Tess "Querying The Egg Prime Directive!" Tanen
@mothmother.com
Neurospicy disabled anarchist trans lady, making music, stories, poetry, and trouble. Recovering academic.
Patreon: patreon.com/MothMotherTess
Moth Mother Studios: MothMother.com/
Consulting: TessTanen.com
Everything Else: linktr.ee/MothMother
Patreon: patreon.com/MothMotherTess
Moth Mother Studios: MothMother.com/
Consulting: TessTanen.com
Everything Else: linktr.ee/MothMother
Pinned
New Introduction post! I'm Tess! I'm a disabled, queer, trans, neurospicy, musician, producer, game maker & poet! I run Moth Mother studios: an 800 sq/ft. music production studio in Central Illinois.
Currently making audiodrama, audiobooks & trouble & always looking for gigs & collaborators.
Currently making audiodrama, audiobooks & trouble & always looking for gigs & collaborators.
Creating my own black walnut ink, and learning how to draw with it feels like a perfect middle finger to the soulless AI slop slingers. Today I had a breakthrough, and made one of the best drawings of my life!
December 19, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Creating my own black walnut ink, and learning how to draw with it feels like a perfect middle finger to the soulless AI slop slingers. Today I had a breakthrough, and made one of the best drawings of my life!
My cool new thing I printed and (USPS willing) should arrive today! My girlfriends arrive tomorrow! Which means soon I can start promoting the cool new thing so y'all can also enjoy it!
(My hyper-impulsivity makes it VERY hard to not spill the beans!)
(My hyper-impulsivity makes it VERY hard to not spill the beans!)
Y'all, I made a really cool new thing, and I'm waiting a few more weeks to share it so I can surprise two of my partners with it first, but holy fuck, it's so hard to sit on this one!! My neurospicy brain is so so itchy right now!
December 18, 2025 at 3:30 PM
My cool new thing I printed and (USPS willing) should arrive today! My girlfriends arrive tomorrow! Which means soon I can start promoting the cool new thing so y'all can also enjoy it!
(My hyper-impulsivity makes it VERY hard to not spill the beans!)
(My hyper-impulsivity makes it VERY hard to not spill the beans!)
Starting on illustrations for my new chapbook of poems about feminine monstrosity, body horror, and cosmic transformation.
December 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Starting on illustrations for my new chapbook of poems about feminine monstrosity, body horror, and cosmic transformation.
Some mornings you just want to stay in bed...
December 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Some mornings you just want to stay in bed...
Seven years! I have so much trouble reconciling my past and present incarnations sometimes!
December 18, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Seven years! I have so much trouble reconciling my past and present incarnations sometimes!
As an #autistic over-pleaser whose primary trauma response is to fawn, I often struggle to "be myself".
"Which version of myself do you mean? The one that I become when interacting with my partners? The one that I become when interacting with strangers? With my mom?" Which 'me' is the *real* one?!"
"Which version of myself do you mean? The one that I become when interacting with my partners? The one that I become when interacting with strangers? With my mom?" Which 'me' is the *real* one?!"
December 18, 2025 at 12:38 AM
As an #autistic over-pleaser whose primary trauma response is to fawn, I often struggle to "be myself".
"Which version of myself do you mean? The one that I become when interacting with my partners? The one that I become when interacting with strangers? With my mom?" Which 'me' is the *real* one?!"
"Which version of myself do you mean? The one that I become when interacting with my partners? The one that I become when interacting with strangers? With my mom?" Which 'me' is the *real* one?!"
I'm starting to outline the basic plot beats for a follow-up novel to The Egg Prime Directive and I'm already starting to fall in love with this collection of characters!
December 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
I'm starting to outline the basic plot beats for a follow-up novel to The Egg Prime Directive and I'm already starting to fall in love with this collection of characters!
Introduce yourself with five animals you've seen in the wild
White tailed deer
Eastern Cottontail
Gray rat snake
Assassin beetle
Trash panda
(All seen regularly around our yard, along with countless woodpeckers, hawks, jays, & other fun birds & the ubiquitous red squirrel. I love my new home!)
White tailed deer
Eastern Cottontail
Gray rat snake
Assassin beetle
Trash panda
(All seen regularly around our yard, along with countless woodpeckers, hawks, jays, & other fun birds & the ubiquitous red squirrel. I love my new home!)
