#Slurs retain their offense

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

.

[magicalmanhattanproject]

Okay, so with Quackity Studios tweeting about adding new people and the need for tolerance and patience with people who don't speak English, let's just take a second and have a chat about what that's gonna look like.

First: you will hear things or read things on the translator that hurt or offend you.

This is inevitable. Do not immediately post about it. What you need tolerance for is hearing things that hurt or offend you and what you need patience for is figuring out of malicious intent was present or if this is a hill worth dying on right now.

As an example, we're pretty sure at this point that Korean is gonna be the next language added. The second person pronoun in Korean sounds a lot like the n-word in English. The n-word in English, if you're not aware, is like the single most offensive slur we have. It's not something that you want to hear unexpectedly. But also, if we get Koreans, they're gonna be using the word for "you" and English speakers are gonna have to be able to tolerate that.

On the other side of things, Korean has a complex system of honorifics and addressing someone without an honorific would be considered very forward and intimate at least if not very rude. None of the QSMP languages have honorifics though and only French really retains formality* so no one else is going to address them with honorifics unless they specifically explain it to people and walk them through it. That will probably be weird and uncomfortable for them and they're going to have to be able to tolerate that.

*Spanish and Portuguese do technically have formal vs informal but it's disappearing quickly in both of them.

These natural cultural clashes and pain points are going to be harder to overcome since we also know that at least some of these creators won't speak English at all so they can't just switch to English to helpfully explain things to us easily in a way we understand. We're going to have to deal.

So here's the thing: just because there can be cultural miscommunications and mistranslations, that doesn't mean that people can't also be assholes. How do you distinguish between the two?

Step One: Assume good faith. Assume that everyone in a given encounter is trying to communicate respectfully and compassionately and that a failure to do so can be overcome

Step Two: Don't get involved. Especially not in Twitch Chat. Two or more people trying to communicate through a language barrier does not get easier when they're also trying to wrangle hostile viewers.

Step Three: Are you sure you heard what you thought you heard or saw what you thought you saw? Did the translator fuck up? Is it a word that just coincidentally happens to sound like another word? If this is the case, the streamers can ask for clarification or use another tool and get it cleared up. Keep watching and see if they do.

Step Four: If they did say what you thought they said, are the streamers handling it? We had a thing a while back where Bad called some friends, including Bagi and Etoiles, uncultured because they didn't get a reference he was making and Etoiles was like "bro I'm French" and Bad apologized. That should have been the end of it, but I had to see people arguing about it for weeks. The problem was solved in 10 seconds.

Step Five: If the person is doubling down, are you sure this is something you can fix by yelling about it on Twitter or Tumblr? Would it be better to let people who actually know them talk to them behind the scenes? Pierre made a few missteps in the beginning of the server, Quackity said they had a chat, Pierre hasn't misstepped since. It's just easier to sort things out in private, one on one conversation than yelling at someone in public.

In short: it's fine to take note of behavior in case patterns start to emerge in it, but yelling on social media about how so and so is the worst person possible is not constructive.

[starlightomatic]

still really dislike when people say "jewish people" instead of jews. yes im aware jew can be used almost as a slur, but when a group is hated enough every word for them becomes a slur. right now when people are clearly saying "jewish people" to avoid saying jews it feels like a euphemism. oh not they're not icky jews; they're nice sweet people-who-happen-to-be-jewish. what i mean to say is that it retains the meaning of jew as the antisemitic-perception-of-us, it posits that jew refers to a repulsive creature who you would not want to to offend us by associating us with. and that itself is offensive.

i am not trying to call out people who do this and am aware that has become the norm. i know that this is because many jews have asked non-jews to call us "jewish people" instead. i just don't think that we should have asked for this, and it makes me uncomfortable every time i see it.

[redux-iterum]

Charred Legacy: Chapter One

(AO3 counterpart here.)

All things considered, it was a nice night.

Fireheart was half-rolled onto his back, front paws tucked into his upturned chest while his rear end remained on its side. His tail tapped absentmindedly on the still-warm sand as he gazed up at the stars. The weather had loosened up, mercifully keeping the sky clear and even warming the air a little. It was still somewhat chilled, but the ground had softened from muddy slop to dense soil—still retaining a bit of moisture, but not enough to stick to a traveling cat’s paws—and the frost had barely made an appearance before shying away and melting again into dew.

Thank the Three for small miracles, Fireheart thought as his eyes lazily drifted from star to star. They know we needed it.

Caught up in the beauty of the sky and the grainy comfort of the sand, he was only somewhat registering cats talking around him. Faint squeals drifted out of the nursery’s entrance and his ear twitched at what he thought (hoped, really) was Goldenflower gently chiding the kits inside. Frostfur’s litter was already out, but in the past month they had calmed down considerably and come to prefer talking with the one cat in the apprentice’s den who would soon be a warrior, Swiftpaw, as he regaled them with stories of the territory and all the strange creatures they would see there.

Fireheart twisted his head back and to the side a bit—yes, there they were, listening to the black tom recounting his experience going to the Mother on the far side of the territories.

“And I know she looks scary,” he was saying, “but that’s kind of the point, I think. It makes you respect her even more. You just have to be brave and go into her mouth, trusting her. And Yellowfang will be there to guide you, so you’ll find your way.”

The sole molly of the litter, fluffy ginger-patched Brightkit, spoke up now. “I won’t be scared. The Mother wouldn’t hurt us—we’re her favorites.”

Thornkit, dark and golden-brown, frowned at her. “Still gotta be ‘spectful.”

Fireheart’s mouth twitched into a brief grimace in sympathy as the tom’s ears went back in embarrassment at the end of his sentence. Thornkit still slurred and stumbled over his words, even with as much as Frostfur had worked with him on speaking clearly, and he had been speaking shorter and shorter sentences recently, and at a much lower volume. His siblings understood him just fine, save one.

That one, the deaf little white tom directly in front of Swiftpaw, was Snowkit. His bright blue eyes, wide and vibrant, were fixed on Swiftpaw’s mouth as the apprentice said, “Yeah, it’s important to be quiet on the walk in and during the ceremony. Just wait until Yellowfang speaks to you.”

Brackenkit, a thinner and lighter version of Thornkit, tilted his head. “Will Cinderpaw be there?”

“She was when I went.” Swiftpaw’s eyes lifted upwards as he squinted a bit. “I mean, we did ours together, so that’s why, but I think she’d have to go anyway.” He turned to look at his dark grey sister as she limped out from the ferns by the meeting stump. “Hey, Cinderpaw! Are you going to be with these kits when they do their pilgrimage?”

Cinderpaw beamed with a hacking scoff very similar to her mentor’s. “Obviously! I have to learn how to do it myself, and there’s no way I’m missing out on Brighty getting blessed.” She swept her tail, crooked at the tip, in the direction of the toms. “And you guys, of course.”

Brackenkit seemed to take no offense. “I bet my blessing will be from Rokhar.”

Fireheart purred, rolling slowly onto his side. Of all the three gods, the Tiger was the one he understood the least. Then again, it seemed like everyone outside of the seer role had some trouble grasping exactly what Rokhar was all about. The first seer of Fireheart’s life in ThunderClan, Spottedleaf, had described him as being “in-between” and “all-encompassing”. Even after more than a year of being a Clan cat, Fireheart still had no idea what that meant.

“Why Rokhar?” Swiftpaw asked, sounding amused. “Because he’s the cool—?“

“Because he’s the cool one!” Brackenkit said, exactly in tandem with the apprentice. At another frown from Thornkit, he added, “I mean, they’re all cool, but Rokhar’s the coolest.”

Cinderpaw limped up to the little gathering of the young, her bad leg crumpled up towards her belly. “Knowing your dad, he’s probably telling Horoa right now to bless all of you with a Lion’s touch.”

While the kits all started babbling to each other about whether that was true or not, Fireheart’s heart clenched at the mention of Lionface. He had been the deputy of ThunderClan after Redtail, another first for Fireheart when he had joined the Clan from life as a house cat. Both of them had been great toms, Redtail kind and friendly and Lionface majestic and confident (even if he and Fireheart had clashed here and there). Both of them were gone, and both of them had been…

Fireheart’s claws sank into the sand. He eyed Cinderpaw’s crippled leg.

It had been around a month since the trial that shattered the Clan’s collective heart. No one had spoken of it after it happened, and even the mere implication of something that would link back to that night was hushed or ignored. Fireheart couldn’t stand this thing Clan cats had with refusing to acknowledge bad cats or the things they’d done; it didn’t help anyone feel better, it just made things awkward and sad. Supposedly, the spirits of these bad cats could come back if spoken about or named and haunt the territories, but as far as Fireheart had seen, the only thing they haunted was his dreams.

What he’d give to talk about this with Goldenflower.

But she was in the nursery now, and she needed peace and quiet to raise his adoptive siblings until they were big enough to come out and explore camp. Being forbidden from visiting, Fireheart just had to rely on news shared by Brindleface or Frostfur—mostly Brindleface, as Frostfur had left the nursery early to give the crowded den some room and now only came to check on her nearly-grown kits. Brindleface had been incredibly nervous and sensitive when she was stuck in the den, but now that she had been able to leave her kits for walks here and there…

“Fireheart! There you are!”

The ginger tom blinked and got to his feet, shaking off what sand had clung to his fur. The beautiful grey tortoiseshell in question had just climbed up and out of the nursery, her pale green eyes shining as Fireheart approached her.

“I have a surprise for you,” she said when he was close enough. “Well, two surprises.”

Fireheart perked up. “Really? Are they about Cloudkit?”

“They are.” Brindleface’s fluffy tail curled at the delight that must have immediately brightened up Fireheart’s face. “I’m sorry you couldn’t have come seen him before, but that makes this a little more interesting.”

Cloudkit had been adopted into the Clan, the same as his uncle. Fireheart had been given the kit by his frantic sister, Rosy, and ThunderClan took him in with only a bit of reluctance. The two of them did not look similar—Fireheart was skinny and shorthaired and Cloudkit was a ball of white fluff—and with the automatic distance of Fireheart not being able to visit to see his nephew and bond with him, he could only hope that they wouldn’t be so different that they could not find common ground besides being outsiders at birth, especially since Fireheart had promised to mentor Cloudkit once he became an apprentice.

“What is it, then?” he asked, trying not to sound overly-eager.

“Well, for one…” Brindleface turned and poked her head into the nursery. “Babies, do you want to come out now?”

Indistinct squeaks of excitement immediately followed this, and Brindleface purred before turning back to Fireheart, saying, “That’s the first surprise. They’re ready to meet you.”

Fireheart’s fur flared out and he beamed. “I can see him now!”

Brindleface nodded, her whiskers twitching. “And the second…”

She gestured with her paw just in time for the first kits to scramble out of the den: both grey with broken tabby markings, similar in every way except for the molly being both more delicate in the face and fluffier than her brother. They completely ignored Fireheart and bumbled out into the center of camp. Who followed them was—

Not the kit Fireheart had brought in.

This kit was fluffy and round, sure, but ginger covered his ears and nose and was steadily claiming his tail. His fur was quite long and puffed out, even if he was a bit small; if it weren’t for the unusual color, he would fit perfectly in with the rest of ThunderClan. By the way his deep blue eyes blinked owlishly at Fireheart, he was just as surprised at the reunion.

“Cloudkit,” Brindleface said with another paw-gesture, “this is your uncle, Fireheart. Remember how we talked about him?”

“Ohhh,” Cloudkit said loudly. He looked Fireheart up and down before announcing, “You’re short.”

“Cloudkit!” Brindleface scolded. “That’s rude.”

Fireheart chuffed and bent his head to meet his nephew’s eye-level. “And you’re pudgy.”

Cloudkit squinted at Fireheart. “What’s ‘pudgy’?”

“Fat!” Cinderpaw called from across the clearing.

Cloudkit squawked and slowly and clumsily swatted a paw in the direction of Fireheart’s nose. “’Mnot pudgy! You’re pudgy!”

Brindleface stared at the little tom in baffled embarrassment, but Fireheart pretended to be struck and rubbed his nose like it’d been scratched.

“Don’t beat me up, please,” he said, poorly hiding his amusement. “I’m sorry, you’re not.”

Cloudkit nodded in satisfaction—then, to Fireheart’s surprise, he toddled right up to his uncle and bumped their noses together. Him being so small, it didn’t hurt, but it was more of a punch than usual.

“Hi, uncle,” Cloudkit said, pulling back.

Fireheart’s whiskers twitched. “Hi, nephew.”

“That’s better.” Brindleface stepped forward to lick Cloudkit’s ear. “Are you ready to meet your Clanmates now?”

