ways of describing your gender that might come from painful dysphoria but are also very sexist/misogynistic (and often cissexist) and worth actively confronting in yourself, since you might very well be reinforcing gender roles in yourself and others:

joking is 100% fine obviously, but sooo many of these i've seen completely unironically within the lgbtq community (terfs dni)

#1 - i'm not a woman or i don't feel like a woman because... i'm too masculine, hairy, loud, snarky, confident, wish i was tall and buff, want to be the one in charge, don't care if i'm pretty, do unwomanly things, don't like fashion, don't like makeup, don't know how to do small talk, don't understand social cues, enjoy stereotypically masculine interests, like to be the one penetrating during sex, like being rough during sex, like dominating, like being tough, all things that obviously contradict womanhood

#2 - i'm not a man or i don't feel like a man because... i'm too feminine, don't like body hair, have a more feminine or high pitched voice, talk or dress in a stereotypically girly way, enjoy dresses and skirts and dolls and makeup, enjoy stereotypically feminine interests, like being the submissive one and being penetrated (which i see as a "womanly thing" especially if it's in a rough way), like being polite and docile and dainty or being promiscuous and wearing revealing outfits, or even being a sex worker, all things that are girl things to me and make me feel like a woman and aren't something a real man would ever be

#3 - OBVIOUSLY i'm not a man/woman... look how androgynous i look!!! how did that cis person even think i was cis lmao???? i'm too gender nonconforming to actually be a cis man/woman, obviously even i will assume a gender conforming person is cis but a VISIBLY ANDROGYNOUS person like ME??? extra hilarious!!!! (there isn't a specific "trans look" bc trans/nonbinary can look like anything and gnc people exist so this is sexist and transphobic af)

#4 - [anything that implies that being trans/nonbinary is a political statement for the person or a choice to say fuck you to cissexist heteropatriarchal society instead of a very personal identity like being gay or bisexual, it's just a political subculture]

#5 - i'm gay/bi/etc and i believe that my lgbtq identity inherently contradicts me being a cis man/woman

fyi, #5 is said not in the respectful way someone will describe their own personal identity, but rather trying to literally state that being gay/bi/etc inherently means not feeling like a man/woman despite MANY lgbtq men & women being totally connected to their binary gender, feeling a special connection to it through their gayness. this includes binary trans people who have a very unique connection to manhood or womanhood. it's not cool to label gayness or transness as inherently nonbinary. radical sure, but binary lgbtq people have fought FOREVER to be seen as no less of a man/woman than anyone cishet, an obviously homophobic af belief that is pushed by bigots everywhere, to the point where some countries have transition legalized but not homosexuality bc they think that being gay makes you not a real man/woman, so you might as well become a "normal" straight person by transitioning. this shit should be called tf out

#6 - i don't agree with misogyny and i want to distance myself from it politically despite being 100% comfortable with being male and living as male and not having any social or physical dysphoria, or even euphoria, so i use the term nonbinary to show support to women. this is a take i've actually seen passed around lmao, both from transmasc and transfem people

#7 - i just want to make cishet people uncomfortable. it's funny as a joke obviously, i've said i'm gay to make men mad wayyy too many times i get it. but some people when prompted will deadass say that's their only reason to identify as nonbinary. and ngl that sounds like treating transness as a political accessory instead of just a personal identity. which means they think being trans is a choice, like political lesbianism back in the day

there's so many hilarious jokes to make about gender that i love seeing around. so many fun ways to describe gender identity. but let's not feed cishet people's sexism and reinforce the bullshit we've learned growing up, excusing it by giving it a fresh rainbow coat of paint. the last thing the community needs is tighter gender roles. we need to EXPAND not only what it means to be nonbinary, but ALSO what it means to be a binary man or woman!!! it's okay if some of these were signs for you, but the way you speak about it matters

Something I don't like about a lot of Vox takes I see is that they tend to portray Vox as someone who's unpleasant to work with and has weird ideas about what partnership means when really... he's not? He's not and he doesn't. It's just that two of the most prominent interactions we've seen him have are with Valentino(who is a fucking NIGHTMARE to work with) and Alastor(a man he has undisclosed, deeply emotional history with). But everyone seems to discount his OTHER important relationship: Velvette. Which by all accounts, is INCREDIBLY normal.

