#deaf human

[ingravinoveritas]

Someone on Twitter just doxxed Michael and David's hotel location in Scotland (at least until people called them out in the replies and they went private). This, after Neil already violated their (especially David's) privacy during filming last time in a way that we now know the horrific details about. To then have a "fan" turn around and do it is beyond unconscionable. Between this and the incessant begging for hair dye photos, I would be insanely happy if this fandom could just BE NORMAL about these people for five goddamn minutes...

[taro-pdf]

Humans are Deathworlders, but they can be Friends, too.

Context: the main alien is Feja, xe/xer ae/aer, an adult 4th gender tuscia (bipedal beings that communicate mainly through frequencies higher than humans do. Theyhave 5 sexes and 5 main societal gender roles)

Feja didn’t get along well with aer crewmates. It was always hard to communicate cross-species, and even harder when most of them were humans and couldn’t hear you. That’s why, when they stopped to pick up a group of even more humans in the Acrux solar system, Feja wasn’t exactly excited.

The humans’ voices were low, loud, rumbles in as they boarded, speaking of things Feja didn’t know about and couldn’t share. But ae had to do aer job, which involved initiating a small group of new humans who would share the same sort of tasks as aer. Not that ae wanted to share tasks with beings who drank poison for fun and kept predators as pets, but aer job was aer job.

“Hello, welcome to the Yenna,” ae paused, allowing a few seconds for the translator to work. It was always so awkward to wait. And sometimes older translators wouldn’t pick up aer voice correctly at all. “My name is Feja, ae/aer, tuscia, and I will be orienting you to your roles and responsibilities. You should have already received a brief. If you have any questions about that, please let me know.”

One of the humans’ mouths let out a few rumbles, followed by Feja’s translator repeating their words to aer, “Are their Uni-10 translators provided? I missed some of what you said.” 

Feja smiled and the human’s eyebrows scrunched. From previous experience, ae knew that it was confused, probably not used to tuscia body language. Feja let out a small hiss, but replied, “We don’t provide translators, but if communication is an issue, I can transfer you to a different group.” 

A pause, a low rumble, and then, “I think that’d be best. Thanks for being flexible!” 

The other humans in Feja’s group had better translators, and ae was able to finish aer initiation protocol with few issues. Slightly exhausted, ae started to walk back to aer room. Why did ae ever sign up for this? Why didn’t ae apply to somewhere where beings could actually converse with aer without a translator? And why, oh why did ae have to work with so many deathworlders?

Turning into a narrow corridor, Feja saw a human, looking at a number on their watch, then the signs next to each door, apparently trying to find a match. Their long white hair was plaited and reached their waist, and they were wearing a blue tunic that contrasted with their tan skin. It was too narrow to slip past, so Feja clacked aer mouth—a sound that ae knew humans could hear—but the human didn’t turn. Instead, they tried to open another door that also didn’t open, evidently not theirs . Feja clacked louder, to no response. As the human tried the next door, ae got rudely close and clacked once more. The human jumped, then turned and waved. Lucky not angrily— humans could take Feja down in a second. They looked down to their watch and started typing something.

Hey! I’m Kell, they/them, human, and new on board the Yenna, but not a traveler. The text was transmitted directly to Feja’s watch, and ae was surprised to see it was in universal language, not a human one that would have needed further translation. I’ve been hired as a tech assistant, so I should get my own room, but my initiation guide didn’t tell me where it was, and I’m having trouble with these numbers. Does the ship use a different language?

Not an uncommon problem for those first on board. Why didn’t their initiator tell them that?

“Most written text on the signs is in the captain’s birth tongue,” Feja explained. Kell tapped their glasses and captions scrolled across their screen as they looked at aer. “It’s Suav, and probably not in your translator’s database. You can add it, or you could use Anglu, which is close enough that it picks up most things.”

Kell nodded and switched their watch to Anglu, then translated a plaque on the wall. Seeing the results, they hit their forehead with their fist, thumb out. Feja startled, neck ruff raised.

“Are you alright?” Ae asked, cocking aer head. Even with how durable humans were, most of them didn’t hit themselves. Faja’s words scrolled across Kell’s glasses, then they laughed. 