The little puffball nearly jumped in place and waddled off after his siblings, who were currently interrupting the discussion between Frostfur’s litter and Swiftpaw. Fireheart watched him go, amazed at the strength of the flame of affection in his chest, even when he hadn’t seen the kit since he’d come to the Clan.

“How did his fur get like that?” He turned to Brindleface now. “He was white when I brought him in.”

Brindleface rolled a shoulder. “Kittypet blood, I’m guessing. I’ve never seen anything like that in the territories. I thought he was sick at first, but he’s been perfectly happy and healthy this whole time.” She gave Fireheart a cheeky squint. “Both of you stick out now.”

Fireheart sighed a chuff. “At least he’ll be warm this winter.”

Brindleface nodded. Then her eyes flicked to the side and narrowed a fraction before she walked off after her litter. Fireheart’s gaze followed where she’d looked.

Darkstripe. Of course. He was glaring at the now-wandering Cloudkit.

Fireheart contained another, much heavier sigh. Since the trial, the dark tabby had hardly said more than one word to anyone, and they had to speak to him first. Fireheart hadn’t dared start a conversation with him—Darkstripe had never liked him to begin with, but since the end result of the trial was largely on Fireheart’s shoulders, the hatred in Darkstripe’s eyes burned Fireheart’s back whenever the two had to cross paths. He’d done his best to give the older warrior space, which was difficult when they shared a den.

Anticipating the glare to turn on him, Fireheart prepared to look away and find something else to engage with. He was saved by the camp entrance rustling to reveal the pale brown tortoiseshell Speckletail leading a patrol in. As her followers trotted to the prey-pile, she approached Darkstripe and said something to him Fireheart didn’t catch. Darkstripe didn’t respond beyond a twitch of his lip, getting to his feet and stalking out of camp. Speckletail watched him go, huffed and shook her head before joining the rest of the patrol.

After the loss of the prior deputy—the one that trial had been all about—Speckletail had been selected to replace him. She hadn’t been the expected choice, but she had accepted the role and immediately went about keeping the Clan busy and organized for the first month of her tenure. Fireheart suspected that this was a tactical decision; giving everyone something to do kept them from stewing in their own thoughts over the events of the past fall. Things had finally slowed down, with the warmer weather gifting the Clan with more prey than Fireheart had been told showed up in the end seasons. This was one of the first nights in quite a while that Fireheart had gotten to stay home and just enjoy the peace of camp.

“Good evening,” he said to Speckletail as she walked past him with a woodrat.

She nodded to him, putting down her prey for a moment. “Any word while I was gone?”

Fireheart shook his head, ears going back sadly. “I haven’t spoken to her since a few days ago.”

Speckletail sighed through her nose. Her eyes were tired. “I’ll talk with her once I’ve eaten.” She picked up her prey again and continued on her way, sitting down with Willowpelt on the far side of camp.

Fireheart’s eyes drifted to the wall of briar that surrounded the sandy clearing. Though he couldn’t see it, his gaze landed on the area where the leader’s den was situated on the outside.

Where Bluestar was undoubtedly sleeping.

The trial and the near-murder preceding it had hurt everyone, but it had broken something in the Clan’s leader. Only a few days after the deputy’s execution, Bluestar had become a rare sight. She now walked alone in the forest or holed up in her den, only coming out to order patrols or respond to something Speckletail asked her about. It had been part of the quiet conversation for some time now, but no one dared to broach the topic to Bluestar—even Fireheart, her former apprentice, or Whitecloud, her nephew.

It wasn’t fair, Fireheart wanted to shout to the stars. Of all the cats suffering, why did their leader have to struggle the hardest? The pain and suspicion and fear clouded her eyes and silenced her voice. It had been her throat the deputy’s teeth nearly crushed, her friends and Clanmates he crippled and murdered to get to her. Now, whenever she looked at her charges, it seemed like she was gauging their intentions, how well they could be trusted. Even Fireheart had been under scrutiny more than once.

She really would benefit from being able to talk about this whole thing…

“Cloudkit, please!”

Fireheart blinked and was back in camp. He turned his head to see his nephew marching for the fallen log that was the elder’s den. The elders were already out—lanky and grey One-eye, dark brown Halftail, and black-and-white Patchpelt—but they were talking among themselves, completely unaware of the kit making his way towards them, his siblings trailing behind with curious looks on their faces. Brindleface was padding after them, calling for Cloudkit.

“Let them be—” she started, but Cloudkit broke into a clumsy imitation of a run and continued on. Just as he reached Patchpelt, he tried to slow down, only succeeding in crashing right into the elder and stumbling backwards, plopping into a sitting position.

Patchpelt coughed (as he had been lately) in surprise and looked round to see the kit. His faded eyes brightened. “Well, now! I don’t remember this one.”

“I’m Cloudkit.” The furball blinked up at him. “My sister is Aspenkit and my brother is Ashkit.”

Halftail tilted his head, eyes narrowed analytically.

“You’ve got some ginger on your face, little ant,” croaked One-eye, peering with her single eye at the kit. “Or you’ve been playing in the sand.”

“No, he’s supposed to look like that.” Brindleface hurried up to them. “I’m sorry he disturbed you.”

“You know we love being disturbed,” Patchpelt said fondly, looking at the grey kits as they approached. “Ah, and this must be Ashkit and Aspenkit.”

The tom kit nodded firmly, standing as tall as he could, while the molly lowered her nose and shyly regarded the ground. Cloudkit, meanwhile, was meeting One-eye’s gaze, looking completely unbothered by the marred face that every kit and new apprentice was a little taken aback by. Fireheart noted with pride that he didn’t broach the topic of One-eye’s accident, only chirping, “You’re tall.”

One-eye chortled. “And old, on top of that. Do you know what my name is?”

Cloudkit shook his head.

“I’m One-eye, unsurprisingly.” The pale molly nodded to her denmates. “That’s Halftail and Patchpelt. Can you guess which is which?”

“Um…” Cloudkit scrunched up his little face before answering slowly. “Patchpelt’s got patches, and Halftail’s brown, right?”

“Very good.” Patchpelt purred. “We have easy names to remember.”

Cloudkit brightened up and wagged his short little tail. “I did it!”

“Yes, you did it,” Brindleface said, touching her nose to her adopted son’s head, adding to the elders, “I can distract him if he starts to bother you.”

“Oh, he’s not a bother at all.” One-eye tilted her head comically at Cloudkit, who trilled in response. “I haven’t had a kit not flinch at my face since I became an elder.”

Fireheart watched on as Cloudkit made his way around to Halftail, who eyed him suspiciously but said nothing. An anxiety he didn’t know was in his stomach settled at the warm looks on the elders’ faces when Cloudkit loudly announced, “Fireheart’s my uncle!” and puffed out his little chest.

He’s bold, Fireheart thought affectionately, watching his nephew respond to Patchpelt’s kindly questions about life in the nursery. Rosy, whether or not you get to see him again, I know you’ll be proud.

[transsexualfiend]

Hewwo kind internet person :3 I have a genuine question if you don't mind- I'm Transgender myself, and I see your username has "transsexual" right in it. Could you tell me what Trans Sexual means? As far as I understand from what context clues I have picked up elsewhere, it's a misunderstanding of Trans Gender because gender and sexuality weren't seen as so different for queer/gay people awhile back.

Was just curious as to if I missed a redefining or reclaiming of the word or if I simply haven't been educated on what it means in the first place. Would love to learn about it so I know how to properly define it in my head. Thank you very kindly :3

Hi! Great question. I'll try to answer in a way that responds to what you asked, and not just give blanket statements.

Transsexual was a term used for a bit more time in the past than the word "transgender". Transgender is credited to being introduced in the 60s, and was popularized and mainstream by the 90s and early 2000s. Transsexual dates back a bit further, and often has a medical component both socially tied to it, and linguistically, as "sex" is considered to be more of a physically-retaining quality.

Many people use the term because their transition IS trans-ing their sex. Trans people who choose to go on hormones and medically transition are biologically changing themselves, which creates a very different life experience from the experience of a cissexual person (someone who does not change their sex). Their interactions with the world, with society, with institutions, privilege, and even with other trans and queer people, is very different from how it would be if they were not medically transitioning. In short, this term reflects a distinct experience and relationship to power.

I wouldn't say that transsexual is a "misunderstanding" of anything. There's definitely been more recent push to eliminate the usage of the word transsexual and opt for the more inclusive term "transgender", because not every trans person medically transitions. This is true! All trans people are trans, and you do not need to medically transition. But for those of us who do, sometimes that distinction is important and crucial to our relationship with our identities. For me, I personally do not feel like transgender is the proper word to describe me, as do many transsexual people, because in my experience my gender isn't what's being "trans-ed", but my sex and biological makeup. To me, it is what makes me whole. Especially older trans people who grew up in a completely different social world for transsexuals, they may choose to use transsexual over transgender for any of the above reasons, and more!

I don't think you've messed anything up! It is a common misconception that "transsexual" is a slur, is offensive, or is an outdated word, but how can it be outdated or wrong when so many transsexuals are alive and trying to survive in this world, ya know? And the transsexual body and transsexual experiences are all so unique and beautiful, it would be awful to try and exclude the rich trans histories that every trans person has to share.

Transsexual people exist, and choose to use that term to describe themselves regardless of if newer generations find it to be "less pretty". It's important to respect whatever someone's identity is, even if you might not fully understand their reasoning for using those words. Plus, it would be transphobic to deny the interconnected experiences of trans people, and especially those of transsexuals.

This isn't a full, complete description, I moreso tuned it to the points you included in your question, but I hope this helps! As always feel free to ask whatever you'd like :)

[grim-echoes]

Hey do you have any more information on Karl Jobst being a cryptofascist? I’ve heard less than great things about him before, but I’d rather have my facts straight.

i can, unfortunately there's a lot less information than i'd like to present because the way that a lot of this came to light was when rwhitegoose was outed as a nazi in a discord server (which has an imgur album of over 130 screenshots dedicated solely to his exchanges--i wouldn't recommend scrolling this unless you're in a good headspace, the shit he's said is fucking horrifying but important to contextualize that this is the kind of person karl jobst was associating with and still considered to be a good friend even after his outing; be warned for EXTREME racism, antisemitism, transphobia, and much, much more); karl was part of the same server and only a few scattered screenshots exist of his exchanges in there and on twitter and he allegedly nuked every last trace he could of his previous online interactions when this all came to light so what i'm going to post isn't comprehensive, but it's more than enough.

tw for racism (including several depictions of anti-black/japanese slurs), homophobia, misogyny, asian fetishization under the cut:

when karl was first accused of racism, fellow speedrunner tomatoanus made a public statement on twitter that he'd cut ties with jobst for "things he (karl) had said/done in the past that conflict(ed) with my (tomatoanus) morals". the catalyst for this, as mentioned, is this screenshot that emerged from what i believe is rwhitegoose's personal discord of an interaction between the two of them:

he went on record defending this interaction by claiming that the n word "wasn't offensive" in australia (where he is from) and that "it isn't part of our vernacular" with an accompanying screenshot in the reddit thread i was able to find a lot of this in of multiple locations in queensland alone named for the slur, some of which had since been renamed:

jobst had also been active in the political channels of the goldeneye 007 and perfect dark discords, and made claims that his interaction with goose was "likely from the goldeneye server", as he was either rarely in goose's personal discord, or "left months and months" prior to when this all came to light depending on what version of his story he's telling.

another instance of him making the "i'm not racist because racial slurs don't exist in australia" defense is that time he got his followers to attack a smaller streamer for criticizing his use of the word "jap":

i like that he constantly asserts that "x word isn't offensive" in famously non-racist predominantly white utopia australia, because overt racism is a centuries-old issue that has manifested in not just general xenophobia (including anti-blackness and antisemitism, who'd have fucking thought), but the continued displacement, genocide, and assimilation of its aboriginal populations so i think what he actually means to say is "i've surrounded myself with dozens of people who are right-leaning and don't consider the weight of their words and i shouldn't have to either".

speaking of which, here's another screenshot where he defends his stance on the n word and also throws out the casual misogyny and asian fetishization:

yeah, he was a pickup artist by the way. here's a video of him in action. don't watch it it's painfully fucking cringe

here's a few long since deleted posts he'd made on his twitter involving homophobic "jokes":

aside from this, there's very likely more i'm just not aware of--apparently he'd deleted around 15 years' worth of posts on the speedrunning forum the-elite and from his social media, but i know he's also taken donations from notch before who had been visibly and demonstrably alt-right for several years by that point. if there's anything more than this that anyone else has i'd also like to see it.

as an aside, he regularly gets hundreds of thousands, often over a million views on his videos and retains over 900k subscribers. what makes him and others like him crypto isn't just that publically observable evidence of him voicing alt-right ideas and behaviors is incredibly restrained, actually finding information beyond surface level is difficult to begin with. he's still well respected in the community and collaborates with people who are otherwise much more provably reputable, so sometimes even picking someone out by association isn't accurate. the average person has no idea what a dogwhistle even is, so trying to clock a potential fash by the things they don't say is a skill you need to hone by becoming uncomfortably, miserably intimate with them as people and as communities before you can ever even think of picking one out of a crowd.

