ATTENTION, PEASANTS!
Assistant- Maybe don't call your readers "peasants"...?
Me- SILENCE, PEASANTS!
Anyway, now that I've gotten your attention, I have another rant.
I had at least one person, possibly more than that, say in the reviews that they didn't think the council would banish people for being gay. YOU'RE WRONG. Well, I don't know about the council. But...
(HISTORY LESSON AHEAD: BEWARE!)
Being LGBTQ used to be illegal in the United States, up until about 1970. Maybe even later. You could be arrested for dancing with or holding hands with someone of the same sex. For cross dressing. For selling alcohol to queer/suspected queer people.
That was actually how the Stonewall Riots- the reason we have Pride- started. Stonewall Inn was a hotel full of LGBTQ people. When the police came, these people fought back. If they didn't, it's possible being queer might still be illegal today.
Being queer is still illegal today, in over seventy countries around the world. It's punishable by death in ten.
So don't tell me the council punishing people for being LGBTQ is a stretch, because there are actually human beings who have done and continue to do the same.
(HISTORY LESSON OVER. 'TIS SAFE.)
Fan Person: Hiiii! Aww, thank you! I love dedicated readers! So, hate me yet? Anyway, thank so much for all the sweet comments on Swan Song! I usually use Kam, though Sensong is definitely good; and as for whether it will happen... ;). Hmmmmmmm- You're curious about the direction the story's going in? Me too. Thanks again!
MarellaIsTheBest: SDFJDSKFJDS I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS OUT YET THANK YOU FOR ALERTING ME. Though I honestly hated Kenric's behavior in the chapter. So I'm waiting until the official release to accept it as canon, and for now, I will continue shipping Koralie.
Cooperpking: Awesome! Thanks!
Abubble1: Kkdsjfldksfjldskfslkjfd thanks? I think? I certainly hope you haven't lit anyone on fire. Neither have I, as far as you know. tWo WoRdS fOuR SyLLaBLeS AKSDFJSKDFJASDKFJ. OH MY MALLOWMELT Y_E_S ! ! ! (I hate how this stupid website doesn't let you do the spaced out writing because I love doing that.) BUT ANYWAY YOU ARE A G_E_N_I_U_S I love that idea. Fanart. Now.
Jem: Rest assured, if something I say sounds like a reference to Hayley Kiyoko, it's a reference to Hayley Kiyoko. Honestly, what I need is to make references, and I wish more people would get them. It's just my expectation that others will understand, but those demons refuse, so I'm on my own. Hayley is awesome, though, that's nothing new. She deserves to live in a palace, and that's a fact. [HINT: What I Need (ft Kehlani); I Wish (I'm Too Sensitive); Expectations (album); Demons (I'm Too Sensitive); Gravel To Tempo (Citrine?); Girls Like Girls; Palace (Citrine).] I got way too wrapped up in that. Anyway. Congratulations! *Confetti canon* It can be awesome to find a label that suits you, even if you're not 100% sure yet. Also your family sounds frickin awesome! The gay part, not the homophobes.
Council of bobs: Hi! Great, that's good. Wait and see, but spoiler alert, yes. Or soon, anyway.
girlonfire: P_E_A_S_A_N_T_! (Fanfiction should really let us do the spaced out typing.) Haha, you're welcome! I wasn't mesmerized- I used one of the Neverseen's thinking caps to make me immune. I simply pretended to be under your influence and faked my death. As you feast, sure your victory is ensured, I poison your banana smoothie. You drink it and perish. Our friendship goes beyond your average kind of bond; Because we're gay (because we're gay)! I have read the Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor! aNd PeGgY!
MarellaIsTheBest: I actually don't remember you asking that, so... Della/Livvy. Hmm. I kind of got some aroace vibes from Livvy, but I could definitely see her as lesbian! (OOH! OOH! OOH! She and Quinlin are both gay and married each other as beards. Quinlin is very in love with Alden. YES!) Anyway, Alden is sort of a slimeball, so Della could totally divorce him and date Livvy! Della is super bi, change my mind. Alright, you've convinced me. I ship it!
MarellaIsTheBest: Okay yes Hayley and Shoshana are amazing aksjflsdkafjdslak. Incoherent means "sldfjaosifsladkjfka." Okay, it means unable to be understood. KDSJFAKDFJDASKFJASDKFJASDKF. Have some tissues! Thanks!
