huaharley

[huaharley]

Harley followed a pretty strict diet and had for most of his life. It didn't give him a ton of wiggle room to try new foods, so when he had opportunities to explore new items that were a little more on the healthy side he definitely took it. Seasonal menus were great for that! "Maybe they have a peppermint chocolate or something. I heard they have a eggnog flavor, but I've never had eggnog so I don't know if I would like that."

"That'd be cool," he nodded, as some of the shops back home rotated their menu during the seasons. Offering up flavors to match the vibe of whatever time of year it was. "But you also can never go wrong with a green smoothie," he offered up, glad to be able to communicate with Harley. Whether via verbal or via the notebook, Finn was down for whatever worked best for the other.

[huaharley]

"That!" Harley both exclaimed out loud and in sign language. It was a very common ASL phrase meaning that he completely agreed with her. He was very passionate about fashion as a way to express non-conforming gender identities. She turned the illustration over to him and he beamed. "That's amazing! I love the harness and I'm totally a floral bitch." Harley chuckled. He didn't actually wear many floral prints, but he did really like them.

Harley didn't really see those details about their past as being personal. They made them who they were, and influenced their fashion choices quite a lot. It felt very relevant to bring up that they used to dress femme. "I completely agree. Makeup, heels, even dresses and skirts are genderless. I mean - men wore all those things just a couple centuries ago. And still do in some cultures." Harley couldn't see what she was sketching from where he was standing, so he waited to see if she'd show him.

[huaharley]

Harley wasn't a very good cook. He managed alright, but his maamaa and dad were definitely the strong chefs in the family. He had never minded too much, but now it felt like relying on so much takeout and protein shakes was really taking away from his fitness goals. He needed to get better at making the kind of food he wanted to eat. Jambalaya wasn't what he had in mind, but it was healthy enough and it would be good practice. He was put at a station with a woman he didn't know - yet. She was a bit older than him, which is why they had likely not crossed paths before now, but Harley was always happy to meet people and hopefully make a new friend. Harley's interpreter was at the front of the room and he watched her carefully, nodding every now and then to show he understood what she was signing. She informed him that his partner looked like she was about to talk to him and he turned his attention just in time to catch what she said with his cochlear implants. "I'm sure at least a few other people are confused. But luckily you have me as a partner, because I'm pretty sure I understand what we're supposed to do here."

-- capping at 3 (0/3)

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Navy had always had a bit of an eye when it came to creating dishes in the kitchen. While it had taken her most of her adult life to feel confident, one of her favorite things to do now was to host people and cook for them. Italian seemed to be her specialty - Risotto and Tiramisu being her favorites to indulge in personally - but she was never too good to learn new dishes; which is precisely why when her parents gifted her cooking classes for Christmas, she'd used the opportunity to dabble in a cuisine she should've been a natural to someone who was a Louisiana native; Cajun dishes. Her apron was tied around her neck, later secured around her waist and she'd already gone to the bathroom three times to secure her hair in a tight bun before ultimately deciding a hair net was the way to go, only making her way back to her station a moment later, exhaling as she was suddenly feeling extremely nervous. Not a feeling Navy was particularly used to. The instructor began to give instructions, instructing them in the first few steps to make their first dish Jambalaya. Navy's eyes averted to her partner at her station, offering them a small smile. "Seems like there's almost more utensils here than we need." she admitted. "Do you think anyone else is confused or do you think it's just me?" @newbellevouxstarters

[huaharley]

"You can't tell me that, I'll show up with five minutes left." Harley laughed and watched her set up. He shook his head about sitting out the recorders. If he had to use one of the kids' he would mind, but everyone got their own so he wasn't worried about getting sick from it. "You're gonna have the music on the smartboard, right? Can be kinda hard to understand where we're at in the song just by listening alone." And if that was true for him, it was gonna be true for Claire too.

Kathryn herself didn't know what it was like to be deaf - she'd learned ASL in high school when she'd made friends with a girl that was deaf, sparking a desire in Ryn to be able to communicate with them as well - but she did know what it felt like to be an outsider amongst your peers in your own body. She'd always had a huge part of her that wanted to work directly with children, and when her career on the cruise ship had ended, she'd made every attempt she could to make that work; she'd been ecstatic when the group had taken off and before she knew it she had a class of students that were eager to learn, and a mixture of students. It was because of one of those students that she'd had the pleasure of meeting Harley, and she was quite thankful for it. He'd become someone she enjoyed talking to.