Like, yeah, their first interaction opens with her yelling at him, but that's less about Vox himself and more about Valentino. As they keep talking throughout the first bit of the episode, she starts calming down, and they just seem to genuinely get along? She has every right to look upset during Stayed Gone because Vox is being really weird and she's nOT THE ONE WHO ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED HIM TO DO THIS SHIT(staring directly at Val rn), but even then during the meeting after Stayed Gone she does actually. Participate. Unlike s o m e people. Despite being on her phone the whole time(which is literally her job-), she actually pays attention and contributes real ideas! Which tbh she didn't have to do at ALL like she did not have to put up w/ Vox's bs in RKtVS the way she did. There's also their phone call during the overlord meeting which, while I definitely think Vel was playing it up to annoy Carmilla, still sounded like a conversation between two ppl who genuinely like and respect eachother!

No matter what you think their relationship is(romantic, platonic, etc...), Vox and Velvette seem to get along REALLY well(outside of Alastor-related incidents). Like, better than either of them do with literally anybody else in the show. Vox & Val do LIKE eachother, but I find whatever the fuck is going on beneath the after the battles & masterless cattles to be DEEPLY upsetting to think about for too long(ex; any of my other posts abt their relationship), and the only other interactions we've seen either Vox or Vel have are Stayed Gone & Respectless, which are literally just song battles. Both of their only interactions outside of the Vees have been song battles. Aw fuck I'm getting off topic... BACK TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP AS COLLEAGUES- okay uh basically, I don't think they would get along this well if Vox was a terrible person to work with(note I said WORK WITH. Hate that I need to specify this but I don't think Vox is a good person overall, just a good business partner). I think Velvette is generally a good bench mark for both Vox & Valentino's relationships with other characters because she's their equal, their friend, and isn't in a weird toxic relationship with either of them. Their interactions with her provide a window into how they just generally interact with people. And based off of their interactions, Vox seems to be actually pretty decent to work with when he isn't being Actively Provoked for shits and giggles or trying to sooth the tantrum of a man child. Also when he views you as an equal and doesn't own your soul that helps too.

Edit: Hiiiiiiii just here to say that now, in the light of day, I don't really agree with everything I've said in this post? I wrote it at midnight while like half asleep so my ability to consider the fact that. We barely know anything about either Vox or Velvette at this point in time. Was kind of impaired I think. Cuz we really don't. I do stand by everything I said about their relationship to EACHOTHER, and I stand by the idea that we should take that dynamic into consideration for character analysis more often, but everything else I'm a little iffy on and I just woke up like an hour ago so my brains still a little fuzzy & I can't explain exactly WHY I'm iffy on it, but just know that I think the conclusion I drew is a bit of a leap in logic at the very least and I recognize that now lol

hiiii.. 🙃🙃

I am going to try and put this in as few words as possible, because my roommate and I spent an hour talking about this today; but there is truly nothing more incredible to me than human creativity.

Like, you’re telling me someone made this? You’re telling me this art came from someone’s own hand? You’re telling me this story came from someone’s mind? You’re telling me that someone as flawed and mortal and lost as me made this?

There is a beauty in math and in science, I am not here to argue that. But mathematics existed long before us. Science will exist long after us. And while the knowledge we have is a wonder, it is not ours. We did not make one and one equal two, we only learned and accepted that it did.

But our art is not universal. Our music was born through us. Our writing will die with us. And there is so much more beauty in knowing that we have made something. People have language and culture and poetry not because it was fact, but by our own whim and design.

This is something AI can never fulfill. An algorithm cannot create, it can only compile. A computer generated image has no link to us, to human emotion. To human flaw and struggle and passion.

Art is beautiful, and creation is the most powerful thing a person can do. Your stories, your art, hell, your fanfic and original characters, they exist not because of universal laws of math and physics, but because of your mind and skill; and if that isn’t the most amazing thing in the world, then what is?

WAIT I just realized something if Barbatos truly is Nightbringer

In normal lesson 9-A, Solomon has a run in with some sort of illusion (?) of Diavolo and Simeon and in 10-A he has a quick chat with Nightbringer, right

When asked to choose between demons and angels by Simeon and Diavolo,  Solomon says that he chooses neither and states that he doesn’t want to make an enemy out of either of them, and then adds that he just wants to be free and that that’s part of the agreement he has with “him” (him being Nightbringer)

And then in his converstation with Nightbringer, he says that he wishes Solomon would have simply chosen their side as that would make things easier and later remarks that Sol is behaving like a demon, to which Solomon replies with this