Mallowmelt: A_N_G_S_T. I LOVE IT. Eww, optimism. :P See above rant.
This A/N is like 800 words so I'm going to shut up now-
Crowd- Thank goodness!
-Enjoy!
The weekend passed all too quickly, Marella reflects with a sigh.
Dex had sent the video of the Greater Gulon Incident, and it gave Marella some much needed laughs after the rather depressing homophobic article. It was oddly cold, and Marella didn't have any jackets of her own, so she had to borrow a hoodie from Linh. (And she let her keep it!) The gnomes declared Marella healed and no longer in need of the medicine.
Probably the most noteworthy thing happened soon after that.
"Well, since I'm not sick anymore..." Marella's voice had trailed off. She already half regretted what she was about to say, but it wasn't fair to Linh if she continued to stay without needing to. "It's probably safe for me to go back to my cave."
Not that she wanted to go back. After spending a few days here, she already could barely remember what it was like to live in a cold, dark cave, with only an imparter and flannel for company. Not that flannel wasn't wonderful, but it was nothing compared to Linh's company. And Tam's. ...sort of.
Linh has titled her head to the side. Her silvery blue eyes widened slightly. She looked... almost sad?
Don't be ridiculous. She probably doesn't care all that much about you. And maybe if she is sad, it's because she liked having someone other than Tam for company; not because she likes your company in particular.
"Would you prefer to live there?" Linh asked.
Is she a Telepath? Marella wondered. Out loud, she answered "Not really, but I don't want to invade your house longer than necessary."
"You're not inva-"
Tam had appeared out of the shadows, his usual scowl on his face. "She kind of is."
"Tam!"
"What?"
Linh huffed. "Can I talk to you?" she asked, gesturing towards the room next to them; the kitchen.
"Sure," Tam answered with a shrug. The scowl stayed on his face.
"You guys can stay here," said Marella, her mouth forming the words clumsily. "I'll go... pack?"
"You don't have to-"
Tam interrupted. "Good idea." His eyes- the same color as Linh's, but somehow much colder- lingered on her, seeming to make her shrink under his piercing gaze. When the state boring into her got to be too much, she ducked out of the room.
Okay, Marella would be lying if she said she didn't try to listen in on the twins' conversation, but it didn't work. They were being obnoxiously quiet, and after about a minute, Tam ordered her via shadow whispering to stop eavesdropping.
With a sigh, Marella reluctantly obeyed and went to actually go pack. The process was slow, as if she wanted to savor every second she had left in Linh's house. But eventually, all of her clothes, other possessions, and Linh's borrowed/stolen hoodie (So soft! How could anything be so soft?) made its way into her bag.
When she returned downstairs, Tam and Linh gave her the verdict: Tam won the argument. Marella was to return.
She had one last dinner with the twins, stark flower stew cooked by the gnomes, before the sun tinted the sky pink and gold and Marella decided- with some help from Tam- that it was time to go.
"You have an imparter, right?" Linh asked. Marella nodded. "Then I'll hail you, I guess."
"Sounds good," said Marella, hopefully calmly, though her mind screamed SHE WANTS TO TALK TO ME! The gay panic worsened when Linh hugged her. Hugged her! It wouldn't have surprised Marella if her face literally caught on fire.
Eventually, though, after some rather loud throat clearing from Tam, they separated. Marella could barely squeak out a "bye!" before light leaping away.
"And that's what's going on with Linh." Marella finishes her story with a sigh. "Though I don't know why you were so desperate to know."
Dex grins, dimples showing. "Because I'm overly invested in shipping you two, mostly because I have no love of my own."
"Okay, if you want to ship someone, you should ship Keefe and Tam!"
"Keefe Sencen and... your brother in law?" His grin widens.
Marella fumes. "I swear, if we were talking in person and not over imparter, your head would not be attached to your body."
"This is why you should never tell your friends your crush, Marella. Honestly, I thought you should know this."
"I do know not to tell you! You guessed it!"
"Oh yeah. So, back to this Keefe and Tam thing. Kam? Teefe?"
"Yeah. Keefe likes flirting with Tam, and Tam likes grumbling about Keefe while blushing."
"Hmm. I do like that, but I much prefer tormenting you."
Marella flops back on her bed. "The world is cruel," she deadpans.
