#she's a she/they in that she wouldn't OBJECT to gender neutral pronouns

[angstyaches]

A few more she/hers in the style of this maker.

[spanishskulduggery]

Hello! I always have trouble of understanding when to use and/or what lo means in weirder contexts

I understand lo means it but sometimes in songs or writing they use it like "Lo importante" or "lo mas bello" What does lo mean in that case?

Does it just objectify what is important or beautiful? Like making it an actual subject? This as well as "Lo que" which I understand as "that thing that" but I just don't understand how lo comes into it all.

Thank you!

Very quickly I'll go over what lo is - minus how it works as a direct object pronoun "it" for masculine nouns, but it's essentially the same idea as below

lo is technically part of what is called "neuter gender", sometimes neutral gender or agender - which is the absence of a grammatical gender; so in Spanish there are technically three genders - masculine, feminine, and then agender/neuter

You wouldn't really know it to look at it, because it looks and behaves like masculine, but you understand it more in practice

By that I mean, lo exists without a noun stated - it's a stand-in for the regular nouns

él is "he", ella is "she", and ello is "it" a thing of undiscernible gender

This is also why you'll see por esto "because of this (thing)" or por eso "because of that (thing)" - without a noun stated; the regular demonstratives este/esta and ese/esa [as well as aquel/aquella vs. aquello] happen with a noun after it; este libro "this book" vs. esto "this (thing)"

-

The idea of lo que is "that which", which is a stand-in for a noun or a longer phrase or abstract concept... as in lo que quiero decir "what I mean" is a shorter form of "the thing that I want to say / mean to say"

You can sort of think of it as a summary... lo que digo "what I'm saying" summarizes what you're saying, whatever you're saying, as "that thing" more or less

The lo becomes a "what/that/which" function especially as lo que

-

With lo + adjectives or adverbs, you're often times making an adjectival or adverbial phrase into a noun

You can understand it as "the thing" or a "what"

You could say la cosa importante "the important thing"... or you can say lo importante "what's important"; la cosa más importante "the most important thing" or lo más importante "what's most important"

lo is a kind of grammatical shortcut for not having to use a longer phrase or specify what you're talking about; it's the "what" or "the thing"... absent of gender or plurality

-

The only bit of weirdness where you can't totally take it as a "what" is when you have expressions of "enough"

These really only happen with bastante or suficiente/suficientemente (which are interchangeable)

As in: no soy lo bastante listo/a "I'm not smart enough"; more literally "I am not what is sufficiently smart"

You see this with lots of expressions... for example, ser lo suficientemente bueno/a "to be good enough", no estar lo bastante frío/a "not cold enough", or something like dormir lo suficiente "to sleep enough"

Expressions of "enough" use lo a lot to qualify amounts and adjectives; sometimes with como para "to be able to do something" like... lo bastante listo/a como para saber "smart enough to (be able to) know"

This last part of lo is something you get used to with time because it doesn't always feel entirely natural (or, at least, that's how I feel as a native English speaker)

[coentinim]

I think this quest for gender neutrality to not be particularly good, and this inclusivity of the "non-binary" only seems to do good to a minority of people. I think this really toxic artificial femininity tend to explode. Like, because, when one has a binary, it allows actually more "ingroup" variation, but now, because "non-binary" had been so normalized, and the vast majority of people I know have an emotional need to be recognized as a man or as a woman, most women could feel a need to exagerate their femininity. It's also reflective of clothing too. For example, when one had this set rule: women wear dresses and men wear pants. Even if it seems rigid, it also meant that a man could have fun with ribbons, trims and colors if his budget would allow it, and his clothes would still be considered men's wear. A woman could wear the most dull, severe cut of dress, that's basically a buisness suit with a skirt, and her garments would still be considered a woman's dress. I think we humans, as a species, are both gendered and sexed, and most attempts to push it out tends to have it come back in, exept in a way that is objectively way worst.

I kind of agree but I also don't. If someone wants to be nonbinary and go by they/them, it's not my problem and I will respect that. Of course there could be reasons behind it - like a lot of cosplayers identify as genderqueer because they frequently dress up as characters of the opposite sex. So I don't think it's bad or anything.

I am in favor of women and men wearing whatever they want and not gendering clothes at all. I think men would be relieved to be able to wear summer dresses without being called slurs because they wouldn't feel so hot (and wouldn't sweat so much). And like, humans have this thing where they feel the need to organize everything into neat boxes. Look at academia, everything gets categorized for easier perception. That's also why everything gets gendered. That's a natural process we'll probably never get past, since even in lgbtq spaces people say "fem-presenting nonbinary" or "amab nonbinary". If they're truly nonbinary, why gender them at all? I know this ask wasn't about that, but the hypocrisy of the lgbtq community astounds me.

Also I used to feel uneasy because I'm not sure if I'm into men or if it's just "straight girl propaganda" everywhere that makes me even consider liking them, so how do I label myself? Am I bi, lesbian, something else entirely? So I decided to ditch the labels completely since it's nobody's business who I like, and there's a certain relief that comes with that. Maybe gender abolishionists feel the same way about gender. Hell, even I sometimes feel the same way about gender and I don't overthink my identity as a woman at all... anymore.

Also yeah at like 15 I thought that maybe I'm nonbinary because I didn't like my newly feminine body, I felt uncomfortable and sexual since I wanted to be flat and dainty like models and wear trendy clothes without looking like a hooker. But it went away and I didn't need to change my gender ever. So maybe nonbinary ppl feel that way too, and don't need to change genders, but it's not my place to judge them or tell them "hey, you have to choose 1 of the 2". Like I said in the beginning, not my business, so I'll respect their choice even though I personally feel different. I'd rather my kid used "he/she/they/bunny" pronouns online than see them drink or do drugs or something.

[growling]

Odd and unusual, deeply unsettling creature dubbed by the locals as "tumblr user Growling" (pinned post)

hello everypony this is growling's blog of tumble on which i post my yaoi (anything can be yaoi if you're open-minded enough)

-> it/its in general -> metaphysical fictionkin + plural, which is why I switch between I/we pretty often when referring to myself (please do not use psychiatric or pathologizing terms for us such as DID, alter or introject. our system members do not have defined roles, either.) -> Collective/unclaimed names include: Seth, Szczur, Jaspis, Karneol, Sylwester, Datura, Stefan and Kosma. We collect names like cool rocks -> evil loveless aplatonic aro narcissists with dangerous levels of autism they warned you about. now start barking

Rain Code side || Akuma Kun side || Spotify (if you like character playlists and think I got immaculate music taste....)

Attention keeps me alive and I love receiving asks heyhey hey you should send me asks I need enrichment in my enclosure haha..... That being said I'm usually bad at articulating myself and prone to get overexcited/anxious when I try to respond, so I may take way longer to answer. They had to nerf me somehow. Genders vary between parts but as a general rule none of us are comfortable with feminine terms even as joke/slang, "girl" isn't gender neutral guys what the huh.... I do not have a DNI as they're just objectively ineffective and dumb, stop expecting others to curate your own experiences and use the block button as it was intended, also the hell do you mean by "basic dni criteria" are you just virtue signaling or is this some sort of code.

