#well except ally she is queer but human

[ghostsandmermaids]

Podcasts To Listen To If You Like OFMD

Today is the anniversary of the finale of Our Flag Means Death season 2. One whole year without our favorite pirates :( But if you miss OFMD as much as I do, I have some podcast recommendations I think you'd enjoy!

If you want more queer pirates:

Trice Forgotten

Trice Forgotten is a found-family, pirating adventure. Alestes puts her head down working as a merchant, couriering deliveries and carrying travelers to destinations across the seas. Only, her travelers gradually become permanent crewmates, until she realises her ship has become a floating museum, laboratory, vault of repatriated ‘treasures’ and chef’s kitchen. After spending most of her life with the understanding that nothing changes, no matter how hard you fight, Alestes is faced with a choice: Will she use her new network of allies to build safe harbour and potentially a future for her new community, or will she once again put her head down and drown in her sea of excuses��

Queer neurodivergent pirates of color! Found family! Homoerotic sword fights! What else do you want? (And they even talk about OFMD in one of the Below Decks episodes!)

The Ballad of Anne & Mary

It's 1721, and London is abuzz with news of notorious pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, currently languishing in Newgate Prison. It’s the perfect time for debt-ridden journalist Nathaniel Mist to exploit the public appetite and ghost-write a sensational (and hopefully best-selling) history of pirates. But as the balladeers and gossips on the streets of London build myths around the blood-thirsty, perverse lady pirates, Mist is forced to reckon with the real Bonny & Read… Featuring musical sensation Christina Bianco, actress and comedian Sooz Kempner, Hamilton star Karl Queensborough, drag legend Le Gateau Chocolat, and more.

If you can't get enough of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, listen to this podcast musical about them!

If you want more queer comedies:

Welcome To Night Vale

Welcome To Night Vale is a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide.

Okay, it's a horror comedy and can be creepy at times, but it's also one of the few shows that have made me laugh as much as OFMD.

Starship Q Star

When a space agency sends the “first all woman and non-binary crew” on a blatant PR mission to Mars, they inadvertently end up the last six humans in the universe. Lead by Co-Captains (and exes) Aurelia and Sim, Starship Q Star follows this madcap crew on their quest across the galaxy in search of a new home… which is basically one hilarious mishap after the other.

I suppose if you found the absolutely two perfect ex-girlfriends and sent them to Mars, then they could potentially… co-captain?

If you want more queer historical comedies:

Fawx & Stallion

London, 1889. When the residents of 221B Baker Street leave town for the weekend to solve one of their most famous cases, no one is left to clear a poor housekeeper’s name of a crime she didn’t commit. Well, no one except for their neighbors at 224B…

Tonally, this is probably the closest to OFMD. I started this podcast yesterday and fell in love with it immediately. If you like OFMD and Sherlock Holmes, please check out Fawx & Stallion!

The Kingmaker Histories

On the 19th of February, 1911, in the Valorian Socialist Republic, an assistant tailor named Colette Geise experienced a migraine that ruined her life. This is a historical account of what happened next. THE KINGMAKER HISTORIES is a steampunk weird fiction podcast about being gay and doing crime, brought to you by the freaks who brought you Less Is Morgue.

Alternate history + magic + comedy + queerness. Do I need to say more?

If you want more (queer) rom-coms:

Me and AU

When Kate “ACunningPlan” Cunningham sparks up an online friendship with a fellow fanfiction writer it seems like the perfect distraction from a summer stuck in her hometown of Kamloops, B.C., not to mention the coming terrors of her final year of university and the Real Adult Future beyond. (Seriously, please don’t mention them.) After all, Hella--Enchanted is funny, smart and writes canon-divergent werewolf fic like no one else. She’s everything a fandom could ask for. But… what if she’s everything Kate could ask for, too?

Me and AU is not only an adorable sapphic rom-com, but also a love letter to fandom! Go listen to this, it's so cute!

Life With LEO(h)

A sci-fi(ish) romantic comedy podcast starring a repressed lawyer, a criminal client, a pesky sister and her fiance, an infuriatingly sexy coworker, and an android in the mood for love. Jeanine Bell​ is a robotics intelligence lawyer whose laser focus on her career has come at the expense of her romantic and social lives. After successfully keeping AI genius Penelope Lane out of prison, Jeanine receives the gift of LEO(h),​ an android with Synthetic Sentience. LEO(h) is Loving, Empathetic, Optimistic, and (only sorta) helpful. He's programmed to love Jeanine. He’s also very, very illegal.

I'm only two episodes in and already so invested in this story! Jeanine and LEO(h) are absolutely adorable.

(Note: as far as I know, the main romance isn't queer, but there are other queer characters in the show.)

If you want more queer found families:

Hello From The Hallowoods

Darker than your dreams, and farther North than you remember, there is a forest where life and death meet… Come walk between the black pines! In this award-winning queer fiction podcast, a cosmic narrator follows the increasingly connected residents of the forest at the end of the world. It's a bittersweet story that explores queer identity, horror genre tropes, and finding hope in humanity's last moments.

Did I only add HFTH to the list because it's my all-time favorite podcast and I want more people to listen to it? Maybe. But I also genuinely think that if you like OFMD, you are going to love some of these characters. Check out my fandom manifesto if you want to learn more!

Starfall

Starfall is a fantasy audio drama about the adventures of the Carouvel Traveling Acting Troupe - a theatre troupe that uses magical items to create illusions for their shows as they move around the Falstenian Empire. The story begins as the troupe is joined by Leona, a young warrior with a mysterious past and even more mysterious powers. With their new guardian in tow, the troupe traverses the continent, encountering the dangers of humans, fae, and greater forces alike, all while still trying to put on a good show.

Remember Stede's fuckery play in S1E6? Now you can listen to a fantasy theatre troupe put on magical plays! How cool is that?

If you want more of the cast:

Kisses in the Dark

Against the bright lights of Blackpool, a supernatural killer is at work and a dark and dangerous love affair begins… A sinister, disturbingly romantic seven part podcast drama written by Marty Ross (BBC’s Catch My Breath & Ghost Zone and Audible’s The Darkwater Bride) and starring Con O’Neill (Chernobyl, The Batman) and Rhiannon Clements. A contemporary Gothic horror tale set against a background of life on the narrow edge between Pleasure Beach and wild cold sea, between secret desire and a deadly evil. Also starring, Kyle Rowe, Pamela Mayoss, Steven Gidwaney, Patrick Price & Ryan Clayton.

Con O'Neill plays one of the main characters!

What Will Be Here?

In What Will Be Here?, five friends send a rocket to space with a collection of recordings on it that document the world’s decline, the stories they want to tell, and their efforts in building this rocket to get their message to the stars. They wonder what their world will have become by the time their message is listened to. At its core, this show is about living and creating when things feel pointless. It's a story that came out of the pandemic, and the landscape in which this story was written and produced greatly influenced how it turned out. What Will Be Here? is set on earth 200 years in the future, where large-scale crises are fully normalized. But despite the bleak backdrop, this story is one of hope - of overcoming challenges, of making things that might be temporary, but also things that might be launched into space and continue on forever.

Vico Ortiz plays one of the main characters!

Dungeon Masters

Dungeon Masters takes a behind-the-curtain look into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, told through the lenses of the creator of the game, Gary Gygax, played by Wil Wheaton and of private investigator, William Dear, played by Jon Hamm, a swashbuckling tough guy in 1979. Gygax guides the audience through this incredible true story as our Dungeon Master, as we follow Dear on his quest to find Dallas Egbert, a Michigan State student, who supposedly disappeared in the steam tunnels under his university while enacting a real-life version of D&D. What Dear encounters on this journey and ultimately discovers, defies all expectations, and changes the culture as we know it.

Kristian Nairn plays one of the main characters!

The Diaries of Netovicius the Vampire

Neto is an artist first, an immortal vampire second, but for now he's being kicked out of his Beacon Hill apartment in Boston Mass. That's where we begin, but more than a year into this audio-series I can't believe the journey Neto, and me, the creator have been on. But that's a longer story than I can get into here. For now, I hope there is something in this audio-series for you. It's about vampires, but ultimately it's about recovery, from trauma, from alcoholism, even from cults. It asks: Does time really heal all wounds? Featuring VAs known for Valorant, Diablo IV & Overwatch

Written and performed by Hugo Pierre Martin!

The Cryptid Factor

Three best buddies - Rhys Darby, Dan Schreiber, and Leon 'Buttons' Kirkbeck bring you The Cryptid Factor - a podcast dedicated to all things weird that are yet to be defined by science. Since 2008 they have passionately (and often awkwardly) been discussing 'cryptids' and monsters like Yeti, Chupacabra, Bigfoot and Nessie - as well as weird news of the world, UFO's, Time travellers, robots and space stuff. Though they take these pseudosciences as seriously as they can, they struggle to take themselves seriously at all. Hosted by comedian and actor Rhys Darby, star of top rating podcast 'No Such Thing as a Fish' Dan Schreiber - and Pulling it all together is their best friend, 'Buttons'. If anything goes wrong, it is probably his fault.

Rhys Darby is one of the hosts!

Date My Abuelita, First!

From Executive Producer Wilmer Valderrama comes a dating show that proves abuelita knows best! Host Vico Ortiz alongside our resident abuelita, Liliana are ready to meet their match! Three single contestants will compete for a date with one lucky guest. Through speed-dating rounds, hilarious games, wildly silly and genuinely heartfelt introspections, and grandmotherly love, one contestant will either be a step closer to love or be sent back to the apps. Abuelita holds all the cupid power, so let the chispas fly!

Vico Ortiz is one of the hosts!

[eisforeidolon]

OMG, the script said Dean "can't" reciprocate, not that he "doesn't"! This means he must have wanted to and a vast queer-suppression conspiracy at the CW totally exists!!! [X]

Just... The extent to which being a heller seems to make you absolutely blind to how other conclusions besides the one you desperately want to be true aren't magically wished out of existence just by waffling in circles chasing your own tail on and on and on...

She's trying to make the difference in Castiel's speech that leaves ambiguity - I love you versus I'm in love with you - happen in the opposite direction with that script note. Except it doesn't work, because there is no such fundamental difference in usage meaning of can't and doesn't built in there. She desperately wants can't to mean there HAS TO be some kind of external pressure there. Except whereas nobody would intentionally say "I'm in love with you like a brother"? You can switch out can't and doesn't and they work equally well to mean functionally the same thing. Let's take the potential reasons mentioned:

Dean can't reciprocate because he has no such feelings for Castiel. Dean doesn't reciprocate because he has no such feelings for Castiel.

In the canon itself, Dean made it clear his feelings about Castiel were friendly/familial/brotherly over and over again. Jensen has made it clear over and over again how he sees, and how he was choosing to portray, Dean and Castiel's relationship - if we're going to count actor's statements as word of god, it's fucking absurd to pretend anyone else's count more than the actor actually making the choices in depicting what his emotions are. Even after the goodbye scene, Jensen's statements haven't changed - except to add speculation that angels may not even understand love in the same way humans do. Putting aside whether Dean was even sure enough of what he meant, given the ambiguity? Dean simply not feeling the same fits with everything we know (and they deny) about canon Dean. Whether that's the same in terms of romantic love, or the same in terms of the level of effusive word vomit Castiel was spewing out.

Dean can't reciprocate because he's too shocked in the moment. Dean doesn't reciprocate because he's too shocked in the moment.

Except in the canon itself, we see how Dean reacts after he's had time to process. While the Winchesters still worried about Chuck destroying the world, sure, Dean does seem excited at the implication Castiel might have been resurrected again - when they still need any allies on their side they can get. But when the apocalyptic shit is all over? When Sam brings up missing Castiel, Dean basically shrugs it off and says they should live their lives. When Dean gets to heaven and Bobby mentions Castiel helping Jack, Dean just goes and drives in his car. He doesn't ask if Castiel is in heaven, ask how to find him, seem to care, nothing. If we count TW, there's still no Castiel and no mention of Castiel in Dean's vicinity. Sam is Dean's reason (still). Bobby and Jack are there. Castiel? [insert bad negative space meta here] If he really felt twue lurve for the angel and just needed time to process as they have been insisting since, like, season four? It should be pretty clear at this point the amount of time to process that non-existent feeling into canon reality is fucking infinity.

Dean can't reciprocate because Bobo's hand got slapped. Dean doesn't reciprocate because Bobo's hand got slapped.

Except outside of canon, in the real world, not their conspiracy theorist fantasies? We were directly told that reciprocation was never even pitched. Nobody got their hand slapped down, because Berens and Misha knew nobody would give a fuck if they threw away what was left of Castiel's character in their shitty last minute queerbait, but dragging Dean down with him was a different story. In the hellers' heads, because they desperately want it to be so, D/C is some truism of the universe that is poised to spring into being if only the haters would stop holding it back!!! Out of a whole room of writers and executive producers - including a few who variously said they had not, were not, and would not be writing any kind of canon lurve story between those two characters? One bitter hack who knew what he could (and couldn't) get away with and therefore didn't even try to legit make it canon is not some conspiracy. Bobo the clown isn't some universal truth teller of ThE ReAL stOrY of SpN fighting for great justice just because he gave them the closest thing to validation they were gonna get (as ambiguous, one-sided, and utterly cringe as it was). No matter how many times they lie about it, before the takeover the CW was one of the - if not the most - friendly network(s) towards LGBT+ content. Nobody even seriously considering making your single specific OOC ship canon is not oppression or censorship FFS.

[alvoskia]

Welcome!

FAQ:

1) What is Alvoskia?

Pitched as TDP x ATLA x Six of Crows, Alvoskia is the over arching name for the planned series. In-universe, it’s a fictional country in the West of Vita’s Land, ruled by a democratic monarchy and boasting variety of kingdoms and independent states. It is very socialist in its structure and shares its borders with just about every other people, including elves, wolf-human shapeshifters, giants, and their primary rival / long time enemy, Kilvoskia, the two countries largely splitting the continent in two. It is, therefore, also the main setting, loosely, for most of the book(s).

2) What is an Infran?

One of eight reincarnated protectors, each bound to their own cycle and with their own unique power set consisting of 3-4 abilities. The Infrans are as follows: Life, Death, Water, the Moon, Fire, Knowledge, Time, and Blood. Their abilities include but are not limited to shapeshifting, elemental manipulation, death and shadow magic, dream sharing, telekinesis, and healing.

3) Who are the main characters?

All of the main core cast (seven in total) are important, but the main protagonist throughout is Ally, a resourceful if insecure Infran of Life who has lost access to her abilities and is trying to get them back (an ‘unchosen’ one if you will). The other two leads of the first book is her twin sister Jamie, the Infran of Death and an asshole with a heart of gold (think if Kaz and Inej from Six of Crows were one person) and their mutual friend, Flames, a prodigal Infran of Fire with an equally sunny personality and a dark past to run from. Things take a turn when Alvoskia is threatened with war/invasion, but with hope that the peace treaty can still be renewed.

4) What inspired the premise?

A lot of things, but growing up as a very ATLA obsessed kid, I always wondered how people in the Avatar-verse knew that the Avatar would, without a doubt, be a good person, as well was what it would be like if there was more than one Avatar running around, and they could disagree with each other. Thus, Infrans was born with a strong mythic foundation as well as a desire to subvert typical fantasy tropes over how certain tropes like elves, dragons, unicorns, and indeed chosen ones, are typically portrayed. 

5) Themes?

A focus on the complications of friendship (jealousy, resentment, trauma, found family), religion (religious trauma and reclamation, chosen one status), war (what is worth fighting for vs knowing when to yield), and trauma (acceptance, grief, healing). 

6) Representation?