"Yep! Anyway, Dad wants me to help out at Slurps and Burps, so I better go. Talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, sounds good," says Marella, nodding. "Bye!"
"Bye!" Dex replies, and his image disappears with a click. Marella tosses the imparter onto a pile of clothes and rolls over on her bed. It feels a lot different from the sleeping bag she slept in at Linh's. Honestly, that was more comfortable. Nothing about this cave is very comfortable.
She's homesick for a place that isn't actually her home.
Or maybe she's just homesick for Linh.
She's also tired. Marella tries her best to keep silver eyed Hydrokinetics from her dreams as she falls asleep.
It doesn't work.
When she wakes up, it takes her a second to realize where she is. She's grown so accustomed to waking up in Linh's bedroom that adjusting back to Cave Bedroom is difficult. If she closes her eyes again, she can almost smell those delicious cinnamon rolls baking downstairs, hear Linh's footsteps coming to wake her because she's probably going to be late for Exillium...
Oh. Right. Late for Exillium. Something I probably shouldn't be.
With a groan, Marella half rolls half climbs out of bed. Her eyes are still somewhat shut as she changes into the Exillium uniform and takes a bite of an apple. She doesn't have all that much food left, she notes, so some more thievery is probably necessary soon. Hopefully with a banana to defend herself.
Still half asleep, she leaps to Exillium. And she's not even late! There's a Dividing going on when she arrives, and it's not her own this time. Instead of watching, her eyes seek Tam and Linh in the crowd. She doesn't find them. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling of disappointment, Marella returns her attention to the new wayward trying to escape the rope.
Their hands fumble at the knot, likely trying to untie it, but after a few minutes, they have to accept it won't work. Simply struggling, twisting around, doesn't have much effect either. The new wayward flops back upside down. They stay that way for at least a minute, dangling in defeat, until they do a sit up and latch on to the rope. Their head turns to face the crowd.
"Untie me," they say.
Marella really wants to untie them. It's the only thought in her mind; everything else is just... foggy. Before her brain can make the conscious decision, she feels her legs walking over. A glance around shows the rest of the waywards to be doing the same. With all of them working at the knot, it's untied easily, and the hoards of elves breaks the new person's fall. Only then does Marella's head clear.
"A mesmer," someone murmurs.
The dots connect in Marella's head. A new wayward, recently banished, who is a mesmer. There can't be a lot of them, and one of them is Hayley Quint.
The bisexual girl who tried to get her girlfriend on a match list, lied to protect said girlfriend at a tribunal, and got sent to Exillium. The one who Marella is sort of in awe of.
And considering they got an entire group of teenage criminals to cheat at the dividing, Marella's respect for Hayley has honestly grown. On the other hand, the coaches are not feeling that same admiration. Contrary to that, they're yelling. Eventually, though, it's decided that Hayley will join the Ambi hemisphere.
The skill for the day is appetite suppression, which is immensely annoying, especially since Marella only had an apple for breakfast. The growling of her stomach can probably be heard all the way back at Foxfire. Instead of lunch at lunchtime, the waywards get time to drink water. Which is good, since dehydration is very much not fun, but Marella would still really like food. She uses the time she spends not eating to go find Linh and Tam.
And she does find them- talking to Keefe. Tam doesn't look particularly happy about it, but his face also looks like a tomato. A scowling tomato. Keefe seems to be enjoying Tam's scowling tomato state immensely, and Linh is very amused. Marella joins her in laughing, and tries not to think about how she's being rather hypocritical, considering she gets mad at Dex for this same behavior. She also tries not to think about Linh's arm that somehow got slung around Marella's shoulders. Maybe Linh is kind of weak from being hungry, and she's just using Marella to stay upright.
The conversation moves from whining about hunger to discussing Hayley and Shoshana (Haylana, Keefe has dubbed them) to Tam muttering about how the Greater Gulon Incident wasn't that great and back to hunger whining, pausing only when coaches enter the general vicinity. Finally, though, they're called back to sit in silence and try to not be hungry.
It doesn't work all that well, but eventually the sun dips below the sky and they're dismissed. Although her stomach screams in protest, Marella refrains from leaping to her cave immediately, instead opting to stay and look for Hayley. She's pretty easily found, considering she painted her Exillium hood rainbow. The coaches obviously aren't pleased with it (Marella could hear them yelling) but the only other alternative is for her to show her face, and the coaches don't like that either. Again, Marella's respect for the other girl grows. She wonders if she could paint her own hood.
