Osielle is going blind. That is certainly interesting news, and they certainly do seem to handle it respectfully. (Note: I am sighted, please take my words with a grain of salt)
However, I think it is a strange decision to have a character experiencing vision loss in a game that, to my understanding, is inaccessible to blind people. Representation is wonderful, but what does it mean without accessibility to the represented group?
Then again, this is a site with canon trans characters and yet has moderators that like to protect transphobic players. I'm not shocked the irony is lost on them.
Also I really am not looking forward to tomorrow's story based on Evrem's dialogue. I wish modern TNT would recognize that "ugga" is not the only word in the Tyrannian language.
The team ran across the field, snow crunching underfoot. It was a cloudy day at the top of Terror Mountain, and bright flecks of snow danced before Osielle Lidel’s eyes as he buzzed above his teammates. Rinok had the Yooyuball, and paused to look around for someone to pass to; Osielle darted down a little lower, waving his arm to get the Bori’s attention.
“Here!” he called, and Rinok looked up at the Buzz—or at least, Osielle assumed he did. The snow suddenly grew heavier, whirling more violently across his vision and hiding his teammate’s white fur. He squinted, trying to make Rinok out in the flurry…
And then, out of nowhere, he felt the impact of the Yooyuball. Osielle cried out and clutched at his head, losing his balance in the air, and plummeted to the ground.
POOMF!
For a moment, his vision was completely black, but then it brightened into an unending field of white. He felt his breathing begin to quicken, but promptly tried to calm himself down. It was only snow… It was only snow…
“Are you okay?”
He heard voices above him, all of them speaking in frantic, concerned tones. He recognised the first voice as Minae Mitora’s, and sure enough, with a few blinks, the blue Chia unblurred and swam into focus.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Osielle muttered, shaking his head. It was then that he saw something else fuzzy and undefined in the corner of his eye: a gloved hand reaching for him. Another blink revealed periwinkle blue fur spotted with clouds and long, antenna-like ears. Captain Prytariel, then.
He took her hand and she hoisted him up. Osielle stumbled a little bit as he got to his feet and tested his wings for injury. Nope, they were fluttering like normal, just like a Buzz’s should, but… More snow fell between them all, so thick that it resembled fog—and thick enough that even though Osielle could feel his teammates watching him, he couldn’t quite make out their expressions. A shudder ran down his back that he knew had little to do with the cold.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Pryatiel asked.
“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine once the snow clears—”
“Um, Osi…” Minae started, hesitantly. “It’s not snowing.”
Osielle blinked. And blinked. And blinked. Each blink lasted longer than the last and he scrunched his eyelids tighter with each one. After the third blink, and a shake of the head, Osielle’s vision finally started to clear—and he realised that Minae was right. It wasn’t snowing after all.
“...Oh,” he said, his voice barely more than a breath.
Prytariel came closer. “Is this… Does this happen often?” she asked.
Osielle remained silent.
“Is that why you’ve been taking all those sick days?” Prytariel bit her lip.
This time, Osielle decided to speak, but it took him a moment to clear the lump in his throat. “Yeah. It—it’s been getting worse, too. I figured it was just recurring Blurred Vision, like what I thought I had in Year 13, but when I went to get it checked out, the doctors said…”
He couldn’t finish. Next to him Prytariel lifted a hand, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not to touch him. The team knew he wasn’t very touchy-feely to begin with, so he appreciated the gesture—and decided that, today, he really needed the hug.
He let himself be pulled in, and the rest of the team joined them. They stood there in silence for a moment, all huddled together against the winds of a brewing storm, and Osielle closed his eyes, trying to memorise the feeling.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Minae asked quietly. It was hard to shrug, smothered in the centre of all his teammates, but Osielle tried, and everyone backed away to give him room.
“I never meant to keep it a secret,” he said. “I just… didn’t want to make a big deal of it. I thought if I just kept taking my medicine and resting when it got really bad, it’d end up going away on its own. I didn’t want to believe the doctors when they told me I was going… going b-blind.” He swallowed, unsure if he should continue, but his teammates all waited patiently for him to speak. In the end, he decided to. They were his teammates. They’d have his back.
Osielle took a deep breath. “Nothing—nothing worked. Not the ointments, not the goggles, not the resting… I’m worried that—that since I’m losing my sight, I won’t be able to… I’ll have to quit the team.”
“Oh, Osi!” Tears sprung to the corners of Minae’s eyes, and she rushed forward to try and hug him again. Thankfully Evrem, their Scorchio teammate originally from Team Tyrannia, held her back.
“Ugg ugg-gga, Minae.”
“Sorry.”
“It okay.” Evrem looked from his emotional teammate back to Osielle. “Yooyuball not just about play. Yooyuball about… ugg-ga-ga.”
“Teamwork,” Rinok supplied.
“Yes. Teamwork. That is the word.” Evrem nodded sagely.
“He’s right,” Prytariel said. “And there are ways to be part of the team without being on the pitch, you know? For days when your vision is really bad. I don’t know what I’d do without your playbook expertise going into our matches, for instance.”
“And I love the honeyed orange slices you bring to practice!” Minae said. “Buzz honey is the best.”
“You’re great with ointments and remedies for muscle aches, too,” Rinok said.
“And you ug ugga gugg akah grahgg-aka-gug. Ugg-ugg gal-akka-ack ug ug.”
Osielle laughed. “Of course I do. You’ve got to know the strengths and weaknesses of your team, and I’m not the only one here who learned how to speak Tyrannian.”
“But you were first.”
“The point is,” Prytariel said, “you’re an asset to the team both on and off the field. Nobody knows us, or Yooyuball, like you do. So we’ll find a way to keep you with us.”
“And there’s always coaching.”
Osielle and his teammates all turned to look at Rinok. The Bori crossed his arms and grinned—an expression that Osielle found himself mirroring.
“You know, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea,” he said.
Minae bounced up and down, and it was only by the grace of Evrem still holding her that she didn’t try to reach out and grab Osielle again.
“Does this mean you’re going to be our coach for the next Cup?” she asked excitedly.
“I don’t know about that. I think I’ve still got a few years left in me,” Osielle said, “and I want to keep playing for as long as I can. But it might not be a bad idea for me to start reading up on this whole coaching thing.”
“And who knows; maybe as you’re figuring things out—as we’re all figuring things out—we could put together a camp for Neopians who are going through something similar?” Prytariel suggested.
Osielle nodded. “I like the sound of that too,” he said. “In fact, I know someone who knows a thing or two about starting up a Yooyuball camp. Maybe we could pick her brain for some advice.”
In honor of today being Aromantic Visibility day and the fact that my Aromantic Aisha post is actually quite popular by this blog's current standards...
May I suggest, aromantic Prytariel?
This came from an RP lost to the sands of time where she was aromantic-coded but the amatonormativity of 2011 means she got married twice in the future without the RPer's permission orz
With a podium finish in AC XIII, Terror Mountain is on a high. However, far from letting success get to their heads, the players seem to be working harder than ever before. "We have much more at stake now. More reasons to want to do better. We are pumped," said goalie Minae Mitora.
Terror Mountain has been in the news throughout the lead up to AC XIII and unfortunately for the snow-dwellers, it hasn't been for good reasons. Buzz was that Rinok Fitel, the Centre defender of the team, had failed one of the crucial tests and therefore, would have to sit out of the tournament. The team management has, however, refuted the rumors and called them baseless. Is there any smoke without fire, we wonder!