Everyone in the main cast is a person of colour except for Bill, the resident healer. Everyone in the main cast is canonically queer (featuring bi-ace, bi, pan, genderfluid / nb, trans, aspec characters) except for Isuri, who I picture as cishet but can honestly easily be read as arospec. She is Islamic coded as well and wears a hijab equivalent. Ally’s journey with her abilities is allegorical for growing up ND in a lot of ways; she and Jamie belong to an in-universe minority religion somewhat reminiscent of Yazidism. Flames is canonically Autistic and uses both she/her and he/him. One of their main instructors is an amputee and more characters become disabled over the course of the series.

7) Triggers?

TW: death, some mild gore and blood, mentions of abuse and indoctrination, body horror, and very minimal mentions of animal abuse/death. If you read The Hunger Games or Six of Crows, you’re probably good here. There are is no SA, racism, homo/transphobia, or religious discrimination, although the series does touch on xenophobia sometimes (think TDP). 

8) Where am I publishing wise?

In late March 2023, I received an offer of publication from an indie press I had queried the previous year. I have accepted this offer as of September 2023 and signed paperwork as of October 2023, with an expected March 2026 release date. More details will follow and some of the journey will be blogged about here under “dragons’ publishing adventures”!

Thank you for checking out this blog, reading this post, and potentially following this blog. I’ll probably post here a few times a week with word counts for revisions I’m making in my own time, playlists, some edits/moodboards, and small snippets of writing. I’m still working on the characters page but the ‘about’ and ‘writing’ is done for now. Feel free to send in any questions or DMs, I would love to hear your thoughts!

[leebrontide]

Secondhand Origin Stories, Chapter 11

My favorite chapter! Secrets are revealed! Blushing is severe! Siblings act very sibling-y! There’s poker!

For those of you just joining us, I'm posting a chapter a week of my free near future scifi/low neon cyberpunk YA/NA novel, Secondhand Origin Stories, which has been described as

"-a character driven, compelling story full of family, queerness, corruption, brain altering nanites, secretly teen parenting AIs, and taking aspects of the superhero genre to their very human and rarely-explored natural conclusions."

For an index of already uploaded chapters that hopefully I will remember to update, content warnings and more, check here:

You can follow along by following #SHOSweekly

Chapter 11

     OK, this was not an apartment. 

But Issac kind of liked it. It was so obscure, so hidden. It felt like the kind of place a spy in a movie might lay low in for a few days while the heat died down. Just what the doctor ordered. Two secondhand sofas and four secondhand beds-- it sort of reminded him of the safe room in the sub-basement back home, but with better lighting. Opal’s cousin had refused Issac’s offer to pay rent once his signing bonus came through. But Issac would have to see about that, once he actually had some money.

Issac eyed Jamie. She looked exhausted, and droopy in a way he wasn’t used to seeing from her unless she was sick. She dropped onto the edge of the bed nearest the door and looked around. She didn’t look at Issac.  

Opal leaned against the back of one of the couches, an outdated floral number. OPAL: So, welcome to the VIP suite. Usually it’s for Aldis’s VIP clients-- the one’s who’re leaving an abusive situation and might need a place to crash. I’m kind of the weird exception… She trailed off, awkwardly.

Yael looked absolutely morose, and sat next to Jamie. A little closer than normal. Hovering. YAEL: Is that why he agreed to let us stay here?

Jamie straightened. JAMIE: What. No. That’s not. No.

YAEL: What do you mean “no”?

OPAL: Kind of? I mean, I couldn’t get him any details, not that I would have, but… 

Jamie stood up, red in the face. JAMIE: Then we should go. We’re here under false pretenses.

YAEL: Just because I stopped him before he could JAMIE: He wasn’t going to! OPAL: Hey, it’s not a big deal--

Issac put extra breath into his interruption. “Seriously, what the hell happened? What is going on? Cause this looks way worse than it can be. You guys are freaking me out.”

YAEL:Yourfather’slostitandIhadtointerceedeJAMIE:Thatisn’twhathappenedYaelYAEL:howcanyouJAMIE:stopactinglikeYAEL:saythatyouwerethere

Issac shut his eyes. “Guys, shut up!” He waited another second. Jamie and Yael were both glaring, barely able to stay quiet, but the text had stopped scrolling. “When you go that fast, I can’t keep up. Stop talking over each other. It fucks up my software.”

YAEL:NeilwasJAMIE:Yaelyourejumping-- They cut off, looking at each other. Jamie crossed her arms and jutted out her chin. Yael wasn’t happy about it, but xe gestured at Jamie to go ahead.

Now Jamie stalled. She looked at Issac, then at Opal. She moved forward to the very edge of the bed, looking at her fists on her knees for a second, then at Issac. JAMIE: Dad freaked out. He didn’t know what happened. He knew I was involved. 

YAEL: He blamed you.

JAMIE: Well, I did let it happen! And so did you. Jamie spat, as defiant as Issac had ever seen her.

OPAL: That seems like kind of a messed up way to think about it.

Jamie’s expression turned wry. JAMIE: Don’t worry. I blame Issac, too. She looked at him. She was trying to be cold, but it just didn’t work on her. Never. Again.

Issac rolled his eyes. Found his mind veering away from the trial, and the possibility of a second one. “None of that explains Dad having a broken clavicle.”

JAMIE: Yael freaked out worse than Dad.

YAEL: I was protecting you! Xyr hands were silver. Xe looked at Issac imploringly, trying to find an ally.

“From what?”

YAEL: He lunged at her!

JAMIE: Towards me. Jamie held up her arm in a strange position, as if showing off the back of her wrist. It took him a moment to recognize the glinting blue metal. And obviously, I can protect myself if I actually need to.

“Is that-- shit! Jamie! Did you take that from Jenna’s apartment?” 

JAMIE: Mom and Dad gave it to me. Because they want me to be safe. Jamie answered. Her posture dared him to interpret it any other way.

Things were tense-- even moreso since the attack, but for it to escalate to violence and weapons?

The craters in his bedroom floor…

Maybe Issac should have left sooner. 

It didn’t seem possible. Didn’t seem real. But even Jamie’s less-horrible version was still horrible. And Issac had always trusted Yael’s assessments of danger. He looked at xyr. “Are you OK?” he asked cautiously.

Yael nodded, shoulders hunched inward. YAEL: He didn’t hit me. Only pushed. I’m not hurt. Xe watched him, assessing and anxious. Are you?

Jamie looked at him anxiously, too. Opal hovered back by the door, probably finally having the second thoughts she should have had at the start. Issac shrugged, tongue running against the bite mark inside his cheek. “I’m fine.” His eyes wandered off of them. This was not a kind of attention he liked. 

Something bumped his leg. It was one of Yael's massive, teal-boot-covered feet. Xyr leg stretched all the way from bed to the couch where Issac leaned. Xe left xyr foot there. He took the hint and looked back at xyr. 

He flinched at xyr expression. Every once in a very great while, Issac was forced to remember that he was actually the oldest. That he had some oldest-sibling obligations to them. It wasn’t a role he was good at. Jamie hated being the baby, and Yael was only eight months younger than him, so his oldest-sibling obligation-dodging mostly worked out. But apparently, not only had Issac failed as a scientist, a synthetic-intelligence foster parent, and a son, he’d screwed up at being a brother, too.

He took a guess, based on what Jamie had wanted, and cautiously extended his arm. Yael stood, looking as embarrassed as Issac felt, but did come over and wrap Issac in a very careful hug. Xe put xyr chin on top of Issac’s head, tucking Issac in close, as if xe was still trying to protect him. He frowned, trying to figure out how to reverse that, but came up short. He couldn’t even come up with any useful platitudes.

He settled on an awkward pat, trying to convey as much sincerity as he could. He did manage a “Sorry I scared you.” That got him an extra squeeze. 

He was so bad at this. Yael lingered next to him post-hug, looming nervously. 

It was too much. Jamie was still frowning at him with a little wrinkle between her eyebrows, and even Opal was watching him with a mix of suspicion and sympathy. He ran out of steam. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a nap.”

* * *

Yael’d spent the last two weeks feeling restless, desperate for action to take. Today, xe was relieved to spend the whole entire afternoon laying on a couch that only two-thirds of xyr fit on, watching unengaging television. Jamie’s streaming accounts had all been deactivated. Melissa had been thorough and startlingly petty. But Yael and Opal had theirs. Issac’s nap was turning into several hours of sleep.

Yael was going to have a hard time sleeping so close to the ground that trees could cast their moving shadows in through the windows, where there were no hamster wheels squeaking all night long. Xe focused on thinking of the space as temporary. It was a space made for transitions. Like camp. If Yael had ever gone to camp.

Jamie’d kept busy efficiently unpacking and organizing the single room for quadruple occupancy. Opal had settled in with Yael, on the other couch, and they just let the afternoon fade past them.

Think of this as a mission. A protection detail of some unknown length. 

Xe couldn’t possibly be homesick. Not as if xe hadn’t been away from home before. Xe’d traveled. Not as much as Jamie or Issac, but xe had traveled. And it’d only been a few hours.

“Yael? Which bed do you want?”

Yael turned back towards Jamie. “Whichever is closest to the d--” Xe blinked at the beds. 

Twin sized.

Jamie looked at Yael expectantly, then at the teeny-tiny bed. Opal’s voice trembled with restrained laughter from behind xyr. “Oh no. Oh my gosh, Yael.”

Jamie’s laughter was so sudden it caught Yael off-guard. She laughed so hard she bent over double, with bursts of high, bright sound. Opal smothered her own giggles behind a hand clamped over her mouth. “Oh no. I didn’t think about it!”

Yael looked at Opal, then at Jamie, who was starting to wheeze, but was still laughing through it. Xe glanced at Issac, sleeping flat out on his back in the middle of the day, like the nocturnal creature he was.

Something settled in xyr mind. 

This was OK. Everyone was safe.

The bed clicked into place as a hilariously minor problem after the weight of the morning. Xe put xyr head down on the back of the couch and laughed long and loud. Which only set off Jamie and Opal again. Jamie eventually ended up using her inhaler, struggling with it because she was still laughing. 

Once Jamie got her breathing back under control from her new spot on the floor, the first thing she gasped through giggles was “I think we’re a little hysterical.”

Opal settled back, still grinning, but tired again. “We earned it.”

“Amen,” Yael agreed. Xe leaned xyr head against the well-worn upholstery. Xe sighed, feeling calmer than xe had in weeks. “I think today goes into my top five for worst days. Whew.”

“I’m going to rank it as number two,” Jamie agreed.

“Guys, I need pizza,” Opal contributed.

The thought of pizza was like the sun bursting through storm clouds. “God, yes.” Yael agreed fervently. Xe hadn’t eaten today.

Jamie nodded, pulling herself back upright. “We should wake Issac up. He’s picky about toppings.”

Yael reached out xyr hand, looking at Opal. “Pillow?” Opal handed xyr a throw pillow. Yael threw it with perfect precision and just a little bit of force at xyr brother. 

He grunted and opened his eyes, squinting around him before sitting up. “Pizza,” Yael told him.

The contacts made things so much easier. He perked up immediately, and started pushing blankets off himself. It really was as if he could hear them, as long as xe ignored the way he was rubbing his eyes.

Yael’s phone buzzed, and xe fished it out of xyr pocket, expecting Papa or Drew. It was a text. 

Tuesday, 1pm. --Nodiah. A GPS link was included. Yael stared at it. 

“Who is it?” Jamie asked hopefully.

Opal leaned to peer over Yael's shoulder. “Rude. Who’s ‘Nodiah’?”

Issac froze mid-stretch, looking at Yael sharply. “Bridgewater? What’s he want?”

“Why do I know that name?” Opal asked.

Jamie answered Opal as Issac came over to crowd in and read over Yael’s shoulder. “He’s Yael's uncle. And the head of the APB.”

“Your uncle is the head of the Altered Persons Bureau? No wonder none of you’ve been arrested!”

Issac treated Opal to a sleepily affronted look, but he had no ground to stand on, and let it go. “Are you gonna go?”

“I…guess I’d better.” Yael chewed xyr lip. What could Nodiah want? Wouldn’t Issac’s new job protect him?

No. No, of course Nodiah’d need to talk about Yael’s fight with Neil. Yael had attacked a registered superhero. And done real damage. He’d needed surgery. Technically, xe could be charged with supervillany.

“Oh shoot,” Opal added. “I’m working then.”

Jamie looked offended. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Bodyguard,” Opal corrected. 

Issac seemed torn. “I’ll be at a lunch meeting with my boss. So I’ll be covered. Pretty sure ‘Lasansky Securities International’ has decent-- what?” He drew back as Jamie and Opal bolted upright.

“That’s who you’re working for?” Jamie asked, aghast.

“Yes?” Issac looked as confused as Yael felt.

Opal stood, putting her back to them. Yael recognized the flickering colors on her neck and arms as hurt and anger. So did Issac. But while Yael’s instincts said to move towards Opal, Issac stepped back. 

Jamie leaned towards Yael and Issac, expression serious and concerned. “They own the altered-certified prison in Detroit. Where Opal’s dad is.”

Issac tensed more, stepping further back, pulling on Jamie’s sleeve to try to bring her with him. She didn’t budge. “Your dad is a supervillain?”

Opal’s back tightened, but Jamie answered before Opal had a chance. “No! The trial was a complete-- it was stupid. He’s a hero.” 

“Well-- that’s not my fault!”

“But you’re working for him.”

“Oh my God. It’s just a job. Settle down.”

Opal rejoined them. Yael had never seen Opal’s eyes so sharp before. “What are you even doing for them? I thought you were an bioengineer or…something. Why’s a prison need a medical engineer?”

Issac hesitated, then admitted, “I didn’t ask.” Jamie’s sigh was incredibly fed-up. He shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’m sure we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Can we please find a new game, instead of ‘interrogate Issac’? I was promised pizza.”

Opal sighed, a noise born more from aggravation than resignation. “Don’t let your boss show up here, OK? Because I’m gonna wanna punch him, and that wouldn’t go over well.”

“Noted,” Issac agreed stiffly.

* * *

By the time the pizza arrived, it was getting dark. They’d gathered around the card table, a single-bulb light hanging overhead. None of them had bothered to get up and turn on the industrial fluorescents. Low light felt better. Their little island of light felt far away from the rest of the world. Opal needed that breathing room.

Issac kept watching her as he gnawed his way through a slice of veggie pizza. At first she’d taken it for suspicion, but as much as she hated his boss, Issac’s interest in her seemed pretty benign. “OK, I don’t like this.” He pointed his slice at Opal. “You know too much.”

“So, you’re going to have to kill me?” Opal suggested dryly.

“Every time something fucked up is going on with this family, suddenly, there you are.”

“Not my idea.” 

“Let’s level the playing field,” he suggested. “You know too much about us, so we should get to know about you. That’s fair, right?” Opal looked him skeptically, but he plowed ahead. “Secret poker.”

“What?” Jamie asked. She, too, had a veggie pizza slice, but her plate also contained a slice of pepperoni that had somehow sparked off secretive silent communication between the tower kids. How did they make pizza secretive? It was pizza! 

“Like strip poker, but not traumatizing to play with your siblings,” Issac clarified. “Lose a round, give up a secret. But it has to be one of your own.”

“I don’t think that’s a thing,” Yael commented.

“I just invented it.”

“Issac.” Jamie said, in a warning tone.

“What?”

“You can’t. Not with--” Jamie nodded at Opal, expecting Issac to infer her meaning with another significant look. 

“Can you guys please stop speaking secret-tower-ese?” Opal requested. 

“Why can’t we play with her? That’s kind of the whole point of this,” Issac asked.

“Because you two both cheat at cards,” Jamie said pointedly.

Opal gave Issac her best unimpressed look. “First you tell me you’re a henchman to, like, one of the people I hate the most in the whole world, and then you try to cheat me at cards? Come on. Show a little respect of hospitality.”

