#actually i'm extending this to anyone who lives in the UK - you have no fucking right to complain that RA only does events in your country

[astrovian]

sorry not sorry but to anyone in England complaining that RA's events are always in London, I have no sympathy whatsoever for you

[hussyknee]

Regular reminder that if you don't live in the Global North, nothing they have to say applies to the rest of us. Actually most things they say have little value anyway since the Global South and Eastern folks are afterthoughts to them, much less center us in their social justice.

- The USAmerican cultural hegemony has fuck all to do with us. Be aware of what they're trying to peddle you, but they have more power to harm and radicalise you than you have ever could to harm them. This applies to both the Western left and right wing. They are both equally racist, colonial and imperialist.

- Global North issues around capitalism, exploitation and piracy have nothing to do with us. Consumer activism might work to some extent over there idk, but if anyone brings it up over in the lands of the Black and brown people, you can laugh them out of the country.

- Their queer history is not ours. Congrats to Stonewall and all but that's just some shit that happened in the US. We need to dig past 18 different strata of cultural genocide and colonial garbage to mine our queer histories back into the light, and designing microlabel flags and fighting over colonizer language acronyms have fuck all to do with that either.

- Always pirate everything within reach. Save up and buy from authors and creators you really like (that's what I do – esp when it's a BIPOC creator), but people who can't afford to buy shit in the first place ain't stealing food out of anybody's mouths. Pirating is praxis and always has been since the days of the East India Company.

- Don't buy into the USAmerican theories of race. They aren't universal. "BIPOC" especially is a USAmerican specific term, it is not used in the UK or other settler colonies. Constructs of race and the tribal Other far predated European colonization; race as a colour system that exists today is simply one variation of it. The global apartheid against the mellanated takes many forms, histories and terminology. There are especially no "people of colour" in Asia, Africa, Caribbean and Polynesia. There are only people who live there, and "people of white".

Race is a fake, made-up conceptualization imposed by whoever has power within each region. It's ethnic, cultural and casteist, with no biological basis whatsoever. There is no uniformity, no universalism, no rhyme nor reason to any of it; the only people who know exactly who doesn't belong are the oppressors. I'm seeing concepts like "unambiguously black" floating around the terminally online Western left; any dark-skinned person of the Global South should split their sides laughing at it. Whites have no ambiguity on who the darkies are.

- Read, watch, listen to, play whatever the hell you want, just have the sense to pirate it, and to be very conscious about the narratives they try to smuggle.

- When the US and UK speak, listen with compassionate interest, offer what solidarity you can spare for their downtrodden, and then go back to reading and following your own fucking news. Focus on our own women's and reproductive rights, trans rights, queer histories, rise of fascism, militarisation, anti-blackness, class warfare, nationalist violence, imperialism etc. That is decolonization, that is emancipation from the Western cultural hegemony. Everything else is the bread and circuses of empire, in which both the left and right wing of the West are complicit.

We owe the Global North nothing more than we can each individually afford to extend to them on grounds of common human decency and compassion. Which is a lot more than they will ever reciprocate.

[artificialqueens]

I'm Not Lazy (Raven x Adore) - Albatross

AN: Just a bit of vaguely holiday themed fluff featuring Raven x Adore for some reason. Small appearances from Bianca and a few other queens. I am a total sucker for cliche kisses beneath the mistletoe so a lot of this is just a self-indulgent mess.

And if you want to know what I was drinking when I first thought of this pairing, the answer is in the text…I don’t know why I put these two together either.

Side note: Aiming to finish up the AAA Girls fic in the next few weeks, I had pushed it aside for awhile to work on something new cause why finish a story when you can just write a new one, right?

There are a number of unspoken but well-known rules in the world of drag; a few of them include keeping a steady supply of booze handy, never touching the wig, never getting on their stage during the show, and of course; never piss off a queen. If you want to be a little more specific on that last one, you could include a few examples, such as Trixie Mattel, Raven, Willam Belli, Detox, and of course; Bianca Del Rio. And as a little subsection with that last one, you might as well include an asterisk stating ‘Also extends to Adore Delano.’

For whatever reason, the older queen had taken the little misfit wild-child under her protection and any affront to Adore, beyond a casual read of course, was also an affront to Bianca. If she felt someone had overstepped their bounds, she’d come rushing to the young queen’s defense or as more often would happen; she’d step in at Adore’s request.

Now Raven was all for defending fellow queens…when they needed it. And typically, Adore didn’t need it. She was more than capable of holding her own against another person’s criticism and to her credit, she did handle quite a few of those personal attacks herself…when it didn’t involve someone she directly worked with. If the critic happened to be another queen, she’d often go running to or calling on Bianca faster than you could say 'Party.’