December 17, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Introduce yourself with five animals you've seen in the wild
White tailed deer
Eastern Cottontail
Gray rat snake
Assassin beetle
Trash panda
(All seen regularly around our yard, along with countless woodpeckers, hawks, jays, & other fun birds & the ubiquitous red squirrel. I love my new home!)
White tailed deer
Eastern Cottontail
Gray rat snake
Assassin beetle
Trash panda
(All seen regularly around our yard, along with countless woodpeckers, hawks, jays, & other fun birds & the ubiquitous red squirrel. I love my new home!)
Holy shit! I took my trans son to get his first "boy" haircut today, and now it's almost 11pm and he's ricochetting off the walls, and cackling with glee! He's smiling SO MUCH!! Gender euphoria is one helluva drug y'all!
I've *never* seen him this happy.
😭❤️😭
Why would anyone deny a kid this joy?!
I've *never* seen him this happy.
😭❤️😭
Why would anyone deny a kid this joy?!
December 17, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Holy shit! I took my trans son to get his first "boy" haircut today, and now it's almost 11pm and he's ricochetting off the walls, and cackling with glee! He's smiling SO MUCH!! Gender euphoria is one helluva drug y'all!
I've *never* seen him this happy.
😭❤️😭
Why would anyone deny a kid this joy?!
I've *never* seen him this happy.
😭❤️😭
Why would anyone deny a kid this joy?!
Reposted by Tess "Querying The Egg Prime Directive!" Tanen
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Protect Trans Care Now
As wave after wave of extreme measures to criminalize and strip trans people of rights and safety continue, tell Congress to act.
action.aclu.org
December 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill that bans gender-affirming medical care for any transgender person under 18, and threatens any medical professional providing this care to youth with 10 years in prison.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Tell Congress to protect trans youth and vote NO.
Reposted by Tess "Querying The Egg Prime Directive!" Tanen
I'm not a wordsmith, I'm a language haruspex. I stretch skeins of wordguts between my fingers, scrying occulted secrets amidst their gooey mucuosa of meaning.
December 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I'm not a wordsmith, I'm a language haruspex. I stretch skeins of wordguts between my fingers, scrying occulted secrets amidst their gooey mucuosa of meaning.
Reposted by Tess "Querying The Egg Prime Directive!" Tanen
"Wordguts" is a delightful word many wordsmiths should start using. Stop smithing words. Start slaughtering them.
I'm busy down in my subterranean Phrase Laboratory hacking apart words like "splinter" and "blister" and Frankensteining them into new mouthfeel-forward shapes like "splinister", and that's a perfectly cromulent use of my time. Don't make me have to make (or watch) a video. I'm covered in wordguts!
"Pivot to video" nah bruv, how about I leave video to the people whose skill that is and who love doing it, and people leave me to do my skill that I love doing (rotting in a dank hole as I type feverishly and cackle at the same time)?!
December 16, 2025 at 3:55 PM
"Wordguts" is a delightful word many wordsmiths should start using. Stop smithing words. Start slaughtering them.
I'm busy down in my subterranean Phrase Laboratory hacking apart words like "splinter" and "blister" and Frankensteining them into new mouthfeel-forward shapes like "splinister", and that's a perfectly cromulent use of my time. Don't make me have to make (or watch) a video. I'm covered in wordguts!
"Pivot to video" nah bruv, how about I leave video to the people whose skill that is and who love doing it, and people leave me to do my skill that I love doing (rotting in a dank hole as I type feverishly and cackle at the same time)?!
December 16, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I'm busy down in my subterranean Phrase Laboratory hacking apart words like "splinter" and "blister" and Frankensteining them into new mouthfeel-forward shapes like "splinister", and that's a perfectly cromulent use of my time. Don't make me have to make (or watch) a video. I'm covered in wordguts!
First night in the new house and the first night of Hanukkah. Made do with birthday candles and the backup Hanukkiah my son made in preschool, but what is more Jewish than making do?
December 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
First night in the new house and the first night of Hanukkah. Made do with birthday candles and the backup Hanukkiah my son made in preschool, but what is more Jewish than making do?
My girlfriends are moving, which means we get to be U-Haul Lesbians today!
December 14, 2025 at 9:44 PM
My girlfriends are moving, which means we get to be U-Haul Lesbians today!
What's up, Sailor Sluts!
December 13, 2025 at 2:21 AM
What's up, Sailor Sluts!
Went bra shopping in-person for the first time since coming out in 2019, and spotted this as I was leaving the store. Never have I been happier to feel like something wasn't for me than when confronted with "C|S Menswear"!
C|S Menswear: for the cis man in your life.