I’m fine. That was sign language; I was calling myself stupid because I’m about 100 doors and a floor away. They looked up and chuckled.

“Sign language? Like the Ruq’?”

Yeah, though the Ruq’ never evolved ears. Mine just don’t work, I’m what humans call Deaf. I grew up with signs.

“So you sign to your fellow humans?”

Ha! Kell raised a lip—a sign of a negative emotion, though Faja wasn’t sure which one. I wish. I’ve only met a few who know any, and then usually not the same one I use. I text to talk to most beings. That’s why I’m in tech and not navigation.

“But you use the Universal Interplanetary Language, not Human, and that’s quite a feat of learning. Surely you had a choice in your occupation, especially considering how you’re a human…” Feja shifted on aer feet. The human-other ratio on board Yenna was unusually high, but that was because they specialized in human transport. Humans easily got jobs as medics, security, or anything else, especially as almost every intergalaxy ship had at least one. But most beings didn’t want to so much as be near the same fleet with so many of such a volatile species. Humans were known for their adaptability, cunning, and ferocity after all. 

When you can’t communicate with most people, you have to do what makes it easiest, and for me that was making sure to limit translation times as much as possible. 

Feja winced at aer own thoughts of Kell’s possible violent nature. Ae looked down at aer messages, a wall of one-way texts, and winced again. Ae typed back, that’s my reason for learning UPL, too. Receiving the text, Kell’s eyes widened. 

You stopped speaking? My translator can write your words out for me.

Feja smiled. It didn’t seem fair. We can keep a record of what I say, too.

 Thanks. Kell blinked and shook their head. That’s not something I even thought of.

I know what it’s like when it’s more work to communicate. The humans tend to avoid me. Faja recalled the human who requested a new group earlier that day.

Me too. Kell had a look on their face that Feja felt often. 

I’ll walk you to your room. I can read Suav numbers, at least. What’s yours?

Kell brightened and checked their brief. It should be 470. 

Alright, that’d be down this hallway. It’s a relief, Faja thought, that they aren’t pushing me away.

A few steps later, Faja’s watch buzzed. Ae looked down.

Hey Faja, how many languages do you know? Kell looked at them and Faja stared. Human’s colors were usually so dull, but aer eyes were drawn to the vibrant green of Kell’s, a color rarely seen in space. Shaking aer head to focus, ae counted the languages ae knew.

Three fluently, five partially. They’re fun to learn, though it doesn’t mean much when no one on board can hear me.

Kell thought for a second, started typing, paused, then sent their message. They peered at aer from behind their hair.

Language isn’t always about hearing. Have you thought about learning sign language?

It was Faja’s turn to pause. Kell fidgeted with a button on their watch. This human was making an effort to bond… with aer. Even though ae was a different species, and even though ae couldn’t offer any career advancement or connections. Ae closed aer eyes and inhaled. Maybe, just maybe, ae would make their first friend on board. It really wasn’t a question, then, was it? This deathworlder wasn’t so bad.

ae typed aer reply: 

I’d love too.

---

Based on a post by @bunnyycat, this is the edited version post-a-good-nights-sleep. Image description in alt.

[yennao]

I was recently reminded of a manga I read when I was like 14. As I am now 22, I read it again. And y'all lemme tell you it still slaps. If y'all haven't read Gangsta., You absolutely should. (provided you are not too young, cuz oh boy is that shit rated M for a reason)

Edit, color:

[bodhrancomedy]

Oh, trans kids can’t play sports because it’s uNfAiR, ThEy hAvE AdVanTaGeS.

(This is untrue btw and treats women as delicate little fainting flowers who will never achieve anything against a man because they’re so weak)

When I was in high school I was 4’9”-4’10” and they made me play basketball. Sometimes people are better than you at sport.

Cope.

[scoriarose]

Me: -sigh-

Sakura: JEEZUS WTF WAS THAT

The number of people who are convinced snakes are deaf and will try to argue with me talking to them is pointless baffles me. Stuff like this happens daily.

