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cyberth0t · 3 years

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“I was thoroughly chewed out by His Grace the last time we did this, you know,” River mutters, turning in his chair to check if they’d been noticed. The people outside the private box paid them no mind; there was a starting shot and the crowd was cheering.

“Oh, Mother had an earful for me as well,” Ella says. Her tone is pleasant but careful.

“Then you understand why I would prefer to keep this short.”

“Yes. I wondered if you gave my idea any more thought.”

River sighs and turns back around. “I have.”

“You have reservations.”

“I do. I don’t think it will work, Ella.”

She is silent, waiting for him to continue.

“I understand the pressure you must feel, but I cannot go through with it.” He scratches at his eyebrow, agitated under her cold stare. “Keeping Ro‘onui a secret…it’s unimaginable. I can’t.”

The princess nods. Then she shifts in her seat, edging closer to him. “May I try to change your mind?”

“I suppose, but—” He hesitates, wondering if it would be rude to decline. “All right, go ahead.”

“Consider: This would allow him to have a normal life. He could continue his career—which reminds me, please extend my congratulations to him. He’s everywhere suddenly, isn’t he? Quite a star.”

But River is still aggravated. “Thanks. But what would you have us do? Sneak into the Wijngaard Paleis via secret passage? It would be easy enough for you—Jada’s your PA. She can live on the premises. She can be with you behind closed doors without anyone wondering why. Ro would never be able to move through our spaces the same way. We’d have to…to skulk around.” He scrubbed at a bit of lace on the tabletop with his finger.

“I know it seems silly, but that is exactly what monarchs have done in the past. It isn’t difficult.” She pauses. “We could easily hire him on as a personal chef, given his growing fame, if you’d like him to live at the palace.”

River's head snaps up as rage grabs hold of his mouth before he can cool it down. “I would not ask him to be my servant!”

“I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Your intentions do not excuse the insult, Your Highness!”

Her tone is firm. “My apologies, Lord Carlisle. But Jada is also a servant, and she has no problem with—”

“Jada is part of the royal household and set to assist a future queen. Ro‘onui is a chef. I can assure you, he would not be happy in the kitchen while we dine upstairs. And neither would I. There is nothing wrong with his line of work, nothing at all, but you cannot deny the fact that everything changes when it is placed in the context of a royal household. I would not have him…have him waiting on me!”

Eleanor is silent, her mouth slightly ajar. River forges on, unable to stop himself now.

“As my future husband, it is my job to protect him, advocate for him, and make sure others, even in their ignorance, don’t fuck him over!”

“Future husband? You cannot be serious,” she whispers. “That would be social suicide.”

“Godverdomme, you are all so fucking dramatic,” River snaps. She gasps. “The first couple years will be utter shit, you’re right. People will be cruel, and I’ll get shunned. And then time will pass and those idiots will get used to it. It’s not 1870. Or even 1970. Are all the equality laws we’ve passed only for commoners? The dirty, backwards poor can be born queer but you and I must pretend we’re above it?”

Ella is ignoring this tirade. “Your grandfather knows your intentions?”

“He does, and he’s spitting mad, but what’s he going to do?” River laughs. “He can’t disown me. I’m going to be Duke of Eswold one day whether he likes it or not. And I’ve decided he—and everyone else—gets to deal with with the way I was built. Which is loud, homosexual, and socialist.”

“You’re out of your mind.”

“And you—you love somebody, but you’ve decided I’m the better option! Me! Even I know that’s bonkers. I’m a mess! You should marry Jada. What can they do about it? They don’t lock people in towers anymore.”

“Oh, but they do,” Eleanor whispers, looking out at the track.

River glares at her. “Not forever. We all have choices. I cannot—I cannot go on if—I have to believe I have a choice in all of this.”

“You forget. I have a duty to my people,” Eleanor whispers. Her eyes are watching the horses as they turn at the far end of the green. “It isn’t as easy as waiting. I must continue the Almeida line, or let the crown—and its money and influence—fall to a family that would use its power to appoint politicians and push legislature that would make it so that people like us are stripped of their protections. I cannot simply choose to be selfish.”

Guilt swells in him and floods his heart, his lungs. He feels heavy.

