *shrug* You can make something happen, but you can't make it work.
Re: brush brush brush
Date: 2016-08-12 05:40 pm (UTC)Exactly.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-11 07:20 pm (UTC)Yes. When “no” hasn’t worked, it takes a lot of good practice to be able to rely on it working.
>> Most problems are fixable if people talk them out. <<
If.
>> They're also learning about soup care, where you really can't rely on solutions working straight out of the box. You get a set of things that often work, but you have to check each thing against each person you try it on, because different things work for different people. This is true for ordinary people too, of course, but the shear is wider when you add superpowers. <<
Okay. That’s a good piece of world-building that seems to be solidly in play every time you write about Terramagne.
>> Turq's periodic furriness has made his human body hair more sensitive -- and for that matter, something similar has happened with Ansel. Crayon soups have a set of related traits that sometimes come along for the ride, which are not usually listed as separate powers. So for instance, Ansel also has the UV vision and enhanced tactile awareness, he just hasn't recognized them as such yet. <<
Fascinating.
>> Yay! That's what I'm aiming for. :D Turq and Ansel are developing a very close relationship. It's not sexual, and not quite romantic, but it's very sensual and it's becoming more intimate. <<
Awesome!
>> I think we need to see more of this stuff. So much of entertainment is filled with very dysfunctional relationships. <<
Absolutely, I agree. So many of the models are dysfunctional that it takes practice to even recognize functional relationships that aren’t in line with a (usually problematic) stereotype, or figure out what it is that makes them work.
>> You might look for cuddle parties or networks, where people do a lot of negotiating for casual contact. Kink is another possibility; while most people focus on the famous aspects of pain and sex, there are a lot of other options. <<
Those could both work. I definitely know that I’m better off building my social networks with the weird people who like to TALK about stuff rather than assume. ;)
>> Then there are things like partner yoga or social dance which involve specific patterns of touching, sometimes between established partners but if you show up without one then you can find someone at the event. <<
I’ve seen both of these and they piqued my interest, but I hadn’t categorized them together. Interesting.
I have too many possible goals and too few coherent plans, at the moment. I can focus on adding momentum to a few things that are going well, putting the brakes on one or two that are taking up too much time, and trying to jumpstart just one new goal or a just few things in distinct areas. It’s a process, all right. Walking/hiking more seems to be a good physical well-being goal at the moment because I have a little bit of momentum there. Socially … I’m not sure. But I shouldn’t wait around. Huh. Gotta think about that. *checks schedule*
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-11 09:00 pm (UTC)It helps that Turq now has plenty of people around him who are good at that -- not just taking opportunities as they come, but actively coaching with trust exercises. Ansel and Ethan are very helpful in this regard.
>>Okay. That’s a good piece of world-building that seems to be solidly in play every time you write about Terramagne.<<
\o/ I'm keenly interested in the impact of superpowers on a society. Most cultures in Terramagne have learned some things, including the importance of not pressuring anyone too much and the variation in personal needs. So that ripples outward and benefits other people who aren't soups.
Actual soup care is being slow to develop because soups are -- for sadly valid reasons -- wary of being studied, and there haven't been enough of them recently to build up the kind of numbers required to establish patterns. The most frequent things popped up first, so for instance, it's becoming more widely known that soups often need extra calories. Some of the most common abilities (like Super-Strength and Super-Speed) are among the most prone to high metabolism, and many talents come with the ability to frontload or backload calories. But other stuff is much less widely known even if it's consistent: Speedster's Knee is a term for separation injuries caused when someone moving at Super-Speed has part of their body stopped abruptly. It's a nastier version of what happens with cleats causing football injuries. Every speedster is vulnerable to that; it has happened repeatedly; but it's rare for a single doctor to see more than one case of it just because soups are a small population in total. So the people developing Soup Care as a skill are those who work with that population regularly.
>> Absolutely, I agree. So many of the models are dysfunctional that it takes practice to even recognize functional relationships that aren’t in line with a (usually problematic) stereotype, or figure out what it is that makes them work. <<
It frustrates me when so many examples of "teamwork" are so shitty but are presented as valid. >_< I loved the opening of "Days of Future Past" because it showed such fluent and creative teamwork for a change. Conversely, I'm finding "Dark Matter" a comedy of errors because, for once, a show is honest about what happens when you throw a bunch of random people together and try to make them a team. They don't trust each other -- and shouldn't -- which keeps causing problems. Almost every episode had something fucked up because of that.
