#biology makes me feel things

[runandhideguys]

sometimes etymology is great and sometimes you get words like sarcolemma

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Me in my mind: Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be a fish? What it’s like to inhabit the aquatic world? Fish literally exist inside their element. Do you wonder how it feels to breathlessly suck in the water too thick for our lungs, enjoy the feeling, revel in the fresh cool water washing over your gills? Wander the world around you in perfect three dimensions, no longer restrained by gravity. Watch the sunlight ripple through the waves, dancing on the bottom. Even the darkness of night and winter is no longer frightening, as you can feel every movement of your fellow kin and the environment around you. Inches apart, never touching, yet you feel it all. How does it feel to fill your swim bladder with gas and rise from the deep dark muck motionlessly like a regal ghost ship from the fog? How does it feel to caress the weeds and reeds with your fins, jump briefly from the waves into a world so unlike your own, of thin atmosphere and dry air? And to think, we were fishes once, our ancestors. Look at how far we’ve come from home! We have different coating on top of our skin which harms the ray-fins’ mucus, our scales adapted into hairs long ago, we posture ourselves like seahorses with no tail, our hands are made for holding onto things. We’re so different now, and yet, so similar. Every time I look into the eye of a fish I see understanding: a fellow traveler of the Earth whose circumstances brought her and me together. Her eyes study my body and my surroundings. Does the fish look at me, through the same glass, and wonder about the other world like I do? Does she imagine what it’s like? What does she feel?

Me to my family: damn can you believe fish are real

[sciderman]

I swear I have read your big post regarding Peter Parker's neurodivergence and why it is best to avoid labelling him, but he definitely has a weird brain

Can't find it and feel kinda sad about it cuz I deeply related to it

i know exactly which post you're talking about and i can't find it either! i've raked through my archive, and it's just - nowhere to be seen. i think tumblr eated it (it happens.)

really, tumblr's search functionality is so so useless, i don't know what to tell you. there are plenty of keywords i can search to find it that post, but the search functionality actually just does not work!

undiagnosed audhd-addled peter parker, my darling, my light, my life, my everything.

i think peter parker's such an interesting creature to write, because a lot of people will point to a certain behaviour about him and say "this is an autistic thing, right?" but a lot of those behaviours are actually, in my head, tied to certain traumas in peter's life too.

people say "oh, the food thing, peter's a picky eater because he's autistic" and yes, absolutely. but also it's tied to his trauma with his parents.

peter gets overstimulated, and yes, it's an autism thing, but also he was bitten by a radioactive spider and his senses are dialled to 11.

it's a similar case i've found for myself, too – where a lot of friends i have kind of diagnose me because i have autistic traits, but actually - i'm hesitant to claim the label or pursue diagnosis because, actually, i know where these certain behaviours come from, and they come from certain traumas. there are events i can pinpoint in my life and say "yep. that's where this behaviour comes from."

so - i think there's a lot of overlap between trauma and autistic traits. the brain is very complex! i think the reason for that overlap is maybe as simple as the fact that people with autism and people with trauma are both doing the same thing - developing behaviours to protect themselves or soothe themselves. so - i think it's nice to be able to see a character like peter parker, who may or may not be autistic, but recognise behaviours in him and see yourself in him.

people who go undiagnosed for whatever reason - people who are really good at masking - so good, in fact, that they have no idea they might be on the spectrum - everyone and anyone at all can look at peter parker and recognise themselves. because i think we discredit the thought that every single brain does the same thing! develops certain behaviours in order to survive. every brain has that same software - we've just all been faced with different hardships that we need to overcome, and that's were all the differences come in.

autism is a spectrum, i guess - everyone falls into it to some degree. and i think events in your life probably push you along on it. but i don't know, i didn't study brain science. probably what i'm saying is very stupid and uninformed. of course there's brain chemistry involved. but i know people in my life living with autism and certain events in their life have exacerbated certain behaviours or made coping with it a lot more difficult. so maybe trauma is a catalyst.

