#and that this is about identity issues with Pandora not gender

[queen0funova]

[Image ID: A panel of Hope from the webcomic El Goonish Shive. She looks like a middle school age girl with black hair and a headband. Hope is waving her arms and sobbing, "I'm supposed to be someone new, with my own life, but I'm not! I tried to keep being Pandora, but I'm not!" /End ID]

That wasn't very cisgender of you Hope

[mistress-violence]

Prompt: Lipstick from @into-the-jeggyverse (August 26)

Word count: 740 words

Pairing: Jegulus (modern AU)

⚠️ Warnings: alcohol consumtion, gender identity issues

Regulus finally managed to get out of the argument about what kind of cheese was the best, which started a whole fight between Sirius and Dorcas, with Remus, James, and Peter as collateral victims. He was out of the madness until they started throwing wine at each other like last time and staining his white shirt again. He walked out of the kitchen of the apartment he shared with James, wanting to go to the balcony to get some air. Instead, he found Marlene, Lily, and Pandora in the living room, on the couch, passing a mirror back and forth and talking about something. Pandora was the first to notice him, and she greeted him with a big smile.

"What are you doing here?" Regulus asked, sitting down in one of the armchairs.

"Marlene brought a whole box of lipsticks from Paris!" Lily said excitedly, pointing to the black round box on the table. "It’s Chanel, can you believe it?".

Lily had a deep red lipstick in her hand, an extremely alluring and elegant shade. For a few seconds, Regulus had been absolutely spellbound. It was beautiful. The shape reminded him of his mother's expensive lipsticks, but she always preferred dark and sober colors. When he was little, Regulus would go to Walburga's room to watch her do her beauty routine, but he would immediately be kicked out. "Boys don't need to concern themselves with women's business," was what he was told before he was sent to his father's office to learn how to be "a proper gentleman." Marlene, with an enviable tenacity, immediately noticed the twinkle in the boy's eyes.

"Do you want to try one too, Regulus?" she asked, but she didn't wait for an answer but directly handed him a small rectangular box.

Regulus hesitated at first, but curiosity tingled through his body. Pandora gave him the mirror, and Lily showed him how to use it. Regulus gulped. He didn't know why he was so nervous; maybe it was because he could hear Walburga's voice in his head again, telling him to stop with this nonsense. Swallowing hard, he opened the lid, rolled off the lipstick, and revealed an even more intense shade of red than Lily's. His hand was shaking slightly, but he placed the mirror in front of him and carefully applied a layer to each of his lips before pressing and rubbing them together.

An even stranger feeling crept up inside him as he looked in the mirror. It was something hard to explain, but it felt warm and nice, like it was meant to be. The girls complimented the perfect color match with his pale skin and his glossy black hair, but the boy couldn't really hear anything around him. He just wanted to touch that reflection a little, to feel its closeness as if it were another human in front of him, not himself. It had been James' voice that had woken him from his reverie.

"Reg, honey, I don't know where I put the corkscrew for..." James said as he was walking into the living room, stopping in mid-sentence when he got a better look at his partner. "Oh, wow... I see I'm interrupting. Sorry, it's just... this shade really suits you well."

Regulus lost himself again, looking James straight in the eyes. He didn't seem disgusted that he, a man, was wearing something so feminine. His chest filled with heat again. Would he have reacted the same if Regulus grew his hair longer as he had wanted for some time? Or if he would wear that skirt he bought a long time ago and kept hidden in the back of the closet, fearing that someone would find out about it? Regulus took a napkin from the table and hastily wiped his lips.

"We were just fooling a little," he said, getting up from the armchair while wiping the last traces of red. "The corkscrew is in the top drawer; I'll go get it."

Regulus wanted to hand the lipstick back to Marlene, but she waved her hand in the air, insisting on keeping it.

"It catches you better than me, Reg; just take the bloody lipstick," she said with a knowing smile on her face.

Regulus gave her a confused look but chose to just nod and put the lipstick in his pocket, thanking Marlene for the gift before heading back into the kitchen to look for the missing corkscrew.

P.S: This microfic is inspired by my experience as a genderfluid person. Everyone's journey in discovering their own gender identity is different and unique. You can read this how you want. Just remember to love yourself even if you don't feel like you don't belong anywhere.

[nesaluvstherecoms]

𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱.

ᴍᴀɪɴ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍ ᴄᴏʟᴏɴᴇʟ ᴍɪʟᴇꜱ Qᴜᴀʀɪᴛᴄʜ x ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍ ᴍᴀᴊᴏʀ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ꜰᴇᴍ. ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Y/N, a military prodigy, raised and trained in the Marine Corps, opens her eyes to a new life as a Recombinant. Her purpose is one and one only; being General Frances Ardmore’s right hand in taming the frontier in order to set up humanity’s future home on Pandora, including eliminating resisting natives. There’s only one problem; Y/N’s predecessor has never been on Pandora. Despite this challenge, Y/N seems to face a bigger issue. She’s surrounded by incompetent idiots. The biggest idiot in question seems to be someone among her own ranks. Miles Quaritch. Even with his rank as a Colonel, Quaritch still manages to screw up his biggest mission, ruining Y/N’s and Ardmore’s hard work in the process. With it being her job, Y/N has to find a way to go about this incompetent asshole, including dealing with his unchecked attitude, inability to successfully complete a single mission, impulsive decisions and his absolute lack of professionalism. Miles on the other hand wishes this damn woman would just die. She suddenly appeared one day, charmed Ardmore, got promoted to Major General, and now she thinks she can steal all the authority he had on base, run her rude ass mouth, give him shit about every single mission and boss him around like he’s her personal bitch? Who the fuck does she think she is? They both thought the natives would be their biggest enemies, but with each other among their own ranks, they’re starting to change their minds.

ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ ᴛᴀɢꜱ & ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: minors DNI, enemies to lovers, dark themes, warfare, guns, typical military violence, heavy sexual activity (smut), forced neural bond (tsaheylu), identity crisis, death, injuries, PTSD, etc.

ᴀᴅᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ɴᴏᴛᴇꜱ:

This is an enemies to lovers fic.

Y/N and Miles are both comfortable with engaging in sexual activities with the same gender.

Kind of a slow burn.

There are a lot of OCs because I needed more Marines and RDA personnel.

The male Na’vi in this fic have sheath folds because you cannot tell me those fuckers have their cocks out and their crotches are still flatter than my kitchen table.

For chapters with smut, dark themes or heavy triggers I will add warnings.

Recom logo header and dividers are mine, please credit if you use them.

This work is also on AO3, under the username: @nesaluvstherecoms

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐬

✮ ᴜɴɪᴛ ᴀʟᴘʜᴀ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ᴅᴀᴛᴀ ꜱʜᴇᴇᴛ ✮

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒: 𝐒𝐒𝐃𝐃

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕: 𝐆𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐀𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭

𝐼𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝑔𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈…

[foursaints]

Can you talk some more about bartydora if you dont mind

i've touched on this briefly before, but barty is an interesting character to pair with others for me because of his role as essentially just an Unsolvable Equation.

like his identity formation was so stunted & abnormal that barty is just layers of masks all the way down. he's an mc escher staircase. but the way others react to that problem reveals a lot about themselves!! and it's compounded by the fact that the twins (an inventor, a surgeon) are both problem-solvers at their core.

before i get into it: i think pandora treats him like a human being. but despite how nice it is, deep down i dont think barty LIKES being treated as a person (💀). he's just so unused to it.

barty will always pick the way that evan treats him, as some type of sick other half, where he doesn't NEED to be a person because he can just be evan's missing puzzle-piece instead. barty wants the comfort of being able to define himself in relation to something else.