Or wear flannel to Exillium.
Since the day at Exillium is technically over, they can't be punished for breaking Exillium rules. Well, they probably could, but they would have a fairly solid defense. The coaches appear to have left, though, so Marella isn't too worried. She's more worried about seeming like an awkward fangirl around Hayley.
Which, to be fair, she kind of is.
"Um, hi," she says, sweeping her hood out of her face. Instantly, Marella grabs a strand of hair and twists it around between her fingers. "I, um, really like your rainbow hood."
Hayley does the same with her hood. The girl has dark skin and a cloud of coily black hair around her face. If Marella wasn't so clearly infatuated with Linh, she might find this girl gay panic inducingly pretty. "Thanks!"
Awkwardly, Marella shifts her weight from one foot to the other. Words? What are they? "Um... I read the article the other day, about you and your girlfriend Shoshana..." She's surprised at how easily the word girlfriend rolls off her tongue, even when addressing another girl.
"Oh yeah, the article!" Hayley laughs. "Wow, I really am famous! But okay, um, what about it?"
"Well, you're the first person I've met who likes the same gender. The first person who's..." Marella swallows. "Like me." She takes a deep breath. "I've spent the last six or so months hating that I had to like girls. That I couldn't just like boys and live an easier life. But knowing that there are other queer people out there, that helps me feel... not as alone."
Hayley's bright smile eases her nerves a little bit. Marella's done it- she's told someone. Who isn't Dex. The last time she told someone, she set everything on fire. This is a lot better, but still terrifying. "Kid, I wish things would be easier for you. Mallowmelt knows I needed things to be easier for me when I was your age. But some girls like girls like boys do, nothing new. People are going to hate you for it, but screw them. Love yourself for who you love. Own it. Be proud."
Breathing is so much easier now. Was it ever this easy? Has it been this easy at any point since Marella realized she wasn't straight? Even when she told Dex, and Dex didn't leave her, or show disgust, that felt like he tolerated her sexuality at best. But now? Now she feels truly validated. Like her sexuality isn't an inconvenience to be "accepted." It's simply a part of her. "How did you... That was the exact perfect thing to say. How did you know to say that?"
"Because it's what I wish someone had told me when I was in your position." Hayley offers another smile, more sad this time. "What's your name, kid?"
"Marella."
"I'm Hayley, but I think you know that already. Well, Marella, you've got to be... what, the eighth?... person to approach me with something similar to today. Based on LGBT statistical information, it's heavily skewed towards waywards. I have kind of a theory that the system is designed against us. The council is fighting against our existence."
"We should fight back," blurts Marella, before she can even think about the words, pause to consider them. The thought had never formed in her brain; they just seemed to erupt from a place inside her she didn't know existed. But once she processes what she said, she doesn't disagree with that place inside her. She agrees. Repeats it. "We should fight back."
Hayley is quiet for a long time, long enough to make Marella want to sink into a hole. Just before she's about to apologize and leap away in a hurry, Hayley speaks. "I love that idea. Let the gay revolution commence!"
VIVA LA REVOLUTION DE GAY! XD.
Anyway, I had a Hayley Kiyoko based character quote Hayley Kiyoko's most iconic song. Am I sorry? No. No I am not, she says, listening to the song right now. Saw your face, heard your name, gotta get with you. Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new. Isn't this why we came? Tell me if you feel it too, tell me, girls like girls like boys do, nothing new. I love this song so much! Ahh!
So, speaking of the gay revolution (sort of), I have a surprise for you guys! *Confetti cannon* *Marellinh canon*
Crowd- Is it you quitting?
Me- Shut up.
I need a lot of characters, and quite frankly, I don't feel like using name generators for all of them, or worse, actually going down the rabbit hole of researching names! And I have an awesome fanbase, so I figured, why not use it to my advantage?
With just a bit of typing, you can become a minor character in my story! Just fill out the form in the reviews or PM.
1) Name you would like to be called in the story?
2) Gender and pronouns?
3) Sexual/romantic orientation? ("Don't care" is an option)?
4) Okay with being a trans [your gender]?
5) Appearance (Can be actual or made up)?
6) Age (11-18, can be made up)?
7) Okay with whatever dialogue I deem necessary to the story? (Won't be offensive.)
8) Is this an awesome idea, or what?
All right, please review!