[ask-crossing-timelines-au]

Rules and What is this About?

Hi! Welcome to this Askblog!! :D

This askblog will be about a homestuck au called ''Crossing Timelines'' where a 44 year old Karkat is sent into the Pesterquest timeline and is trying to find a way back home while dealing with the alternative versions of the kids he was once friends

The Rules

Before sending an ask, I want to establish some rules so we can prevent problems in the future

No NSFW asks/commands! While there are adult characters, most of the characters will be the same age that theyre in Pesterquest (13/16) so please retain from sending that type of asks

Don't spam asks, if i don't answer it is because either i'm saving it for later or i couldn't find a way to implement into the story, sorry!

I won't answer asks that are in any way offensive, like containing slurs or bigotry so please don't.

Command asks (==>) are allowed and will work the same way as canon, meaning the character can refuse to do them lol.

I will update when I can but I am still in college so please understand if i dont update that frequently

If you have any extra questions about the blog, you can send an ask to my main blog @cure-typhoon or check the #crossing timelines au tag i have there. Also english is not my first language so forgive any error I may have

Start of the story

[kustas]

✌ let’s go

I’m so opposed to this sort of take that implies a lack of perception on White’s part with the naiveté or just plain idiocy because while it’s never stated *what* he has (and I don’t care nor think that part is important. it’s a surreal story. it’s fantasy) it’s clear he is mentally disabled. It’s written in a kind way too which is impossibly rare and precious for fiction. While we can’t know for sure, the author has talked in interviews about one of his characters from another series who’s also disabled as being based on someone he’s known; given his background, it could explain why his writings come off as respectful and kind but not educated about the matter. But again, I don’t think it matters, medical terms are just labels and in the case of a work of fiction it’s the execution that’s important.

Thing is, I don’t think you can in good faith skip past that part when reading or watching Tekkon. Even someone with no knowledge of disabilities or neurodivergency knows White isn’t “a normal kid”. I’ve seen summaries on book selling sites who were inches away from calling him a slur without a care in the world. Implying a character like that is ignorant of his surroundings or an idiot is just offensive and ableist and it does not take being well read into activism to know this.

On top of this all - White is not an idiot! It’s clear in the story! The film adaptation lost some of the explorations of his character but still retains important scenes in which he demonstrates he’s both clever and perceptive. For starters, he’s self aware about his condition - the ways in which he talks about it come off as bittersweet and crude. While he doesn’t hate himself, he’s aware his life is difficult from things beyond his control. One of the first scenes in the manga in ch.2 (absent in the film) shows him joking about it when Black asks him why his nose is bleeding:

In what’s probably my favorite scene of the film due to the stellar voice acting, he explains to Sawada in his own words his relationship with Black and how each other’s mental challenges account for both their bond and a form of codependency:

The relationship between the two brothers is strained at this point in the story because of a one sided imbalance - White has the emotional intelligence to know both of their problems and be at peace with it, Black does not. Given his brother doesn’t lie to him, Black’s inability to cope with their issues could be pride or ignorance or a mix of the two, but he’s the idiot there. The culmination of his character arc that sadly did not make it in the film is his realization that he wrongly dismissed as nonsense what White tells him when he was, despite being hard to understand, telling the truth; which dawns to him when he sees the tree he thought White delusional for planting in barren urban soil sprouting from the ground.

Earlier we see the two narrowly avoiding a fight over the same tree, which starts by White parroting the attitude Black gives him, showing us for the first time he knows damn well how his brother sees him and does not appreciate it, and just happened to have been taking it in silence for this long

This is also where he reveals he knows exactly what Black has been doing behind his back and feels saddened he did not share with him the information despite their bond. The conversation goes nowhere and White stops it by changing the topic. While not explicited, given he was the one instigating the talk all alongl I see this as not him running out of attention for the conversation at hand, but purposefully dropping it because he’s talking to a wall.

This happens in ch. 10, out of the 33 of the series, and he’s just voicing what he’s already noticed and pondered enough to put into a clear accusation. Black’s realization his brother was not sprouting nonsense starts at ch30 and ends on ch. 32...

For a kid with great trouble navigating social situations he shows a level of awareness and insight into his life, his relationship with Black and Black as a person that’s way beyond anything the rest of the cast can muster asides of the old vet who’s cared for both since they were small and who is obviously much older. He fits the trope of the wise old guy who sees all. White’s closest to him. It’s the opposite of the naive, slow witted and forever distracted interpretation of his character you see casually mentioned by some reviewers that I’m so pissed about.

Yet the old man hints at something else which the film used a lot, which is the connection between White and the city. It’s a story about gentrification in the most literal sense and the film’s director saw the town as a “third protagonist”. It’s hard to explain what exactly is going on here because it’s where we dip in the surreal and supernatural, and also because a lot of what’s happening with the town is shown with adult interactions the kids aren’t actors in + wouldn’t care about because they’re kids. Does that wisdom and perception apply to the town and its fate? The old man says White is the soul of the town, that he’s free and cannot be tarnished by what happens, White knows what happens in the town because he’s lived there all his life and expresses out of nowhere negativity towards it in rare moments, never explaining himself.

We know his dream is to leave with Black, which oscillates from a concrete life plan to a light at the end of the tunnel for both of them. It’s honestly unclear to me what is the truth about his dream but it doesn’t come off as ignorant, especially since the story ends with it happening, albeit in a bittersweet way. Is it that childhood fun they’re holding on to to make it in a depressing world that did not provide for them? Is it a plan they built together as artificial motivation to remind each other? Did White guess their little place was compromised and started to plan early to get away? A friend of mine thinks that the sea coming up as death imagery throughout the story extends to that dream and that it ends without both of the kids alive. As a character based story with a lot of layers to interpret I can’t wrap my head around being a fan without having pondered all of this stuff. Even with the film’s botched ending, the twin’s abilities (or lack thereof) to navigate their world is essential to the story.

It’s not a story that talks about growing up/losing your childhood via “older brother (responsible) struggles to look for younger brother (naive)”, it’s “two kids of the same age, one walling himself in the delusion of responsibility, the other knowing the truth but still deciding to play”, facing a world who doesn’t want them

✍️😠for the thing

Every interpretation of Tekkon in which White is referred to as childish or naive instead of talking about his disability. when the manga (and film, albeit subtly) say he's same age as his brother. If you read/watched this and interpret the part about losing your childhood via "older brother (responsible) struggles to look for younger brother (naive) as a metaphor for growing up" you were this close to getting the point but unfortunately are an idiot

Special mention to Super Eyepatch Wolf's video on the film for this 👍

I could rant way, way more about this it goes from annoying to actually making me livid. Enquire if you want the full rant

[kickingitwithkirk]

When Reality is Worse than the Lies they told Me

Summary: You’re awoken by voices coming from the kitchen remember you’ve got company. 

Well, that’s what you keep reminding yourself to politely call those dumb as a bag of rocks, Temp V using fucking idiots and the druggernaut Super Supe they’ve got in tow. 

Part I Part II Part III

Pairing: Solder Boy x You

Word Count: 3716

*Do not read if you find anything offensive-triggering about/on/from The Boys series

*More warnings will be added in additional parts

Warnings: cursing, verbal arguments, racial/derogatory slurs, sexual situations, loads of marijuana/drugs, PTSD, sexist Supe, more cursing, physical altercations, firearms, knife wielding, still cursing, outdated slang, toxic male attitudes, lots of cursing, Soldier Boy thinking he’s the man and learns about online porn, medical experimentations, reliving long buried memories, possible death by chicken 

Square Filled: @anyfandomdarkbingobingo -” Who did this to you?”

*divider by @firefly-graphics

A/N: I’m using season 3 as a template for this so it will contain spoilers from the series mixed with original ideas.

A/N II: this part got way longer than planned but the characters are running the show so blame them.

You’re awoken by voices coming from the kitchen remember you’ve got company. 

Well, that’s what you keep reminding yourself to politely call those dumb as a bag of rocks, Temp V using fucking idiots and the druggernaut Super Supe they’ve got in tow. 

Laying there you can hear Hughie asking Butcher if he knows..their voices become unintelligible as another pain hits you, finding yourself curling up into a ball waiting for it to pass.

There’s a tap on your door before opening, “sorry to disturb but Hughie’s wonder..” Butcher breaks off shutting the door then he’s sitting on the bed.

“What’s it love, those pains again?” 

You grimace nodding.

“What you need is a nice cuppa. I’ll put the kettle on and see ‘bout nickin’ a benzos from beaver cleaver.” 

He gently squeezed your shoulder before stepping out hollars, “Oi Hughie, would ya’ put that kettle on the Arthur?”

“Put the kettle on what?”

“..stove.”

“Jesus, speak English..” 

“..I did ya’ fuckin’ git!”

It was good to know their banter hasn’t changed with all the shit happening. 

Rummaging in the side table drawer fish around for a specific bottle dry swallow a couple capsules overhear Soldier Boy loudly cursing at Butcher before the Brits stomping down the stairwell and out the front door.

Round to the Supe.

A knock and the door slowly opening interrupts your thoughts, “I won’t cut off your balls today,” you half-jokingly reassure Hughie since he’s always acted like a nervous nellie around you.

“Whew, that’s a relief because I forgot to put on my codpiece this morning.” 

Rolling your eyes at his craptastic humor shift to sit up against the headboard, taking the offered mug, “oh, this too,” he drops a white pill in your hand. 

“Thanks,” you snapped the pill into thirds so Hughie thinks you’ve only swallowed a piece with a swig of tea, “pull up a chair and fill me in on why the others are dodging my calls and where you two dumbfucks dug up portaloo boy.”

Hughie’s eyes got bigger as he sat, “Ahh, how much has Butcher told you?”

“Fuck all, so start at the beginning.”

“Okay, well it started when we found out about this weapon the Russians supposedly killed Soldier Boy with, BCL-RED..”

“..then Legend came in freaking out because there’s two..older ladies on the bed while Soldier Boys..” 

“..priming the pump?”

“That image is forever burned on my retinas. Anyway, words were exchanged and then we ended up at your door this morning.” 

You feel the drugs mixing in your system find Hughie’s fidgeting annoying, “stop wriggling like a fucking worm on a hook and spit it out.” 

“What’d you mean by recycling?”

“Back in the day, Legend kept a certain type of entertainment on retainer for his clients, referred to them as his Supe groupies.” 

Hughie still wasn’t getting it, “Jesus you’re thick..16 will get you 20..catch my drift?”

“You mean those women..used to be..Soldier Boy said they were like fine wine..that’s why Legend couldn’t fire..”

“Don’t think he grew a conscience, it’s Jewish guilt.” 

“And Phoebe Cates..Oh God..I just threw up in my mouth!”

“Bet you’re wishing you’d bought stock in barf bags right about now.”

Late morning

You're standing at the farm sink listening to Hughie trying to justify why he retrieved only three eggs from the laying hens.

“..scarier than that brain eating hamster..”

“..it’s a fuckin’ chicken.” 

“Didn’t you see the sign about Countess?” 

“You named that chicken after Soldier Boy's..”

Hughie’s mouth snapped shut as said Supe galumphed in a silk robe flopping on the chair directly across from you lit the joint hanging between his full lips inhales deeply and holds it an fucking impressive amount of time before exhaling like a dragon.

“What’s ball bag bitching about now?”

“Ya’ ex-camgirl namesake.” Butcher smirked.

“Camgirl? That another one of those words he makes up.”

You open a drawer removing one of the burner phones you kept around the house goggle SupePorn.com and turn it so the guys can watch the commemorative video created by SirCumsALot779.

The sounds of Crimson Countess’s fake AF pleasurable moans and squelching fluid fill the now quiet room makes you mentally vomit when you see Hughie backing towards the door and Butcher shift closer, warily watching Soldier Boy when the Supes hand shot out grabbing your wrist yanks you between his splayed legs.

Being in close proximity you can smell the musk he radiates makes you wetter then that dead whore could’ve possibly even gotten for him watch his drugga pupils eclipse the sliver of his verte absinthe irises leaving them dark like a shark.

“Countess wan’t just doing cheap tricks at Vought Land,” Butcher comments from where’s he’s now standing, “caught ‘er ‘bout’ta back door betty a’fuckin’ ginormous string of beads for that blighter there, been dropping coin on ‘er like it’s going outta style.”  