As many of you know Sakura is a little jumpy at even the smallest thing. I had a very busy weekend, and this is going to be a very long (under staffed) week. All I did was sigh and it startled her into fleeing. At first I didn't realize what scared her, then realized it had to be the quiet unfamiliar sound I made. She's not looking at me, and I'm not moving so she isn't reacting to any visual or physical stimulus. I'm not blowing on her, a sigh like that is done with a wide open mouth not "blowing" shaped lips, so you'd need your hand directly in front of your mouth to feel it. My face was at least two feet away, you can't feel air movement from that mouth shape more than six inches if you test it out.

Yet so many people, including well known breeders and at least one big well known snake YouTube channel insist they are deaf and at most can only feel deep bassy sounds.

But that's a pretty soft light sound. So either snakes can hear... or they are psychic.

Another interesting thing is when I talk to her she starts calming down, I wouldn't be surprised if she recognizes the sound, "You're okay" as I often say this to calm them. Both find my voice calming and comforting that they are safe. They rarely hood up anymore, but on the rare occasion they do, if I talk calmly and sweetly to them they pretty much immediately relax and that hood melts away.

[neonhellscape]

pov your surgery was a success/this is just a little guy

patriska belongs to @depotagents , heretek is mine, and eucharys belongs to @shadrastarsign . eucharys promptly fainted after this they cant be expected to last under these conditions [mind maggot + dragged out of the corpse pile by two big tech priest women, and then when asking a question was met with rapid hand gestures and blunt beeping]

[crustaceousfaggot]

Tommy Armitage might only have one singular personality trait, but oh boy is it a trait that makes me want to chew through drywall

[anxiousapplepie]

Hi. Ive gone through your rose knights tag. Several times already but only like, 5 minutes ago understood whats happening there. Maybe

(Poor girl got alice-in-wonderland-ed right??)

SO silly question but lapis being Tone Deaf is . Because shes different or its her personal nerf? Is it common to not hear the difference?? Is it like cats use of frequencies unheard by humans......

Lapis got Alice-in-wonderlanded so hard you are absolutely correct XD One minute she was striking cool poses in front of the mirror, and the next she tripped into a world full of super-powered plant people/silly ALSO THANK YOU for giving me literally the perfect way to describe the color of a voice- YES. It is like cats making noises we can't hear! I will now forever think of it like that Most, if not all humans, can't hear the differences in colored voices. Humans are built differently! And alas, humans are not wired to understand or perceive Rose Etiquette XD

[otiksimr]

Akarat siblings.

Shout out to siblings who look nothing alike.

[checkonthemark]

I could write so many paragraphs on Yiffany and how her treatment by other people will have affected her like oh my gosh her character is so interesting to me

[taro-pdf]

Humans are Space Oddities: Humanity, Diplomacy, and Disability in Space

---

“Has the translator arrived yet?” 

“Yes Ser, she’s sanitizing her clothing and then will go straight to the docking bay.”

“Good, make sure she’s on time. Ser Hei is here in three hours, and we can’t have anything going wrong.” The captain paced up and down the command room of the Yenna. The space fae, Hei, was coming for a diplomatic discussion about setting up a trade route through xir solar system. If this talk didn’t go well, their ship may very well not make it back. 

---

Three hours later, exactly on time, the dock bay doors opened with a hiss, and a short humanoid figure with brown skin and wild, weightless locs walked through. So this was Hei. Xir reputation preceded xir, and there was not another being so powerful within 1,000 light years. The captain hurriedly stepped forward, only to fall back as xi bared xir teeth towards them, then spoke in a foreign language.

“Uh,” they looked confusedly at the translator. Though translators would work in Hei’s tongue, xi preferred to hear xir own language, and who were they to deny xir?

“I don’t take kindly to your advances. I brought my beings, and will not have you within two meters of them,” she supplied. Behind Hei, a tall being ducked under the door, glowing faintly—a light alien. Holding to xir robe entered a female human with loose brown hair, wearing human attire: a T-shirt and shorts.

“Greetings Mg. Captain,” said the light alien. Then to Hei, “what a nice ship this is.” Hei smiled warmly, then dropped xir expression as xi turned toward the captain again.

