#in rainbows and all kinds of just fun pride stuff

[moonfromearth]

🌈 Happy Pride, everyone! 🏳️‍🌈

A (very late) post to celebrate Pride Month featuring one of my favorite groups of characters! I still have a lot of work to do on them, though, but eventually they'll have their own story 😅

I hope that everyone is having a great month! Whether you're out or still figure things out I hope that you enjoy all the love going around.

[shitposttcentral]

What The RDR2 Characters Would Do At Pride || pt 1

Arthur Morgan - He is happily celebrating! He has 2 dads, a husband, and a son (Lenny) he thinks may be lgbt. So he's celebrating extra hard okay lots of rainbows lots of cheering. This is his Super Bowl. He isn't opposed to blocking homophobes from being awful. Dutch Van Der Linde - At first he's trying to adopt more little displaced/homeless LGBT youth to join their found family. When Hosea tells him to stop he does focus on the others and making sure everyone has a good time. Bill Williamson - On a float waving a Bear Pride Flag. Had no idea everyone else was coming was embarrassed at first but just avoided them the rest of the night and didn't talk about it after. Lenny Summers - Sporting that vintage I ❤️ My Gay Dads shirt he found in the back of Arthur's closet. He's bi and not quite ready to come out yet but we'll get there. For now, he just says he's there to be supportive. Kieran Duffy: A guy hits on him and he says he has a girlfriend. Then he feels so bad he spends the rest of the night trying to over-enthusiastically be an ally. Signed up to volunteer at some events and kept shouting ALLY. Mary-Beth Gaskill: Is trying to reign in Kieran from all the apologizing and shouting ally. She bought some really cute stuff from booths though and has made lots of friends to craft with. Uncle: They lost him at some point and everyone kind of panicked until they saw him sitting on a float with a bunch of lesbians tossing out beads or candy. He is now the cool uncle to about 30 or so very nice lesbians. Abigail Marston: Head-to-toe bi colors very excited to be out very happy to be out. Makes sure everyone is drinking enough water and has on sunscreen. When the babysitter takes Jack though she really starts to party and has so much fun. She talks about how happy she is for weeks after and is already making plans to go back. John is happy that she's happy.

[ssadumba55]

Luigi, Flynn Rider, Nick Wilde & Naveen react to Bisexual!Reader

Request: Okay, so I like, just recently came out to you! I know that I'm anonymous for the request but I have some homophobic friends that are on here and I dont want them to know that it was me. :( I have a specific headcanon request since I came out today! Could you please write me a how Luigi, Flynn Rider, Nick Wilde, and Prince Naveen would react to you coming out as bi? Thank you in advance!

Special request that I got asked to do by someone. I know things are hard now, but trust me they won't always be and soon you'll find amazing people who support and love you for who you are! For now, hopefully this brings you a little joy! Wanted to get this done for pride month.

Luigi

Luigi doesn't have a mean bone in his body, if you came to him and confessed you were bisexual he'd be overjoyed he was the first one you told

And he'd do all the research he could, he's on the job don't worry

He will absolutely be your number one biggest fan, he is now an LGBT ally (he probably was one before but now doubly so), he is taking you to pride whether you like it or not

He would definitely help you plan out how to come out to other people in your life, yes it would be many steps, and yes he will support you the whole way

And he'd also support you in more subtle ways, like wearing pins or even just like comforting you if the whole sexuality thing is stressing you out

He is just really happy that you're choosing to be your authentic self

Flynn Rider

If this man isn't at least bisexual himself, he has good gaydar, so he might already have an inkling before you come to him

He's genuinely happy for you

Might make bi jokes, might ask you if you're into every person you pass on the street

He will try to turn this into a "so you're into me" thing, like it or not, he's going to assume you're into him (if you're not he will be very annoyed)

Will ask you dumb questions at all hours of the day, just to get a reaction

Probably has a little bi flag to wave around and annoy you

He is your biggest supporter though and he will gladly threaten anyone who doesn't respect your sexuality

Nick Wilde

Nick is the kind of guy who when you first tell him, he's already looking up pride events to go with you to

He knows what it's like to not feel like everyone else, to have something about you that you can't change that makes a lot of people iffy and he will spend a lot of time just reminding you that you're not valued any less because of your sexuality

He has so many bisexual stickers, pins, things just to show he supports you. Even has one for his police officer uniform.

Will play smash or pass with you if you ask him

I don't know why I just get the vibe that Nick like- buys pride stuff just because he thinks you'll like it. Every time he sees something bisexual or with the rainbow he's like "don't mind if I do."

Probably forgets you're bisexual every time you say you're into someone

Naveen

He doesn't really get the idea at first, but his first reaction would definitely be "as long as you're happy that's all that matters".

Once he wraps his head around it though, he absolutely is a huge supporter

Definitely an ally, and has definitely learned some queer songs to play on his ukulele

He loves a big event so he will absolutely attend pride with you and he will bring his ukulele. And he'll joke about upstaging you at your own event (but you don't care as long as he's having fun!)

If someone maybe isn't supportive, he definitely gets very upset on your behalf but he will also comfort you very well.

He truly believes that everyone should be who they want to/are capable of being and he thinks you're very brave to be who you are

And you can't tell me he wouldn't buy you pride related things just to see you smile!

[cads-the-cat]

Sleep Token at Pride Headcanon

(Note: I'm not saying that any of the band are queer or not queer as it is not my business and we should not assume that stuff, it's just for fun)

iii goes all out with a rainbow outfit. I'm speaking head to toes rainbow colours and glitter. Because we all know iii would. Rainbow laces with special pride collection shoes, rainbow socks, white trousers with small flags on them, a pride t-shirt and some kind of funky headwear

iv is a bit more subtle, but he is wearing a pride t-shirt (obviously black with some print on it), rainbow sunglasses and a solid colour bucket hat. His nails are painted in rainbow colours. He and iii share a massive progress flag and carry it together

Vessel is wearing an open shirt (gotta show off those abs) with a small rainbow flag embroidered on the chest pocket and shorts. He has normal sunglasses, but has rainbow stripes painted across his face and is carrying a rainbow flag like a superhero cape

ii is the most casual in a t-shirt and shorts and he carries a small flag and a sign that says Happy Pride. However, someone *cough* iii and iv *cough* got hold of an entire roll of those heartshaped pride flag stickers and over the day cover him in it while Vessel can't stop laughing at ii's disgruntledface when another one appears on his body (unbeknownst to iv and Vessel, iii has secretly started covering them in stickers too)

Espera also need to be there because I love them and i like the idea of them all hanging out together in their free time. They are all wearing summery outfits with more or less subtle pride details (rainbow socks, painted nails etc.). They all have flags painted on their faces and carry several small pride flags for all kinds of labels. They also have a sign for Free Hugs

Anyway, Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️You're all valid and appreciated

[newtthetranswriter]

Can I request good omens Crowley x reader? Where they’re out and about together and his sunglasses get lost or broken or whatever and reader helps him out somehow bc Crowley doesn’t want to make a big scene? (Leading him while he closes his eyes or lending him their ridiculous heart sunglasses or something idk lol)

Thank you!

Pairing: Crowley x Reader

Word count: 957

A/n: I had fun writing this, I hope you enjoy it. The reader is modeled after me but that’s because it made it easier to write their outfit, you can change it if you want though. Any ways enjoy and remember Requests are currently Open. MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT

    Today was going to be fantastic. Me, Crowley and Aziraphale were out enjoying a ‘small’ local Pride event. You see, I’m a nonbinary transmasculine person dating the not so evil Demon Crowley. I had convinced him and Aziraphale to come with me to this event for two reasons. One, I love hanging out with my demon and our angel friend. And Two, It’s nice to be able to express myself in a group of people who understand me.