“You watch porn on that thing?” He curiously asks you.

 “Low budget VHS gone the way of eight tracks.”   

Sticking the joint back between his plump lips he takes the phone inspecting it, “how do you use this thing?”

Your hand quivers over the touch screen accidentally brush your fingers against his, his grip tightens.

“You break my ameche, I break your face, capiche?”

“Ameche?” Hughie inquires in dumb-bambi mode, “oh, the cell..why do you keep a burner phone in the kitchen?” 

You twist and he relinquishes his grip ease from between those thick, muscular thighs try to regain some semblance of composure reach in the drawer again to retrieve a Sig Sauer P220R.

“I’m a safety girl,” you reply shakily then clear your throat, “excuse me gentlemen,” handing the gun to Hughie, “in case Countess gives you any more grief over those eggs.”

Two and half weeks later 

“Get off my jock!” 

Hughie came in from the poach found annoying as fuck lounging in the recliner again, robe partially open sans underwear turned his attention to where the yelling came from, “who’s she talking to?”

“Your ex-snatch.”

“Don’t call her that, her name is Annie.”

“Annie musta got her rocks off pegging a..”

“Don’t you dare hang up..fucking Supe cunt!”

*Text>Serge, call me, it’s important!” not twenty seconds later you answer it. 

“What the fuck, why y’all ignoring me Frenchie..are you using again..okay, okay I get it. Listen, I need all the stuff Mothers got..don’t play stupid, I know about your little vay-k to Ruskieland..no, I haven’t heard from either of them..don’t fucking care what Mother says..Alors parle-moi en français pour qu'il ne sache pas!”

**Then speak to me in French so he don’t know!

“What’s the deal with the frog and slant cunt..”

“Please don’t call them that.”

“Whatever Monistat Seven,” he begins blowing smoke rings while Hughie continues eavesdropping. 

“Fuck Mère et son putain de putain de conneries mentales avec Soldier Boy! Je me fiche de la façon dont tu le fais, donne-moi ces fichiers.”

**Fuck Mother and his fucking mental bullshit drama with Soldier Boy! I don’t care how you fucking do it, get me those files.

“So what’s her deal? 

“Huh?” 

“How’d a fine ass bitch like her wind up with you fucking miscreants?”

“Y/N used to work for Vought, archives I think.”

”Think or know?”

Hughie tears his attention away from you, “what the fucks with the questions about Y/N? You’ve shown little interest in anything you can’t swallow, snort, kill, or fuck..oh no, you keep your dick away from her, she’s off limits!”

Instead of lashing out with his usual vulgarity and threats he says, “just curious. Seems like a flimsy reason for muff muncher to have recruited her. Gotta be more to it than she was just a librarian.” 

Soldier Boy's expression, not the first time, became melancholy. “From what I’ve seen of you idiots, it takes some majorly fucked up shit to break the trust between you,” referencing his team he trusted before Nicaragua, “so why’re they icing her out?” 

Hughie mentally kicked himself.

Despite an intense dislike of the Supes outdated attitudes; the overtly macho, arrogant, prone to violence against whoever disagreed with him or considered weak, no qualms in manipulating others, especially women, to garner what he wanted. But when he’d stop being Soldier Boy he’d open up..usually when coming down from the bennies and the booze loosening his tongue.

Conversations of the past, about his life over the decades in the realm of fame and a fair amount of nausea-inducing stories containing reprehensible deeds done with other famous persons, revealed he once dreamed of normal, becoming a father with the Countess and raising sons to be real men, whatever that concept meant in his head. 

Then outta nowhere he’d get that expression, leaving unspoken the thing that haunts him but Hughie was smart enough not to press his luck and ask who did this to you?

“Something happened with Grace, no one knows what, and Y/N left shortly before the group's disbandment in 2015.” 

The Supe went back to blowing smoke rings, feeling a nagging around the edges of his memories that’d started the moment you stood illuminated from behind in that nightshirt, doing little to disguise your sumptuous curves, eyes screaming recognition at not just knowing who he was but knowing him.

“If you insist on letting your freak flag fly, have Butcher pick up some bras ball wax ‘cause grass on the field went out with bearded clam,” you bark heading down the hall loudly shut your bedroom door.

He peered down at his exposed junk and..

“What’re you ogling nob gobbler?”

Six weeks later

The house was becoming a tinderbox.

Annie hadn’t let up with her IG posts after Herogasm and kept rejecting all of Hughie’s attempts to contact her, putting him into a funk. 

Mindstorm, a paranoid fuck from the go, had dozens of aliases and as many properties to hide out on in a three-state radius slowing the search for him.

And there was Black Noir, who’d done runner after seeing the video of his back from the dead captain's revenge on the Countess and not one of Butchers or your contacts had a fucking clue where the ninja wannabe had vanished to led to a mutual decision to lockdown Soldier Boy on your thankfully extensive property.

Of course when informed it sent him into the foulest of verbal tirades the likes of you hadn’t heard in years finally ordering him out of the house to take his frustration out on the old barn you hadn’t demonstrated yet.

He wouldn’t lay off the blow and it didn't help when confronted about his PTSD told Butcher, "okay, first off, I don't have shell shock, fuck you."

Yeah right, and you had ocean front property in Arizona.

Butchers went from obtaining a pound of weed to bricks to blunt his edginess and all of you had a constant contact high from his various combos of blunts. 

It sure a shit wasn’t helping the longer he was in your presence, the harder he was trying to get in your pants, pissing Butcher and Hughie off, all unaware it wasn’t because you had the only putang in a twenty mile radius. 

Thanks to one of the side effects from the original Comp V, the Supes constantly pumping out androstenone and it’s messing with your endocrine system to the point the specific meds you need to keep it balanced were becoming ineffective, hence the pains, and the copulin your producing is overstimulating his already extreme sex drive.

Fuck, your vehement hatred for Vogelbaum is resurfacing in spades.

*Private conversation sometime later

“Hughie, you wouldn’t happen to know who Mothers provider is?”

“As a matter of fact, I hooked him up with his current one a year ago.”

“I can backdoor and download those video files, maybe figure out what is in the physical ones he won’t send.”

You waited until everyone had turned in before entering your office.

Checking the connection, you insert the Air Pods and click the first MP4 file, the time stamp shows it was five months after Soldier Boy was captured.

It’s a routine examination of the unconscious Supe restrained at wrists and ankles, clad in nothing but a mask feeding whatever the Russians created to keep him unconscious.

You watch the video files progress over the decades from fairly placid routine examinations escalating to the sadistic testing of his physical resilience to external/internal damage.

A person thrusts a scalpel in his left eye and breaking free violently kills them before being gassed back into unconsciousness, a PP-19 Vityaz is fired into his mouth, the handheld saw with diamond blade applied to various parts of his body, acetylene torches left burning on one spot for hours, various corrosive fluids poured through tubes inserted down his throat, into his urethra and rectum and being placed, while conscious, in a container watch as the attached geiger counter ticks upwards with the massive doses of radiation released.

The videos would be hard enough to watch muted but the sounds coming through the Air Pods; his cursing and threats, sometimes turning to pleas, followed by unending agonized screams till Soldier Boy either succumbs to unconsciousness or is gassed down dredged up long-buried memories.

Vogelbaum standing outside the labs glass viewing window with the others..pages flipping on clipboards..chatting about previous results and what moderations were made for this round of testing..a tech in biohazard gear..your chests constricting and breath coming out in labored gasps turning into..

Spots exploded behind your eyes and your left cheeks throbbing like you’ve been sucker punched by an eighteen-wheeler when a violent shake makes you snap-focus.

Soldier Boys kneeling in front of you, eyes saying that, without a doubt, as hard as he just hit you confirms his suspicion..you’re a Supe.

“Ouch you motherfucker, what was that for?” 

“You were screaming the fucking house down ‘fraid you’d give mayonnaise eater a heart attack.��� 

“For someone who thinks streaming is a fad, you've picked up modern slang PDQ,” you smart off rubbing your sore cheek peer over his shoulder as a bug-eyed Hughie comes in ahead of Butcher, carrying a large black plastic bag and gashed cheek, “fuckin’ hell, wha’ goin’ on? I heard’ya from the bloody car!”

You move to get up but your legs have jelloize so the Supe grabs your arm lifting up like you weighed nothing, “she must've fallen asleep working and had a nightmare, right?”

Holy shit!! You can’t believe he didn’t rat out you.

“Yeah, crazy dream..Countess had de-evolved into a T-Rex..”

“What’s with you people an’that fuckin’ chicken? Bunch of blooming nutters!” He glances at Hughie, “get dressed, gotta lead on Mindstorm needing checked out.” 

“Oi wanker,” tossing the bag, “that’ll have’ta hold ya’ over for a bit.” He points at you, “if you lay one finger on ‘er while we’re gone..”

“You’ll what?”

“Stow the Alpha crap!” You snapped at both fuckers, “I’m sick and tired of your pissing contest! He may be a manipulative bastard who’s done a shit tone of reprehensible stuff and so have you Butcher, but he’s never forcibly raped anyone!”

“Wadda ’bout Gunpowder's complaints of finger diddling?”

“I smacked the kid around a bit but never bad place touched him.”

Butcher opens his mouth but you cut him off, “for some unfathomable reason you believe I need protecting. I mean, why else would you’ve left bitch boy behind..”

“Hey, I’m standing right here!” You give Hughie the look, “and I’m gonna get dressed now.”

Rubbing your forehead, notice how clammy it is, “God, feel like I’m covered in flop sweat.”

“I can help you get clean, scrub your back or anywhere..” you interrupt before the Supe gets any further.

“William, he’s taken the piss.”

You come out of your private bath to find Soldier Boy seated on the picture windows bench seat between the built-ins using his eagle head knife to finely cut a substance on an antique side table before adding it to a roll paper mixture by his elbow then seals it.

“What’s with the,” he gestures to your t-shirt wrapped hair. “It doesn’t damage like towels do while drying.”

Sitting down you lean back against one built-in, “what’d you lace that Bob Hope with?”

Tapping the side of his nose, “guaranteed to kill a blue whale but mellow out a Supe like nothing else.”

“Seriously?”

“Mm-hmm, you need something to take the edge ‘cause wiggin’ out like that,” his jaw ticked, “you never stop remembering what created it.”

“Step one,” leaning over he snorted one of several lines, “Legend always has the best Star-Spangled Powder, not like that flake shit the limey bastard gets.”

“Step two,” gestures to you to do a line picks up the blunt flicked the old butane lighter he’s had since WWII lit up the blunt watches you blink rapidly at the burning sensation in your nasal passages and sucks in a lungful rasps out, “Step three,” catching you unawares he sprang forward nailing you with a shotgun kiss.

The dope's vapor hits your system like an aphrodisiac, all your resistance instantaneously dissolves and, once again, you turn the tables roughly knocking the Supe on his back straddle his hips and he smirks up at you.

“I do like the aggressive type.”

“Do you ever shut the fuck up?”

He responds by tugging the shirt off and tangling his thick fingers into your damp hair jerked you into a bruising kiss that was all teeth and tongue before he's breathily asking, “is this why you had a falling out with Mallory?”

“Fucking cock tease,” you grunt out grinding your core against his hard as his shield member, “yes, she kicked me to the curb over my hair dying technique.”

“Fucking smart ass,” his lush lips move over your necks delicate skin, “was it you're being familiar with weaponry? Those booby traps around your property; special ops would be envious.”

“You’ve met my associates, where the hell do you think I learned..”

"..so how’d she find out?”

You abruptly sit back, “what game are you playing at,” moving to get off him he tightened his grip in your hair, “these last week's you’ve been driving me crazy like no woman ever has. I know it's something to do with these,” reaching behind a pillow he took out the pill bottle from your nightstand, “don’t know what this shit is but I know Vought pharma when I see it!”

“You damn well know Vought's got their mitts in everything..”

“..why am I the only one being affected by your tang without actually being between your thighs?” 

“Good night, Ben,” jamming your thumb into a pressure point he loosened his grip and you slid off him wobble to your bed not caring your hairs still damp crawl on top grabbing the body pillow curl up around it.

You laid there half lucid as the drugs dwindled your consciousness began humming that tune, the one who’s words you lost, that had brought you comfort after Vogelbaums tests on the car ride home.