BUT ANYWAY.

i think pandora is more comfortable sitting with the irrational than her brother. to me the quibbler is evidence of this, but so are her experiments (P wants to create something new, E wants to take apart/optimize what already exists). so that's why i believe she's one of the few people in the world who's close to barty WITHOUT wanting to peel back his layers.

the fandom likes to make her a necromancer, and i think this ties nicely into my conception of her character as someone Deeply Steeped In Grey Areas And Uncertainties. she's concerned with the murky boundaries between life/death, between her identity/her brother's, between the real world/dreams. barty is a living grey area & the way he goes all blank when he's not putting up a front doesn't alarm her (yet she doesn't obsess over & crave & sink into his moments of vulnerability the way Evan might)

esentially: pandora is RARELY distinguishable from evan, but their small differences are highlighted specifically whenever she's around barty. by both accepting & ignoring the central Ambiguity of barty's personhood, she is basically the only person alive who can be normal about him.

i think they have little crushes on each other that come & go because of that relationship!! they feel like childhood friends. they have a weird ability to make each other feel like a regular boy and girl: he's a little sheepish around her, she giggles when he ties her shoelaces, he's putting her on the handlebars of his bicycle... there's a lightness to that relationship that doesn't exist anywhere else in their lives.

i generally believe that everyone in their friend group inevitably develops a crush on barty, and pandora isn't an exception— for her it's the dorky crush you get on your brother's best friend. he's tall & handsome & funny & charming & kind to her in a way he isn't kind to anyone else. for barty, i think there's something about the rosiers (the idea of these angelic, odd, fucked up little sheltered creatures) that just instantly does it for him no matter what. at least 40% of what he feels for evan extends to his sister, just in a more innocent way

but it's not REAL, if that makes sense? because barty is ugly and violent and complicated, and so is pandora!! neither of them are actually the boy/girl next door, even if that's what they are to each other ? and they both implicitly know that, so the crushes inevitably fade? but i think it's really beautiful that they even CAN be that for each other? which is why the crush is always there, simmering under the surface a little?

i think there's a gendered aspect to this as well. maybe this is sexist but i see barty as being a gentler version of himself around girls in general (i’m thinking of: his closeness w/ his mother, his closeness w/ winky & her insistence that he’s a sweet boy)... i think he’s one of those dudes with terminal daddy issues who grew up watching his father mistreat his mother and it really affects how he treats women. he’s more comfortable with girls and he gets a little softer around them... pandora has always gotten this softer version of him

[starfacenix]

May 8th and 9th

My usual check in with Hermes got hijacked, as I’ve been saying. Maybe hijacked isn’t the right word but whatever. I don’t know what really passed my mind to make me think, “I should ask if I’m talking to Hermes,” but I did ask myself that, and after consulting with my pendulum…

I was not talking to Hermes.

Cue some panic. I’m a new practitioner, kinda. I’ve been very very casual about it since I was a kid. Both working with deities and practicing witchcraft. The idea of a deity reaching out first was something I’ve heard of, but why would that happen to me of all people? I didn’t understand it in the slightest. So I haphazardly switched around what questions I asked my tarot cards, even looked up spreads online while my hands shook.

I used my pendulum to ask the gender of the deity first, and stupidly I didn’t think to ask immediately afterwards if it was one of the twelve Olympians. I only thought of that *after* a very confusing tarot spread. Been using tarot cards for years but I was never very disciplined, so I’m still awkward with them sometimes. I need a new deck, too.

So, after guessing wrong no less than 6 times, I finally found out it was Dionysus. I was incredibly befuddled, not knowing why Dionysus would reach out to someone like me. But that was actually on me. After ending the conversation and doing further research, I realized my issues, personality, and identity align very well with him. I read about how he’s helped so many people become more comfortable with themselves and just be more confident.

And I thought, fuck, that is something I want.

Plus I am a former theater kid that still yearns to be on stage sometimes. (Random, but in middle school we actually did Pandora’s box for the school play. I played Pandora. Fun time.)

I slept on it, did some more research, mulled it over all day, then sat down just about an hour ago to write a note to both Hermes and Dionysus. I find letter writing my favorite way to connect with Hermes, and I think the same (along with food offerings, as he asked me for those) will go for Dionysus. I folded the note in a unique way—I’ve been also using this as an excuse to basically learn fucking origami shit—before putting it on my altar for Hermes. Though due to limited space, it will probably have to be shared with Dionysus.

I lit my one puny candle, asked if they were both here with me(they were) and then just thanked them both sincerely while also apologizing to Dionysus for pretty much reducing him to the only surface level things I knew him for. Anyway, I talk about how once I get that job Hermes helped me find, I’ll be spending a hefty bit of it on them. But in the meantime I would be using my pocket money for more.. frivolous shit.

I like buying shit that has no purpose but makes me smile. Sue me.

So I pull two cards then, one for Hermes and one for Dionysus. And oh, they don’t agree on my plan.

It took me a while to realize what they weren’t agreeing on. Sometimes I’ll get words or sentences, and other times I won’t. At that moment the energy around me just felt like bickering. Not incredibly tense, but there was obviously some disconnect. But also for the first time, I could feel how distinctly different Hermes and Dionysus were going to be. Hermes is stern with me. It’s only been a few days, but he is, and he’s definitely going to push me hard. Meanwhile, Dionysus was a lot more.. relaxed? Bubbly, even.

I asked, just to be sure, if they disagreed on something. They did

I asked if it was related to the job. It wasn’t.

Then there was this nagging in my head that told me to ask if it was about the money. How I wanted to spend my pocket money.

Bingo.

He’d rather I don’t do that.

I felt torn. Because yeah the stupid shit I wanted to buy would have made me happy, but Hermes felt pretty insistent that I don’t do that, and instead focus that money on upgrading the altar. Which is something I really want to do anyway. I felt so insanely scolded by him, but not in an extremely rude manner. More like how a teacher would look at you if you’re a little too loud in class.

I asked if he’d like me to buy a statue for him I’ve been eyeing. He said yes.

I asked Dionysus the same, he said no. He’d rather food offerings for the time being.

That was about an hour or so ago. And I guess it pushed me to want to share this. Nobody may see these posts, but I think it’d still be good for me to share my experiences as they come. Maybe they’ll make other newcomers feel less silly when it comes to making mistakes or fumbling around with gods.

As Hermes said to me, “trust the process.”

No silly purchases for me.

[justaboymadeofhoneyandglass]

The characters I kin and why: A (kinda) Masterlist

Pandora Rosier/Lovegood

The weird kid

Autistic

The daydreamer

Doesn't really care about other people opinions but sometimes shit gets to her

2. James Potter

Knife Kink

The golden child with too high expectations

Brave

Would do anything for their friends

Autistic and Adhd

Struggles with emotions sometimes

Loves too much too fast

Red Converse, y'all

smart af but acts stupid sometimes

3. Sirius Black

Is themselves unapologeticly

Genderfluid/weird gender identity

Tries to be happy to hard but fails sometimes and then feels guilty about it

Loves his friends so much

Loves eyeliner but sucks at doing it

One of the smartest people even if it doesn't look like it sometimes

IsSuES

4. Remus Lupin

The kid with imposter syndrome

In love with sirius black

Very angry inside (and angry at the world)

A bisexual King

5. Evan Rosier

Idk why but he's me

just vibes, also

An Absolute Whore For Barty Crouch Jr.