   The best part was, I somehow convinced both of them to drop their monochrome looks for something with a bit more color. Aziraphale was easy to convince, I got him a nice button up with a pride flag on the pocket, a rainbow bow tie and a pair of rainbow shoes. Crowley on the other hand took a bit of bribery. After hours of begging and making promises the demon finally agreed to at least wear bisexual flag tie and a few different pride pins including a nonbinary rainbow.

   You might be asking that if I got those two to wear pride stuff, I must be wearing something as well, and you would be right. I chose to go a little more bold. I decided to wear my nonbinary flag chest binder with a pair of skinny jeans that have different flags embroidered on it. I also opted for my custom pride converse. To complete the look I had turned my Trans flag into a cape with a piece of ribbon and threw on a pair of rainbow heart shaped sunglasses.

   Now that you have an idea of what our lovely little group is wearing on to the event. Like I said it was supposed to be just a small event in the park but knowing the LGBTQ community it blew up fairly quickly. 

   We walked through the park looking at different stands where small businesses were selling different things they made for pride. I pulled my companions over to one table that had different pieces of fan art for popular queer ships, and picked one up for satosugu from JJK paying the kind person on the other side of the table. We then moved on.

   “It’s so lovely to see all these wonderful people come together to celebrate each other.” Aziraphale said observing the large crowd around us.

    I looked over to him and smiled. “I know right in spite of all the terrible things we have to deal with on a daily basis, it’s nice to be able to be open and proud of who we are.” I said enjoying the feeling of being accepted.  We continued to walk as a group before Zira noticed a stand selling a variety of books written by queer authors, and he abruptly excused himself getting lost in the crowd of people leaving me with my demon boyfriend.

    “For the love of Satan!” I heard Crowley exclaim as he let go of my hand. I turned around to see him looking towards the ground. “You gotta be kidding me!” He continued as I noticed his signature sunglasses on the ground, one lens popped out of place and the other shattered on the ground.

    I walked up to him picking the broken glasses up, trying to think of a solution. “Do you have another pair? Or could you miracle new ones?” I asked, realizing there was no fixing the broken glasses.

    He let out a grunt of disdain for the situation. “No, that was my last pair and I very well can’t miracle another in front of these people. I’ll just have to walk around with my eyes closed.” He said, raising his head with his eyes shut hiding his vibrant yellow eyes.

    I looked at him with a frown. “But if you keep your eyes closed you won’t be able to see all the cool things here.” I said with a sad tone. “You could just tell people you’re wearing contacts.” I said, trying to think of ways he could still enjoy the day.

    “No one would believe that, you know contacts don’t dilate and stuff. It’s fine, as long as you lead me around I'm sure we will still have fun.” Crowley said, brushing off my suggestion as we slowly made our way through the crowd. 

    I stayed silent for a moment trying to think of a solution and then I remembered I was wearing my own pair of sunglasses. “Hey Crowley, what if you wear my sunglasses? It would cover your eyes and we could look at everything together.” I said taking my sunglasses off and placing them on his face. I watched as he opened his eyes behind the rainbow lenses. 

    Crowley took a moment to register that the world was now tinted in rainbow instead of the normal darkness he was used to. “This is the only time I will wear these. As soon as we leave I’m fixing my normal ones.” He said, I just smiled at how cute he looked wearing the colorful shades, paired with his signature scowl. “But thank you love, I appreciate it.” He said leaning in to leave a peak on my check.

    I returned the gesture and grabbed his hand before pulling him back into the large crowd looking at the different stands. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking to people, and buying from small businesses. When we met up with Zira he was shocked by the sight of Crowley wearing the rainbow glasses but dropped it after receiving a death glare from the demon.

    Overall it was a great day, talking to fellow members of the queer community, spending time with my favorite demons and angels, and finally seeing Crowley wearing something other than his dark glasses.

[astraldrake]

tfs thoughts beneath the readmore note: contains spoilers for the entire campaign

the opening vision we get when we enter the traveler... i ended up watching it multiple times (computer issues ;-;) but MAN was it cool the inside of the traveler in general looks super funky, im going to have to do a no hud run at some point just for screenshots. shoutout to bungie for giving us a sparkly pink rainbow subclass, just in time for pride month lol weapon unsunsetting means i get to pull all sorts of old friends out of the vault. (python, the vow, steelfeather repeater, perfect paradox, etc...) i'm pretty ambivalent abt cayde generally but they did a good job w/ his characterization. i was worried he'd end up being kind of grating but so far he's been okay i was (initially) delighted to see targe. i was not anticipating that they were introducing him just so they could kill him off 5 minutes later. i have mixed feelings on zavala's characterization but it's been a minute since i buried my face into the ishtar collective lore vault so maybe it's just my memory being unreliable. for him to just lose it and start acting irrationally like that felt odd. maybe it's bcs we havent seen him in a while? idk it just felt off. (tbf you could point out that it's probably a byproduct of being forced to relive one of the most unpleasant moments of his entire life so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ fear and desperation can make people do strange things) ikora was cool, idk she didn't read as ooc or anything to me, her reunion with cayde was very sweet, though in hindsight i wish they'd given her a little more to do. seasonal stuff has struggled to give consistency to crow but i appreciate this expansion's efforts to tie up some of those threads more neatly. (i lost it when he pulled out an iron battleaxe, i did not expect that plot point to get touched on!! also it was cool!) i am still irritated that they fridged amanda ( i ignored that part of canon so hard it kinda smacked me in the face when they mentioned her.) i love luzaku, and i would kill for luzaku. ( finally! friendly hive!) i did like the emphasis on ghost and guardian relationships throughout the expansion's story. (also ghost as the location vendor!!!! having regular chats with him while we go through the story!!! the fact he becomes increasingly damaged and wounded throughout the campaign giving me the distinct dread that he might die!!!)

the fact the traveler is letting out intermittent shrieks of pain... MAN... the return of the glowing bird as our guide! (also the fact that the grenade projectile for song of flame looks like a bird... i dont think they're actually connected but it is giving me Ideas.) speaking of song of flame, i kind of expected it to be more underwhelming than it is?? it's actually pretty fun! prismatic is a lot of fun to mess around with! nothing like throwing a storm grenade at an enemy to simultaneously proc devour and amplify. the speaker mask exotic is also giving me Ideas >:) i lost my shit when they mentioned Micah-10. she's one of the last lore characters i expected them to pull out of the hat but i am delighted to see her in game, and seemingly as more than just a cameo too, as far as i can tell. pretty ambivalent abt the whole "player character is the most powertful being in the universe and the chosen one" thing. it's kinda where i figured they'd take it and i dont hate the trope so eh whatever. im glad they actually gave me cover for some of these story missions. i did not super enjoy lightfall's strategy of throwing me in a room with one million guys and a few tiny scraps of cover. ( the radial mast double tank fight... *shudders* ) difficulty wise legendary wasn't all that painful, there were a few fights i struggled with, but a change of loadout, or a little trial and error was pretty much all i needed. i def understand why they've saved the witness fight for the raid, but if my raiding history is anything to got by im certainly not doing day one, but that doesn't mean ill never touch it. (ive missed most of the newer raids, im just not that much of a people person.) ill try and take some day 1 screenshots of the opening area at least. also wrt post campaign!! i loved playing projectile tennis with savathun. all the two queens stuff was great tbh sav is such a fun villian. like yes!! you do owe us nothing and are only going to swoop in to help us bcs we have a bigger threat to deal with!! we can go back to trying to outscheme eachother once this is over!! ( also hey, they brought back adventures! i thought they'd never do that!) also what ive played of the crode camping trip (i forgot the mission name) has been fun. just me and the bois, out exploding screebs. ( then the game crashed so i guess i gotta go play that again lmao) overall i think this expansion is pretty good! i havent even gotten to the seasonal stuff yet, much less some of the regular patrol stuff for the pale heart.

