#self description

[theclitisaliberallie]

Imprisoned storms

Lightning in a bottle

Destructive and illuminating

Held still by silent glass walls

Fragil constraints

Practically imaginary

But just enough to hold it in place

Lid sealed tight

Preventing any escape

Trap it here where it does not belong

For the light it gives

This broken spark

Jumping from high extremes

Grounded only in specific ways

The glass keeps cracking

Patched with concern and care

Spider web fractures appear and fade

Leaving only faint reminders

Lightning in a jam jar

Portable destruction, warmth, and light

All in a easy to move package

A delicate shell

Pretends to be spikes and steel

To hide a splintering interior

Desperately trying to channel this bolt

Away from those holding it close

Sparks fly

Held frozen in place

Mere moments from striking

All is calm

[lattekayy]

I am truly one of a kind 💜

[static-the-artist]

[seraphicsuicides]

How would you describe yourself to people?

sexy, funny, interesting at all times, fucking weird, a little deranged, and sexy again

[riovidalswife]

i want to take a shot at this actually

dorian , a perpetual teenager even as the years progressed . they had a gait about them that was confident , somewhat forced- like they didn't believe who they were . his eyes were green and always narrowed like he was trying to work something out but they were hard to take seriously with their garish clothe choice and eyeliner . it was hard to tell even their gender really , a human being made of contradictions stacked on top of eachother like tetris

[g0fckur531f]

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

[manojnaironline]

Sacrifices in daily life

If the question of sacrifices in daily life comes up, I guess I will have to do some serious thinking to find answers. When I regularly pay my taxes and do not see any improvement in my quality of life, should I consider that as a sacrifice? Or regularly having to listen to politicians making long, boring speeches be a valid sacrifice? Is putting on a smiling face when you run into irritating…

[gynoidgearhead]

[Image caption: tweet by the council of evil lesbians (@obiwormkenobi) reading: "not sure how much of twitter would be able to handle how queer people described themselves in the 90s". Attached are images of text listing such examples, as follows.]

7. always queer, finally dyke, a run-of-the-mill hermaphrodite mom.

8. a born again woman.

9. A God+Goddess, part of everything, owned by nothing.

10. I think... I am a female fag, who is a drag Queen, who is a mother, has a soon to be transman lover and may very well be a tranny hisself. I hate labels it's all so complicated, but I think it fits the bill today. Change is good right?

25. FTM transgendered bulldagger, gentleman stone butch dyke with fag tendencies. Or as my girlfriend says, a drag queen trapped in a man trapped in a woman's body.

26. I'm a bi-gendered boychick with balls and boobs. Call me Ken, or call me Barbie -- same doll, different packaging; some assembly required; sex, clothing and accessories sold separately; available in fine boy-tiques everywhere.

39. I'm The Dyke of Androgyny... I get called sir more than ma'am, despite the sizable mammary glands protruding from my chest. The hair on my head is the shortest found on my body, a gentle societal mindfuck, if you will.

40. Transsexual dyke, submissive pervert, percussion fetishist, computer geek, and subversive queermonger.

41. Just another brassy womyn who happened to be born with a penis.

42. Two-spirit mixed-blood transgender working-class sober queer boy dyke daddy.

[End caption.]

[bloodysparklez]

guys help the protagonist isn't supposed to like me, what did i do??!? ;-;

[nickachunicki]

How would I describe myself to people who can't see me?

[their-we-go]

[wellship]

He just can't stand by and watch...

Bonus:

[dakeus-art]

My take on the new cast!

[incendavery]

disclaimer: i have not harmed myself in any way, and i dont plan to.

these comics are a safe place for me to explore and externalize the intense feelings ive been dealing with. i am also taking practical steps, such as talking to my therapist and getting my medications adjusted.

if you are having urges to harm yourself or take your own life, please reach out to someone you trust to seek help.

[thepeacefulgarden]