6. Barty Crouch Jr.

Salem from Troto

Also, Barty is An Absolute Whore For Evan Rosier

7. Marlene Mckinnon

Adhd and Autism hc

Can sing

Gay af for girls

I wanna be her

The Somebody (if you get this ily)

[idkjustlemmedrownlikerab]

This is so true!!

As someone who is brown I am always so happy whenever I see brown and more specifically Indian and Spanish James bcoz yayy representation!

BUT

Most of the time all I see in these fanfics is stereotypical stuff like oh he has a good spice tolerance, he likes Indian food, he is respectful to other cultures etc which yes I get it it's true but what we really need is showcasing how having immigrant parents in a country like Britain shaped him as a person, how much racism he has to go thru bcoz let's be honest racism is still so prevalent even now and we r talking about the 70s it's period accurate, how his cultural identity makes his experience different. This is a thing I see quite often in other types of media as well, authors and scriptwriters will write poc characters for the sake of "inclusivity" but not actually explore more on their cultural identity which ends up overshadowing lesser known authors who have done an actually wonderful job in accurate representation.

The same issue stands for characters such as Mary and Dorcas (and in some situations Pandora and Evan as well bcoz some hc them as poc). They r BLACK WOMEN in the 70s in a country like BRITAIN they would've faced hardships and struggles with stuff such as their own cultural identity, racism and discrimination, social isolation and exclusion, family struggles, cultural erasure etc.

Now when I say I absolutely LOVE the representation of different cultures, gender identities and sexualities we have in this fandom I do mean it, I just wish that more people would acknowledge the fact that this diversity comes hand in hand with struggles and hardships and it is CRUCIAL to portray all sides of this instead of just adding just the superficial details and otherwise just ignoring it as a whole.

a lil controversial but i believe that this fandom is only a little bit racist. that's not to imply "off with the pocs" but rather, little omissions they like to make when writing characters. I'm all for fun and do what you want but these characters are supposed to be people outside their relationships and emotions.

exhibit A: POC James.

I only have a question for you. When you headcanon James, do you take his race into account? If you do, you're in the green light here.

To omit the fact that he is in fact a brown boy in a predominantly white institution is to admit the fact that you are ignorant.(/lh)

Unfortunately, the same can be made for Dorcas and Mary. These are BLACK women in a place where black people will STRUGGLE to exist; for example, hair, culture, language, identity. These are things that make up a Black woman's life. and it can get difficult to maintain this in a place that isn't necessarily looking out for these women.

But its not difficult to adress the homophobia of the 70s huh? in Britain even? alright man.

this is only one bit of the problem this fandom has; you want inclusivity but you won't make it work. you want poc james but you won't be realistic in the way you can be realistic about his queerness?

okay I've said too much. i see the pitchforks coming

[mariacallous]

Thousands of people are expected to attend a big Church-organised protest in Skopje on Thursday as the country’s biggest religious community, the Macedonian Orthodox Church, called on the government to shelve adoption of the Gender Equality Law and the Law on Birth Registry.

The Church insists that if they are adopted, the two laws would “open a Pandora’s box” from which “different genders could emerge every day”.

The call for the protest, the first such organised directly by the Church, came on Friday, straight from the Church’s head bishop.

Archbishop Stefan insisted their objections had been ignored and that the new provisions would harm “all citizens and especially women and children”.

It came just a day before Saturday’s Skopje Pride, which this year is held under the slogan “Loud and Proud”, amid a heating-up of Church resistance to the legal provisions that have been in the works for about a year.

While the Church insists that it is receiving support for its protest from other religious communities in the country and from public figures, including singers and performers, the Platform for Gender Equality and the Network Against Discrimination, both umbrella human rights organisations, condemned the call for the protest, insisting it is not the Church’s place to interfere in individual human rights.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights on Wednesday issued safety guideline for LGBT people, advising them to steer clear of the protest in the city near the government HQ.

The biggest opponenent of these provisions over the past year has been Bishop Jakov Stobiski of Strumica.

On Monday, North Macedonia’s Anti-Discrimination Commission ordered Stobiski to apologize publicly to LGBT individuals for discriminatory remarks in his speeches. Over the past few weeks, he has called members of the community “sick” and “Satan’s emissaries”.

He refused to apologize, insisting that the Church has shown tolerance towards such individuals. He also insisted that if the laws are adopted, it might be good for a few but would be “oppressive” for the 99 per cent of the population that do not accept such things.

“We do not separate gender as an attribute of sex, as its social construct. Analogously, if there are two sexes, there are also two genders. These laws bring us a monstrous construct; they are opening a Pandora’s box so that different genders could emerge every day and everyone can be whatever they want … We don’t like it and we don’t accept it,” he said.

He added the the Birth Registry bill was already in parliamentary procedure and that the bill on Gender equality was just one step away from entering parliament for what he alleged would be a sneaky adoption.

But the Labour and Social Policies Minister, Jovanka Trencevska, on Tuesday told Radio Free Europe that both bills are still in a public debate and have not entered parliament yet.

She said both are still being drafted, taking the model of other EU countries and neighbour states that have already adopted similar progressive regulations.

The draft bill on Gender Equality, which has been debated for almost 10 months, attempts to separate gender and sex.

It states that “sex” refers to the biological and psychological characteristics on the basis of which people are defined as female or male, while “gender identity” refers to the inner and individual experience of one’s own gender that each person feels about themselves, and which may or may not coincide with the sex assigned to them at birth.

The Birth Registry Law, if adopted, will allow every adult individual to make a legal gender change based on their preference, merely by submitting a statement verified by a public notary.

The bill would for the first time recognize that trans people in North Macedonia have a gender identity that does not correspond to the sex entered in the birth records.

[acespec-ed]

Opinion on the pink stripe in the rainbow pride flag? Is it acephobic or not in your opinion?

(For those who don't know, the original pride flag had a pink stripe that meant sex.)

I feel like I'm about to open Pandora's box answering this ask, but I've never let a not-hate/spam ask go unanswered before and I'm not gonna start now so here we go.

Short answer: No.

Long answer:

I can see how it can come across as acephobic, and when I first found out about it, my gut-reaction was a yes. But I think that was moreso my sex-repulsion and sick-of-everything-meaning-sex speaking. The truth is, all sexual orientations revolve around just that: sex. Gay people want to have sex with the same gender. Bisexuals want to have sex with people of multiple genders. And asexuals? We don't want sex with any genders. (I know, identities and labels get more complicated than that. I'm speaking in general terms.)

So, in a way, it still is inclusive of us. Acephobes like to give us shit for how much we talk about sex when we're not supposed to even like sex, but there's a hint of truth to that. I feel like I’ve talked about sex more on this blog than I have in my entire 30+ years of living- and this blog is less than a year old. We really do talk about sex a lot, even if it’s only to vent about its pervasiveness.

Not to mention, a big chunk of LGBT+ is made up of SEXual minorities and is partly about SEXual orientations. Categories which aSEXual falls under.

It's also important to note that some of the other letters have an ongoing history of being persecuted for the gender(s) they have sex with. So it's a pretty big thing for them and this is one of those cases where we need to make sure our dislike for sex doesn't bleed into unintentional homophobia. A stripe for this reason alone wouldn't erase the fact aces exist and are a part of the community. It's just highlighting a very important issue.

So, I don't think it's acephobic. But I do understand being sick of sex popping up everywhere, to the point where it's even in flag meanings. And I understand being sick of allos going "haha SEX!1!" to everything. I get tired of it myself at times.