So could it be that Barbatos is actually the reason Solomon is immortal? He has the power to choose which reality becomes........well, reality as we were shown during the lesson 16 incident of the og game, so he might have chosen one that turned Solomon immortal. And now he’s using the fact that he can make him mortal again to force him into whatever agreement Solomon was referring to

The ONLY reason I’m kind of doubting Barbatos -or any demon at all, for that matter- is Nightbringer to begin with is because Solomon also said this to Nightbringer

Which makes it sound like he’s actually an angel. But if so, who? Angel Lucifer did mention that Michael was interested in a specific human sorcerer back in season 3..........

how has nobody made a kratos!reader with percy jackson yet dude they could reign hell on everyone

My favorite thing is characters turning into monsters (horrifying)

My second favorite thing is characters turning into monsters but having to go on about their lives as usual, meaning they have to do normal things while looking like a monster (silly)

when you ask a restaurant for spicy food and instead of cooking it in a way that makes the end result hotter they just obliterate all the flavor by dumping heaps of sriracha all over it after the fact

How I feel when he texts me

As much as I love to give Stede the business for having trademark Gay People Obliviousness and not even connecting his feelings towards Ed until well after their split, I’ve realized a lot of that probably has to do with his self-worth struggles.

Because like, here is this gorgeous, skilled, dangerous, legendary man, and he falls right head over heels for Stede. And I imagine Stede cannot envision a more ludicrous and outlandish concept. In his eyes, there is absolutely no way he can be loved that deeply and that quickly, especially not by someone he idolizes- someone as extraordinary as Blackbeard.

It also doesn’t help that he’s never really had true love at all, so he didn’t properly recognize it even when it held his face and looked him right in the eyes. His life has also been a deluge of mockery, bullying, and degradation, so it’s no wonder it took him a good while to catch up.

So Ed can put his life on the line for him, vocalize how happy and at ease he is with his new surroundings (as long as Stede is there with him), touch Stede tenderly, and kiss him right on the mouth, but that’s still not enough. With all Stede’s gone through, there’s still room for incredulousness.

There’s still a part of him that thinks that there’s just no possible way this is real.

Underrated adorable thing Kyouka does is when someone gives her something to do and/or tries to show her something new and she gives it her full, serious attention.

It could be a matter of life-or-death. It could be delivering an important document. It could be taking care of a cat. It could be mixing a little candy. Doesn't matter.

Someone: *showing Kyouka a thing*

Kyouka: *staring intently, laser-fucking-focused*

What makes this so good to me is that it's nothing to do with her mafia training - she tends to go numb and distant when her assassin instincts kick in. When she focuses like this, it's driven by her genuine want to learn how to do the thing and do it perfectly. And yeah, part of this is also likely to do with her want to prove that she can do good things, but there are a million different ways she could go about this and she chooses... to watch people. To listen and learn and try her hardest at every single little thing she does. Honestly, I don't think this is anything she picked up from anyone - I think she's just like that. She gives everything she does her full attention.

And yeah, sometimes she gets a little too into it (tasing the guy she was supposed to deliver the files to, making a gigantic tower of god grub...) but she's got the spirit.

You guys she's so cute. She's SO cute. And also I think so incredibly strong for this. I don't think Kyouka fully realizes how much of her recovery is due her own consistent dogged efforts. Atsushi and the Agency gave her an opportunity and a safe home base and she took it and ran with it through her own conviction (in spite of all the setbacks), making herself brighter in the process.

meowzers

Okay yeah no I need to yell abt Valentino's behavior during Stayed Gone and the scenes surrounding it some more because it makes me rEALLY FUCKING FRUSTRATED-