This sort of behavior always earned a mildly disgusted eye roll from Raven. Whether it was geared more towards Adore’s childishness or Bianca’s enabling, she wasn’t sure, nor did she really care enough to find out. All she knew was that it borderlined on pathetic in her opinion. She had always been one to believe that anyone, queen or not, should be able to stand on their own two feet and fight their own battles. But aside from an occasional expressive side-eye to whoever happened to be near her, she never made an actual comment about the other two queens’ codependency.

However, as of the last two weeks, Raven found herself becoming disturbingly used to the behavior. Somehow the three all ended up on the same holiday tour extending across most of the US and UK from mid November into early January. There was of course a short reprieve scheduled around Christmas; a very much appreciated six days, but apart from that, the queens were all trapped on one overcrowded bus getting carted from city to city with a rare break or two scattered in every few weeks. And very quickly Raven discovered that so long as Adore was around, with every perceived insult, Bianca would swoop in to the younger queen’s aid, so much that no one truly dared to say a negative word around either queen.

It was only two weeks in and Raven felt like she was on the brink of losing her sanity. Almost every morning as she clutched her hands around a mug of the world’s cheapest coffee, Raven found herself wondering how in the hell she agreed to sign on for this tour. Her preference was to perform alone, schedule gigs a few days apart, and of course, not have to share living space with another queen! She wasn’t the easiest to get along with and she knew it. She embraced it, celebrated it even. That way if something fucked up happened she knew exactly who to blame, and really? How likely was it that she was going to fuck up her own shows?

Yet here she was, surrounded by eight other difficult personalities, struggling to keep herself in check and make allowances for the other queens to be themselves. It wasn’t easy, she had to admit. Out of all these queens, she was undeniably the odd one out. Everyone seemed to have a friend they could run off with; Trixie had Katya, Jinkx had Dela, Phi Phi had Ginger, and of course, Adore had Bianca. Whoever came up with this clusterfuck of a line up deserved some credit; every area was accounted for; comedy, music, and fashion, but these nine queens? How could you find a cast any more different from one another?

Whatever.

Raven was fine on her own. Sure, sometimes she did hang around the other queens, usually as they painted themselves for the show, but the rest of the time, she stayed by herself and that was perfectly alright. A few times she did find herself missing the company of a few of her closer friends, Morgan and Raja in particular, but she simply told herself it was just the holiday blues creating a false sense of loneliness. There was no need to go overboard and start calling them every day; a text here and there would suffice.

Despite this, she found herself feeling a bit more peevish than she would if she were just at home. She snapped a little in the morning if the queens were getting too loud, glared whenever they would carry on in public and occasionally yelled at them to shut the fuck up at night while they drank in the common area and proceeded to keep her up until all hours of the morning. Every day she found herself counting down the minutes until she could return home. Hell, even the Christmas break seemed like a fucking paradise at this point.

The only queen she could really tolerate to be around for more than a solid hour was in fact Bianca. The two could easily turn their mutual wine drinking into a classic bitch session of a Kiki and that was enough social obligation for Raven. Unfortunately, with Bianca also came Adore. The younger queen clung to Bianca almost as much as she did with all of the other queens put together, Raven’s company excluded of course. She couldn’t help but wonder exactly what the extent of their relationship was but either way, it was undeniable that they were incredibly close.

Every so often as they traveled together on the bus or dressed themselves for a show, Raven would find Adore with a pouting glare on her face, increasingly so as her chats with Bianca became more common. If Raven were to move too close into Bianca’s personal space, the pout would almost entirely disappear as she seemed to bite the interior of her cheek to keep herself from saying something she’d otherwise regret. Raven had no problem bitching out the other girls and they all knew it. She was more than confident in her ability to read other queens for filth, and like Bianca; she would not hold back for civility’s sake. This was probably the main reason Adore never actually said anything to her; the threat of Bianca was hollow. She would gladly go toe-to-toe with the older queen and Adore realized that…so she kept her mouth shut.

Still Raven found herself commenting on it one day during one of the rare instances when the younger queen was not around. Probably off annoying Jinkx and Dela as they got ready for tonight. To the remark, Bianca arched her eyebrow for a moment before muttering that she never really noticed it. Raven simply shrugged her shoulders and that was the end of that conversation. On to the next topic; where was the fucking pair of drinks they ordered ten minutes ago?