Eleanor finally looks at him. “But you’re…you’re right. It doesn’t have to be you. I only thought, because—because we have something very singular in common, we could protect one another. I suppose I was wrong.” Tears are welling in her eyes.

“Ella, I—”

“You will refer to me as ‘Your Highness.’ Good afternoon, Lord Carlisle.”

She stands, leaving him alone in the glass box as the crowd explodes into cheers. Someone had won the race. He didn't know who.

#ts4 #sims 4 #storytelling #original story #long read #inheritance #inheritance:7 #royal sims #q slur mention

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atalana · 4 years

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I understand that your only source of representation is through Jughead, so how do you feel about people who ship him with other characters? Would you want them to stop?

i mean in an ideal world? absolutely yes

that said, i'm well aware i can't control much about the world outside of my own personal bubble, and people who ship jughead with other characters but stick to their own space aren't the biggest problem here? i'm not gonna go on a crusade to tear down any sectors of the archie and/or riverdale fandom with jughead ships, because honestly that sounds way too tiring and like, i'm sure i have things that i like to think and write about that other people would find infuriating, i don't wanna be a hypocrite and insist my way of doing fandom is the only way to do fandom

and the same goes for other fictional characters that are strongly implied to be aro/ace but 95% of the fandom has ships with them in, it gets on my nerves, but it isn't majorly harmful

the biggest problem, honestly, when it comes to jughead specifically, is riverdale, for bringing archie comics back into the public consciousness and pretending to be supportive of lgbt+ rights, and then at the same time erasing jughead's canon sexuality. like, this has been less of a problem in recent years bc from what i've seen the show has made a fool of itself in lots of other ways? but for people who do still watch it, just remember, no matter how many gay characters they include, they do not support this community. they include gay characters because it's become socially acceptable to include one or two and pretend like you're a paragon of representation. they're not. they're cowards who do not care about us

but when it comes to fandom, here's what is a problem when dealing with aro/ace representation, and things i'd like all fandoms to work on:

stop assuming that everyone needs sex or romance to be complete, stop assuming that any kind of positive relationship between two non-related characters must be romantic. like please. im so tired. people exist in this world who would be actively worse off in any romantic/sexual relationship, even a loving one, than they would be on their own. acknowledge these people exist, and maybe, just maybe, consider them in your sexuality headcanoning. (do you know how much it hurts to see someone make a sexuality headcanon page of a fandom with like 20+ characters and all of them are gay bi or pan? like representation for all of those are great as well, you should include them, but don't do so at the cost of excluding us. if your only reasoning behind headcanoning a character as bi is "they have Bi Vibes and I Want To", why is it so hard to make one or two of them ace or aro or both?)

people who have no interest in the opposite gender are both gay and aro/ace coded. it's something i've found constantly, whenever even a hint of aro/ace representation shows up, there's gonna be a very loud section of the fandom who insists they can't be aro/ace because they're gay coded, and making them aro/ace would deny representation. these people's only argument? they showed no interest in the opposite (binary) gender. guess what guys! that can be both! and insisting it's only gay is honestly aphobic as fuck and you will instantly lose my respect

same goes for characters who in canon show no interest in anyone at all. you'd think this would be a stronger argument for them being aro/ace than for them being gay, but not for these people! and like, this isn't me saying gay people can't relate to characters, of course do what makes you feel better, but i'm just asking for you to make space for us and acknowledge we're here. let the people with aro/ace headcanons feel just as acknowledged and validated as the people with gay headcanons, instead of shunned and like no one wants them around

(i still lose followers any time i make an aro/ace positive post. which honestly only makes me more incentivised to keep doing it. i'm here i'm queer and i'm not going anywhere, the hill i've chosen to die on is protecting younger aro/ace people and fighting for their rights and good luck knocking me down)

this does include the archie fandom, by the way. i'm assuming you sent this because you saw my post from 3-4 years ago about jughead being canonically aro/ace? well, there are plenty of people who angrily told me that jughead, a character explicitly said in the text to be aro/ace, was gay coded and i was being homophobic. like fucking stop it.

