I snort sugar

The cuts, the slow ramp-ups, how it matches his dance moves.

The answer is: the uterus isn't what causes your period, it is effected by your period. What causes your period and what causes trans women's periods is the same thing: the endocrine system.

HRT changes the sex of your endocrine system. Feminizing HRT makes it a female endocrine system, giving us a 28-day hormone cycle just like cis women. At the end of that cycle, the hypothalamus floods the body with prostaglandins. Those are what cause all but one of the period symptoms, because they make muscles inflame and contract. They are what make the uterus shed its lining, they are what cause intestinal cramps, they are what cause body aches, they are what cause headaches and migraines. The only period symptom not causes by the release of prostaglandins throughout the body is depression, and that is caused by your endocrine system simply not processing as much estrogen and from simply feeling like shit.

So, the only symptoms trans women don't get every 28 days is menstrual cramps, because yes we do not menstruate since we don't have uteruses. But migraines, depression, body aches, intestinal cramps, and the infamous "period shits" don't exactly add up to us having any better of a time. Except we have to pretend that we're fine and nothing is different because no one believes that we get periods, not even cis women.

Bartholomew

Dolores

Norman

Harold

Magnolia

Names that are normal for babies but weird when you're old:

Maddison

Tanner

Skylar

Mckenzie

Logan

Names that are normal for old people and normal for babies:

Elizabeth

Mary

Michael

Finnegan

Peter

Names that are weird when you're a baby and weird when you're old:

Radish

Kerosene

Australopithecus

Anthill

Hedgemony

Names that are weird when you're normal:

Balthazar

Romulus

Clandestia

Persephone

Kremulon

Names that are normal when you're weird:

Okay, so Enkil partially shattered on the stone slab has me thinking SO MANY thoughts

One thing that book Enkil was presenting was the ever-oppressive presence and "protection" of the divine woman (Akasha), and therefore function of the silent yet dominating patriarchy. He is not the one of value in the room, he is never the one who has blood drained from him, JUST Akasha.

So the fact that Enkil is damaged, yet has the importance and power to be able to parially burn the matrilineal line ( I don't think he's ever actually made a fledgling?) shows us the ever-present horribly-flawed presence the patriarchal line has over society. He is broken, yet he HAS to be protected because he cannot be discarded, despite the fact he's crumbling and decayed.

This reminds me a lot of the decaying appearance of Lestat's father in 3x02. His omnipresent threat wasn't diminished despite his physical weakness, but it was proliferated because of his sons wielding his will. He technically is powerless and broken, but as long as there are those who are willing to act in favor of his demands and ideals, he will still have dominion over his lineage.

Marius and Lestat both act as the hands that literally push women and keep their rage silenced. Marius, as messy and unrational as he is, still silenced Lestat's questions of the purpose, and berated him for doing it wrong by giving Akasha the things she needs to begin speaking women's of plight. This is reflected in Lestat's belittlement of the band daring to complain about performing the same chords over and over again "imperfectly," in placing the responsibility for Regina's exploitation by Louis in her own hands (I'll go into that in another post), Louis consistently mocking and dismissing Louis's voice, and in the fact Lestat has markedly refused to even look at Claudia until her gothic double appears in his face.

Regina's presence, and the resulting song made in the excruciating remembrance of Claudia, explicitly shows us how he purposefully avoids listening to women until blood paints their lips and they dig their fangs into his neck.

Armand is not fully involved in this tradition, but he is peripherally dancing around it. There is some currently unclear patterns I see (as of now). Just as Marius gave secrets and duty to Lestat, giving him a purpose to endure through the next decades, Armand is providing Daniel secrets and skills that aren't freely accessible to other vampires. Armand finally dedicating to passing down knowledge as his maker, and I'm really really excited for how this plotline will manifest because of the twisted relationship Armand has made himself in Daniel's history.