#feminine doesn't mean fragile

[hellspawnmotel]

love your blog and your art!! and realised ive been following you for almost ten years so thank you for the quality posts

have you got any thoughts on ralsei and noelle in terms of both of them taking on “the girl” role in the game? or i guess rather ralsei trying to be the girl in his own meta and sorta weird way. i know youve drawn them together a couple times but would love to hear any analysis if you have thoughts (if youve already posted about this and i missed it my bad! feel free to ignore)

well damn that's flattering. wish I had some kind of membership program so I could give you a little gift, haha

anyway. this is something I've touched on before but only really spelled out once so you're good. I think there's several factors at play with ralsei's metatextual femininity: his status as the party squishy mage/healer, his status as kris's (and by extension, the player's) love interest, his obsession with roles and subservience, and the fact that ralsei is probably meant to be as appealing to the player as possible. none of those things are INHERENTLY feminine of course, but they are in the context of a story with an audience. we don't know for sure yet how ralsei feels about all that, but I'd wager he either thinks he wants it or thinks it has to be his purpose and he wants to do a good job at it. ralsei is like..... the wife. he's the perfect wife. and he's really good at it! the audience LOVES ralsei! whenever my art gets reposted on reddit, there are way more romantically charged or even sexually explicit comments about ralsei than any other character. when I posted my "choose your bride" illustration, most of the people commenting said they would choose ralsei over noelle, with some even saying that it's because noelle "already belongs to susie".

and that leads into his parallels with noelle. like ralsei, noelle is a fragile magic user, is generally more shy and demure (though both of them can break out of that easily), is shown as pining for the object of her affections, and she's slotted into the role of "the love interest" for susie (or for kris/the player, but I'm gonna focus on normal route here). the ferris wheel scene also directly parallels the acid tunnel of love- both forcing the two "couples" to be alone together in a deliberately romantic setting with nothing to do but talk. I've already talked plenty about noelle's roles as the girl, the bride, the damsel, etc. so I won't get into it again, but I think the connections made between kralsei and suselle are worth keeping an eye on. there's nothing to indicate that susie and noelle's budding romance is anything but sweet and genuine, but at the same time you have to wonder what it means that the game is pushing them together in a way so similar to kris and ralsei.

to reference classic jrpg dragon quest v: hand of the heavenly bride, nera comes out of nowhere and was tailor-made to be a wife, while bianca is a childhood friend you have an actual prior connection with. but it doesn't really matter who you choose to marry. in the end they both get kidnapped and sidelined as soon as they're done having your babies.

[gingerdusk]

Dunmeshi thing.

I disagree with the notion that "Senshi is such a bishie elf because he's REALLY a bishie dwarf!"

Is he an unconventional dwarf? Yes. Does he fail on a lot of levels of their culture? Yes.

However:

This appearing feminine to us does not mean that this

Is feminine to a dwarf.

The changelings don't change who you are. They don't change how you act. They only change your appearance, right?

"But his appearance is bishie!"

His appearance is bishe as an elf. He is an elf. AN ELF.

These are all elves. They're all narrow and ethereally pretty. There are elven men in here. Do any of them even look remotely masculine to human sensibilities?

Do any of them even have facial hair?

No. Because they're elves. Because they're a species defined by this look.

Fruity as this comes across, that is through human eyes. Elven eyes would still see him as incredibly masculine, even looking like this.

Want proof?

This is Senshi's whole breadth of appearances.

That one on the left? That's his tall-man form. THAT is what he looks like to our eyes in his truest state.

THAT is what his appearance comes across like to elves.

Similarly:

Senshi doesn't look like a fragile twink because Senshi's really a dwarven twink. Senshi looks like a fragile twink because all elven men look like fragile twinks.

I rest my case.

[asce-of-hearts]

Impact

contents: Self indulgent Uvo fic I'm sorry guys the brainrot is all over me again.

more Uvo content here

WARNINGS: IMPLIED PAST RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UVO AND READER, MENTIONS OF HOME INVASION, READER IS IMPLIED TO BE FEMININE, SOFT UVO IN HIS OWN WAY I GUESS.

A/N: listen to this song while reading because I was listening to it while writing and it brings context ok thank u. Also, mostly dialog centric fic because dialog is something im kinda good at writing anyways.

Home invasion was a reasonable fear.

Your home, your room, previously submerged in quiet, were now full of this overwhelming presence. In every sense he was too much, too tall, too muscular, too big. And he just exhuded this aura full of blood and darkness as his dark eyes fixed on your form.

You're small, you're fragile and half naked over your bed, your body barely covered by satin sheets. What a stupid investment, you should've bought a gun instead.

"___?"

That voice brings back a familiar feeling. Big arms crossed, cocking a brow, almost scowling as he looks down at your delicate form. It's all too familiar, as he steps closer you can't help but cry. You nod, and his arms are wrapped around you in that instant. And open mouthed kiss is pressed against your jaw, clumsy, grazing innocence.

"Don't look at me with those eyes, c'mon..." He murmurs against your skin, barely able to look at you in such a state. "I didn't mean to scare you. M'sorry. I didn't think you would be the one here. Lucky you, eh?"

"I haven't seen you in years and you wonder why I started crying when you barged through the door without asking." You hiccup, and a dry chuckle leaves his lips. "Brute."

"I know. Forgive me."

"I didn't mean it."

"I know."

His hands feel even warmer than you remember. You want to ask him so many things. Ever since you both left the place you grew up in it you haven't seen him, haven't felt him. He's comforting now, completely engulfing you, he's taller than you remember, bulkier, you wonder if he still has those same old habits. You wonder if he would've killed you if he didn't realize it was you.

You decide to push that thought away.

The lingerie you're wearing is too thin for his taste, the fabric could rip at any moment under his touch. His hands travel down, taking in the texture of your curves and skin, how it feels like silk against his fingertips. He doesn't say anything, and you don't find the strength to oppose as he kisses you, so tender for an instant.

How long has it been since you last kissed? You remember the first time, barely teenagers. Uvo was too rough against your lips, puncturing your lip with a miscalculated bite. Your first kiss, both painful and amusing to look back to. Does he remember it the same way? How you whimpered when he pushed his tongue past your lips, you're doing it right now. Sweet little sounds that leave your throat every time he touches, he kisses deeper.

When he parts he does it with a groan, his eyes softening just a tiny bit as he looks down at you.

"I told you to stop looking at me like that."

"What?" You can't help but smile at his words, at how he looks slightly flustered. "How?"

"Like that. You're doing it again!" He smirks, averting his gaze as he pushes your face away gently.

"I'm not doing anything!" You laugh. His hand is bigger than your face, he could crush you so easily. Another dangerous thought. His strength is much more measured as he pins you down on the bed, trapping you. It's easy for him, really, he just has to push down a little and you're unable to do anything. He's so warm, like a weighted blanket all over you. "What are you even doing in the city anyways? I haven't heard a word about you or the others in years."