“I’m not a henchman. Lasansky is very clearly not altered. Not a supervillain.” As if muscles were what made someone dangerous.

Jamie sighed. “He just recruited an engineer working on unauthorized altering technology for an unknown purpose while said engineer was in a desperate situation Lasansky somehow knew about despite confidentiality laws.” 

“Wow,” Opal said. This boy was lucky he was so scrawny and pathetic-looking, or she’d be really tempted to kick his butt to the curb, promise to Dr. Tillman or no. Opal wasn’t interested in helping supervillains.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way…” Yael started, finally joining the party and looking appropriately disturbed.

“That’s…overstating. He’s just some skinny old executive,” Issac hedged, unconvincingly. “And I don’t cheat at poker! Counting cards isn’t cheating. It’s math. Yael, Yael cheats at cards. But xe could refrain for Opal’s sake, right?”

“Sure. This shirt doesn’t even have sleeves.”

“Also,” Issac addressed Opal this time. “Jamie’s a card shark. But there, now you know not to be fooled.”

“I’m not a card shark. It’s not my fault people always assume I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Issac leaned forward eagerly. “OK, so are we doing this?”

Everyone looked at Opal. She balked. “Is there any reason at all that I would want to do this?” 

Jamie suggested shyly, “Because we’d like to get to know you?” 

Oh no. For not knowing Opal all that well, Jamie sure was good at hitting Opal’s weaknesses. Why did she have to look up at Opal through her eyelashes like that? It was worse, because Opal didn’t think she realized she was doing it. 

“I get to pick what secrets I bring up,” Opal said resolutely. 

“Same,” Jamie claimed.

“Do you have secrets?” Yael asked xyr sister.

“She’s sixteen,” Opal said. “Of course she has secrets.” Jamie seemed quietly pleased by the observation. Cute.

“I’m in if everyone else is,” Yael agreed. 

They all looked at each other. Nobody seemed to object. Opal shrugged to herself and moved to stand up. “I’ll see if I can scare up some cards--”

Jamie placed a deck on the table, seemingly from nowhere. Issac laughed. “What?”

Opal’s mouth dropped open. “Is this a setup?”

Jamie shook her head, looking embarrassed. “I just...it’s a memento. I brought it at the last minute.”

Issac stood up to pluck the deck out of Jamie’s hands. “Are you serious?” He sat again, turning the box of Star Trek cards over in his hands. “Heh. I guess they wouldn’t build up much velocity--” He grinned a slightly wild grin and shuffled the cards way too expertly. “Let’s play.”

Ten minutes saw Opal tapping the edge of her overestimated hand of cards on the table. “This was absolutely a setup.”

“But I’m wearing a tank top,” Yael objected earnestly. “I can’t cheat in a tank top. The cards would just fall on the floor.”

Issac’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out, frowning. Yael leaned to see who it was, but he leaned to the other side, so xe couldn’t. 

Jamie tried the same thing on his other side. “Is it--”

“No,” Issac interrupted, leaning back so neither of them could see. He started typing, glaring at the phone. “It’s nothing.”

Jamie rolled her eyes and looked at Opal expectantly. Opal put her elbows on the table. “Are you actually a card shark?”

“Not really.”

Issac made deliberate eye contact with Opal and nodded emphatically, before he went back to his typing. “Why do you think we learned to cheat?”

“Because Dad and Mom were both super good at poker, and you like winning.” Jamie answered evenly. 

Yael, ever the middle child, consoled, “It’s not as bad as it looks. Jenna taught me the sleight of hand, and Melissa taught Issac the card counting. They knew we were doing it. It was supposed to be like a handicap, like in golf.”

Opal sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair, fiddling with her cards and thinking. Apparently, she should have spent more time playing poker before moving out on her own. Who would have seen that coming? “What counts as a secret?”

“Just think about everything that you already know about our fucked-up family,” Issac advised. 

“I do not have anything on that level.”

“Sounds nice,” he answered glibly.

Opal let out a long breath. How much did she want to tell them? She still wasn’t sure how much to trust Issac, with who he was working for. But he was right. She knew a lot of super intimate details about his family life. And Yael and Jamie sure seemed to have their hearts in the right place. 

She’d start with a moderate secret, then fold before she could lose for a few hands. 

“OK. Uhm. At home, I tell all my friends that I just stopped caring about dating in high school, but I’m secretly kinda bitter about it, because I’ve had like at least six crushes in the last year alone.”

“Why didn’t you date any of them?” Jamie asked, surprisingly rapt.

“A, I didn’t know if anyone would be interested, and B, I figured I was moving out at the end of the school year, so it didn’t really seem like there’d be a point, you know? Leaving all my friends and my family was hard enough.” 

Jamie looked authentically confused. “I would have thought you’d be really popular. You really think people wouldn’t want to go out with you?”

Popular? “I don’t know about Chicago, but in Detroit, fetishes for ultra-built girls aren’t that common.” Opal couldn’t list the last reason-- dating when you were altered brought out strange things in people. People responded to her strength by either expecting her to be aggressive or wanting to be aggressive towards her, figuring she could take it. Or something. Neither was any fun for Opal.

Jamie’s reaction to that was weird. Her shoulders tightened, and she looked down, too slowly to hide the look of half-smothered fury in her eyes. “What’s that look?” Opal asked, joking but guarded.

Jamie opened her mouth, shut it, then made up her mind. She un-hunched and looked at Opal. “I want to punch whoever told you that it was weird or a fetish for somebody to think you’re beautiful.”

Was this some kind of feminist rage thing? Opal raised an eyebrow at her.

Issac started dealing. “Geez, Jamie. We have Internet. You know she doesn’t exactly look like a standard boilerplate cover girl.” Ugh. Ignoring him. 

But his dumb comment just wound Jamie up even more and oh. Opal suddenly had to reassess what Jamie was made of. She looked at Opal with fire in her eyes that seemed like it should have burnt her delicate frame right up. But Jamie held it with certain, solemn stillness. “Well, I think you’re beautiful.” 

That was not a way anybody had ever looked at or spoken to Opal before. That was no body positivity rant. Opal froze up, staring.

Opal’s stunned expression jarred Jamie out of her love-interest-in-a-romance-novel sincerity. Jamie froze too, staring at Opal, realizing too late that she’d shown more than she meant to. Jamie blushed. Severely. 

Issac snickered, breaking the spell. Jamie whipped her gaze back to the table too forcefully. “Yael, deal.”

Opal caught Yael and Issac exchanging confirming looks. Not even secretive this time. It’d been that obvious.

Well.

Jamie. 

Huh. That bore some thinking about.

Wait, no. That was a terrible idea. An intriguing fantasy, maybe, but a terrible idea. Ugh, why did everything keep drawing her back into this family? Opal finally got someone whose interest in her might actually be described as “ardent” and who was cute and brave and-- OK, maybe a little too ruthless and/or reckless, but that could be attractive too, and--

No. Nono. Opal was leaving. She was getting out once these three were safe. She had a whole future to re-plan. She couldn’t get any entanglements with adorable dainty redheads with Mr.-Darcy-esque admiration of her.

Neither Jamie or Opal said much during the next round. Issac was back to texting. 

Yael made a bid for normal conversation. “Who are you texting?”

“Win it or don’t ask, Yael.”

But he texted too much, and he and Jamie both lost the hand anyway. Ha. Taste of his own medicine.

“Ugh. Damn it.”

“Ha! Now, tell me,” Yael crowed triumphantly. 

“Nah. I get to pick my secret. That was the rule, right?” Issac retorted. 

“Everyone you talk to is either back home, or at this table,” Jamie argued, as if she hadn’t lost too. 

“That is…depressingly accurate. Except, I have a job now.”

Yael put xyr face on one hand. “Well, that’s boring. Give us a better secret than that.”

Issac rolled his eyes, then set his phone down, eyeing it with a strange look on his face. He thought about it. “I…think I’m done trying to fix this. At least, for the next decade or so.”

Jamie and Yael both sagged back suddenly in their chairs with relieved sighs. Seriously? “Trying again was an option?”

He shook his head, looking down, but not too morosely. “Not really. Just…Jenna had to try like six times to get her prosthetics the way she wanted. But I’m done. I’m just gonna go ahead like this. Even if Lasansky could get me approval for human testing, it’s not really ready. Probably be another like, ten years now, doing it all by the book.” 

It was close enough to an opening for Opal. Issac had almost died to avoid the “horrible fate” of being like a lot of Opal’s family. There was obviously a lot he didn’t know. Opal might not exactly like Issac, but he deserved better information than he had. “Seriously, though. ASL is a beautiful language, and the community can be really great. I’ll get you in touch with some people.”

No dice. He shrugged uncomfortably. “Sure, I guess. Jamie, you’re up.” Stubborn little…

Jamie shrank into her chair. “Should’ve folded…”

“Too late,” Her brother answered promptly.

Jamie rubbed her face. She wrapped a lock of wispy rose-gold hair around a long finger, her hand partially blocking Opal’s view of her face. “OK. Uh.” She took a big breath, tucking her legs up in front of her, socked feet perching on the edge of the chair. She rushed through the words. “I don’t think I’m completely straight.”

Issac snorted loudly, then started laughing. “Oh my God, Jamie.”

Jamie turned an impressive shade of red that looked almost painful. She glared at her brother. “I don’t see why that’s funny.”

“Because you’ve been away from home, like, six hours, and all of a sudden you’re having, like, an awakening.”

Was that…a few minutes ago…Jamie’s first big crush moment? Because of Opal? Oh no. Oh, Opal was in so much trouble.

Jamie’s blush darkened to an almost purple color as Issac kept laughing. Which at least kept Jamie from looking at Opal. Opal was certain she was blinking some colors of her own. Jamie reached out, hooked one foot behind one of the legs of Issac’s chair, and yanked, sending his chair tipping backwards. He flailed, but Yael reached out fast enough to steady the chair before he went over or knocked the table. “Still funny,” he challenged. 

“Ignore him,” Yael advised. “It’s fine.”

“Of course it’s fine,” Issac agreed. “Besides,” he waved a hand through the air. “Four of us here. Statistically, one of us--”

“Ahem.” Yael said pointedly.

“ ‘Must be at least six feet tall’ is not a sexual orientation,” he argued.

“The lack of sex or gender qualifiers is,” Yael answered. “And Issac, you were the first person to use my right pronouns. Come on.”

He considered that. “Fair point. Well, fifty-fifty--”

Opal cleared her throat quietly. “Actually--” Eyebrows raised at her. She gave a tiny shrug. Jamie developed an intense fascination for the battered table. Her poker face seemed only to work on actual poker.

Issac tapped his cards on the table again, looking pensive. “Well. If we’re going to…” He trailed off, as his phone vibrated the table. He scowled, tipped it over to look at the screen, then shoved it into his pocket. “Well. One hundred percent, then.” He didn’t look up. 

None of them missed the blatant shift in his math. Yael gestured hugely at Issac, taking up the whole table, slightly over-loud in xyr confusion. “Since when?” 

He shrugged again. ”I don’t know. I’m only-- Being sure that something isn’t happening is harder than figuring out…There’s just not a lot of openings to tell your family you’re ace. It just doesn’t come up.” He looked back up at them, faint challenge in his eyes. Maybe not sure they’d see it as 100%.

It probably shouldn’t make Opal like him better. And it didn’t. Quite. But it maybe made her want to like him better. 

Yael reached over and messed up Issac’s hair with one of xyr huge hands. He was clearly offended at the indignity of this, but when Jamie giggled at it, he smiled back. “One hundred percent, then,” Yael agreed. Opal nodded. 

He tossed his cards in the middle of the table, looking quietly pleased. When he wasn’t aiding and abetting evil, he didn’t seem too bad. “Small sample sizes. What are you gonna do?”

Opal thought it was more than that. There was something about queer kids that made them seem to cluster together, without even meaning to. Without even knowing. It was something she’d learned to trust. It helped. 

Also sometimes it brought her in contact with potential dating prospects. Fierce, elfin little dating prospects. 

No. Stop. That train of thought was off-limits, starting now.

Opal blamed hormones for the next hand she dealt and lost. “I don’t think I like poker.”  

“You were really close, that time,” Jamie, the winner, said encouragingly. 

Ugh. Opal should have folded. Why hadn’t she folded? 

Because Jamie looked like she didn’t have a good hand. “You are a card shark.”

“I warned you,” Issac added. Jamie shrugged, bordering on apologetic. But Opal had, in fact, been warned. 

It was actually dark out, now. The outside world was barely more than a faint glow from orange street lamps, sliding in at a slant. It was a good hour for telling secrets. 

And there was something she wanted to say out loud. Something she had to face. This room felt safe enough for it now. “I…I think I might be done, too. With trying to be a superhero.”

Despite Jamie's earlier…almost-declaration, Opal didn’t expect any of them to care much what Opal did once things got settled for them. But Yael looked genuinely alarmed, and Jamie looked outright heartsick. Issac tapped his cards on the table, uncomfortable. “If you take my advice, you’ll run the other way. It’s a crappy job that will ruin your family.”

Opal sat back in her chair. She’d spent her whole life working towards one dream, and it hadn’t lasted a month. Everything she’d missed because she had to keep her record, her public life, completely spotless, and it’d all been for nothing. She’d wasted so much.

“There are other teams--” Yael started.

Opal looked up. “Are they any different?” she demanded. Tears slipped out of her eyes, and she let them. “I don’t want to quit. I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. But everybody in that clinic was avoiding asking questions like they have serious practice at it. If this is what the problems with the APB look like at the team level, then I can’t do it. I can’t fight, or kill, or arrest anybody because someone as off-the-rails as LodeStar told me to. I can’t go along with that. If that’s what it takes, I won’t do it.” She shook her head, not wanting to look at Yael's horrified expression. “I thought they’d be better. I thought Capricorn-- at least--” She couldn’t say more. The pain was too dense to get through. 

Silence reigned. Opal could tell this was hurting Yael. But xe needed to think about this, too. Xe’d have to make xyr own decisions, and Opal was probably running out of time to influence this system at all. She couldn’t help it if they were both drawing on the same poison dream.

Words seemed to burst out of Jamie. “Dad didn’t used to be this way, though!” 

“Are we sure?” Yael asked. Opal could see how badly xe wanted this whole thing to be a big misunderstanding.

“Yael!” Jamie sounded so betrayed. She pulled out her phone, flipping through menus in a rush. She held the phone up triumphantly. Opal leaned, trying to see what sort of evidence Jamie could possibly think would help this situation.

It took a moment to understand what she was looking at. LodeStar looked the same in the photo, so she didn’t register at first that the other three figures were tiny versions of the tower kids. LodeStar was on his stomach on a dark hardwood floor, propped up on his elbows. Little bitty Issac sat beside him, making a tower of large-sized Legos. He looked about two. Very tiny Jamie leaned against her father’s other elbow, in a diaper and t-shirt, most of a little baby fist shoved into her mouth, but somehow looking serious anyway. Yael was kneeling on Neil’s back, looking much older than the others, with a fistful of LodeStar’s hair yanked in one chubby hand as xe leaned over his hybrid shoulders.

The Neil in the photo was almost impossible to reconcile with the wrathful giant Opal had faced that morning. He was nearly glowing with a tranquil, loving joy as he smiled at the camera. As if somehow, an evil twin had taken over the real LodeStar’s place. He was so cheerful about a kid who had to weigh at least 60 pounds yanking on his hair. And there was something so sweet and protective about the way his arms circled his own kids. 

Opal couldn’t help being just a little charmed. “Aw!” She held her hand out. “Can I see?” Jamie handed her the phone. “Oh, Jamie, those pigtails!”  