Current fandoms & things I'm into: Rain Code, Bungou Stray Dogs, Akuma Kun, Danganronpa, and occassionally posting about Warriors, but I've distanced myself from the community because it's rancid over there, same with Wings of Fire. Non-fandom specific, we really like violent whump (not the fever type. the, uh... other one) or just terrible things happening to fictional characters. Wanting them crying, terrified and in pain is an expression of adoration from us <3 though we're too shy to post/reblog any of that sort of stuff for now since not many people are as into it. Oh yeah and also cat genetics, these are cool.

System directory under the cut, for anyone interested.

Seweryn (post sign-off: #sewerynpost) || AKA just some (albeit weird) dude, nonhuman, but no specific description nor kintypes ever decided. Co-host along with Hiacynt.

Pronouns: he/him, it/its. Interests: being cool and mysterious, snakes, poking Yomi, creating Hiacynt in a lab then fucking off for a solid few weeks

Icy/Cecil (#icypost) || AKA Icy (Winx Club, greatly diverging from show canon, does not want to be called a fictive), wolf therian, transmasc with no specific terms other than just that, aroace. Almost always present in some way, but rarely fronting. Often sounds aggressive, annoyed or disinterested due to being apathetic to most things and bad with acting like a person, they probably aren't annoyed with you in particular.

Pronouns: they/them. Interests: dissapearing, the grind, witch business Sideblog: wouldn't you like to know (they do have one set up but it's pretty much empty. and not sharing for now)

Brutus (#brutuspost) || AKA big fluffy cat or tiger therian, gender: furry, rarely fronts. Very polite but tends to get hyper and overexcited a lot. RAWR x3 kind of cat.

Pronouns: she/her, it/its. Interests: being free and achieving inner peace, angry yelling about Warriors in a fun way (huge one), meowing, furry stuff.

Yomi (#yomipost) || AKA Yomi Hellsmile (Rain Code) fictive, unspecified nonhuman in another way thats hard to describe, transneumasc. Pretty chilled out compared to source. Do not mention hating the character, insulting or wanting to harm him even in a joking way when you're talking with him (or even any of us) or you will get blocked + exploded in his mind.

Pronouns: he/him, it/its, xe/xem. Interests: being hilarious, perfect and objectively correct about Rain Code, torture/sadism (for clarification, in a hot way), cooking & food prep, cube jokes, pigeons. Sideblogs: @/seth-burroughs (technically collective, but he's there very often considering the fandom), @/yaoihellsmile (shitposty yomi rp blog, mostly his but occassionally posted on by others as well), third one that doesn't really have anything on it.

Hiacynt/Sigma (#hiacyntpost) || AKA Sigma (Bungou Stray Dogs, unsure on whether a fictionkin or fictive), vaguely non-binary/not cis, nonhuman in some way like all of us honestly. Suddenly popped into existence very recently, please be nice to him... Current host, probably.

Pronouns: he/him, they/them, ey/em. Interests: none that are exclusive to him aside from maybe not having an idea what the hell is happening half the time

We often use sign-offs to specify who's posting, but they might not always be there, for a multitude for reason, ex: we're blurring, can't tell who's fronting, multiple people fronting at once, don't want to specify, or simply forgot.

You get a bag of krówkas for reading all that. Poggers👍👍

[scriptlgbt]

Question First of all, I'm coming at this from a cis woman (maybe? definitely trans misogyny exempt if not cis) perspective, but I'm writing a trans girl in a story I'm currently working on, and I have been tossing around ways to casually state that in the story so that it is firmly and explicitly stated but not falling into the traps of making her whole character be her gender. I've scoured your tags and most of the previous Qs I see seem to have to do with adult or at least older characters, and this character of mine is in elementary school (11 when introduced, to be exact), so I thought I'd ask. Context: the gist of it is that this character and her friends become magical girls, and she is introduced in the middle of the story as a new transfer student, so she is just meeting these other kids. This kid is fully accepted and her gender is affirmed by everyone in her life, no question, so I don't want to misgender her or use transphobia in anyway as a vehicle for mentioning it (e.g. via correcting pronouns misuse or deadnaming).  I've been stewing on this for a while and the idea I came up with was expressing her being trans in casual conversation while her and the central protagonist are bonding over their shared favourite in-universe cartoon. That is, the trans girl expressing casually in the conversation that connecting with the main character (a girl) of that in-universe cartoon helped affirm her sense of gender/gave her gender euphoria. And met with something to the effect of "oh that's neat!" and moving on to continue talking about the cartoon. If that's not a sketchy way to approach it, do you have any tips on how to phrase it perhaps? I don't want to get caught on a "good idea, bad execution" situation if it is appropriate. But if it's not, do you have any other suggestions about how one might express that at such a young age? A lot of the suggestions I saw in previous answers referenced things I think a character as young as mine wouldn't necessarily be experiencing yet (references relating to HRT, etc.) Thanks in advance, and I apologize for the length, I just wanted to be as specific as I could to narrow down the hypothetical work for you folks! 

Answer

IMO this is a pretty good way to do it! Another thing you could have her say are things about helping her figure out who she was. (Not necessary I think, just trying to give you more to go off of.) References to the past with the wording, "when people thought I was a boy" may be okay too, so long as it's very clearly in reference to the fact of it being incorrect, are also okay.

I think also for youngins you can still incorporate little references to trans pride. There are also events specifically for trans children and their parents that happen sometimes in bigger cities. My city has an "all bodies welcome" swim event specifically for trans people of all ages, but it's often marketed specifically as something parents can take their trans children to.

Depending how recent her trans identity was established, here's some other ideas for coming out to the reader.

references of receiving hand-me-downs as a specific gesture of gender affirmation/support by extended family, neighbours and such

a relative "mending" an embroidered baby blanket to have her current name on it

mentions of family-oriented pride events

mentions of relating to other trans characters in media, books, etc

bedrooms, photo albums, sentimental objects, may have references to birth assignment in things like blue or pink baby memorabilia (trans people feel a lot of different ways about childhood photos - I love mine and I think most trans people are neutral, but your mileage may vary)

Followers feel free to add other ideas!

mod nat

[sophierequests]

Hello!

Can i please request a nina fic where after the events of crooked kingdom nina becomes very cold and ruthless but instead of going to fjerda she stays in ravka and meets a fabrikator who she slowly falls for/be soft towards to? If i can also ask, can you write it down in like moments/instances instead of one scene? Also, your writing is very good and i’m looking forward to your next work! Thank you!

the ten steps to 'i love you'

Navigation┃Main Masterlist┃Requests

Pairing: Nina Zenik x gn!Reader

A/N: Nina, my beloved <3 Thank you sm for requesting this fic! I hope this is what you meant by asking me to write this in moments/instances, I tried my best. Since you didn't specify any pronouns, I just made the reader gender-neutral, I hope that's okay! Also, Spoiler Warning for Crooked Kingdom!!!

Summary: After the events of Crooked Kingdom, Nina decides to stay in Ravka to deal with her pain. After meeting a caring Fabrikator, she might have to change her ways a bit.

Genre: Fluff, and a teeny tiny bit of Hurt/Comfort or Angst, but not really.

Word Count: 4.6K (omg wtf, how did I write that much again)

Warnings: Crooked Kingdom spoilers, mention of death, grief, murder, poor proofreading

I. Unpleasant Encounters

Freezing air was bashing against your semi-exposed face, as you tried to navigate the crowded streets of your small Ravkan town. Winter had visibly taken its toll on every passer-by, most of them dressed in thick woollen coats or five layers of clothing. It wasn't unusual that there was snowfall, but you could barely remember the last time it had been this bad.

