Office disability culture is so fucked in environmental science and fieldwork. Like the mindset that to do the job you have to be in perfect physical health or you should just quit. Like I'm not talking about something that is 100% physical labor here, everything is mostly achievable with aids and you don't need to be able to do every single thing. But there's this weird like..pride..that my older coworkers have. They work out in the gym and brag about how many reps they did. They tease each other for having medical issues. They don't ask for accommodations because they fear that their legitimacy will be hurt. That it means that they can't do their job anymore. That they won't be TRUSTED to do their jobs anymore. That it will get taken away.
So they FURTHER hurt their bodies by not resting, not taking breaks, not using ergonomic equipment, not using safety equipment. Not drinking enough water. Not using mobility aids when they are so old that it's supposed to be acceptable. They don't use the scooters at the grocery store, they don't use their handicapped placard, they don't use knee pads or compression gloves.
And here I come in, 24 years old, looking perfectly healthy. And I use walking sticks, I sit down a lot, I have my care bag, I have a ton of gadgets for making fieldwork more comfortable, I have boundaries and limits, I wear braces and knee pads and compression gloves. I use my handicapped placard.
They react in one of two ways:
1. How DARE I. I'm so lucky to be young and no one sees THEM having to do all those things (literally nothing is stopping them but pride). Like old man if you need a break take a fucking break. I'm not going to hurt my health to make you feel better about hurting yours. I'm not risking a flare up to spare the 65 year olds feelings. Im gonna take my break and use my equipment cause my boss doesn't care as long as the work gets done. I'm tired of glares from 100 year olds making themselves struggle across the parking lot when they could also be using the fucking scooter. (I never take the last scooter, there's always another available. Also it's not my fault if walmart only provides 2 scooters for the whole store).
2. It shows them its okay. Its okay to need aids. When I first showed up at my job it was very...macho..everyone was afraid of seeming old (theres probably only 3 of us under 30 in the whole department, most people are at least 50, mainly 65 year olds). Then they saw me using my walking sticks, taking my medicine openly, bringing a chair with me when working away from my desk, using my TENS unit. I overheard one lady ask her granddaughter what fibromyalgia was (apparently she had spotted my pain tracking journal).
My older coworker with a bad knee got a walking stick like mine and beamed when she showed me. The grandmother uses a cane and a walker interchangeably and more often. I get asked where I get my little portable fan and pocket heaters and special clothing. Even abled coworkers are doing it. My coworker who's younger than me sets alarms to take breaks now just like I do. People seem more comfortable using things that help them now.
My boss has really struggled. He has a lot of internalized ableism and hates thinking of himself as crippled. He spent his whole life physically active and strong and all these health issues and overexertion are catching up with him. Like he did environmental testing in areas with fucking radon. He did work where they threw asbestos around like snow for fun. He's done a ton of really hard physical work. He grew up with the mentality that pain was just something everyone has to push through. But I think seeing a young person make the choice not to push through is helping him a bit. He wants to make his own walking stick, he goes to the doctor more. We bond over having constant medical issues and I even gave him the name of my surgeon. Yea he still says stuff like "shoot me if I have to use a wheelchair" (not as much anymore since he now knows I use one) but he's getting there.
Yeah so I've had this in my drafts for a bit and I wanted to update that my boss has been walking around with a fucking broken ankle for the past couple of weeks. He thought it was just arthritis pain and eventually couldn't take it anymore and went to the foot doctor. The doctor has no clue how the fuck he's been walking on it. Now he has to wear the boot and he's banned from fieldwork while he heals.
Older people and the elderly need to learn that it's okay to not push through the pain and ask for help. Everyone needs to learn this, and not be like my fucking boss. Go to the doctor, get that sore joint checked out. Get those tests done. Use that aid. Stop walking on a broken ankle just because you can.
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H– hear me out. Found family.
but it's Rose and Jed and the Corinthian is the cool uncle who pops by and takes Jed to eat ice-cream and amusement parks and just accidentally leaves the thing that Rose happens to be needing that week around. Oh, a sandwich and... candy? Oh, nice the hole in the wall is repaired. Oh a new fridge. Why is there a jar of eyes–
And then discussions happen "yea kid gotta do what it takes to survive. I know how it is when parents ain't around."
