#⸾ ❖︎ ⸾ ( SOCIALIZING / o3: vivian and xander ) ⤹ •• 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕤.

[unladielike]

𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָཐིཋྀ — STARTER CALL ( @aeviterncl ​)

    "Fingernails were a mistake..." Vivian finally remarks to Xander in a deadpan manner once a female student with twelve inch nails sauntered past them down the hall. Granted, she only really brought herself to say that after the poor, unassuming girl was completely out of earshot, but one may argue it was still rude to speak her opinion out loud. "Seriously, could you even imagine yourself gripping a pencil with those long ass acrylics?" Vivian then shakes her head.

    "Ugh, if it's one thing I absolutely loathe about humanity, it's the fact they popularized painting the protective layer of keratin on our hands and further expanding on the aestheticology industry by making those tacky, useless things that serve no purpose other than to look 'pretty'," she continues to ramble away, seemingly uncaring of whether or not Xander was particularly invested in what she had to say about the nail art culture.

    "In fact, I wish I could be an anime character who is drawn without fingernails sometimes, because not only do they grow longer, it's so easy to get blood and dirt underneath them... but alas, they are important to the body, meaning for better or for worse, I need to keep them physically intact, because unlike pubic hair, removing them causes severe, detrimental harm."

[unladielike]

    She'll frown at his next words, because to her, it didn't seem as though Xander had been paying particular attention; furthermore, Vivian was starting to believe that maybe they weren't as like-minded as she had originally hoped... which was admittedly disappointing, but at the same time, she supposes they didn't have to agree on everything in order to remain friends.

    "I mean, when you're already ugly like me, what's the point of beautifying yourself and standing out? As far as I'm concerned, it's way better to stay plain and unappealing than accentuate your features with makeup and other stuff that wouldn't even look good on you; after all, what would be even worse is putting in effort to be beautiful, only to have the cruel masses disparage your appearance anyways. I will attest that pretty people and normies have it much easier, though," she proceeds to shrug. Why, given how much she hated her own appearance, Vivian would rather go through life as a faceless blob than this tiny, Chinese girl she physically manifested as.

    Of course, that isn't to say she hated the aestheticology industry, because there were certainly some aspects she liked about it, such as hair dye for example, but when it came to nails... well, let's just say she was definitely quite opinionated.

    "See, you'd think that because you're a man, but unfortunately, we live in a society where if you aren't performing femininity to this current population's boring standards, you will be accused of not being the sex you were assigned at birth," Vivian flatly points out. Though she wasn't trying to be argumentative, there was no denying the fact she was very passionate about the topic she was currently discussing.

    "Why, take Imane Khelif for example, who the internet pretty much wrongly clocked as 'trans' despite the fact she was born cis. Heck, these days, women are judged all the time for not looking like quote on quote, 'real women', that it wouldn't surprise me if some consider it a pet peeve when a girl doesn't regularly treat herself to a manicure or a pedicure. Heck, years back, I remember there was even a woman on Facebook who claimed you aren't a 'real woman' unless you have your nails done, so you have another thing coming if you think I wouldn't be relentlessly bullied by transvestigators in the event I posted pictures of myself online."

Where did this topic even come from? One minute, they were quietly walking out of the campus library and the next the girl walking beside him brought up acrylic nails. A glance backward told him they had passed by a random girl, but how that tied to acrylic nails was a mystery to him. Maybe that girl had them and he just couldn't tell. Shifting his gaze to Vivian, he simply listened to her rambling, not really sure how to reply—he knew nothing of this kind of stuff after all. He hardly did any fashion related things outside of dyeing his hair and using mascara. Nail care was not something he knew anything about outside of routinely cutting them when they got too long for his liking (hence why he always had unevenly-cut short nails).

❝ Functional things don't always have to look plain and unappealing, ❞ the redhead hesitantly commented, unsure if he was properly following Vivian's line of dialogue or not. Averting his gaze, Xander fiddled with a strand of hair that refused to be smoothed down at the current moment (would she be disillusioned with him if he told her he did engage in that "aestheticology" culture to a degree?). Weren't the use of fake nails the same as some people using makeup or dyeing their hair anyway? For some, it boosted confidence and for others, it helped them feel more secure with their reflection; Xander himself fell into that second group. He doubted he'd be treated as nicely as he was if he didn't put in the work to add color to his features.

Honestly, he didn't quite get why Vivian was even ranting about this. It wasn't like she was forced to wear long acrylic nails or put on makeup. There wasn't a point in throwing complaints about people who did if their style did nothing to her. He tucked his hands into his jeans pockets, ❝ And getting acrylic nails an option you don't have to take. Nobody is going to force you to get them if you don't want to, ❞ he added in a more fluid string of words.