“Guang and Fern will be exploring your ship as we talk.”

“Of course, Ser Hei, they will not be bothered. Now, shall we move to the conference room?”

---

While Hei went to discuss politics, the tall being and human went sightseeing. Guang reached out a hand to brush dust off the top of a parked ship. It preferred to keep things tidy, but few were tall enough to see the dust that it could. When it looked down, Fern was gone.

---

Kell was a human technician aboard the Yenna, a spacecraft specialized in human recreational transport. They knew most of the crew on board, and this one wasn’t one of them. She was obviously distressed, pacing up and down the narrow corridor and wringing her hands. 

Kell opened their watch to link their translator to the hers, but no connection appeared. Looking again, she wasn’t wearing any watch. Since Kell was deaf, they only signed. While they could read and write UIPL, it wouldn’t help if the human had nothing to read it on. But the person needed help now, so Kell decided to try ASL.

Hello, I’m K-E-L-L, Kell, they signed slowly. You, they pointed at her, OK? They connected their pointer and thumb in the universal non-ASLsymbol. Or the french chef hand sign among some groups of humans.

She was not facing them head on, but she apparently caught what they said. She started to hit her hands together, one in a thumbs up and one flat in a repeating: Help! 

Ok! Don’t worry, I’ll help you. Kell reached out to calm her frantic signing, but she flinched away.

As they drew back, vibrations distracted them; something large was approaching. They braced themselves and turned toward the corner, from which a dim light was gradually growing. The being that appeared was talking. Its words scrolled across Kell’s glasses in a live transcription.

“Fern, thank goodness!” The tension left Guang’s body as it saw her, but she didn’t stop signing help. “It will be ok. This will pass and we will rest and go back home.” 

Turning to Kell, it asked, “do you have a room where the lights can be a dim purple? With a speaker for music? I’m her guardian, Guang, it/its, light alien.”

Thankfully, this alien had a watch.

Kell, they/them, human. I don’t speak, so I’ll text. I can take you somewhere, Kell texted back.

“Alright, one moment.” Guang turned to the human, speaking to her in a low voice but never touching her. Then to Kell it said, “let’s go slowly.”

Kell led the tall alien, and it in turn led the human, who held onto its robe. Once safely in the room, Guang adjusted the lighting and thanked Kell for their assistance. It asked for their contact code, which Kell gave. Though they hoped that it was not going to report them for making the human cry. It didn’t seem the type, but Kell hadn’t seen its species before, so couldn’t read its body language. Guang thanked them for their help once more and closed the door.

---

The captain sank into their chair. The talk went fine—no one died, thank god—but afterwards… they lost about ten years of their lifespan in stress.

It started with Hei suddenly standing in the middle of a sentence, eyes looking through the left wall, hands clenched. The gravity in the room doubled with the weight of xir emotion.

“Ser Hei, what may I do for you?” the captain gasped out, glancing between Hei and the wall.

“I’ll be leaving in two hours. Prepare my ship.” Hei swept out of the room, not waiting for an answer.

“Of course, Ser,” they inhaled deeply, able to breath again. They ordered the preparations be made and hurried to the control room to see where Hei had gone and what needed to be done in order to avoid damages. 

To their surprise, camera footage showed Hei sitting in a dimly lit room, mouth moving in quiet song. Besides xir sat xir partner, the light alien, and in between them, rocking back and forth, their human. After two hours, her rocking slowed and the trio stood. Hei cloaked them in darkness as they walked back towards the docking bay.

The captain and interpreter were there when Hei arrived. Briefly stepping out of the shadows, Hei addressed them.

“Your request is not granted. We will be keeping our solar system quiet. Travel may pass within five light years of my sun, but any closer and you shall not be seeing that ship again.” 

The captain flinched at the electricity that crackled in the air. What was it that bothered Hei so? What happened with the human? Why was Hei sparing them if they did something wrong? They didn’t risk asking, and the fae, light alien, and human left without another word.