Jamie grinned, but slid a little further down behind her knees, feet still perched on the edge of the chair. Opal tried not to be too amused at how 20 minutes could switch Jamie from ultra-serious romantic lead to hiding behind her own knees.

Jamie continued her campaign. “See? He was different before. And I think something’s actually wrong with him. He wasn’t always like this.”

“How would we know?” Issac asked. “Fish don’t know they’re wet. Maybe as kids, we just didn’t notice how messed up everything was.” 

Jamie was shaking her head emphatically. “We would have noticed something! What about at the last whole-family sleepover? Don’t you remember what he was like at that?”

Issac looked nostalgic, but Yael just looked depressed. “We haven’t had one of those since the time Issac and I got kidnapped. Even if he did change, it’s been a long time.”

“Don’t you guys all live together anyway?” Opal asked, because this seemed like a comparatively safe question to ask. 

She was surprised when Issac answered, still looking at the table and playing with his cards. “After a really shitty mission…or a kidnapping, I guess, we used to pile up all the mattresses into one living room, and everybody slept in there.”

He looked up. “Which is weird, but we were kids. And when you think someone’s been killed, you want to keep them in your sights for a while.” Opal could imagine doing that with her family, but not with this family. Having LodeStar watch you sleep sounded petrifying. He shrugged. “It was cute and all, but like Yael said, we haven’t had one in years. And it’s not like nobody’s almost died, since then. And that…that crate. That must’ve been there for years.”

Jamie shrank under that last part.

“He’s right,” Yael added softly. “And they…even Papa. They all knew.” Yael stared down at the table, looking defeated. 

Jamie rallied. “But guys you know why Jenna couldn’t be superpowered anymore. She was impulsive. Violent. It’d be dangerous--”

Issac dropped his pizza slice and hit the top of the table with an open palm. “But then why did she have to leave the tower? Her home? That her and Mom’s money built. They were best friends, and now we can’t even talk to her? Yeah, she needed help, but we have enough money for any help she could possibly need.” 

He looked at Opal. “She got tossed out because she couldn’t perform anymore. They can say she left, but what drove her out? If you do stay, don’t expect better for yourself, even if you are altered at the genetic level. They took her arms and legs so she wouldn’t be super anymore. What do you think they’d do to you if you got past the point of usefulness and that wasn’t an option?”

They’d put her in the same building as her daddy, for a start. Unless being a superhero meant you couldn’t be so easily spirited away. What would they do, then?

She didn’t want to think about it. By the looks of it, Jamie and Yael couldn’t help it. 

Issac’s demeanor shifted, bitterness rising to pick up where the anger receded. “I couldn’t keep up. I didn’t belong there anymore. Everybody knew it. And unlike Dad, Jenna, and Drew, I failed at fixing it. So now I’m here. Nothing obsolete belongs in the home of the Sentinels.”

Jamie took her phone back. “That’s not true. Everything is messed up, but not like that. I haven’t been able to ‘perform’ my whole life. I’m not super. I’m not even special.”

“And they didn’t even keep you until adulthood.”

Their little island was getting kind of Lord of the Flies-y. Yael objected, “Issac, stop!”

Jamie leaned over the table, her voice quiet and sharp. She stared her brother down. “I chose to come here, just like you did. Don’t pretend we didn’t choose this. I wasn’t kicked out until I said I was coming with you.”

“No one is kicked out--” Yael started.

“Easy for you to say,” Issac snapped. “You’re like…the pinnacle of human engineering. You’ll never be obsolete.”

“Stop saying ‘obsolete’!” Opal raised her voice just a little. “Every time you call yourself that, you’re insulting a lot of people. A lot of my family and friends.” 

“Well, that’s what they think of me.” 

“How about you use your own brain and figure out what you think!” Opal shot back.

Issac flinched back. Opal had always thought of herself as having a good temper, but she struggled with it for a few long seconds as he sat there. Hopefully, he was trying to reboot that supposedly impressive brain of his. Without creepy tiny robots, this time.

“I think,” he murmured, rubbing his eyes, “I think I hate these fucking contacts.”

“Everybody does,” Opal replied dully, dropping her cards on the table. “They itch, they don’t work in big groups of people, and sometimes they scratch up your cornea and then you have to wear an eye patch ‘till your eye heals.”

He recoiled. “An eye patch? I can’t wear an eye patch! I look messed up enough as it is.”

Yael sighed so hugely, Issac would easily see it. “The text on your eyes doesn’t look messed up--”

“Wait, the text is visible--?!”

“--It makes you look like a cool android. And everybody knows eye patches are dashing. Don’t pretend to me you wouldn’t like people to see you as a cool, dashing android.”

He shut up. Considered. Opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it. “That is completely stupid, and I’m mad that it makes me feel better.” Well, hallelujah. Maybe there was some hope for him after all. 

Jamie rolled her eyes, but with a small smile and an easier set to her shoulders. Yael smiled triumphantly. Xe stood. “Now, I think we should gather some provisions. Opal’s kitchen is probably not ready to deal with all four of us.”

Jamie was bizarrely amazed. “What, really? Now?”

“Hell yes,” Issac agreed, stretching. “There’s no coffee in here.”

“Fresh air sounds good,” Opal agreed. That was enough secret poker. These guys were too intense. This whole day was too intense. “Come on, weirdos. I’ll show you where the Aldi’s is.”

* * *

Jamie was positive that enjoying a nighttime trip to the grocery store this much qualified her as a complete dork. But the walk there had glittered with puddles reflecting the streetlights, the storm had knocked the worst of the humidity out of the air, and Jamie was out at a time and place that her parents would definitely not approve of.

The store itself smelled assaultingly of lemon floor cleaner, and most of the food seemed to be boxed or frozen atrocities of science, but Yael and Issac were both there, Jamie still had her gauntlet, and Opal kept singing along quietly and bopping around to the cheesy pop music over the loudspeaker. So, not too bad.

Opal was even cooler than Jamie would have expected. She hadn’t laughed at Jamie’s noticing, and then immediately accidentally exposing, her crush. She wasn’t even making it awkward for Jamie. Jamie was sure Opal was too cool and too pretty to want to go out with a 16-year-old weirdo like Jamie, but at least she was being nice about it. Even though Jamie and her family had put Opal through so much.

Issac was not doing as well. He froze up in the bread aisle, eyes squeezed shut and his shoulders tight. She remembered just in time not to ask him what was wrong, as his eyes were shut. Instead, she poked him in the arm. Yael glanced over from where xe was helping a short old man get something off a high shelf.

He answered without opening his eyes. "The stupid things are going too fast. It's getting you guys, and this stupid bubblegum pop crap, and some randoms. And there's some lady over in the pasta aisle I swear is talking to the noodles. It's all gibberish."

At least he was telling them the problem right away. He reluctantly opened his eyes. She gave him a sympathetic look and a little shrug. Yael gave a much broader shrug, rejoining them.

Issac chewed his lip, looking at his bracelet. "Well. I guess I can go without being a cool android for a little while..." He pushed a little button on the side. The scrolling across his eyes went dark. She knew him well enough to read a small spike of anxiety, but his offhanded "Didn't need to talk to you dorks anyways..." was fairly convincing faux bravado. 

It worked pretty well. He stayed near them, grabbed things off the shelves, joined Jamie in making horrified faces at some of Yael's choices-- especially those making questionable claims about being meat-- and at one point, he threw an overinflated bag of chips at Jamie's head. 

Jamie retrieved the bag from where it’d fallen into the cart. “What.” The bag claimed to contain sushi flavored potato chips.

Opal leaned over, right into Jamie’s space. She was really warm. “That’s just not right.”

Issac nodded. “Those are exactly the appropriate faces for this product.”

Yael leaned in next to him, picking up the bag and turning it over for ingredients. “I think some of these ingredients are plastic. But none of them are shellfish.” Xe looked Jamie in the eye with all the seriousness and sincerity Yael could muster. “I dare you.”

Opal laughed. “Nooo. Gross!”

Opal laughing flipped a switch in Jamie’s brain. There was no choice. She would have to eat the chips. With the same aplomb Yael had shown, Jamie took the bag and dropped it back into the cart.

Issac recoiled in cartoonish horror. Yael grinned. Opal alternated between telling Jamie how gross she was and giggling while shimmering the sweetest pinks. Opal was in danger of losing her dream. If Jamie could make her laugh on a day like today, shouldn’t she? No matter what gastrointestinal fallout she’d have to face.

And the bag made a good cover when Yael and Jamie snuck a small birthday cake into the cart, while Issac wandered the coffee and soda aisle like he’d found the promised land. Then Yael and Opal bickered a little about who would pay, while Jamie stood there, embarrassed to have not thought about paying for the food before now. She didn’t want to look spoiled. After a short but rousing speech about hospitality, Yael won that one. Jamie did manage to grab one grocery bag to carry herself. It had some bread and the chips in it, so it hardly weighed anything, but she was still contributing. She could even hold it in one arm so she could get the chips out and open them in the parking lot.

Issac yelped so loud, he distracted Yael and Opal from Jamie’s impending culinary doom. 

"I turned the contacts back on," he explained, hand still hovering over his wrist. "It had a backlog."

"A backlog?” Opal was surprised. “While it was turned off? Wow, yours are glitchier than average."

He squinted at the text, trying to keep up. Jamie wasn’t sure if he was actually answering Opal or not. He shrugged, messing with the interface on the bracelet. "Software crap," he mumbled. "I can fix it."

Jamie shoved several powder-covered chips in her mouth at once to take the focus off his tech problems, thankful that she couldn’t make out the colors of the “food” under the street lamps.

She stopped, feet rooted to the spot, as she made a small, involuntary noise. She covered her mouth with one hand. “OK. That does not taste like sushi.”

Whatever Jamie’s face was doing, it sent Opal into resonant, echoing peals of laughter. Jamie kept going, trying to mimic the way she’d heard waiters talk about wine. “I’d say…sharp base notes with a bold, fishy finish and vinegar on the tang, all overlaid with about three tablespoons of pure salt.”

That kept Opal laughing. This naturally escalated to Jamie and Yael comparing notes on the flavor profile of the vile things. Except that Yael seemed to genuinely like them. Then Opal tried one, just to be a good sport, and couldn’t stop flapping her hands around in distress for a solid 90 seconds. Issac followed from a few feet away, watching them like reality TV.

Jamie did what any loyal little sister would do in that scenario. She chased him half a block, waving a handful of crumbling potato monstrosities at him, while he yelled at her to take that affront against sushi away, that his body was a temple. It felt so good. So normal.

This excitement got them about halfway home, until Jamie had to quit to preserve her oxygen supply, and Yael confiscated the rest of the bag.

This time, when Issac withdrew a little, she let him have his space. Even if he knew he'd be OK now, it made sense for him to feel sad, too. Between giving up on fixing his hearing and everything that’d happened with the family. Jamie clung to her own tenuous happiness with both hands. 

This was going to be tricky, with all of them sharing a single room, though. Nowhere to go when things got too uncomfortable. Jamie started thinking up hidey-holes she might be able to find around the office when it was closed. Could she get up on top of the trucks? That would make for some good privacy. In hide and seek, people never thought to look up. Which was why Jamie’d climbed just about every tree in the courtyard at one time or another.

The ramifications of sharing a single-room apartment with not only her siblings but with Opal were just starting to dawn on her when Issac snapped, "Do you even see where I am right now?!" He threw his arms out wide. "Do you have any idea what kind of security risk--!"

For one second, she thought something had happened to his brain. But he'd been fine. He'd been more himself in the last five hours than he had been in the previous several weeks.

She leaned in. Saw gold text scrolling across his pupils. He was talking to someone. Someone who could see where they were, and who was talking back.

Jamie put her back to the group. Saw Yael doing the same. Issac's contacts were more sensitive than Jamie's ears. Whoever he was talking to could be in any one of these darkened alleys. Too far too be seen, but close enough to be scary. 

"Now, see? You scared Jamie."

Jamie looked back over her shoulder at Issac. He expected whoever he was talking to to care that Jamie was freaked out.

"You're scaring Yael," Yael added pointedly. 

Opal put up her hand, looking around. "Also not loving this."

A long pause. He was facing them, but not seeing them. "Are you sure. Because there is no putting this back once it's out. You know that."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I know."

He looked back at them, seeing them this time. He sighed, psyching himself up. "OK, apparently I'm giving away another secret tonight. Guys--" He stopped. Reset. "No, you know what? If I'm doing this, I'm going to do it right. OK, who wants my biggest secret? That none of you know, even though you really should have by now?"

"I think I've already made it clear I know too many of your family’s secrets."

"Well, here's the least horrifying one. I think. First, everybody turn off your cells. Not silent. Off. Completely off."

Jamie complied, too curious to argue. Issac looked around. He went over to a light pole, and climbed up on top of its wider concrete base, standing on it like a stage. "We all secure?" The question wasn't for them, so they didn't answer. "How's my volume?"

He nodded. "OK. OK. Here we go. Esteemed colleagues of the middle-of-fucking-nowhere warehouse district back-alley street, I've been asked to formally introduce you to the most complete, most sentient synthetic intelligence in the world, Martin."

He held out his phone with a flourish. A voice Jamie'd known for years turned suddenly shy and emotive. "Hello."

She glared up at Issac. "That's not funny."

He snorted. "You think it's unfunny. I've been having to, like, raise him for the last three years. I was fifteen. That's unfunny."

"I don't get it," Opal said. "Did we not know this?"

"We did not," Yael said, sounding overwhelmed. 

That doused Jamie's growing anger and embarrassment. "Did we?"

Yael hesitated. "No. We were always just told it...he...had a very advanced interface."

The shy little voice came from Issac's phone again. "I would enjoy if you would use gender neutral pronouns for me, please." Issac frowned at the phone.

Jamie and Yael stared. 

Jamie shifted focus to Issac. "Why didn't you tell us?! Do Mom and Dad know?"

Issac shook his head, sitting on the concrete block. "Martin wasn’t…this when Jenna first activated him. He's a learning program. By the time I figured out what he'd become...I had to ask him what he wanted."

“Please forgive my deception. I did change my own protocols, with Issac’s help, when I realized I had self-awareness and emotion-based opinions. I’ve given you all whatever privacy was mine to grant. But I was afraid of what would happen if others knew about me.”

"Guys he's-- wait, I mean they’re. A person. But they have no legal rights. Martin could be deactivated. Dismantled. Sectioned off and broken into functions. And it'd all be legal. If the APB or anyone knew about them, that's what they'd want to do. And way to give me a heads-up on the pronouns, you twerp."

Yael's mouth dropped open. “They’re a security breach. A huge one."

"But Martin can't help that! They’re just existing!"

“At the plaza, my options are limited. Monitoring is required of me. But now that you are independently out in the world, that’s no longer the case. I’m asking your permission for me to remain in your lives. I know it’s only been a few hours, but I miss you. I worry. And I’ll always retain your privacy to the best of my ability.”

“That was a pretty good apology, pen pal.”

“Thank you.”

To realize they were actually a person was surprisingly vindicating. Jamie’d stopped chatting with Martin when she was alone when she was about 14 and started to feel stupid about it. But she remembered glimmers of kindness, humor, and flexibility even then. She’d felt like they were a person. But had been told that was stupid. So she’d believed what she’d been told, instead of risking feeling silly. “I’m sorry I didn’t figure this out.”

Their voice turned instantly happy. “I’m not at all mad about that! It was the outcome I was trying for at the time. But everyone was sharing their secrets, and I missed you all, so…”

“This is who kept interrupting our poker game, and who kept sending messages to my contacts while I had them off. We’re still working on boundaries, apparently.”

“This is so embarrassing,” Yael muttered. “How did we miss a whole other person in the family?” Xe ran a hand through xyr hair. “And the one most at risk!”

