#bila

This is something that's been interesting to me for a while, because on one hand "asexual aliens" doesn't feel like a great form of representation. On the other hand though, examining a fictional species with different understandings of sex and attraction can be a great way of analyzing how we ourselves relate to those things. In the end, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this so I figured I may as well try to organize my thoughts on the matter.

Anyway, the first thing that sticks out to me about the listeners specifically is the term "once-mate". It's a pretty simple descriptive term for a relationship, but more significantly, it is the only term for romantic relationships that the listeners have. It sounds similar to how humans might call someone an "ex-partner", but when Venli meets Mazish and Dul, singers who have chosen to be married and refer to each other as spouses, she contrasts this to the term "once-mate", implying that it is a much broader term for relationships in the listener culture than it initially sounds. Of course, there is also the term "warpair" which may have romantic associations, as the only warpair we know is Thude and Bila, who are also once-mates, (Venli and Demid are also called a "researchpair" with similar romantic implications) but we don't know this for certain and there is nothing inherently romantic about it in the same way as once-mate. What I find most interesting, however, is that even if a warpair is romantic in nature, there is still no word for a romantic listener couple that does not fight together and does not "mate" together.

This suggests to me that the listeners, despite being from a primarily asexual species, are actually an extremely amatonormative and allonormative culture. Not only are listeners expected to eventually want to find partners and "mate", as we see in how Venli's resistance to trying mateform is regarded by the adults in her life, but they literally don't have the language to describe a couple that doesn't want to have sex. When I think about what it would be like for a listener who wants to actually have asexual relationships, I think they would end up experiencing alienation similar to what asexual humans in the real world would experience. Not wanting to try mateform is seen as immature or naive, something you'll "grow out of" eventually like we see with Venli. Romantic relationships would probably be taken less seriously or seen as not valid if they don't consummate it, or a listener might be accused of wasting time for pursuing a relationship without wanting to mate.

For a while I wasn't sure if I was thinking too much about this, or if Brandon Sanderson hadn't fully considered the implications of a species with limited sexual desire, however Wind and Truth gave some revelations to the listeners that helped make everything click into place. Rlain explains that despite how the forms work, listeners are fully capable of experiencing a full range of emotions in any form, even if some are muted or enhanced. Most significantly, listeners can experience desire and attraction in any form. We've seen this across the series up until this point, with singers like Mazish and Dul, or Thude expressing attraction and a desire to try out mateform with Bila while still in workform. This scene explains the descrapancy of what we've seen and what we've been told by explaining that the listeners not only sacrificed their forms, but avoid acknowledging intense emotions like love due to a desire to not want to associate with Odium and his associated emotions. The listeners do not acknowledge romantic relationships outsight of pragmatic purposes like mating or battling together because they don't want to acknowledge love for its own sake.

At this point I'd argue that listeners, and singers as a whole, aren't actually asexual outside of mateform. The definition of asexuality can be complexed and nuanced, but it seems as though it's more accurate to say that mateform activates libido, while a singer's sexuality is the same regardless of the form they take. I think Brandon Sanderson may not have fully understood the nuances of what asexuality was when he first described singers as being primarily asexual, and ended up saying something that wasn't totally accurate. Moreover, I think the way singers expereince asexuality would resemble human sexuality quite closely. A lack of desire or outright repulsion to mateform, and lack of sexual desire even while taking mateform, though they'd probably still act silly.

Pergunta para pô tipo você acha que eu podia comprar para terno para você Ah e você é minha favorita você é muito fofinha e qual é a sua comida favorita

Para Bila e Guardião É sério quanto você conta o que vocês vão aqui medir que vocês gostam um do outro tipo O Guardião é sincero mas a pena é muito tímida por favor fala logo Bila que você gosta dele admite

Para Guardião Por que seu nome é Valter tipo todo mundo se chama de Walter Mas por que que há pois o seu nome é Guardião tipo não entendo

Para Tinky Winky você é minha afeminado parece e fala sério o que você que abusam uma saia de tutu de bailarina e uma bolsa até quer dizer alguma coisa aqui Achei meus suspeito você usar uma bolsinha👁👄👁...🏳‍🌈

Desafio para Bila te desafio a fazer beijar a bochecha do Guardião libera a reação dele que pago fica quantos que você conseguir eu te pago 20 contos por favor você não vai querer uma gosma de sentimentos não é por favor dá um beijinho na bochecha do Guardião

Question no. 1's answer

Lala : The guardian is like a father figure to everyone since he's the oldest and I think he knows how to handle children.

Question no. 2's answer

Po : What kind of suit? And thank you, you're really cute too!! And my favorite food is lasagna. Sometimes Lala cooks that for me.

Question no. 3's answer

Bila : You know what...fine... I don't like guardian....I... I... I love him so much that I.....I... I.. wanted to be with him... forever..you know

Question no. 4's answer

Guardian : It's.......complicated

Question no. 5's answer

Tinky winky : First of all, I'm not gay, second, it's my girlfriend's tutu and last of all, my girlfriend gave me this purse OK. There,do you understand now? And I wear the tutu just to make her laugh

Question no. 6's answer

Bila : Guardian, c...c....can you c....c...come here... please?

Guardian : Sure, what is it?

Bila : *kisses him on the cheek, and runs away*

Guardian : *standing there, blushing and confused*

Hidup yang lama dijalani seorang diri sering kali terasa seperti aliran sungai kecil yang tenang, mengikuti alurnya sendiri, tidak tergesa, tidak pula menuntut apa-apa.

Aku tau, kau memang piawai.

Segalanya tertata oleh tanganmu sendiri: pagi yang kau buka tanpa suara selain napasmu, langkah yang kau atur sesuai iramamu, malam yang kau tutup dengan pikiran yang kau urai perlahan. Ada ketenangan dalam kemandirian semacam itu, ritme yang tidak perlu menunggu siapa pun untuk berjalan.  

Namun, di sela-sela keheningan yang teratur itu, pernahkah muncul satu bisikan halus? Bukan tentang kerinduan yang mendesak, hanya tanya kecil yang tumbuh perlahan:

"Haruskah hidup yang sudah rapi ini harus mulai memberi ruang untuk hadirnya satu jiwa lain?"

Bukan untuk mengusik ketenanganmu, bukan pula untuk mengubah arah seluruh aliran hidupmu, tapi mungkin, untuk berbagi indahnya senja di puncak tertinggi hidup.

Ia, hanya seseorang yang hadirnya bukan sebagai gangguan, melainkan sebagai harmoni baru, nada yang menyatu dengan musik yang telah lama kau ciptakan sendiri.  

Pertanyaan itu tidak perlu dijawab tergesa.  

Kadang, cukup biarkan ia mengendap bersama malam. Jika suatu hari hatimu membuka pintu sedikit saja, mungkin kau akan tahu: bahwa kesendirian yang indah tidak harus hilang saat seseorang datang, ia hanya berubah bentuk, menjadi ruang yang lebih luas, lebih hangat, tanpa kehilangan ketenangannya.

bila, documentare (full of merit yet poetical / auto - destructive traces)

1. Rlain spent so long thinking everyone he'd ever known and loved was dead and that his entire culture would die with him. He's felt so alone for so long. The thought of him like, sleeping peacefully in a cuddle pile with two of his childhood friends and his knight in glowy armor is so good to me.

2. Renarin wants a spot at this all-you-can-eat crab buffet let's be real

3. Thude is a chiller and he just wants to eat snacks and for the people he cares about to be happy and he would also benefit greatly from aforementioned cuddle pile. Also he would take such good care of all of them and they deserve it.