"You know that I don't consider you late until class is over." Ryn joked, though she was completely serious. "I'm not one that minds when people show up; I know everyone's circumstances are different and I'll do my best to accommodate however I can." she nodded. "With that being said if you need to sit the recorders out, you know I won't judge you." she laughed. @huaharley

[huaharley]

Harley didn't really see those details about their past as being personal. They made them who they were, and influenced their fashion choices quite a lot. It felt very relevant to bring up that they used to dress femme. "I completely agree. Makeup, heels, even dresses and skirts are genderless. I mean - men wore all those things just a couple centuries ago. And still do in some cultures." Harley couldn't see what she was sketching from where he was standing, so he waited to see if she'd show him.

Blinking up at them, surprised about the personal details this complete young stranger chose to share with her, PJ paid attention and nodded as they talked. She barely knew what half of those things meant, really. Ever since she parted ways with her brother who was queer, she got out of touch with the community a little. Her job was basically being surrounded but straight while females all the time. "That sounds really cool actually. I think makeup is fun and shouldn't be for one gender or another, honestly." She immediately started sketching something as she looked at what they were showing her on their phone.

[huaharley]

December Holidays with Harley Hua

The holiday season is such a blend of cultures in the Hua family. As an adult, it's become Harley's favorite time of year because they get to see both their brother, Ethan, as well as their MaaMaa.

Ethan, who was adopted as a baby, is less than a year older than Harley. It was enough of a difference to put Ethan one grade level above Harley, but they were otherwise inseparable up until Ethan graduated high school. Now, whenever he is back in town, they're together all the time. MaaMaa (嫲嫲) is the Cantonese word for paternal grandma. Harley's MaaMaa lives in Virginia, just outside Washington DC. When Harley was a student at Gallaudet University, he lived with her and it made them very close.

Being half Chinese and half Jewish, there's a lot to celebrate around the holidays. His mom's side of the family celebrates Hannukah, while his dad's side celebrates Christmas. His mom likes to call it Christmukkah - based off some early 2000s drama show she used to watch - but Harley doesn't really get the reference. Usually, Hannukah and Christmas are more separate events but this year, the first day of Hannukah fell on Christmas Day which made for a very busy day.

The Hannukah side of things is mostly what one would expect out of an American Hannukah celebration. There is some crossover with Chinese culture, though -mainly, regarding food. On the Christmas side of the holidays, the Huas blend Chinese and American traditions.

Prior to MaaMaa's arrival, the Christmas Tree is put up. There are string lights, combined with red lanterns, flowers, paper chains and ornaments. In Chinese culture, this represents good fortune. Once MaaMaa arrives, usually a couple days before Christmas, they make paper lanterns to hang around the house.

On December 24th, they often watch a Christmas movie. There are a few language barriers between getting the five of them together, so the movie was shown in English with Cantonese captions. After the movie, everyone played Uno and hung out for awhile. Even though Harley's parents live in New Bellevoux, Harley spent the night at their place in his old bedroom. Ethan did the same, with MaaMaa sleeping in the guest room.

Unwrapping presents on Christmas day happened far too early for Harley's taste, but they were going to have a busy day ahead of them. They started the morning with a fairly simple breakfast before all the Christmas gifts were open, as well as the first day of Hannukah gifts.

After presents were unwrapped, MaaMaa made herself very busy in the kitchen. She loves to cook, and makes peking duck every year for Christmas. She also makes spring rolls, which double as an unconventional Hannukah food due to being cooked in oil. Harley's mom isn't much of a cook, so the challa bread is store bought, while the sufganiyot are made by a family friend who drops them off.

After dinner, they light the first candle on the menorah. Harley's mom and brother sing a prayer. Harley hasn't been comfortable joining in since he was a kid, because he struggles with hearing pitch, melody and Hebrew consonants.

Usually, Harley or Ethan makes latkes on the first day of Hannukah. But with the Christmas overlap this year, they didn't do it until the second day. In the evening, the next candle is lit on the menorah and they unwrap their Hannukah presents afterwards. The next six days follow the same pattern.

After the American New Year, MaaMaa returned to Virginia. Harley will see her again when he and his dad visit for the Chinese New Year. Ethan is hanging out in town a little bit longer, but will be gone by January 4th.

[huaharley]

Harley failed to realize he had lost Elliot, his mind deep in the world of comic books and the MCU. He shook his head at Elliot's prediction. "No, of course not. You'll just use my account. Or we'll pick a night where I can come over - or you can come to my place - and marathon all of it. I'd love to get your live reactions on it. Most of those characters were born profoundly Deaf, so I'd love to see how you feel about them. I think it maybe better to start with the movies and TV shows, and then switch to comics. It's a better starting point for someone who's never read them. But in the meantime, you can still read Watchmen to get used to that kind of storytelling."