if you're genuinely interested in being a good ally to aro/ace people, and i really do appreciate that you've asked this!! here's a few things you (and the fandom at large) can do:

make space for aro/ace people in your headcanons, even if you're not aro/ace yourself. honestly, while this is a personal opinion, i don't even mind if your understanding of what being aro/ace is is slightly wrong? i mean if you wanna explore that in depth, doing research is better than not doing research (my ask box is always open), but i'm just happy to see anyone be inclusive, those people are the good people in my book

make space for aro/ace people in your jokes and memes. we like to have fun too! i'm still never really gonna get over the gay alignment chart meme, like... they had two separate squares for gay and lesbian, one for bi/pan, and none for aro or ace. that pretty much sums up everything wrong with representation at the moment. if you had to stick to three for the sake of the meme template, gay/lesbian, bi/pan, and aro/ace would have been much fairer. and yeah it's just a meme but like... we shouldn't only be on people's minds when things are serious

stop making all your aro/ace headcanons jokes. don't headcanon horrible real life people as aro/ace. be careful that your aro/ace headcanons aren't entirely children or robots. like, you can headcanon those characters as aro/ace, but if you're exclusively doing that, you're not really seeing us as people

(i have... complicated thoughts about spongebob apparently being canonically aro/ace. but i wouldn't hold that up as the pinnacle of representation)

(also despite many assholes' insistence to the contrary, being aro/ace isn't an 18+ identity. if a 12 year old can be gay a 12 year old can be aroace. they may not have discovered the sexual part yet but they can still know the romantic part. every sexuality goes through this same persecution why are even gay people still passing it down)

aro/ace people can be happy, well adjusted, non traumatised adults! many of us are! go make some headcanons of that!

while just aro or just ace people definitely do exist, and you can headcanon characters as such, some of us don't split those labels (i just use aroace for myself bc it's one thing, like how bisexual and biromantic people just go by bi). make sure you have some aro/ace people in the mix there, and you're not falling into the pitfall of using our identities only to make Gay Lite(TM)

don't let people walk all over us. we had a really thriving community back in 2013, and then the exclusionists came in and completely wiped it out. i saw it happen. they've faded into the background but only because 90% of aro/ace people are now scared to speak up on their own behalf. encourage aro/ace people to share their experiences if they want to, encourage aro/ace headcanons where you see them, make sure your fandom is a space where aro/ace people want to be. and if you see people being exclusionists (laughing at aro/ace people like they're cringy, pretending like aro/ace people are stealing non existent resources from gay people, or calling aro/ace people homophobic for existing are big weapons of the exclusionists), don't pretend it's just an argument or "discourse", let them know they don't belong. we can only fight so hard on our own behalf, we're a community for a reason. we're in this together

research, read, and most importantly, have fun with it. that's what fandom's for. if the only way you get enjoyment out of characters is by putting them in ships, try exploring a different, non romantic angle, and see what happens. encourage different forms of relationships. encourage aro/ace characters who are happy and secure in their own identity. encourage aro/ace characters having the same emotions as everyone else, just without the being attracted to people part. we're cool people! and ultimately, ship what you want. but just remember we're here, we're desperately in need of representation, and we can't make that happen on our own

#asexuality #asexual #aromantic #jughead jones #archie comics #representation #words #ask

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nc-ten · 7 years

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Can I Love You? - Johnten | Part 1

Ten is a high school student who is bullied harshly about being gay. He works hard to prevent himself from feeling any sort of emotion ever again. One day, a new student [Johnny] in his class turns his whole world upside down. But will Ten be able to find love?

*there is offensive language about homosexuality in this writing, if you are offended by that, do not read! I do not mean to offend anyone by this writing, I am just writing a story about someone being bullied about being gay. I support LGBTQ+ and johnten lol so pls don't be offended by this!! xoxo*

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Queer.

That's the new word that is inscribed on Ten’s notebook cover. It is etched into the fabric of the book along with plenty of other words and phrases left by his classmates: gay, get lost, just leave already.

Ten sighs, slipping it into his backpack. Just another day of school. Another day of humiliation and torture, another day come and gone.

Ten looks at himself in the mirror and forces a smile. Looking back at him is a boy that everyone at school wouldn't know. A happy teenage kid with no worries or fears. With his thick black hair pushed back out of his eyes, he looks handsome, mature, alive. His mom once told him, ‘you look the best when you smile’.