Uvo buries his face on your side as he switches positions, the bed creaking at his weight as he uses one of his arms to circle your waist as he lies on his stomach.

"Came here for work. If there's time I'll tell the others to come by to say hello to you. "

"What work?" You ask, almost innocently. It's not that you're unaware of the tendencies they used to have, but you've never seen it. Never faced the harsh reality of the pile of corpses Uvo has been collecting over all of those years you didn't see each other.

"Nothing that interests you."

"Come on, tell me." He looks up at you, his eyes holding a strange glimmer, you freeze in place again.

"Don't insist." His voice is a low murmur, his fingers digging into the soft skin of your waist in warning. You know better than to press, Uvo has never liked to be ordered around. Even if you used to have this strange power to persuade him into doing anything.

"Sorry." You whisper, meekly. His eyes become half lidded as they fix on yours. He grins, rising from the bed. Had you really noticed how enormous he actually was?

Another kiss is pressed against your lips, much more dominating. Much more rough.

"You keep doing that," he whispers against your lips. "You're gonna be the death of me." Uvogin breaks the kiss just to hold you in his arms again, squeezing, aching to keep you trapped. It has been too long since he last did this, he was starting to forget just how perfectly you fit in his arms, how he has to be so mindful of how he touches you just so he doesn't break your ribs, your arms. Every little bone inside your little body. You're just so little to him. "What do you want?"

"Eh?"

"For the scare. What do you want?" He places his hands on your shoulders, firmly holding you in place. "You did it, you convinced me. I'll give you whatever you want."

"I didn't do anything!" You laugh, both amused and nervous. "You're saying things that don't make sense."

He chuckles again, a sound that would be so menacing in another context, in another place and time. His thick fingers play with the straps of the bralette you're wearing, tempted to rip it apart, instead he pushes it down, finding it too troublesome to take time to undo it. His warm breath tickles at your skin, and he gives a tentative kiss and a lick to your now naked skin, he suckles at your breast lightly, tenderly, closing his eyes.

"Nice and tempting, who were you waiting for, eh?" He teases, biting down at the now perked up bud of your nipple. You squeak, pushing him away as you feel your face burning up.

"Nobody, I just felt pretty. Maybe I was waiting for you."

"For me? How sweet, almost makes me forget how you were closer and closer to fainting when I laid my eyes on you." He licks again, his free hand squeezing and groping at whatever they can find, or trying to get rid of the silky, embroidered underwear that keeps getting in his way of utterly devouring you. He has missed this, had forgotten how much he liked eating you whole. He's finally able to find your intimacy, he rubs it, slicking it up before sticking one gargantuan finger inside.

"How long-" You're unable to finish your sentence without moaning at the sudden intrusion, burying your face in his hair as he continues to tease and prob at your aching hole. "How long are you staying." You ask, longing, wanting to hear a sweet lie of forever, of a couple years.

"I don't know." He answers, blunt and curtly. His hips already thrusting to alleviate himself against the mattress. "But you aren't staying here too much longer either."

"Eh?" You open your eyes, facing him as he cages you against the bed. He taps his cock over your clit a couple of times, and rubs himself between your folds, perhaps trying to ease the pain of penetration, even when he knows it'll come with how little time he took to prepare you.

"I'm not letting you get away this time," He leans over to press a rough kiss at your forehead, grinning when you tremble, offering him a confused look, one that's pleading, that's begging for him to take you with him. "Not when you look at me like that."

ghhhhghhhh uvo *sniffles* UVO *cries so hard he throws up* UVOGIN PLEASE JUST ONE CHANCE

i wanted to write a fic for him with this song just bc i think it's so him, idk, i love him, i desire him carnally i want to marry him sosososo bad. sorry if it's a mess I'm really sick rn and when I proofread it I thought it was fine, anyhow.

hope you enjoyed this

have a great day/night

TAGGING:  @eroscastle @goldenglow149. @ayn-yurbestie @oliviathatgirl @mimihaitani

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[yarrayora]

i like how falin being a maiden to be saved, a reward to be coveted, isn't a point to criticize in dungeon meshi. because we have various other female characters who are written as having their own agency

we have marcille, of course, whose story can be observed since chapter 1. how she's not depicted as the "girl team member" but "part of the team". when you're writing a protagonist group where there's only one female character among the male cast, you can always feel this sense of alienation in the writing, like she doesn't belong in the group as the story focuses on the rest of the boys. the way masashi kishimoto writes team 7 is a major example

but marcille is still allowed to be a "typical girl" who doesn't want to eat gross things and enjoy feminine clothing without forgetting the fact that she's a multifaceted person. she's a researcher who isn't afraid to get dirty when it's something relevant to magic and her goal, even though she's also grossed out at the idea of feces being used as fertilizer for crops

and when falin comes back as a monster who can't speak, it's still not a point to criticize. oftentimes stories involving female characters losing their speech (or, well, becoming disabled in some way) is meant to make her vulnerable, a fragile 'something' to be protected. but this is not an argument about how chimera falin is super strong, because that's a shallow way of thinking that ignores the fact that being a Girlboss doesn't ensure your female character is written as a fully realized person. this is about the fact that almost right after that Izutsumi joins Laios' party.

She joins late in the game, so it'll be easy for her to only be tacked on as an afterthought. A notable example would be Okumura Haru from Persona 5, where her character gets overshadowed a lot by the other party members' more colorful personalities, as if the writer wasn't sure how to integrate her into the already developed dynamic.

there's also how she's written as a sweet and shy girl yet the way her school uniform is designed betrays that image. it's heavily customized even compared to the trendy girl like ann which means it's impossible for her outfit to not go against school regulation. not something an obedient girl would have done. which makes me wonder if they couldn't decide on her writing until last minute.

but Izutsumi is different. her involvement and her own personal story arc eventually intertwines to the overarching plot. she hates having her options limited. she hates having responsibilities to uphold. she hates eating veggies! she hates that people expects her to do things their way! she wants freedom to do whatever she wants!

but in the end she learns that to have the freedom to choose, she has to uphold her responsibilities. starting from the simple things like taking care of her health by eating balanced meals, not just the ones she enjoy. she has to do work to get enough money for her food and travels. and she has to learn how society works so she can live independently. she has to learn which desire she has to prioritize that she can balance out with her responsibility as a living being.

her own self-realization culminates into her giving advice to laios that leads to him steeling his resolves to become king.

so you have Falin, who gets turned into a monster that cant communicate her desire and needs while under the mad sorcerer's control, and in exchange you get Izutsumi, the 'beastman' who knows exactly what she wants and throws a tantrum about it without shame, not understanding that what you want isn't always what you need. i think it's a really cool parallel!

this is a prime example of how tropes that get associated with misogynistic writing can be used as a proper tool that serves a narrative when you have more than multiple female characters having their own character arcs

in fact, you can apply this to pretty much every other things. when you're writing gay characters, having only one of them and they act camp can make people raise an eyebrow at whether this is meant to be a caricature of gay people or not. having two of them and one acts camp and one acts normie can be read as a bias against gay people expressing themselves. writing multiple gay characters, all with different personalities and desires will avoid accidental stereotyping.

even the minor female characters, be it the canaries or namari, help show that the way the narrative treats Falin isn't born from thinking that women are an alien breed compared to men. that her lack of agency means something for the themes involved.