To Raven’s confusion, it seemed as though Bianca might have mentioned something to the younger queen. She found herself almost bombarded by Adore’s attempts at acting friendlier. Often her brows would furrow at the exaggerated and often misguided behavior. The gestures were clumsy and hardly seemed thought out, ranging from almost backhanded compliments, offers to share her half-eaten food, and even unwelcomed physical contact such as pulling her along excitedly as they made their way to the stage or sitting far too close together on the couch as they rode to the next city. All of it left her feeling very suspicious of the other queen’s intentions.

After days of this nonsense, Raven cornered Bianca in the dressing room between sets. Adore was on at the moment with Jinkx waiting in tow so she knew there was no way that the little pest would be walking in on them.

“What’s up with Adore?” she demanded to know.

Staring at the younger queen through the mirror, Bianca continued to fill in her lips as she arched her brow in a manner that suggested, 'What do you mean?’

“She’s being…nice,” Raven explained in disgust.

“She’s always nice,” Bianca stated in a mild tone, “…at least she tries to be.”

“Not like this!” Raven interjected emphatically. “This is just weird!”

Turning away from her reflection to stare at the harassed looking queen, Bianca asked plainly, “You want it to stop?”

Pausing for a moment to think, Raven admitted, “Not stop, just…”

Rotating back around to finish applying her makeup, the older queen waved her off and replied with a simple, “I get it. I’ll talk to her.”

Raven nodded her head, an unspoken 'Thanks,’ and left the room to take her place at Jinkx’s side. Her set wasn’t due to start for at least another 15 minutes but she was already dressed and ready to go. Why not enjoy a little of the entertainment as well before she took the stage? Besides, Adore’s live singing really wasn’t all that bad…once you separated it from the nuisance it originated from.

*********

In the coming days, Adore’s behavior became more subdued. Raven appreciated that but it was still a bit disconcerting that she had taken such an interest in being all buddy-buddy with her. She never had before, but then again they also never really worked on more than a gig or two at a time. Slowly though, Raven could feel herself becoming reluctantly accepting of the behavior. Adore really was trying, Raven told herself. What could it hurt to return some of that sentiment?

Her general attitude towards the young queen seemed to have brighten as she treated her less like a constant source of annoyance and more towards one of mutual respect. The moment when this change really seemed to hit Adore was when Raven pushed her plate of fries between them at dinner, a silent offer to share, after seeing her eyeing them up a few times while they waited for the main course to arrive.

Almost like a switch, the one gesture inspired a slew of similar ones from Adore who seemed to be going out of her way to include Raven whenever she hung off of Bianca. This time around, Raven found the actions a bit more endearing and allowed herself to indulge Adore’s behavior every so often. There were still quite a few things that the young brunette did that absolutely annoyed the fuck out of Raven, loudness of course being a front-runner, but there were also little things that mitigated the irritation, such as the bright smile that usually accompanied her shouts of excitement. Before long the eye rolls had even stopped, at least when they normally would have been directed towards Adore.

By this time about ¾ of the US dates were finished and the full length of the UK tour was due to start in three days. The whole leg of this tour was to extend about two weeks, performing right up until their Christmas break, and then they’d pick up again in the US for the few remaining shows. A very welcomed reprieve had been worked into the schedule as soon as they arrived in Liverpool. The queen’ first show would be there the following night but for the next day and a half, they were free to roam the city and wreak their havoc across the pond. Raven had intended to do some site-seeing on her own but no sooner had the bus stopped before Adore was pulling her and Bianca onto the street and towards the shopping district. Phi Phi had joined them as well, wanting an excuse for both a spending spree and to play Pokemon Go in a new country but a raid battle caught her attention about 20 minutes in and off she went to join her fellow players.

Raven couldn’t help but to feel a little abandoned by that; Adore certainly wasn’t allowing her to leave anytime soon. Though she had to admit, she was a bit glad for the company, even if she wasn’t doing what she had planned. And Adore’s enthusiasm was infectious to a degree. Both Bianca and Raven found themselves with amused grins as she rushed from one store to the next window shopping until finally something caught her eye. It was a rather simple choker but undeniably one that meshed well with her style. Dark leather, row of short rounded spikes, thin chains draped into four loops, and finally a silver pendant with a simple Celtic knot as the focal point. Absolutely Adore’s current aesthetic, Raven thought as the young queen gawked at the accessory.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, Adore began reaching for her wallet when a horrified realization passed over her face as she felt the emptiness in her pocket. Letting out a loud groan, she recalled that her wallet, money included, had been left on the bus and tossed into one of drawers!

“Bullshit,” she declared unhappily as she pouted on her way out of the boutique.

Rolling her eyes, Bianca muttered, “Come on, I’ll buy your broke ass a beer awhile. We can stop back here tomorrow or something before the show.”