It's hard to find any kind of functional relationship in entertainment these days. Among the best ethics I've seen? Lucifer. Who has ethics but doesn't realize that until he smacks into them, is confused, and spends the rest of the episode annoying everyone while trying to figure out what just happened. It is adorable.
>>Those could both work. I definitely know that I’m better off building my social networks with the weird people who like to TALK about stuff rather than assume. ;) <<
In that case, add polyamorous people. There's this assumption they all have a sex fetish. They don't. What they have is a communication fetish and a strong desire for personal ties. I've known acefolk who belonged to polyfamilies. You don't even have to sleep with them. They will latch onto anyone who'll do the interpersonal negotiation with them, and some of them find it hard to make friends outside the poly community for that reason. Most ordinary people don't like to talk about things that much, especially intimate things.
>> I’ve seen both of these and they piqued my interest, but I hadn’t categorized them together. Interesting. <<
There is a whole branch of stuff for socially acceptable touch, and as the personal sphere diminishes, the paid sphere expands. There are subsets for client/provider (like hiring a hairdresser or massage therapist) and for hooking up strangers (like dance and yoga).
>> I have too many possible goals and too few coherent plans, at the moment. I can focus on adding momentum to a few things that are going well, putting the brakes on one or two that are taking up too much time, and trying to jumpstart just one new goal or a just few things in distinct areas. It’s a process, all right. <<
Do one or two new things at a time. However, look at your possible activities and compare them to goals. Which of the activities might meet more than one goal? Prioritize those. Frex, both couples yoga and social dance would get you out of the house, improve social interaction, and provide physical exercise.
>> Walking/hiking more seems to be a good physical well-being goal at the moment because I have a little bit of momentum there. Socially … I’m not sure. But I shouldn’t wait around. Huh. Gotta think about that. *checks schedule* <<
Some places have networks for hikers to find people to hike with. There are social apps for exercise now, too, I ran across those in my research. Not so much contact if you go on easy trails, but the rugged ones can involve a lot of handing up or butt boosting.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-11 09:55 pm (UTC)I do like hanging out with people, and it doesn't have to involve cuddling, but it does have to involve a level of frankness about personal choices, needs, and limits that is a lot more common in queer, poly, and 'alternative' circles as well as, I've found, disability rights and social justice groups. Nerdspace can be pretty good, but it varies a lot. Online meetups have been helpful to me for finding some common-interest groups and activities. The harder part is getting myself to actually go do the things; anxiety sucks in that regard. After I've done it, it feels safer to do it again ... unless I stop doing it for awhile, and then the anxiety comes roaring back.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-12 12:52 am (UTC)That's cool.
>> I'm in a bit of a rut here about 1 year after moving, though; it takes me lots of time to build even community-participation level ties, because I dither and go back and forth a lot. <<
In addition to the anxiety, consider whether you may also have demi aspects. It just takes them longer to warm up to people, which makes it difficult to connect at all in the society that invented speed dating. 0_o
>> Your point about multi-purpose activities is well taken. (I have to be careful about overspending my people-ing spoons, though.) <<
Understood. If you're short on spoons, then definitely look for things that fill multiple needs, because you probably won't have enough to do one thing per need.
>> I had a pleasant person mentioning a good opportunity to go to a drum circle literally meet me on the sidewalk the other day, so I think I'll take the hint. :) <<
Go for it! Drum circles are nice because they often allow people to sit and listen, or dance, or drum, as preferred in the moment. Most don't require any more skill than being able to follow along with a simple beat.
>> I do like hanging out with people, and it doesn't have to involve cuddling, but it does have to involve a level of frankness about personal choices, needs, and limits that is a lot more common in queer, poly, and 'alternative' circles as well as, I've found, disability rights and social justice groups. Nerdspace can be pretty good, but it varies a lot. <<
Basically, you're looking for people who learned to identify and articulate their needs because they couldn't simply take their identity off the shelf.
>> Online meetups have been helpful to me for finding some common-interest groups and activities. <<
That's good.
>> The harder part is getting myself to actually go do the things; anxiety sucks in that regard. <<
Some things that might help:
* Look for regular activities you can commit to.
* Alternatively, use intermittent ones but set a goal of one per day or week or whatever.