The pissed off Supe snorts the other lines licks the pad of his index finger swiped up the bits left rubbing it over his gums sits back stares out the window puffin the blunt intending to ignore you when the tune travels across the quiet room triggering a long-forgotten memory from another time.

~~~

The bedcurtains open and the covers are flung off.

 “Wake up Benjamin,” his governess snapped at him in her clip accent, “it's 7:00 and your father demands you present yourself promptly at 7:45. Stupid child, you’re as lazy as those wogs he employs in his mills!” Her heels echoed on the wooden floor as she left.

Benjamin slid out his barely warm bed, felt the bitterly cold floor under his small feet, penetrating his bones to the marrow, whimpers crossing to his clothes chest and pulling out his thick winter undergarments began dressing himself. 

By the time he finished tying his boots the bedroom door reopened and he’s greeted by a smiling Mary, the cook's assistant who brought his meals every day.

“There’s my handsome young man, eat up before it’s cold.” She stayed till he’s done, chatting away about the latest household gossip. 

While Mary tries to stay cheerful, they both know this is the last time they’ll get to share secrets now he’s turned six and leaving to attend boarding school as his father did.

When he’s done, Benjamin's eyes fill with tears.

“We canna have that, spoiling those bonnie green eyes with tears.” 

Using a corner of her pinny dabs his face dry, “there, all better. Now, we're not gonna pretend you’re not gonna be sad, so when ya’ feel down, sing our special song to yourself, it’ll put the happy back inna.”

Holding out her hands he steps up on her booted feet and they dance, singing together one last time.

~~~

A bubble of anger rolled up from his depths. 

Where did she learn that fucking song?

He got up intent on beating the truth outta her saw something in his peripheral and froze, there’s an old photo of himself in a shadow box.

Lifting it off the shelf finds the other half blocked by a child’s vintage wood block sits back down removes its back and takes both items out, instinctively knowing they were a key in the puzzle that was Y/N examines the old block first, its colors faded with time, sat it on the table.

Delicately lifting the equally aged picture between his extraordinarily strong fingers notices the ink stamp on its back.

March 1

Vought R&D Laboratory

The Supes heart rate increased and not from the drugs, hesitant to flip the photo over, “suck it up you pansy ass cry baby bitch..I'm not a fucking pussy!”

In the photograph he’s clad in his Supe-suit sitting cross-legged on a colorful, cartoon animal area rug mirthfully smiling at a thirteen-month-old girl in a sunny yellow dress holding the wood block out to him.

SPN TAGS: @donnaintx @lyarr24 @flamencodiva @b3autyfuldisast3r @lassie-bird @nancymcl @spnbaby-67 @leigh70

Dean/Jensen: @thoughts-and-funnies @stoneyggirl2 @akshi8278 @b3autyfuldisast3r @smoothdogsgirl @siospins2

Soldier Boy: @charred-angelwings @spnwoman @impalaspixie @globetrotter28

[olderthannetfic]

I think there was a thing where you could publish fanfiction for money. it was like a subscription service to access all the fic and it was on Amazon maybe? And only fic of IPs that the company already owned. Gilmore Girls and Vampire Diaries were among the IPs you could publish fic about. I remember hearing about it while watching Jenny Nicholson's hour-long recap of everything Vampire Diaries including how the OG author of the books got fired and then published the "unofficial" sequels as fanfiction on the service.

Anyway, the service failed and shut down but it was probably one of the most solid ways to monetize fic on a larger scale since you could sell the fanfiction as, well, fanfiction, since the IP owners were endorsing it and wouldn't sue. I'm not saying it was a good idea, just that it was probably the most workable example I've seen and it still required a giant megacorp with ownership of tons of IPs and plenty of restrictions.

--

Kindle Worlds.

It was every bit as prudish as I'd expect and a terrible deal for the authors aside from that unique situation with the OG author.

---

From Fanlore:

Rules and Restrictions

The Kindle Worlds features that concern fanfiction writers include:

Amazon exclusivity, possibly with DRM.

Amazon sets the price (probably based on word count)

No "pornography," which is not defined

No "offensive content," said to include racial slurs and graphic violence but otherwise not defined

Amazon acquires global publication rights for the length of copyright

While the author retains copyright of original characters, settings, etc., they are licensed for use by other Kindle World's authors, and the original copyright holder may use those elements with no further payment to the (fan) author.

---

This was flat out an attempt to exploit writers. It was hot garbage, and I'm glad it died.

This would never work on a large scale, and the reason is simple: the people who own IP fans actually want to write about don't agree to this kind of thing. A few of the included fandoms were popular, but most weren't.

[koraki-pharmakis]

Hellenismos Religiogender Masterlist

If you don't like xenogenders or religiogenders, good for you, keep scrolling! This is for people who do like them, or would like another way to merge praxis and identity.

This is a list of every genuine, non-bigoted gender I could find based on Hellenismos and its deities.

First, we'll start with some simple definitions! Hellenismos is the religion of Hellenic Polytheism, wherein one worships the Ancient Greek theoi (gods). Cultural genders are genders restricted to members of a specific culture. For example, boi is a cultural gender exclusive to Black transmascs. A religiogender is a gender based on or rooted in one's religion, like the Jewish gender tumtum. Not all religiogenders are xenogenders--for example, it may even be offensive to call tumtum a xenogender. A xenogender is a gender falling outside of what is generally considered to be a gender.

This list will be split into three sections: Modern, Ancient-Inspired, and Ancient. Modern is a term that is fully modern without historical basis, though it may use historic language; Ancient-Inspired is a term directly named after a real Ancient group or individual, but that may bend the concept it's named for; Ancient is a term that has largely retained its ancient meaning (as far as we know.)

Some, but not all, of these terms are exclusive. If a term does not say it's exclusive to a certain group or related to worship, it may be used by non-Hellenic Pagans or anyone who identifies with it! Importantly, you do not need to be trans or nonbinary to use a xenogender! If a term isn't noted as trans/enby/AGAB-specific, you can identify with it.

The summaries are brief and do not fully capture the terms they're about--click the names if you want details!

With that out of the way, let's crack in!

Modern

Antheic - A gender characterized by beauty in love in your identity, based on Aphrodite and her attendant Antheia

Apolloian - A gender related to worshiping Apollon

Apollox - A gender related to Apollon

Dionygender - A gender in some way related to Dionysos

Dionysian - A gender related to being a devotee of Dionysos

Gaeagender - A gender connected to Gaia and the Earth

Hermaphrian - A gender related to worshiping of Hermaphroditos

Keresgender - A gender related to the Keres and/or violent death

Maenadian - A gender related to Dionysos and/or Dionysian philosophy, somewhat connected to femininity but not just female

Marigender - A gender related to Ares, Mars (Roman), and/or the planet Mars

Mercugender - A gender related to Hermes, Mercury (Roman), and/or the planet Mercury

Neptunigender - A gender related to Poseidon, Neptune (Roman), and/or the planet Neptune

Ourania(gender) - A heavenly gender that feels blessed by Aphrodite, often by/for Aphrodite worshipers and devotees

Plutigender - A gender related to Hades, Pluto (Roman), or the planet Pluto

Poseidei - A gender related to worshipping Poseidon

Poseidonx - A gender related to Poseidon

Sappholatryc - A gender related to worshipping Sappho

Sonnegender - A gender related to Helios, Sol (Roman), and/or the Sun

Terragender - A gender related to Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, Terra (Roman), and/or the planet Earth

Thanagender - A gender related to Thanatos and/or peaceful death

Uranagender - A gender related to Ouranos, Uranus (Roman), and/or the planet Uranus

Venugender - A gender elated to Aphrodite, Venus (Roman), and/or the planet Venus

Ancient-Inspired

Dionysian Gender System - A gender system for worshipers of Dionysos tied to the historical Cult of Dionysos

Dionysian Gender/Dionygender - An umbrella term for those who use the Dionysian Gender System as well as someone whose gender is tied to worshiping Dionysos Maedic/Maegender - A gender related to the Maenads with ties to nonconforming femininity, appreciating/loving women, and power Thyrsoan/Thyrsogender - A gender named after the Thyrsos with ties to the androgynous and mixed gender spectrum, enbies, and life Satyrian/Satyrigender - A gender related to the Satyrs with ties to the masculine gender spectrum, vincians, and wildness

Iphisian - A gender for Hellenists who are AFAB or intersex & transgender, especially worshipers of Hera, Aphrodite, or Isis (Egyptian), named after the myth of the trans male Iphis

Ithyphalloi - A gender for AFAB bigender worshipers of Dionysos, inspired by the historic dancers by the same name

Teiresian - A gender for Hellenists who are bigender, genderfluid, multigender, or AMAB and transgender, especially worshipers of Apollon, Hera, or Hermes, named after the priest Tiersias

Ancient

Androgynes - Literally “womanly man" or "manly woman”; a common epithet of entities who by modern standards would likely be nonbinary. This word is the root of androgynous, and can apply to any nonbinary or even some GNC individuals

Enaree - Hellenic and Scythian transfeminine individuals who worship Aphrodite and/or Argimpasa

Eunoukhos - (Eunuch) A castrated male or AMAB transgender person

Gallus - A castrated male or AMAB trans priest(ess) of Cybele/Agdistis, in modern times may be transsex, an andrognyous man, an intersex person, or an AMAB trans person

Hermaphr*dite - A person possessing both male and female characteristics--due to its modern context as a slur, only intersex people may use this identity

If you find a term you like on this post, feel free to let me know! I'd love to hear it. This was done with a few weeks of work, and it'd be nice to know if it paid off.

RBs and replies are welcome! TERFs, transmeds, anti-MOGAI, etc. DNI

[piccolina-mina]

Our girl is thriving this season, but what the fuck is this Wyatt plot? I need your thinks about this one. I just knew you'd be six posts in on this by now. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

*sighs* For fk's sake, nonny. I don't even like talking about it because I get ranty.

What do you want me to say? Honestly, everything you can imagine I would feel about this, you're probably right. Because you know, I'm that b*tch always getting ranty about racism and stuff.

In short, I hate it. I think it's unnecessary, tone-deaf, random, pointless, lowkey offensive, and illogical. I legitimately find it triggering AF. And it doesn't make sense.

It's Unnecessary. There is a fraction of a chance that it will connect to something more significant, but even if that's the case, I'm confident that end result or connection could've taken place without this random reform racist Wyatt storyline. This series has struggled enough as it is properly utilizing all of its primary characters as well as providing them with decent screentime and arcs. It literally makes no sense to spend any of that time that could be used elsewhere on primary characters on a recurring guest star.

This isn't actually about Rosa, it's about Wyatt. Following up on the previous point, this specific arc caters to Wyatt. Revolves around Wyatt. Rosa is just a passive participant and vessel for this Wyatt storyline. So again, the arc itself is about a recurring character. At least when they did something similarly bringing back Cam to siphon time and arcs away from its main cast they found ways to implement it better and tied her to multiple main characters, so it wasn't a total waste.

The intended Wyatt/Rosa parallel is illogical. I know what they're intending to do with this storyline, drawing parallels between Rosa's experience coming back from the dead after ten years and trying to make sense of that and atone for things before and having this second chance to make things right and go down the right path and so forth and Wyatt losing his memory and his racist ways and having to reconcile with who he was to who he can be and all of that. I understand the concept they're trying to sell. It just doesn't work. Rosa's addiction is not equivalent to Wyatt's racism and violence. Her mental illness isn't either. It's dangerous to invite the comparasions with this storyline.

It's not successful redemption. True redemption is Wyatt knowing and remembering his actions and then trying to atone for them. It's not the convenience of amnesia wiping out his memory only giving him distance from his actions rather than really facing up to them. Because of the amnesia, to Wyatt, it's like he's hearing about another person. It's a cop out. He doesn't Actually have to do the work to redeem himself or atone or learn or grow. IF we're supposed to compare it to Rosa, she knew what she did and remembers and knows how she hurt her loved ones or whatever and she's actively trying to make amends for that as part of her program... a program that Wyatt isn't working or anything BTW.

They've contradicted themselves too much and are rewriting their own work and thus twisting everything up just to make this storyline work and it still doesn't. The timeline is all fkd up... what they established already all of it..The Longs were racist before Kate's death. Kate was racist. To suggest that a 10+ amnesiac blackout clean slates and erases all of Wyatt's racism is just wrong. As in it literally doesn't even make any sense. That is not how the amnesia works but they keep playing both sides of it trying to make it work. To sell us what they're claiming, he would have to have ALL of his memories wiped and have forgotten who he was completely.

Wyatt is behaving like he's shocked by racism in this town but they're also trying to argue that he was born into it. Wyatt was surrounded by racists and his friends come from racist families but he's acting like the very concept of him ever being ingratiated in it is some huge surprise. Wyatt looks affronted by things like Confederate flags. Wyatt being steeped in and surrounded by racism predates his amnesia period.