[hellonerf]

this post is going to be my depository for the caname yandere notes i wrote a while ago and im finally posting. below this line is it. if you want you can just ignore the walls of text for this image of ame as miyuki from you and me and her or read through it for my yandere caname braindead details

straightforwardly, they'd be different in approach. dumb in their own ways 🤤 loosely using yandere here okay i know the meaning has changed a lot okay(snoreee)

for a yandere cana, in context to caname. a mumbling withdrawn yandere… just a general big fan of how it can come off as shyness. well i personally love a really messy sadled-by-internal-conflict kind of yandere… i think there’d be a weird type of shame there. always has the feeling that he’s afraid to be perceived. a weird overlap… with his ame-related frustrations “he won’t even look at me… (seethe)” and “ohhhmygod he CAN’T look at me (shaking)”. like he feels in the right but feels afraid simultaneously. and he knows so much about ame but ame doesn’t reciprocate such effort? unfair…(grits teeth).

he can confidently say he knows everything about ame, and then mumble about how ame barely knows anything about him. i want to him to rage internally about that that it bubbles up (>_>) entitlement and yandereness kind of go together anyways. she’s glaring at her with such intensity and she won’t even turn around to notice… can't she at least have this... she rarely gets anything for herself... at least this... i like any case of someone being yandere for ame where they take on a kind of caretaker role. he’s so stupid he can’t do anything he doesn’t know what’s good for him etc… (happy)(happy anytime ame loses control in some way)(ties him to cana like a balloon). loveee the idea of cana hitting him or something and then doting on him right afterwards like he didn’t cause it. HOW’d you get such an INJURY…… so irresponsible 🤦‍♂️

another thing is cana is more comfortable with femininity than ame. this is factual and ame i’d imagine to be tenser about it. i don’t know what this means guys. anyways i think his feelings build up into a climax more... turned into action! whatever it is he does to ame

a yandere ame is harder for me to put into words. because i okay. i like her a lot. i think he’d be so rage jealous upset internally, but also so much so that he can’t keep it in (i don’t think his control on how much of his emotions leak out is very good, i don’t think he has a good enough lid on it) so he’ll come off very spiteful, controlling, accusatory. she’s keeping track of where you go where she can’t see you. she doesn’t believe what she can’t see. ame’s high and fragile ego i think… deep down he can be insecure and paranoid. it’s frustrating for him to feel unsure at all. especially if it contradicts what he believes he heard. and it’s an insult that someones even making him feel so unsure. she’s like stomping her foot… wants her full attention at all times… she won’t and can’t let you get away with fooling around.

in a caname nationverse… i think there’d then already be a lot of interactions ame would consider “the ultimate betrayal” lol… similar in cana that he’d want reciprocation for the attention given, but i think he’d be 10x more blatant in the rage and entitlement. it'd cause more lashing out to the perceived betrayal i think. he's stuck between wanting affection and being so mad that he's not getting it already. demanding of cana's time loyalty and reciprocation... yandere that seethes that the one they love isn't as crazy about them lol... paired with all this… complexes about doing things “right”. communicating “right”. i think ame doesn’t really have a natural intuition in communication, relying on imitating social customs while not understanding them fully. so it'd be even more upsetting to him that he's "done it right" and he still doesn't get what he wants.

and also with that i think he’d be lacking in self awareness so hard… gets into antics… thennn i think he's more explosive in this, feels a white hot jealous rage and acts based on that, but its easy to forget outside of those moments.

in these descriptions i think cana's works prior to dating... if dating ever starts at all lol i think he thinks of it less like a romance endeavor and more like a... well he's already always right next to him! its been building up for forever... for ame's i think these only really get prominent with something "established". he already demands your time but if cana like specifically promised something, or he had some epiphany, that'd cause all these wants to be much more visible. i feel like he tends to need a catalyst for some feelings to come to the forefront

the switching pronouns is cause saying all this im imagining them yandere girl-like no matter what because i have personal feud with male yandere

[chyornaya-koshka]

I don't see an issue with saying that females are inferior to males. I think coping with it by saying ohhh but females live longer, or have more endurance, or can survive famine better is not only unnecessary but it's not even a flex. Yeah, females do all those things.... assuming they stay within confines of femininity so that males don't beat or rape them to death, which they can easily do because.... females are inferior.

That does not mean that you are undeserving of respect as a person, or that your contribution is entirely valueless. That is to sat, it doesn't mean you shouldn't strive for dignity. Issue is that most women still end up whoring themselves out (or showing their inferiority/lack of dignity in other, more creative ways) because they have something to gain from that. And those women deserve 100% of what is happening to them. Too harsh? No, it isn't.

You gotta know what you are. Be honest with yourself. Understand your position so that you can correct your behavior. Yeah, you were dealt a shit hand by being born female. Too vulnerable, too fragile, too easily exploitable, too profitable to not exploit, etcetc. You can still make the best of it. Other dignified women will appreciate and respect you for it, as long as you seek them out.

[likesomanywrecksdo]

blitzø and his relationship with masculinity in ghostfuckers

Obviously blitzø has this bulletproof, as millie said, facade he puts up but deep down there is this fear that if he opens, he will get laughed at if he opens up to anybody. Blitzø's relationship with his masculinity is extremely fragile. Now knowing cash beat him, it makes sense to assume that the feeling of helplessness he experience from his dad's abuse made him always have to feel invincible. Over time, this solidified into him having to be overly harsh and brash (downplaying moxxie's achievements). This facade, in his mind, became all anyone in his life has ever known (unaware that the cracks in this very facade is what makes people more drawn to him anyway). He believes it is expected of him to keep it up no matter what, the specific types of jokes he cracks, the type of digs he makes at moxxie, and of course, his feelings.

This whole episode has been blitzø trying to deny his feelings whne they are SO fucking obvious to everyone in his life. With the hypersexualizing of the mission, he is trying to erase the perception from millie's mind that he is "moping" and just revert back to what everyone expects of him. He really doesn't need to hide how shitty he's feeling, he obviously doesn't want to either but he HAS to because these practices are so ingrained into his mind he doesn't even realize he's doing it.