But, Ten never smiles outside the confines of his own house. Even now, stepping out of the apartment door, the smile fades from his face as he slowly walks to school. Nothing good ever faces him when he leaves the comfort and safety of his home. Outside, people judge him, laugh at him, call him names and hurt him.

Ten sighs, and continues his slow pace. As other people fall into step beside him, Ten pulls up his sweatshirt hood and turns his music up louder so it seems like he doesn't care what the world has to say about him. Unfortunately, he cares too much.

He used to be popular. Until high school, Ten was well liked by everyone because of his good looks, kind personality and athletic ability. But, when he confessed to being gay to someone he thought was his friend, things turned for the worst. People immediately shunned him, and it wasn't long before people flat out bullied him.

Being gay in Korea wasn't something that was common or looked lightly upon. Teachers would ask Ten to sit in the back of the classroom so it didn't cause a commotion. Ten was quickly dropped from all of the athletic clubs he participated in, and even was asked to step down from leading the Thai club.

So, Ten stopped talking, stopped smiling, and tried to stop feeling anything. Being emotionless was the only thing he tried to do. Love? Unthinkable.

Ten slips into his classroom through the back door, slow and quiet, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible. But that's just what the boys inside were waiting for.

“Oi, Ten! Glad you came!” A student turns to the door, smiling arrogantly. He walks close to Ten and pulls his earphones out of his ears. “Ready for another day of school?”

Ten doesn't respond. He can't.

“Come on Tennie, don't be like that to me,” the boy says in a sickly sweet voice.

“Ooooh, Ten and Eunwoo!” someone else calls.

Eunwoo leans in close to Ten’s face, and Ten looks away, his face heating up. Stop it, Ten thinks pleadingly. Stop it, I hate this.

“Aww, he’s shy,” Eunwoo proclaims. “He turned me down! This guy turned me down! That's a first.” Eunwoo shoves Ten away, and turns back to his friends. “I guess I'm not as attractive to guys as I am to girls.”

Ten walks away quickly, sliding into his seat. His face is still burning, and he looks down at his desk. ‘Screw yourself, you gay loser’ is etched into the surface of his desk, but Ten can't focus on that. Don't cry, he thinks, crying will make it all worse.

Ten puts his head down on the desk, motionless, and stays that way until the bell rings.

“Quiet!” the teacher calls out. “I have something special to announce today.”

“Ten’s gayyyyy,” someone whispers loudly, followed by snickers.

Ten squeezes his eyes shut tighter.

“Quiet,” the teacher monotones. “We have a new student today. His name is…”

Ten jolts up, surprised, and looks over to the empty seat next to him. Oh no, no no nooooo, he thinks. Quickly scanning the rest of the classroom, Ten becomes more and more anxious. This can't be happening. Out of all the classrooms, why this one? We only have one empty seat, why does the new student have to come here?

Other people began to take notice of the seat next to Ten, nudging each other and whispering.

The guy in front of Ten turns around. “Congrats,” he says sarcastically. “Looks like you’ll finally get the chance with someone.”

Ten reddens again and looks away. I'm never going to feel anything for someone again. What does it even matter?

“...come on in,” the teacher was saying at the front of the classroom. Everyone’s eyes are on the door at the front, and Ten can't help but look as well.

Don't be someone cool, he pleads with himself. Don't be athletic or popular or handsome or nice or talkative, please be someone just normal, please…

Ten can't help it, his breath hitches in his throat and his heart skips a beat. The boy who walks into the classroom is exactly what Ten didn't want him to be: perfect.

The new student is tall, with a handsome face and kind looking eyes. He runs his hand through his hair nervously, and smiles at the class.

Did his eyes meet mine? Ten thinks, panicked. He didn't look at me, right?

“Hi,” the boy says, his voice deep and smooth, with a slight lisp that made him seem even more perfect. “I'm Johnny Seo, I'm from Chicago. Nice to meet you all.”

Johnny Seo, you’ve ruined me and you don't even know me yet. You've destroyed everything that I've worked so hard to keep together, you've changed me already. How could you do this to me?

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Part 2

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