#genderfluid Hugo

[cartoon-juicebox]

VAT7K HEADCANNONS!!

Boyflux or genderfluid Hugo!!

Hugo only feels comfortable cross dressing in public after the trials.

Rapunzel and nuru help him dress and Varian, Eugene, Lance will either verbally or physically attack people who have a problem with it.

(Yong would also threaten to explode them)

Donella and Cyrus would be supportive but wouldn’t know how to express it to Hugo. Donella would but Hugo a dress but then give it to him with the most blank expression.

Rapunzel would definitely offer to help Hugo with his hair!!

Trans Varian

When he came out to his dad, Quirin would try to be supportive but would be confused. He’d help Varian transition!!

Hugo’s new clothes for cross dressing are also Varian’s old clothes from before his transition.

[multifandomconfusion]

What do you mean Hugo isn't genderfluid? It's canon (she doesn't even exist in canon)

[shimmer-wolf-arts]

So another headcanon-

Hugo being genderfluid.

I've seen it a lot and tbh I support it. He doesn't really explore his gender expression too much when he's younger and during the 7K story, but afterwards? Varian and Grace are actually on their honeymoon and bring Hugo with them (since he and Varian are still in their new relationship by this point, and Grace and Hugo are discovering their feelings for each other, too). And while out shopping, Hugo spots some dresses. Both Grace and Varian encourage him to try them on, and let's just say, they think he looks amazing in a dress.

This is probably the first time he tries on makeup, too along with the dress, so he's still very shy about it. But his partners think he looks beautiful!!

[nerdasstheatrekid]

HAPPY PRIDEMONTH TO THESE HOMOS!!

[keithbutgay]

Headcanon that once Hugo got a bunch of period products to give to Nuru for the journey to be supportive but he didn't know Nuru's trans. So he holds out the pads and Nuru looks and them and slowly opens her mouth but before she can say anything Varian swoops by and just yoinks the pads like "THANKS I NEEDED THESE"

[silvernmoonlace]

not me thirsting over my own Hugo fanart for the 6 billionth time 🙄

[082roseyposey082]

happi gae munth

(My first time drawing Hugo btw.)

[zachdanielswhisky]

He wants an old man to become eggpreg with his son. It's mpreg AND eggpreg. AND old man preg. AND old gay man preg. AND genderfluid man preg. So like if Hugo was old!! And you made him lay an egg!!!

mmmmmmmmmmmm egg

[pansy-picnics]

A vat7k related question.

What do you think is Hugo's gender identity? Cus I want to hear what you think Hugo's gender is and the story behind it.

EHEHEHE personally i think she’s genderfluid and uses he/she/they pronouns…….I think he was kind of an uncracked egg up until the trials though. like, he’s been in survival mode for so long that he’s never had the time or luxury to really think about himself or his identity….i think he’s had a lot of different disguises over his career though, and those personas are either male or female depending on what the situation calls for so he’s not a stranger to dressing femininely either.

but yeah…i think for a long time hugo just identified as male by default cuz like…what else would he be LOL. if he had any doubts at all they weren’t significantly hindering him or anything so he just buried them with all the other of the emotions he doesn’t want to feel. but like the closet is made of GLASS and this becomes especially obvious when she teams up with 3 other teenagers who are also transgender so sometimes she’ll just Say Shit and they all turn around and look at her like “…….🤨”

i have this very vivid scene in my head where varian comes out to the gang as trans and hes clearly really uneasy abt it. and hugo doesn’t know what to say so he just tries to relate by saying the first thing that comes to mind and goes “oh yeah i get it i mean. sometimes i wish i was a girl but like not all the time yk” and nuru and varian both just stop and stare at him

hugo, getting nervous: …Sorry that’s probably not the same thing forget i said anything

nuru: No i think we should talk about this?