Currently, your only objective was to bring the heavy box of broken lenses and Fabrikator glasses back to your father's shop, so that you could fix them. Since it was a direct order from the Little Palace, it was a high priority on your list. You were well aware that they could fix it just as quickly. It truly wasn't hard to do, but you knew that the Fabrikators living there had other, more important, tasks to finish, so they obviously wouldn't bother with taking care of such minuscule inconveniences.

When you felt the dragging pressure of others pressing and nudging against you, you decided to take a shortcut through some barely used side streets. It wasn’t the smartest decision you ever made. As safe as most people believed Ravka to be, it was more than risky to take these kinds of routes alone, especially when it was so close to getting dark.

You had realized your mistake when you forcefully collided with a hooded figure, causing both of you to stumble backwards, you dropping the box, the other person letting a poorly mended dagger. The sight of the dagger made you swallow thickly. Most Ravkans carried knives, but this one wasn’t a regular knife. It had once been carefully crafted, and if it would’ve been new, it would’ve looked beautiful. However, your knowledge of weapon craftsmanship told you that it was forged by a Fjerdan blacksmith. The fear of just having bumped into a Fjerdan paralysed your senses, causing you to stay in the position you had fallen into.

When the woman across you removed her hood, you got slightly suspicious. She didn’t look how you expected her to. Her light brown hair flowed over her shoulders freely, looking slightly dishevelled, as if she had got into a fight recently. You felt her cold green eyes piercing through you, filled with frustration and anger. She was no Fjerdan. She did, however, look oddly Grisha. Well-kept appearance, fetching hands and a stern posture.

“Saints! Can’t you watch where you’re going?” she hissed, tucking away her blade hastily, “You should be glad that I didn’t let your heart explode for just running into me like that!”

With a distasteful glare, she brushed herself off, disappearing into the shadows of another road.

Your heart felt like it was trying to break out of your chest. This encounter could’ve cost you your life. At least you were now sure that she was Grisha.

With a huff, you picked up the box again, hoping that your fall didn’t damage the objects any further. You decided to never try out these kinds of shortcuts again.

II. Workshop

It was night again. You were sitting at a cluttered desk inside your father’s workshop, hunched over the still unfinished lenses you had to finish for the Little Palace.

Your hands moved over the objects cautiously, they vibrated under your touch, forming and assembling accurately. The incident from last week had shown to only have inflicted minor damage, so you had it already pushed into the back of your mind. Fixing things like these was quite mundane work, but as long as it earned you some money, you didn’t complain. The fact that these delicate objects came straight from the Palace also gave you a certain rush of pride.

Normally, your father would take over orders like this, but he and your mother were off visiting some old family friend on his farm in Novyi Zem. So you had taken over the responsibility of taking care of all the work in his shop, whilst he was gone. It was a lot of work to do on your own, but you didn’t complain too much.

“Excuse me?” a sudden voice caught you brutally off guard, almost making you drop the fragile object on the ground.

Shit, you forgot to lock the door again.

You had been closed for almost over an hour, so the thought of dealing with another demanding customer, made you shudder.

“Yes? I’m in the back. Are you here to pick up something?” you called out, not even turning to see who just entered.

“No, I was looking for Mr Y/L/N? I have something I need to get fixed.” a female voice uttered matter-of-factly.

“Well, sorry to disappoint. If you’re looking for him specifically, I have to tell you that he isn’t working currently. I’m the best choice you have, and actually, the shop is closed for the day, so I’d suggest you come back tomorrow.” you deflected.

“I need it fixed. As soon as possible.” retorted the woman, who, judging by the proximity of her voice, stood pretty close to your desk.

“Listen-” you started, as you turned around to face her, immediately abandoning every thought of sounding tough.

The person across from you was the heartrender you had run into last week. She looked even more exhausted than she did before, but that didn’t change her frightening aura one bit.

You stood up, pressing your body against the table, searching for one of the sharper utensils you kept close to you whilst working.

She halted, realization apparent on her face. You didn’t know what was going to happen next, so you chose to keep quiet, waiting for her to say or do something. If she truly was a heartrender, she must’ve probably heard the erratic beating of your heart by now.

“Oh.” was the only thing she said for a while.

The longer you stared at her, the more scared you got. She could drop or accelerate your heartbeat every second, and you probably wouldn’t even notice it at first. Your life was at her mercy, and it made you want to vomit.

“You’re a Fabrikator?” she asked, remaining rooted at the threshold to the workshop.

“You’re a heartrender?” you stammered, wanting to kick yourself for appearing like a terrified puppy.

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

“I could ask you the same.”

Silence again. This time more deafening.

She shook her head in defeat, obviously loathing the situation she currently was in.

“Alright then.” she began, regaining her composure, “Will you be here tomorrow? I’ll come back then if that would be less of an…inconvenience.”

“Yes.” was the only thing you could answer before she was out of the door.

III. Fix

She did, in fact, return the next evening, handing you the Fjerdan dagger wordlessly.

You took it guardedly, only now taking in the complete damage that had been inflicted on it. The grip was laced with scratches, some edges have even been completely broken off. The blade was bent, almost cracking at the central ridge.

It was pretty uncommon for Fjerdan blades to be this damaged unless they had been brutally overused. You didn’t even like to imagine what the woman standing in front of you used it for.

“How long will it take you to fix it?” she inquired, a certain uneasiness in her voice.

You sighed, leaning back in the uncomfortable wooden chair.

“It may take a few hours to restore it completely. Fjerdan steel is pretty hard to shape. Even for more experienced Fabrikators.” you thought out loud, “You may come back tomorrow, it should be finished by then.”

“No.” she shot back quickly, causing you to frown.

“Trust me, I can fix this. It may just take a while, because of the sturdiness of the material.”

“No, I- I can’t leave. Not without it.”

There was only one obvious solution to this, and you weren’t sure if you liked it. You had to let her stay. Otherwise, she might use her power for something rather unpleasant.

“I could let you stay in here if you like.” you offered, not feeling comfortable suggesting that.

She nodded, looking around the cluttered room in disdain, as if she was searching for one clean spot to sit down. With a scoff, she sat down on a cushioned chair in the corner, her eyes never leaving your trembling hands.

This continued for a while. The tension in the room pressed down on you like a thick blanket of snow. Her stare drove you insane, but you didn’t know what to do against it.

When you dropped the blade again, in an attempt to regain your own composure, you knew that this silent interrogation wouldn’t work.

“Listen, I know that you don’t seem like the conversational type, but this silence paired with your murderous glance is driving me mad. So could you please just do anything else than stare?”

Again she nodded.

“What’s your name?” she asked suddenly.

“What?” you stuttered, hoping that you weren’t being forced into a conversation with a possible dangerous criminal.

“You told me to do anything else than stare. So I asked you a question.”

“Oh. Uhm…” you thought about giving her a fake name, but your heartbeat was treacherous, “My name is Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N.”

“This is your father’s business, then?” she continued, tilting her head.

“Yes. It is. He’ll return soon. But for that time, I took over.”

The two of you continued talking, while you steadily worked on the dagger. It strained you more than you thought, at some places the steel just wouldn’t like to budge.

On the other hand, you learned quite a few things about the Grisha sitting across the room from you.

Her name was Nina Zenik, she was a heartrender, but not particularly affiliated with the other Grisha from the Little Palace. She went to seek refuge in Ravka after certain incidents that happened in her old home in Ketterdam. She wouldn’t tell you more, though.