Still annoyed by her own carelessness, Adore grumbled a quick, “Thanks,” and followed after the older queen as she wandered off in the direction of some restaurants she spotted a little further off. Lagging behind for a moment, Raven took a final glance at the choker and vaguely wondered what was so special about it before brushing the whole thing off and speed walking to catch up with her fellow cast mates.

Phi Phi managed to rejoin the group as made their way to 'Tortilla’, apparently having been quite successful on both her raid and her own shopping venture. This produced a second wave of moodiness from Adore that only food seemed able to quell. In addition to the promised beer, Adore had also been provided a burrito bowl (vegetarian of course), as well as her own order of chips and salsa courtesy of all three of the older queens pitching in. Despite the abundance of food, somehow nearly half of Raven’s own nachos managed to find their way onto Adore’s plate and surprisingly, she was okay with that.

*************** The following day Raven expected Adore to rush off back to the boutique to pick up the necklace before they had to return to tour life but neither her nor Bianca mentioned any plans of it that morning. While she finally managed to work in some sight seeing on her own that day, she toyed with the idea of texting Bianca to remind the younger queen but eventually decided against it. There was no way Adore wouldn’t find her way back there, she was probably just waiting until closer to lunch since there was no lack of decent restaurants in the area to try. Firmly shoving the thought aside, Raven focused on enjoying some well-deserved peace and quiet. Even as the queens convened in the dressing room to begin painting for the show, she remained quite relaxed until a self-loathing moan resonated from across the room.

“We forgot the choker!” Adore lamented with a childish groan.

Bianca just rolled her eyes and continued to work on her makeup as she retorted, “We didn’t forget anything, you did.”

Adore snapped back some sort of whiny response but Raven found she was unable to fully concentrate. A small trace of her felt something akin to guilt. She knew what Adore was like; she should have just texted Bianca earlier and have been done with it. Now she was stuck listening to this bitching for the next hour and a half until the show starts and already it was beginning to work on her nerves.

Most of the girls ran through their routines undisturbed, occasionally offering a few words of comfort but ultimately they paid very little attention to the youngest among them. The more she thought about it, the more exasperated Raven became. If Adore wanted that necklace so badly, why she didn’t just duck out between sets? With a little rearranging of the line up and an effort to hurry there and back, it could certainly be done. For as much as she seemed to like that stupid choker, why didn’t she fight to go get it? To make time rather than sit back and have a pity-party?

It frustrated her more than words could describe. This was just another example of part of Adore’s personality that always seemed to bother her right down to the core. Having enough, Raven sped through the remainder of her make up and marched out of the dressing room. Like a girl on a mission, she tracked down the promoter and informed her in no uncertain terms that she would be going first and last tonight. She also stated that she would be leaving the venue for a short time with such a case of active bitch face she was practically daring the woman to try and tell her otherwise.

Thoroughly intimated by the queen in front of her, she simply nodded her head and ran off to inform all of the necessary parties of the change. Up until the moment her number began, Raven remained in a constant state of annoyance. She managed to hide her irritation behind a bright smile as she took to the stage but the second her number had finished, she was storming from the venue leaving a trail of confused queens and employees in her wake.

Hailing a cab, Raven returned to the shopping district in what felt like record time. She had a feeling that the driver might have been a bit afraid of her intense glare and simply wanted to get away from the aggravated queen as quickly as possible.

'Stupid’ was the word she repeated in her thoughts as she traversed through the crowds. Stupid fucking necklace. Stupid fucking Adore forgetting her wallet. Stupid fucking pouting. And stupid fucking her for dragging her fully painted self away from the show to buy this stupid fucking shit!

She could hardly call herself 'pleasant’ as she found the shop once more and immediately made her way to the display case. Scanning through the gaudy accessories, Raven spotted the one Adore had been fawning over and called on one of the shop assistants to retrieve it. While she tried her best to at least remain polite, she was quite aware that her tone came out just a bit sharp as she made the objectionable purchase. Timidly, the young assistant asked if she’d like it gift wrapped as well and the simple question completely blindsided the queen. Knowing she very well might regret it later, she replied with a heavy sigh, “Please.”

Still peeved, Raven made her way back to the theater in time for a quick costume change and touch up before her second number. No one dared to ask where she had disappeared to though Adore did comment that she was the only queen absent from the dressing room during the intermission. Raven just gave her a blank stare and replied vaguely that she had something to take care of. The young queen tried her best to interrogate her further but Raven remained tight-lipped throughout the remainder of the night.