Kyle mentioned that line about Wyatt putting Whites Only on water fountains, and it sounded like a school prank. It also sounded like something Kyle was reminding Rosa of as if she was alive when that incident happened. Therefore, Wyatt was doing racist stuff before she died. Kyle would've been out of school by then so how else would he know that or why would he bother retaining it?

IF Wyatt and Rosa really were friends before (which holy retcon), then it makes no real sense that he would get psychopathically angry about his "friend" who does drugs getting into a car accident with his sister who does drugs. He would've mourned them both not jumped to severe racism and violence. But both he and Jasmine's family (who are MIA for all of this) did that... jumped to racism. So was Wyatt indoctrinated by his family or indoctrinated by message boards and shit? And if Wyatt and Rosa were friends than why was Kate such a racist bitch to Rosa?

They're backdrafting history JUST to make this storyline that we don't need with a character who isn't even a main one to work.

By not actually addressing that Wyatt has to unlearn racism and giving him an out through amnesia, there is the very realistic issue of that latent racism to come out at any given time. What happens when he's drunk? What happens when he's really angry at a POC?

Tying Wyatt's redemption with his clear affection for Rosa is again dangerous and irresponsible. I know we would all like to think that love is the way and through love it can heal racism, but that puts the responsibility on the disenfranchised person to be "lovable." Because if Wyatt WAS friends with Rosa once then that means the second Rosa did something unlovable she was just another *insert racist slur of choosing* right? It means that there's a possibility that if his feelings for Rosa dwindle or things go sideways in some way there's a chance that he could revert back to those racist ways. Loving Rosa(linda) and pinning all of his wanting to be better on her because of her makes his actively learning to be anti-racist conditional. Right now he's not doing this for him. He's doing it because of Rosa.

This entire storyline has placed the burden of forgiveness on Rosa, his victim. Without him ever having to actually make amends. It's this turn the other cheek BS that means there's nothing too big or harmful that can't result in forgiveness. It relies on Rosa and all that she represents to extend an inhumane level of mercy and grace to their tormentor and oppressor that was never once extended to them. It's such a consistent and problematic thing projected on disenfranchised parties that ONLY benefits the majority and makes them feel good. It's a narrative of meeting someone halfway when the playing field was uneven and the minorities are in actuality doing more work and making a longer trek. Halfway and meeting in the middle only works if both sides were even. They are not. It's the reaching across the aisle both sidesms when one side was clearly and actively more harmful than the other and than calling that peace and equity. It is not.

This storyline was meant to scintillate some viewers with this "what if" notion and teach others a meaningful lesson or be this poorly thought out gateway to exploring a complex storyline but it came at the expense of other demographics who actively have to deal with racist crap. And because of their problematic approach what is simply "just entertainment" to some who has the luxury of not having to think about it beyond that, is just gross and insanely triggering and uncomfortable to others. The others who deal with the reality of the subject at hand.

They wrote themselves into a corner with Wyatt so trying to dig him out of that no matter the cost or logic is absurd. This storyline could've worked better if Wyatt's racism didn't also include conscious, constant, extreme violence. But they spent all of this time making Wyatt the face of violent racism and now are trying to redeem him with no real effort. He wasn't just using slurs or making microaggressions. He wasn't some insensitive or aloof white person. He is a murderer. He has killed people. He technically murdered Liz in cold-blood. He knew she was in the crashdown when he shot up the place. The lights were still on. He beat up Arturo so badly he nearly killed him well after his friends even stopped. He attacked and intended to kill Rosa. And his handiwork was a constant thing, enough for Jenna to comment on it. And now we're supposed to ignore all of that because he has amnesia and has puppy dog eyes?

The fact that we can entertain (and for some succeed) Wyatt in all of his hot white dudeness' redemption after everything he has done slips into the inherent racism of society in the first place and is enraging. Because systemically and culturally and inherently society will bend over backwards to find a way to absolve a hot white guy no matter his actions. Flint and Noah couldn't get this type of redemption... So their intended storyline about evolving from racism STILL plays into the racist structures set up in society.

And because some people like it, there's this slippery territory of NO everyone who genuinely enjoys this aren't racist for enjoying it. But yes, this entire storyline and how it is playing out is at the very least racially insensitive.

In order for this storyline to work they would actually have to show Wyatt doing the work. They don't have enough time to dedicate to such a delicate storyline. It's been a C and D filler storyline with 45 second to a minute scenes. That's not enough time to explore this properly. We would've needed to see Wyatt returning home from the hospital. We would've needed to see Wyatt with his friends and it not feeling right and his discomfort. We would've needed to see Wyatt going through his yearbook and googling himself and the horror and disgust he felt. We would need to see this through his eyes. But we didn't have the time for that and we wouldn't have anyway because he's not a main character. We only get Wyatt through Rosa's eyes and they haven't even dedicated enough time to that for it to work. Rosa isn't conflicted at all. She didn't struggle to forgive him. She was reduced to a school girl with a crush and an insane level of grace and they just threw that at us with no buildup whatsoever. I don't know where Rosa's head is and how she got to this to place. Not really. And the only thing working about this is the chemistry between two actors who are allegedly dating so of course there's chemistry.

It literally feels like another instance of a favorite actor being shoehorned into a storyline just for the hell of it. Just because they didn't want to let Dylan go or something. Just to give him something else to do.

[texas-hates-taxes-too]

Have to say, Iasip started off being Way worse than rvb in terms of offensiveness (I mean I think they've used every slur in the book rlly) but somehow ended up being 100 times better....now I want the same for rvb...

If a show like always sunny can do it then why can't rvb?? 😭😭

Iasip showed that you can have important messages about sexuality, gender, sexism, racism etc while still retaining the chaos and the comedy and not having the characters feel too ooc or unflawed. And RvB doesn't necessarily need to have messages like that but it could certainly stop dancing around sexuality and similar topics. Hhh idk. I just want rvb to be as good as its always sunny got

[thevagueambition]

Danish Queer Vocab

Content warning for frank discussion of slurs with no censorship. 

Note that the Danish relationship to slurs is way more casual than the Anglophone one, particularly in the queer community. 

Also note that we use a lot of untranslated loanwords from English, and I’ll only note those if the meaning is different in some significant way.

LGBT+ Danmark also has a dictionary (in Danish) here.

Btw Danes, I’m curious if your view on any of these words differ from how I read them/would translate them.

Generally:

Springe ud [af skabet] / Komme ud [af skabet]: Come out [of the closet]. The former is technically the established phrase in Danish (lit. “jump out of the closet”), but young people often use the latter, Anglicised version.

Regnbuefamilie: Literally “rainbow family.” Families where one or more of the parents are part of the LGBTQ community, particularly when they reject the traditional nuclear family model.

Regnbuebarn: Child of a regnbuefamilie. 

Normkritik: Literally norm critique or criticism, a praxis where social and societal norms are questioned, often in the context of queer activists or feminists encouraging schools to be more normkritiske in their pedagogy (I suspect it comes from Swedish and is applied more broadly in the Swedish usage)

Queer: An academic or political term, as in queer theory, and sometimes used as an umbrella term for the community like in its English usage. Unlike in English, no negative usage exists and the term is not controversial.

Miljøet: In slang usage, the (gay/queer) scene in a given city. Note than “miljøet” usually means “the environment” in ordinary conversation, although “miljø” may be used in a similar way to describe other communities, e.g. “kunstnermiljøet” for artistic circles.

LGBT-miljøet: The LGBT community

Queer-miljøet: The Queer community

Gender vocab:

Fejlkønne / Miskønne: Misgender (I have personally only heard the former, but LGBT+ Danmark only list the latter)

Transkønnet: Transgender

Transkønnede: Transgender people

Transperson / Transpersoner: Trans person / Trans people, frequently the  umbrella term within the community (sometimes also includes transvestites)

Transmand: Trans man

Transkvinde: Trans woman

Ikke-binær / Non-binær: Non-binary

Interkønnet: Intersex (Danish does not have the “gender/sex” division)

Ciskønnet: Cisgender

Transvestit: Transvestite, crossdresser. Retains more of the older usage where a level of genderfluidity is often implied than the English equivalent does although is similarly falling out of use. Is not generally considered offensive unless misapplied to e.g. trans women.

hen/hen/hens: From Finnish “hän” through the Swedish usage as a neopronoun, originally in feminist writing but adopted by Swedish non-binary people, rare in Denmark.

de/dem/deres: They pronouns, often used by non-binary Danes, although not as often as the English counterpart is used in English. Not to be confused with De/Dem/Deres, which is the (mostly obsolete) formal you pronoun set (cf. french Vous).

Sexuality vocab:

Homoseksuel: Homosexual, gay. Unlike the English equivalent, this is always an adjective. Not considered offensive, but may come off as somewhat formal.

Homoseksuelle: Gay people

Homo (adjective or prefix): Gay in a neutral sense (see the next few entries)

Homobar: Gay bar

Homovielse: Gay marriage

Homofest: Literally “gay party”, usually a reference to a Pride event

Homosex: Gay sex

Homomiljøet: The gay community (or scene)

Homo (noun): Gay, homo, generally the former when used inside the community (”homoer” is comparable to “gays”) and the latter when used outside it, although even then it’s not as derogatory as I suspect the English counterpart is.

Samkønnet forhold / Samkønnet par: Same-sex relationship / Same-sex couple

Samkønnet sex: The more academic term for gay sex. Properly translates to sex between two people of the same gender.

Samkønsægteskab: Same-sex marriage (homovielser is more common, in my estimation)

Bøsse: Gay man, often used derogatorily among kids and teens (unless that’s changed in the last 5-10 years since I was around them), but usually neutral and the most common word for gay man, particularly within the community. Note that “bøsse” can also mean rifle or collection box — the sexual usage was originally a crude reference to a rifle being loaded or cleaned.

Bøssebar: Gay (male) bar

Bøssemiljøet: The gay male scene (or community)

Bøsserøv: Derogatory, lit. bøsse + arse

Bøssekarl: Derogatory, lit. bøsse + lad

Bøssesvin: Extremely derogatory, lit. bøsse + swine. In Danish, the worst slurs for various groups tend to compound words including svin.

Svans: Derogatory, feminine gay man. Comparable to “fairy” or “queen.”

Lesbisk: Lesbian

Lebbe: Lesbian, comparable to “lesbo.” Casual slang most of the time, occasionally derogatory.

Lebbebar: Lesbian bar

Betonlebbe: Masculine lesbian, lit. concrete + lebbe. Comparable to “stone butch” within the community or “dyke” when used derogatorily.

Bjørn: Bear

Biseksuel, panseksuel, aseksuel, osv.: Bisexual, pansexual, asexual, etc. 

Homoromantisk, biromantisk, panromantisk, aromantisk, osv: Homoromantic, biromantic, panromantic, aromantic, etc

Homofil, bifil: Homophile, biphile, outdated words for homosexual and bisexual, coined to deemphasise the sexual aspect as part of the homophile movement in the 50s which was popular enough in Denmark that you’ll very occasionally hear these terms pop up. For the record, though, these are just the normal terms in Norwegian.

Hetero: Straight

Heteroer: Straight people

[imaginedigimon]

u got any lgbtq+ hcs for any of the main 12 adventure and 02 kids?

🤔 Hmm...

Now Anon, I’m warning you: I’m probably not going to give you what you want for this. But I’m going to try.

I REALLY HOPE I DON’T FUCK THIS UP, FRIENDS *stressing out a bit I will not lie*

LGBTQ+ Headcanons for 01 + 02 Gang

Tai [Taichi]

Doesn’t know the meaning of the word “straight” except in terms of line segments in math (but even then, he’s a little lost)

He probably saw the pride flag for the first time when he was 14 and because it reminded him of the Crests thought, “I CAN GET BEHIND THAT”

When he learned the real meaning of pride and the LGBTQ+ community, he was even more ecstatic

Has definitely beaten up some homophobes before

And transphobes

He’s beaten up a lot of people in general

Realized after a while that he’s pansexual himself and started painting his face with the pan flag everyday

Will not deny that he has a thing for Matt and Sora at the same time and is happy if they’re happy but would really like to kiss them both pls

Matt [Yamato]

He most certainly questioned his own gender for a while, though he can’t pinpoint when it started

Gabumon told him it didn’t matter what he identified as, they’d always be partners anyway, so that really helped him a lot

It also helped that Tai was willing to beat people’s asses for him

Has also beaten up some homophobes and transphobes (Tai has been the one to drag him away from some fights)

Wears pins of all the pride flags at all times because fuck you haters

Also would like to kiss Tai, just like once or twice or a million times

Identifies as bisexual most likely

Sora

Doesn’t mention it a lot, but Mimi was probably her first kiss (by accident...OR WAS IT?)