---

Working on a panel of wires, Kell clicked their tongue to the rhythm of their music’s vibrations. It was rare to come across another disabled human in space, and even rarer that that human had real support. How lucky Fern was, and how excited Kell was for the invitation that Guang had promised to send to them. A human who they could connect with, and a chance to visit the planet of a space fae? Few could say they’ve had the honor.

---

For your information:

Mg. is short for Mage, and is a gender neutral title for Mister or Miss. Idea courtesy of @apolloendymion (link). Ser is a gender neutral title for Sir or Miss.

As for language, unless otherwise specialized, communication is in the Universal Interplanetary Language (UIPL), the language of trade and international politics. 

Hei uses it/its (UIPL) and xi/xir (birth tounge) pronouns. It prefers it's birth tounge and beings often default to what it wants, which is why the captain uses xi/xir pronouns even when speaking UIPL.

[big-tiddy-goth-ghoulfriend]

I wish more people understood that bodyshaming is wrong even when it's against someone you don't like.

EVEN WHEN IT'S SOMEONE OBJECTIVELY SHITTY.

Every single one of my friends is left-leaning and tries to educate themselves and just generally not be bigoted pieces of shit. But every single one of them will still resort to "fat" and "ugly" as go-to insults as soon as it's someone we all agree sucks. As if they were all waiting and holding back because The Fat Friend is here but now that we all agree [insert person of discussion here] is a bad person then it must be fine right? We're not hurting GOOD people's feelings.

Those celebrities you talk shit about will never see it. Trump won't know or care that you called him a fat orange fuck on twitter. Lizzo won't care that you only started insulting her weight once it was revealed that she abused her backup dancers. But we will. And then you'll be another person that we have to accept doesn't actually love us because of who we are but in spite of it. We'll know that you still associate attractiveness and thinness with goodness so you won't love us as much as you could as long as we don't fit those ideals. That as soon as we fuck up and upset you in some way, it's gonna be thrown in our faces because it's always lingering just under the surface when you look at us. That you're only ignoring respecting who we are as long as we 'behave'.

And you won't even know the damage you've done with your off-handed comment. Every single fat person I know has vivid memories of someone we care about saying fatphobic shit about someone else and realizing that said person's entire worldview is colored by their hatred of fat people. For y'all it's just Tuesday.

[bodhrancomedy]

Actor is definitely the correct term and I love that for me.

(When I say I’ll play a woman, only if I’m allowed to present masculinely or she’s in drag. Or a nun. Weirdly enough, I’m totally cool with the concept of playing a nun. Viola, Rosalind, Polly Perks… prefer playing men or nonbinary folks though)

[kopykunoichi]

Elias, Chise, and Ruth (Part 2)

Part 1 Here

In chapter thirteen, we discover that while Chise and Ruth have been further bonding and Ruth is settling in, Elias went straight to his room and hasn’t emerged for three entire days. He’s not eating or interacting with anyone. Ruth believes it might have something to do with Elias changing forms, because it draws a lot of energy…but as a newly awakened fae, he doesn’t have much knowledge of the subject. He encourages her to just go into Elias’ room and ask him, but she can’t go through with it. 

Chise’s worry over Elias is beginning to eat at her so much that Silver Lady gives her an allowance and kicks her out of the house with Ruth. They run into Angie, who is visiting from London to check on Chise. They have a good conversation where Chise learns some valuable information (such as the actual definition of magic). Later, they talk about Elias, and Chise admits that she doesn’t want to do things to upset him for fear of him kicking her out. Angie points out that it sounds like there’s some codependency going on there, and that even though Elias bought her, Chise doesn’t need to be tethered to him all her life. Chise slams her fist on the brick wall next to them, and then apologizes for her overreaction. Angie apologizes too, and says she was probably out of line. 

Internally, Chise reflects that she’s not being fair. She thinks to herself, “I’m relying on someone who doesn’t much care for me one way or another…telling myself I don’t care if he abandons me…while being terrified that someday he will.”

Elias is hiding out in his bedroom, literally unable to hold himself together because his feelings for her are so strong, and she’s over here thinking he doesn’t really care about her.

