"Your parents sound like morons, like at a fundamental level. Even if their protest was about some imbecilic fear over perceptions, cooking and sexuality has little correlation — outside of the fact that knowing how to cook is extremely sexy."

Holly started to dawn a sly smile, only to then turn it completely around.

"…which is why my un-sexy ass can't do it."

A wry laugh. "It will be the new fiduciary responsibility." He nods.

You get a teasing grin, just, you made the right choice on that fry, he's pretty sure.

That question stops him dead in his tracks, for a simple question, all told. "Oh, no my sisters are very cis. And I'm not trans, so..." even though he'd literally said non-binary, he's just ghosting over it. "I just know how it would go. I wanted to do, like, these cooking classes when I was, what, in high school I think? My parents indicated how deeply inappropriate it would be for me to do so, what the neighbours would say, that if I want people to stop making assumptions about my sexuality I need to behave... and that was for cooking classes"

"Yeah — one to beam targeted advertisements straight to your thoughts and to extract all your personal information and thoughts to The Almighty Dataset…" she jabbed the point of her flattened acrylic nail into her temple.

Her other hand, the one with the floppy fry, returned the flaccid tuber to the basket un-braved.

But she mistook what you said for something empirical, rather than hypothetical. "Wait, what do you mean? Are you or either of your sisters…?"

As if to ask if any of the three of you tried to come out as trans or non-binary to your parents, had some bad experience worthy of that grimace.

Her posture shifted, the subtlest concern centering between her brows but radiating tension across her entire face as she leaned forward instead, now.

Gets a drink at the bar

https://thumb-p5.xhcdn.com/a/ic5IOeu17k0qSW2nraaoxw/000/179/276/565_1000.gif

Sitting in my black sedan near the dark road, headlights dimmed.

Roadspikes set to catch the next car passing through.

Waiting and watching.

Oh shit, I almost forgot...

Urban Dictionary Word of the Day

buttbroken: An inappropriately strong or misdirected feeling of disappointment. Closely related to butthurt, but with much less aggressive indignation.

"This is the darkest timeline," he agrees. "At least maybe we'll have cool cybernetics and stuff."

Braving the fries at this late stage of the game? Bold. Gutsy.

It isn't a thing he thinks about, not consciously. The degree to which he changes based on the people he's with, to aim for the most pleasing version of himself, or not self - sometimes it hits him, though. This is one of those moments for him. It's not something he knows what to do with, but it's there.

"I mean, Elodie's into guys and girls, though I don't know if she'd say bi or pan. Pretty much everyone I know is cis, and god, good luck coming out to my parents as trans or non-binary or something." The grimace this time is real, a visceral feeling of discomfort at the idea. "I know some queer folks through theatre - it's a cliche, but there do seem to be a lot of queer people in theatre." A smile. "Your friend sounds cool. Bring her to the show, we can grab drinks after or something."

This is absolutely true.

"Mmmm, that's called fiduciary responsibility, my homie. I swear to god we're hurtling at breakneck speed towards a cyberpunk dystopia in real life."

But she pumped the brakes for a moment as she picked up a now-cold, now-soggy fry.
Mind you, BJ's serves outstanding fries but they were far from fresh for all the conversation they had since they were first brought to the table.

That little pique, that little micro-expression for when you were speaking of how you constantly worry about how you presented. That's what she initially saw, when she walked into the room after she took your picture. The way you transformed into Leo Sterling — expected product of all of his influences thus far and reflection of his situation and upbringing.

As a major contrast to how you were before, a bit of how you are now.

"…so do you have family or friends in the community? Like I'm personally pansexual and I have a friend who's a lesbian. You're bound to run into her one of these days — super pink hair, impossible to miss. Always full of sagely advice, has a badass bike."

We are so sad to see this. Thel and I don't play anymore but kept in touch a bit with Suzanne esp when my rooms would close and she'd let me know. I enjoyed playing when I was active and she was in our Angels of Death group. May she always be remembered.

looks

Engaged elsewhere, but thought I'd just let you know not
to wait for me.
~s~

lp

"I have noticed that, yes." Tone dry.

A part of his mind is still mulling over what he'd said. That he spends a lot of time worrying about how he shows up in the world, how people will react. That he's even doing with Elodie, now. So while he's not tuned out of the conversation by any means, there is a something there behind it.