In the flashback, he gets so pissed that millie even brought up the notion that they don't deserve all this. In reality, blitzø was probably thinking the exact same thing but hearing it voiced out in the open immediately triggered his need to reaffirm that he is the least insecure and most masculine and confident person ever.

When Rolando traps him in the abandoned movie theatre and makes him watch every single moment where he has ever felt inferior or insecure, this issue is mentally brought to the forefront of everything. Everything he had been running from for 15+ years he is being forced to confront and he is chained down having to deal with the fact that there is some slimy infestor demons weeding through his darkest moments and choosing which one would sting blitzø worst. He can't speak, he can't move, he can't do anything except stay paralysed in that spot, Rolando wants him to come to terms with the fact that no matter how successful he is, if you are vunerable enough to share your trauma? That is all people will see you as. Weak.

And then there's the root of it all.

Cash Buckzo.

The man that taught him that violence is masculinity. The man that never once even thought of displaying empathy or vulnerability as blitzø's ONLY male role model throughout his childhood. Blitzø toxic masculinity mindset is all subconsciously so he can appease his father. It's why he makes fun of Moxxie, because his relationship with masculinity is so fucked that when he sees somebody that isn't conforming to typical gender norms he has been taught, he has to drag them down in an effort to convince his mind to keep perpetuating this facade because other what was all his suffering for? He could at least be the son his father wanted. The memory of Cash's outbursts still make him flinch, no matter how successful he is he can't escape the cycle of wanting to please his dad.

why he loves stolas

of course I have to make this about stolitz, who do you think i am?

ANYWAY. As I said before, blitzø's only male role model throughout his life was Cash, violent, angry Cash. That was until Stolas came along. Stolas altered blitzø's entire brain chemistry regarding masculinity because here is the most powerful person blitzø has ever met and actually formed a relationship (IT WAS NOT A BREAKUP copium goes hard btw) with and he's.......a bottom?

Nah but really, it's no shocker that Stolas displays more classically "feminine" (whatever that means) traits, which he has been taken advantage of by paimon, stella and likely other memebers of the Ars Goetia but blitzø sees Stolas' masculinity completely differently. Power dynamic or no, blitzø looks up to Stolas, likely because of how different he is from the men that blitzø has met before, including Cash. This paired with the fact that Stolas is not weak by ANY means, blitzø has seen firsthand how strong he is (blitzø is yet to witness stolas' mental strength but when he does i will be screaming and crying) and that is what attracts blitzø to stolas. Stolas was able to do what blitzø never could and break the cycle of toxic masculinity.

[bumblingbabooshka]

-crawling out from under an abandoned house- B'Elanna Torres who has been denied the chance to feel feminine and small and protected and cherished (as everyone around her constantly portrays her as 'strong, angry, loner, explosive, mean, bitch, standoffish' which obviously heavily colors her perception of herself and makes her less likely to feel she can be vulnerable or she literally just can't be because she has to do her vitally important job and survive and help everyone else survive) to the point that even though she desires it she feels it's silly to even want let alone pursue or expect X Seven of Nine who has been denied the chance to explore her own relationship to gender because ever since she became aware of the concept it has been her tied (and monitored, chastised when deviating) strictly to the most traditional and sexualized definition of femininity imaginable - discovering that she's butch. Are you hearing me? B'Elanna Torres who fantasizes about being wanted gently by men, loved and yearned for by them [looking at her daydream of Chakotay, her classically romantic novels] and Seven of Nine who is not a man but is not a woman - who loves and yearns for her in a way she can't quite express through the narrow lense of heteronormative womanhood that she's been given. Seven of Nine who wants to kiss B'Elanna's hand and protect her and B'Elanna who's never once been protected by anyone, not even her parents. Her own father wouldn't protect her from bullying, saying she was too sensitive. That she should have been stronger. Tom saying he 'didn't think' she cared about romantic gestures because she's so strong and independent. [In this way she is expected, even as a child or in an intimate partnership, to take on everything stoically and to react to anything at all is an 'outsized reaction', out of character, shocking and dangerous - there is no time and no relationship no matter how intimate where she can be vulnerable and soft and wanting without it being 'too much'] Is this thing on???? Can you imagine Seven telling B'Elanna that she sees how scared she is, how fragile she is, and that she'll protect her with her life if necessary??? Can you imagine Seven, injured in some way [calculated yet foolhardy on her part], being tended to frantically but skillfully by B'Elanna who's scolding her with a furrowed brow and a voice so drenched with worry it dulls any harshness in her words which Seven isn't listening to anyway because she's too busy looking at her face and hearing the sound and cataloging how fast her heart is beating and thinking back to all those old movies Tom showed them all with scenes of women tending to their men and being rewarded for it with a kiss and an 'I'm sorry darling' and those holonovels Janeway goes through where a woman in a silk nightgown meets her monstrous lover in the rain or a darkened hall after finding out some terrible secret and nearly drops her candle upon seeing him but remains brave, holding onto her love. Everyone else might be afraid, but not her, she understands him ['we difficult patients have to stick together'] and Seven never saw herself as the tending type or the bleeding heart but B'Elanna is. B'Elanna loves machines, loves people so desperately it makes her miserable, and she never drops her candle. B'Elanna's beating, bleeding heart is pouring over her and Seven realizes she wants it for her own. She wants her for her own. Her love. Her woman. Seven - She's a scoundrel, a stately figure with a terrible secret written all over her face, a brute who doesn't deserve the tender touch he's being gifted and she raises her hands to cup B'Elanna's face and kisses her. And it's the only experience she would privately characterize as perfect. And something clicks very neatly into place.

[this-is-exorsexism]

"binaries are okay for people who need them."

this is exorsexism.

there's so much wrong with this little sentence, but unfortunately this is a sentiment i see quite often.

firstly, binaries are never ever okay.

secondly, this is so obviously based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what a binary in terms of gender is. the gender binary doesn't mean "men and women exist". the gender binary means "male and female are the only valid options for gender and you can't be anything else". these are very different things. this misconception is based on the myth that nonbinary people want to destroy manhood and womanhood, when in reality all most of us want is equal rights, equal recognition and coexisting without hierarchies.

this myth is based in binary fragility, where people think nonbinary people wanting recognition and equal rights means we want to get rid of men and women. they feel threatened by our existence and demand for equal rights as it threatens their privileged position in the gender hierarchy.

however, you can absolutely be male, female, masculine, feminine and many more things that are currently part of gender-related binaries even when those binaries no longer exist. you can be male, female, masc, fem, all while anything outside these categories is also being celebrated, honoured, valued.

if your womanhood is threatened by the existence of agender people, that's a you problem. if your transmasculinity is threatened by the existence of transneutrality, that's a you problem. if your femininity is threatened by xeninity, that's a you problem. if the only way to feel valid in your gender is for there to be only one other gender, that's a you problem.