[bluecadash]

OC Interview: Runa Cadash

Much love to @fade-and-loathing-in-thedas @dungeons-and-dragon-age @emerald-amidst-gold @oxygenforthewicked and @noire-pandora for the tags 💙💙💙

tagging: @varric-tethras-editor @rosenkow @notebooks-and-laptops @razumairon @kumaronoa @the-dreadful-canine @1000generations @rozhevisny @fernaee @little-lightning-lavellan @dreadfutures and everyone who wants to do this! No pressure or obligation 🌻

Introduction

Can you introduce yourself? Huh? I mean... sure? It's not like we're doing this interview because you know who I am. Alright. My name is Runa. I'm a surfacer who somehow ended up being Inquisitor. *mumbling* Please don't address me by that title.

What is your gender identity, orientation and relationship status? Why would that interest you?

Where and when were you born? In the Free Marches twenty-something years ago.

What is your weapon of choice and fighting style? Daggers and close combat. I like to end my fights as quickly as possible. Some people might call it dirty, but it's not my fault that they just keep loosing.

Lastly, are you happy? Well, I'm not completely unhappy. Things could be better, and they could be much worse. Josi- I mean, Ambassador Montilyet makes everything a lot easier for me. *smiles softly*

Family and Friends

What’s your family like? What is your relationship with them? Big, loud, pretentious. Haven't seen or spoken to them in ages. My brother sends me a letter sometimes though.

Have you ever ran away from home? Yes. Doesn't everyone?

Would you consider marriage or having children? Ehhhhhhhhhhh... *blushes heavily*

Do you secretly hate one of your friends? What? No! Is that an Orlesian thing? Why would I be friends with someone I hate? Just sounds tiresome

Which friend knows everything about you? There isn't much I'm hiding about myself. So I think they pretty much all do.

Asked by Fans

Are you literate? Have you been to school? My grandmother taught me how to read and some other stuff, but I never went to school or anything. Are there even schools for surfacers?

The eeriest prediction you made that later came true? I don't think any of my predictions ever came true. Oh no wait! I said blue hair would look good on me and I was right.

What is something you were embarrassingly late to realize? I only recently found out that ponies are not just baby horses.

Do you have mental health or physical issues? What? I don't...I don't think so? And it also shouldn't be your concern.

What is your current main goal? Ehmm... that would be finishing this interview.

Choices

Drink or food? Well, I like my drinks better with food and my food better with drinks. So I don't know. Just whatever.

Cats or dogs? Nugs. But if I really had to choose between those two, then I'd go with dogs. Though cats are cute as well.

Optimist or pessimist? Realist with optimistic tendencies. I think.

Sassy or sarcastic? I'll leave that up to you. Or you can go and ask Seeker Pentaghast.

Have You Ever

Been caught sneaking out? Pfff. Of course not.

Broken a bone? Yes. On several occasions.

Received flowers? *clears throat* Not that I remember. *looks away*

Ghosted someone? Yes. My parents. Or did they ghost me first? Sometimes it's difficult to remember these things.

Pretended to laugh at a joke you didn’t get? No. If I don't get the joke, I'm just too confused to bother pretending to laugh.

Blank

Family and Friends

What’s your family like? What is your relationship with them?

Have you ever ran away from home?

Would you consider marriage or having children?

Do you secretly hate one of your friends?

Which friend knows everything about you?

Asked by Fans

Are you literate? Have you been to school?

The eeriest prediction you made that later came true?

What is something you were embarrassingly late to realize?

Do you have mental health or physical issues?

What is your current main goal?

Choices

Drink or food?

Cats or dogs?

Optimist or pessimist?

Sassy or sarcastic?

Have You Ever

Been caught sneaking out?

Broken a bone?

Received flowers?

Ghosted someone?

Pretended to laugh at a joke you didn’t get?

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

(image description: eight sketchbook drawings of characters holding a variety of pride flags, all nude and posed in ways that match some old fine art pieces. The nudity has been censored with cute digital flower stickers. end description.)

Characters:

Dalmar, intersex man. Kouto, nonbinary. Chacha, agender. Parva, nonbinary. Xulic and Kidron, genderqueer. Obeli (or Abuela) Moruga, genderqeer. Olli, demiguy. Sajak, genderqueer.

Genderqueer is kind of my default for "well, biologically and culturally, they already don't have binary sex or gender, so they kinda default to genderqueer." And I know maybe some people will be bothered by that, but it's just part of the worldbuilding I've written around all these non-human and frequently non-mammalian species of people.

The uncensored version is on my Patreon page. I do have one more drawing to add to this series, but since it's four child characters I will not need to worry about adding any censors and keeping the original image only on my patreon, as they will simply be wearing their pride flags as whole outfits.

The previous part of this, my binary trans characters, can be found over here.

detailed character descriptions and explanations of the pose references under the cut

Dalmar Ubora, a black intersex elf man with short black hair. He is holding his arms up as he holds the intersex flag, mimicking the pose of Virgin Mary from Titian's painting "The Assumption of the Virgin". The shading was washed out by the photo, but his belly is still clearly round from pregnancy. Dalmar is an interesting case, in that he was assigned male at birth based on his outward appearance, continues to identify as male throughout his life, but finds during puberty that what was believed to be an undeveloped penis was actually just a non functional body part. Instead, what actually developed to full functionality was his uterus. He still identifies as a straight cis man, and has come to terms with his body. He is married to a medically transitioned trans woman, and he could undergo operations to change his body if he wanted to. Instead, he has embraced his body and even birthed some children who were conceived via sperm donations. This is why I wanted a Mary pose for him, and this painting in particular is about Mary being welcomed into heaven as a blessed holy woman. Dalmar may not be a miraculous holy figure, but there is a reverence in the way he has come to love his body and chosen to bear children, including the surrogate birth of his brother's child.

Kouto Hayashi-Loryck, a slender nonbinary elf with black hair tied into a bun. They are holding the nonbinary flag and standing in the pose of a statue known as "Apollo Belvedere", which is so old no one knows the artist's name. One arm raised, one lowered, legs in the relaxed contrapposto pose. Kouto is an artist and an art model. Apollo is a god of the arts, and regarded as a beautiful and sexual figure. Kouto is bisexual and admittedly a very sexual and flirtatious person. They did settle into a happy marriage though (actually they are Dalmar's in-law and the sperm donor for the aforementioned surrogate birth.) Marriage has not stopped Kouto's flirtations, merely limited their targets to a singular person. It felt right to give him this pose, from a pretty well known portrayal of Apollo. Beauty, art, and sex, all defining traits of Apollo and Kouto alike, all present in a pose where the figure seems to be reaching for something above them.

Chacha Faraji, an agender black elf with short hair. They are facing away from the viewer, seated on a stool that is covered by the draped agender flag. No physical traits that could betray their agab are visible. Chacha is sitting in the pose of Reubens' painting "Venus at the Mirror". The arm closest to the viewer ends at the elbow, while they hold a mirror in front of their face with their one whole arm. Their face is seen reflected, smiling, little wrinkles visible by their eyes. I chose this painting in part because it did allow me to obscure Chacha's agab. They were my first nonbinary character, and I never really settled on an agab. But also, I enjoy putting characters who have unconventional bodies into poses associated with Venus or Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. Chacha is missing half an arm, they are getting older and it shows in the wrinkles on their face. Chacha is also Aromantic and Asexual, the full queer triple A battery. The mirror pose has become an independence of beauty. "Look but don't touch." Chacha is beautiful, and they do not need to be beautiful for anyone but themself.