After parting ways with Angie, Chise gathers her courage and goes to Elias’ room. When he doesn’t answer her, she opens the door and walks in. Ruth is right next to her about to follow her, when Elias shoots across the room and slams the door in Ruth’s face, knocking Chise down. Elias, who was so keen on Chise getting a familiar, now wants nothing more than to get her away from her familiar. 

While Ruth is outside the door scratching to get in, Elias hovers over her and apologizes. He tells her he’s having trouble keeping his form stable. Even though he knows he must be frightening to her like that, he asks her to stay with him in his room. She makes him promise to explain everything to her in the morning. She goes and sits with him on his bed, his body wrapped around her. She observes how everything about him looks monstrous, as she touches his face. He pulls her against his chest, holding her tightly. She believes she’s not afraid because she was cursed by her mother right before she died. 

Chapter fourteen begins with Chise asleep in Elias’ bed, his massive hand covering her chest and throat, though he’s not squeezing. His jaws are wide open over her entire head, and drool is dripping from between his teeth. The fae soul inside him very much wants to eat Chise. Hours later, Chise has a dream about her mother choking her and wakes up alone in his bed. He left a note on the nightstand saying he’d be back in the evening. 

She and Ruth immediately go out looking for him. As they search, Ruth, in his human form, casually remarks that Chise loves Elias, which shocks Chise. She admits she likes him, but Ruth points out that she’s anxious when he’s gone and she worries about him. He reassures her that it’s a good thing to love someone other than yourself and to have someone to protect and protect you in turn. He loved Isabel (as a sister), as he loves Chise now. Chise wishes aloud that it was that easy, to which Ruth gives her a frustrated look and notes her stubborn streak.

A short time later, they come across an elderly man named Joel tending his garden, along with a leannan sidhe who is strangely not feeding off him. Ruth goes on to look for Elias, telling Chise to stay behind because she hasn’t slept well in days and it’s showing. She has tea with Joel, who asks where her friend went. She clarifies that he’s her brother, reinforcing the understanding of the reader that there is nothing romantic about her love for Ruth. 

Chise agrees to read the short story that Joel wrote, observing that it’s sweet, but not at all influenced by the leannan sidhe’s magic. The fae tells her how she met Joel right after eating her last lover. Even though he wasn’t her type, she was drawn to him and their eyes met once, just for a moment. She doesn’t give him her inspiration, nor does she feed off him. She simply wants to be with him forever until he dies. She asks Chise what she thinks that means. 

Later, as she’s leaving, Chise says to her, “Those strange feelings you have? I think it’s probably–” The fae silences her with a kiss, telling her, “That’s not the answer I want to hear. For my kind, to “love” a human means eating them. So no, I do not love him.” For the leannan sidhe, and fae in general, to love means to want to consume. This is why we later see Chise “paying” fae by allowing them to drink her blood in exchange for information. Even Elias makes a point to lick her wounds; I suspect not only to help heal them, but because the fae soul in him wants to eat her. 

The fae soul within Elias loves Chise, expressing that love as ravenous hunger, possessiveness, and jealousy…as fae do. But the human soul in him is fighting those dark urges and wrestles down that instinct, which is why he retreated to the woods when he felt compelled to devour her the previous night. When Elias is having trouble maintaining his form, it is literally an outside picture of the war being waged between his fae soul and his human soul. When Chise bound herself to another fae, the fae soul within him reacted strongly to that, and started to take over. But contrary to what Alice believes, Elias’ human side is stronger than his monster side, and he has been beating it down into submission for hundreds - if not thousands - of years. 

When Chise leaves Joel’s house, she reflects on her own feelings, telling herself, “Seeing as I only know how to think about myself, I guess I don’t really have any right to talk about love.”

Cue Ruth telepathically letting her know where Elias is and she immediately goes running after this guy who she supposes she just likes. When she finds him, she breaks down, asking him questions about himself and lamenting the fact that he won’t answer them. She admits that she’s selfish, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t care. She doesn’t want to stay ignorant forever. 