While he might not get what most of what Harley was saying, anything about comics, even movie related going right over his head, he loved seeing his friend so animated about it. S glad that he was giving them a chance, especially since there was representation in them, more than Elliot would have ever thought. "Next you're going to be telling me that I need to get Disney + so I can watch all of that." He signed back with a grin, a soft laugh falling from his lips.

Nodding his head as he kept his eyes on Harley. "Not bad at all but yes, please let me know! I need to get my hands on all that representation. Usually it doesn't matter much to read, whether a character might be d/Deaf or what not but sometimes it's just really nice to see a glimpse of yourself in what you're reading." A bit refreshing from not seeing it at all in most books and hell, even movies and tv shows. So if he could get it in comic books, Elliot would gladly take it as well. "You're the best, truly." Shooting his friend a wide smile.

[huaharley]

Harley couldn't even remember which one of them had started the notebook trend, but they were happy to have it now. As much as they loved working out, it could get boring with only their thoughts to entertain them. Having the notebook gave them something to do in between sets when Finn was at the gym too. "I don't know. I'm kinda hoping they have new seasonal drinks and that one of them is low calorie...If not I'll get a green smoothie."

Though Finn didn't know ASL, except for the expression of thank you, he was glad to still be able to communicate with Harley. He kind of enjoyed the writing in a notebook back and forth, plus it broke up the monotony of just doing reps or cardio when at the gym. Grinning, Finn nodded and agreed, "sweet! What kind are you getting? I'm feeling a strawberry banana one today."

[huaharley]

Harley was surprised she was actually considering it. If some random stranger asked him to do free art for them, he'd probably say no. "It's nice to meet you too." He smiled back, then nodded to confirm he liked fashion. She asked to see some of his style, and he nodded before pulling out his phone. While he clicked to his fashion album, he explained his style to her. "I'm trans masculine and nonbinary. And I was really good at convincing everyone - including myself - that I was a girl before I came out. Even though I just wear 'boy' clothes in my everyday life," He used air quotes around the gender he was describing because really, clothing were so needlessly gendered as a whole. "I really like to play with gender and androgyny when I can. I don't do skirts, though. But yes to makeup, heels and accessories." He explained, then handed off his phone to show some of the looks he had done in the past.

PJ look them up and down when they mentioned designing something pro bono for them and actually gave it a thought. "Hi Harley, nice to meet you." She replied a little more politely than she's been until now. "Are you into fashion? I'm always looking for designing more interesting shit so I'd be more than game to draw you up something. Not sure if I can make it at the moment but I could consider it if you give me something juicy to work on." The brunette shoved their shoulder a little with hers and gave them a soft smirk. "Tell me what you are into. Oh and please, I'm practically your nana."

[huaharley]

If Harley never wore his cochlear implants again, he'd be fine. It would definitely have its challenges, but he preferred being deaf. However, after writing back and forth a lot with those friends who didn't sign, sometimes it was great just to put them on and be able to talk. "I'm so ready for a smoothie!" He said while signing 'yes!' enthusiastically.

Finn nodded and gave Harley a thumbs up after reading the note. As Harley went to shower, Finn set the machine back and wiped his brow with his towel before heading to the locker room.

Finn took the quickest ten minute shower in his life and changed back into his street clothes before meeting back up with Harley. "Nice," He said with a smile as he noticed the cochlear implants his friend was sporting. "Ready for that smoothie!?"

[huaharley]

At first, Harley paid no more attention to the visitors in the garden. He was on his break, and wore business casual clothes. The only thing that marked him as an employee was the lanyard around his neck, complete with a trans pride pin. He had recently bought an ASL I love you pin, but kept forgetting to add it to the lanyard.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harley noticed the little girl approaching. She stopped, and Harley assumed she was just going to ask him a question. That was until the man (her dad?) approached and explained. His pin? Trying to find her one? "Oh..." He realized out loud, then turned to her. "Are you trans, too?"

"baba...." ayla whispers, tugging him down to her level, as if she were about to tell him the greatest secret that had ever been conjured by a ten year old. she points toward the other's neck where a lanyard, adorned with a colourful pin, rests. it's soft, the way he smiles back at harley, even if it had only been acknowledgement of their presence in the gardens. despite being part of the greater community, raising a trans child was completely new to him. from what therapists and friends had told him, it was a gift that society still couldn't see the humanity and history of. at first, blinded by love for his child, he didn't believe that it would change anything for her but the first time she had walked in from the bus in tears, he knew that wouldn't be the case. "go on," he motions with a grin, watching as his daughter approaches the table where harley was currently working on their art. sensing her freeze, selim steps in. "she likes your pin..." selim says, following it up with context. "we've um...been trying to find her one but it seems that i'm not technologically literate enough to make her wish come true."