[dailydegurechaff]

I wanted to know how do you interpret Tanya's gender. After reading chapter 58 of the manga i got the impression that she is definitely trans coded, but maybe thats just me

Very good question.

To be honest, when I think too hard about Tanya’s gender (and sexuality, for that matter) it gives me brain worms. Fun brain worms, but brain worms nonetheless. I can’t explain it. Everything she’s got going on is complicated as shit there’s way too much to think about.

Like, she was a man, but now she's a girl. But at some points she says she still sees herself as a man internally so is this MtFtM? How does that work. And if she accepts she's a woman now, is that just MtF or do we add more letters. More importantly: Was Being X being Transphobic or being the Greatest Trans Ally of All Time with the free divinely issued sex change.

Ok ok, jokes aside. Confession: I actually do not keep up with the manga, so I had to go find the chapter and read it first. Having read it now though, I see what you mean.

The conversation she has with the Salaryman/herself in that chapter really does read as essentially saying “I’ve accepted who I am now.” It’s a far cry from a much earlier part of the manga I remember where she has a breakdown about being a man/people seeing her as a girl.

A friend of mine was actually showing me stuff from more recent chapters of the manga (don’t know which chapter tragically, but I know it’s not currently translated to English) and from what I gathered of it, Being X was showing Tanya a dream of being back in her past life and in response she basically demanded to go back to being Tanya immediately. It is definitely not just you, I 100% see the trans-coding you’re talking about.

As for my personal interpretation of her gender, I touched very briefly on it once before, but I honestly think she wouldn’t want to label herself as anything. At first, this is out of hesitance and not wanting to acknowledge that anything might be ““wrong”” or ““different”” about her. Later on it turns into character growth, more along the lines of, “I don’t need the label to define me, I just am what I am/like what I like. I don’t care about it any more than that.” Yes this is 100% projection on my part. No, I won’t apologize for it lmao.

Of course, that's entirely my own headcanon. I definitely am not saying it’s the only way to interpret her, it’s just my personal thoughts. Especially since my opinion is subject to change on a dime depending on what I’m reading/working on myself. The Tanya gender is, in fact, transient, shifting like water.

Like. A transfem Tanya fic that focuses on her adapting to life in her new world and coming to discover she doesn’t actually hate her new body? I’d totally read that. I’ve seen a few fics that include that as a part of the narrative and those scenes of acceptance were among my favorite parts.

I get the feeling this is the route that the manga is going as well. It’s a bit of a shame that we don't have those aforementioned scenes in the light novel (or at least, I don't remember them), but I don’t think that Carlo Zen really intended that to be the focus/narrative in the first place. And honestly, I also think that’s a good thing because it allows for so much more room for interpretation and headcanon around Tanya’s character.

Anyway, the other direction is also compelling to me. A transmasc Tanya fic where, after feeling uncomfortable and hating how feminine he looks for years and years, he finally goes ‘Fuck this, I’m gonna go back to being a man’? I would read the fuck out of that too.

Could also be paired with him finally choosing to defect, where they think about it like, ‘Well there’s nothing to hold me back now, right? I don’t have to maintain appearances anymore. Also, since I’m defecting this would be a great way to hide myself. They’d all be looking for the wrong person. Two birds with one stone, how efficient.’ …Now we’re getting to fic ideas I won’t ever get to so it’s time to move on I think.

Semi-related to the Trans Tanya Concept, this actually brings me to a bit of a lore/headcanon/idea/question I want to present to the public for opinions. In Norden, during the inciting battle of the war, Tanya uses magic to “dope up” so she could enhance her strength and reaction time and kill pain. I took this to mean she used a formula to synthesize the narcotics/adrenaline hormone/whatever else directly into herself, right?