[kamii-2]

how i think the outsider boys would react to you coming out as lesbian

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

so like this is my first time writing headcannons so i’m very sorry if they suck 😭 please enjoy this post and have a good day :))

i’m sorry that some of them are short then others 😞 idk what to put for them

warnings: mentions of homophobia, cussing, and slurs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ponyboy curtis

he would most definitely support you

he would probably ask what it meant

after you told him he would say something along the lines of “OHHH, we’ll just know i support you” and give you a big hug

he would (attempt to) stick up for you if someone was homophobic to you

he would try to put you on with EVERY girl you say is pretty

he would help you tell the rest of the gang about you being lesbian

during pride month he would definitely give you some kind of rainbow or lesbian flag colored gift 😭

he would probably cry when you tell him bc you trust him enough to tell him first

he will definitely almost out you a couple times

like i can imagine him trying to make some random man leave you alone and he says something like “she doesn’t even like bo- ..you.”

johnny cade

johnny wouldn’t know what to say at first 😭

like he would just stare at you then say “..what?”

you’d probably have to explain to him what it means

he would thinks it’s a disease or something

he start to freak out a little 😭 “what does that mean? is it a sickness? is it contagious?”

he would most definitely support you

yk bc he’s gay and all (just like ponyboy)

he would ask you who ur crush is then ask pony to help out you guys on

he would probably accidentally out you to the whole group

like i can imagine him saying something along the line of “so how’s everything going with you and your girlfriend?” then everyone stares at you 😭

tbh i can’t really picture hum doing/saying anything else to you besides checking up on you and your crush/girlfriend

he seems like he wouldn’t care if you were lesbian or straight or anything else

dally winston

he would laugh at you at first bc he tougher you were joking

once he sees you not smiling he said “oh- you’re for real?”

he would be slightly homophobic 😭

he’s the type of guy to accidentally out you to the whole town

he would beat up anybody who made fun of you

he would says slurs but not in a mean way (ifykwim)

bro would jokingly bully you for being gay

like he would say stuff like “that’s why you’re gay” and you would say “don’t you like girls too?”

dally would see something rainbow and immediately say something to/about you

*sees rainbow cup at store* “look its your twin” and he would start laughing extremely loud after 😭

just like pony, he would try and put you on with EVERY SINGLE GIRL you call fine or look at

sodapop curtis

he would give you a big fat hug when you come out to him

he would start to cry a little 😭

he would protect you from homophobes

i could see him yelling at someone or beating them up bc they were homophobic to you

he would be so nice to you and help you with any type of relationship problems

he would be ur therapist

“soda i don’t even know what to do anymore man, i just want her so bad but-“ “shhhh it’s okay, why don’t you find a new crush?”

soda would somehow get you with your crush after only talking to her about you one time

“sooo…how do you feel about my friend y/n?” and then he would go on for like 30 minutes on why she should be with you and stuff like that

he would also get you gifts for pride month 😭

steve randle

he would be kinda frozen for a second

“steve…i like girls..” “……….me too”

he would be super duper chill about it

he would help you with any type of relationship advice or anything to do with relationships

he would teach you how to flirt

he would help you get ready for dates

he would definitely ask you to work at the DX with him and soda just to see hot girls all day (and to actually work, but mostly to look at girls all day long)

he would give you pep talks before dates/asking girls out

two-bit matthews

biggest hype man ever

would yell in happiness at you telling him

you both go to the nightly double and rate random girls

“what about that broad over there” “7/10”

you both have completely different taste in women

“that lady that just walked by was fine as hell” “two-bit matthews, that lady was ugly”

he would be so interested in all of your love life drama (all of the guys are)

he would give the worst advice ever

like don’t trust any advice he gives you bc you might get beat up 😭

he would say slurs aswell but once you tell him what they mean, he would stop

“stop it fag” “two… that’s a slur” “IM SO SORRY, I DIDNT KNOW” then he would give you a big hug 😭

he would attempt to be ur relationship therapist but would fail horribly

darry curtis

he would not care at all

“darry.. i’m gay” “…okay?”

he would protect you from homophobes (they all would)

he would let you rant to him about your love life

idk what to put for him 😭

i’m so very sorry this one is so short

—————————————

i hope you guys enjoyed this post :)) i hope you all have a good day!! bye love you all 💋💋

[pinkyjulien]

🌈 Queerness in CyberPunk 2077

I wanted to make this post earlier this month but got caught up in modding shenanigans, as per usual~

BUT! It's still June, still pride, so here it is :>

▶ DISCLAIMER

All of this is my analyses, headcanons, of different characters, some of them not confirmed at all in anyway or form! I'm a queer man myself, but I do not claim to know everything about queerness and being queer, everyone experience the game and interpret the characters differently 🤲 This is only my opinions, based off canon game events, clues, hints, as well as developpers's tweets, streams, files datamining etc etc Please do not see this thread as an attack, or as something invalidating! I'm more than curious to heard what you think about my personal analyses, if you agree, if you don't, and why! If you think other characters also display hints of queerness I'd love to hear it too! 💙

This picture is an update I did in 2022 of lil collage I did back in 2021~

I posted the first version on Reddit back in 2021 and it created this whole "what do mean JOHNNY is GAY?" (because a rainbow behind a man automatically means he's Gay and nothing else right) and a lot of biphobia over his character in particular (gasp- THE rockerboy?! Biseggsual?? In my viddy game??)

▶ You can look at the thread here and have a lil laugh

SO, NATURALLY, after doing the 2022 collage, I went and uploaded it to reddit once again! Because triggering bigots and seeing them stumble over their own tongues trying to debunk everything is really funny ✨

However, I instantly muted the thread and let it rot in its own sauce for some days, weeks, only coming back to it later and Oh Boy 👀

I did a thread on Twitter last year exploring everything that was said on the thread and explaining why I put certain characters on it

Thought it'd be cool and fun to re-explore that and share my thoughts with y'all here SO LETS GET BACK TO IT 😌🤙

▶▶▶

I'll mainly paste screenshots of what I already said on my twitter thread, but I might add some things there and there!

Damn I was kinda pissed off back then HGHFHGF but yeah, this is also the reason I won't ever make any straight or super straight flags I do not headcanon Delamain as Asexual, as there isn't any confirmation anywhere that he's interest in that kind of interaction or not, but I'll come back to him later!