She was the type of person who, because she grew up in a very hetero-normative world, wasn’t sure what it meant to like a girl

Probably asked Tai when she was 15 and still thinking about Mimi’s hair and lips when he explained to her that it was perfectly normal

She never forgot that conversation

Has continuously questioned her identity and orientation throughout the years, though only Biyomon has been privy to this struggle

Finally settled on saying she’s queer because she’s not much for labels (especially when she’s in a constant state of questioning)

Definitely asked Mimi to kiss her again just so it wouldn’t be an accident

Izzy [Koshiro]

Always a kid before his time, knew how to explain all aspects of pride to everyone else before they even knew what the LGBTQ+ community was

Has PowerPoints to make things clearer

Around age 17 or 18, he started asking that everyone use he/him or they/them pronouns, and this hasn’t changed since

Everyone said “a’ight” because they love him no matter what

Has always had some kind of romantic feelings for just about everyone in the group, but nothing beyond that

This poor sweetie pie cried the night he realized he was asexual and called Joe, who said in the most intense voice he’d ever heard, “You think that matters to us? We love you, Izzy, and don’t you ever forget that”

Has decided Joe is the coolest guy ever

Started some social media account where it’s nothing but pictures of Tai with various pride symbols painted on his face and it’s blown up

Mimi

Unlike Sora, she didn’t think much about the kiss

She had already accepted that she liked girls by that point

Definitely had a crush on Yolei too, though she played it cool

YOU CANNOT TELL ME SHE DIDN’T CONSIDER MEIKO HER TRUE LOVE

Teases Izzy a lot because she has a bit of a crush on him too, though this confused her because she thought she liked girls

The day she learned the term homoflexible she thought she was dreaming

But she wasn’t

Still, Sora and Yolei and Meiko are her girls and she loves them very dearly

Has the same enthusiasm as Tai and paints the various flags on her face as well (became part of that social media account Izzy started)

You can catch her and Tai at a pride parade screaming at the top of their lungs

Joe [Jou/Jyou]

I’ll admit, he’s probably the token straight? But he’s also one of those guys who’s not afraid to tell Matt he looks handsome today

Has needed to ask Izzy a lot of questions because he’s like me and wants to know and not offend anyone because he’s ignorant or doesn’t know something

Had a moment similar to me where he wondered if he really was straight

Decided he still was, but would support anyone and everyone because that’s just the guy he is

You know how he becomes a doctor? He most CERTAINLY helps with transitioning whenever he can because he’s a GOOD. DOCTOR.

Doesn’t beat up haters, but gives them a death glare that’s just as effective

Wore around a rainbow doctor’s coat because he COULD and no one tried to stop him because they knew he’d quit on the spot

Takeru [T.K.]

Been the guy to say “respect LGBTQ+ rights or die by my sword” or something like that

Lowkey had a crush on Angemon and Angewomon simulanteously and could NOT for the life of him explain why that was

Never told either of them this though

Or Kari

Definitely didn’t tell Kari

Okay yes, Tai is his big brother, but he definitely had a crush on the guy for about 2 weeks before he met Kari and everything changed

Hasn’t told either of them this

Like Sora, has only said he identifies as queer - he’d like to figure it out/delve deeper but is too busy flirting with everyone to care

Brings 5 different dates to his brother’s concerts at the same time and they all have to vie for his attention - it’s usually whoever says the most positive things about his brother

Has done at least 6 drag shows so far and let me tell you - KILLS IT every time

Kari is his forever girl but keeps winking at Ken just to make him blush

Kari [Hikari]

Also had a crush on Angewomon like how could she NOT

Also had crushes on Matt, Izzy, Mimi, and Sora (but not Joe for some reason)

When she realized her feelings for T.K. she got really really nervous (because of all his dates, you see)

Was also confused because she was pretty confused about her range of crushes over the years

Tai came out as pan to her first and she realized that sounded a lot like her

She’s a pan baby and she’s proud of it (and thanks her brother for supporting her)

Gave a rainbow pin to T.K. for his birthday and in return he kissed her

They go to ALL the pride events and nothing can stop them

Occasionally uses they/them pronouns on days she’s questioning

Davis [Daisuke]

Tai was his first love and you cannot change my mind about this

Meeting Kari was like meeting a Tai Who Would Notice Him and that was pretty rad

But he also likes her because of her, too

The world kinda stopped when he met Ken, though

Like damn, look at those soccer skills

I’m gonna be real, I think Davis is soccersexual (or footballsexual for non-Muricans)

Them soccer players be really hot though

Always has questions about the community, but never retains the answers

The PowerPoints, unfortunately, do not help

Eventually gave up and said, “I’M A DUMBASS BUT I SUPPORT YOU ALL”

They tried to tell him he should at least know what he’s talking about

(We’re still working on that)

Wears rainbow shirts with rainbow pants and it’s very atrocious but very appreciated

He is gay. He sometimes does crimes. We accept him anyway.

[T.K. asked him if he wanted to go to a drag show, he said “okay?” and really really loved it now he goes all the time]

Yolei [Miyako]

Mimi is hot, Ken is hot, Kari is hot, Matt’s kinda hot, everyone’s hot

She’s never been able to fully accept this because how is everyone so hot

Mimi was her first love, and Ken was her first boyfriend

She never forgot the firsts

Attracted to any and everyone it seems

She likes to call herself a frying pan and it makes everyone facepalm a little bit

Constantly dresses in the colors on the pan flag because she looks GOOD in them and it’s a way to remind everyone not to mess with her or her community

Tries to pretend she doesn’t know Mimi and Tai when she’s at a pride event and they’re out here acting like fools

But she also loves how unerringly supportive they are

Cody [Iori]

He was the first one everyone came out to, like for some reason he’s that guy

Literally the first person to offer you support

One day he told everyone he was transgender, and while they were surprised, they also didn’t react the way he was expecting

They actually hugged him immediately and said, “But don’t worry we love love love you” and Tai started painting the trans flag on Cody’s face until Cody said, “Guys please fuck off for a sec”

When he becomes a lawyer, he becomes the type of lawyer to defend anyone who was arrested on basis of race/identity/orientation/gender like the boss he is

Suspects he might be ace but hasn’t really delved into it much

He’s too busy scolding Davis for doing dumb things

Ken

Can everyone stop being hot for a sec? -direct quote from Ken himself

He’s in love with all the 02 kids and he’s accepted this

Yolei somehow stole his heart, but T.K.’s winks send it aflutter

He wants them both to stop (but they won’t)

Was completely unaware that Davis also liked him (even though it was really obvious?)

He identifies as bi and, like Izzy, uses they/them pronouns interchangeably with he/him

One of the good detectives on the force. Will bust your ass if you say any offensive slurs about anyone. [Has gotten suspended a few times for doing this BUT IT WAS FUCKING WORTH IT.]

Always the one on duty when Davis gets arrested for his crimes and it’s hecka exhausting

---------

Uhm... did I do good? I’ll admit, I was a little nervous since I myself am straight and cisgender (or cishet, as I’ve learned is the term)  😥  😥

Anon, I really do hope I did a good job!

And if I didn’t you can roast me in the flames of Meramon Hell

[villainousshakespeare]

A Forest Interlude Chapter 25 - Den of Reprobates

Summary: Eleonore (OFC) discovers a wounded man in the woods near her home and seeks to heal him. Little does she know that it is none other than the heir to the throne, Prince Hal of England.

Chapter: 25 of 28

Rated E

Warnings: smut, sex fluff, angst, oral sex, fingering, hand jobs

(spoiler - don’t worry, it will all work out okay in the end)

In this chapter: Nell is taken to answer for marrying Hal, but not to where she expected.

Read the entire story on AO3

@nrthmnsplbnd09 ;  @nonsensicalobsessions @yespolkadotkitty@just-the-hiddles @from-hel-i-with-love  livviedoo@hopelessromanticspoonie @arch-venus25 @caffiend-queen@dangertoozmanykids101 @kellatron55 @myoxisbroken@thecutestlittlebunbunfairy @vodka-and-some-sass @shiningloki@hiddlesholic @isitmadnessrpg​

It took about five minutes before Nell began to realize something was wrong. Before that, her mind had been too concerned with trying to reason out what the king would want with her. She knew he disapproved of her marriage to Hal of course, but why act on that now? It had been almost two weeks and he had not lifted a finger to part them. Surely he must realize that the more time they spent together, the more firmly cemented their union would appear to the church and, just as importantly, the French king.

She was also fretting about what Hal's reaction would be upon finding her gone. Her husband was normally a rational, intelligent man, but she had seen what happened when he felt those that he loved were being threatened. Why, just look at the dust up with Kent at the market! She could just see him now, storming into the king's chambers with no thought for manners or who might be present to witness his breach of educate. She just prayed he did nothing irrevocable, nothing so beyond the pale that he landed in the Tower as a result.

It was not until they had gotten a ways from her home that it began to dawn on her that the direction they were heading seemed incorrect. She did not know London well of course, and she had been rather distracted on her previous trips to and from the palace, but she was fairly certain it was not their destination. Instead of large houses and high-end establishments, the streets she was marched down were becoming more and more comprised of middle class shops.

When she ventured to suggest as much to the guard leading them down the rutted lane, she was treated to a brusque, quelling retort that just skirted the edge of being a threat were to speak again. It did not seem like how a well trained royal retainer would address a Princess, no matter how out of the king's grace she might be.

Her next clue came when she finally took a good look at her escorts. The uniforms themselves were in well made, if a touch wrinkled, but they seemed oddly ill fitting. The man to her left had sleeves that reached only part way down his forearms, and the one to her right was obviously too slight for the voluminous clothes he wore. Their weapons as well were suspiciously mismatched. Only the two in front had proper swords, the rest carried knives, and in one case a staff.

All of this led her to the obvious conclusion that these "royal guards" were no such thing. Who they were or where they might be taking her, she had no idea. She knew that the deception should be making her more afraid - the king would not physically harm her - but for some reason she felt only a wave of relief. Brigands or mercenaries hired by their enemies she had no doubt she and Hal could defeat. The power of the English crown she had less confidence in thwarting. Silently she thanked Hal's over protective streak for the dagger he had gifted her with, a humorous present considering she had also bought one for him. She could feel it now in a small sheath inside her soft boot. He had been giving her occasional lessons in using it as well, and though those had mainly devolved into his cutting open her clothing, at least she knew how to hold the blade correctly. Small solace against six armed men, but she would take any help should could get.

They had by this point entered into an area of London she knew she had never visited before. Her doting husband would never have brought her into such a squalid, dangerous looking neighborhood. The smells alone, an acrid mixture of body odor and refuse, were enough to have her head swimming a bit. Boarded over windows and derelict looking drinking houses lined the muddy street, and grimy men reeled back and forth at random across the way.

At last they stopped at the largest of such public houses they had yet to pass, and their leader banged on the ill hung door. A slot in the wood opened, and he exchanged a few words with a person inside in voices too low for her to hear. He seemed to satisfy the door keep, for the ponderous gateway swung open, and a blast of warm, stale air loud with raised voices washed out.

"This way my lady, get you now inside," the guard grunted at her, hand on his sword hilt.

"Strange place to find his Majesty the King," she remarked with a side eye as she walked past him as haughtily as she could manage in her brother's altered clothes and a quickly borrowed cloak.

A raucous scene greeted them, with loud, sweaty men talking in animated voices over pots of sac and ale. None of them paid much notice to the newcomers in their midst, as Nell was quickly herded to the back of the room and through a door into a smaller, quieter chamber.

Her eyes blinked, adjusting to the low light as she took in her new surroundings. A few trestle tables with stools lined either wall, now deserted except for a small handful of disreputable looking men and one or two ladies of dubious virtue. All of them had tankards to hand, and stopped speaking expectantly as she was ushered into the room. Their eyes took her in, and then as one turned to the raised platform at one end of the room where sat a rotund man.

He was patently ridiculous, from his stained red robe that strained ponderously over his girth, to the bristling beard that jutted out like a sac soaked battering ram from his chin. Beady, watery eyes regarded her from beneath two bushy eyebrows as she was thrust forward to stand in the center of the room. Most absurd of all was the circle of metal, a broken flower pot unless she missed her guess, that sat atop his head like child's toy crown.

"Do you just stand there then? Have you no knee?" he demanded in a sonorous voice only slightly slurred with drink. "Is this how you would come before your king?"

Nell's eyes blink rapidly as she struggled to keep in her laughter. Was this reprobate really expecting her to believe him King Henry? Just thinking about the true king's spare, aesthete frame in comparison to the corpulence of this sot was enough to urge her to giggles.

"Forgive me Sire, for my unmeant slight," she managed to get out, sinking down to one knee. "I was in shock to find you in such place."