She toyed with the idea of giving Adore the necklace then and there but no part of her wanted the other queens to know about the gift. She had a reputation after all and she didn’t want any questions being asked either. Instead she simply tossed the little box into her wardrobe bag and left it alone as the queens vacated the building. Her thoughts remained occupied as she debated on when would be the most appropriate time to slip the necklace in with Adore’s belongings without anyone else noticing but a sudden sea of giggling and swaying bodies pulled her out of her head-space.

She gazed around confused, trying to figure what was so amusing that everyone had clustered outside of the bus in the freezing cold until her eye finally caught sight of what everyone was staring at; a piece of faux mistletoe crudely taped above the entrance to the bus. A twitch in her eye and a sneer on her lips perfectly summed up her feelings as she watched a few of her fellow cast mates exchange showy kisses in front of flashing cameras and a semi-buzzed audience.

Releasing a long suffering sigh, she shook her head and circled back towards the building in the hopes of persuading the bar to let her buy one more drink before she had to leave with the children she was forced to call her peers.

Why in the hell did she sign on for this tour again?

************* Raven meant to find time the next day to transfer the necklace from her possession to Adore’s one way or another but somehow it seemed like the universe was plotting to make her wait. There never seemed to be a good opportunity; either Adore was hanging around too close or Raven just didn’t have the box with her when she finally had a moment of peace. The single time she did manage to get away from Adore and have the gift with her, Trixie and Dela were loitering around and would not leave for anything.

Pretty much the same thing happened for the next few days; there simply seemed to be no good time to sneak it in quietly. To say she was frustrated would be an understatement…

And by the end of the fourth day of this nonsense, Raven feared what she was planning had come to the other queens’ attention…Nearly every time she walked into a room there was a hushed whisper that stopped almost immediately once the other queens noticed her presence. The only two that seemed unaffected by this were Bianca and Adore…until one night Raven had walked into their shared dressing room only to be met by a pair of icy stares. Adore quickly turned away from her, clearly irritated by some unknown reason, while Bianca kept her glare focused on the younger queen. Wordlessly Raven slipped away to find another room to get ready in.

Deciding to try with Jinkx and Dela, Raven wandered towards the opposite end of the hall and wondered what the hell she had stumbled upon back there. As she passed by the semi closed door to Phi Phi and Ginger’s room, their muffled conversation caught her attention.

“Listen, I’m not trying to play Devil’s advocate here,” Ginger began calmly, “I’m just saying that World of Wonder knows how to edit shit and make it sound a whole lot worse than how it actually came out during the filming…look at what they did to you after all…”

“Okay, fine,” Phi Phi consented in a huff, “But they can’t just create a sound bite out of thin air!…The queen has to actually say something for them to pull it from and that? Even on its own; that was harsh…even for Raven.”

“She’s allowed to have her own opinion…that’s the whole point of the show, isn’t it?” Ginger gently reminded her.

“I’m not saying she can’t have her own opinion, just…how she said it…that was over the line…just cause you don’t like another queen’s style doesn’t mean you should just rip her to shreds, especially for the whole world to see!… Sisters shouldn’t be doing that to each other…”

“I agree but-”

That was all Raven could stand to hear before rushing down the hall to find an empty room, any room! She didn’t care if it was a utilities closet, she just wanted to be alone. From the small fragment of conversation she overheard, she could pretty much piece together the sequence of events. Prior to leaving for the tour she had filmed a few general, nondescript Photo Ruviews for WOW to release while she was gone…she remembered very well that Adore had appeared in at least one of those episodes. That one must have been released and the queens decided to watch it…and share it with one another of course. It finally must have made its way to Adore and Bianca and needless to say; they weren’t happy.

And from the brief snippet she heard, there seemed to be some dissension over who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Some of the other queens might be on her side but not the one that matters…not Adore.

Finding a vacant dressing room across from Jinkx and Dela, Raven sequestered herself there for the rest of the night apart from when she had to be on stage. No one seemed inclined to come find her and that was fine…at least that’s what she assured herself of. It gave her time watch the video just to get an idea of how the final edit came out. The outfit in question was one that was posted several weeks ago but was trying to lend itself as an early Christmas-themed look. Red and green were the primary colors but it had been clear the outfit was just thrown together from separate pieces.

The cut of the ruby red top was somewhere between a cami and tank top stopping just above the midriff and perhaps a little too loose for someone with Adore’s body type. The pleather skirt at least was a bit truer to her actual size but the green that had been used leant itself more towards pastel territory rather than the traditional forest green associated with Christmas. Lights that had surrounded her were reflecting brightly off of the skirt and the almost but not quite matching green elbow length gloves. The bottom hem of skirt was lined with white faux-fur and contrasted sharply with the black combat boots that appeared just above the border of the picture. A bright red bow stuck to her hair had been the final 'accessory’ yet the outfit taken as a whole, despite the fun, cutesy appearance, just looked cheap to Raven’s mind…and she certainly let everyone know.