Goro being canonly Queer is often missed, and this surprises me, considering he's one of the popular character! He is interested (or not) equally in both Fem and Masc V, giving he's replying to them the exact same ways! This isn't something done randomly by the devs :)

As said in the tweet, there isn't any direct and clear evidence of Mitch and Scorpion being a couple! Their relationship is heavily queer coded and queer people are more easily picking up on it than non-queer peoeple (and that's normal) Gay men have called their male partner Friend, Best friend and Brother through history maaaany many time, and that's part of my interpretation of their relationship too, especially giving they're both veterans who fought in the same war. The poem Mitch wrotes during "I'll Fly Away" (heavily implied) is romantic and gay coded, the gay novel in Mitch's tent (confirmed to be on purpose) is what we call environnemental story telling, it's subtle but adds to a character's backstory and lore! As for the datamining, I found a Mitch awkwardly explaining to V that no, Saul doesn't have any say in whatever he's doing with Scorpion stuff "because.... because... eh, that's just family stuff"

Note on Delamain here because I've heard it even caused some drama here on Tumblr that I said that? He uses He/Him to describe himself, the Main Entity, but multiples of his splites entities uses She/Her, meaning he's literally Non-Binary in how his entity is formed (I find it really cool for an AI ngl ngl) However if my headcanon offended anyone, I apologize! and I'd love to hear others interpretation :3

There isn't any open and visible MLM gay couple in Cyberpunk 2077! Bouncing off ElvenBeard's amazing analyses and thoughts on Kerry's sexuality, he can be seen as Bisexual (confirmed by RTAL themselves) and Homosexual (confirmed by the devs before and after the game released) he can be Both and Both are correct depending on how you view his character and how he grew from his past relationship (Bisexual with a masc preference, Bisexual who have to heal from his marriage, Gay man who realized his sexuality later after a wonky marriage, etc)

The whole "Responsability=Wife" Takemura take angers me to no end, taking its roots in heteronormativity- We see Goro care for his job above all else, to me that's what his "responsability" is and always was; his job

Nothing more to add here- Jackie's only relationship we see in game is with Misty, this doesn't confirm nor deny anything! (However with how he react to V pushing him, lip-bitting and all regardless of gender, I can totally see him as being queer)

AND That's about it!

It was interesting to dig into that thread last year and thought I'd share that here, as a refresher that Johnny is Bi, Takemura too, and smaller characters like Mitch and Evelynn still have clear hints of queerness to them ✨

I really like how CP77 touches on queerness, it feels realistic, it doesn't feel forced; which, sadly, create this problem of "UH?? This is pure LIES" if a character's sexuality is not splattered in your face, which then create the "Ugh why does it have to be forced down our throat" complains

Something something, lesson here is that people will always complain about queerness, be it loud, be it subtle, so fuck it! Scream it, go apeshit over small details, over-analyse everything cause chances are: this is intentional!

More Characters

I later noticed that Regina have a naked lady tattooed on her forearm, and since we know nothing is done randomly in CDPR's video games, makes me think that she might be sapphic in some way ✨

Mateo is also one of my fav "potential queer", how he could be a trans man, but there isn't anything really to support that other than that one interaction with V

▶ Link to the updated collage Reddit Thread

▶ Link to my Twitter breakdown

[yourbookcouldbegayer]

heya! i'm planning to write my characters (queers and allies) going to a pride parade, but i have never been to one so i'm wondering if you can help me describe the atmosphere and how people interact with each other during the parade? or are there any resources i can look into about pride parades?

tysm!

I highly encourage you to go to one if you are able, but I know it's not something everyone can just do. My experience under the cut

First, it's my impression that they vary vased on how accepting the setting is. I live in the US in a very liberal area, and that influences my experience a lot, given that a) it's 80% either organizations or buisnesses of some kind showing support, and b) I don't encounter a smidgen of hate/counterprotest.

So my Pride starts as a parade down the street and into the park, where it settles and becomes a festival. I personally enjoy the festival far more.

Most people going , who aren't part of the parade, wear something with a flag on it, the rainbow being the most common. But more and more you'll see flags you don't recognize. People give out stickers-- either rainbow flags in different iterations or hearts with several of the most common flags. Wearing pride flags is very common.

There are usually a couple people with shopping carts so full of flags, boards displaying stuffed animals, large pins, and other things for sale. They start going around the parade area early on. This if good is you want a flag before the parade, but I usually avoid them-- usually these are not queer sellers, and are simply reselling products they bought elsewhere. That said, it was the only place last year I found a 7 stripe sunset lesbian flag.

People there are generally freindly, complimenting pride themed outfits and stuff. There are families with kids there as well as young adults.

The parade, for me, is mainly organizations supporting us-- the grocery store, churches, local politicians, the police (🙄🙄🙄 I went stony silent for them), ect. Groups that I loved tto see though was the local POC Queer group, Planned Parenthood, and my absolute favorite, a local social liberation group. I loved that last one so much because someone was shouting protest chants and there were signs calling for change in trans rights and stuff-- 90% of pride is a parade, not a protest, and feeling the protest energy made me so so happy.

Most people marching are in tshirts associated with theor organization that say something about pride. But you also see a lot of people with pride flags, rainbow butterfly wings. There is usually at least 1 float full of, plus a few other, drag queens. There's the gay bar's float with mostly men dressed in very little. There's giant bubbles or bubble guns. People in the parade will toss out candy, flags, support bracelets, ect to the audience-- also condoms, but I didn’t see any this year. But that might've been because I was near a lot of kids.

At the festival you have:

All those organizations have a booth. There is usually free stuff and sometimes spin to win (pay to spin)

However, you also have local small businesses! There's a good amount that make queer stuff, usually a metaphysical booth, jewelry, pins (fun pronoun pins), flags, umbrellas, fans, pretty much anything you can think of that can have a pride flag, including homemade stuff

The shopping carts are around still

There's a whole bunch of food, like food trucks and stuff. Usually these have nothing to do with pride, theyre just not actually homophobic, and are there to sell food. But there was a local cafe these 6 trans owned and operated that I was super happy to see bc I've been meaning to go.

STD testing somewhere

A stage with a band. I think a drag queen from ru paul came to ours (I go to a big one in a state capital). It's very loud so I don't usually linger here but a lot of people go and enjoy the music and whatever else performance happens.

Ours had rides! A swing ride (so popular I skipped it even though that's one of my favorites) and a carousel. Also face painting. We didn't even have those at the biggest local festival of the year

Free Mom Hugs! I learned recently that this is a group and not just shorrts that are worn, but mother+ aged women wear tshirts saying Free Mom Hugs (or Dad hugs, therre are men too).

As for the people... my pride is crowded. People are usually drressed pretty lightly-- gentials are covered but that's about the only rule. Think rave rules-- boobs usually have their nipple covered. Being covered up is just as common though. No matter what the no-kink-at-pride people claim, this largely isn't sexual. It's queer, it's body positivity and acceptance, it's just being yourself. Also it's usually hot out. People are generally freindly, will compliment especially rarer sexuality representation or cool slogans on shorts. You'll see people in drag, a lot of androgeny, mixing feminine and masculine, ect. And there are plenty of people dressed more normally, too.

People don't necessarily act like everyone there is family or are that much more freindly/familiar with each otther than anywhere else. But mostt people there will respond positively to compliments, most people know far more flags than the average person. People assume pronouns slightly less, definitely still do (my enby gf, wearing all trans colors, no pronoun pin, was misgendered a few times) but it's a much safer environment to correct or ask for one's pronouns or respect ones they see.

Only other pride I've been to is in Provincetown, an extremely gay place. From what I remember, this was much more the common folk, much more an assortment of people marching and cheering and not as directly associated with an organization wanting support. I also went to a leather march there, also basically pride, except mainly... y'know. Leather.

There's a post on heere somewhere of someone watching someone on the bus after pride (idk if ot was a freind or stranger) who lookeed so happy and like themselves, theen having to peel off the stickers, hide the rainbows, ect., as they returned home. This will be an experience that still happens for likely a very long time.

That's about all I can think of. I welcome anyone else to share their experiences! I feel like I talked more about the festival than the parade but I like the festival better.