You felt yourself actually enjoy the woman’s presence. She wasn’t that cold, once she started being dragged into a conversation. It made you wonder what led her to behave like this. Something bad must’ve happened.

When you finished the last few precise adjustments to your work, you handed it over softly, surprised at seeing her smile. With a thud, a small bag of coins landed on your desk, without you even telling her what she owed you.

She thanked you courtly, and, again, she was gone. Leaving you stranded and confused about whatever sort of interaction you just had.

IV. Safe

You hadn’t seen Nina again for quite a few weeks now. It shouldn’t have bothered you the way it did, but you couldn’t help it. The Grisha had caught your interest immensely and didn’t leave your mind.

So it was no surprise to you when you accidentally walked to a dead-end, cornered by men that could overpower you without even trying. If your thoughts hadn't been with the cryptic heartrender, you would’ve never got into a situation like this.

You have been robbed before, but these creeps didn’t seem like they were only out to get some quick change. At this point, you cursed yourself for not being born as an actual ‘useful’ Grisha. The only thing you could do now was to let out a humiliatingly futile shriek, in hopes of catching the attention of some good samaritans.

Apparently, your prayers were heard and instantly answered. From the corner of your eyes, you could make out a similar figure stretching out their hands in familiar motions. With a terrifying thump, you saw the three bodies drop to the cobblestone floor. You wanted to gag, being this close to freshly dead bodies wasn’t a thing you were really looking forward to when you started the day.

The person walked slowly towards you, revealing their true identity after stepping into the otiose light of the street lamp.

Nina held out her hands, trying to calm you down. Only now, you noticed how fast your heart had to beat. She probably thought you were having a heart attack.

“Saints, what are you doing out here this late?” she almost scolded you, stepping nearer to analyse your features up close, “These bastards could’ve killed you.”

“Well, apparently I just keep running into mischievous people.” you answered, still a bit shook up by what happened.

Her face softened, making you feel slightly guilty for insinuating anything meanspirited.

“I- I know that you have no reason to trust me, but let me help you. Your heart is beating pretty fast and my place is just around the corner. A bit of my help might be useful.” she assured you, reaching out to touch you but stopping when she saw you flinch away.

You nodded slowly, letting her guide you to her cramped flat.

She lived in one of the crappier flats located in the city centre. When you looked a bit surprised at the state her rooms were in, she used to assure you that she was used to it from living in Ketterdam. It wasn’t that bad though, you just didn’t think that a person like her, a Grisha, would settle for something like this.

“Do you want me to slow your heartbeat down? It’s still going a bit too fast.” she asked you, giving you a comforting smile.

The first smile you’ve ever seen from her.

“If you promise not to kill me.” you said meekly, leading her to let out a laugh.

“I promise that I won’t kill you. We don’t even really know each other, and you’re already assuming the worst.”

“You threatened to stop my heart when we first met.” you muttered, taking a seat on her squeaky bed, ”And, you just killed three guys in front of me. So I kinda think that my assumptions are kind of justified.”

She settled down next to you, repeating a similar motion to the one she did before. The change of rhythm in your chest felt like a punch in the guts at first, but you knew that it was for the better.

“Are you alright?” she inquired.

“Thank you. For this, and earlier. Getting stabbed wasn’t on my to-do list today.”

V. Past

Whatever it was that she did, she captured your attention completely. You started meeting up regularly. At first, it was a weekly visit to the workshop, then you started inviting her over to your place. After that, you met almost every day. Whether it be you joining her for breakfast, her watching you work, or just the two of you talking.

It felt odd, being so close with a person that had threatened to kill you when you first met. But everything felt so right.

The closer you got, the more she told you about her past. She told you about her old friends, the Crows, and how they used to go on heists together, pulling off the weirdest stunts. She told you about Kaz, Inej, Wylan, Jesper and how they all played their parts in helping her figure out who she actually wanted to be. The only person she didn’t go too far into detail with was Matthias, a Fjerdan. You assumed he was the one who had also gifted her the knife.

“Sooo, Matthias.” you started, stretching out on the couch in your living room, Nina sitting next to you, “Was he also the one that got you the dagger?”

Nina swallowed thickly, fidgeting with her hands, seemingly trying to avoid the question.

“Yes. Yes, he did.” you heard her say, but you weren’t really listening, a reaction to seeing tears well up in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to pry.” you tried to console her, sitting up straight to give her some space, “You don’t have to tell me about him. I’m sure there’s a reason why you barely talk about him.”

“No, it’s alright.” she started, wiping the tears away with her sleeves, “You’re my friend after all. I think I can trust you with this.”

The word ‘friend’ made you pause. You never labelled your friendship as such, so her saying this gave you goosebumps. But it also made you quite happy to hear her saying it out loud.

“We are friends, yes.” you said slowly, not knowing how to respond to the situation properly.

“It’s a bit of a long story.” she began, starting to tell you about the Fjerdan named Matthias Helvar.

She told you a lot about him. How he was a ‘brooding tulip’, appearing stern but actually being a big softie. How she loved him dearly, even though their relationship had a pretty rocky start. She told you about things that made her love him so dearly - his character, his empathy and his tenderness.

But she also told you about his death. About how lost she felt after he was no longer here. She knew the Crows were all there for her, but deep down, this all just wasn’t enough to keep her in Ketterdam.

You couldn’t say much. Comforting people verbally was never truly one of your strong suits. So the only thing you could do was scoot closer to her and engulf her in a hug, rubbing her back gently as she sobbed silently. It wouldn’t fix things for her, you knew that, but she definitely needed somebody to lean on.

VI. New Arrangements

When you offered her to move in with you, you wanted to take it back immediately.

Your parents were finally back from their visit to Novyi Zem, and they also had the pleasure of meeting Nina. They were absolutely enamoured by her, listening intently to every word that left her mouth. When she told them about where she currently lived, they acted shocked, saying that that part of town was definitely not a place where she should stay permanently. Even though you were well aware of how strong, and deadly she could be, you felt the need to agree with them, knowing under what circumstances she lived.

After she had left, your parents asked you to offer her a ‘proper’ place to stay at your flat, knowing that you two had got quite close over the last few weeks. You wanted to refuse, not sure if you liked the idea of having the witty Grisha stay with you permanently.

“Nina? This might be a weird question to ask, but would you…uhm…maybe like to move in with me?” you asked her after she took you out for waffles one evening, “You know I have a spare room in my flat, so it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

She stared at you for a solid minute, her brows furrowed, visibly deep in thought.

“You don’t have to! It’s just a suggestion. I don’t like to see you stay in that shabby house. And since we’re friends, after all, I thought it would be for the best.”

“Are you sure it’s alright?” she interjected your ramblings, a slight blush on her cheeks by now.

“Of course! Otherwise, I wouldn’t suggest it.” you smiled, overcome by a sudden feeling of hope.

“You might regret offering me that.” she laughed.

“I doubt that I’d ever regret being there for you.” you reassured, coming off a bit too emotional for your own liking.

She moved forward to hug you, clearing your fear of rejection instantly.

“Well, you’re in for something now.” she whispered into your ear.

You both were in for something now.

VII. Sick

“Ninaaa, I don’t want to stay in bed any more.” you groaned, still shivering, even under the mountain of blankets she had laid on you.

“You can be so stubborn sometimes.” she chuckled, sitting next to you on the bed, whilst putting the back of her hand against your forehead.