* Reward yourself after socializing.
* Pay attention to which activities give you the most bang for your buck. Repeat the most fun or connective ones. Skip the ones that are a chore to attend and give no payoff.
>> After I've done it, it feels safer to do it again ... unless I stop doing it for awhile, and then the anxiety comes roaring back. <<
For me it's not emotional anxiety, it's that my body doesn't like a lot of new things. I like them, but that doesn't keep me from getting queasy or exhausted. There are some ways to compensate for this, but those have limits. To some extent, I can adapt to regular activities if they're fun or at least neutral. Things that are stressful just go from being a big acute spike to being an overall rise in the base level of stress. 0_o But the effect is similar, I do better if I can find activities fairly often that are worth doing. The problem I have is that there are not enough of those available in my area to keep the frequency high enough. So, catch as catch can.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-12 02:51 am (UTC)Yup! With the additional caveat that they not generally act like selfish entitled jerks and/or insist that they have all the answers now that they've figured *themselves* out. Those are both lower frequency, but still present, among the geeks and hippies and queerfolk and so on I like to try to meet. And of course everybody everywhere seems to have that one topic that turns them into a pigheaded growl-monster, I'd just prefer it wasn't an *important* topic or three dozen such that they can't manage to listen and talk about. I like kind people with thoughtful things to say, I'd prefer to have some interests in common with them, and I want to have good communication so we can do fun things together. < sarcasm > I'm extremely picky. < / sarcasm >
UV vision
Date: 2017-05-15 03:16 am (UTC)This has some interesting possibilities in police work. Like tagging something with UV dye.
Or maybe he will be able to spot a camouflaged item because it UV it stands out from its surroundings.
I had that happen will geocaching at night. the cache was one of those army green, cylindrical, match safes. It matched the color of the evergreen "bush" it was hidden in quit well. Except I was using a *blue* LED flashlight. In that light it was a burnt orange color that stood out like a sore thumb. :-)
Oh yeah, unless there are *major* changes to the visual system, being able to see UV has a few odd side effects. One is that due to chromatic aberration, you won't be able to keep a red item and a UV item at the same distance in focus at the same time. If you vision goes far enough into the UV this might apply for "higher" UV colors and orange or yellow!
Normal humans can see this effect with a red shape on a blue shape. Say a red triangle on a blue square, You can have the edges of the triangle in focus or the edges of the square in focus. But not at the same time.
Back when they used to use quartz lenses in cataract surgery, people who'd had the surgery could see ultraviolet. They used some in WWII to spot UV signal lights from agents on enemy coastlines.
And an astronomer who'd had it had an article on "naked eye UV astronomy" published in sky & Telescope or one of the other magazines.
The replacement lenses they use now filter out the UV, because it's not really good for the retina.
Hopefully you'll get some fun ideas from this or manage to google something even more fun.
Ooo! I can just see crayon soups with UV vision (especially kids) finding something to mark surfaces with that only shows up if you have UV vision. Secret graffiti!
This would be different from using markers that glow if you hit them with UV. Shining a UV light on *these* wouldn't look any different to a 'nary. Might make it even brighter for a soup. Or make it disappear (like shining a blue light on something marked with blue ink)
(no subject)
Date: 2016-10-10 01:55 pm (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2016-10-11 06:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 12:42 pm (UTC)Ansel said. He examine the brush
275 for possible snags or allergens.
"He examine" look like it should be "He examined", and a line number slipped through.
Fixed!
Date: 2016-08-09 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 09:15 pm (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-09 09:25 pm (UTC)I'm happy to hear that.
>> And it comes at a time when my therapist is talking to me about self-compassion. So... yeah. <<
*hugs offered* Self-compassion is important. Feel free to prompt for more of that during any open prompt call.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-10 01:29 am (UTC)I also get where Ansel is coming from, I love to feed people, and have them enjoy my food.
Thank you!
Date: 2016-08-10 01:37 am (UTC)Yay! Despite all the ruckus in his life, Turq actually has a solid foundation. So now that he is in a healthier environment, his natural personality is beginning to reassert itself and he feels better.
>> I also get where Ansel is coming from, I love to feed people, and have them enjoy my food. <<
:D Me too. Cooking, feeding people, and eating together appear as motifs in several threads within Polychrome Heroics. It's taught as a coping skill and EFA, which is why you also see fairly healthy recipes throughout even though they show a range from lower to higher calories depending on who cooks. Plus Gray's pastries, of course.
ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-08-13 05:15 pm (UTC)(sorry bout that, and I'm doing it again, just stop me if the yattering bugs you, thats what the fam does, I get weird and particular and obsessive over this stuff....)
what do you do with words to make them FEEL like that, I am gunna have to break out the spoon because I swear I can feel the tickles and the itches and the scritches and the scratches of all the different bristles, and the line about brushing against the grain made me stiffen and yelp... I CANNOT stand that. If it had been me I would have leapt off the bench and swatted the brush away.
I found another thing I really like, it makes me go *goosh!* in three seconds flat, though I have to be in a good place when light touch feels soothing and not overwhelming and I have to be with someone I trust..also I can't really get at the right angle to do it to myself. if you and a partner you trust stand facing each other and then take the pads of your fingers and gently and lightly with the flats of the pads of your fingers stroke from the side of the neck, upwards toward the angle of the jaw and then out and under the jaw, nice and slowly, *sigh* it practically puts me to sleep, but it has to be with the right person. DO NOT TRY with someone you don't trust, because that area is VERY sensitive and we have built in twitch defenses. But it is a great friendly, cooperative mammalian grooming exercise. :D
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-08-13 07:21 pm (UTC)Hi! :D
>> (sorry bout that, and I'm doing it again, just stop me if the yattering bugs you, thats what the fam does, I get weird and particular and obsessive over this stuff....) <<
I like chatting with my audience about what I write. If I didn't enjoy the interaction, I'd use different venues.
>> what do you do with words to make them FEEL like that, <<
Possible explanations:
* One thing I do deliberately is hold an energy impression in mind when I'm writing to describe things. That helps it come through more clearly.
* Another is word choice and depth of description. When I describe not only a character's literal sensation but how it makes them feel and other respects, it gets stronger. When I spend more time describing something in greater detail, it gets stronger.
* Separately, another person I know made the discovery that text-based massage in chatrooms made people feel relaxed, similar to having received a hands-on massage. So I incorporated that awareness of vicarious physical response into scenes I write that have a strong tactile element.
Usually, the intent is positive and the results follow along. I've gotten happy feedback on this poem, for instance. Occasionally I write something like that which is meant to be creepy, though, and I know that not everyone likes the same sensations so sometimes people will dislike what I wrote due to the content rather than delivery. That's why I tend to put warnings on the more intensive scenes like this.
>> I am gunna have to break out the spoon because I swear I can feel the tickles and the itches and the scritches and the scratches of all the different bristles, and the line about brushing against the grain made me stiffen and yelp... I CANNOT stand that. <<
Sorry about that. Some readers are more receptive to these things.
Huh, and now I am wondering if this would make a good test for whether someone is trance-receptive. I bet it would.
>> If it had been me I would have leapt off the bench and swatted the brush away. <<
Turq could have done the same, either with his hand or his superpowers. A couple months earlier, he would have done that. The difference is that now, he and Ansel have built up enough trust that Turq knows Ansel will stop if Turq just says stop. This helps Turq feel more relaxed, which is happier and safer for everyone. It means they can have minor mishaps like this without it provoking an exaggerated response. So Turq's sensory issues are starting to settle down just a little. A calmer body is easier to live in, which is good for everyone.
Also, Ansel has become a lot more alert to, familiar with, and responsive to Turq's signals. He's seen what happens when Turq has a meltdown and that it gets people hurt, which is not what Ansel wants. He's learned to take no for an answer, and Turq has learned that Ansel will stop when asked, which in combination lets them accomplish things now that they couldn't have done a couple months ago. \o/
>>I found another thing I really like, it makes me go *goosh!* in three seconds flat,<<
Yay! Some people have a ticklish spot there, but others are like cats and have a pleasure zone.
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-08-13 07:49 pm (UTC)I'd prolly still flail and slap even if I trusted whoever was doing the brushing, I have a low threshold for unpleasant or off putting sensations. Even with people like blood family who have lived with me all my life if I'm not expecting a touch or they try a particular kind of touch, or it's a particularly sensitive day I flail and startle and flap and screech. This drives them bonkers but I can't help it much, though I have gotten better at controlling the outward visible reactions to things and can finally (mostly) limit myself to an intense and loud "Please DON'T DO THAT!" instead of frantic flailing or slapping with people who don't know me very well...