Unlike what people claim, there is no gatekeeping. The idea of people feeling like they aren't allowed is so weird to me because like. There's so many straight people giving support. There's so many people who you don't know theor sexuality. No one is at pride judging anyone for not belonging. If you look like a bunch of straight people there to party, maybe people will think that and move on. But for the most part no one would notice. You don't know someone's sexuality unless they have a flag, or if someone is there with a same-gender partner or not unless you see them kissing. And no one is performing sex scenes, that picture used in the no-kink-at-pride discourse wasn't at pride, no one does that. Did a freind once tie a bdsm knot on a ripe over my shirt at pride once? Yeah. So what? People there show some pride for their sexaulity, that's different.

Good luck with your story!

Mod Emma

[riftwalker-limbro]

I know I sent you numbers last night. I doubt I was the only one. I don't care, I'm dumping more rotations on you bc i need to know and it's Topical (get excitedly listened to idiot)

Does Pride exist in your verse in any capacity? If yes, how is it celebrated? And how do your OCs specifically celebrate?

you were in fact the only one and i am mentally sending you a very tight hug about it

you're tormenting me with my own limited drawing abilities so fucking much. do you even know.

well, you know that my verse is enormously self-indulgent. therefore, this post is going to be enormously self-indulgent by definition as well. if i manage to do this right it is going to be sickening levels of wholesome. you've been warned

first,

general setting exploration.

i think that all the -phobia nonsense is, well, nonsense, so i think that people in my verse should have gotten over all of that and instead everyone's just chill with each other in that regard. there's still other kinds of discourse but none like that anymore.

therefore, the part of pride's purpose that's "this is a riot, we're here, get used to it" is fulfilled. instead, in my universe, i think it'd be fun to make it more of a kind of.. celebration of all kinds of love thing. like valentine's day but less individualistic, more just the concept itself and all of its variations on the same level. idk i don't celebrate valentine's day myself or know anything about how others do bc it's just. Not That Big except for corporate nonsense around me

it should still be celebrated with parades and rainbows and music and joy and flag-waving and hugs between strangers and just-being-together because i've only ever been to a parade myself once and the atmosphere was fucking incredible. trying to recreate that vibe here with the extreme limitations of the written word is not doing it justice. i think that pride month would still be a thing and people could wear rainbow-colored things to everyday activities and functions. you know where i'm going with this

and now

the fun character-specific stuff.

(disclaimer after side-eyeing this section for half an hour: this was Harder Than I Thought what the Hell. so it doesn't explore Everyone. this is going to be on the brain for the rest of the month though.)

the one who popped into my mind immediately is verica, pre-warframe - she'd sponsor her own whole float and just spend the whole parade making music with her band on it. once she meets pule and jay they help out too - pule's running around the float and handing out freebies/snacks; jay's doing something more behind-the-scenes, probably driving the float. another image in my head immediately is either or both of the academics wearing inconspicuous rainbow items to their respective lectures/lab hours/meetings during pride month. they now both own several pairs of rainbow socks for specifically this. maybe a (bow) tie. it is so unfair that i'm completely out of drawing juice right now. i am mentally screaming at my drawing tablet

during warframe era... hm. having trouble coming up with anything for parades beyond "they would go to at least one a year with the full hyena squad" but they absolutely have rainbow paints and ribbons on board for the whole month. oh, and if only there was someone with a perfectly blank canvas of a hat somewhere. that he conveniently leaves off when he sleeps.

other assorted thoughts..

pule should get a shitty rainbow-colored paper crown.

verica should be able to make the little feather thing on her helmet change colours if she thinks about it really hard.

bruiser would go for the full body paint job. yes this is as chaotic and fun to apply as it sounds

kali learns verica's trick for Rainbow Fire. if this was a setting where people would still be nasty about it this would be an incredibly useful trick in addition to being obviously awesome

ohhh what if helver learns to do some kind of flame choreography for this specifically. i think that would be cool

[words-after-midnight]

For the Pride ask game! 10 & 13 for Jeff. 16 & 17 for you.

Thank you! :3

Pride asks

10. Does your OC celebrate pride? How?

Yeah, he'll take any excuse to live it up. Parties, bar hopping, benders, etc. More or less his typical engagement in hedonistic pursuits, but rainbow-colored and cranked up a notch.

13. Would your character be open to a poly relationship? Why or why not?

Not in the traditional sense because he really has no interest in romantic relationships (he'll occasionally date, but just for fun - always very casually and never long-term). He does pretty consistently have multiple sexual partners at a time and is very open about that.

16. Did you ever change an oc's identity when they were already established? Why?

Ahaha. Yes.

Believe it or not, Gabriel started out straight (I was 17 and not very in tune with queer stuff yet, lmao) and originally had a different love interest. That changed almost as soon as he and Jeff started interacting in one of the two chapters Jeff was originally featured in, because I was like 👀 "what is going on here?" And everything kind of went from there. tl;dr - Jeff literally turned Gabriel gay. (To which he says, "Yeah, him and about twelve other guys. 🤷")

17. Do you share identity with any of your ocs? Which ones?

Yeah, almost all my central characters are some flavor of bisexual (as am I). Spencer (the protagonist of Supernova) and a major supporting character in Supernova are also trans (Spencer is nonbinary and the other one is a trans guy).

[pacifymebby]

Also, it occured to me, sometimes what's labelled anti-feminist is actually anti-capitalist, and what's lauded as feminism is nothing more than the upholding of the existing systems of power/patriarchy/capitalism, etc. Case in point: girlbosses.

Omg no because you are so right for this!!! I read a few books the other summer about the whole neoliberal anti-care anti-community thing and how it's been detrimental not just on a government level but also on a family/personal relationships level.

To try and sum all three up briefly it was basically that a lot of left wing movements such as feminism have kind of been hijacked by neoliberalism which in the west has been the predominant societal structure? Since the 80s and that capitalists have been able to use feminism/pride/etc as things they can profit. Like you said about girlbosses, girlbosses are an example of women being welcomed into capitalism, not for equality but because they represent an opportunity for profit etc. It's why we have rainbow capitalism and stuff.

But also neoliberalism and also, more traditional left wing movements have championed the "destruction of the family" which is a dog whistle so stay with me here okay. From a "leftist liberal" perspective this could mean like "fuck the nuclear family anything can be a family" which is GOOD. From a neoliberal perspective the destruction of the family is more sinister, like the destruction of a family unit, the destruction of community. Get the mothers out of the house and into work too (yay feminism) so that the state can raise the children with their morals which are strictly capitalist, profit centered "morals" rather than family teachings of nurture and mutual care.

It also talks a lot about how we view care in the west, how caring for people is seen as a mother/woman's job, therefore as worth less. But also as a "basic human instinct we're all capable of" which isn't true and acts as justification to pay nurses/carers/teachers/nursery staff less and less (until we can't afford to live, sad times)

Now, once upon a time feminists were demanding pay for stay at home mother's and home makers, because without them who would actually put food on the table etc. Society wouldn't function without them so they should be paid for their labour. (Fun fact most unpaid care labour is done by women)

However when girlboss feminism/neoliberalism kind of took over the feminist and other social justice movements, people all kind of agreed that it was beneath women to be mothers, an evil patriarchal expectation and that women should be allowed to participate equally in capitalism by becoming a ✨girlboss✨and obvs that just left women having to be mothers and work a full time job and still not have time for themselves. Like we just dumped all this extra on them and gave them nothing in return other than the opportunity to play a card in the shite game that is capitalism.

Like I personally think that all this bimbo/coquette/tradcath mom shit is entirely a response/ cry against girlboss feminism and the unfair expectations now placed on a lot of women who don't want to be a career woman etc.

I could go on about this forever btw because there's way more to it, like how we don't build infrastructure for parents, how it isn't a requirement to have baby changing facilities in public venues, how there's no safe places for prams in public/ public transport isn't designed for people with prams or babies. How it's still really easy to push a woman out of her job on the because she's going to have kids. How it trends on twitter all the time like "ban kids from restaurants/the cinema/pubs/swimming pools" etc.