“You’re burning up. I sense a fever coming.” she sighed, looking at you with a judging expression, “That’s what you get for running around without a coat in the pouring rain.”

“You said you needed milk for waffles, so I went and got you some!” you tried to defend yourself, even though she was obviously right.

“I could’ve got it myself. I don’t need you to make yourself sick, because of some stupid waffles.” she said, a bit more serious this time.

You chuckled, pretending to be shocked by her degrading her beloved waffles like this. Before you could shoot back a humorous response, she stood up, coming back with a bowl of soup, which she handed you softly.

“Here, eat. You need something to warm you up.”

She watched you take the soup appreciatively. It wouldn’t help much, but she already calmed your heart rate, and she felt like she hadn’t done enough to help you. Especially since your fever didn’t seem to get any better.

It wasn’t a serious fever. Nina knew that well enough. But she still couldn’t stop worrying about you. It was apparent that the relationship between the two of you had got a bit deeper than just a plain friendship. She was painfully aware of that, but it was hard not feeling guilty for ‘moving on’ so quickly. And it didn’t help that you were a pretty difficult enigma to figure out because up until now, she still didn’t know how you saw her. Was she truly just a friend to you?

“I think you should try to sleep a bit now. It’ll do a lot more than your pouting.” she advised with a smile, taking the empty bowl out of your hands.

“Will you stay?” you asked her dreamily, a sickly daze overcoming you.

“I don’t think I should. You need some proper sleep and a bit of peace.”

“What if I want you to stay? Please?” you asked, giving her a pleading smile.

“Then I’ll stay.”

And so she did.

She stayed the whole night, sitting next to your sleeping form, constantly checking to see if your fever had improved until her own body started to shut down for the night.

VII. Care

She cared for you immensely. You knew that. Even though it felt like she was overdoing it sometimes, which left you in a state of confusion most of the time.

It had been almost three days since the last time you properly slept. You were working on an important order, which you just couldn’t seem to get right. Asking your father for help wasn’t an option, since you didn’t want to appear weak in front of him. The deadline was your only motivator to keep working.

Since you had spent most of the days in your workshop, only getting a few fruitless seconds of sleep, you hadn’t seen Nina during this time. And, of course, she was getting worried.

When the creaky door to the small workspace opened, you looked up, your vision almost blurry from exhaustion. Nina stood at the threshold, hands on her hips, and an inquisitive expression on her face.

“Hi.” was the only thing you stated, before getting back to the object lying in front of you.

“Absolutely not.” she said, walking up to your desk and grabbing it from your clammy hands.

“Nina, I need-”

“You need sleep. And something to eat, judging by the way you’re looking at me now.” she scolded you, her voice laced with concern.

“I need to finish that.” you brooded, trying to grab your work from her grasp.

“I’m not watching you, treat yourself like this. Have you looked in the mirror, by any chance? You look like an absolute mess.”

“A hot mess at least?”

“No.” she retorted, grabbing your hand, and forcing you to stand up, “You look like a mess, that’s coming back home with me to get some well-needed rest and some good food.”

“But-”

“No buts.”

With that, she pulled you out of your workshop, bringing you back home without any protest coming from you. You knew she meant well, so you didn’t complain any further. In fact, her concern made you quite flustered. The fact that she truly seemed to care gave you a strange warm feeling, that you couldn’t shake off.

IX. Kiss

The first time you kissed her made you realize that you couldn’t get away from the powerful force that was Nina Zenik.

The two of you went to see the fireworks that were fired to celebrate the change of the year. Every year, people from almost every city would gather on the streets to watch the colourful play of bursting lights dancing in the sky.

Apparently, Nina had never truly watched them, and you were determined to change that.

“If you don’t hurry up, I’ll break that door down and drag you out myself.” you threatened jokingly, laying sprawled out on the couch, waiting impatiently.

“I’m done, I’m done! Stop pestering me about it.” she laughed softly.

When she stepped out of the bedroom, you were left speechless. She wore a perfect-fitting red dress that hugged her body smoothly. Her hair was pinned up in a loose braided bun. A confident smile was plastered on her face.

“Saints, Nina, you look stunning!” you blurted out, feeling a blush creep onto your face.

“Oh, I know. I always look stunning.” she joked, giving you a dramatic pose to underline your statement.

It was a nice evening. You went out to a club, drinking, dancing and talking. But when it was time for the fireworks to announce the new year, you sneaked out of the bar, hurrying to one of the broader streets, where the view of the night sky wouldn’t be obstructed by one of the many buildings.

While you stared up expectantly, you felt a pair of conflicted eyes watching you intently. Nina stared at you, her expression swaying between longing and uncertainty. You just shook it off, trying to explain it away by her being nervous about experiencing this tradition for the first time.

With the first loud bangs echoing from a distance, you turned to hug her and wish her a happy new year. But she was quicker. She pulled you closer to her, cupping your cheeks with her soft hands, and pressing her lips against yours slowly.

This motion caught you off guard more than anything. You melted into the kiss faster than you expected, completely taken over by the first shock you had experienced. You would be lying if you would say that this had been an unpleasant surprise.

When you pulled away, the butterflies in your stomach had begun to spread up to your head. You felt dizzy, not sure if it was from the alcohol or the fact that the person you had fallen in love with did, in fact, like you back.

This evening wasn’t the evening where you talked it out. It was the time to enjoy the moments you spent together, and all the moments that were to come. And as the fireworks roared over your heads, you took in the love you felt silently.

X. I love you

Even though you didn’t say it explicitly, the progression of your relationship bled into your daily life.

Quick kisses, sharing a bed and whispered terms of endearment were becoming a welcome daily occurrence for the both of you.

So when you sat on the couch together, your head in her lap, whilst she was reading a book, the words just flowed freely from your lips.

“I love you.” you said, voice full of sleep, but still certain in what you said.

Nina halted, putting the book away slowly. Her eyes were warm, much different to the time you first stared into them. Her hands found your hair, playing with single strands, coiling them around her fingers.

“I’d say that would be quite useful.” she smiled, pressing a kiss to your forehead, “I love you too, love.”

This was what you wouldn’t give up for anything else.

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

What are your pronouns?

She/her or She/they, but equally I'd be happy with gender neutral neopronouns if someone wanted to use them for me.

I've always very much been read as female (I have like, tits and hips, you know?), even though there was a time in my teens where I often wore "male" clothes (but it was kinda a thing then so like...), and like, it doesn't bother me, but I'm also not very attached to the idea of being "female" or whatever, and probably don't fit a lot of stereotypes of being a woman at all times. But like, it doesn't bother me enough to make it a thing?

In my opinion, gender is pretty much a social construct, and we're all just people (I know a lot of people feel very differently about that).

I would object to he/him pronouns being used for me, solely because I think people often default to people saying intelligent things about politics (yah, I know but like...) as being male, and that annoys me.

But I wouldn't be offended by any other pronouns, which is partly why I don't list pronouns in my bio.

[skiplo-wave]

Its utterly disgusting seeing all the viral tweets with Amber stains “debunking” the unsealed documents and some of them still use the UK trail as an excuse saying Amber won? I’m not a fan of either parties so its very confusing but i’ve been following this through lawyers on youtube so far most of them have been neutral and objective with the trial, all of them seems to agree that Amber is a piece of shit

and it's some of people ( fan artists) I follow too smh

I saw thread and they sight the Dr. On Amber's side.