Rose stresses out for her law school exams so the Corinthian asks her questions on the material. He thinks it's all bullshit because
"No problem that can't be solved with murder or sex."
It actually really puts things in perspective for Rose. Just maybe there are worse things in the universe than potentially failing law exams (she won't).
"You're so perfect all the time kiddo, gotta unwind a little." And The Corinthian just takes her and Jed to the places he's been to he thinks are the coolest.
He shows Jed his collection of portraits of people who have the most perfect teeth.
"Do you have to brush yours? Eye-teeth I mean? Cause I hate brushing my teeth couldn't imagine doing it three times."
"Jed–" Rose tries to interrupt. But Jed has questions.
"Do you have three oesophagi ? I learned the word oesophagus in biology today."
Increasingly bothered Corinthian rakes hand through his hair. "Uh–"
What was he thinking.
"Can you laugh with them? Are they connected or can you use them like independent one from the other. How can you even ACTUALLY SEE"
"I DON'T KNOW AIGHT– ask Morpheus."
Rose is not a vortex anymore but these kids attract trouble, petty criminals, flaming sofas on wheels, and malevolent entities like the Corinthian has never seen.
Rose doesn't know of course.
The Corinthian always gets to them first.
Once Dream visits and Rose almost calls him granddad.
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I honestly kinda get but kinda don't get Lanolins angle.
Like Silver knows Duo is Mimic as he was potentially almost killed by him but he when he tells Lanolin, he doesn't actually provide any proof. Same goes for Whisper, she just says that Duo is Mimic and THEN trys to prove it which seems to mean putting Duo in danger or atleast risk of injury. From Lanolins POV, it probably looks like these 2 well respected team members are bullying the newbie with a weak excuse and are progressively getting more aggressive, escalating name calling to physical harm.
She didn't really know Silver personally before this Duo problem and probably thinks he's just a vindictive person who still hasn't gotten over Duo 'running off to get help'. With Whisper, I presume she just thinks she's being paranoid which when you have a nemesis like Mimic it something that could happen. Plus I don't think Whisper had actually properly told Lanolin just how dangerous Mimic can be so Mimic might not register that high of a threat since he isn't exactly destroying citys like Eggman or the Zeti.
However, I don't understand why she's taking the direction she is. She's incredibly disrespectful of Silver which I can only presume is because she now thinks he's a bully (otherwise I can't think of a reason) and she's incredibly disrespectful of Whisper, I could see her annoyance for Silver maybe bleeding over to Whisper now she's on his side but it feels very meh.
I feel like if Lanolin just had a page to explain her train of thought then alot of this could be sorted and I hope she actually starts giving Duo the side eye since now 2 people are saying he's Mimic.
I think you nicely describe the issues I see with this current plot, yes.
I mentioned it in my ask to Beevean as well, but this entire plot is fully dependent on not letting characters do or say entirely reasonable things we can expect of them, as to not fall apart. In issue 63 alone, Silver should have provided proof, namely that he got kicked, and Whisper should have backed him up, because she literally says later that she saw it herself as well. Silver also should have said that Duo's face changed to something super ominous, because in that same scene with Whisper later he says he saw so! And Lanolin, Whisper and Tangle should have noticed that Duo says to them he couldn't do anything to help Silver, but that Silver says Duo just ran away without saying anything while Duo himself protests he was 'getting help'. This isn't a small thing, this is Silver literally nearly dying because of Duo's (in)actions, and there could not be a greater discrepancy between what Duo first tells the girls ("I couldn't do anything") and then later says to defend himself against Silver ("I was getting help"). There is so many should have's, but all of these will make the dramatic irony plot fall apart, so the characters cannot say them! And thus we get the highly unfair scene of Lanolin immediately picking Duo's side and tearing into the literal saviour of the world as if she's his boss (no, Silver is not part of the Diamond Cutters, he's just training with them) and knows far more about heroing and psychic powers than he does (ma'am, in your first mission in the field ever Whisper, you, and Sonic got captured and Tangle almost got shot right through her head). Silver meanwhile is mischaracterised as immediately folding under that scolding, Whisper suddenly becomes a coward who does not back Silver up until all is said and done, and Tangle does not point out Lanolin is being overly bossy again. So basically in that scene, everyone is written terribly, but it is a necessity to keep the plot going. In that way, I can accept it is not fully Lanolin's fault that she doesn't know what is going on, because she's stuck in a badly-written plot with all the above should have's ensuring that she'll nicely not find out the truth until it is too late... but her terrible personality and constant immediate defending of Duo do not help in her figuring anything out, either.