C|S Menswear: for the cis man in your life.
December 12, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Went bra shopping in-person for the first time since coming out in 2019, and spotted this as I was leaving the store. Never have I been happier to feel like something wasn't for me than when confronted with "C|S Menswear"!
C|S Menswear: for the cis man in your life.
C|S Menswear: for the cis man in your life.
Reposted by Tess "Querying The Egg Prime Directive!" Tanen
When I transed my gender I stopped engaging in any and all tomfoolery.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 AM
When I transed my gender I stopped engaging in any and all tomfoolery.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
I've reached the point where I just reflexively block anyone uncritically celebrating GenAI the same way I block transphobes, neo-nazis, fascists, Zionists, SWERFS, and MAGA supporters. I think of it as quarantining the infection.
December 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
I've reached the point where I just reflexively block anyone uncritically celebrating GenAI the same way I block transphobes, neo-nazis, fascists, Zionists, SWERFS, and MAGA supporters. I think of it as quarantining the infection.
"The Egg Prime Directive is Princess Jellyfish meets My Dress Up Darling meets Sailor Moon except everyone's trans."
"Also, they're all adults, and they fuck."
That's a 🔥🔥🔥 pitch if you're a literary agent who is also a weeb who is also hip to the discourse.
"Also, they're all adults, and they fuck."
That's a 🔥🔥🔥 pitch if you're a literary agent who is also a weeb who is also hip to the discourse.
I just started watching "My Dress Up Darling" and the dynamic between the two main characters is virtually identical to the vibe between Kitty and Kyla in The Egg Prime Directive...but you have to first headcanon them as two trans woman instead of a cishet couple. Kitagawa has big Kitty energy! ✨🔥❤️
December 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM
"The Egg Prime Directive is Princess Jellyfish meets My Dress Up Darling meets Sailor Moon except everyone's trans."
"Also, they're all adults, and they fuck."
That's a 🔥🔥🔥 pitch if you're a literary agent who is also a weeb who is also hip to the discourse.
"Also, they're all adults, and they fuck."
That's a 🔥🔥🔥 pitch if you're a literary agent who is also a weeb who is also hip to the discourse.
I just started watching "My Dress Up Darling" and the dynamic between the two main characters is virtually identical to the vibe between Kitty and Kyla in The Egg Prime Directive...but you have to first headcanon them as two trans woman instead of a cishet couple. Kitagawa has big Kitty energy! ✨🔥❤️
December 11, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I just started watching "My Dress Up Darling" and the dynamic between the two main characters is virtually identical to the vibe between Kitty and Kyla in The Egg Prime Directive...but you have to first headcanon them as two trans woman instead of a cishet couple. Kitagawa has big Kitty energy! ✨🔥❤️
When I transed my gender I stopped engaging in any and all tomfoolery.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
December 11, 2025 at 7:36 AM
When I transed my gender I stopped engaging in any and all tomfoolery.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
Now, I only get up to shenanigans.
I hear we're doing a discourse! One of those recurring discourses that cycle around like clockwork. I wrote a thing about it years ago, back when I was a wee baby tran!
medium.com/an-injustice...
medium.com/an-injustice...
I Was Socialized Trans
People who push the idea that trans women are “socialized male” should walk a mile in my shoes.
medium.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:35 AM
I hear we're doing a discourse! One of those recurring discourses that cycle around like clockwork. I wrote a thing about it years ago, back when I was a wee baby tran!
medium.com/an-injustice...
medium.com/an-injustice...
One of the things I love about game design is the way that game structures and mechanics can become fractally nested within the entire process. You can't design without also playing. Like how this brainstorming spreadsheet is also just a fun game for coming up with dumb game premises.
I just stumbled across this single-player pervasive journalling RPG ideation tool that I created for my class last spring, while updating my Patreon, and thought some of y'all might find it amusing.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
RPG Brainstorming Template
docs.google.com
December 10, 2025 at 7:06 PM
One of the things I love about game design is the way that game structures and mechanics can become fractally nested within the entire process. You can't design without also playing. Like how this brainstorming spreadsheet is also just a fun game for coming up with dumb game premises.
I just stumbled across this single-player pervasive journalling RPG ideation tool that I created for my class last spring, while updating my Patreon, and thought some of y'all might find it amusing.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
RPG Brainstorming Template
docs.google.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I just stumbled across this single-player pervasive journalling RPG ideation tool that I created for my class last spring, while updating my Patreon, and thought some of y'all might find it amusing.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...