Parva Turbatus, a white nonbinary elf with shoulder length curly hair that has been shaved down on the far side of their head. They are holding the nonbinary flag, standing in the slightly closed off pose found in Paul Gariot's painting "Pandora's Box". One hand on their chest, one hand held out to hold the flag. They have top surgery scars on their chest and a c-section scar on their navel, though all of these have unfortunately been hidden by the flower censors. I chose a pandora pose for Parva because they have one of the most intense tragic backstories of any of my characters. Like Pandora opening the box, they have suffered through many things but came out the other side with Hope, and healing.

Xulic Vos and Kidron Engedi, a drow and a lizard person. They are sharing the genderqueer flag. Xulic has long ears and white hair in a braid, with a white monkey-like tail barely visible behind their legs. Kidron looks like a leopard gecko, and their tail is acting as a visual block in fron of Xulic's groin. They are standing together in the central pose of Raphael's "School of Athens" fresco. Xulic is pointing one hand up to the sky, while Kidron holds one hand palm down towards the earth. Xulic's chest is visibly flat, however I have rewritten the drow as a eusocial people, who's biology has made most of the common population infertile and visibly near identical above the waist. Xulic's agab is unknown to anyone but them, and perhaps their reptilian lover Kidron. Both drow and lizard folk have biology and cultures that do not really support a gender binary, so genderqueer suits them both quite well. I chose the School of Athens pose because these characters are scientists in fields that overlap, and they often get into deep discussions on the matter. Xulic is a paleontologist while Kidron is a geologist, and they have another friend (my protagonist) who studies archaeology.

Obeli (or Abuela) Moruga, an elderly goblin with sagging skin and axolotl-like frills on the sides of her head. She grins as she holds the gender queer flag, partly draped over the tall stool she is seated on. Her pose matches that of John Collier's "Priestess of Delphi" painting, which depicts a woman hunched over herself on a stool. Old Obeli Moruga, whose title best translates to "grandmother" is a significant figure in her community, both because of her more practical role as a leader and wise woman, but also because she has gained immortality and become an incarnation of Life Itself, after she was given the offer of such power when she nearly died in the goblin revolution. There are many figures that would suit her. Poses from statues of goddesses, like Athena or Gaia. Perhaps turning away from the theme of greek and roman figures I ended up with for my nonbinary group (dalmar is his own thing) and using the famous painting of Liberty on a battlefield. But now in her old age, all those poses of figures in more active poses, tall and imposing, simply didn't feel right. A wise old woman, hunched on a stool in a pose associated with the idea of an oracle, a priestess, a prophetess, felt much more fitting. (goblin culture does have specific pronouns for leadership, and in the common speech they have decided this translates best to the feminine "she/her")

Olli Moruga, also a goblin with axolotl-like frills, standing with the demiguy flag in his hands. He is in the pose of Michaelangelo's statue of Bacchus, god of wine, merriment, and madness. One hand up as if to salute with a cup, body leaning and perhaps a little unstable. Olli is a gay demiguy, stepping away from the naturally ungendered state of his people to embrace masculinity instead. He is extroverted, loves a good party, and has definitely been a little over his depth with alcohol on many occasions. He knows this is a problem. He used to act rebellious because of it, trying to be cool and aloof, but he has since admitted the truth to himself and now openly seeks help. His trans lover, Zaire (seen in a previous post) has become a great support to him. Even though it may seem odd to use the pose of a god of wine for a character that is trying to overcome an alcohol issue, I still feel like the vibe of Bacchus or Dionysus fits Olli well. He is not only a god of wine, but also of pleasure in general, a concept Olli embraces. Wild joy, perhaps to the point of becoming a little feral, abandoning tradition for personal fulfillment. It is unusual for goblins to embrace a binary gender, even partially. Gendered pronouns do not exist in their tongue, only being used in cases where common speech needs to be used to refer to certain significant figures, such as a leader. It is also unusual for a goblin to take a lover outside their species, since most goblins live in fairly isolated places and all mate together seasonally, depositing their eggs in a communal nursery pool. Olli stands out on purpose.

Lastly, Sajak, an amphibious person with some fish-like features such as their finned ears and a barely visible dorsal fin. They are holding the genderqueer flag as they stand in a commanding pose, one foot on a rock, one arm held out as if pointing to something below them. This pose is taken from the central Poseidon statue in the fountain of Trevi. Their head, arms, and torso are covered in dark tattoos in abstract designs, and they also have a few natural dark stripes along their arms and legs. The obvious connection between Sajak and this statue of Poseidon is that Sajak is a fish person and Poseidon is an ocean god. If I could have thought of a more medical figure, I may have made a different choice in the art reference. Sajak is primarily a doctor, a healer. They are fairly well known and they were an important figure on their home island, though they did leave eventually. Even so, there is a certain vibe to Sajak that suits the image of a powerful and unpredictable oceanic god. They are steady, intelligent, and careful, but they can become fierce when their loved ones are under threat, and the intense focus they show in their work as a doctor can be intimidating to see. There is a feeling of hidden power within Sajak, just as there is in the ocean when it seems calm. Fish folk, whether bipedal and amphibious or fully aquatic, also fit under my category of "non-mammalian people who are just kind of genderqueer by default due to their biology not fitting into a binary".

[bikeman209]

I swear he's a fucking piece of shit.

Biden says he's going to be a president for the people and everyone should be considered equal but by giving certain groups special rights then we are not longer equal. I don't care what group it is.

With this new order, being equal is having a male mma fighter that identifies as a girl fight a girl mma fighter.

With that said if they want to be equal why aren't they attacking the NFL and making them have so many girl players per team? The reason why is because the NFL and other major sports are can cows. They are entertainment, a money source.

Why do we as people look to and rely on the government to say whether or not we are equal or free people. They are supposed to work for us the people. If Biden wants equality how about a pay cut to everyone in congress and the senate and fucking term limits. How about do what president trump did and not take a salary and donate it to a legit charity. You want equality, how about prosecute all the black lives matter and antifa rioters that burned down cities.

[bxstvrd]

ENTER STAGE RIGHT... JONAH PRYCE AS “THE VILLAIN”

content warnings for: infidelity, disassociation, emotional abuse, gaslighting, disordered eating / body image issues

FULL APP // PINTEREST // WANTED CONNECTIONS

&& basics–– full name: jonathan alexander pryce sinclair age: twenty-one (sensitive little cancer, his birthday’s july 1st) sexuality: bisexual baby (literally bc he’s still parsing all of this / figuring out this part of his identity) gender & pronouns: cis, he/him/his character comps: kendall roy ( succession ), the man in black ( westworld ), bojack horseman ( bojack horseman ), adam groff ( sex education ), tim riggins ( friday night lights ), max evans ( roswell new mexico ) full statistics page here

&& history––

jonah’s got legacies on both sides of his family. his father, william pryce, is the heir of a meat distribution company based in pennsylvania that’s become one of the largest beef distributors in the continental united states. his mother, charlotte sinclair, is from old money that’s now tied up in several magazines / newspapers in the tristate area

his whole childhood, he could never figure out why william hated him so much, why william would never give him an ounce of paternal love, not the way he did with jonah’s brothers. and then one night, in a drunken tirade, william reveals: jonah’s a bastard. he’s not william’s son, but rather a product of charlotte’s infidelity

the truth of who he is makes too much sense to jonah, contextualizes everything that’s ever happened to him, and it breaks something in him. he grows into the role of the ‘destroyer’, the villain, the bastard. he learns coldness from his father, apathy from his mother, and shoulders the guilt of his own birth as though he’s not just a child, as though he did something to deserve this. he comes to realize, it’s not that he did anything wrong. simply put, jonah was just born wrong.