As a society we're really anti anyone who can't look after themselves including children. Also against anyone who cares for children. But it's just neoliberalism with the dial turned up to 11 and it's really fucking sad. Every year someone gets mad at the birth rate declining but no one does anything to support those who want children.

Also just as a disclaimer here I'm not saying that every woman should have or want children. Some women want to be career women and they should be able to, feminism was always supposed to be about equality and giving women the voice and the tools to achieve what they want. Feminism shouldn't have taken its antimotherhood turn and it shouldn't take an anti career woman turn either. It should and always should have been about letting women have the freedom men have to do what they want to do in life.

[polyamorouspunk]

Yooooooooooooooo Good Morning!

i actually woke up feeling better than I have been so my plan is to try to be just a little bit productive. Maybe wash some clothes. Maybe clean up my room. The possibilities are endless!

Also! Last night was my niece’s birthday and I gave her present to her! I got her and I tickets to go see the offspring, sum 41, and simple plan in september! She was so excited that she dive bombed me and almost broke my glasses!! I think I won the birthday this year lol

Oh wow! Amazing! What a line up!

I met some cool people at the concert last night including a guy and his girlfriend who had been a fan of them since they were Chicago locals (he was next to me so I talked to him more than her but she kind of nodded and listened) and a woman who said she was going to let her wife know she was getting out of line with me. I’m not good at starting conversations at concerts really but it seems people always end up talking to me, or I chime in eventually. I hope you both have fun.

I know this was sent like yesterday I think and then I talked to you today. I said I was reading and then going to bed but right as I put my book down everything hit me again and I started getting freaked out again so I figured I’d answer your ask.

My mom put my table back up in my craft room, so I can start working on physical stuff again. Right now I’m working on a series of hand-drawn pride pins. The first one I did was asexual and the design was recycled from the pin I made my cousin for her bag (which I posted on here and sent to you) and it feels very cottagecorey but I made a bisexual one of just flowers and while I’m really happy with the design I feel like it misses the mark of the vibe I’m going for. As a consumer I’m more drawn to greenery and mushrooms vs flowers, but I spent so much time on it I’d hate to scrap it. I’m hoping I can make other ones that really capture that cottagecore feel more, but it’s very hard since I’m trying to focus on realistic things that include those colors in my pride flags. I’m hoping to do some poison dart frogs with the lesbian flag or the rainbow flag maybe, since frogs are cottagecore. But yeah.

I want to start working on my patch pants in case I end up going to SSC. I know I told you originally I was and then I wasn’t going to which I haven’t like announced anywhere because even then I was still thinking “fuck it maybe I’ll just fucking fly up and go” BUT my best friend is trying to plan her wedding reception that week so we can still go BUT I called it off because our other best friend’s brother’s wedding got moved to that weekend and her family is very over-the-top so it’s going to be a all-weekend thing at LEAST and while I’m fine with having her reception on a weekday because I gotta take time off to go up there anyway I know I’m not the only guest. I’d *like* to think I’m the closest thing to a Bride’s Maid of Honor, you know, which was the dream back when I thought we were all cishet but mildly weird, before we were both like “fuck church weddings” and also before she was like “I’m going to get legally married for the tax benefits and shit” so like you know back when I dreamed of being her brides maid of honor. I am racking my brains trying to come up with a good present for her (my literal best friend since I was 5) and I have a few ideas but they’re going to take research and effort. You know I can’t just buy her a post card or like the keychain I got her when we went to pride for her literal wedding present.

Anyway that’s what’s up here I think I’m going to go eat and take my meds and do the self care you told me to do and hopefully by then I won’t feel so jittery.

[lostonehero]

It's pride time

YouTube Micheal, let's gooooo

Micheal smiles again. He doesn't understand why his Uncle Henry wants him to stream today. He hasn't since they talked. But the man seemed excited and happy and had a surprise, so he had to surprise his audience too.

He was also told to dress up in casual clothes, something fun and happy. It's kind of hard to do when you're a living corpse. He cringed wearing the shorts and t-shirt Henry got him. Even people with severe eating disorders aren't this skinny, so Henry also had to get him a custom belt. Micheal isn't one to show off skin, not anymore, at least.

The shirt was a little too baggy and hung on his skeletonal frame like a curtain. He grimaced, turning on the camera. "Hey everyone, I know surprised livestream, actually at Uncle Henry's, I mean our place, I guess. But yeah, I know I'm wearing casual clothes, well summer clothes." He scratches the back of his head nervously. "I can't actually see chat right now, so I don't know what's going on, but Henry got something planned."

He hums, taking the camera deeper inside. "Forgive the mess. we just finished the new bathroom, and we are putting stuff inside." It's barely a few cardboard boxes stacked neatly together. "Anyway, it should be right through here"

A bright flash and then confetti and glitter fall all over Micheal. A rainbow sign flutters with the ceiling fan reading. "Happy Pride, Micheal." It's raining men is playing in the background.

"Happy June pride, Micheal. I guess since your father wouldn't have approved... actually, I have no idea if he was fine with this or not, but it is not important. You deserve Pride with family who support you."

"Uncle Henry..." Micheal places the camera down crooked so it catches Micheal tackling the old man in a hug. "I love it, but I'm not that type of gay. I'm more of what you would call a Halloween gay. Not to say I don't like the rainbows. Henry, you're the best."

Henry chuckles. "If you weren't dead, I would say you need to put meat on those bones, but I'm glad to see you happy. Now come on, I have activities for your fans."

Micheal smiles, pulling the stitching in his lips. "You're gonna make me bust a seam." He looks like he could cry if he had working tear ducts.

Henry pulls a chair and fixes the camera. "You're going to educate this old man on the queer culture."

Micheal nods. "Ok ok only because the livestream needs to be longer than 10 minutes, and more so you did all this." He pauses seeing Henry already set up his chat in the corner. "You lying old man you already set up my chat?"

"I'm very handy with electronics, Micheal. Now, now, no more stalling. Let's get to questions." Henry smiles watching Micheal read chat.

Micheal shakes his head and leans back. "Alright, Uncle Henry, go ahead."

"Ok, first question, when did you know?"

Micheal smiles. "Ah, don't hate me for this, Charlie, your daughter when we were kids. I was what 9, or 10. She gave me my first kiss and told me that we were going to end up together. You know, kid stuff like playing house or whatever. I realized that oh no, I don't want to be with a girl... granted, I didn't really understand that feeling until I got older, but that was the start." He stops. "Ah wait sorry I didn't mean to make you cry."

"Happy tears, Micheal, happy tears. Ok ok next one. This one was requested by a fan."

"Mmh? You talked to my fans? Didn't really know I had that many you could ask."

"Micheal, don't be modest. Ok, what kind of guys are you into?"

"Uhhhh huh, I mean I haven't been able to do much, but my preference, but I like guys as tall as me and muscular hairy or not. I'm not picky... maybe I am, I am like 6ft2in." He pauses. "Alright, Uncle Henry, I have one for you before you continue." He sees chat go wild.

"Ok, go ahead, Micheal." Henry smiles. He looks truly happy, like he's having a family thing that nobody could ever take from him.

"Have you ever kissed a man?" Micheal smiles, it's a softball question, but he didn't want to push his uncle to say or do anything too much.

"I mean a few in college.... oh yeah, after one crazy night in college after I met your father. We went on a drinking bend together, and he wanted to show an American a true British experience of pubs, and well, I don't really recall what happened, neither does him, but we did wake up together and I was wearing his underwear... don't recall how we got back to the dorms to do that."