Mind you, this doctor refers to all abuse victims with she'her pronouns. Unlike Dr. Curry who use they/them ( abuse is abuse regardless of gender) but of course AH stans got mindset only women get abused.

They bring up donation pledge. Again on camera she said she got rid of it. 7 mil divorce settlement and you pledge require 3 mil. Before Johnny sued her. The children's hospital only receive what Johnny and Musk donated. So the whole she had plan set up doesn't count because if that was true there should've been a increase of money

It's trying. Because these same people that wouldn't bother watching the trial, unedited look at unseal docs and think that's proof in pudding. Riddle me this, these documents Amber had about her rape and doctors notes, was that in unseal or no?

@sullxo

[dianight]

While the spanish language lacks widely used neutral pronouns the way english does (they) there's a new level of fuckery if you want to avoid misgendering people (or yourself) that english does not have.

I've gotten extremely creative over the years in order to avoid any gendered adjectives but it's affected how I speak, aka sometimes I say weird shit. Anything I say has a certain air of vagueness because I could use a single word or I could just add fluff to avoid it (ocupada -> haciendo cosas p.ej.).

Some people I know are using ella/elle but it's always seemed a bit... useless(?) since no one (not even themselves) use elle with any consistency. I do like neutral "e" forms, such as todes instead of todos/todas since it does flow really well even if it's not used a lot. Personally I use colega a lot as a gender neutral addresing-some-rando term or equipo/clase for groups depending on circumstances.

One ocurrence I've observed over the years is people who don't speak english as their first language listing their pronouns in their first language and then getting shat on for it. There's a very anglocentric talk (I do not like using the word discourse) about pronouns, extremely centered on he/she/they and sometimes it or neopronouns. I've never heard out loud and don't know how one pronounces ze, xer, xir and such. This might be a bit rude but I also do not see the what the point of them is; this comes from a "english does not have gendered adjectives" starting point and I'm trying to draw a comparison to spanish here.

Let's say a person who uses he/she, as an example. If that person were speaking spanish I'd assume he'd go by él/ella. But. What about every single adjective that he uses for herself? Ella es muy apuesto? Él es muy guapa? (Let's imagine a good looking person) These are grammatically incorrect even if the meaning is pretty clear. What about when some friends ask her if he wants to go to a party? La invitamos pero está ocupado? Lo invitamos pero está ocupada?

I could go on with examples like that. The point here is that spanish is a more gendered language and things get a bit confusing if we were applying english rules. Now this might(!) be a me thing, perhaps if more people spoke like that and more people had different sets of pronouns it wouldn't "sound" weird/incorrect.

There's also the whole issue with non binary people. Which. I mean. You can say persona no binaria and be done with it. But I've seen the no binario/no binaria distiction and it's like. What's the point then.

Anyway when talking about myself I use una persona, una mujer, o una charlina (for friends) even which is a very old joke that no longer makes any sense whatsoever. In english one might use she or if you are feeling particularly shy they. I don't like being it'd since I'm not a creature, object and/or maid (although I could play the part). Even though I'm also a goddess there is no need to be overly polite, I still have a human body.

I don't know where I was going with this but it started because I got fed up with seeing anglocentric pronoun shit and some user getting hatemail for their nonenglish pronouns.

I can elaborate (never debate) if some of this (or all of it) doesn't make sense.

[bending-reed]

For a little while as I was starting to throw off "norms" I explored gender expression. At the time I was on Second Life almost daily, so self-image was easilly maliable. I tried on genders like clothes, daily and sometimes hourly flopping around the spectrums. I usually ended up back at the assigned at birth gender.

She/her was neat to move around in. I liked, and still like, fancy hairstyles and dresses. The expectation from different social groups was fascinating, especially since I was using a decidedly masculine username.

They/them was hard to sit right at the time because English is a stupid language and it took me years to separate those pronouns from plural expression. When it settled, the neutrality felt okay. Not exactly peaceful, but something similar. Emotion is hard for me to characterize sometimes (often.)

It/its was one that never fit right. I tried the pronouns out on different avatars, including various object based avatars, but the expression felt too depersonafied for me, like a reduction to mere object. It could be novel to try it out again now as my sense of self and my sense of my body are separated.

The mixed pronouns and neo-pronouns were not yet known to me at the time, so I'd never tried those on, but I think they wouldn't have changed my self-expression by the end of my exploration. My self-image isn't gendered, but I still use he/him because my body is biologically male. I view the pronouns as a necessary part of communication and nothing more.

Online, there seems to be a presumption that everyone is male/he/him until proven otherwise the younger folks seem to have less of this, and certainly various social groups are more one gender or the other and/or more readily acception of nonconforming gender expression. Being partnered with a non-binary has helped erode some of the tougher societal bias around gender.

It's easy to get caught up in online echo chambers around topics considered controversial, like gender. Being in the social group that formed from the leftovers that didn't get into one of the other social groups is something of an echo chamber, and it took me a while to see that.

I was going somewhere when I started writing this, but I have no idea where that was, so now we're going wherever the hell I'm pointed. And where I'm pointed in lunch. I hope you, dear void, enjoyed my directionless ramble.

Enjoy your food.

[barbieb0y]

journey: i'm a barbie boy, i'm your favorite toy ✩

and here we are, 5 more days until my birthday aka more excuses to talk about myself lets gooooo

today i'll be talking about my experience + relationship with gender and how it's the only label im willing to identify with lmao

i wasn't just playing with barbies nor just playing with action figures - i had the best of both worlds, which usually meant i played barbie video games, back when video games was considered a boy's activity.

it feels like i left a few gaps with yesterday's but thats not surprising considering i kinda rushed it elle oh elle. i'll try not to forget anything here lmfao

i was just a kid.

but i took pride in my ability to enjoy both traditionally feminine and masculine hobbies, even though my mom disapproved of my love for gaming - i still remember there being a time where she scolded me for gaming and saying it's for boys and me thinking it was utter nonsense and continued to play my beloved games.

even with clothing and presentation, i mostly preferred traditionally masculine objects. or at least if i was forced to wear something girly, i'd find a way to make it masculine - there was a time where i bought a dress with blue flowers bc i thought blue was "manly".

i had short hair back then. enough to mistake me for a young boy. yet my birth name was too feminine to even give anyone a chance to mistake me as a boy. even that aside, i kind of disliked my birth name because i considered it uncommon.

despite all this, i merely consider myself a tomboy. a masculine girl. anything but an actual boy. my excuse was that there were no signs and upon further self-reflection, i realized that 1) i was wrong 2) even if there weren't no signs, there are no other qualifications for identifying as transgender other than if you want to and 3)

i was scared.

i am someone of faith. and back then, i had thought "wouldn't it be contradictory if a muslim identifies as transgender? how would you perform your prayers? how would you present?" but most importantly,

"how would you stay with your family and be responsible for them?"

even when i had the realization that i could simply identify as transgender without having to change anything about myself, i realized i would have to change everything around me instead.

so there i was, sitting down in my eid baju kurung, silently panicking over this realization. panicking over the possibility i have to sacrifice my faith just to be true to myself. that suddenly i couldn't have the best of both worlds.

so i took to the internet; as it is an infinite repository of information, i figured there might be some who shares my struggles - and i was right. though we are few in numbers, we exist. i read and listened to these people talk about their experiences, posting their transitions, all the while being brave about the backlash they receive.

