_nihil humanum a me alienum_ is a motto that I learned twenty years ago when I was studying classics, and I've come to take it very seriously indeed. some friends and acquaintances of mine seek refuge from humanity in non-human identities, and I can respect that choice, although I have my doubts about it. like, however much kinship you perceive with dragons or otters or whatever...you are also a human animal, with human behaviors and human weaknesses, and you have to learn to function in a human society.

so I've tried, I've tried really hard, to grasp how humans work, to empathize with all that humans do

but