"needing the gender binary" is the same as "needing nonbinary people to not exist" and it says a lot about how many binary people define their gender by keeping others down in the gender hierarchy, and it's really messed up how nonbinary people are expected to appease binary people by saying "binaries are okay for people who need them" and how many of us have internalised this idea.

[plaidos]

I mostly agree with you on the whole discussion on transmascs and "bitch" but like. I do think it is a bit unfair to say that transmascs who don't want to get called bitch just have fragile masculinity.

At the end of the day, it is a gendered insult, and even though there actually is a lot of not wanting to be called bitch because of misogyny among men (in general), it makes sense to me that in transmascs it can overlap with genuine dysphoria. Not a justification for misogyny, but a reason why they may have kegitimate reasons to not like feminine terms to be directed at them in specific. Not an excuse to oppose its use when adressing a group, though.

Of course it's not equivalent to the "dude" thing, it's just that I get where some of it is coming from.

i "get where it's coming from" too, i just refuse to cede ground on this argument. like, as i've said a gazillion times over the last 24 hours, practically speaking, i'll not call anybody anything they don't want me to call them, because i'm polite.

the point is the abject double standard. if i ask transmascs not to call me "guy" "dude" "bro" "they" at a trans event, i am liable to be denied my requests & argued with until i am unpersoned & excommunicated. but if i were to respond the same to a transmasc asking not to be called "bitch" or "girl" (in the faggy way), i am still liable to be argued with until i am unpersoned & excommunicated.

beyond that, cis guys get away with the "bitch"/"girl" stuff pretty much nonstop, because it's understood to be a cultural thing that doesn't mean "i literally am calling you female" -- but this allowance just doesn't extend to trans girls, period. it's all about the double standard.

[eluxcastar]

Heyy! May i request dottore x fem!reader who is a Porcelain doll(a puppet like scara but she's made out of Porcelain instead) and likes all those cute feminine stuff and collecting stuff like bows, Porcelain dolls and more. And I wonder if dottore would like the reader being pretty feminine and what's his opinion on Porcelain dolls (don't mind when i did any mistakes, English isn't my native language)

~🎀🧷

Dottore with a doll reader

── ୨୧：il dottore x reader

୨୧﹑synopsis :: silly rambles about Dottore and doll reader being cute

୨୧﹑genre :: fluff

୨୧﹑content :: fem reader (no gendered terms really used tho tbh), soft dottore (listen it's my guilty pleasure), reader has the properties of porcelain, not proofread

୨୧﹑words :: 950

THIS ACTUALLY reminds me of one of the very very first drafts I wrote even before Tartaglia's little brotherfication (coincidentally also of Dottore) so this is very fun. That doll was one of Sandrone's creations and I've decided so is this one

this also may hit close to home did I ever mention my slight obsession with dolls (it's worse than slight)

Dottore has fixed you many times, much to his inconvenience.

He has warned you many times against becoming reckless, but you never seem to listen, at least in his eyes. You are by no means fragile—porcelain is hard to chip away at—your habit is simply that of finding danger. Finding it, throwing yourself at it, and landing yourself here in the darkest corners of the Fatui's headquarters so the doctor can carefully string you back together.

A gentle touch is not his forte, the practised hands of a doctor toiling away in his effort to put you back together. You prefer him to Sandrone any day for how much less pain you associate with him. He can scold you all he likes, but it may never work. You'll keep coming back and asking for his help when your strings come loose, and he will oblige your request for reasons that escape even him. It is a simple process now performed practically from memory.

Your habit of collecting frankly worthless items is certainly something. The bows, frilly dresses, and varying spools of lace you always claim you'll do something with and never do all feel normal. The porcelain dolls, on the other hand, are...interesting.

You are a living porcelain doll, and yet you collect them like novelty items. Isn't that like your equivalent of collecting human babies? Whatever it is to you, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, so he keeps quiet as you fuss over their placement and hair, straighten their clothes or whether you're willing to sacrifice the careful styling of their hair to a pretty hat. It keeps you happy and away from everything dangerous that you seem to always run into.

The truth is, you are not in the slightest delicate despite making yourself seem that way. What you are is heavy, too heavy to always be lifting onto an operating table and too heavy to be lugging your pieces around—porcelain is not light.

However, there is interest to be had in the workings of your construction, which he is reminded of each time he takes you apart and watches you divide into inanimate pieces. You talk to him sometimes, pleasant background noise, or maybe just annoying when you start asking foolish questions he can't possibly answer. He can handle every "What are you doing?" and "Why are you doing that?" but when you begin to show your ignorance regarding your own creation and try to turn to him for answers instead of Sandrone, it frustrates him. 

You're supposed to answer his questions.

"She doesn't like my questions," you reason, and he never has to wonder why that is. Your incessant prodding and curiosity would irritate her, as does his indulging of your curiosity. She will complain that you're becoming restless and not as quickly satisfied, but really, nothing much at all has changed.

He can deal with your gravitation toward the things that make you happy if that's what keeps a smile on your face. One might even say he doesn't mind it, even when you pester him to help you tie your bows when they come loose in your hair or listen to your ramblings as you try to get him to help you with your dolls. He's better at tying knots than you. His hands have friction to keep the strings in place, unlike your slippery porcelain hands.

Your habits are endearing in their own way, the satisfaction with things that make you feel...human. You will never be, but the illusion of humanity and the yearning to chase it is not unlike the Segments. They think of themselves as human, believe they are, and exist as though they are human, yet they will never be as human as Prime. The only idea that makes sense is that you are displaying the same behaviour.

It is how Sandrone made you to be.

He can't say he especially blames you for following what your creation dictates. Your presence could bother him more than your interests could, namely a result of your many, many questions. It's not that you're sheltered or ignorant of the world around you—far from it—but most people don't know the nature of the things he works on, and you are no exception. You learned everything by asking, and he presents a wormhole of knowledge that you seek to understand by having him explain everything he's doing to you in great detail.

There's a bargaining that comes with it. Dottore will give you things so long as you stay out of the way, and you'll inspect them with a curious eye because he presents you with what Sandrone keeps you from. That is the only reason he can accept as to why you're talking to him, not that you like his voice and his smile, nor that you find the things he says fascinating or enjoy the light brush of his fingers against yours as he passes you your little 'distrations'. It's enough to watch him.

He complains his hands are always cold, and supposedly so are yours, but you've never felt temperature before. You like the faint glimpses of his scars, soft as his skin. They're not like yours, the closest equivalent being jagged cracks in your limbs that someone has to eventually fix before they worsen into breaks. 