anyways yeah….other than her traveling party giving her some weird looks nothing actually really came of these conversations bc hugo would refuse to think about herself even if you put a gun to her head

fast forward to post-trials though, and hugo’s been living in the castle with varian for about six months…it was REALLY messy for both of them while she was adjusting, but at this point shes finally started to let her guard down a little, and all of a sudden she has SO much free time and she has no idea what to do with any of it. she’s stealing collecting things, tinkering with all kinds of useless little gadgets, rapunzel is teaching her tons of little arts and crafts projects. overall shes pretty content despite everything. So anyways then the gender crisis hits them like a fucking freight train

honestly i’m like half joking when i say i think it started bc they just kept forgetting to cut their hair. like one day they looked in the mirror and they’re like “wow my hairs getting so long i kinda look like a girl lol. Wait”

AND AS FUNNY AS IT IS ITS SO. WILDLY UNFAMILIAR TO THEM. like all of a sudden theyre SO insecure for as far as they can tell, NO reason and it drives them CRAZY. i dont even think that hugo dislikes their masculine features after coming out, i think they embrace them if anything but its just like…going from 0 to 100 so fast and suddenly being so hyper aware of themselves in a way that they NEVER were before…having to realize that they’re definitely Not cis. it’s fucking TERRIFYING!!!

not to mention it hits him all at once during a time when he’s still frankly really paranoid about him and varian’s relationship, and he’s kinda walking on eggshells bc deep down he’s convinced that var’s just gonna get tired of him eventually and kick him out. its like he’s just waiting for the final nail in the coffin despite the fact that there is literally no coffin.

All that being said i think it takes him a while to work up the courage to talk to varian about it. and he knows he won’t like. hate him for being trans or anything (I sure hope he wouldn’t, at least, seeing as he is literally also trans) but varian’s already done SO much for him and helped him through literally everything already….he doesn’t want to burden him any more than he already has. he also cant comprehend that someone can just Like him, like, as a person, so he’s convinced himself that varian must see something specific in him right now and he’s afraid that if he changes himself drastically in any way then whatever varian saw in him just. won’t be there anymore. If that makes sense

as for who he actually goes to first- honestly i think it’d have to be lance. at least in my head lance was the first person hugo really started to bond with aside from varian….he didn’t start letting his guard down with rapunzel until quite a while after that. also i think he’s worried that if he tells rapunzel she’d end up accidentally spilling something to varian (which is like. Valid bc she’s a horrible liar) he’d definitely write a letter to nuru, too, but nuru is also in another kingdom, and that message takes a while to get to her, so it’s more something they talk about after the fact

when he finally does get a letter back after dumping this revelation on her it’s just like

“dearest hugo. upon reading your letter i desperately wanted to tell you that i told you so, but i realize that would be in poor taste, seeing as you are clearly struggling right now. Moreover,-“ /j

regardless of who she tells first, they obviously all support her and encourage her to talk to varian as well…And ofc varian hypes her up to no end when she finally does. i wanna say it’s a sweet emotional scene but i feel like varian was also under the assumption that she figured out the gender thing like a year ago /j

hugo: ,,,,so like. i don’t think i’m a guy

varian: . yeah?

hugo:

hugo: TFYM “YEAH”?????!!!!???

varian: D. DID WE NOT ALREADY KNOW THIS?

hugo: ,???? NO???!!???!

jokes aside though as soon as hugo does decide he wants to explore his presentation more varian immediately consults rapunzel who gets WAY too excited about it and it kind of scares hugo a little bit. /j like Do you want to cut your hair? Dye it? Do you want new piercings? TATTOOS????

they eventually just settle on getting her a few new pieces to add to her wardrobe and that works out fine. varian sees his girlfriend in a dress and loses his mind etc etc. All is right in the world

[cartoon-juicebox]

Live laugh love gender-fluid Hugo head cannon :3

I love drawing him in dresses

[specialagentartemis]

Black Women writing SFF

The post about Octavia Butler also made me think about the injustice we do both Butler, SFF readers, and Black women SFF writers by holding her up as the one Black Woman Writing Sci-Fi. She occupies an important place in the genre, for her creativity, the beauty and impact of her writing, and her prolific work... but she's still just one writer, and no one writer works for everybody.