First of all: Val is partially the reason Stayed Gone even happens in the first place. While I do believe Vox would've done something similar had he figured out Al was at the hotel some other way, Val still encouraged Vox to react the way he did. The smiles, the teasing, the way he subtly reminds Vox why he hates Alastor in the first place... it's all very intentional. He is purposefully trying to get Vox pissed off. He wants a show. A show that he KNOWS is going to cause damage to the Vees image, which he also knows is very important to Vox. He also ABSOLUTELY could've told Vox this information sooner! He probably heard about Alastor being at the hotel from Angel, and we know that episode one takes place like a week after the pilot. Val probably knew Alastor was there for at most a week before he told Vox. He was saving that information(for some fucking reason idfk). And like to be fair I don't think just randomly bringing that up to Vox would be a very good idea, but like. Val also picked a really weird time to tell him anyway so. There was probably some kind of ulterior motive there. Also I've seen a couple people saying this so I'm just gonna get it out of the way right now: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SAME THING AS VOX SUBTLY MANIPULATING VAL TO GET HIM TO CALM DOWN. Vox did that as a way to prevent Val from shooting up a fucking building, one that also happened to contain the LITERAL PRINCESS OF HELL!!! There was no waiting for Val to calm down in that scenario, he had to get him to stop. Val was also literally throwing shit at him??? Fuck I'm surprised Vox didn't pull the manipulation card sooner. I've gone into it in depth before but for the sake of this post I'm going to reiterate: FIGHTING BACK AGAINST SOMEBODY WHO HAS BEEN THROWING SHIT AT YOU AND IS ACTIVELY THREATENING TO DO SOMETHING LIKE SHOOT UP A BUILDING WITH THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL BEING IN HELL INSIDE IS NOT ABUSE!!!!!!!!!! LIKE HOLY FUCK I SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE TO SAY THIS IT'S NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE TO ABUSE YALL NEED TO STOP SAYING THIS SHIT!!!!!!!! Vox was trying to prevent Val from doing something OBSCENELY stupid, Val was actively encouraging Vox to do the dumbest fucking thing possible. These actions are not the same. They do not carry the same weight.

*ahem* Anyways, that brings us to the singing portion of Stayed Gone, which to be fair Val isn't really in all that much. But when he IS, boy howdy is he NOT acting like somebody who was very clearly trying to get this reaction literally 30 seconds ago. He shows up like. 3 times. And every time he looks put off by Vox's behavior. BITCH YOU WANTED THIS THE FUCK!?!?!?!? This is the part that makes me really mad. I don't even know WHY it's so upsetting to me- the manipulation is shitty yeah but to have the fucking GAUL to act like you weren't TRYING TO GET THIS REACTION afterwards is just. What. No! What???? That's. What the fuck???? You are not allowed to encourage somebody to make a public fool of themself and then be embarrassed when they make a public fool of themself. It is simply against the rules. Also his complete disinterest during the meeting scene... like okay, lets contrast this with Velvette's behavior for a second, right? She also looks upset during Stayed Gone, but she didn't egg Vox on the way Val did, in fact she probably had no idea what was going on until the song started, so she gets a pass. Then, during the meeting scene, she. She actually participates. She gives genuine suggestions and actually pays attention to what Vox & Val are saying. I'm on the fence over wether this should be considered bare minimum or not because, while Al forming an alliance with Charlie WOULD be a big deal, we don't actually know how much this would effect specifically the Vees so. Idk. But still she's doing more than fucking Val!!! Valentino "someone who owes us much more than money" HazbinHotel is just sitting there, bedazzling his gun, giving weird vague suggestions that barely even apply to the situation. Velvette wins this interaction, gold star for her, because LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK VAL-

Anyways, in conclusion, Val's behavior in this scene makes me really mad and is thus far completely unjustified by the narrative. Vox never does anything even REMOTELY similar to him, at least not that we know of, and Velvette, the person who is MUCH LESS INVOLVED IN VOX AND ALASTOR'S BULLSHIT THEN VAL IS, is still somehow taking the situation more seriously then Val, who is, once again, LITERALLY THE ONE WHO ENCOURAGED THIS BULLSHIT!!!! The bar was on the floor and yet Val somehow managed to limbo his way under it. I hate it here.

Do you ever just think about how there are some interests you have that you just can’t share with irls because they’re too much? Like, I’ve told my friends about The Mechanisms and play their music in my car, I’ve explained some of the basic lore to them, but as soon as I want to tell them about how their conversation about how lonely one of their favorite characters reminds me of the reasons Drumbot Brian was cast into the abyss of space, I can’t find a way to bring it up without being the “weird one”. It’s just something I was thinking of while getting my Halloween costume ready and how I’m going to get so many weird looks and questions for dressing as Raphaella la Cognizi while my friend dressed as Daredevil won’t get a second glance. It’s just a weird set of thoughts and I don’t know I’m just rambling.

We should reserve February for Underlust. Even if it revolves around Lust and involves other UL characters here and there, I feel like it'd be nice to sort of celebrate our favorite Bone Hoe and Co

4 AM and I can't sleep... so it's time to post my deeply unpopular, but fervently held belief that Rimmer fell first, but Lister fell harder.