Micheal takes a breath for his nonexistent lungs. "You had a one night stand with my father?"

"I mean, technically, yeah, huh, we did then sorry Margaret, I guess I did cheat on you once." Henry chuckles. "College was a wild time, oh yeah you never had that experience I'm sorry Micheal."

"Just ask the next question..." Micheal sighs, giving a look even with his white eye and missing eye that says if I could drink to forget I would.

Henry smiles and pats Micheal on the back. "Ok, did you ever have the chance to lose your as the kids would say get your cherry popped?"

Micheal buries his face in his rotten hands. "You're doing this on purpose." He can feel Henry smile as if to say this is punishment for your self punishing behavior, and the fact you found the old animotronics and begged for them to finish you off in a depressive haze 10 years ago. "Yes, I was 17. We had no idea what we were doing. It was messy and uncomfortable, but somehow good. I dunno it was at that carnival that later got condemned like the next season."

"Oh, I remember taking Charlie there a long time ago. Don't know how any of us thought that place was safe." He pulls Micheal back up to sit up straight.

They continue to talk and chatter again, Micheal relaxing, talking about how he came out of the closet, and how he found peace with himself.

By the end, the sky was growing dark out, and Micheal was giggling again.

"Alright, last question for the end of the stream."

"Ok, Uncle Henry, give me your best shot, but it can't be worse than the earlier ones." Micheal smiles.

"What's a GILF? Your chat keeps calling me one." Henry smiles an innocent smile Micheal didn't want to destroy. "Come on, kid, we've both seen things. You can't be embarrassed by this."

Micheal swallows the nonexistant lump in his throat. "I uh wait." He has his finger on end stream. "Before we cut GILF means..." He whispers it in Henry's ear then shuts the stream off.

[oddgreyhound]

1. according to Spotify Wrapped I listened to one song 1041 times, and that was Just A Man by Jorge Rivera-Herrans.

2. I have a hard time choosing lol. The one I've listened to the most intently though, was probably Stick Season (We'll All Be Here Forever) by Noah Khan.

3. I can't keep track of when I've found people, so I'll just put in my newest obsession; Phillip Labes, especially Reasons To Never Date Again and Jeff Found A Genie.

4. I can't keep track of movies either lol. I'm honestly not even sure what movies I've watched.. But Across the Spider-Verse is from 2023, right? that one then, I think.

5. tv show.. hmmm.. I mostly rewatch old shows or get to them late.. but I did watch Good Omens and have been obsessed since. best ineffable husbands ever.

6. i am not sure how to answer this lol. don't think I understand the question.

7. nope, can't do it. can't choose a favorite. I can't even choose 1 favorite from a series, let alone the entity world. just no.

8. hmmm.. I honestly haven't played a lot of video games this year.. But probably Dave the Diver.. I enjoyed that immensely, at least until I f'ed up. now we're on a break lol

9. Idk.. they're all flowing together. Maybe August because I got to go to Copenhagen pride and to a bar with some friends. And it was hot out so I felt better about the world.

10. Man, there's been a lot. Books, tv shows, movies, roleplays, art, tiny inconveniences.. idk, crying comes easy to me.

11. Go to pride!!

12. Started talking to @justthislazy mostly about fandom stuff, but also about random stuff, and she is just fantastic!!

13. It was okay. Brought cake with me to work, then went to my parents place after work and just had a chill day.

14. So many.. I can't choose just one. One series has to be All For The Game by Nora Sakavic. Read that in January and am still obsessed. Another has to be pretty much K J Charles entire catalogue though especially the Will Darling Adventures and The Doomsday Books. Also The Last Binding by Freya Marske. Magic and love. The Simon Snow books by Rainbow Rowell. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. Love Lessons by Heidi Cullinan. Idk if you guys can see the running theme, but I can lol. I've read more than 150 books this year though, so.. I can't just choose and you can't make me lol.

15. Idk, I think I had them all already lol.

16. idk what kind of image you want, so you get an art. This is from January and was a Secret Santa piece.

17. Same as above, this time my latest piece, finished yesterday on the 11th of December. Very experimental.

18. We eat out on a fancy restaurant every year on my dad's birthday.. And even so, the best meal I've had this year was with @alienaiver eating pork tenderloin and potatoes haha

19. I'm excited to get some peace into my life, now that I'll have more time for myself. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new apartment, maybe a car and possibly a dog.. That would be really neat. I also want to keep improving my art, especially the feel of it and the stories I can tell.

20. Hmmm.. I've learned something about how I need to take care of myself, especially in work situations. I need clear instructions or the task will simply overwhelm me and I'll end up in decision paralysis. I've also learned that when I'm on my ADHD meds, I can actually have a fun time going out to parties or concerts, so I wanna do that more in the new year too.

21. My old bed broke (too much weight on it is the suspicion) so I got a new one! the new one is way taller than I'm used to, and it's amazing haha

22. Oh man.. I haven't really been far from home much this year, only in books and such.. I think it might've been Copenhagen Pride. It's not far from home, and it's not a place that's always around, but I felt welcome there, even at night, and nobody looked at me weird, so it just felt.. right. I wish we could have Pride every day haha

23. Keep working for the goal, we got there. People might not see that you're struggling to stay afloat, but I know you are, and you're doing well!!

24. No, but that's mostly cuz i didn't make any. They're just an endless source of disappointment in myself, and I don't need more of those lol.

25. I did!! Several actually. I finished my Fursona Odd after having worked on it for like 18 months lol.. But that's just a silly character I can get art for. The more interesting characters are my DotW ones.

First off I made this lil kiddo, who turned out to be somewhat hard to write, so I'll be retiring it again, until the day I feel like I can connect again. It is a new iteration of an old character I have held dear to my heart for years, but it turned out too jaded for me to write. It's hard to get a connection to others when your character is slightly mono-syllabic and hates other people..

So Kelly is going on a break: 💔

And then there's my blue tired wet man Harakh. He's an adopted character I made, so the overarching parts of his story and personality had been chosen already, but I still got to give him my own twists, and he has a full story coming for him, that I'm really excited to share, though I don't know how much you guys here on Tumblr will get to see haha

He's the father of one of the other characters, and was born half blind and sickly, so he has learned the trade of storyteller in order to stay fed and have company and he hopes to be able to do so, even with the tragedy that happened to him.

Idk if anyone will actually read this wall of text, but I enjoyed writing it lol

End of the year Asks

Song of the year?

Album of the year?

Favorite musical artist / group you started listening to this year?

Movie of the year?

TV show of the year?

Episode of tv or webisode that defined the year for you?

Favorite actor of the year?

Game of the year?

Best month for you this year?

Something that made you cry this year?

Something you want to do again next year?

Talk about a new friend you made this year

How was your birthday this year?

Favorite book you read this year?

What’s a bad habit you picked up this year?

Post a picture from the beginning of the year

Post a picture from the end of the year

A memorable meal this year?

What’re you excited about for next year?

What’s something you learned this year?

What’s something new about your place of residence (room, home, or general location) now vs the start of the year?

Favorite place you visited this year?

If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

[helenarlett-rex]

What does Helen Arlet think of all her old books?