So whether you liked Octavia Butler's books or didn't, here are some of the (many!!! this list is just the authors I've read and liked, or been recommended and been wanting to read) other Black women writing speculative fiction aimed at adults, who might be writing something within your interest:

N. K. Jemisin��- a prolific powerhouse of modern sff. Will probably have something you'll like. Won three Hugo awards in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy. I’ve only read her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? and it is absolutely story after story of bangers. Creative, chilling, beautifully written, make you think. They’re so good and I highly recommend the collection. Several of her novels have spun out of premises she first explored through these short stories, most recently “The City Born Great” giving rise to her novel The City We Became. Leans more fantasy than sci-fi, but has a lot of both, in various permutations. 

Nisi Shawl - EDIT: I have been informed that Nisi Shawl identifies as genderfluid, not as a woman. They primarily write short stories that lean literary. Their one novel that I’ve read, Everfair, is an alternate-history 19th century that asks, what if the Congo had fought off European colonization and became a free and independent African state? Told in vignettes spanning decades of political organization, political movements, war tactics, and social development, among an ensemble of local African people, Black Americans coming to the new country, white and mixed-race Brits, and Chinese immigrants who came as British laborers.

Nnedi Okorafor - American-Nigerian writer of Africanfuturism, sci-fi stories emphasizing life in present, future, and alternate-magical Africa. She has range! From Binti, a trilogy of novellas about a teenage girl in Namibia encountering aliens and balancing her newfound connection to space with expectations of her family; to Akata Witch, a middle-grade series about a Nigerian-American girl moving to Nigeria and learning to use magic powers she didn’t know she had; to Who Fears Death, a brutal depiction of magical-realism in a futuristic, post-war Sudan; to short stories like "Africanfuturism 419", about that poor Nigerian prince who’s desperately sending out those emails looking for help (but with a sci-fi twist), and "Mother of Invention" about a smart house taking care of its human and her baby… she’s done a little bit of everything, but always emphasizes the future, the science, and the magic of (usually western) Africa.

Karen Lord - an Afro-Caribbean author.  I actually didn’t particularly like the one novel by her I’ve read, The Best of All Possible Worlds, but Martha Wells did, so. Lord has more novels set in this world—a Star Trek-esque multicultural, multispecies spacefuture set on a planet that has welcomed immigrants and refugees for a long time, and become a vibrant multicultural planet. I find her stories rooted in near-future Caribbean socio-climatic concerns like "Haven" and "Cities of the Sun" and her folktale-fantasy style Redemption in Indigo more compelling.  And more short stories here.

Bethany C. Morrow - only has one novella (short novel?) for adults, Mem, but it was creative and fascinating and good and I’d be remiss not to shout it out. In an alternate-history 1920s Toronto, scientists have discovered how to extract specific memories from a person—but then those memories are embodied as physical, cloned manifestations of the person at the moment the memory was made. The main character is one such “Mem,” struggling to determine who she is if she was created from and defined by one single traumatic memory that her original-self wanted to remove. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative, and very interesting.  (Morrow has some YA novels too. I read one of them and thought it was okay.)

Rebecca Roanhorse - Afro-Indigenous, Black and "Spanish Indian" and married into Diné (Navajo). I’ve read her ongoing post-apocalyptic fantasy series starting with Trail of Lightning, and am liking it a lot; after a climate catastrophe, the spirits and magic of the Diné awakened to protect Dinetah (the Navajo Nation) from the onslaught; and now magic and monsters are part of life in this fundamentally changed world. Coyote is there and he is only sometimes helpful. She also has a more traditional second-world epic high fantasy, Black Sun, an elaborate fantasy world with quests and prophecies and seafaring adventure that draws inspiration from Indigenous cultures of the US and Mexico rather than Europe. She also has bitingly satirical and very incisive short stories like “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” about virtual reality and cultural tourism, and the fantasy-horror "Harvest."

Micaiah Johnson - her multiverse-hopping novel The Space Between Worlds plays with alternate universes and alternate selves in a continuously creative and interesting way! The setup doesn’t take the easy premise that one universe is our own recognizable one that opens up onto strange alternate universes—even the main character’s home universe is wildly different in speculative ways, with the MC coming from a Mad Max-esque desert community abandoned to the elements, while working for the universe-travel company within the climate-controlled walled city where the rich and well-connected live and work. Also, it’s unabashedly gay. 