eventually, i've come to the conclusion that i simply have to cut ties with my family members. it's a tough decision but i'm determined to not let anything or anyone become a hurdle in me reaching my truest and most authentic self.

i begin to identify as transgender - specifically a demigirl. looking back on it, it must've been the only way for past me to not really let go of feminity, despite disliking it at the time. i remember having a phase where i hated dresses and anything traditionally feminine. i kept my birth name still.

then i moved on to a new label - agender transmasc. i've come to the realization that i preferred being called a "child" or a "person" rather than a "daughter" or a "girl". this label enabled me to be referred to with gender-neutral pronouns while still being in touch with masculinity. i went by a new name: zero, an allusion to me identifying as agender aroace at the time.

as time went on, i realized i feel a freeing sense of joy when referred to with masculine (pro)nouns. yet a part of me liked being gender-neutral, so i adopted the demiboy label. half boy, half void. that was me. i still kept zero as my name for a long while, until i decided it's too english of a name for me. i did a little bit of translating and ended up with the one you all know and love,

safar.

half boy, half void. a masculine name, meaning void in the islamic calendar. it's a matchmade in heaven, i thought. even when i had went by various aliases online, mostly stealing from fictional characters i relate to, this is the one name i'd respond to the most. "what's in a name?" is the age old question. and my answer is,

"a name may contain nothing but my name contains my essence; it is a vessel for everything that makes me me. my name is my immortalization."

i carry this name through my journeys with pride. after all, in everyday arabic, safar means to travel. and so i traverse through the past few years with this name in hand, ready to hand it out to anybody who's eorthy of having this knowledge.

until at one point, i reached a new destination - a new label. finally, i've come to accept my truths and began identifying as a transgender boy. i fully embrace being and feeling like a boy, feeling like the total opposite of what i was born as. i've shed every past worry; i found myself and that's what matters.

and i've kept this label with me, alongside my name, until now. it is one where i feel like i belong in this universe and also in my own skin. it's a home i can return to, rather than just a descriptor on my biography.

after a while, i realized that the one thing holding me back from fully embracing this label was my own hold on feminity. i've grown out of my dislike for traditional feminity by then; how could i ever lie to myself? i enjoy wearing dresses, i like cute things, pink is my favorite color.

but would a transgender boy even be a boy if they like these things?

that was the main question i presented myself with. if i enjoy feminity, should i not enjoy being a girl then? would it not be unfair for me to simply identify as a transgender boy without actually fulfilling the criteria of being a boy in the first place?

but all of these questions are simply societal expectations, ones i thought i already broke free of. and so i shrug off these doubts. i told myself i would not let anything or anyone who isn't me define me. i may be a transgender boy, i may be feminine. but most importantly,

i am me.

and that's that! all things considered, questioning my gender is a far more doubtless journey than my romantic and sexual orientations lol

now to brainstorm a topic for tomorrow ✧

[keylimeimagines]

Blue Zircon Relationship Headcanons

i'm in the mood to write some Steven Universe stuff (since i just finished binge watching the original series), so have some s/o headcanons with my favorite gem! btw, requests are open!

s/o is gender-neutral and uses they/them pronouns (as per usual) and is also a gem

the smallest amount of affection can get her flushed up, even if it's just a complement!

she has a habit of unknowingly holding her s/o's hand (whether in stressful situations or just in general), as she finds it really comforting (don't point it out tho or she's gonna be a bit embarrassed)

she LOVES to ramble about things she finds interesting and things she likes! she also like ranting about how annoying Yellow was or one of her previous trials and cases.

be prepared to be bombarded with facts and trivia!! she's been prepared for this moment!!

she can get worked up in her anxiety, so she would love if her s/o were there to comfort her when she needs it!

her hands can get really sore and tired from working, so hand massages are really appreciated!

(this one is inspired by one fic i saw on Quotev) due to Yellow's teasing, she can get pretty jealous of her, and she worries that Yellow will take her s/o away from her.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, she needs a lot of reassurance because of her jealousy :(

when she eventually finds out about sleep, she'd want to cuddle with her s/o (despite how embarrassed she gets when it comes to PDA), again, she claims it's because she gets stressed so often (but in reality, she actually just likes holding her beloved)

her s/o flirts with her?? she's actually gone, she might poof (/j) and Yellow is gonna tease her for it until Blue shatters her (not literally)

she may have a temper, but she makes sure to NEVER lash it out at her s/o, and instead saves it for Yellow (bc she's a menace)

if she were to have a plus-size s/o, OH BOY. besides Pearl (obviously), i am a firm believer that Blue is so in love with people who are more plus-sized!!

if her s/o says anything bad about themselves, they'll have to prepare for a (completely objective btw) rant as to why they are the best and prettiest ever

if her s/o is shorter than her, she wouldn't tease them, but she would love to rest her chin on their head (with their permission ofc!!)

if they're taller than her, she wouldn't mind if they rested their chin on her head as well!

(this is for gem/half gem s/os) she is really nervous when it comes to fusion, and her first fusion would most likely be accidental. she actually (secretly) really likes fusion, but is too afraid of what the diamonds think and what will happen to her to even try fusion.

speaking of fusion, she takes it REALLY seriously, so she wouldn't want to fuse with someone until she forms a special bond with them :) demiromantic blue zircon CANON /j

she's so cute my nerd gf <3

[wondrousworldbuilding]

any ideas on how pronouns would work in a world without gender/sex? im trying to figure something out that wouldn't confuse both me and the readers.

some things i've thought about, but still iffy on:

(prns = pronouns)

using they/them for everyone: nice gender-neutral prns, but might get pretty confusing if everyone is addressed by "they/them"

making up prns and separating them by "classes" (e.g. animate things, inanimate things, etc.): afraid people won't understand/be confused by the new prns and/or how they're used

using honorific/status prefixes/suffixes (e.g. japanese honorifics): i don't really want to use something that's status based

i currently think that the making prns up one is the best choice so far, but i'm not sure what types of "classes/sub-groups" to separate them into (since i don't want everyone going by the same prns, too confusing), so any ideas are appreciated!

I would agree that making up pronouns or using non-standard pronouns is likely your best bet. At the very least having a different plural and singular pronoun. I have a world with three distinct genders as use xe/xer as the third gender pronouns. In Octavia Butler’s book Lilith’s Brood, she makes up a word for her third gender--ooloi (though she uses they/them for their pronouns). 

We already use different pronouns for animate and inanimate objects, so that’s a got precedent and would make perfect sense. Honorifics don’t have to be status based, they could easily be relationship based, i.e. someone you are close to, someone you’re acquainted with, and someone you don’t know all use different honorifics (similar to Japanese, but maybe without the “amount of respect you have for said person” factor). Then it would vary from person to person and could not so easily affect how others view them. If you assign honorifics to something static like profession or or family ties, you will likely end up with some amount of classist bias that develops organically within the culture.

Regardless of what you decide, I agree that you need to have some system established. Using they/them for everyone would be confusing. I have one non-binary character in a book that goes by they/them pronouns and it occasionally can be confusing if I’m talking about a just them or a group performing an action. It usually requires some attentive wording. 

Hopefully that helps you.

Happy writing!

[tafeja]

It's so annoying when people complain that nonbinary characters get she/her pronouns in russian/polish/spanish/what ever translation. If you complain about translation it's because you probably speak the language, right? Then you should understand that not every language is English, and there are no gender neutral pronouns for people in that language. Like, how do you expect they/them to be translated?

