Marcy's journal, June 1st. There's something important about that day but I just can't put my finger on it. Oh well, probably will come to me. So, remember how I'm possessed by the Core who threatens to tell my only friends I have in Gravesfield that I inadvertently betrayed them by telling Belos about the resistance? Well, I have the green shard yet….The Core hasn't even tried to take it. Like, I'm pretty sure that shard would be important to them. But no, they haven't even taken it. Like…What the frog! But besides that, here are some things we did. Our attempts in activating a portal have gone nowhere. K still can't get in touch with any of his FBI buddies about building a portal to The Demon Realm but we got nothing. Well, except for one time where Masha opened a portal to another world via summoning a portal demon that we ended up in some other version of Earth where some Taiwanese family was trying to convince the world that ghosts were evil. Ooooh boy, that offended Amity since ghosts in her world were not all evil. Man, I wish I could get into more detail about that adventure but…Let's just say that we all agreed that summoning a portal via a ritual is a bad idea. Also, we encountered a Fieryous firefly which somehow got from Amphibia to here. Probably during Andrias' invasion of Earth. We defeated it by running but then it got hit by a truck so K had some paperwork he had to file and some lies he had to tell. We also went river rafting an got separated due to Luz getting the course wrong. We got stuck on a small island which sucked since well…We fought over food, Amity was suffering dehydration, Vee was going crazy, Masha ate K's clothes for survival until we realised that it was small FBI training field and the agents got us off thankfully. I also discovered Small Mermaid actress Callie Hailey disrespecting animation at some award ceremony so I got into a bit of a rant about it. Anyway, right now, we're on our first day of summer break deciding what to do in Luz's room.
At the Noceda residence in Luz's room, Luz was laying on her bed while snuggling her girlfriend, Vee was resting on her partner's lap while they read a newspaper article about a missing shard stolen from a jewellery store, Marcy was writing in her journal while K was looking at his laptop since he is still investigating the dead animals case.
They had been like this for a while without any kind of noise. Except for K typing on his laptop and Masha turning the pages of the newspaper.
They really didn't have anything to do today so they just decided to do nothing until they got bored. Which was now.
Vee sighed. "Man, I'm bored."
"Well, I'm not." K said.
"Neither am I." Marcy responded as she closed her journal. "Just finished writing in my journal now I'm gonna write some Cynthia Coven fan fiction."
"Well, I want something to do." Vee groaned. "Can't stay in here all day with the boiling sun outside. Do we have anything to do?"
"I don't know." Luz replied as Amity snuggled to her chest. "I like the position I'm in currently."
"Mmm." Amity agreed.
"Well, Anne's birthday is coming up and I want to give her something special so we could go out and find something." Marcy said.
"I meant something fun!" Vee exclaimed. "Finding a gift for someone is frustrating!"
Marcy sighed. "You're right on that part, Vee."
"Do you have anything fun you might suggest K?" Amity asked him.
"Well, I believe we could investigate the dead animals that have been popping up." K replied.
"It was probably a savage animal." Amity theorised.
"Vee, you aren't showing any kind of blood lust by any chance?" K asked his cousin's Basilisk girlfriend.
Vee narrowed her eyes at her partner's cousin. "Why, you…..I would never eat animals!"
"I never said anything about eating animals." K said.
"Well, I assumed!" Vee retorted.
"Hey!" Masha exclaimed. "There's a Pride parade today."
"Really?!" Luz exclaimed with excitement.
"How come we're just learning about this?!" Marcy exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, what?" Amity asked.
"Pride Parade?" Vee asked.
"It's a parade that celebrates Pride month." Luz replied with a smile.
"Huh?" Amity and Vee reacted with confusion.
"Pride Month is a month, typically June, dedicated to celebration and commemoration of the LGBTQ community." Marcy replied.
"The who?" Amity and Vee responded.
Luz stood up from her bed with excitement all over her face. "It's an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer."
"I'm sorry, what?" Amity asked.
"What are those words?!" Vee exclaimed with confusion.
Luz seemed surprised. "Wait, you don't have labels in your world?"
"Of course we have labels." Vee replied.
"How else are we going to know what we're buying from the store?" Amity asked.
In that moment, Luz was in shock, Marcy was grinning, K was giving off a deadpanned look while Masha just sighed.
"This is going to be a long and exciting day." Luz replied.
Later, Amity and Vee were sitting together on Luz's bed while Luz, Masha, K and Marcy stood in front of them to explain.
Luz paced around her bedroom wondering where to start. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Where do we start?"
"We could start with the worst stuff." K replied.
"K, no!" Masha demanded. "We don't want them to be afraid!"
"But I set up a PowerPoint presentation of all the hate crimes I had encountered." K replied.
"Hate crime?!" Amity and Vee exclaimed.
Masha sighed as they pinched their nose. "Oh, goddess."
"Okay, let's just say that there are a bunch of people out there who would not like you and Luz together, Amity." Marcy explained.
"Why?!" Amity exclaimed. "What for?! You mean there are humans who spend their time hating on people like me and Luz?! What for?!"