"Ah, well, my child that doth make some small sense," he allowed, stroking his beard sagely. "My habits must perforce be closely kept. If more should know that I do come this way to sample me some truly princely sac, I never would find refuge from the court."

"So this house be your grace's sanctum then. What wisdom doth your Majesty possess to find so an unlooked for house to bless with your august and kingly patronage."

The fat man preened under Nell's slathered on flattery, and she inwardly rolled her eyes. What on earth had she stumbled into here? The people seated on either side of her were guffawing into their hands and elbowing each other as they looked on as at a play. She only wished she knew her part! She would have to tread carefully. She sensed no real malice in the man seated before her, but the chaotic energy in the room was strong.

"You are most wise to see such wisdom, girl," he beamed. "Stand up, stand up, a seat for the Princess!"

A reed thin man with a red bulbous nose hastened forward with a stool that Nell gratefully sat down on. It was a bit wobbly, but then so were her legs at the moment, and it brought her hand closer to her booted blade.

"So you are she young Hal has dared to wed," the "king" mused, looking her up and down. "I fear that I must tell you, little girl, that in this he did gravely fall to sin, for he consulted not with me, his father!"

"I beg thy pardon, humbly my liege," she said, trying to imbue her voice with repentance. "The one excuse that I can make to thee is that we two did fall so quick in love that prudent thought flew headlong from our minds."

One of the women sitting to her left let out a wistful sigh, and Nell resisted the urge to smile. It did sound like a romantic story, and indeed it was so! She just hoped their ringleader was one for romance.

"A lame and paltry reason for such crime!" he huffed, crushing her hopes. "It would serve you two ingrates fairly right if I should now declare the wedding void!"

"My King, I beg you not to be so cruel! I do profess that I do love your son more than the stars do love the nighttime sky!"

"Have pity Jack, the girl be sick in love!" the woman who had sighed shouted out. "And who could blame her, knowing our dear prince!"

"It could be, I concede, she speaks the truth," the bearded mammoth stared at her again. "You swear then, girl that you did wed for love? And not for some scheme to possess his wealth? Or for some foul desire to advance? A villain may yet wear a pretty face, and still a heart of evil hold inside. I would not have my only first born son be married to so base a thieving wench!"

Against her better judgement, Nell's heart went out to the man. He was absurd and offensive in almost every way, but she was convinced that his concern for Hal was genuine. She was fairly certain she knew who this man was now, for he had figured into the stories Hal had let slip to her of his wild exploits. If she was right, it went some way to explain his fear that she had trapped Hal into a disastrous marriage. It was, after all, the kind of thing he himself would do. His methods might be beyond the pale, but she thought a genuine concern for Hal was at the heart of his prank.

"I do not know how I may so convince as great a person as your Majesty," she said, looking up at him with eyes as clear and honest as she could make them. "All I can do is say to you again - I love your son and always will be true. Since first I looked upon him on the ground, where he had fallen and took injuries, he hath been all my world and all my heart. I want no riches, do despise the court, (though no offense to you, all mighty king). If Hal should be a barber and pull teeth, I still would want no other for my lord. You may divide us from each other, Sire, as is your right as sovereign of our land. But even if you separate our hands, my heart will still forever remain true. On that you have my solemn, holy oath."

Nell did not know what had come over her. It was as though this farce of a trial before a fake Henry had shaken loose all of the things she wished she had said to the real king. She had been fretting silently for weeks over the very thing that she was now thrust into a crude representation of. Giving vent to all of that fear somehow dispelled a portion of it from herself, and she found she was standing taller, less worried that some cruel twist of fate was about to tear her from her love.

"My dearest girl, I must say you do speak well," the man said, dabbing surreptitiously at his eyes with a soiled handkerchief. "And it doth fill my heart with much content that Hal hath found a wife who suits him so. It would not do, you see, if he should wed a money grubbing gal who sought to curb his meager spending on his closest friends."

"I never would curtail such blessed alms," Nell grinned, realizing that this too was behind the man's blandishments. A fear for his benefactor's defection.

"Why you are a right decent, honest wench! Come, sit and drink a cup of sac with me!"

"I would with all my heart, believe me sir. But I did leave the house precipitously, and had no time to give my husband word. He must be frantic searching now for me."

"Why, as to that, it will do him some good. The boy is far too cocksure for my taste. A bit of fear will do his humor good, when you are then returned to his house. He will take greater care of you from hence! Now, bring us sac, for I've a mighty thirst!"

Nell realized that their was no arguing with the man as a large pitcher liquor was brought out and poured into two cups. She accepted one of them and brought it gingerly to her lips, pretending to sip. She was not overly fond of the cloyingly sweet taste to begin with, and in her condition did not want to chance it. Her host, in contrast, downed his tankard in one long pull and signaled for more to be poured.

"A toast, to Princess Nell and our Prince Hal!" he shouted raising his mug.

Nell had no choice but to raise hers as well, not that she minded the sentiment of course. As all drank their fill, she hastily spilled some from her glass, offering a quick thank that the dirty rushes hid the puddle on the floor. Another man stood up and offered a toast of his own to the happy couple, necessitating another large spill. Quickly her cup was refilled.

And so it went, as all present seemed intent on saluting the happy couple, whether from genuine good will or a desire for more sac who could say. As the company became increasingly drunk, the toasts became increasingly bawdy, causing a flush to spread over Nell's face. Soon they were offering marital tips in sage voices that she was fairly certain young ladies of good breeding were not supposed to hear, but that she found far less alarming than she would have a month ago thanks to her time with Hal. All in all, she soon found herself having a good time in spite of herself, despite the now wet rushes on which she was standing and the dampness of her sleeves.

"You whoreson filth, I vow I'll murder thee!" the booming voice broke through the loudest round of cheers as the door to the back room was wrested open with a bang.

Nell's mouth gaped open as she stared, sac spilling out of her carelessly tilted cup, at the violent vision of her husband. He was magnificent. His face was flushed with anger and his blue eyes burned with a cold fire of unsuppressed rage. Nostrils flared and jaw clenched, he looked truly ready to commit murder. His burgundy jacket was unbuttoned at the neck, allowing her a small, mouthwatering glimpse of his chest, and his hair was unkempt in the best possible way. In one large hand he held his sword, unsheathed and deadly, the other rested on a small knife at his belt. He looked like murder and rage and sex all rolled into one, and Nell found all of the moisture sinking from her mouth straight to her cunt as she gazed at him.

"Why Hal, come join our toasting to your bride!" the large man said after a silent moment that seemed to stretch on forever. "She is more lovely than you do deserve."

"Remove your hand from her, or by this sword, I will remove it from your bloated wrist!" Hal growled.

With the speed and grace of a cat he reached forward and pulled Nell from the man's quickly releasing grasp, securing her to his side. Nell stumbled, splashing more sac from her cup as she teetered into him.

"How are you love, tell me you are not hurt," he insisted, looking intently over her.

"What hurt! I am offended! Think you that? That we would do your lovely wife some harm?"

"What else is he to think, you hell-spawned goat, when you did snatch her from her very home!" a man Nell had not noticed before, so taken with her husband was she, spit the words out.

He was dressed in a uniform like and yet so unlike those of the men who had abducted her that she could not believe she had fallen for the ruse for even a moment. His jerkin fit him precisely, and was spotless and bright. A professional competence and watchfulness radiated from every part of him, and he held his sword as though it was a natural appendage to his hand.

"Snatch her sir! No, you mistook us quite! We did invite the lass to visit us! That we may get to know her for ourselves and take the measure of his new wed wife!"

"I'll invite you to Hades for this trick, and all your minions that did do your work," Hal threatened, turning his thunderous glare on the men in the ill-fitting uniforms who suddenly glared, terrified, at their leader.

"My dearest lord, no harm did come to me," Nell at last found her voice, stepping around him and sliding her hand up his chest. She had meant the gesture to be mollifying, but found herself instead getting lost in how she could feel his muscles even under the hard leather of his coat. "Your friends did merely seek to satisfy that I had no dark motive you to wed."

"They are no friends of mine, but vile fiends!" Hal insisted, placing his hand over hers to stop it roaming as she could not resist trying to lower it to where his codpiece was drawing her attention. "I have been out of mind with worry, Nell!"

"Right sorry am I to cause you distress," she said, barely suppressing a giggle. She was struck with the strong suspicion that she might be as drunk on her husband's passionate presence as the others were on sac.

"Twas not you love, but these unlettered swine. You truly did not suffer at their hands?"

"No, not a bit. We have got on right well," she said, ending on an ill timed giggle that would have devastated her mother.

"My darling Nell, could it be your are drunk?" he asked in shock.

"Oh, fear it not, I did spill all my sac," she insisted.

"You thought to get her drunk on top of all?" he demanded. "I swear Falstaff, I'll be revenged on you!"

"Twas hospitality, and nothing more!" Falstaff said.

"Be thankful that our friendship in my youth and memories of fondness that I hold do save you from the fullness of my wrath," Hal's voice was a crack of a whip in the room. "Were it not so, I swear I'd kill you Jack. My wife is not a subject for your japes, nor some new toy for you to take to play. If anyone of you come near her more, I'll make him soon regret that he was born. Your company here past I thank you for, but from now on turn from me in the street. I do not wish to know you any more, or hold further conveyance with your lot."

"No, Hal, bethink you what you now do say! Don't be so hasty in your words my prince. We did just think to play a little jest!"

"I do not jest in matters of my wife," Hal cut him off. "As to my separation from you lot, I had decided ere your jape today that our paths now had reached the time to part. I thought to do so with some sad good cheer, as did become transgressions born of youth. But since you saw it fit to take from me the thing I hold above all others dear, I have nothing to say except goodbye, and keep from me and mine from this point on. As for Ned Poins, your partner in all this, as I begin to see the part he played to so distract me while you brought her here, tell him from me that if we two should meet his flesh shall know the bight of this my steel."

"And I will add my own warning to thee," the man with Hal said, iron in his voice, "some six of you I see in stolen weeds. Out of my deference to Prince Harry here I will not ask from whence such outfits came. But this I do instruct you, on your life. That you do strip you of those usurped clothes and straight way burn them till they are but dust. If any man from this time dare to go forth dressed up as you are now, his life is mine. And trust me, filth, the taking will be slow and cause you torturous pain ere I be done."

A fearful hush fell across the room. Not waiting to hear further arguments, Hal swept Nell up into his arms and made a dramatic exit from the public inn. He held her close to him despite her protests until they reached his horse, at which point he tossed her up onto Strumpet's back as if she were a doll. When he had mounted behind her, he pulled her hard against him again, as though he could not bear any distance between the two of them.

"Much thanks, Renaldo, for your company," Hal said as the proper guardsman mounted up on a smart grey beside them.

"I must confess, they were a sorry lot," Renaldo said with a wry laugh. "You hardly needed me when all was done. I will not ask, my lord, if you had part in making a procurement of their garb. I trust such acts will not be made again."

"You see too much, my old friend, for my peace," Hal said ruefully. "I promise, no more will aid their larks. I have most dearly learned my lesson well. For it almost did cost me my own heart."

"My lord, I swear to you, I am all right," Nell assured him as he navigated his horse through the slums. "They did not hurt me, were in their way kind."

"Do not you speak for them, I beg you Nell," he said, pressing his lips to her head. "My love, I never have been so afeared. I did not know who had abducted you. My father did deny it forcefully. Yes love, I did accost him in his state, and it played out as you can well conceive. After I realized you were not there, I dreaded that some enemy of mine did think to take out their revenge on you. It took some time for it to dawn on me that it was rather those who thought me friend."

"And I do think, misguided as it was, that friendship was indeed the cause of it. Well, that and fear of losing all your coin."

"I hate it, Nell, that such sins of my past have risen up to threaten you my love."

The hand not holding the reins of his horse slipped under her borrowed cloak and began roaming over her torso, as though assuring himself that she was there and whole. With the lustful memory of his rampant entrance into the pub still firmly in her mind, Nell closed her eyes and leaned into his caress. Soon he was nuzzling at her neck as well, seemingly indifferent to their public surroundings.

"I can not wait to get you home, my love, and take stock for myself that you are well," his meaning was not lost on her as his hand dipped lower to press between her legs where they straddled the horse.

"I fear, my lord, you must wait for a time," the strained voice of Renaldo interrupted them. "For much as I am loath to remind you, your royal father did command you both be brought to him as soon as she was found."

"Damnation, I had forgotten his words," Hal cursed with a sigh. "Well, one false king I have already faced. Lead on and let us go confront the true."

Nell leaned back against him, struggling to keep at bay her earlier anxiety. So she was to see the king today after all, and dressed as boy no less. But at least now Hal would be with her, and with his strong arm around her, there was nothing she could not face.