This reality makes the anticipatory stage of things like getting IV's placed or getting blood drawn absolutely awful. And the reality of IV catheters stay awful for the entire time they're inserted....I can feel the straw in my vein and the sensation doesn't let up until a good 2-5 minutes after the bloody thing's removed.
You're probably right about this kind of literature being a good litmus test, I am prone to things like hypnotic suggestion though I generally avoid it at all costs. My brain sometimes just puts me into a fugue state for Reasons... particularly if I am already tired or am getting really overloaded and overwhelmed, my brain sort of goes "CRAP! MAYDAY! BACK OFF!" and I zone out.
Sometimes that spot is too sensitive for me, but a lot of the time it is just like "mmmmmmmmmyes" and warm, happy tingles. :D
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-08-22 06:36 am (UTC)>> Sometimes that spot is too sensitive for me, but a lot of the time it is just like "mmmmmmmmmyes" and warm, happy tingles. <<
I think I know what you mean; jawline touch can be nice although both throat and face are no-pet zones for me. But as to the "goosh" feeling, there is a spot in the middle of my upper chest that makes me very very relaxed when my partner gently strokes it in the right direction. (Think of the keel of the chest of a cat, and that's what it's like in my mental body-map although I think most people looking at me would think "cleavage" and, um, it's not about boobs, those just happen to be attached nearby.) I don't like jumping and screaming when people come up behind me or graying out literally every time I get blood drawn or having to repeatedly change clothes on to see whether I can stand the fabric they are made out of today, but there are definitely things I like about my body a lot that go with its nonstandard sensory wiring and good petting response to the right spot is one of them.
>> Even with people like blood family who have lived with me all my life if I'm not expecting a touch or they try a particular kind of touch, or it's a particularly sensitive day I flail and startle and flap and screech. <<
Yes. I am inconsistently but frequently tactile-defensive, with the number one factor being surprise and the number two factor being overall tension level and an element of chaos thrown in there too, so it can drive people up the wall trying to figure out what to do/not do. Fortunately I can usually use words to say yes or no or give feedback, if they ask.
>> This drives them bonkers but I can't help it much, though I have gotten better at controlling the outward visible reactions to things <<
It's a good skill to have but it doesn't help much with the adrenaline-jolt to have to focus on locking down a reaction. :( Sometimes I want to be allowed to make my weird noises, you know? At least I can purr at home. Or be ALLOWED to be a bit freaked out, because ickpth feelings are NOT FUN. That one varies...my partner is very good about it when she is okay herself, but when we both hit a down-point in brain chemistry at once it's Not Good to freak because we freak each other. Sigh.
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-10-10 02:24 am (UTC)also YAY!!!! We find things that work and people who will try and work with us! :D
*purrs quietly in solidarity and flaps a bit in the corner at finding people with which to be in community*
THANKS!
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-10-10 02:29 am (UTC)Agreed.
>> also YAY!!!! We find things that work and people who will try and work with us! :D <<
Never stop learning. \o/
>> *purrs quietly in solidarity and flaps a bit in the corner at finding people with which to be in community*
THANKS! <<
Yay!
Re: ugggghh *shiver*
Date: 2016-10-10 03:00 am (UTC)Please feel free to come hang out at my blog anytime - lurk, post, subscribe, whatever you like. I try to keep a cozy fire and a background murmur of talk, but with plenty of space to simply be.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 04:21 am (UTC)Thank you for being you.
You're welcome!
Date: 2016-08-09 04:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 04:42 am (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2016-08-09 04:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-08-09 08:25 am (UTC)oh yeah
Date: 2017-05-15 02:56 am (UTC)http://www.equestrian-tack-shops.co.uk/
It's *wonderful*. Especially nice for going over skin after a flogging or spanking. mmmm
Re: oh yeah
Date: 2017-05-15 03:53 am (UTC)Nice.
>> It's *wonderful*. Especially nice for going over skin after a flogging or spanking. mmmm <<
Yep. Some people like them as torture implements too -- have a sub kneel or stand on the pointy side for a few minutes. It's safe, because the blunt points won't break skin, but it gets very uncomfortable. Also it's much less messy than dry rice, another popular pervertable used the same way.