"As a person that attended way too many events with these kinds of people... yeah, they don't say that. They worked hard to get where they are. And they did, some of them. But it doesn't change that someone who wasn't born into that level of luck had to work hard and deal with a whole bunch of extra stuff."

A faint grimace. "Profitable is key. Like, suddenly companies are out there with rainbows for this month, but what are they actually doing for queer people? Equality, when it's profitable."

"…you ever notice it's never a logic that seems to extend to generosity or opportunity?"

She said, finally, after a long pause to think about it. Particularly on the subject of suffering…

"…like when they were talking about attacking student debt, it's 'I suffered, so you must suffer', or using it as a platform of justifying the financialization of higher education, that only profit-focused areas of study are valid, or…"

Wait, she was losing her point. Holly's posture adjusted and she set her water down, then off to the side.

"…they never say 'I had privilege and economic ease, simplicity of opportunity, security in my identity, so we all should have the same', let alone take active measures to see that through."

Oh, see now they were connecting over existential societal frustration. Welcome to 2024.

"…because hate is free. Sometimes hate is profitable. Fairness, well that…" Holly lifted her hand, rubbing empty fingertips together. "…that costs a lotta money. Costs the most to who built their entire empire on hate."

…sais the girl who moves arms for a living. Look, she has many sins and one of the least of them is hypocrisy.

It does help. His body language has been slowly loosening as they talk, energy dampened, but the bind around his chest easing. Enough that there is a bit of mirroring there, more relaxing back into the seat, instead of the slump that was there before.

There's still that sense of weight, but without the performance that was accompanying it.

You ask that, and his expression turns thoughtful - attention shifting inward for a long moment. "I guess I maybe spend a lot of time worrying about that sort of thing. How things will seem, how people will take it, how I present." The words are slow, as he puts them together, finds the way to articulate them. There's weight to them, some of that pressure he was speaking about creeping in to his voice. "Non-stop, these days."

Attention shifts outward again, nodding a little as you speak. "Appearances can be deceiving. Often are, even. It's intellect, but I kind of think safety, comfort, are the bigger factors. The unknown is scary, the unfamiliar worrisome, the unexpected a danger signal..."

A low laugh. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure people have been saying 'B-b-but the youth' forever. Like, just because you grew up in a shitty world, why does that mean you should perpetuate it? They suffered, so we all must suffer."

What she said...

blink…
blink…
blink…

Name: William Carl Grimm

Aliases: Will, Billy the Kid (only ever used by my big brother.)

Age: 37

Date of Birth: March 17, 1987

Place of Birth: Asbury Park, New Jersey

Date of Death: Let's not talk about that.

Height / Weight: 6'5" / 190lbs

Hair Color / Eye Color: Dark Brown / Blue

Build: Lean

Complexion: Fair

Race: Human-ish (Angel someday)

Occupation: Figure it out when I "land".

Abilities: Cryokinesis, Telepathy.

Strengths: Songwriting, singing.

Weaknesses: Awkward

Family: Aaron Grimm (father), Jacob Grimm(brother), Daniel Grimm (Brother-in-law), Eva Grimm (sister), Rachel Grimm (Wife-ish), five nieces and nephews

History: Long story and more to come in play.

Celebrity: Hozier

Avatar Link: https://williamgrimm.hyperchat.com/w01.jpg

Holly sat back, a bit — not to try and indicate she was disengaged, necessarily, but that she was relaxed and perhaps lobbied for your mirror neurons to feel the same.

Try, anyway.

"Does, uh, doe sit matter how you sound, to me? I mean I get your meaning and intention, you don't have to worry that I'm about to go off and form a wild and invisible conclusion about it — I'm an open book," she offered, picking up her water to cradle before her, dangle a straw for a sip.

"…mmmmhonestly, I think people take comfort in thinking they know things, like it's a demonstration of their own intellect at the most basic level, but outside of that there really isn't a reason to know anything about anyone before you establish any reason to interact with them, you know?"

Her attention roamed a bit around the table, but eventually stopped at the flop of your hair.

"…like the boomers always go off about it in June and it's like why do you even care, how much has that experience really injured you to grant you the authority to structure such a strong opinion? And they always go clawing around to 'B-B-But the youth' like homie you're the one on the attack, prescribing your old-ass poison and calling it medicine. Saying 'well I feel sick, so you should feel sick.'"