And if you like audiobooks and audio fiction (I listened to The Space Between Worlds as an audiobook, it’s good), then Jordan Cobb is someone you should check out. She does sci-fi/horror/thriller audio drama. Her works include Janus Descending, a lyrical and eerie sci-fi horror about a small research expedition to a distant planet and how it went so, so wrong; and Descendants, the sequel about its aftermath. She also has Primordial Deep, about a research expedition to the deep undersea, to investigate the apparent re-emergence of a lot of extinct prehistoric sea creatures. She’s a writer/producer I like, and always follow her new releases. Her detailed prose, minimal casts  (especially in Janus Descending), good audio quality, and full-series supercuts make these welcoming to audiobook fans. 

-

Nalo Hopkinson - a writer who should be considered nearly as foundational as Octavia Butler, honestly. A novelist and short story writer with a wide variety of sci-fi, dystopian futures, fairy-tale horror, gods and epics, and space Carnival, drawing heavily from her Caribbean experiences and aesthetics.

Tananarive Due - fantastical/horror. Immortals, vampires, curses, altered reality, unnerving mystery. Also has written a lot of books.

Andrea Hairston - creative and otherworldly, weird and bisexual, with mindscapes and magic and aliens. 

Helen Oyeyemi - I haven’t read her work but she comes highly recommended by a friend. A novelist and short story writer, most of her work leans fairytale fantastical-horror. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a collection of short fiction and recc’ed to me as her best work. White is for Witching is a well-regarded haunted house novel. 

Ashia Monet - indie author, writer of The Black Veins, pitched as “the no-love-interest, found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” Magic road trip! Possibly YA? I’m not positive. 

-

This also doesn’t include Black non-binary sff authors I’ve read and liked like An Owomoyela, C. L. Polk, and Rivers Solomon. And this is specifically about adult sff books, so I didn’t include Black women YA sff authors like Kalynn Bayron, Tomi Adeyemi, Tracy Deonn, Justina Ireland, or Alechia Dow, though they’re writing fantasy and sci-fi in the YA world too.

And a lot of short stories are out there in the online magazine world, where so many up and coming authors get their start, and established ones explore offbeat and new ideas.  Pick up an issue (or a subscription!) of FIYAH magazine for the most current Black speculative writing.

[makingqueerhistory]

Announcement

Some of you may have noticed that on the website and patreon the name Laura Darling has changed to Harper-Hugo Darling. This is to reflect my chosen name, and identity as a genderfluid transgender person. I use they/them/theirs pronouns, and am proud to share that fact with y’all finally.

[shimmer-wolf-arts]

DANG IT TUMBLR DIDN'T SAVE THIS AS A DRAFT SO NOW I GOTTA START OVER-- ugh

Also, @pansy-picnics always inspires me to write/ramble about the same things LOL

But yeah, we share the headcanon that Hugo is genderfluid.

Cuz honestly, look at them. There's no way they aren't!

Ramble about Hugo headcanon incoming:

So, Hugo uses he, they, and she pronouns. Corona mostly uses he and they, but Varian, Grace, Nuru, and Yong will use she if Hugo tells them!

Hugo suppressed his feminine fluxes a LOT growing up. They presented as a man 99% of the time (except when she tried infiltrating the Ingvarran army at 16), mainly for their own safety. He grew up in an orphanage with only boys, who were already bullying him for being attracted to guys, and Ingvarr was notoriously transphobic overall, thanks to the Queen. So Hugo had to hide that part of herself.

Upon meeting Varian and the gang, and slowly beginning to trust this group of queer peeps (Varian being bi and on the ace spectrum, Grace being bi, Nuru being a lesbian, Yong not knowing what he is yet but being 100% supportive. I'm thinking Yong might be nonbinary in some way idk), Hugo started letting his guard down a bit.

The first thing she asked was if Nuru could help her paint her nails after they did the Trial in the Dark Kingdom. It was small, but it made Hugo feel a bit more feminine.

Upon returning to Ingvarr for the Iron Trial, Hugo asked Grace if she could make hair extensions for them out of her perpetual ice (aka ice that didn't melt). Their hair was already growing out, but if Hugo was to disguise themself in Ingvarr (you could literally be arrested for either trying to escape or for coming back AFTER escaping), they needed to look different.