"Various reasons." Marcy replied. "Usually due to religious reasons though a lot of them religions ones are more supportive than their others or….They just hate the idea of two girls kissing."
"What?!" Amity screamed in horror.
"And this was what I was worried about." Luz said.
"Don't worry Luz, since you're my cousin's girlfriend's sister, I will have people monitor you at all times." K assured her.
Luz then sweat nervously. "Actually, I'll be fine."
"You sure?" K asked.
"I'm really….Sure." Luz replied while gritting her teeth. "Anyway, let's not talk about the discrimination of the LGBTQ community because it really…Really makes people upset."
"I wanted to have fun learning, but not this." Vee said sadly.
"Right, you see, there are many sexualities and genders, a lot of them really complicated." Luz replied.
"I support the queer community but even I don't understand a lot of the definitions." K said.
Darcy walked up towards Marcy with a confused look. "So…Can you explain the difference between non-binary and agender because they sound like the same definition. This confusion fills me with so much rage!"
"Okay, I shall explain the acronyms of LGBTQ." Luz said. "I'll start off simple. The B in LGBTQ means bisexual. Which is what I am. With me, it means that I am attracted to both boys and girls."
Amity blushed with a hint of worry and a bit of jealousy. "So….Have you had any crushes besides me?"
"A ton." Luz replied. "Both guys and gals. But….Ya know, they rejected me because of how weird I was. And there was a cute guy with abs that I became flustered with but he turned out to be a puppet."
"Well to that I say, 'wood' you have dated him?" Marcy asked.
"If he wasn't a puppet and didn't try to kill me, then maybe." Luz replied.
"Didn't Amity try to kill you on first meeting?" Masha asked.
"Not important!" Luz exclaimed.
"Was there anyone else?" Amity asked.
"I think I became flustered with your siblings at one point." Luz replied.
Amity instantly became angry. "What?!"
Luz quickly defused her girlfriend. "But that's in the past. Because I already have the hottest, coolest and most amazing girlfriend in the entire multiverse."
"You're damn right." Amity said before blowing her girlfriend a kiss.
"Okay, the T in LGBTQ means transgender." Luz explained.
"It means a person of any gender who transition from their assigned gender of birth." Masha explained. "For example, if a guy was born, then they want to transition into a woman if they don't feel comfortable with their assigned gender. I wasn't exactly assigned to the correct gende at birth, because I feel I don't have a gender. I'm non-binary. And I prefer to be identified by they/them pronouns."
"Oh, we have that in the Demon Realm." Vee replied.
"We just never had a name for it." Amity replied. "Wait, Raine goes by those pronouns."
"That means they're non-binary as well." Marcy said.
Darcy tapped Marcy on the shoulder. "If they don't identify by any gender then what kind of…"
Marcy quickly shut her tormentor up by yelling. "NEXT LETTER!"
"Okay." Luz chuckled nervously. "The Q means, queer. It's essentially what everyone in the LGBTQ community are or sometimes they refer to themselves as that if they don't have any idea what they're true sexuality or gender is."
"The G in the acronym is an old timey English phrase for happy called gay." Marcy explained. "But it's commonly referred to anyone who's queer or just a man who is attracted to other men."
"And lesbian means women who are attracted towards women." Masha explained. "These terms are much simpler."
"Now that you know what they mean, I'm just going to straight up assume that everyone in this room is queer?" K asked.
"What are you, K?" Marcy asked. "Do you have some kind of sexuality?"
"People mistaken me for aro-ace, which means I am both aromantic and asexual." K explained. "Aromantic a person who doesn't feel romantic attraction and asexual means a person who doesn't feel sexual attraction, by the way. I'm straight but I prefer to be single because I feel that a relationship would be distracting."
"So, during undercover missions you…." Marcy gave a questionable look.
"Wu, I have had much fun and enjoyment on my missions if you catch my drift." K explained. "They were fun, but let me just say that there was no second date. My work is far more important."
"Oookay." Marcy said.
"What about you?" K asked. "The way you talk about Anne and Sasha seems to imply some sort of romantic feelings."
Marcy blew a raspberry. "No. There's no romantic feelings between me and them." Marcy cheeks flustered and her brow sweated. "I mean, I think we have romance from the Fellowship of the Isles."
"I'm sorry, what?" Luz asked.
"Did we even agree to a team name?" K asked.
"What?" Marcy asked. "That's what I'm calling the whole team from Fellowship Connecticut to Fellowship Oregon and Fellowship California."
"No one agreed to this." Masha reminded her.
"Sorry." Marcy said. "But to answer K's question that doesn't involve any attraction to Anne and Sasha, I do feel like I am queer."
"Fair." K said.
"Hey Vee, since you can change into any gender you want, that technically makes you gender fluid." Marcy said.
"Does it?" Luz asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I identify as female." Vee said. "Even when I change my appearance and gender with my powers, I still feel like a girl."
"Ooooh." Marcy responded. "So…"
"I'll circle back round to it." Vee replied.
"Amity, you're attracted to Luz, are you, if you don't mind me asking, a lesbian?" Marcy asked.