Issac seemed surprised. He kicked the concrete base of the light. “You guys are being really calm about this.”

Yael threw xyr hands out. “Well I wanted to see them as a person! But everyone told me not to!” Xe made a face. “Ugh. That’s awful. Now that I say it out loud…”

Jamie frowned. “Issac! So you turned off their sensors? Twice?! And then did something that might have killed you without telling anyone about them?”

He put up a finger. “No, I wrote a letter. Just in case anything happened. And Martin can--”

“A letter,” Yael echoed, dubiously. “You left a letter? What if your mom checks your room?”

“I brought it with me,” Issac assured. “I’ll shred it, later. But it’s not like anybody’s looking for it, or like Martin can come with us.”

The day seemed to be slowly becoming more than Yael could handle. “We left one behind.”

“It’s really not as if I can leave,” Martin added consolingly.

Issac scrunched up his face. “Yeah, I…meant to tell you guys before college since…I didn’t think Yael would ever move out.”

“Neither did I,” xe tried to rally. “Still, lose a home and gain a…what? Younger sibling?”

Issac hesitated, text continuing to move across his eyes as they looked at him expectantly. Jamie couldn’t tell if he was focusing on the text or just avoiding looking at them. “Fine. A…nibling. It’s the gender-neutral form of--”

“Niece or nephew!” Yael finished enthusiastically. A nibling? An eight year old next-generation family member? Jamie felt a surge of protectiveness. She finally wasn’t the baby anymore.

Issac sighed in aggravation. “This is so weird.”

Martin sounded embarrassed, but pleased. “I’m sorry. To consider you a brother who raised me would be more accurate, but I feel like calling you my brother doesn’t honor the level of responsibility you had for my care. There doesn’t seem to be a more apt word.”

Jamie had so much making up to do, for all those years of ignoring Martin. Of treating them as less than a person. Of not even thinking about their protection. “You can call or write me anytime you want to, Martin.”

“Thank you. I-- oh! You have an important text message coming in!”

Yael’s, Issac’s, and Jamie’s phones all pinged simultaneously. Jamie dug hers out. It was a message from Solomon. She opened it, and a picture appeared-- a tiny golden hamster, trying to shove a whole grape in its mouth.

“Skittles!” Yael exclaimed, loud enough that even Jamie flinched. “They got her!”

Skittles was perched on a metal surface Jamie knew. “That’s Dad’s hand. Dad got her.”

Yael started to object, then looked at the picture again, and shut xyr mouth with a snap. 

“Olive branch,” Issac observed. He looked at Yael. Yael looked at Jamie. 

Jamie lifted her chin. “I’m not scared of Dad. Or you.” It was true. Or at least it was true enough to become true.

Yael frowned. “But you wouldn’t be, even if you should be.”

“Are you going to talk to him or not?”

“…Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow. I don’t know what I would say.”

“Sorry I broke your bones?” Issac suggested, sounding as if he actually felt this was a helpful suggestion.

“And when are you going to apologize to Mom for what you said?” Jamie asked Issac.

He grimaced. “When do you think she’ll actually take my call? She didn’t send a hamster picture.”

Jamie chewed her lip. To protect Martin, she’d need her family’s help. She’d need to be more than unafraid. She’d need to trust them. They had to rebuild.

She’d do what she could do. “I’ll call Solomon tomorrow, and find out what’s going on. We left Martin at home. We need to keep them safe.”

[straightbaittournament]

only the option with the lowest percentage will be eliminated! propaganda under the cut (and more always welcome!):

jason grace and piper mclean:

So. Hera/Juno put a bunch of fake memories in Piper’s head of a months long relationship with Jason. However plot and stuff happens and they end up dating for real. Except no they didn’t. In the next series Apollo goes to them to ask for help and finds out they’ve broken up. Then there was a death prophecy that for once was actually fulfilled (RIP Jason). Finally at the end of ToA Piper was seen kissing a girl and your choice how to interpret that. Got together because a goddess shipped them. Broke up because they realised they were gay.

chrissie cunningham and eddie munson:

Had the CUTEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW where they flirted and he tried to sell her drugs but then SHE GOT MURDERED and it was tragic

the joker and harley quinn:

They were a thing. She left his toxic ass for a cool plant lady. Good for her.

alec hardy and ellie miller:

They're your classic workplace enemies to lovers. Alec takes the job that Ellie was meant for, they're forced to work together on a devastating murder case, they bond. Over three series Alec becomes more human and lets his walls down around Ellie, and she begins to respect and trust him as a colleague and as a friend. Its a Big Deal when they hug. In most cases, especially when it's an m/f detective duo, they would end up together. But yet. Thee David Tennant and Olivia Coleman did not even have an aborted kiss or feelings confession. Neither of them end up with anyone else but they don't hint at anything at the end either. Queer Ally of all time David Tennant does straightbait ironically.

sam winchester and eileen leahy:

The last season set them up to be together, and then in Sam’s finale flash-forward, they replaced her with “blurry wife” literally a random blurred out woman rather than having him end up with Eileen Eileen is the coolest Supernatural character: she's deaf and also formerly dead (like Sam)

tan:

ok so it's complicated? like he's the lead love interest in a show that was very explicitly marketed as queer but I'm calling him straightbait because he literally straightbaits like every character in the show? So there's this girl (Jane) and everyone jsut assumes that he's dating her? Like she gets (spoiler!) murdered in ep 1 and the police are like "the body was found by the victim's boyfriend" and they mean Tan. Bun the main character drunkingly kissed Tan in the first episode as well and then saw Tan and Jane at an event holding hands and he was like....... wow this is awkward and also is he cheating on her with me??? (he was best friends with Jane). Anyways like this continues with Tan being under suspicion for Jane's murder because he's was her lover apparently and Bun is like living with this guy now and Tan is like laying it on thick about his attraction towards Bun but Bun is still suspicious and then Bun's talking to one of the kids that Jane and Tan taught and the kid is like "yeah so Miss Jane's boyfriend...." and Bun is like "right, Tan." and the kid is like "what??? mr tan never dated miss jane she was with this other guy." and Bun is confused (rightly) until like a few episodes later or so they're staring at their red string board and Tan is like "yeah so I was literally never with Jane we were just good friends" and is then also implied to be like gay as well so he's not even bi. Which ok straightbait over right? Wrong! Jane's actual boyfriend gets murdered and Tan gets arrested for it and he's like "what motive do I have to kill him??" and the police are like "well you two were fighting over Jane's love clearly" and he just kinda scoffs and smirks with a whole "these idiots have no idea that i'm currently planning on how to propose to my boyfriend of like a week" but just doesn't say anything?!?!?!?! he actively makes himself more suspicious and a greater target by pretending to be straight instead of just being like hey guys you know I was just buddies with Jane right? and i'm currently hooking up with the doctor who keeps giving you guys problems?? Anyways he's not straightbait in the sense that it was any surprise to the audience that he ended up with a boyfriend. but he did pretend to be straight for no real reason and literally endangered himself by doing so (this universe didn't seem to have like any actual homophobia stuff)

bruce wayne and selina kyle:

So a while back there was a whole thing about their wedding with SO much buildup. Like a whole mini series, a couple arcs in the main batman run, Superman and Nightwing threw him a bachelor party. Then when it was time for them to get married Selina fuckin left him at the altar. She left him at the altar man

luke skywalker and leia organa:

The idea of Luke and Leia was used in advertisements but they obviously decided not to do that. IT’S SO FUNNY. Like, I think this is the closest white straight people will ever get to ‘they were cousins’ing a couple. I looked up advertising to see if it was just in the movie proper or it WAS used to sell it and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5z1SziDPKQw&t=118s&pp=2AF2kAIB ‘Luke and Leia: in danger, in love, in Star Wars’ is going to be one of the things that rolls around in my head for ages. It’s not just the whole ‘het love triangle advertises 2nd pairing that everyone knows won’t happen’ like Twilight, it’s the backpeddaling ‘no no it can’t happen, they’re actually siblings! It’d be weird! Ignore the ‘good luck’ kiss and the ‘I’ll be back’ kiss in the medbay and of course the full on make out session scene that happened! And even our own advertising’ Of it all.‘

eva garvey and gabriel:

they were really cute together and all their flirty build up actually had me, a known dyke, kind of rooting for them and then halfway through the show right in what's about to be a makeout scene they reveal he's gay lmfao. then they sleep together (platonically on different side of the covers) in his houseboat. iconic and i'm not mad about it but it was SO clearly calibrated to be straightbait and switch it was so funny like the cameras were WORKING for those lingering shots

kagome higurashi and inuyasha from inuyasha:

Long time until they get together, with teasing moments

good luck everyone! now go vote!

[ishouldmakethissometime]

I’ve started writing a piece of fiction. We’ll see where it goes. But I’ve encountered some apprehension from my readers who’ve looked at it so far.

I know the maxim “write what you know”. Which for me is the straight, cisgender, white male. So of course my main character is a piece of me in that sense, except he is all about business, while for me, the arts have been my entire life.

But I want my story to have diversity and representation. So I have plans for characters of color, as well queer characters, and folks with disabilities. For all of these supporting characters I want them to be three-dimensional, full human beings, and I want to avoid making them “at the service of” improving my main character.

He is going to have to learn and grow because his arc is the story. But they are more than tools for his development. They have their own lives, struggles, and joys.

The apprehension however, has been with my early inclusion of a transwoman character. There is potential for romance, they both aligned enough to be compatible but also different enough to be interesting to each other.

I’m not making this into a “how to be an ally” piece. Or diving into her traumas and history. She will face things that can be triggering for her because she exists in the world but that is not this story.

I’ve been cautioned that maybe I should NOT write her at all because I am not trans and I don’t have trans close friends (out anyway, and I have few close friends at all). But I do know trans people, and at least one trans AUTHOR who’s work I really admire. When my story is a little more sketched out I was going to ask for her insights.

I’ve also been told NOT to write from her perspective, which I had been planning to for a short section in an upcoming chapter that explains what’s been going on for her while absent from the central character’s scope of awareness.

I understand the need for sensitivity but if I can only write characters who I can claim full knowledge of their experience I can only write straight, white, cisgender, men. So that’s out. I’m GOING TO ADD my other characters because people from other demographics exist and interact with straight white cisgender men all the time in real life, which is what I’m writing about.

But what about not writing her perspective? Is that completely off limits? I do plan to run this work by trans creators and incorporate their feedback. But a third criticism has been “appropriation” that if a trans story from a trans perspective is to be written at all it must come from a trans creator. Since if my little story were ever to get bought and made into a movie I’d be theoretically benefiting off the trans experience. (Which if that magical thing happened I’d probably donate a percentage to The Marsha P. Johnson Institute anyway.)

So far all of the above pushback has been from cisgender, white, women who are either in my writing club or who I’ve had a chance to show it to. (I’ve JUST started this story and so far all these two characters have done is meet in an airport.)

Appreciate anyone’s thoughts on this.

[septembersghost]

Do you think harry would be respected as a 'artist' in a way Taylor is now? Like I went to reddit and most people talk about how he got through because of 'queerbaiting' and 'hotness' instead of talent. Like people are claiming 'as it was' is the most generic song ever and he steals sound from other people and I'm like.............Since 1d days harry's sound was different from rest of 1d. I even think that is one of the reasons why non of his songs were single(except perfecut but that was for different reasons). He always gravitated towards rock and 'his sound' is clear now than ever and people simply ignore it and hate on him.

not at all directed at you nor things you don't already know, but i cannot possibly express to you how angry the queerbaiting discussion makes me, and it's late and i am very tired so i probably can't articulate it well either, but 1. REAL PEOPLE CAN'T QUEERBAIT. PERIOD., 2. harry's identity, being unlabeled, IS A VALID QUEER IDENTITY, being mspec is valid, and he owes that definition to absolutely NO ONE. plus, you can identify as multigender attracted even if you've never had relationships with people of other genders/besides the opposite sex (which we don't know and it's not our business), 3. playing with fashion in a gender fluid/sexuality bending way is not "baiting," we should normalize this, including for cis straight men, it's beneficial at not boxing people into the binary. wearing a dress or sequins is not "using" the queer community, and moreover, it IS a part of harry's identity expression! the so-called "queer performance" is just harry existing as a person!, 4. being an ally and openly accepting of queer people and having them on your team and counting them among your friend group and embracing queer fans on their journeys is also NOT BAITING, it's being a decent and inclusive human being (this point gets thrown at taylor too, it's insane. should she just not be an ally at all then? make it make sense), 5. queer people supporting someone and feeling safe and held in their atmosphere is a net positive and not dependent on that artists' own sexuality to make that real. it just drives me bonkers, and it's gotten SO bad and out of hand this year. i'm still mad that the new york times allowed that piece to be published that basically stated he owes his label to us because we buy tickets/albums. that's...not how any of this works, and it's completely dehumanizing of him as a person and of his individual experience. biting chomping

reddit has sadly become a haven for the worst negativity/cruelty, i used to enjoy popheads and the TS sub (i haven't been on the HS sub in a long time), but both are kind of unbearable now. it's wild to me how mean-spirited and dismissive they are of...artists that directly appeal to their interests...? i get very frustrated at this because it's mostly snideness/elitism and i hate that attitude 🥴

the good thing is, stan circles are not reflective of most people's opinions, or of the regard of the industry itself. harry has gained a LOT of support and esteem from his peers, and from bona fide music legends (stevie nicks notably, but she's far from the only one). hs3 was met with positivity and acclaim, and it was clearly successful with the general public. stan twitter (and reddit is basically an extension of it now) thrives on toxicity, unfortunately, but in opposition to that, he is very well-liked and highly thought of where it counts. there's this confusing thing where coming from a "boy band" puts this barrier up where you're not taken seriously and keep having to prove yourself (which is silly in itself, if you listen to 1D, especially mm, four, and mitam, the talent and growth in songcraft from the boys is already clear). so he's had that uphill battle to be taken seriously, which should've been proven the minute he released SOTT, but i think he feels a lot more confident and creatively free now. the people who hate on him are most often being narrow-minded, have preconceived notions of dismissal in their minds, and aren't willing to listen to the music, or to harry himself, in depth (this all also applies to taylor, and it's only in the past couple of years that she's finally been treated more widely with respect for her artistic merit, even though she's deserved it from the start), and at the end of the day, it's their loss and they're much more miserable being that way than we are enjoying the art, or than he is as he continues to thrive. he's still got so much potential ahead of him. if he keeps putting out quality work, and i have no reason to think he won't, i believe with time more respect and recognition of his artistry will come, at least from the people who matter.

[friendsofavantris]

Anastasia "Tasia" Denathria

Race: dhampir, previously human

Class: College of Tragedy bard + Lunar Sorcerer

Alignment: chaotic good

Age: 70s-90s, appears 25

Gender: cis woman

Sexuality: queer

FC: Melissa Barrera

The younger sister of Victor Denathria, a King of a Delphinus providence, Atonia, Anastasia was gifted from a young age with something many could only describe as a blessing of Selune. Odd and a bit uncommon, but not any cause of worry in a kingdom that revered a deity that worked so closely with the moon goddess; it was seen as a possible blessing on the land itself, a sign of prosperity that a goddess sent down a gift to the royal family. She was as regal and dark-haired as her older brother, of a soft, somewhat sickly stock like him, but with just as much fire in her being to experience life. The kingdom was old-fashioned, but not so much that Tasha was disallowed from learning anything her heart desired, and so she learned to sing and play all manner of instruments, not to mention everything her arcane ability had to offer. Her parents hired mages from around Avantris to tutor her, and by the time she was a teen, she was already powerful in her magic, not only of the moon but of a magic blossoming from her own love and passion.

