#admittedly all the hair options in this game weren't that great

[gerandor]

Not me creating my first bald character in a video game bc i'm obsessed with nacho👀

[luckykittysshowerthoughts]

Pssst... if anyone's looking for an actually inclusive dating sim, Na Daoine Maithe's great.

You can choose your own pronouns! The game also lets you put in custom neopronouns if you want, and lets you have multiple sets of pronouns.

Gender diversity in love interests! There's 2 male LIs, 2 female LIs, and two nonbinary LIs. They're all treated with equal respect and attention, and the game isn't weird about it if you go for a same-sex LI. In fact, in the devs' words: You can not only be gay, but arguably must be gay, for the sake of us all.

Actually handling their POC characters well. I think. I'm white so admittedly I'm not the best sensitivity tester for this, but so far I haven't seen anything horrendous. No whitewashing in the art, no weird skin-tone changes between forms for characters that can change form, generally just not being weird about it. Also bonus points for giving Maeve texture to her hair instead of slapping the same generic emo white boy haircut on all the POC characters.

Aspec + Arospec representation! One of the LIs is canonically ace, two of the LIs are canonically arospec, and the devs are completely unapologetic about it. A few obnoxious fans flipped out over it a while back and the devs quickly doubled down and said they weren't changing it lol. Their identities aren't just slapped on for diversity points either; the devs have hinted that the intimacy mechanics for the arospec characters' routes will actually be different and it will change how their relationships with MC develop over the course of their routes. For aros in the player base, playing the routes platonically is also an option!

Actual cultural appreciation. Granted, the only cultures really presented in the game is Irish+Scottish, but the way they went out of their way to de-colonialize it is pretty admirable. They avoid portraying things through a white lens (there are many, many jabs at the British Empire, and ample acknowledgement of the harms colonialism did to Ireland) and they were clearly very thorough with their understanding of these cultures. They even hired a Gaeilge speaker to translate things into Gaeilge and incorporating that into the game, which I found super cool. The dev team's statement on this was very admirable.

All around definitely recommend checking Na Daoine Maithe out, especially if you're looking for something to fill the void after the recent news. It also has a lot of similar themes to Obey Me, but like, executed with actual plot and lore consistency.

really sad that despite obey me being a nice dating sim for queer folk with the gender ambiguous MC, it still fails at being inclusive multiple times

[forever-queerly-me]

Pinky Promise -Tyrus-

In another world, TJ would have been upfront to Cyrus about his feelings from the start. They would be smiling, laughing, kissing and enjoying their times as boyfriends. However, TJ does not live in such world. In fact, he's not even in the right world to make Cyrus want to be around him; apparently, avoiding him is more desirable for the dark haired boy. TJ knew though, that even if Cyrus wasn't upset with him and he was braver, he may still have zero chance. He doesn't even know if Cyrus likes guys to begin with- what if he liked Andi? Or Buffy? Or literally any other girl?

TJ knew his musings were not helping matters though. So all he could do is move forward, and hope that he could at the very least fix things with Cyrus. It would help if TJ *knew* why Cyrus was upset mind you, but he couldn't think of one plausible reason. He doubted that the costume thing still upset Cyrus- but he didn't know what could be upsetting him. So until Cyrus was willing to talk, TJ would have to wait.

Speaking of waiting though, TJ had got a text back from Kira that he needed which stopped further Muffin-Musing for the time being.

Kira: Of course I'll give you a distraction! Meet me at the park and you can help me feed the ducks!

TJ: great! C U there.

TJ wanted to get out of the house and Cyrus was ignoring him, so he texting Kira in hopes she would have an idea and cheer him up. Ducks should do the trick! Kira just better stay clear of the swings though, because those are his and Cyrus' thing.

Once there, and early, TJ had finally received a message from Cyrus. Apparently Cyrus had found a shirt that he thought TJ would like. While he definitely did, he also knew that he couldn't say no even if he wanted to. So he texted Cyrus to meet him there. Maybe things were looking up and Cyrus would take up his offer and join him.