theater helps, and he’s good at it too, but it doesn’t undo the ache of being cast aside. jonah becomes obsessed with finding his birth father and finally, after sixteen years of pretending, he confronts his mother, who reluctantly gives jonah his name: desmond burnes.

desmond burnes is a playwright, much to jonah’s delight. and he’s an alderidge alum (which is why jonah even applied here to begin with). the summer before he goes off to college, jonah decides to go to new york to track down his dad, using a summer theater program at columbia as a guise for tracking des down. and at first, des is everything he wanted in a parent: thoughtful, attentive, engaged. but the more jonah gets to know him, the more he realizes how hot and cold des is, how similar the two of them are, in all the worst ways.

the summer ends in turmoil, as you would expect. jonah developed a bit of a crush on hugh, the prop designer for des’ play, not realizing that des and hugh were already entangled sexually. jonah finds the two of them together, and it breaks him, not because he’s jealous, but because he realizes: des will never be the kind of father jonah’s needed his whole life. it leaves a hole in his heart, a void he thinks will never be filled.

until....enter stage left!! orson hobbs. that slimy mother fucker saw how much pain there is in jonah, but also saw how he could harness that deep, deep agony for something great. and jonah, for what feels like the millionth time in his life, put all of his trust and love and hope into the wrong fucking person because he was so desperate to be good in jonah’s eyes, so desperate to have someone who saw him and wouldn’t leave, like everyone else before orson.

his relationship with helen really threw a wrench in that though. orson always liked jonah broken, and with helen, he finally sound some sense of healing. so he reeled jonah back in, using the role of achilles as the hook line and sinker, and jonah, oblivious to how he was being manipulated, fell for it all. he’s always been so susceptible to changing himself for the approval of other people, always twisting himself into whatever shape he thinks people want to see. it’s only towards the end, days before the curtain rises for troilus and cressida, that jonah understands: orson never cared about him. orson likes him broken, docile, his. and orson will cast him aside if he refuses to comply.

orson’s death has shaken him to his core because, even though he didn’t kill orson, a part of jonah knows that, if he saw orson that night, he would have. knowing he has that rage in him, knowing that that’s what he’s truly capable of... he’s never felt more wrong, more evil in his whole life, and hell, maybe that’s just who he is. maybe he’s failed, so many times, at being good because he’s got a black mark on his heart, just like des, just like william.

&& random facts––

smokes too many cigarettes & doesn’t drink enough water

hates birds

sketches when he’s bored, likes drawing butts

is a staunch vegetarian, trying to go vegan but likes cheese too much

would cry @ everything if he didn’t have to deal w the embarrassment of being vulnerable in front of people

doesn’t know how to swim

knows literally every single thing there is to know about david fincher, one might call him... obsessed??

always looks like he just woke up from a nap... probably because he did

and in that vein, Nap King, he’s been diagnosed with a mild form of narcolepsy, don’t fuck w jonah’s naps

allergic to cats, but loves them so much its stupid

compulsively buys candles when he’s sad (so always buying candles because he’s always fucking sad)

gets HEATED about the great british bake off. don’t talk to him about it if you don’t want to open a pandora’s box of his love for mary berry

favorite color is yellow

always cold

disaster bi: clumsy as fuck. horrible driver. can’t sit properly in chairs. never knows what time it is

[elvesofnoldor]

im losing my entire fucking mind and i dont know anything abt myself anymore and why? why? all cause one day in undergrad, out of nowhere, i went “hey am i a woman?” like i was asking myself what flavour of cheesecake i wanted for dessert. That was like, right after i felt comfortable with the fact that im a lesbian. And the answer should have been simple and short: “yeah duh you dumb fucking bitch, why did you ask? why do you think asking this is fucking productive? forget about it!” But no, i decided to engage with the question and it opened a fucking pandora’s box, and this question latched onto me like a fucking parasite, because this question allows me to think about another crucial question im always afraid to ask myself: am i truly attracted to men? With lesbianism, i can answer this question with ease by saying, no, these flimsy “crushes” i have on like two or three boys when i was a child/teen were result of compulsory heterosexuality, boom, that’s it. simple! not to mention, i know that lesbians can experience attraction to men in the past and even had past relationship with men and still be lesbians, sometimes sexuality isn’t solid as a brick, and none of that should have mattered! 

 so yeah, lesbianism is the answer i LIKE, yet part of me is not satisfied with this answer! of course! why not! since when am i ever satisfied with anything EVER?  over time, i started to want a “man’s body” when i see a cis dude with bare chest in picture, and it seems like i started to identify more and more with...masculinity and manhood...in general? even fictional men? at times? i dont fucking know! its a huge mess! and confusing! and my memories are all blurry and false and twisted by my current perception. sure i think i always kind of aspire to “androgynous looks”, but i like being a lesbian! At first, i was like, maybe im a non binary lesbian cause oh baby i know im not bisexual-- i dont want to be with men, but i want to be with women and that’s a certainty. And i know i had one real crush in life--sure it brought me nothing but misery but i know i had one true crush and it was a girl, a friend, from my high school-- whereas my possible feelings abt real boys or fictional men are very flimsy in comparison. still, part of me started to think that perhaps i can only process these feelings i might have for other men/boys in the past if i can...idk see myself as another man? i dont fucking know! Literally, it’s the most unproductive thing to think about! More importantly, i did not fall in love with any real man nor do i want to fall in love with any man! but i still kept questioning myself about this, cause i kept having these strong feelings abt,  FICTIONAL MALE CHARACTERS. And idk, part of me was like, “maybe you’d be comfortable with your attraction to men if you...are a man?”, and yeah i actually engage with this line of fucking thinking. its so fucking embarrassing that MEN THAT ARE NOT REAL can have such ridiculous heavy impact on me, it’s fucking ridiculous and i hate it!!! Every time i started to get invested in some stupid story that doesn’t matter cause it’s a fucking fictional story, there is like, this ONE MAN, one fucking bitch, that i felt very strongly about and it didn’t feel entirely platonic. i knew i was not straight since a teen and it took me FOREVER to even seriously consider that im a lesbian even though i dread the thought of being with men for the longest time, precisely because i keep having these weird strong feelings about fictional men every once a while!!!! 

makes no mistake i explored more rational options. during this time i made a rant abt it on here--i didnt want to! i tried not to make personal posts cause i dont want to bother strangers! but idk i guess my attention seeking whore ass just have to put my personal feelings out there eventually or i will die? anyways, a very nice mutual talked to me abt it, he was a trans man and as it turns out we shared a lot of similar experiences in regards to gender, and you’d think--hey maybe that helped? but no it fucking didn’t. it was nobody’s fault but it didn’t help, cause i clung on my womanhood for no apparent productive reason. i was still confused and, well, like a normal person i was like, let’s have human interaction! let’s actually explore my attraction to women! you don’t want to be with men so forget about them! forget what you might feel abt them! explore what you KNOW! explore certainty! so i did and ofc it ended up in shit, cause a girl who has a girlfriend (it was a closed relationship btw) asked me if i wanted to “hang out” on a dating app for wlws called HER and i genuinely thought it was a date? didnt know she has a girlfriend until AFTER we met. i wasn’t actually even surprised that she didn’t actually want to date me, because im ugly! im not attractive! im not even attracted to myself lol! plus she was very nice and cool and i was just happy that i made a friend with a fellow lesbian. but after that, i lost motivation to use that dating app, because one minor set-up and failure is all it takes for me to give up, its always like that with me. because im weak and pathetic, its always been like this. 

yeah at one point i basically said im non binary on my bio, but  i rather tell ppl im a lesbian and be done with it since im not entirely sure abt being non binary. Also, I know that non gender-conforming lesbians are everywhere, cis lesbians who are uncomfortable with gender identity exist! butches exist! they are here and they deal with it and they find community. but i don’t identify with...being butch? it was very nice to see gender non conforming, tom-boyish or butchy women out there, they  gave me hope, they are my heroes but i just dont feel like...they are me? i dont feel like feminine women either, im attracted to feminine women but i dont identify with their look and their femininity. like i said, this is a huge fucking mess. 