Amity began to ponder the question and everyone she ever crushed on. But instead, she looked baffled. "I…Don't know."
"I mean, you've got to." Marcy said. "Have you ever crushed on women?"
"Well…There was a few." Amity replied. "But I don't think it means I'm a lesbianne."
"Lesbian." Marcy said. "Not lesbianne." Then something came to her. "LesbiAnne? LesbiAnne! Ooooh, remind me to let Sasha know about that pun on our next video chat."
"Let's try this, Amity, do you think Luz is attractive as a girl?" Masha asked.
"Well, I didn't fall in love with Luz by for her looks." Amity admitted while her cheeks turned red. "I think she's cool, I think she's clever, I think she's silly, I think she's sweet and I think she's funny. But yeah, I do think she is…." Amity's face turned fully red. "…Very beautiful."
At the mention of being called beautiful, Luz flustered and began twisting her long, unkempt hair. "Wow. No one has called me beautiful."
"Okay, now Amity, do you think you could fall for Luz if she were a boy?" They asked.
Amity began to stare at her girlfriend trying her best to imagine her as a boy. She imagined her looking all boyish with a bit of stubble around her lips and deep voice. But she gagged at the idea of Luz being a boy.
"I assume by that gag confirms our suspicion." K remarked.
"Yeah, I guess I am a lesbian." Amity smiled. "I'm a lesbian! Yes, I'm a lesbian!"
"Okay! Okay! I get you discovered your sexuality, but…Ya know, it's not a big deal that you're a lesbian." K said. "I don't mean to be rude, but there are a lot of lesbians in the world."
"Yeah. Yeah. I understand." Amity said before she got attacked by a hug and a kiss by Luz.
"Awww! I'm so glad you figured it out!" Luz kissed her on the lips, surprising her.
"Does it bother you that I'm a lesbian?" Amity asked. "Does it affect our relationship?"
Luz shook her head. "Nope. I still love you all the same."
"And I still love you all the same." Amity said before she and her girlfriend kissed each other on the lips. They pulled out and kissed a few more times.
"Okay, you two." Marcy interjected. "Let's not start making out. Your Mom made it very clear she doesn't want it to lead to anywhere inappropriate."
"We're 15!" Luz argued.
"Okay, so Pride Parade guys?" Vee asked while her partner began to read through the newspaper again.
"Yeah!" Luz, Amity and Marcy cheered.
"Sure, why not?" K responded.
"Okay, let's go!" Before they left, Masha stopped them.
"Wait guys, wait." Masha said. "It's on June 11th actually. I accidentally covered the other one with my thumb." They laughed causing everyone to groan.
"Oh what?!" Luz exclaimed in annoyance.
"Masha!" Amity chided.
"That would seem like a me thing!" Marcy exclaimed.
Vee sighed. "Well, I guess that means I'm bored again." She slumped on Luz's beanbag chair and exhaled.
"Don't worry Vee, we'll find something." Masha assured their girlfriend. "Maybe we could, see the live action Small Mermaid remake."
"I won't." Luz argued. "Not because Aries is now Hispanic, but because of her actress saying that animation is for kids."
"I don't know, it seems kind of kiddish from what I've seen." Vee said.
Marcy angrily slammed her journal shut angrily. "Animation is not a joke, Vee! Millions of people work very hard on it to provide for their families! I mean, it's a medium made for everyone, not some snot nosed little brats!" In that moment, everyone in the room was giving off some knowing looks as Marcy ranted. The former host of the Core turned away to rant in her reflection. "I mean, is that all animation is to these Hollywood phoneys, just a bunch of children's entertainment to shut up a bunch of kids?! So I assume Anime like Spaceboy Beboop is a kids show because it's animated instead of a powerful story about a man stuck, figuratively in the past?!" In that moment, Luz and Amity just tiptoed out of the bedroom. "Or, or, how about Bohawk Donkeyman, yes he's a humanoid donkey but it's a powerful series about self destruction and addiction! Like, like, have they even seen any animated shows aimed at adults, even the raunchy ones that rely solely on inappropriate jokes that make a 12 year old laugh?!" Vee turned into her human form and snuck out of the window with Masha following behind. "And not only did you underestimate the animation industry, you did it on live television. Why you absolute bitch! If I could, I would dunk your head in a bucket until you choke! Yeah, now you'll be the Small Mermaid for sure! Yes! Yes!" In that moment, Marcy's eyes began to flicker orange which caught K's attention.
He saw it in the reflection of Luz's bedroom mirror and instantly felt a weird feeling in his stomach. One that made him afraid of Marcy in some capacity. He probably thought it was just the sun, but something tells him that it probably wasn't the sun.
Marcy turned around and froze. "Oh. I assume they left during my rant?"
"Some of them left partway through the rant." K said. "I mean, if you want, I can….Torture the actress for what she said. I am an FBI agent after all."
"Let him! Let him!" Darcy demanded, trying to encourage her into violence.
"I would like it, but I won't allow it." Marcy said with a smile. "Not yet anyway."