Things are comfortable around him. He is used to the odds quirks of sentient, inhuman beings, and a benefit of being around them is that they don't mind how weird he is by most standards.

You are something he can easily get used to lingering around. Despite your similarities to the segments, he must admit that you are far less of a bother.

[princesssarisa]

Sometimes I'm still annoyed by Little Women analyses that take take demeaning, ableist views of Beth's character in the name of "feminism," like...

"Beth has to die because she's too fragile and self-effacing, lacks ambition, and represents an outdated, stifling model of femininity."

I wonder exactly why those readings seem more popular nowadays than, say...

"Beth shows that even a shy, unassuming, chronically ill person, who is never able to leave her parents' home or live a 'normal' adult life, and who eventually dies young without having 'achieved' anything, can still live a wonderful, precious life of enormous value to others."

...which I'd like to think is closer to Alcott's intent.

I wonder if it's because some people think they can't view Beth's life as precious and valuable without it leading to this:

"Therefore, Jo needs to give up her ambitions and become a gentle, self-effacing domestic angel like Beth was."

Personally? I don't think that's what the book aims for. It's what Jo temporarily thinks, yes: at first she does renounce her ambition and dedicate her life to caring for her family the way Beth did. But that's not the end of her story. If the ultimate goal of Jo's character arc were to teach her to be like Beth, then she would stay in Beth's place as a saintly housekeeper for her parents; Alcott writes that if Jo "had been the heroine of a moral storybook," then that's just what she would do. But she doesn't. Instead she starts writing again, finally finds success as an author, and later opens her school with Friedrich. Beth's kindness and unselfishness will always be an example for her, but she's still allowed to be her own active, achieving self.

Yet that fact doesn't mean we should belittle Beth either. Her way of life was just right for her, just like Jo's is just right for Jo.

Maybe this dilemma would be solved if critics would view all four of the March sisters as co-protagonists for a change, rather than just viewing Jo as the protagonist and treating the other three as if they only exist to serve Jo's character development.

[gweniala]

Some thoughts on The Left Hand of Darkness (by Ursula K. Le Guin)

I have finished listening to a recording of Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and I have thoughts.

Having a genderless Gethenian society but calling everyone a "he", because you've gotta choose a pronoun in the 1960s, is the same choice I've made with the Neverhoodian society. It made me feel immediate kinship with Le Guin. It's diegetic, too, as male still appears to be the default in the Ekumen. Genly Ai complains early on that he has to call them something, so he calls them all guys and then gets super uncomfortable about their feminine ("effeminate") aspects. When he calls the same person "a landlady" and a "he", it's priceless. Personally, I approve of the use of "he" throughout the novel, because I thrive on homoerotic tension. I do wonder, however, if we in the 2020s are already somewhat past that outrage that a real manly man should feel at seeing an effeminate man. Ai's disgusted remarks about the feminine traits he sees in others sound a little bigoted to me today. I wonder if it was impossible back then to predict ("thought experiment", as Le Guin said in the foreword) that gender roles would go out of fashion in the future. Pretty near future, at that. Not the first time I read an old sci-fi novel and wonder why, after technology has changed everything and thousands of years have passed, gender roles are still frozen at "man politician, woman at home with children". I think it was Dune that gave me that feeling previously.

The folk tale chapters were utterly fascinating. Only after I finished the book and confirmed on Wikipedia that Estraven swore kemmering with his brother Arek, had a child with him and was widowed, and only after that did he make a "second vow, a false one" with Ashra, did I realise that the first incest-related folk tale actually applied to Estraven. At that time, I thought it was just to introduce kemmer and Gethenian culture in general. Does this mean Estraven tried to kill himself upon Arek's death but came back? The later folk tale chapters, like about the foretelling of death or Estraven the traitor, were more obviously immediately relevant. And still amazing. Simple story in-sets that not only gave background and cultural context, but also foreshadowed later events. Awesome storytelling tool.

During and after Estraven's daring jailbreak, Le Guin began describing him more feminine and caring, and every time I thought: "No. Don't do it. You're gonna put them in a tent for two months, kemmer rolls along TWICE, and you're on a whole journey about understanding and building up trust. Le Guin no, don't make the main characters have sex." And… she doesn't! The restraint during kemmer was pre-established when Estraven was unsuccessfully seduced, the faithfulness of those who had vowed kemmering was also set in stone… but I was still worried the low-hanging fruit would be plucked. And it wasn't. It's funny that, of the whole alternating storytelling by Ai himself and from Estraven's journal, this scene where they nearly have sex is the only part told from both their POVs. And their accounts differ a little, endearingly. At the end of the night, they both agree "yep having sex is a bad idea" and then Estraven's second kemmer is not even mentioned. I thought they might at least stop and have a break, akin to treating a woman in kid gloves when she's menstruating, but no, Estraven continues hauling that sledge right through his kemmers. Now that I think of it, it was probably preferable to spending two days in a tent with Ai… who is constantly cold… and hasn't got laid in two years… I mean yes, this was probably the topic of the first fanfiction of this book. Like I said. Low-hanging fruit.

Still on the topic of the trek across the glacier, it fascinated me when the characters delved (sometimes implicitly) into the strengths and weaknesses of either sex. Estraven describes Ai as "strong but fragile", and that strength is used by the plot several times, like when Estraven plummets into an ice pit and Ai manages to pull both him and the sledge safely out of it. Funnily enough, Estraven's endurance and long-term thinking are not appreciated by Ai explicitly. He's still in that pit of "manly good, womanly bad". But it was very much on my mind, and I like to think it was intended by Le Guin.

I was intrigued by the bit of worldbuilding that Gethenians don't know which sex they'll become during kemmer and have no control over it. It's heavily implied in-universe that, actually, bearing a child as a woman is more valued than siring one as a man. Ai's landlady sighs that he (never stops being funny, let Ai out of his confused bisexual hellhole) has never born a child of his flesh. In succession, most prominently with king Argaven, children born of the person's womb are the default heirs. I do wonder what happens to all the kids who are born out of a kemmering vow, but I think it was said they just stay with the mother and become a part of her hearth. When lactation stops 6-8 months after birth, the child is brought up communally. Without a "dad" sometimes, but with lots of uncles. That's a very reassuring fantasy for a mother of two babies who lives away from her extended family. But the fantasy cools a little when Le Guin mentions that, in Orgoreyn, it is common to influence which sex you come into during kemmer… with drugs. Wouldn't that sorta… reintroduce gender roles all at once? Man, what's not having a child of your flesh when you can have all the kids you want and you don't have to stop your starlit political career for them? A bit of a cold shower in the comforting warmth of this particular thought experiment.