When Kira had arrived, it seemed she had changed her mind. Instead of ducks, Kira wanted to play on the swing set. TJ had tried to stop her- but she was insisting. So though he didn't want to, he ended up swinging. Though the swings were his and Cyrus' thing, he could not deny that swinging always made him feel better which was what he needed. So swing he did. In the end, he had fun. He knew he would though, for he enjoyed Kira's company. He still didn't want Kira sharing the swings with them though.

After some laughter and light bantering with Kira, TJ become aware of the time. Cyrus had yet to show. At first TJ had thought that Cyrus could prehaps be waiting somewhere nearby, but he couldn't find him. So TJ rationalized that Cyrus was probably just arriving, or would be soon because of a delay. Unfortunately for TJ though, upon further searching, he found that the situation was reversed. TJ had missed Cyrus- because he was already leaving. Cyrus apparently didn't even want to speak to him.

With that sight, all TJ wanted to do was go home. So he made up an excuse and walked in the opposite direction. Away from Kira. Away from the Swings. Away from the park itself. Away from anything that could have hurt Cyrus, all except himself. He could not walk away from himself. Suddenly, TJ was struck with a realization. Cyrus must be upset with TJ because he feels replaced. First with costume day, and now with the swings? TJ felt like a terrible friend in that instant. All he wants is to see Cyrus smile and to be the cause of it- not upset him further.

So home TJ went. A home that didn't exactly make TJ feel any better but rather worse. Especially because Amber wasn't home so he would have to deal with their parents fighting himself. In fact, as soon as he opened the door, he heard the tell tale signs of another fight. Though married, it seemed that all his parents ever did anymore was curse and scream at one another. Still- they tried to hide it from the kids, but it never worked.

"TJ! Hun! Tristan and I were just going over dinner options for tonight. Any suggestions?" Jennifer, TJ's mom, asked as if she wasn't just calling her husband every name under the sun.

"Maybe Spaghetti? I'm not very hungry though. I may grab a burrito or something later." TJ answered, playing along with her 'everything is fine' ruse.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like TJ to decline food. She was about to mention this when Tristan spoke up. She had to fight to keep her from rolling her eyes. 'He loves to have the last word', she thought as he did so.

"We'll call you when supper is ready just in case you change your mind." Tristan stated, which effectively kept Jennifer from pushing the issue as she wanted to. Both knew that they would 'discuss' this later.

TJ took this his chance to escape upstairs so he could be alone. TJ's bedroom door wasn't even closed yet when the fighting resumed. TJ desperately wished things could go back to where they used to be, but the family was too broken now. Originally, if his father had found a better job, his parents could prehaps fix things, but after he lost his job, World War Kippen broke out. The arguments were no longer just about money; they fought about everything. Their bad relationship not only impacted TJ and Amber because they had to live in a toxic environment, but Amber became convinced that in order to be happy, she had to be in a happy relationship. TJ knew that things weren't great with Jonah and thus Amber was increasingly unhappy. Her being in pain, caused him pain. In conclusion, TJ was miserable.

TJ was tired of all of this. Tired of his sister hurting. Tired of him hurting. Tired of him hurting other people. Tired of his parents hurting eachother. Most of all though- TJ was tired of nothing going right. With that thought in mind, TJ ran outside, ignoring his parents, he had to be alone. He ran until he stopped at a familiar door and he was in tears. After knocking, he was rushed in by Cyrus' mom. She knew he wanted Cyrus, but all she could say was that he wasn't home.

TJ nodded tearfully, avoiding her questions and left. He sat out near the pond in the park until Amber had found him. Hugging him, she asked what was wrong. At her words, he sobbed harder, unable to talk. She just hugged him and let him do his thing. Afterwards, they walked back to the house, both with earplugs in to avoid their parents and went into TJ's room. Amber didn't want him to be alone so she laid down with him and cuddled in. Usually he would protest, but he was happy for her right than. It was what he needed. Soon, sleep over took both of them.