Trying her best to remain objective as she watched the review, Raven couldn’t help but feel that she wasn’t going in on Adore any harsher than she had for the other queens, at least for this episode. Maybe overall the commentary was a bit more snarky than usual but that’s her brand; fans expect that from her at this point.

Coming upon the end of Adore’s segment, Raven was giving her final thoughts; a clear boot to Raja’s toot. Raja was much more lenient when it came to Adore, she recognized the differences in their aesthetics and tried to accommodate that, even doing her best to convince Raven to see the finer points of the vaguely holiday-themed outfit, “I mean, she’s got the green in her hair, too…that beautiful ombré emerald green…It’s classic Adore, right there-

"Maybe that’s the problem,” Raven cut in.

And cut in it certainly was. She might not remember everything that had come out of her mouth during the review but she certainly knew that that sound bite had been cut and pieced together right at the end to create a far different tone of commentary that what she actually said. The true flow of their conversation had gone more like, “I mean, she’s got the green in her hair…that beautiful ombré emerald green…”

“Maybe that’s the problem…the green is different…the mantis green looks more like Easter than Christmas.”

Of course with the wonderful job of editing that WOW had performed it sounded like Raven was implying that it was simply Adore that was the problem. Her case wasn’t helped by the next clip they immediately followed up with; “I don’t know…it just seems…lazy to me.”

That was probably the final straw for Adore…Raven knew how much she disliked being called lazy…They exchanged more than a few words via text and social media regarding that and similar sentiments. But that was what Raven liked; polished, planned, put-together drag…anything less just seemed to scream lack of effort on the other queen’s part.

Raven wasn’t going to apologize for that. There was nothing wrong with liking a certain style of drag over another and she wasn’t going to take back her comments…Adore was just being too sensitive. Raven had done nothing wrong; she simply did her job and critiqued the outfit the same way she had done for the other queens that episode. Adore was acting like a child and needed to get over herself because no matter what, Raven was not going to recant her opinion. No matter how much the other queens might be against her.

************** The coming days were challenging to say the least. No matter where she went, Raven felt at best unwanted and at worst just downright targeted. The atmosphere was tense and stormy whenever she happened to enter a room, particularly if Adore was also in there. Most of the queens did try their best to remain neutral yet their favor still seemed to fall to Adore rather than her.

Whatever.

It’s not like this was anything new. This was how the tour started anyway; on her own, just biding her time till she could call it a wrap and return home with another paycheck and new stories to tell. She didn’t need the other queens to like her but still…if they could stop treating her like she had fucking murdered someone, that’d be fucking awesome.

In her isolation, Raven turned into the bitter, somewhat petty queen most everyone knew her as. She remained polite but frigid and soon even basic manners were becoming a struggle. This was due in large part to the sarcastic comments spilling from Adore’s mouth nearly every time they were near one another. Raven simply rolled her eyes but gradually they were beginning to truly test her patience. Adore was still acting like such a fucking child! If she has a problem, she needs to grow a pair and confront Raven, not mutter behind her back like they were in fucking high school again.

This was just fucking ridiculous. Weren’t they all adults?

The Christmas break couldn’t get here soon enough…just four more days. Maybe by the time they all return, Adore will have matured a little and they might be able to talk about it. It wasn’t that Raven hadn’t tried once already. Admittedly it was a shitty attempt but between the glares from both Adore and Bianca as she tried to speak; she wasn’t really inclined to put much effort into it after that.

Well, she wasn’t the one with the problem. If Adore wants to act like a brat, fine. Raven has thick skin, she can handle a bit of bitchiness…even if some others couldn’t.

Though most venues they had used up until now had enough rooms to allow for single or even double occupants; a few of the buildings weren’t so fortunate in their design and one large communal dressing room was provided to the queens. It was at one of these shows that Adore and Raven’s Cold War came to a head.

The performance itself had been completed without any major catastrophes; the worst moment being when a small portion of Phi Phi’s dress became entangled with one of Katya’s garish accessories as they passed each other while getting on and off the stage respectively. Aside from that it was a pretty typical night; each queen performed their heart out, took photos with the fans at the meet and greet, sold some merch, and finally they were excused to de-drag in the back.

An after-show cocktail wasn’t an uncommon sight in the dressing room. Neither was a pre-show or during-the-show drink for that matter. Raven had indulged a bit herself but she was far from tipsy…just had a nice little buzz going to get her through the rest of the night. Adore on the other hand had been a bit over served…and that liquid confidence, courtesy of a few too many shots of Fireball, led her to be far more vocal of her discontent with the older queen.