Can you see where I’m going with this? As long as you know which hormones to make, how they’re made up, and what quantities you need… Well, don’t you think magic HRT is completely possible? Of course, as I'm not sure it makes sense for Salaryman to have known the detailed specifics about it from the modern world, it would require a lot of in-universe research/science advancement for someone to actually do that, but theoretically...

The magic system in this universe has so much potential to be explored, I’m fascinated by what you can theoretically do with it. Although, this is long and off-topic already I think this should be the end, lol.

I think I talked too much? I’m sorry, you were probably not expecting such an answer. I told you, Tanya gives me brain worms (mental illness).

I guess the TL;DR is this: that kid definitely ain’t cishet.

[uncanny-tranny]

I've seen some trans people who are almost in this doomerist mindset about cis people ever respecting or loving them, and I understand what that feels like and I understand where they're coming from. I remember, though, just how many cis people I know who are not only capable of respecting and loving trans people, but do so enthusiastically, and it really just makes me remember that transphobia isn't inherent to being cis. Cis people are entirely capable of learning and growing and allowing trans people into their worlds. There are always going to be those cis people who aren't at that point and might never be, but that is on them, not their cisness.

I think this small shift in viewpoint has helped me reframe my emotions about this topic. It's helpful for me to be able to take a step back and remember that being cis isn't a reason for people to not accept trans people, you know?

[gifti3]

Asmo seems like the kind of person who acts normal (as normal as an asmo can be) about mc having a breakout but dreads the idea of them seeing even a single blemish on his skin

This can be interrupted as haha goofy ahhh or i can turn this into a serious thing where asmo cant let ppl know hes less than perfect or he'll disintegrate

[pommegrantaire]

I recently re-read The Dreaming Dark by @pterodotyl and absolutely had to draw mermaid Keith and his favourite human 💙💜

[adinafay]

One day I was in the checkout line at Target and the two people in front of my husband and I were arguing about the social-acceptability of bugs.

At some point tensions have risen to the point of needing a neutral-party and they turn to my husband and I and ask our thoughts.

My husband just shakes his head and grins, knowing exactly what's about to happen, and I jump straight into telling these two random people about my collection of various wet and dry specimens and my various entomological courses and how fan-fucking-tastic I think bugs are and how underappreciated they are in this world.

I have never had a stranger smile so widely at me as the pro-bug person did that day.

[itslookingback]

uagh 2 days until results day

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

reading dungeon meshi

[subarashiihibi]

Please let 2024 be the year the durarara fandom stops making “jokes” about Izaya being in a wheelchair 😍😍😍

[violettierre]

I : majored in english, has a masters degree in it, studying philosophy, and have been an English teacher/Junior translator for almost a decade now.

My grandma : there is our future doctor <3

[soft-serve-soymilk]

The dichotomy between not wanting to fall into the adult trap of “available? never :)” and riding the momentum of motivation for as long as it takes me

[friendofthecrows]

My writing style is unfortunately described as "ex-pretentious 'intellectual' kid who clearly joined Tumblr during the peak of superwholock and never left" but thankfully, no one recognizes that except people who were also at the devil's sacrament.

[gifti3]

Im in such an obey me mood today haha

other than "pls dont tell asmo about that",,,, i have questions about these freaking vegetables (im putting under the cut since im talking about food and bad eating habits/diet related stuff)

im assuming they would have to be mixed with other regular ingredients to prevent the hunger but it sounds like ppl would use them as the main component in a dish or just eat them by themselves

So does all of it get digested? No leftovers (waste) comes out the other end im guessing? is it like a magic type thing?? it has to be right? Cause if not...ur body will take the calories needed to replace the ones burnt, take the nutrients, and the rest will just get tossed out

And since it doesnt make you full, like wouldnt it be way too easy to overeat this type of thing? so you could accidentally end up making urself go to the restroom more often :/

Ig if it gives u the nutrients u need that itll be useful then. So maybe its a 'heres ur macros for the day' type dealo? but u still have to go eat an actual meal or make sure u mix it with other stuff tho

[opens-up-4-nobody]

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