Doggy Style & Doggy Style 2: Honestly, I wish these had never been published. At the time I was heavily into the works of Carlton Mellick III and it was kind of influencing a lot of my thoughts. My original intention for Doggy Style was to make it a tragedy. One that had a lot of perverted shit in it, but still something that ends with the reader being like, "Oh... Now I feel bad..." But at the same time I was just learning the ins and outs of Amazon publishing and was following the directions of other authors who were telling me not to publish full length novels. Just do short erotic stories that sell for about 3 or 4 bucks and put one out ever month. So instead of writing Doggy Style as a full novel like it should have been, I was posting it in parts. The problem is I only got as far as part 2 before I kind of fell off and stopped writing it. And the first two parts on their own, do not represent my vision for what it would have been. So that being the case, I think I would almost prefer it didn't exist at all as apposed to existing in the state it is currently in.

Spinosaurus Wet Dreams, Incomprehensible Dinosaur Smut, Scoring With The Jock, Another Spinosaurus Wet Dream, The Velociraptor Rental Mom, Megalodon Trouble: Okay so the Dino Dimension Saga books were kind of fun, but it was ultimately a bit of a mess. I believe people more or less liked them, (with the exception of Incomprehensible Dinosaur Smut,) but they weren't exactly the sort of thing I'd want to be know for... Again, this was when I was still learning the ins and outs of Amazon publishing and was following the directions of other authors. So similar problem to Doggy Style. Although this time instead of the product not matching my vision, it was more like my vision wasn't really compatible with the product... This should have just been simple dinosaur erotica designed to turn a quick buck during a time when dinosaur erotica was still popular. The problem is I can't ever just do something easy and commercialized, and before you know it, it's about psychic dinosaurs from an alternate reality invading people's dreams as a part of an interdimensional dating app and people who were just looking for some quick dino smut were like, what the hell am I reading? There was actually going to be one last book which I still haven't gotten around to writing yet, and I probably should at some point...

Miss Nolly's Class: Oh god... Did I really write this? I mean, I know people generally liked it. And I myself love Miss Nolly, who is based on a close friend of mine... but wow... The amount of perverted fetish stuff I wrote in this one... How did Amazon let me publish this? This book should totally be in violation of the TOS. Every time someone I know reads this book I'm like, Oh god... They're never going to look at me the same way again... What was I thinking?

Rainbow Sharks: This one wasn't really a follow up to Miss Nolly so much as it was just something that took place in the same universe. With Nolly herself actually showing up in one of the chapters... It was my pride month book with each chapter being a different story focusing on a character of a different sexual orientation or gender identity. And while I liked it, it dawns on me now that the audience for this book is going to be very limited. It's like, gay guys might be interested in the gay chapter, but why would they want to read the lesbian chapter? And so on and so on... Essentially there is one chapter for everybody, but very few people are going to be interested in ALL the chapters... So what was I even doing? This book was also meant to be a lead up to a second Miss Nolly book, which as if this moment, is still only half written...

Snow Bunny, Snow Bunny 2, The Dino Sisters: Okay so these I still rather like. They are actually prequel books to my Yiffpunk series, which I am still rather proud of. The only thing I wish I had done differently was making the two Snow Bunny books longer instead of the standard shorts I was producing at the time. I made The Dino Sisters full length, for which I am grateful, but the two Snow Bunny books suffer from being erotic shorts instead of full length books of their own. There was also a 3rd Snow Bunny book taking place after The Dino Sisters, which would have also been full length, but so far that book hasn't been completed either. I really need to stop starting projects and then not finishing them.

Eating the Odds: This was the only book I wrote in the same setting as the Doggy Style books that was actually full length and not just a short. And I don't know... I guess this one wasn't bad. I know this one actually has some rather dedicated fans. To the point where I've thought about doing a sequel. But it was also one of my early works and a lot rougher than what I produce today. Not to mention featuring some of the most laughably unrealistic lesbian sex I've ever written... What the hell was I doing? It's like... I know that's not a thing... Why did I decide to write it? Maybe giving this book an updated re-write is in order...

Extra Service at the Blue Moon: Oh god... This book was an all around failure as far as I am concerned. It was when I was primarily doing shorts, and I wrote this one with the intention of being permanently free. Sort of a free sample for people who were curious about my writing... So it's probably the shortest one I've ever done. Although the problem was, once I tried to publish it I found out Amazon wouldn't allow me to just offer it for free. There was this whole convoluted mess of a process I would have had to go through in order to make it free and it was just too much work for something that might not even work. And looking back at the book now, I'm kind of glad it didn't happen. This is NOT what I want people reading as an introduction to my work. I don't know why I thought I would... or why I even wrote it, for that matter... It's another one that took place in the same setting as Doggy Style and Eating the Odds, but it really needs to be the first chapter of something much longer instead of what it is...

The Dank Wildcats: Okay, this may be a little rough... It is still one of my earlier works... But I still really like this one! Sadly it wouldn't pick up fans until long after I started writing the Miss Smalls series, which takes place in the same setting. And even then, people weren't really interested in this until I brought the characters from this book into the Miss Smalls series as actual members of the cast. I feel like the book was good. Rough, but still good. It just didn't have any sex scenes in it so it was a flop as far as sales go...

Snail Lovin' for Fun and Profit: Yeah... another one of my shorts from the year of "release one short a month every month for a year." I don't think I've even read this thing since it was published. I don't recall it being my best work and I've only ever met a single person who pointed to this and said it was his favorite. This was published in December, so it was the last book in the year of one book a month, and I was already burned out when I was writing it. But maybe I'm just remembering the state of mind I was in when I was writing it, and not the book itself. Maybe it's actually good and I should go back and re-read it... Who knows...?

It's Not Gay If It's A Catboy: Heh... This one gets attention just for the title. Honestly, I don't think it was that good though. I don't think it was BAD... but probably not good either... I do know that people have actually come to me with complaints after reading it. Apparently the book needed a trigger warning...

So Maybe I Swallowed My Coworker... I'm A Snake!: Oh yeah, this one... I think this may have been my first book that was straight up marketed as a vore book. Or no... that was probably Eating the Odds... But this was the first vore short I guess. Or the first short that was sold on vore and didn't just happen to have unadvertised vore in it... I do remember this one being something of a hit. It was kind of silly really, but I don't guess I'm ashamed of it. It's probably kind of rough though compared to what I write now.

Mouse Powered Baby Momma Revolution: Ah, my first attempt at writing straight up Bizarro Fiction. I wrote this book by drawing random words out of a hat to create the title, and then writing a story that would fit the title instead of the other way around. You know... The same way R.L. Stine wrote Goosebumps... It has a 4 1/2 star rating on Amazon so I guess it isn't bad. I know I at least enjoyed it. And I blew my poor editor's mind when she had to read it. I don't think she was ready for what I could do when I actually set out to be weird as fuck instead of just letting it happen naturally.

My Step-Sister Has Shark Tits: The only book I ever published to get banned from Amazon. I'm still not even sure how it got banned. I don't think it was the content. The characters weren't related by blood. If Miss Nolly's Class and Extra Service at the Blue Moon somehow didn't violate the TOS, I can't see how this one did... I think it must have been the cover. But it's not like it had ACTUAL nudity on it... No one told me female presenting shark heads was against TOS! Although it wasn't like it was a huge loss. I only wrote the book because I was told pseudo-incest actually sold really well and I wanted to see for myself. Call it an experiment to see what the numbers would look like... But also I was just coming down off of Mouse Powered Baby Momma Revolution so naturally it was also weird as fuck at the same time...

Yiffpunk, Yiffpunk: Rabbit Hunt: Okay not this one I am actually proud of. It's one of the only things on this list that is still ongoing. It's also probably the filthiest thing I have ever written, and has some of the weirdest fettishs... but that was intentional. This wasn't about writing what I liked or didn't like... or what I thought would sell... It was about creating a certain type of world and writing the stuff that would naturally happen in said world. I've actually written way more of these than have been published, but that's something i'm bout to change.