It began with a few curt remarks, easily ignored by Raven, but as the minutes ticked by and Adore’s BAC rose; they had become downright disrespectful and finally Raven snapped back. She had tried to remain level-headed for too long and the alcohol in her system blocked any sort of rational thought from forming. All she knew was that she was pissed and she was not going to put up with Adore’s juvenile behavior any longer. She was more than ready to let the younger queen finally have it!

In front of everyone the pair descended into such a state of bickering that even the venue’s staff came to investigate the source of the yelling. One of the other queens, probably Ginger or Jinkx dismissed them, but the rest of the cast simply sat shell-shocked at the abuse Raven and Adore were throwing at one another…at least everyone aside from Bianca, who simply sat back with her eyes calmly flicking from one screaming queen to the next.

“You’ve got no problem saying 'I don’t give a fuck’ but then when someone finally does say something; you just turn into a pissy little brat and throw a fucking tantrum!”

“Fuck you!” Adore shouted back with absolute malice filling her words, “Where do you get off tearing apart my drag just cause you don’t like it? I don’t like that fucking chisel you take to your nose but do you see me going off on it?”

“At least I know how to contour a fucking face! You just slap on an overdrawn lip and a pair of lashes and call it drag! Half the time it doesn’t even look like you shave! Might as well just start calling you fucking 'Willam’!”

The last comment seemed to really strike a nerve and for a moment Adore visibly faltered. Her eyes darted to Bianca and for some strange reason it simply enraged Raven further. With the most disgusted sneer she could ever recall wearing, she spat out, “What? You need Bianca to fight your battle now? God, that is so fucking-”

'Don’t say it, bitch,’ Bianca’s glower seemed to say as she swiftly rose to her feet .

“-lazy!” she finished in a tone of pure contempt.

“Enough!” Bianca interjected as she moved between the two queens. Turning to her fellow cast mates, she ordered, “Everyone else, out!”

Almost immediately, the other occupants of the room began scrambling to collect their belongings and vacate the scene as fast as humanly possible. With a trace of a whine in her voice, Katya complained, “I want to see what happens!”

“No, you don’t!” no less than three queens assured her as they ushered her into the hallway.

Rounding on the remaining pair, Bianca asserted harshly, “You two are going to figure out your shit right now! I am not spending the rest of this goddamn tour listening to your whiny-assed, petty squabbling. I don’t deserve it and neither do those other bitches out there! Now you two are going to fucking talk to each other and you will not leave this room until you can at least act like there’s civil fucking adults beneath all this fucking bullshit!”

With that final command, the older queen marched out of the room and shouted to some unseen spectators, “Find somewhere else to be!”

A quick scrambling of feet down the hall was heard for a mere second before the door was slammed shut and the two heated queens were left to face one another in relative silence. Raven’s gaze shot briefly to the space Bianca had disappeared through and gave serious thought to simply leaving Adore to wallow in her own alcohol-induced rage.

After a few moments of intense glaring, Adore stated in a slow, resolute voice, “I’m not lazy.”

Raven’s mouth opened for another smartass retort but she stopped herself the instant she took a real, honest to God look at Adore’s face. The younger queen was angry…absolutely furious as she glared at Raven with a wavering, whiskey-fueled scowl…but beneath that, she was also hurt…just really fucking hurt, even betrayed, by what Raven had said and it was those steadily flooding eyes that finally made Raven realize just how badly she had fucked this whole situation up. She felt like an absolute beast and it took Adore almost in tears for her to see how much of cunt she could really be at times…

Any residual anger she might have still felt slowly died away until all that was left was shame and utter remorse. She knew what she needed to do. Allowing her walls to crack, just for a moment, she sighed, “Sit down…”

Adore solidly refused to move, her expression shifting to one of deep distrust until Raven added in a soft, almost begging, “Please…”

The younger queen gave a tense swallow, side-eyeing Raven suspiciously before eventually dropping down onto the couch with an air of heavy reluctance. Taking a seat on the opposite end, Raven began speaking in a heavy, guilt-laden voice, “Danny, listen…I’m sorry…That video…It was pretty edited, but what I said, the entire thing…it…it really wasn’t much better than what made the final cut. I crossed a line…a few actually…People, the fans; they expect me to be the bitch and read other queens for filth and I…I play into it…too much sometimes…but what I said that day, that was still uncalled for…”

Leaning just a little bit closer, Raven gazed steadily into Adore’s eyes as she admitted, “I don’t always like or get your style of drag but that shouldn’t matter. I need to respect it all the same. I’m going to do better with that from now on, I swear…You’ve…really become an amazing performer with your own unique brand and you should be proud of that…You don’t deserve to have anyone try and tear you down, especially a sister…I’m really sorry.”