Take for example Russian. There is a gender neutral pronoun "оно" /ono/. However to refer like this to people would be exremely rude, dehumanazing and cofusing for the audience. This pronoun usually refers to inanimate objects. The only example of it refering to an animate object that I can think of is "monster" (чудовище). Unless it is a horror and the character is an entity beyond human comprehension you probably wouldn't want to refer to it with "оно".

Ok, so what about a calque from English? Just refer to a character in third person plural, right? If it works for English language it means it works in every other language equally well, right? No. Stop being so online and go talk with your friends and family in your native language for a change. Or at least go to your local sites. Even if we gloss over the fact that if you'll refer to a character in plural viewers will think either that there are several characters or that this character has some sort of multi-personality disorder. "They" (third person plural) doesn't have a grammatical gender, the same way "I" doesn't either. However adjectives, participles, verbs in past tense all have grammatical gender in singular form. And most nouns have it in both plural and singular. So how would this character talk about themselves? For example the character wants to say something like this:" I (no gender) was (what gender?) young (what gender?)" So the character would also need to talk in plural, refering to themselves as "we". Which, again, would make audience think there are more people than there really are. Or, they might think that the character is royal or at least very arrogant. Because there are circumstances when a single person can talk about themselves "we", and it is when they are royal. It is called "royal we". And if it is not the characterization you are going for it probably would be inappropriate. And remember that nouns have gender even in plural, so you probably would have to use male as a default in this instance (many words for proffesions do not have a feminine gender anyway, and when you talk about men and women you would use masculine words).

So now you'll probably want some sort of neopronouns? If English-speakers can make them up as much as they want then other language can too? No. It is dumb. No one will understand you. And have you forgotten that other words, that are not pronouns, have grammatical gender too? You will need to creat whole new declinations and conjugations for it to work.

And at this point you are left only with "he" and "she". Are you suggesting that you using male as a default is somehow more progressive?

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

been thinking of neopronouns and emoji pronouns. they don't make any sense to begin with. but how are people supposed to pronounce them? ze/zir, xe/xir, and other ones. ik fae isn't hard to pronounce but just... why??? and any emoji, like ok but people expect others to take them seriously and use an emoji as a pronoun? i don't think nb is very credible but id be a lot happier using they/them. i draw the pronoun line at she/he/they bc im not going to equate a human being to it or an object, an emoji, or a mythical creature. it's really insulting to imply pronouns are gendered and that trans people are objects.

Wait till someone tells you to call them "it." Makes me feel like I'm participating in some sorta kink (nothing wrong with kinks. But I don't consent to that).

I agree. I don't mind calling someone "they/them." It's not a problem. I wouldn't even have too much of an issue making a new singular neutral pronoun. But it needs to be a lot easier to say.

As for all the others. It's dumb plain and simple. It doesn't even feel like the people who use them are taking them seriously as genders. They think gender like personality traits rather then an actual physical thing. Which makes it a lot harder for me to explain to people what being trans means. It's very much frustrating. Thankfully I've only seen those kinda people online. Cuz there isn't any way to do emoji pronouns irl. Genuinely. There isn't. And it doesn't make sense to ask someone to remember a whole new set of pronouns that no one else uses just to refer to you. Its hard enough remembering names and faces.

[queer-sky]

i found this on YouTube from Ashton Daniel so im gonna link their original video since its his tag but i thought it would be fun to do it as well

NONBINARY TAG

1. Let's do the basics - what's your gender and what're your pronouns? (tell me all your gender labels!!)

id say nonbinary and genderfluid fits best

and i mainly use they/them pronouns but at times im okay with he/him or she/her pronouns as well depending on how i feel on the gender spectrum i guess

2. Do you consider yourself to be under the trans umbrella, or is being nonbinary separate from that for you?

i personally feel that at least for myself nonbinary doesn't count as trans but im sure for others it does just i dont identify with the trans label

3. How do you feel about the label "enby"? Do you use it for yourself?

yes i do use it and i think it sounds lovely actually

4. What song is your gender?

am i a girl - poppy

5. Do you experience gender euphoria and if so, what causes it?

yea i do when i look/pass as androgynous or masc depending on how i feel that day/time

6. What's a question you're tired of being asked?

im actually not out to many people yet so there arent any yet but something thats annoying is telling someone i identity as nonbinary and they keep calling me girl

7. What outfits, accessories, presentations do you feel most yourself in? Is your style connected to your gender for you?

yes my style is connected to my gender so it fluids all the time really but baggy clothes and more masc jewelry does like chains and safety pin earrings and stuff like that or random objects as earrings like the other day i made small rubics cube earrings which i really like and also definitely wearing a beanie and having my hair in it (making it look short)

8. Have you identified with different genders, nonbinary or otherwise, in the past?

well ive identified with my birth gender before but im not sure if i actually did or if i just didnt really question my gender before cuz i knew im not a boy so i must be cis then idk

9. Are there gendered phrases or words you like/don't like? Dude, gal, man, sis, etc?

i don't really like gendered words in general id rather be refered to as genderneutral terms

10. What compliments best suit your gender? Handsome, beautiful, pretty, hot, stunning, etc?

i actually haven't thought about that yet but i think im fine with either ones? idkk

11. What's your favourite gender-neutral alternative to commonly gendered words? (e.g. sib instead of brother/sister, mx instead of miss/mr, enby instead of boy/girl, etc?)

just refer to me as a person like i dont feel the need to have a certain gender to be addressed as but yea genderneutral ones are good too like mx and enby and goddex or royalty instead of king/queen

12. Do you like the nonbinary pride flag for yourself? Do you prefer the trans flag, or a flag more specific to your gender?

yea i do like the nonbinary one

13. Are physical and/or medical transition important to you? If so or if not and you want to expand, do so!

no well not medical/surgical but i was thinking about getting a binder/sports bra and maybe something to make my hips not look so wide

14. Are there any nonbinary people you look up to? If so, who?

im not sure tbh but i have some nonbinary friends and i told one of them

15. How do you write "nonbinary"? one word, two words, with a dash?

i write it as nonbinary so one word

16. If you are/were to be someone's significant other, how would you want to be referred to? Boyfriend, girlfriend, theyfriend, partner, lover, etc?

probably partner or like their person but maybe if my gender leans more towards one side then id like to be referred as boyfriend or girlfriend but probably not really boyfriend cuz that term sounds toxic to me since most of my relationships with guys were toxic so i guess partner or girlfriend

17. Are you out in your day-to-day life, just online, just to close friends, etc?

just online i wanna figure it out first before i come out in rl and other then being called sky it wouldn't really change much since german doesn't have they/them pronouns

18. Are there any silly nonbinary stereotypes you embrace? e.g. pride flag stuff, coloured hair, liking plants, cats, whatever else?

yea i have piercings and dyed hair even tho its only split dye and a natural red but i wanna dye it purple or blue if im able to and i do have two pride flags hanging up in my home and some pride wallpapers and i kinda like cats plants and rocks

19. Does the word "queer" fit you, do you use it for yourself?

yea i think it really does and i do use it as a umbrella term meaning im part of the lgbtq+ community and bc i havent found a right label that completely fits me yet sexuality wise as well

20. This isn't nonbinary related, I just think it's a cool question. If you could go to any concert of any band, artist, performer, living or dead, what's the lineup?

probably gay/indie music so like

girl in red,hayley kiyoko,cavetown,dodie,jessiepaege

cant think of more artists rn oop