When she and her brother were young, the princess fell into a puppy love with a boy destined to be a knight, her brother's best friend. Marius was kind and beautiful, devoted to Lathander. Wouldn't that be a perfect pair, she thought, a paladin of Lathander and a sorceress of Selune as a sign of hope for the kingdom, helping Victor in his rule as advisors. She thought of it often, even though technically, a paladin took an oath of chastity, though that was mandated by the crown, not the religion, so she hoped when the day came, Victor would excuse Marius of it so that Marius and Tasia could marry.

Then the war came. The King and his knight were freshly young adults, Tasia still lagging a few years behind, and so unable to join as magical reinforcement as she wished to. She had to stay home. Once the two came back a few years later, and Victor was crowed King, no special exception was made. Marius took the same oath as everyone else in its entirety. He kissed Tasia's hand, with some longing but also with the respect a knight would give a princess. Her plans were foiled.

Marius began searching for the Grail of Dawn to help their kingdom, and even thought the rest was not as she expected, Victor did ask Tasia to be an advisor at his side as times grew more desperate. She agreed happily, though had offered several times to make good on the promise their parents had made to the Baron of another providence to marry her, even if the thought pained her. They needed allies Her brother, however, believed she was much more help to them as a mage and diplomat.

However, in the end, it was the fact that she didn't marry that doomed her. The Baron of the providence was angry to be repeatedly denied a wife, and so he moved to assassinate the princess in vengeance. He almost succeeded. Bleeding out and crying to Selune for her help, Anastasia saw a woman in red before her; this Duchess, as she called herself, spoke softly and kindly, told her that her dear Marius had spoken of her with fondness, and so she could not let the girl die. Offering a chalice, she said it was the Grail of Dawn the knight had looked for, and if the sorceress drank of it, she would live. Hearing this was a woman that Marius seemed to trust and love, even if that made her heart break, she trusted her. She took the Duchess' grail and drank the metallic, smoky liquid. While she was healed, a new agony came over her body, everything in her burning and freezing all at once.

It was then the Duchess revealed her true form and intent. Marius' soul was bound to her by his mistake, by her trick, and the Duchess wanted to get rid of her competition. Tasia was turned into a creature of the dead and bound to the Duchess as well, but instead of a lover, she was a servant.

The princess managed her escape after years of pain, loss, and humiliation, her way guided by silver moonlight and a sad song. She cannot go home in her shame, but she is instead looking for the source of the Duchess' power and the keys to unlock Marius and herself from the succubus' control. She often presents herself as a bard of sad love songs and a fallen noble, presenting that as her tragedy. Her sorcery and her slavery are her secret she shares with few. She will not be used again.

[astralbooks]

Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland

Read: 11/05/2023 - 17/05/2023

Rating: 4/5

Rep: pan demigirl main character, pan love interest, Black lesbian side character, bigender side character, agender side character, queer side characters including pan & aroace characters

CW (provided by author): blood drinking (voluntary & forced), violence, gore, death & murder, child abuse, child neglect, mind/body control, consent issues, uneven relationship dynamics, death of a queer character (but most characters are queer), death of a parent (off page), death of a mentor, substance use (alcohol, mushrooms, vampire blood), mild gender dysphoria, mild body horror

Review:

When vampires come to Fin’s village to choose someone to turn into one of them, Fin makes sure she’s the one who gets chosen. This way she can make sure the girl she’s secretly in love with will be safe, and she can use this as an opportunity to learn how to kill vampires so she can avenge her mother. She’s taken to a vampire finishing school where, as she’s slowly turned into one of the undead, she must learn different vampiric skills to a high enough standard to be accepted. Failure means death or becoming a human thrall, neither of which are an option. Things get complicated, however, when people start getting murdered, and the deaths all seem to have some connection to Fin.

I liked Fin as a main character! She was reckless enough to be willing to do things that drove the plot forwards, but still reasonable enough not to verge into ridiculousness. Except for this one incident when she was so determined to yell at someone that she refused to let a likely fatal injury be healed for a lot longer than was reasonable. She was just clutching at her still-bleeding wound as she shouted and honestly I was so entertained by this that I don’t even care how unrealistic it was. Sometimes the need to chew someone out is simply bigger than whatever crisis is unfolding no matter what it is and I think that’s a feeling we can all relate to on some level.

I found the relationship between Fin and Gavron to be believable, and I enjoyed watching them gradually come to trust each other and see each other as an ally. Also, they’re Very Into mutual blood drinking, more so than is apparently typical for vampires in-universe. I thought this was a very fun aspect of their relationship to read about, but it might not be for everyone, even for a book about vampires. If detailed descriptions of blood drinking are going to bother you then this isn’t the book for you. If you’re down with that then full steam ahead.

I think the consent issues inherent in this premise were handled well! Gavron is Fin’s vampire maker, or sire, to borrow terminology I’ve seen used in other vampire media, and this inherently means he has some power over her due to him being in that position of authority. There’s also a significant plot thread regarding the vampiric ability to control the actions of humans. If left unaddressed, all of this would have serious and troubling implications. Thankfully, it wasn’t left unaddressed. The ability to consent (in both sexual and non-sexual contexts) is a point of discussion, and Gavron and Fin place heavy emphasis on being equal partners in their relationship. They could’ve easily been super codependent and toxic, but they very deliberately weren’t, and I appreciated that.

I loved some of the side characters in this book! Especially Jaen and Kashire. Jaen is a bigender scholar, who’s largely kind and compassionate, but who’ll show no mercy to those who cross him or hurt his friends. She gets the book’s sole f-bomb and it’s glorious. Jaen’s the character I’d most like to be friends with out of everyone and the person I think I’d get along with the most. Kashire is a lot of fun. He’s Gavron’s ex, and is introduced to Fin in such a way that she takes an instant and very understandable dislike to him, but as time goes on he grows on her despite how much she wishes he wouldn’t. They’re totally besties by the end. Besties who still pretend to hate each other half the time. 

If you’re looking for a morally grey world with morally grey characters, a vampire book that doesn’t shy away from the darker aspects of such a story, and a casually queer cast, then you’ll probably enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review

[groovy-rat-man]

Just realized that I ONLY did the marriage candidates so I'm gonna fix that real quick:

Caroline: considers herself straight but definitely had a crush on some chick when she was younger

Clint: straight ally but one of the dumb ones, like he means well but he's just SO stupid

Demetrius: straight probably, experimented some in college but he's pretty sure he's straight

Dwarf: does not confine himself using human terms

Evelyn: one of those old ladies who would tell you that "everyone's a little gay" if you came out to her

George: might seem like just a crotchety old man but he lost his legs at stonewall

Gus: hes just along for the ride, he doesn't bother putting labels on things, he just loves people

Jas: doesn't know why anyone would want to life-like anyone, definitely thinks that boys have cooties but Vince is an exception

Jodi: doesn't know any of the terms, doesn't really care about any of the terms, all she knows is that she loves her husband and kids

Kent: kinda married Jodi cause he was supposed to but definitely still loves her... but he might be a little gay

Krobus: ok so I kinda hc that shadow people reproduce asexually, but idk how relevant that is

Leo: fucking feral, doesn't know what all this shit is, doesn't even care

Lewis: doesn't really "get it" when it comes to all this gay stuff, the one time stardew valley had a pride parade he fucked it all up, very straight

Linus: honestly Linus is whatever he wants to be, and that's pretty cool

Marnie: fuck if I know, maybe bi? Leanes towards dudes?

Pam: i genuinely can't decide between "my pronouns are kiss my ass" and "not gay as in happy but queer as in fuck you" because either way she definitely has that ENERGY

Pierre: very heterosexual but has jokes that 20 dollars is 20 dollars

Robin: the epitome of a bisexual woman

Sandy: trans lesbian, change my mind

Vincent: hes just a stoopid little guy he don't know

Willy: epitome of a bisexual man

Wizard: this man just fucks

Stardew characters and their sexualities, happy pride month

FYI, this shit is based on VIBES.

Alex: pretty fuckin heterosexual but would definitely Feel Things if a dude kissed him or held his hand or something

Elliott: literally a gay man but does overly dramatic pretend flirty things with his wlw partner in crime (spoiler alert: it's Leah)

Harvey: gay? bisexual maybe? either way he definitely has a preference for men (also grey asexual because I said so)

Sam: 100% bisexual... or pansexual...... or omnisexual, he can't really decide on a label for himself but it's definitely one of those

Sebastian: look, yall are gonna hate me for this but I gotta say it... hes straight. Yeah yeah I KNOW he likes frogs and dnd and stuff but every FUCKING time I look at his oily ass my straight-dar goes fuckin ham

Shane: bi but doesn't really bring it up

Abigail: thinks she's just a straight ally but definitely likes girls just a little bit

Emily: doesn't belive in labels, her heart is just full of love and she'll dish it out to anyone who wants it!! (Also... maybe asexual? Like she DEFINITELY prioritizes romantic stuff over sexual stuff.)

Haley: puts the bi in bimbo, yeah she likes dudes but she was also FULLY convinced that everyone liked girls cause theyre just SO HOT

Leah: very much a lesbian, probably only dated dudes cause she thought she had to, her being gay is part of her independent thing in life ya know... also she does all the butch shit that Elliott doesn't do because he doesn't wanna get too dirty

Maru: I... have no clue. Like she is DEFINITELY queer in SOME way but honestly she could be anything and everything and I love that for her

Penny: probably one of those aroace people who thought they were bi or pan because they're zero percent attracted to both men and women, sorta unrelated but I really like the idea of her finding a queer platonic partner and starting a big ole family and all that jazz... just makes me happy

[nightswithkookmin]

NO CAPTION

I love how this conversation is bringing out the homophobia in y'all's eyes😌

'Yall are scared Jimin will stop looking like a submissive gay man if he builds muscles'

So y'all think Jimin looks like a submissive gay man without his muscles????????

Huh????

Isn't this the very thing I'm ranting over in these posts? That people think he looks gay and a sub/bottom and that he doesn't look like a real man because of the way he looks??

Isn't that why they are fixing him to look more masculine in these ads????

Y'all think him building muscles will change his sexual orientation if he is in deed gay and a sub???

There is nothing wrong with being gay or sub or bottom or whatever any gay queer person might be into. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! Omg!

Muscle building is not for men only.

This is Namjoon's cousin. What about her makes her less feminine??????????????

Should she get longer nails? Bigger hoops? May be a Brazilian butt lift? Botox? Fillers? In order to look more traditionally feminine?

If she decides to stop working out or drink stuff to lose muscles so she can be seen as more feminine do y'all not think that would be ??? because she is feminine regardless?

What about these women make them less feminine????? They build up too and they are women.

Jimin with or without muscles is still an androgynous man. Building muscles does not erase his androgynousity. That is Jimin.

He is an androgynous MAN not woman. Looking skinny is not what makes him androgynous. Putting on make up and wearing feminine clothes is not what makes him androgynous.

We've been calling him androgynous from day one when he debuted and it's not because he didn't have muscles. He had them in abundance. so I find it weird that you will think we gay people are worried he is leaning into his masculinity- when the question we are asking is WHAT AT ALL IS MASCULINITY?

Didn't he ask the same questions when he asked his band mates, man man man- what the heck is man- when they said men shouldn't wear rings on their pinkie?

That was an iconic moment and I wish I could write a dissertation on it. Super iconic.

Is he a sex icon? Absolutely. Is he a queer icon? Yes. But he is not a gay God. No body is looking up to him to liberate them from no damn queer oppression- love how you trivialize and make fun of LGBTQ issues.

Really sista? You had to go there? And you say you are a Jikook supporter?? Interesting.

I think Tae put it best when he said Jimin may look cute and pretty on the outside but when he takes off his clothes that's when you see he's more masculine. I think for some of us, we've always seen Jimin as very masculine in his expressions and very experimental in his expressions of femininity. I've always seen him as grounded in his masculinity than feminity- although he does suffer from toxic masculinity every now.

I'm simply saying this may be one of those times. Emphasis on may be. I'm over it. Just took note of it.

When it comes to exercising, the members have said he used to be the one who trained the hardest in dance rehearsals. Didn't RM say he and Jin used to look up to him and learn from him because he is well disciplined?

He's always exercised. Y'all think him flipping through the air and defying gravity comes from a lack of exercise?????

This is the few times he's talked about exercising as a social male bonding activity with his members and even encouraged Hobi to join them. If you think he will look more masculine climbing rocks and building muscles then you are part of the problem I am trying to address here.

Do y'all not watch Bon Voyage and Run and Winter package? Do y'all not see him "be manly" and "lean into his masculinity" in those contents? Did he not say he wanted to go do yoga with the others but chose instead to go to the brewery with Yoonkook?

Out of curiosity, let me ask- which is the two options was the least masculine activity? I'm genuinely curious.

And no, I am not uncomfortable seeing him lean into his masculinity. I am uncomfortable watching him straddle the line of toxic masculinity and it's not limited to him. I think I have expressed similar sentiments with regards to JK and RM and Suga and the rest.

And no. It's not toxic that he is exercising or wants to exercise. I question that he wants to build muscles and look a certain way as a man especially if that way is the only way he and y'all think a man should look like.

I don't know about you but this looks pretty masculine and feminine to me.

As does this. He can look like the incredible hulk and I'll still see him as androgynous.

Now don't get me started on his upper lips and BigHit constantly concealing his upper lips with make up. Don't get me started on that! 😡

They are always erasing and tweaking something when it comes to Jimin! Always! I HATE IT HERE.

Jimin is not the first androgynous man in Kpop nor is he the only androgynous man in kpop. He doesn't have to be gay or queer to participate in social discourse.

And I understand that queer and gender issues may not be of importance to y'all cis straight folks but it is important nonetheless and BTS have dabbled in the discussions and voiced out their opinions on it. They are advocates for the youth and that includes gay queer folks.

How many times have they talked about same love? That their BT21 characters are genderless, that clothing shouldn't be restricted to specific genders? Jk have said he hates oppression and Jimin talks about self love and acceptance for all- you think gay people are not included?

They don't have to be gay to be gay representatives and "Gay Gods." Heard of Allies?

And when you say BTS are human not representatives- you kidding right???

Have you seen BTS issue statements on Black lives matter, on Racism and Asian hate crimes etc?

Yes, they human beings.... who care about other human beings and their oppressions. Y'all praise these men for wearing unisex brands and genderless fashion and praise them for when they voice out on certain issues... except when it comes to gay issues? I see y'all's colors.

Also you ship Jikook but it pisses you off that we say Jimin is gay??? 👀

Jimin gay. Jungkook gay. Jikook gay. Does this annoy you? 👀

They are fucking eachother. Do you wanna block me? 👀

JK fucks Jimin. Jimin fucks JK. Are you dead yet? 👀 Do you wanna kill me? 👀

I don't see them as straight honestly. If I did and I thought they were facing straight issues I'd be talking about those too. I see them as gay dealing with gay issues that we all deal with and I talk about that.

Credit to the artist. I think that photo of Jimin from On MV is one of my favorites.

I might have to frame it and hang it on my wall.

Don't have any hard feelings against you but I thought I would address certain problematic statements you made.

Love,

GOLDY

[ultimate-marysue]

So, about Bi Caleb

Warning: very long post, discussing bi representation and biphobia.

*Sorry for spelling errors, English ain’t my firts language.

I can’t believe I have to tell you guys, but anyways: Caleb is bi whether he ends with a male character, a female character on a non binary character. That’s what bi people do, you know? they experience atraction for all genders. Saying that a bi character that ends with someone of the opposite gender is straight and queerbaiting is incredibly biphobic.

Yes, Vax was bisexual. Yes, he ended up with Kiki. Get fucking over it.