Adore was shocked by the admission. She sat wide-eyed and slacked-jaw for a few seconds as she processed everything Raven had just said. Fiddling with a stray lock of hair as her eyes dropped to the couch, she muttered, “Wasn’t expecting that…for you to apologize…I really wanted to bitch you out or have Bianca do it…”

Reconnecting their gaze, she added in softly, “I’m sorry, too…I know I can be a little oversensitive…I just…I hate that word. I know it doesn’t always look like it but I try…I try really fucking hard-”

“I know you do,” Raven interjected with a cordial smile.

Returning the gesture, Adore mumbled, “Thanks…for saying all that.”

“I mean it…I’m gonna do better by you…I was out of line and I needed something to reel me back in.” Standing up and walking towards the door, Raven stated, “I’ll go tell Bianca we’re fine now…we are, right?”

Nodding her head, Adore gave a quiet noise of affirmation and returned back to her own work station to remove the remainder of that night’s makeup. The last few days of the UK dates ran their course and all of the queens returned to some semblance of normality with one another. Things still felt a little awkward at times but Raven was sure that once they reconvened in the US, they’d be just fine with one another, at least for the duration of the tour.

While she was packing her wardrobe after the final show, Raven found the jewelry box still mixed in with her belongings. She never did find a good time to slip it into Adore’s bags. Clutching the small gift in her hand, she resolved to make sure this found its way into Adore’s possession before they left for the states.

Walking from the venue with her luggage all packed, she found Adore loitering outside of the bus getting in one final smoke break before they all left for the airport. Disregarding the heavy scent of weed wafting from the younger queen, Raven called out for Adore’s attention as she took her place by her side.

“Danny! Um…here,” Raven said quickly as she all but shoved the gift into Adore’s confused grasp. “…I know you’ve probably forgotten about this by now but I’ve had it for while, waiting to give it to you…”

Flicking the remainder of the blunt aside, Adore turned over the box with a hint of suspicion as she examined the wrappings. Refusing to look directly at her, Raven mentioned, “You can wait until Christmas to open it if you want…or now,” she muttered with a sarcastic eye roll as Adore eagerly began tearing off the paper.

The young brunette pulled in a sharp intake of air she flipped open the top of the box and peered inside. Anxiously, Raven asked quietly, “…Is that the right one?”

It wasn’t. The leather was the wrong color; dark espresso instead of the black Adore favored but it didn’t matter. The thought and effort that went into it; that’swhat mattered.

“It’s perfect,” Adore replied honestly as she bit back a smile.

Raven returned the sentiment with a nervous grin of her own, mumbling, “Glad you like it,” before turning away to focus on her baggage again.

She was almost ready to begin packaging everything in the storage hold when Adore caught her arm in a steadfast grip. Clumsily, the young queen dragged them both beneath the entrance to the bus and pressed a fleeting kiss to Raven’s burning cheek. Truly shocked, Raven wondered what that was all was about until she felt her eyes travel upward…That stupid fucking mistletoe was still taped above the door…

Forcing down a thick swallow, Raven stood in a stunned silence. She had no idea how to interpret Adore’s actions but the next kiss made things a little bit clearer. A pair of lips were placed over hers in a cautious yet confident motion. Her eyes slowly slid shut as she pulled the smaller body close to hers and deepened the kiss.

She felt like she was on cloud nine until a loud chorus of “Aww” swiftly drew her back into reality.

Scowl firmly in place, she looked up to find a row of heads either sticking out from the windows or firmly pressed to the glass as sickeningly sweet smiles remained plastered on their faces…well, all except for one.

“Get a fucking room! You’re not doing any of that shit on the bus!” Bianca called out with a resolute warning in her voice.

Raven raised a hand to flip all of them off with equal hatred but fell short as Adore buried her face into her neck to hide her growing embarrassment. The younger queen shook against her with nervous laughter before turning her head up with a helpless 'we’re totally caught’ smile just for Raven to see.

Unwillingly, Raven’s body relaxed into Adore’s as the arm she left wrapped around the younger queen’s waist pulled her in tight. Her initial annoyance had faded immensely as Adore leant in for another quick peck before resting their foreheads together. If this was what she could look forward to for the foreseeable future, she would gladly let the other queens watch for as long as they wanted. She already had her own early Christmas gift, why not share it for everyone else to see?