It was little things like that on their journey that made Hugo feel a touch more comfy with himself.

After the entire incident at the Eternal Library and things calmed down, Hugo started wearing a bit of makeup! Nothing too much, just eyeshadow and a bit of mascara. But once she started dating Varian and Grace, she finally came out to them. Fully.

Hugo didn't always feel like a guy. Sometimes, they felt like they were nonbinary (specifically demigirl), or like they had no gender at all. Varian and Grace didn't care. In fact, they were even happier since Hugo didn't have to hide that part of herself anymore!

Hugo had gotten his hair reshaved and cut when the went back to Corona for the final Trial, but after that, he just let it grow. He kept the shaved part maintained, but the top part grew a LOT. It gave him the flexibility to present it either really feminine or really masculine, or androgynously. And no matter what flux Hugo is in, they always have painted nails. Hands down, always green nails. And hell, they'll even wear makeup even if they're in a masculine flux. They just really like it.

But yeah, when Hugo is in a feminine flux, she goes ALL OUT! And she SLAYS in whatever outfit she wears!!

[rewritingcanon]

next gen fav games:

albus: there’s two sides of him— dead by daylight (he forces scorpius to play just so he can bully the shit out of him and hear him scream on his mic when he gets jumpscared) or omori (someone check up on him maybe…)

scorpius: minecraft (he likes to be the housewife making his house look pretty whilst albus goes out and mines for their family of mushroom cows) and little misfortune (yeah he also needs a check up)

rose: sims 4 (how she deals with her god complex)

james: silent hill (says it’s because the protag is named after him but he’s actually very mentally ill and resonates with the manifestation of self-punishment)

lily: mortal kombat 11 (for the fatality, but mostly for mileena)

hugo: fortnite (bro is a toddler and likes to attend the concerts) and my singing monsters (bro was feeling… musical)

teddy: hades (local pansexual genderfluid sillyman lets himself get slain by the hot villains again) and baldurs gate 3 (for literally the same reasons except add character customisation)

victoire: cooking dash (she likes to feel stressed) and the witcher 3 (shes never played another witcher game)

lorcan: fnaf (he always thinks hes done with it and then a new game or dlc comes out) and it takes two (he forces lysander to play with him obvi)

lysander: little nightmares 2 (only game that had him shook)

fred: detroit: become human (loves story-based games and choose your own adventure) and batman: the telltale series (same reasons)

roxanne: telltale’s the walking dead (simply cant move on from any of the games except the third one)

dominique: the last of us (she’s an elitist and will yap about this game at any given chance)

louis: played doki doki literature club when he was 12 and that was it for bro (….core memories were made)

molly: resident evil 3 (she likes them all but is obsessed with jill) but also life is strange (she’s probably gay)

lucy: when asked will tell you its pathologic (which she still loves a lot and is an elitist about) but it’s secretly danganronpa (she likes feeling smart when she connects clues leave her alone)

yann: final fantasy 7 (hes obsessed with the world and its the only game he can play)

polly: amanda the adventurer (to no one’s surprise)

karl: roblox (he’s been banned on so many different servers for bullying little children and is one of the most infamous hated users in his continent)

craig: league of legends (he’s a bit of a loser) and injustice: gods among us (he needs to win the challenges and unlock the characters)

sophia: stardew valley (she wants to live in a world without conflict (she will get stressed over it anyway))

delphi: couldn’t play video games (she would’ve loved fran bow though)

alice: episode (she spends an embarrassing amount on gems)

frank: arkham knight (he’s literally batman guys) and what remains of edith finch (he has range guys)

auggie: project sekai (they need to go take a shower)

[keithbutgay]

vat7k headcanons?