[huaharley]

"I'm always early!" Harley play-scoffed, although they both knew that was a lie. It felt like they were always running place to place, barely getting anywhere on time due to their busy schedule.

Harley never thought they would be a regular guest in a children's music classroom. They loved children and hoped to have their own in a few years, so that part wasn't too unusual. But Harley had never been a musician. Their preferred form of art was on a canvas or a sketchpad. But one of Kathryn's students was a young girl with a cochlear implant who was being raised orally. Even though she was born deaf and implanted as a baby, he couldn't help but see some of his own childhood struggles reflecting back at him. She was the same age he was when he found out he was losing his hearing. Plus, she was the only deaf person in her family, and had no access to American Sign Language or the Deaf community. One of many issues that came with growing up that way was never seeing adults that were like you, or having any idea what life as a successful deaf adult actually looked like. Meeting Elliot as a teenager had been life changing and he hoped he could be a fraction of that for this little girl. And for anyone else in the class who had never met a successful 'disabled' adult who lived a full life and was both happy and proud to be that way.

They made a face as they saw the instruments. "I remember learning recorders in fourth grade...Might have been the first time I was glad to be hard of hearing. They sounded awful, and I only heard maybe a third of what everyone else in my class did."

Kathryn Southerland had always wanted to change the world. Whether that be out of the pureness of her heart, her talented voice or her creative brain, she always wanted to do something magical within the world. While her passion with music was ideally what she hoped made her name for herself, she'd begun to think that ship had sailed until she'd been blessed with the opportunity to sing on a cruise ship. While she'd enjoyed the opportunity to sing for ages eighteen or older, it had been her passion to use her voice to work with children, which had been the inspiration behind her becoming a music teacher. Though, she'd taken it even to the next level, using the opportunity to teach anyone that wanted to learn; lack of payment ability, learning disabilities, rich, traveling, or any kid that wanted to learn music would have a spot in Kathryn's class. And while it had been a bit of a struggle to get it started, she was successfully teaching at least fifteen students a class these days. With the holidays approaching, Kathryn was in full holiday mode and had been working on the traditional holiday songs for the majority of the last month. She'd been just brave enough to add in instruments - recorders and tambourines for those that wanted them - which had thankfully gone better than expected. Besides the children were enjoying it which made it all the more interesting to her. She'd just gotten ready for class, allowing herself to separate the instruments out into different areas, using the practices to see where everyone had the best sound, only turning when she looked over, noticing someone had joined her. It wasn't too scarce these days that Kathryn was in these classes alone; in fact, she'd really gotten to know grown fond of Harley in the time she'd gotten to know them. In fact, she'd probably even refer to them as a friend if you asked her. "Hey stranger." she greeted, shaking her head at her own joke. "You're here early this time." she smiled, taking a step closer to the other. "Couldn't get enough of me?" @huaharley

[huaharley]

Harley couldn't help but laugh at her bluntness. It reminded themof the Deaf community as well as their MaaMaa. "I think I like wearing it more than designing it anyways. You know, if you ever wanna do pro bono designs for someone who isn't white - at least not fully - and also not a bitch." They joked, but they knew how annoying people wanting free art could be so they would never seriously suggest it unless they had the money or could do some kind of trade off with her. Finally, she looked up at them and started saying something incoherent. Harley didn't even realize it was another language, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he tried to piece together what she might have said. But then her words started making sense again and he focused on that instead. "I'm Harley...I'm young, nonbinary, and usually pretty optimistic. And you're not old, by the way."

"Not in this fucking city, I don't recommend it unless you are okay with designing basic shit for white skinny bitches." PJ scoffed, moody as ever, she rolled her eyes at that idea because if she could go back in time she would crush her own dreams of being a fashion designer and just study something boring. After finishing the lines of the dress she was drawing, she finally really looked up at the person in front of her, they seem like a fucking kid and here she was spilling her bitterness. "*Mierda, perdón por todo el doom and gloom. I'm PJ, an old broad that does nothing but complain all day."

[huaharley]

Harley read the note, and nodded. I'm going to get a quick shower, then. I'll meet you in the lobby in 15.

After taking a shower and blow drying his curls enough to wear his cochlear implants, Harley met Finn in the lobby. "I'm hearing again, it's a Hannukah miracle." Harley joked, moving his head to the side so Finn could see he was wearing his CIs.