Now, I can understand why LGBT+ fans may feel disappointed when they tease a “gay couple” but the “straigth” couple ends up being endgame. Notice the quotation marks because there’s not such thing as a straight or gay couple for a bi person. They are bisexual in both situations, but I can see where the problem comes from. I’ve been queerbaited to hell and back by a lot of shows and it really hurts. It feels like they are laughting at you for caring. But I want those fans (whose feelings are totally valid, don’t get me wrong) to consider a few things when it comes to Critical Role, the first one being: it’s a D&D game.

Let me explain, because I know a lot of CR fans haven’t experienced what D&D is like in real life (and that’s absolutely valid, you don’t need to play D&D to enjoy CR). This is an improvisation game, not an scripted TV show. In a Tv show you can plan ahead of time what ship is going to be endgame, what themes are gonna come up for each character and it’s easier to deeply explore sexuality and gender as different planned arcs. In D&D you character’s sexuality may or may not come up depending on how you play it. Take for instance how other CR character’s have stated their sexuality:

Beau: overtly. Very *In your face* kind of lesbian. Marisha said “fuck it, I really just want to romance girls and be bad ass”

Yasha: openly, but not as in your face. Ashley Jhonson wanted to drink from that WLW cup while also being a shy disaster. Seafood market is her favored terrain.

Caduceus: Our Ace king has never hidden his sexuality, and yet he didn’t mention anything about it until chapter 114. He didn’t had the need to either hide it or state it. He was simply vibing.

I think Liam is going that route with Caleb. He’s flustered by Essek and Edwulf (Come on you guys, he always asks Matthew if he’s still hot). He also had/has a thing for Astrid and a think he might have feels for our favorite Tiefling gal. I know we are all too used to characters being teased as gay/bi only to have execs pull a “haha jk they be straight”. But this is not Sherlock or Supernatural. This is a show that not only has queer rep, but also supports queer organizations and creators. Hell, I’m sure some of the cast members are LGBT (but I’m not here to speculate on real people’s sexuality). If Caleb shows attraction to men he is not just queerbaiting, doing it for fanservicing or tricking the fans in any way shape or form: he’s just portraying a bi character. The thing is, since this is not a TV show, he is not doing it por woke points or to send a message. He’s doing it because he wants to play a bi wizard with depression.

So maybe there will be a point in which he can explores his sexuality more deeply, but remember he is playing a game. And his character is one that has a lot of trouble opening up to his feelings. Caleb is not someone that makes sexual jokes or flirty remarks. He is shy, awkward and has developed a really fucked up sense of love that he is now slowly fixing. Hell, in the same Talks episode Liam explained that Caleb was trained on Honey-pot tactics. Which, for those of you who can’t stand Bond films, means seducing your enemy/target to get information, manipulate them or assassinate them. WHICH IS A REALLY FUCKED UP THING! Let’s remember how he was the one to push Fjord to sleep with Advantica so they could spy on her. That boy has Issues when it comes to relationships. So if we don’t see him being as overtly gay as Beau, Molly or Yasha, well maybe it’s because that’s the way Caleb is. Bi people don’t owe you flamboyance, or dating both guys and gals for your approval. I wouldn’t make a post if it was only that, because I do feel the people who are aching for good bi rep and would love some more explicit confirmation. But Vax exists, so I know we can’t have good things down here.

VAX EXPLICITELY SHOWED ATTRACTION TO GILMORE. AS EXPLICIT AS IT GETS. HE FUCKING KISSED HIM. THEY WERE PRACTICALLY DATING. AND YET SOME OF YOU FUCKERS CALL HIM QUEERBAITING. AND I SAY: NOT ON MY WATCH! NOT ON MY FUCKING WATCH!!

How come a character can have canonically kissed another character in a romantic/sensual context and still be called straight? I know fucking Sherlock traumaticed y’all into having trust issues but believe me when I tell you: I’ts not that deep. This is not a “Haha I love u but in a no homo way bro”. It’s a “full homo darling, but also we’re gonna break up because I like someone else”. This is the opposite of queerbaiting. Instead of keeping a charade he was honest with Gilmore because he valued his feelings and realized that he couldn’t reciprocate them at that moment. And if you try to tell me that Vaxleth was forced and didn’t have a reason to exist except queerbaiting, let me tell you: you are wrong.

Vax saw Gilmore once or twice monthly while he spent a heck ton of time with Kiki. Sure, they didn’t had the kind of camera chemistry Gilmore and Vax had because Keyleth is not charismatic. She’s really awkward, and her relationship with Vax was more on the adorable and dorky side of things. I bring this up because I’m predicting something similar may happen to Shadowgast.

Trust me, I ship the hot wizards as much as any other critter (even though I’m a multishipper). But they haven’t talked to Essek in centuries. I think it may have been almost a month in rol and quite a few outside. And you have to take into account out-rol time to because they are humans (except Tal) playing a game and they forget about stuff (except Marisha and Matt). So Shadowgast may not happen because sure, they had really good chemistry for a month a month ago. People have crushes that die down over time All The Time. So maybe don’t be so butthurt about your ship not being canon that you accuse an ally of homophobia. 

The cast of CR put forward such an amazing representation for the LGBT+ community and it really hurts me that you gets stuck on the one thing that isn’t canon. Matt has created a world in which coming out is not necessary because no one assumes your sexuality. A world in which people respect pronouns and orientations (except Tary’s father, who is a villain). A world in which Cad or Caleb don’t need to explicitly say “I’m ace/bi” unless it comes up in conversation. A world in which his friends can be whatever they want to be without pressure or reprecusions. A world in which they get to explore different gender identities and sexual orientations with full freedom. Let’s not interfere with that (unless there’s missrepresentation), and let them play their game. If you really need mlm or wlw canon couples or more outwardly LGBT+ people you have plenty examples among NPCs and other cast members (Allura and kima, Yasha, Beau, Dairon, Keg, Reani, Tary, Molly and Vax among others).

There’s way worst shows taking LGBT+ cred for barely doing nothing. Fucking Supernatural is the most recent example! Critical Role works towards showing an honest portrayal of LGBT+ folk and accepts valid criticism from their fans on the subject (when they changed J’Mon Sa Ord pronouns from it to they/them). They don’t owe you making your ship canon or portraying their characters the way you want them to (again, unless when it’s constructive criticism). Stop being so Fucking entitled and enjoy the show for what it is

,Respectfully~

*Edit: I´m tagging Caleb’s ships into the post because most hate comes from shipping wars. Most Shadowgast fans are respectful of the cast’s decisions, even if it disappoints them. But since I’ve already seen people accusing Liam of biphobia in that tag and since I’ve already seen this shit with Vaxmore I’m tagging the ship. If you want to read my long ass post do it, if not, ignore it. I’m not forcing you to read it. I’ve also tagged it with biphobia so people can avoid it if it’s triggering. I’m sorry if it makes you mad that your ship is not canon, but that’s not an excuse to be toxic to the cast. Those of you getting mad are the ones that need to read this the most. Like I’ve said in the post: you’re allowed to be disappointed, you are allowed to want more, but you can’t force the cast to give you exactly what you want. And most certainly, you can’t accuse them of  some very serious stuff like biphobia and queerbaiting when it’s not the case..  

[booksandwords]

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Read time: 5 Days Rating: 4/5

The quote: You know why people pair up into couples? Because being a human is fucking terrifying. But it's a hell of a lot easier if you're not doing it alone. — Ellis

In the interest of full disclose this is an almost automatic 5 star book for me. Any book that features an aro/ace protagonist and treats them with respect and dignity will get 5 five stars, any writing plot or character other flaws be damned. The world needs more aro/ace representation where we aren't the best friend or something to be fixed. But even without my usual aro/ace crusading, this likely would have been a 5. The character are individual, realistic and oh so human, the plot is centred on identity and confusion but is written in a manner that it is readable. And it is oh so relatable for an ace (aro? demi? grey? my romantic orientation is up in the air) who found out well after school what they were. The anger, confusion, sense of overwhelm, and the bizarre sense of mourning due to the loss of what was impressed on you as the normal. One of the best phrases in the book may be "Says who? The Hetronormative rulebook? Fuck that Georgia Fuck that." and you know what amen to that Rooney. The ending is satisfying but still open as is only right for something written for this demographic. This isn't the end of their story it is only the start.

It is worth saying that for those of us who are ace and comfortable with their identity are aware very early on what is going on with Georgia. Georgia is an anxious, touch averse Ace who is trying to force herself to be "normal". With an extended family of almost perfect hetronormative ideal relationships, met early married had kids that have been subconsciously impressed on her as the future and expected of her. Combined with her love of fanfiction it had to be her to the idea that there is the perfect person for everyone. As stated in the intro to this review Georgia is very realistic in her reactions to her newly discovered identity. Confusion, anger, mourning, insecurity. I personally felt all of these and I know others in the community did as well to varying degrees. Georgia does have a conversation with the wonderful Ellis, an ace in her 30s who had to discover her identity and learn her way on her own. Moments leading up that earn this a trigger warning for something that may or may not be alluding to conversion therapy, either way, it is slightly distressing. Ellis is a beautiful woman and a great inclusion. She is a successful woman, making her own way and living her life regardless of what others think.

A moment on the character who for me is the absolute stand out. Sunil is Georgia's College parent, they end up being a something of fairy godace for Georgia. They would hate that term, but it's so fitting for me. Sunil is a homoromantic nonbinary ace with the preferred pronouns they/him (Georgia/ Oseman use him never they), he is the one who introduces the term asexual to Georgia and tells her the potential of it. I really like him, he makes me smile. No one in an Alice Oseman book is two dimensional in their identity (racial, romantic or sexual), Sunil is no exception. He is handled well with the respect of an only slightly older figure, one who is still not entirely set on their feet. And while Georgia is cis white as well as being an enby Sunil is of Indian descent.

The other supporting characters are Rooney, Pip and Jason. Rooney is Georgia's Shakespeare obsessed roommate. They meet on the first day of university and are total opposites. I like their relationship. It's non-traditional but love in a way I want to see more of. Georgia is loyal despite all of Rooney's actions. Pip and Jason are Georgia's best friends. Pip is chaos, Georgia is silent and Jason is clam. They are something of an odd combination but it works well. Jason and his love of Scooby-Doo is both funny and cute. They are all individual and that there is some conflict between them is a good thing.

This is relatable for aces in a similar way to I Was Born For This was relatable for fandom. I would say that if you enjoyed I Was Born For This for its fandom aspects you will enjoy this, even more, fandom specifically fanfic is part of Georgia and her romantic education such as it is. Georgia (, Sunil and Ellis) face misunderstandings about their sexuality. Those phrase aces hear and hate. Sunil's is particularly important they face bigotry from other members of the LBGTQ community, where it is called a made-up sexuality. Georgia gets the 'you'll find the right person', 'have you tried...', 'what about when you are older'. We've all heard them and I could hear the tone. Some of the statements are apologised for others are not, the ones that are are important and say a lot about the importance and development of the character.

A random dump because concise reviews are not possible for Alice Oseman books.

Tommy ending up in the fire is funnier than it should be. I see all kinds of unwarranted metaphors.

Fried Egg is the cutest nickname that would make no sense to anyone but the participating people involved.

Kinsey Scale Test is something hadn't heard of but yeah that is a result a questioning person doesn't want to see.

QUILTBAG is an acronym I had never heard in the LGBTQ community. It's not new, I found it in a 2012 article, where I found this definition it is a good article. "It stands for QU is for queer and questioning, I for intersex, L for Lesbian, T for transgender and transsexual and Two-Spirit, B for bisexual, A for asexual and ally, and G for gay and genderqueer. Even with all those letters, we’ve missed some of the possibilities (such as pansexual and fluid, both of which are identities I’ve heard people claim), but QUILTBAG still offers a rainbow of different ways to identify. It’s also a lot easier to say than LGBTQIA (which is what I started using after I realized how exclusive LGBT and queer were)."

Am I the only one who doesn't know what the Bailey Ball is? They aren't an Australian thing. Well, that and I studied uni by distance.

Rooney and Ellis make some brilliant points about friendship and its importance to aces. The way it is made lesser than romantic relationships in general.

Apparently all the Oseman books are set in a common universe, the easiest evidence of this in Loveless is in the reference to Universe City from Radio Silence.

Roderick the plant as a metaphor was smart. I quite liked it.

This is a really quotable book there are fantastic quotes about love, friendship and maturity.

As an aside. The protagonist brings up her love of fanfic early in the book. There is there are precious little aspec fanfics out there. Mostly one would suspect because sex makes the tv industry go-round (see Shadowhunter and Riverdale for their treatment of originally aroace characters). As Clotpolesonly wrote in reply to me "aspec AUs are practically unicorns, they're so rare in fandom". One fandom that does have fanfics for them is Teen Wolf. Derek Hale can easily be read as an aspec (usually closer to the demi or grey part of the spectrum). So even if you don't know the show have a fic rec Magic and Drag Queens and Lizards, Oh My by clotpolesonly. Also That's When I Knew by Stennerd, this is for the 911 fandom pairing is Buddie, demisexual. There are I know more but not nearly as many as there are for some others.

[searedwood]

30 Day Gay Journal Prompts

This is specifically designed for Pride Month and self celebration, but this can be for literally any other use. Except hate. No hate allowed.

Day 1- Write your preferred name(s), pronouns, nice nouns (nouns you like to be referred to as), and bad nouns (nouns you don't like to be referred to as).

Day 2- Record your triggers, from really bad to not as bad to getting over it. Add any specifications or notes if you feel like you need them. This is so you can identify what makes you uncomfortable or panicked, which will help you be able to identify and avoid a situation in which you may feel threatened, uncomfortable, or panicked.

Day 3- Make a list of signs that you are having a panic attack. This will help you be able to communicate to close friends or family members what may happen in an event you become panicked. This will also help you identify when you're having a panic attack, which will help you be able to calm down. Additionally, record some ways that will help stop the panic attack. For me, some ways of calming down are to go outside, my stuffie, breathing and grounding exercises, comfort music, and puns or jokes.

Day 4- Take some time and think about what makes you happy and relaxed. Write down your comfort music, comfort videos, and comfort characters. If you have a comfort game or movie, include that as well. This is to help you identify a source of calm, relaxation, and happiness that you can easily fall back on if you are uncomfortable or scared.

Day 5- Do some research on LGBTQIA+ labels, flags, and symbols. Write down your gender identity and what it means for you. Write down your sexual and romantic orientations as well, and what they mean for you. Additionally, draw little Pride Flags and symbols beside each label. I drew the genderfaunet flag on the inside cover of my journal, along with corresponding flowers that represent what I see in my identity, as well as what I hope to integrate into myself (Snowdrop - rebirth, Chrysanthemum - truth, Rose leaves - hope, Lilacs - growth/progress, Yarrow - healing, and Narcissus - self love)

Day 6- Write down the titles of your favorite LGBTQIA+ books, movies, TV shows, and games, or titles you want to see/read/play. Do a little digging and find out what titles sound interesting. Supporting LGBTQIA+ creators is a wonderful way to celebrate Pride.

Day 7- Journaling doesn't have to be just writing. Try drawing some LGBTQIA+ inspired art, whether it's just a few doodles, a flag or two, or a beautiful painting. Dedicate this entry to expressing yourself and your identity in a way without words.

Day 8- Write gay poetry. You may not think yourself talented or particularly good at writing poems, but that doesn't mean you should keep yourself from doing it, even for a day. Poetry is a wonderful way to bend language to your will and express yourself in a way that only you have to understand. Write a poem expressing your experience in the LGBTQIA+ community, or a poem detailing your first gay crush. Whatever you feel on your heart today, put it into beautifully unique words.

Day 9- Write about the moment you realized you weren't straight or binary. Alternatively, write about the moment you learned what the LGBTQIA+ community was. Describe your feelings and thoughts in the moment, and reflect over how they have changed and evolved over time.