I only realised Genly Ai had adopted some of Gethen's worldview when he described the timeline at the end of the book, and said there was no rush. He goes "17 years to the nearest inhabited world, 50 years to the core worlds, eh, who cares, no hurry, there's a lot of time". Which is a sentiment he has never shown yet, and which he has directly attributed to the Gethenian way of thinking. It was cool. I'm sure there were other signs (most explicitly when he's made uneasy by the clear-cut sexes of his crewmates, some voices too shrill, others too deep), but this was the one that caught my attention.

I enjoyed that, most of the time, I genuinely could not tell what Le Guin was going to do with Estraven. Ai's fate was evident, since he's telling the novel in retrospect. He even gets his foretelling that his mission will be successful and Gethen will join the Ekumen within 5 years. Ai was going to survive and see his mission completed. But Estraven, from his introduction to the parade to his haunting upon re-entering his country, I couldn't predict. After he's initially exiled, I thought he might drop from the narrative altogether. Then you get his own storytelling and realise, oop, no, that's a secondary POV character. Only when Ai is sent to the labour camp and Estraven gets all distraught and goes after him did I realise, shite, that's the deuteragonist. The partner, the love interest, the narrative yin to yang. And when he gets shot in the end, I was like… "Okay I realise this was the most poignant way you could have spun it, but also, how dare you. This is the literal spirit of the Czech phrase 'you should stop at the best part'. AI HAS USED THE L-WORD, YOU GOT A GREAT BROMANCE GOING, AND YOU END IT FOR FEELS."

Ai's description of the night raid on the Orgota village across the Karhide border, and then his description of the four days in the transport… It's dry. Matter-of-fact. And scary AS FUCK. I was like, are we in the horror genre now? Why is Ai leaving out all emotions from his storytelling? Is it because he's a manly man and won't admit to them? Is it because all the prisoners were so stoic that no one, beside the one Gethenian in kemmer, felt terror? Is it because he's making a report to his higher-ups and doesn't think his emotions are relevant? I had to fill in all that terror myself, and that was not comfortable. Le Guin goes: "I remember distinctly that I planned to tell the inspector I didn't want the drug shot" (okay solid plan if not likely to succeed) "then the inspector would turn into the weaver Faxa and we would discuss the handdarata" (wait no, I think you're hallucinating) "and after I got the shot for real, I don't remember anything else" (…um?! have we just lost the main character?!) before finally the story switches to Estraven's POV. You know Ai has plot armour. He'll survive. But also, damn.

I think "bisexual" was used in the novel as opposed to "androgynous", but it was hilarious to think it implied that in the Ekumen, bixesuality (and not heterosexuality) is the norm. In my little speculative heaven, Ai got confused why all the Gethenian kemmer couples (mention of kemmerhouse orgies notwithstanding) are heterosexual. Like where's the girls having sex with girls and guys having sex with guys? If having sex with a man as the manly man he is (I'm sorry Ai, you are just so… unintentionally misogynist) was pretty standard in his society, it would also add weight to the decision not to have sex with Estraven. Which, you know, was probably mostly a matter of mutual respect, but it's comforting to think there wasn't that "WAIT WOULD THAT MAKE ME GAY" pulling the strings. Bisexual Ekumen for the win.

Great novel. Great quotes. High among them, patriotism being not a love for one's homeland, but a fear of the other. Ugh, that one's relevance stung. Plus, of course, Arek's parting words to Estraven: Light is the left hand of darkness, and darkness the right hand of light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.

Go read The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's awesome.

[literatureloverx]

BSD MEN x DISNEY PRINCESSES

I'm not sure how many people were aware of it, but there was a trend on TikTok (I believe it was last year) where someone paired JJK characters with Disney princesses.

It got me thinking about pairing Disney princesses with BSD characters because…why not?

This is nothing serious, so please enjoy! ❤️

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Possible pairings: Aurora, Cinderella (live action), Belle.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty 1959): She is introverted, dreamy, elegant, and beautiful. She embodies traditional femininity and dreams of true love. There's a serene and peaceful spirit within her that Fyodor would greatly appreciate.

Cinderella (live action, 2015): She is very polite, values kindness above all else, and sees the good in everyone. Her ability to forgive almost makes her appear ethereal and otherworldly. She is graceful, beautiful, intellectually stimulating, and well-educated.

Belle (Beauty and the Beast 1991): She is the most beautiful girl in her town, yet possesses an intellectual and romantic mind. Though fairly introverted, she can be outgoing in certain circumstances. Fyodor would find much common ground with her, bonding over their love for reading and discussing various topics.

Dazai Osamu

Possible pairings: Cinderella (live action), Belle, Elsa.

Cinderella (live action, 2015): She is compassionate, valuing kindness and generosity above all else. She would understand Dazai's struggles and help him become the best version of himself.

Belle (Beauty and the Beast 1991): Belle is intellectually stimulating for Dazai as well. She is able to fall for a beast because he shows that he can improve and has a good heart deep inside, which eventually comes to the surface. Once Dazai trusts her with his fragile heart, their bond would be unbreakable.

Elsa (Frozen 2013): She is calm, collected, and deeply values her close relationships. Dazai would help her become less stressed and anxious, while she could handle his daily antics. However, this relationship could be challenging because both of them are guarded around strangers.

Nakahara Chuuya

Possible pairings: Jasmin, Tiana, Mulan, Cinderella.

Jasmin (Aladdin 1992): Jasmine is sassy, knows what she wants, and is very intelligent. She is confident and elegant, embodying femininity in a strong and assertive way. Chuuya would admire her.

Tiana (The Princess and the Frog 2009): Tiana is hardworking and confident. Her struggles and the effort she puts into achieving her singular dream make her very human. She is inspirational and loving.

Mulan (Mulan 1998): Mulan makes sacrifices for her family. She is rational and not easily frightened, even when faced with significant challenges. Her struggles are relatable, and her character arc is both majestic and realistic. Chuuya would be very proud to call such a woman his.

Cinderella (Cinderella 1950): Cinderella is also hardworking, but in a more laid-back and dreamy way. She dreams of true love, happiness, and peace. She is more of a traditional woman, but by no means lacks character.

Nikolai Gogol

Possible pairings: Rapunzel, Ariel, Anna, Merida.

Rapunzel (Tangled 2010): Rapunzel is very bubbly and curious. She has many ideas and makes connections in a dreamy yet extroverted manner. She is hungry for knowledge about the world she doesn't know and longs to explore. Such a person with deep underlying passions would intrigue Nikolai.

Ariel (The little Mermaid 1989): Ariel is also eager to explore a world she's unfamiliar with. She yearns for personal freedom and the ability to make her own choices in life. She can be considered impulsive, feeling and living deeply, rashly, and quickly. She would be able to keep up with Nikolai's temperament. She is loving and entertaining.