Taking a breath, Finn watched as Harley wrote down a response. As Finn then took back the notebook, he wrote down, I'm good, all set for the day. He then turned the notebook back to his friend.

[huaharley]

Harley watched her mouth carefully, using lipreading to fill in for what his cochlear implants missed. Luckily it wasn't busy at Carmen's yet, so there wasn't a lot of background noise to deal with. "Fashion design?" Harley repeated, to make sure he got that part right. "That's really cool. If I hadn't gone into traditional art I might have gone the fashion design route too. My name's Harley."

who? @pj-elroycortez where? carmen's cocina and taqueria when? early dec

It was gonna be another late night, which was pretty typical for the masters student. There was a major project due in a couple weeks, and he hadn't spent enough time working on it due to his work schedule. The next two days, he was off from the museum and he had even shortened his workouts so he'd spend as much time as possible working on his assignment. But first, dinner!

Harley preferred mobile ordering over talking with a person. It wasn't that he was antisocial, but because ordering online was more accessible. So, even though he was close to the restaurant, Harley ordered online and got there only a few moments later. His order wouldn't be ready for another 20 minutes, so he was seated at the bar waiting. That was when he noticed someone at the nearby table was drawing, and they were good! It was always nice to find other artists in public.

Harley approached their table, tapping it hard enough to get their attention. "I was sitting behind you and saw what you were working on. I'm an artist, too."

[huaharley]

"Yes, Watchmen!" Harley replied gleefully, about to explain the plot...but Elliot was already sold, so he decided to move onto the point about Hawkeye. "Yeah, the movies ignored that he's hard of hearing. But the Disney+ series addressed it and Jeremy Renner revealed he was hard of hearing too, and my inner child was so excited for all of it. And, the Eternals movie made Makkari Deaf. In the comics she was always hearing, but now comic Makkari is Deaf too to match up with the MCU."

Harley nodded at the idea that it was nice to have several d/Deaf/HoH characters to connect with at a young age. Prior to meeting Elliot as a teenager, he'd been alone in a hearing world that didn't know how to include him. He had no concept of successful Deaf adults, let alone a role model. Comics and graphic novels had given him that. Clint Barton, Maya Lopez, and other characters didn't have to be real to show him that he could do anything in a world that expected so little of him.

"Harley's Deaf Universe - the HDU - is not a bad rabbit hole to go down. Beats Wonderland...and a lot less beheadings. I think..." Harley tried to remember if anyone got beheaded in Watchmen but if it happened he couldn't remember it. "I will do my research and tell you what issues have the best Deaf representation."

"Okay, so Watchmen." Elliot back with a nod of his head, trusting any and all recommendations that came from Harley. Knowing that he would in fact be grabbing all of these comics before they left the store today. Excited to be stepping out of the norm of what he usually read. Though as his friend went on, Elliot felt his eyebrows raise some. "Wait, so the Avengers did us dirty and didn't make him hard of hearing in the movie?" Shaking his head some, always a sucker for a character here or there that he could relate to on another level and to know it had been left out of the movie, well, it was a bit disappointing.

"That had to be really nice though, when you were going through all of that. To have that kind of character that you could relate to." Elliot signed back with a soft small to Harley, totally getting where he was coming from. As Harley went on, Elliot couldn't help but feel a bit surprised at just how many Deaf or hard of hearing characters that there seemed to be in comic books, something he was sure if he had known about when he was younger, he would have picked them up instantly. Having been not as comfortable in his own skin when he was growing up as he was now, it was something he could have used back then but was still glad to read now. "So basically I'm leaving with all those comics today, noted." Because there was no way he could choose just one or two, even if it did take a while to get through them, Elliot wanted to read them all. "I'm going to end up going down the comic book rabbit hole, aren't I?" He added after a second with a laugh, shaking his head in amusement.

[huaharley]

who? @bardakci and ayla bardakçı where? heyes park house and museum (japanese garden) when? first weekend in december

Harley wasn't very hungry today. He had made a protein shake for breakfast, but it took him most of the morning to finish it. Now on his lunch break, he found himself hanging out in the Japanese garden on property. This was his go-to location when he had a longer break. While the museum wasn't exactly loud, it was the most time he spent wearing cochlear implants every day and it could be overstimulating. He could take them off, but he felt like he needed to be able to hear visitors and act like a hearing person in his professional life.

They opened up their sketchbook and continued working on the art they'd been working on for a couple days now. It wasn't anything special; Harley just wanted to practice graphic novel-esque backgrounds. They soon had a feeling they weren't the only one in the garden, and glanced up to see they'd been joined by a man and his daughter in the space. Harley gave them a small smile and a nod in greeting, then returned to their art.