Day 10- Take a moment and think about where you would be if LGBTQIA+ rights have existed all along, without the need for reform laws or protests. Write down who you think you would be, how you would live, and how easy it would be to do things you can't right now. At the same time, think about the disadvantages. Consider the lack of a fight for freedom and how that may influence your opinion or thoughts.

Day 11- Write a letter to your younger self. Tell your younger self about who you are and who you've become. Give them words of encouragement about the journey ahead. Remind your younger self that no matter what happens, you turn out to be a wonderful and beautiful person.

Day 12- Write a letter to your older self. Detail your present experience as a member/ally of the LGBTQIA+ community. Present your ideas about where the community will be moving forward and how much progress society as a whole will make. Ask yourself some questions, like "How do you celebrate your identity?" Later in the future, you can come back to this letter and respond.

Day 13- Learn some phrases or words of Polari. Polari is a critically endangered language invented by young gay men living in Britain. It was also used by circus men and theatre kids. Few LGBTQIA+ people now know of the language, so there's no better time to try to revive it.

Day 14- Do some research on Pride history. Record interesting or important events that marked the history of the LGBTQIA+ community. What happened at the first Pride Parade? Who was the first advocate for gay and lesbian marriage? What was the LGBTQIA+ community like before it was acceptable to be openly queer?

Day 15- Write a letter to those that are anti-LGBTQIA+. Explain why queer rights are humans rights. Tell them that love is love. Or, if you're feeling like letting loose that anger, just tell them off. This letter is for your eyes only, so don't be afraid to get mean if it makes you feel better.

Day 16- Take a moment and think about how you wish to represent yourself. Do you want to wear skirts and dresses? Do you prefer baggy pants and a puffy jacket? Do you like wearing makeup? How do you style your hair? Record how you currently dress and look and how you wish you could dress and look. Write about how your wishes reflect your identity.

Day 17- Write some ways you can improve on the way you treat yourself. Are you hard on yourself because you just can't make the right grade? Do you obsess over how you don't fit in to your family's standards of gender and sexuality? Give yourself some love and think about how you can be nicer to yourself. Remind yourself that school grades aren't more important than your own needs. Remember that if you are in an unhealthy relationship with friends or family, it isn't your fault.

Day 18- Write about what really makes you feel like yourself. You know better than anyone what your authentic self is. So what is it? What makes you feel really... you?

Day 19- If someone described you, what would they say? This can be anything from physical appearance to personality. This can help you think about how you present yourself to others. Do you want more people to know exactly what gender you identify as? Do you not want people to know what pronouns you prefer?

Day 20- Do some research on neopronouns. If you don't use any, perhaps you'll find a set or three you feel comfortable with (if not, that's fine!) If you can't do your own research, try making up your own set! I sometimes feel semi-feminine, like just a little teaspoon of femininity, but I don't really like she/her pronouns. So, I made for myself a set that sounds similar but isn't quite there. Xe/Xer/Xers/Xerself. The 'x' is pronounced like the 's' in 'measure.' A good way to make sure you know how to use a set of neopronouns in a sentence is to use this example I got from pronouny: Today I went to the park with xer. Xe brought xer frisbee. At least, I think it was xers. By the end of the day, xe was throwing the frisbee to xerself.

Day 21- Have you heard the phrase "black sheep of the herd"? It refers to someone that doesn't really fit in to their social group. In what ways are you the black sheep? Is it because of your identity or orientation? How can you help others to see you aren't different and shouldn't be alienated? How can you encourage people to welcome LGBTQIA+ people to the herd?

Day 22- Imagine you are teaching a class of young children about LGBTQIA+, gender, and sexual/romantic orientations. What would you say? How would you encourage them to be open minded and to explore their own identities?

Day 23- With great Pride comes great hardships. There are many obstacles and difficulties when it comes to finding your true self and figuring out your identity and orientation. What hardships have you overcome? What have you learned from them?

Day 24- One of your friends comes to you about having questions about gender identity. They are questioning their own identity and seek your help and support. List some ways you would help your friend feel supported and loved while also helping them discover their identity.

Day 25- List three things you would do if you weren't afraid. (For me, these would easily be: attending Pride Parades, advocating for queer rights, and coming out)

Day 26- Take your favorite or least favorite LGBTQIA+ ship and rewrite a scene as if they were together, or list some of your favorite queer ships.

Day 27- Discover some gender-neutral terms for things like family members, romantic partners, or honorifics (Mister, Miss, Mx.). If you can't find any you find interesting or comfortable, try creating some of your own. My pibling (parent+sibling) calls me their nibling or nibkid (NB term for sibling's child).

Day 28- Have you ever wanted to write a story? Record an idea or two, or three or four, for LGBTQIA+ stories. They can be anything from lesbian princesses to a coming-of-age trans story. Maybe you'll end up planning out your best seller!

Day 29- Think about what rights aren't granted to LGBTQIA+ people. What are they? Do they directly affect you as well? How do these lack of rights make you feel? What can you do to help advocate for these rights?

Day 30- The last day of Pride Month doesn't mean it's the last day of acceptance and love. How can you spread Pride throughout the year? How can you keep and open mind and heart and advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights? Maybe set a list of goals for yourself, things you want to keep up through the year.

[straightbaittournament]

only the option with the lowest pertentage will be eliminated! the rest go on to round 3. propaganda under the cut (and more always welcome!):

jason grace and piper mclean:

So. Hera/Juno put a bunch of fake memories in Piper’s head of a months long relationship with Jason. However plot and stuff happens and they end up dating for real. Except no they didn’t. In the next series Apollo goes to them to ask for help and finds out they’ve broken up. Then there was a death prophecy that for once was actually fulfilled (RIP Jason). Finally at the end of ToA Piper was seen kissing a girl and your choice how to interpret that. Got together because a goddess shipped them. Broke up because they realised they were gay.

chrissie cunningham and eddie munson:

Had the CUTEST SCENE IN THE ENTIRE SHOW where they flirted and he tried to sell her drugs but then SHE GOT MURDERED and it was tragic

the joker and harley quinn:

They were a thing. She left his toxic ass for a cool plant lady. Good for her.

alec hardy and ellie miller:

They're your classic workplace enemies to lovers. Alec takes the job that Ellie was meant for, they're forced to work together on a devastating murder case, they bond. Over three series Alec becomes more human and lets his walls down around Ellie, and she begins to respect and trust him as a colleague and as a friend. Its a Big Deal when they hug. In most cases, especially when it's an m/f detective duo, they would end up together. But yet. Thee David Tennant and Olivia Coleman did not even have an aborted kiss or feelings confession. Neither of them end up with anyone else but they don't hint at anything at the end either. Queer Ally of all time David Tennant does straightbait ironically.

sam winchester and eileen leahy:

The last season set them up to be together, and then in Sam’s finale flash-forward, they replaced her with “blurry wife” literally a random blurred out woman rather than having him end up with Eileen Eileen is the coolest Supernatural character: she's deaf and also formerly dead (like Sam)

tan:

ok so it's complicated? like he's the lead love interest in a show that was very explicitly marketed as queer but I'm calling him straightbait because he literally straightbaits like every character in the show? So there's this girl (Jane) and everyone jsut assumes that he's dating her? Like she gets (spoiler!) murdered in ep 1 and the police are like "the body was found by the victim's boyfriend" and they mean Tan. Bun the main character drunkingly kissed Tan in the first episode as well and then saw Tan and Jane at an event holding hands and he was like....... wow this is awkward and also is he cheating on her with me??? (he was best friends with Jane). Anyways like this continues with Tan being under suspicion for Jane's murder because he's was her lover apparently and Bun is like living with this guy now and Tan is like laying it on thick about his attraction towards Bun but Bun is still suspicious and then Bun's talking to one of the kids that Jane and Tan taught and the kid is like "yeah so Miss Jane's boyfriend...." and Bun is like "right, Tan." and the kid is like "what??? mr tan never dated miss jane she was with this other guy." and Bun is confused (rightly) until like a few episodes later or so they're staring at their red string board and Tan is like "yeah so I was literally never with Jane we were just good friends" and is then also implied to be like gay as well so he's not even bi. Which ok straightbait over right? Wrong! Jane's actual boyfriend gets murdered and Tan gets arrested for it and he's like "what motive do I have to kill him??" and the police are like "well you two were fighting over Jane's love clearly" and he just kinda scoffs and smirks with a whole "these idiots have no idea that i'm currently planning on how to propose to my boyfriend of like a week" but just doesn't say anything?!?!?!?! he actively makes himself more suspicious and a greater target by pretending to be straight instead of just being like hey guys you know I was just buddies with Jane right? and i'm currently hooking up with the doctor who keeps giving you guys problems?? Anyways he's not straightbait in the sense that it was any surprise to the audience that he ended up with a boyfriend. but he did pretend to be straight for no real reason and literally endangered himself by doing so (this universe didn't seem to have like any actual homophobia stuff)

bruce wayne and selina kyle:

So a while back there was a whole thing about their wedding with SO much buildup. Like a whole mini series, a couple arcs in the main batman run, Superman and Nightwing threw him a bachelor party. Then when it was time for them to get married Selina fuckin left him at the altar. She left him at the altar man

luke skywalker and leia organa:

The idea of Luke and Leia was used in advertisements but they obviously decided not to do that. IT’S SO FUNNY. Like, I think this is the closest white straight people will ever get to ‘they were cousins’ing a couple. I looked up advertising to see if it was just in the movie proper or it WAS used to sell it and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5z1SziDPKQw&t=118s&pp=2AF2kAIB ‘Luke and Leia: in danger, in love, in Star Wars’ is going to be one of the things that rolls around in my head for ages. It’s not just the whole ‘het love triangle advertises 2nd pairing that everyone knows won’t happen’ like Twilight, it’s the backpeddaling ‘no no it can’t happen, they’re actually siblings! It’d be weird! Ignore the ‘good luck’ kiss and the ‘I’ll be back’ kiss in the medbay and of course the full on make out session scene that happened! And even our own advertising’ Of it all.‘

kagome higurashi and inuyasha from inuyasha:

Long time until they get together, with teasing moments

good luck everyone! now go vote!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

angst with a happy ending: meta edition

I don’t have the spoons to make separate theory posts so I’m going to share some stuff that’s been circulating in my head recently. It’s angsty, because my life is angsty. But I cheered myself up at the end and it’s because of you.

Here, have a cut:

The only cishet white guy in TDP is Viren, and he’s a villain. He hates things that are differently excellent, and Runaan, a Magic Gay, embodies that different excellence very well. Unless/until Viren changes his cishet ways, he’s going to remain a villain.

At the same time he was totally getting on his knees for Saleer, who’s been possessed by Aaravos since before the army left Katolis. But, you know, in a homophobic way, except in the Spanish dub.

Claudia probably had to clean up her dad’s mess with his experimentation on Runaan in the dungeon. She saw what her dad was capable of in his angriest moments, and it worried her. She probably settled Runaan with lower chains and a more symmetrical seating position because she was smoothing away evidence of Viren’s frustration and anger, not because she was helping an enemy assassin feel any more comfortable.

Ethari came back to talk to Rayla by the pool after he stalked away angrily because he didn’t want her last moments with family in the Silvergrove to be him abandoning her the way she (apparently) abandoned Runaan. But he still let her leave as a ghost because he’s been angry and mourning for a week and he has trouble being around her without falling back on his own attempts to convince himself that Runaan’s death was her fault, and not Runaan’s or his own. He needs more time to get over that week of denials.

Seems you lose your name when you get ghosted, at least off the tongues of the Moonshadows who ghosted you. Rayla didn’t know she’d been ghosted until she couldn’t see Ethari’s face. But she twitched hard in surprise when he said her name out loud, even though she knew he could see her. And Feathershawl, from the ToX playtest “Lost Oasis,” has dutifully given up their name and is using a nickname instead, because their primary goal is returning to the Moonshadow fold. They’ll abide by all the rules of their ghosting as a sign of their good intentions to return and do better for their community. Which means that Eljaal doesn’t know if they’ve been ghosted or not, and is probably afraid to go home and find out. They must really like their name. I like it, too. Corvus and Eljaal adventures when.

Lotus flower rituals have rules we don’t know about yet. Pools in front of various houses across the Silvergrove must mark houses where assassins live. Which means the tree house really is a house, and not just Ethari’s workshop, which is nice. Apparently it’s more traditional for assassins go out one at a time, as even Eljaal left on a solo mission for their very first kill. So the lotus is for the assassin’s family, to reassure them. Eljaal’s lotus is still floating, no doubt. Just like Rayla’s is for Ethari. The ritual isn’t done until something further signals the end, and either Rayla or Ethari need to do that, and they haven’t. He needed to keep seeing her lotus, even after he ghosted her. And he couldn’t bring himself to fish out Runaan’s sunken lotus and end the ritual because denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. It runs through the Moonshadow Forest, too. If Rayla has returned to the Silvergrove to see Ethari, post TTM, though, there’s every chance that they’ve ended the ritual and have another clue that Runaan isn’t dead--and if he isn’t dead, then neither are Rayla’s parents.

When a Primal Nexus gets corrupted, monsters apparently start showing up. Janai must’ve been a wreck those first few days in Lux Aurea. Viren and Aaravos destroyed her whole world in a Star Touch minute--her sister the queen was murdered, the whole area plunged into darkness, the nexus’s abilities destroyed, citizens getting attacked or fleeing. And her best ally is suddenly a sassy human general? Guys. The bonding. The bonding they must’ve done over those few days amidst utter chaos, destruction, and ruin. That could be a whole book in and of itself. Janai said later that what remained of her forces had come to help defend the Storm Spire. That means the rest of them are likely dead, and Janai had to choose between saving her city and saving all of Xadia. And she chose Xadia. Lux Aurea is going to be overrun without her and her forces there, and they’ll have a steeper uphill battle to reclaim it. But now, Janai has new allies at her back... and one at her side, holding her hand. okay this one didn’t end super angsty, yay

This show is pulling out all the stops, but pulling no punches, with its determination to represent all the good, deep, amazing, complex and beautiful things about diversity. There are no Usuals here. I started this list with a cishet villain. His polar opposite, then, is a queer hero. In the small scale, that opposite is represented by Runaan. Read all you like into the cishet taking out his rage at the queer guy who can’t fight back. It wasn’t written that way by accident.

But their dynamic is visible in far more than merely their dungeon exchanges. Viren’s attitude toward Moonshadow elves is the prevailing one in Katolis because Viren holds a place of authority there, and he gets to talk and make people listen to him. And he’s canonically very persuasive and charismatic when he gives speeches. He knows what The Right Words are.

Meanwhile, Runaan, a quiet Moonshadow elf who likes to keep to himself, hasn’t had the same kind of opportunity to speak as Viren has in the show. He’s literally been silenced because he wouldn’t play along with the cishet plan for world domination. But he’s talking all the same, if you know how to read him.

I know some haven’t trusted that what he’s saying is there, or true. I know some deny he’s saying anything at all, through his character development. And I know it’s hard to look at his half-finished story. It’s hard. If you’re trying to finish it happily, to wish him health and peace and comfort, it’s because you know something of where he’s been, and you wouldn’t wish that on anyone. It’s because you have empathy. And that makes you wonderful.

I know our lives move fast, even during a pandemic. But please take a second to know how much I appreciate every one of you who looks at any (yes any) TDP character with empathy and wishes them a happy ending somehow. If you identify with a character in distress, you know what empathy is, and you can share that with actual humans around you and make the world a better place just by being yourself.

This show set out to make the world a better place in a hundred little ways, and it’s succeeding because of you. Have a happy Bait, and thank you for being part of this fandom with me.