And besides, Lanolin does, or at least should, know Silver's feats. She was there for the Metal Virus Arc where Super Sonic and Super Silver saved the entire world! Duo literally confirms people not allied with the Restoration at that time know of Angel Island! Silver was part of the Resistance for six months! He's got tons of credibility and a presence during prior events where he absolutely necessary to stop things from going to shit to back him up, where he was a team player and overall a very helpful person. We are never shown where her sudden disdain for him comes from, meaning we can only fill it with theorising that link right back to the should have's (e.g. "She thinks Silver is irresponsible because he nearly dropped those rocks on her!" -> Silver should have pointed out he dropped them because Duo kicked him). As for Whisper, from what I can tell Lanolin does indeed not know that Mimic specifically is the one who betrayed Whisper's old team... but instead of doing something more sensible like asking "Why do you think that?" or "Why would he do that?" when Whisper accuses Duo of being Mimic, she instead becomes defensive immediately. No surprise, no shock, no concern, just immediate defensive anger with her usual pissed off I Can't Stand You Actually facial expression. Why does she trust Whisper so little that she can't even hear her out normally? Why does she immediately assume Whisper is lying when she is presented with such an outlandish claim (too outlandish to come up with out of nowhere, imo) that still indicates they could all be in terrible danger? I can accept the idea that she thinks Silver is still mad about nearly being eaten by a Giant Chopper, but why did she react in the way she did to Whisper, who by that point had done nothing to indicate she should not be listened to?
And like, adding to that... why would Lanolin assume that Silver and Whisper suddenly are bullying Duo anyway, when neither has shown him any badwill beforehand? Whisper was totally down with him joining the team since they needed volunteers, no issues there. Silver was friendly to him until the Chopper incident, with not a hint of bad blood or envy or whatever negative emotion you might ascribe to it. And you are right: we are never shown why Lanolin is so protective of Duo, just that she values the newbie far more than a teammate she's been on a mission with before and the actual saviour of the past and future. Lanolin is written like an altogether terrible leader (cannot de-escalate situations and only makes them worse, clearly favouring one member over the others for no reason, cannot hear all parties out first before immediately jumping onto the defense) and to me as just a rude, unpleasant character on top, and we simply don't know 1. why, and 2. if this is intentional in a 'meta' sense. Nobody calls her out on her behaviours, but we do see that characters like Tangle are quite disheartened by her words and actions, and she herself admits she's bossy. So she's a character aware of her flaws who does nothing to become better: how nice. But overall, there's a lot of questions around why Lanolin acts the way she does, and why she can easily be taken as altogether hating her teammates (if her facial expressions around them are anything to go by) or at least not trusting them. And the comic is doing very little to answer such questions or indicate if we should root for Lanolin because she's 'doing her best' or dislike her for her nasty personality instead, unfortunate as that is.
So yeah... I don't know what is going to happen. All I know is that I do not care for it much: Silver's got quite the happy ending with someone who actually respects him and listens to him, and that is all I can ask for, haha. At most, I would love it if Mimic gave Lanolin the callout of a lifetime for trusting his random ass over the two far more experienced people around her, and allowing him an easy escape with her constant interrupting, distrusting, and scolding of her teammates so that he didn't have to keep scrambling for excuses. And if Lanolin admits she's been a terrible leader who only escalated things further with her actions and who clearly does not respect her team members for no reason, that would be nice too. We'll see what happens: I am going to predict there'll be absolutely zero consequences for Lanolin and her behaviours and actions, then it can only become better, haha.
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