00000000000

Over the next few days, TJ stayed out of the house as much as possible. He still felt horrible though. He didn't want to ruin his friendship with Kira, so even though he knew he was risking losing Cyrus for good, he continued to spend time with her. Eventually though, Cyrus was forced to talk to him. Both at school, neither had an excuse to leave. It was the perfect timing for TJ to talk to Cyrus finally.

"Cyrus? Can we please talk?" TJ pleaded once he spotted Cyrus.

Buffy and Andi, both nearby, had pushed Cyrus forward and walked away to leave the two in peace.

"Of course. How've you been Teej?"

TJ knew that he would have to be honest. No tough boy act would fix things.

"Horrible admittedly, which is why I wanted to talk to you."

Cyrus looked concerned at this, but before he could ask, TJ spoke again.

"I can't fix things with my parents. Nor can I do much to help my sister- but maybe I can fix things between us."

"Teej-"

"I wouldn't trade you for anyone in the world Cyrus. You are my best friend," Needing to take a deep breath, TJ continued after doing so, "I don't like

Kira more than you. I promise you."

At the mention of Kira, something had flashed in Cyrus' eyes. Jealousy. Though maybe wishful thinking, TJ had hoped it wasn't a platonic kind of jealously. He didn't push it though. Not yet. He wasn't ready to come out himself yet after all.

"Oh-"Cyrus could speak no more though because the bell rang. The two would have to speak in drama class that they shared.

00000000

Most of the day was uneventful, besides giving Buffy a ride on a golf cart, TJ really didn't do much else but do classwork. Thankfully for him, drama class had arrived. The class was doing a trials, with TJ being the suspect and Cyrus being his lawyer. At one point he changed outfits to show that it was a new day in the play as the teacher likes, and TJ had to state his full name but again, not much happened until afterwards.

TJ had finally gotten a line right he had been having trouble with, and as a result, everyone was ecstatic. TJ even got a hug from Cyrus. After the hug, Cyrus had to ask something

"Tristan Jr. Kippen, huh?"

"Can you see why I go by TJ?"

Both boys laughed and things were good between them for the time being.

00000000

The two went to the girls basketball game right after that and sat side by side. TJ relaying every play and Cyrus pretending to understand what was going on in. He didn't understand the end however. They had won! The two boys ran down to the court, and hugged excitedly quickly. Soon though, Cyrus had backed away and ran off, ignoring his calls.

0000000

The two didn't speak again till a few days later at Andi's celebration party for getting accepted to SAVA. TJ had found Cyrus on a bench and he sat down. Seeing Cyrus there, upset , and knowing that Cyrus was somehow hurt again and figuring Kira's presence must have caused it. TJ figured that he would need to try his hardest to fix things. Things became clear though as he stared in Cyrus' eyes. He was going to come out to Cyrus. Before he could say anything, Cyrus had started them off.

"Where's your girlfriend? Didn't you invite her?"

"I'm not dating Kira. I never was. I'm- I'm gay Cy."

At those words, TJ saw a hint of prehaps 'hope' fleet by his face and was reminded of the earlier jealousy. TJ took this an opportunity to prompt, "is there something you need to tell me?"

"I like you TJ. A lot"

Hearing that, TJ chose to cement his approval with a soft "me too", and latched his pinkie with Cyrus'. It was like a pinkie promise that everything was going to be okay with them. Things still weren't perfect in TJ's life, but he knew that with Cyrus by his side, he would feel much better. Cyrus has that effect on him after all.

A/N: it's 3:15 am but I promised to finish this before I went to bed

I don't know what the ending is- I'm sorry. I suck at ending.

This is not beta'd and I'm tired so I apologize for any and all mistakes and the dialogue in general because I tend to forget how humans speak which is why I avoid it as much as possible

Tagging as promised: @imhereforthetryus