Anna (Frozen 2013): Anna longs for connection with the outside world and wants to socialize as much as possible. Her perspective on life is almost childishly cute. She is entertaining and lovable, and Nikolai would appreciate her enthusiasm.

Merida (Brave 2013): Merida is brave, daring, and doesn't let anything deter her from following her own path. She knows she can surpass any expectations placed on her, and she courageously pursues her own way. This is a quality Nikolai would adore.

[fugamalefica]

A Jungian Analysis of Bellatrix and Voldemort

Voldemort represents what happens when the Shadow is completely denied and exiled, when the vulnerable child is never loved, and the self adapts by amputating everything soft, tender, and human. What remains is brilliant intellect, terrifying hunger for power, and a complete ego-driven rejection of vulnerability. He doesn't just repress the Shadow but becomes a distorted version of it, identified mainly with control. In Jungian terms, rejecting the Shadow doesn't make it disappear but makes it stronger, and in Voldemort's case, it leads to spiritual dismemberment through the Horcruxes.

He's the classic case of persona inflation. His public persona as the invincible Dark Lord is meant to cover up a fragile, abandoned child rotting beneath. His anima is fractured as he has no healthy inner feminine. Emotion is vulnerability to him and intimacy is dangerous, but the anima doesn't vanish. Instead, it appears in an externalised form through Bellatrix.

Bellatrix is the Shadow incarnate but unlike Voldemort, she embraces it. She feels ecstasy in destruction, sensuality in cruelty, and love in darkness. She doesn't fear her own darkness but revels in it. Where Voldemort dissociates from all feeling to preserve a sense of control, Bellatrix unites passion and destruction into one blazing core where she feels freely and without any inhibition. She possesses an almost fearsome independence of mind, magical prowess, as well as intense and all-consuming devotion.

She hasn't disowned her instincts. Instead, she channels them through Voldemort. She becomes the mirror of his soul, even as he denies he has one. Voldemort has projected his entire anima onto Bellatrix. The chaos, sensuality, loyalty, and emotional power he doesn't allow himself to feel. That's why she captivates him so. He doesn't understand his own emotions but in her he sees what they could be.

Both of them are creatures of the Shadow but Bellatrix lives in hers while Voldemort tries to escape his, and yet, he's drawn to her, again and again. Why? Because the Shadow is always magnetic. The unconscious wants to be made conscious. He may loathe the vulnerability her love awakens, but he can't look away, and when she dies, he loses control for the first and only time because she was his last emotional tether and his last link to the possibility of integration.

Bellatrix worships him. She projects her inner god archetype onto him. He's her source of meaning and her sacred object of devotion. He receives her worship like an old deity and it shakes something in him because he doesn't understand love, but she does. In Jungian terms, Bellatrix is offering him a chance to reclaim the soul he severed not through softness, but through shared darkness. She sees his flaws, his power, his cruelty and loves him because of it. That love terrifies him because it threatens to make him feel.

Voldemort's downfall is his refusal to integrate. He disowns his pain, his love, his anima until nothing remains but a shell, and that shell shatters when Bellatrix dies. Bellatrix, on the other hand, overidentifies with the archetype. She is the Shadow. There is no boundary, no ego separation. That's why she can't survive without him because she never individuated from the archetype she worships.

[earthling-writer]

Alien concept:

In a planet manly made of Ocean water, with little to no land and little to no fully terrestrial creatures, with the most of them to be able to go on land being semi-aquatic, life mostly evolved in the ocean.

There is however, a species as intelligent and conscious as humans, which, not so ironically, resemble jellyfish.

That's crazy!! You might think, Jellyfishes don't even have brains!!

You would be correct, but i would like to remind you two things:

-on an alien world you could find literally anything

-this is my headcanon now and you can't do anything to stop me

So the concept is that those jellyfish looking creatures do have brains, located inside the "cap" i think it's called...

Nevermind it's called a bell

Back on the anatomy done my way because i am making an alien species: the bell might seem way too fragile to contain such an important organ, well you see, the bell is covered in poisonous gel that only the species itself is immune too. Depending on the unfortunate individual to try and damage the alien can either suffer immense pain and live by pure luck or just straight up die

There aren't many creatures that actually go hunting for this species, like for us, if an animal does attack it's more likely not because it sees us as prey or food, although just because it's unlikely doesn't mean it's impossible.

Long story short, this creature is the definition of "i will take you down with me" if attacked. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MENTION: THEY ARE

HUUUGE

I don't know how huge compared to our biggest jellyfish but huge enough to make everyone instantly shiver from fear, intimidation is also a really good defence.

Back on the brain, they also have a nervous system! Starting from the brain and extending to all tentacles and oral arms! Of course that isn't enough for them to be able to make tools or modify their environment

It's kind of a curse really, being granted an immense intelligence, being aware of itself to such a complex level, just to be stuck in the ocean with no way to leave KNOWING that there must be something out there in the stars, knowing that they will never reach them.

(⁠っ⁠˘̩⁠╭⁠╮⁠˘̩⁠)🪼っ (i want to hug them but I can't 'cuz it would sting)

"How would they communicate though?"

I shall declare they communicate with sound waves, emitted with quick contractions of tentacles and muscles

Or/and

They communicate through the electricity they emit from the oral arms

"Well then what about the eyes? You said they know about outer space so they must see it somehow"

Well my dear reader, they don't see it they have no idea what it looks like and how vast it is, they can simply feel radiations, magnetic fields and other interceptable things coming from the closest or stronger celestial objects, and they know it comes from far away, but they have no concept of what the sky or space it, they don't know the difference, they don't know where they separate, they can just feel something is there, and they would do anything to learn what that is

Other things:

They sense magnetic fields and nuclear energy emitted from living beings

They are carnivorous

They have no sense of mythology and religion, as a species they prefer to follow the logic of "I won't believe it until i see it" or in their case "sense it". When talking about the species i generalise the common philosophy but they can be individuals who differ thoughts.

They love their partner for life

Most couples have only one offspring

They canonically sound like your stereotypical wise all-knowing being with a feminine whimsical voice for no reason

No you can't actually hear them

It's just the vibe~ ya know?

They are pretty :3 (yes i am serious)

They are highly social, no matter how shy and quiet they seem

They have their own games and entertainment

If they don't eat it, they probably see it as a pet (referring to other animals)

They love crustaceans like how we love cats, mischievous but adorable

IF they have anything even barely resembling octopuses on their planet they would see them the same way we do "i have no idea why they aren't the intelligent species instead of me... They could be if they wanted to"

They have vivid imagination and dreams, and they love telling oral stories of imaginary scenarios, therefore they are highly creative. They could do so much if they had limbs and hands 😔💔

I am going to tag this as humans are space orcs even though there is nothing of human interactions

...

YET

eheheheheeheh >:) 👽🪼