oh my gosh my time has come (you will probably regret this)

so first off imma reference my like three other posts i've made on the topic because i'm a nerd

starting with lgbt+ headcanons-

hugo is genderfluid and likes men i don't make the rules (he/she/they)

i am very much a trans varian truther. in my mind they use he/they pronouns and is also very biromantic

transing nuru's gender too- i love transfemme nuru (she/her) and also she's a lesbian definitely

yong gets the aroace nonbinary treatment

okay moving on to headcanons about languages-

its canon that varian speaks like three languages but i headcanon that he is fluent in coronan, saporian, and is learning the dark kingdom's language

hugo definitely knows so many languages because he gets around. i like to think he's fluent in ingvarran, coronan and bayangoran

i love the idea that yong is still learning coronan and that hugo sometimes has to translate for him or they repeat things for him sometimes because varian talks too fast or they use an unfamiliar word or like accents trip him up

on a seperate note in my mind coronan is german, bayangoran is mandarin, ingvarran is farsi (based on this post)

one of my favorite possible vat7k storylines is when hugo finds out about varian's past and i love the idea that he found out because of a wanted poster they found- perfect angst potential. on that note, i also believe that the rest of them would have heard about varian (the alchemist) when he was still wanted for example

hugo would have been told about him from donella, whether he was always told to be better and be like varian, or that he admired varian and thought he was really cool and dreamed of working with him

nuru had heard about him through horror stories about the kidnapping and attempted murder of the royal family. she most likely would have been scared of varian when she found out, not trusting him not to hurt her

i honestly think yong wouldn't understand. i don't think his parents would have told him if they even knew, and he would have been like seven at the time, so

hugo was varian's bi awakening except not really. he had liked guys before that but hadn't realized that was what he was feeling

they definitely met cass while on their adventures and she definitely had a girlfriend

ruddiger and prometheus hate each other

hugo is extremely jealous of ruddiger as well. ah yes him, his boyfriend, and his boyfriend's raccoon that's taking up all his attention

firmly believing in hugo showing up one day with period products because he might be a loser but he's not a jerk and nuru not knowing how to tell him she's trans while varian (also not out) comes up and just takes the pads being like 'thanks i needed these'

varigo-

t4t obviously

also they're both neurodivergent i dont make the rules

they hate each other but like not

like in the sense that, if they were asked if they liked each other, they would be like ew gross no i hate this man

and then at the end of the conversation varian kisses hugo on the cheek and is just like see you at home babe and everyone is like w h a t

they argue nonstop, to the point of being violent, and then someone changes the subject and hugo's in varian's lap

obsessed with that one au where they were in prison together

also obsessed with hugo dropping the piano on eugene's head

this entire post

might add to this later but here you go have fun!

[fahye]

i’ve gotten a few book recs from your blog over the last few years so i was wondering, what new books are you looking forward to this year?

frantically answering this one on release day for some of the books on this list, scraping in under the wire, etc.

* asterisk means I've already read it because of the joys of ARCs.

*SOME DESPERATE GLORY by emily tesh. aspects of military sci-fi, aspects of [redacted for spoilers], aspect of alienfucking, protagonist with strong azula-from-avatar vibes (she's the worst, I would die for her). very queer and very clever and will rip your spine out and fill you up with emotions. it's gonna win a hugo and become a modern classic. guaranteed.

SOMETHING SPECTACULAR & MORTAL FOLLIES both by alexis hall. both are regency romances, one with genderfluid & agender protags, the other one is sapphic and involving fairies I think?? maybe witches?? don't know don't care, I'll devour anything alexis hall cares to serve me.

*THE FIRST BRIGHT THING by j.r. dawson. if you enjoyed the aesthetics of the night circus but wish it had more polyamory, sapphics, time travel, examinations of trauma, found family and post-ww1 americana: this is for you. it's such a wonderful, chewy, compassionate book. about magical circuses.

KNOCKOUT by @sarahmaclean. I love sarah's current 'hell's belles' historical romance series so much and this one is the romance with IMOGEN who is an EXPLOSIVES EXPERT, so I expect it to blow my socks off in several different ways. can't wait.

*STARLING HOUSE by alix e. harrow. southern gothic! feral gremlin girl meets house and is NOT impressed! feral gremlin girl meets glowering gremlin boy and is even LESS impressed! buried sins, the grind of poverty, terrible houses that want your blood. I read this in almost a single sitting and I had the time of my fucking life.

*THE DEATH I GAVE HIM by em x. liu. locked room murder mystery sci-fi hamlet retelling!! exactly as amazing as it sounds. another one that I flew through in a single sitting. features science, deception, transhumanism, and some unreasonably sexy AI-interfacing.