And now i have finally fucking done it, huh, dorian fucking p*vus, a gay male character. The clownery of it all! how the fuck, do i explain to ANYONE that i, a lesbian, have feeling that isn’t entirely platonic about a fictional gay man? yeah thats right thats why i romance him! i lied! ok! i fucking lied, it was cause i want to fuck him! ok! yeah, i know, ridiculous. i feel like im disrespecting him, that im , idk, fetishizing him, but i am not! i can’t be! i love him so much it hurts? it shouldnt be like that. i really shouldn’t. i cant make sense of this, its driving me nuts. still, this whole ordeal eventually got me thinking abt my gender, yet again, and it pushed me over the edge and i even told my dad that i want to transition this summer, that i am a man because i thought maybe i’d be much happier and less repressed if i can just accept that i like men-- if i can explore this possibility. i know i will NEVER accept liking man as a woman, and i know i already kinda have some sort of identification with manhood and masculinity, so why not! i was coming up with solutions! but i didnt even fall in love with a real man, and i was considering this serious level of transition in my life that requires time, money, and the process concerns health risk??? for what??? i was looking up all these info about transition, for WHAT? i gotta be out of my fucking mind! the most ridiculous thing is that while i always like a number of female characters, i would never feel as strongly about any of them in particular as i would, for that one fucking man. Even merrill, like, i love her and i genuinely feel like i want to be with a girl like her int he future but i dont feel as strongly about her as i would for dorian, for some, fucking, reason. 

i headcanon the lavellan i used to romance dorian as a trans man, cause i was thinking, perhaps this would put things into perspective. and yeah, i wanna fuck dorian, but also i want to envision what my future CAN be using my lavellan as a proxy. things were simpler with my lavellan. he was handsome and had no body image issue, he was fit, transition was easy for him cause magic and he virtually spent no money on it, he was passing, his family and community fully supported him, he had a lovely girlfriend before he knew he was trans. sure, he has problems and issues to deal with but none are the ones i gotta deal with. he is not me, but he has what i wanted and what i wish i had: beauty, confidence, a girlfriend, easy FTM transition, and he is a man so he’s legally allowed to fuck dorian. but i did not transition, and im still a cis woman with long hair, and ppl looks at me and they probably still thinks im straight, im not straight but i AM a ugly cis woman and i dont think transition’d help cause i might just become a even uglier man lol. And if i dont become a beautiful, stunning man, then i dont want to become a man at all cause if things dont turn out perfectly for me, i dont want to do them and its always like that for me and its why im a fucking failure on everything right now. so many trans people are not passing, but they deal with it, not me tho! i can’t, cause im a pathetic baby!!!  i cant deal with any minor inconvenience in my fucking life i guess!!!! And i cant help but to feel weird about having a trans man as one of my ocs. maybe i should make him cis instead? im so exhausted,  i cant help but to feel that my trans mutuals want to just pull the trigger on me and unfollow me cause you all are silently judging me for having a trans oc when im still technically, cis. well judge me in my fucking face you fucking cowardly fucks! Am i cis? well idk, probably, maybe im just a hysterical crazy bitch of a cisgender^tm woman who is constantly uncomfortable with her gender, maybe thats all there is. who knows, all i know is that im burnt out, that i don’t know anything anymore and it was all a huge fucking mess that things dont matter. this is causing me nothing but pain and confusion and i dont want to be wrong myself. ftm transition is not, “oh geez lets just explore a option” kind of deal, its kinda fucking serious  and its stressing me out. i dont know what i want, who i am, anything and i can’t afford to be wrong so i dont know!!!!! i just dont know!!!!!!!! i talked abt with a therapist actually but all therapist do is to LIE lie AND LIE and tell me things i already know, “you need to be careful with about transitioning! it’s a big decision” who pays you to say this garbage to me? “you are capable and beautiful and you can do this! believe in yourself!” as if ppl saying this shit is enough???? as if i still need to go see a fucking therapist if i am magically ok after i talk to somebody and they tell me lies that sound validating????i know they dont believe in what they said anyways. “you are ok! you are fine, you have no problem” BITCH I WISH I AM OK, BUT AM I OK? IM FUCKING NOT AND YOU ARE $60 RICHER THAN AN YOU ARE AN HOUR AGO! FUK YOU! LIES LIES LIES!!!!! men lie too, i put on some bad eyeliner and some random creepy dude came and told me im beautiful! beautiful my ass! im fucking ugly and i know it, you really think im fucking stupid you fuck? am i just being a special snowflake? are the things that i know for certainty actually certainty??? nothing about me feels real anymore, and maybe im just being dramatic but  my self perception is non existent and i feel like im just lying to myself even though i thought i was being truthful and ppl keep telling me lies and nothing helps. im living on lies and it is festering 

[debonairafrik]

  A century ago, many laws and societal attitudes made women faced barriers and prejudice throughout society but today, the narrative is Changing.

Significantly, It is important for black girls to see powerful images of other black women in the media and equally important for creatives most especially African or black creatives to create imagery of the black women in a positive light.

Not only does this help the black girl to accept her blackness, but it is also important for helping them understand and authenticate their identity as Africans. The whitewashing in Hollywood and other media giants has led to the erasure of black culture and has led to a black identity crisis and self-esteem issues with more and more black people wanting European features because of its normalization and acceptance especially in the media. It is therefore up to Black creatives to create content that celebrates African identity.

Representation in fashion is a great way of overcoming black culture erasure. As seen in previous years, Caucasian features dominated the spreads and the runway. This is however slowly changing with more and more black women making a name in the industry.

  Over the last years, the fashion industry in Ghana is becoming more competitive and creative with brilliant women designers, models, photographers, stylists and other creatives arriving on the scene and creating content and imagery especially for Ghanaian women to push their narrative just like our previous Issue on BODY ACCEPTANCE. This has led to a shift from the norm of styling for the male gaze to something much more powerful; content that celebrates the identity of the Ghanaian woman.  Fashion and Design in Ghana have seen significant and positive changes with more women entering into the industry and shaking things up. The country has seen women designers like Vanessa Harrison, Diva Delicious, Ajapomaa, Charlotte Prive, BellEdu, Christie Brown and many others taking the industry by storm. This has proved very important for representation because not only is it brilliant women creating content but also as fellow Ghanaian women, they take into consideration, the style needs of the average Ghanaian woman.

Aside designers, they are ambitious, confident and glamorous young women who are making a name for themselves in the Creative industry just like our Cover girl Mame Adjei

Maame Adjei is one such lady. She is a Ghanaian-American model and DJ who got her big break in the entertainment industry shortly after college where she studied political science, African studies and Economics. Raised in Ghana and Switzerland and later relocating to the US has exposed Maame Adjei to different cultures and has made her understand and appreciate all cultures. Her most notable accomplishments include starring in the 23rd cycle of Tyra Banks hit show America’s Next Top Model, winning Miss Maryland USA 2015 and placing among Top 5 in the Miss USA Beauty Pageant. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Maame Adjei is now a top model with Next Management and has Ad campaigns on billboards and commercials for brands such as Samsung, inter, Pandora Jewellery, Walmart and Lexus among others. Inspired by her travels, Maame Adjei developed an immense passion for social justice and hopes to use her growing platform to empower young women through teaching tools for personal and professional development by way of her non-profit organization.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP?