Elias is very surprised to see her emoting this way. He’s never seen her so worked up before - except when she got angry at Josef for wanting to use Ruth as an experiment. He explains to her that the balance of his form gave way, claiming that when he transformed at the church so suddenly, it knocked a few things out of whack. He says it’s because he hadn’t taken that form in so long, he’d forgotten how to maintain it. Chise realizes that some of what he’s saying is true and some of it isn’t. She senses that he’s telling her a half-truth, as Renfred accused him of the first time she met him. 

And he is. The reason he had trouble maintaining his form is because his fae side was so overcome with jealousy over her bond with Ruth that it overpowered his human side for four days straight. But there’s no way he’s going to tell her that. His human soul can accept Ruth’s presence and their bond, even if he doesn’t like it. He’s horrible at recognizing emotions and relationship dynamics, but perhaps his human side was able to reason that the pros of Ruth outweighed the cons. And besides, there’s nothing he can do about it anyway, the deed is done. If he’s still going to make Chise his bride, Ruth is going to be a package deal.

Elias asks Chise for a little more time to organize his thoughts before he tells her about himself. She reluctantly agrees, though she’s a little pouty afterward. With the human soul in the driver’s seat again, Elias asks if she’s angry with him. She denies it, but he keeps questioning her about yet another odd expression on her face. This is their first “fight” as a couple, and it’s actually a really good thing, because we see Chise beginning to push back against him and not let him dictate all the boundaries of the relationship. She wants to know more about him, but he’s afraid to let her see the whole of him. He only wants her to experience his humanity, not his fae traits. But the layers are starting to be peeled back, one at a time. 

This isn’t his last struggle with his fae side’s jealous streak that nearly costs Chise her life, but the pattern is very clear. When the inhuman soul within him feels that his relationship with Chise is being threatened, he gets much more aggressive and overpowers the human soul. His morals go out the window. His possessiveness and urge to eat her is very strong at these times, but we are supposed to understand from Chise’s encounter with the leannan sidhe, that even that is the result of him loving her. The fae can’t seem to love in healthy ways like humans are capable of. I can’t think of a single healthy romantic relationship between a fae and anyone else in this story. Still, we see that both sides of him love her after their own fashion.

But the implication of this is clear: only Elias’ human side is capable of loving Chise in a way that is good for her in the long run. Fae are inherently selfish. So, if they are ever to be together, the human side of him has to be the one that wins out over the “monster” side. Luckily, the human soul is also accompanied by the animal souls that went into his creation. As we see with Ruth, animal souls are more than capable of forming strong, healthy, loving bonds. 

We see that Elias is at war with himself all throughout the story, trying desperately to keep the darkness in himself under wraps. We’re reminded over and over again that fae, while certainly not always antagonists, can never fully be trusted. Elias understands this better than anyone, which is why he’s yearning for and working toward his humanity. He can’t change the darkness inside himself, and he can’t always suppress it, either. But if he can accept and love himself as he is, he should be able to maintain balance and keep it in check. 

As his relationship with Chise grows deeper and they do commit themselves to each other, we see him getting better at this. The next chapter of their lives at the college shows how his heart is beginning to grow, and his capacity to love others is also growing. Even though there is less time spent focusing on his relationship with Chise, they are both putting in the work to love others selflessly. These are skills that must be achieved in order to have a healthy relationship with each other. We also see how much Elias comes to love Ruth, and vice versa. They aren’t just two males tied together by their mutual love for one young woman (one romantic and one brotherly)...but they develop a respect and affection for each other as individuals. 

One of my favorite panels is this one picture of Ruth, completely relaxed in a very vulnerable position belly up, snuggled in between Chise and Elias in his bed. It’s such a nostalgic image for me. My own good boy used to love to jump up on the bed and squeeze himself in between mommy and daddy, exactly like that. Not a care in the world - he just wanted to be touching his favorite people…to love and be loved, to protect and be protected. Ruth may have provoked the fae side of Elias to jealousy, but he’s instrumental in helping to heal and grow Elias’ human soul. After all, unconditional love is what dogs do best.

[alleyesonrafah]

He has 3 deaf siblings he has to evacuate and he’s almost there!

[dazedasian]

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