    OUTFIT BY STEVE FRENCHIE

  I grew partly in Switzerland, Ghana, and the US, so I felt very apart from the culture of all of these places. But because I was exposed to so many people and cultures at an early age, I never knew where I fit in. I had really learned a strong sense of self very early on to navigate the world. Besides that, I was blessed.

AT WHAT POINT IN YOUR LIFE DID MODELING BECOME A CENTER STAGE?

Modelling finally took centre stage for me and became a full-time gig when i finally decided to pursue it seriously after graduating college 4 years ago. I needed to see how far I could push my “what-if” dream! And so far its been amazing!

  DURING YOUR TIME IN AMERICAN’S NEXT TOP MODEL, WHAT WAS YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?

My greatest achievement on ANTM was probably learning how strong of a competitor I was. I learned that I am not one to give up easily and I win at the end (not only in the show but in Life!). I was the only model besides Yaya who won the majority of the challenges in one season!

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REPUTABLE BRANDS YOU HAVE WORKED FOR?

I have had the blessing to work with many brands including Rihanna’s SavagexFenty, TyraBeauty, Samsung, Intel, Diesel Jeans, Urban Decay cosmetics, Smashbox, Lexus and so much more than I am proud of. ( smile )

  OUTFIT BY KORLEKIE

LIFE AFTER THE REALITY SHOW?

Life after the reality show has been great. I am not defined or limited by the show in any way so I continue to make moves in the direction of my dreams!

I have been living and working in LA and always travelling/ living sporadically in London, Capetown, and New York.

.WHAT’S YOUR VIEW ON DIVERSITY IN THE MODELING INDUSTRY?

Diversity in the modelling industry is slightly fake to me because I feel as though they go with the societal wave. If more people in the real world are active about seeking all kinds of representation, they’ll notice and go with the wave, and employ models in that group to make it seem as though they are inclusive, when really, to them its a trend. For example, gender-fluid/edgy models are becoming more and more “popular” after activism to have the world recognize people who identify as such with more respect have happened.

DO YOU HAVE PLANS ON MOVING BACK HOME TO EMBARK ON ANY PROJECTS?

I definitely want to spend more time in Ghana than I have in the past. I have a lot of hope that opportunity will arise for me to make my mark in the Ghanaian fashion industry, and I would love to embark on that journey sooner rather than later.

OUTFIT BY DIVA DELICIOUS

ARE YOU A FEMINISTS? HOW IS THE CONCEPT OF FEMINISM AFFECTING OUR CULTURE AND MORALS? 

I am definitely a feminist. I consider myself a champion for women and women’s issues. The concept of feminism has affected our culture as of late with the onset of so many different causes and movements such as #metoo & #timesup that is slowly ending the ways in which women had been seen and dealt with in society. We are claiming our power, rewriting narratives, and shaking the status quo up! Even just 5 years ago, I would have never imagined that so many women could run and win for office in the US! And look where we are!? The times we live in is beautiful.

WHO ARE THÉ 3 AFRICAN WOMEN THATS INSPIRES YOU AND WHY?

Three (3) African women that inspire me are Bozoma Saint John because she literally is a badass in her field! She had gone from an exec at Apple to Uber to WME and has done so gracefully all while putting on for Ghana unapologetically. What’s not to admire?

Second is Lupita Nyongo because she is effortlessly beautiful and Uber-talented as an actress and I admire her love for her craft and above all intellect and inspirational spirit.

Third, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because she is a dope badass feminist writer that champions for all things women! And I’m in love with her presence.

The cowries in the old days were used as a medium of échange. It’s also believed that it brings Money, Luck and prosperity. It was used as money for trading in Africa countries centuries Back.

WHAT’S ARE YOUR FUTURE ASPIRATIONS?

Along with modelling, I am working on a few projects including a female collective called Nuit Noire which aims to highlight female artistry within the diaspora population abroad, and it’s been gaining traction as I throw events at which I DJ! so its been fun. I am also going to continue to work on my non-profit org and hope to run a few businesses on the side as well! so look out 😉

TO ALL UP AND COMING MODELS WHAT FEW WORDS DO YOU HAVE FOR THEM?

Stay true to yourself. do not let the industry change you as a person. YOU WILL WIN when it’s your time; just stay prayed up and watch the blessings come down.

IF YOU ARE TO ADVICE AFRICAN WOMEN, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

I would tell fellow African women to know and embrace their power. Not to continue to adhere to the cultural and gender norms of the past that may have kept them from going after all their dreams!

  This slideshow requires JavaScript.

FEMME EN FORCE WITH TOP MODEL MAMA ADEJI A century ago, many laws and societal attitudes made women faced barriers and prejudice throughout society but today, the narrative is Changing. 1,485 more words

[svengorsen]

@luminarae asked:

hi rhys!! id love to know more abt tales from the borderlands.. what's it mostly abt and why do u relate to rhys!! :O i watched a few eps of a playthrough a long time ago so i forgot a lot of things n would lov to get back into it one day .. if thats too much to answr feel free to ignore this lmao (and hope u hv a nice day friend!!)

hi i am dummy and accidentally deleted it so here is a bit of a shortened version of what i had before:

NANO! thank you for asking because. as you may have seen. tftbl and borderlands is my favorite thing next to sayer………..sjfklsd 

tftbl is a narrative spin-off of the first person shooter series, borderlands! it takes place about a year after the end of borderlands 2 and focuses on rhys (a hyperion worker living on helios [that orbits pandora]) and fiona (a con-artist, born and raised on pandora). due to a bit of a mix-up, both get deeply involved in a con gone wrong with a fake vault key, only to get mixed-up accidentally with a REAL vault key...and for spoiler reasons, they have to work together.

also the ai ghost of handsome jack is there and trapped in rhys’ head and that’s a bit of an issue.

what i really enjoy is that you don’t really need to have played the main games to enjoy it? i went into it after having played the other games and knowing the universe real well, but my gf didn’t know a single thing about borderlands when she played it with me and she loved it too? and in fact started playing the main games afterwards lol.

and for relating to rhys.....!! i relate to him a lot, honestly. he’s a huge dork who is awkward but trying SO HARD to be cool with...mixed results. and he has a lot of issues with identity and purpose and trying to like.....balance that career/money/making a mark in history with also being a good person and his friendships and morals. he even refers to himself as “the bad guy of the story” at one point. he’s also very salty and like? me too? sjdkfj i also don’t talk about this a lot on main but i uh. have a lot of issues with hero worship and BOY DOES RHYS ALSO HAVE THAT GOING ON! jdskflj also head trauma? oh worm? he also loves robots (same), and canonically expresses interest in multiple genders (same), and has lots of in-game taunting by other characters over his masculinity (same). he’s also the butt of a lot of jokes (same). and despite it all, i feel like he really does....change and break away from being a corporate monkey. tbh hyperion!rhys at the start (him in blue, in the flashbacks) really reminds me of me in general but also when younger while atlas!rhys (him in black, the present day frame story) is. a huge mood now with him being a bit more focused on friends and found family idk.

thank you so much for asking again!