#Having had several of my friends literally call Beauty basically my OC multiple times now helped me put this out there finally

[newtafterdark]

I've kept this thing to myself (and close friends) for too long & I no longer have the patience to remain silent.

It makes me happy that folks like Beauty Calhoun. Genuinely.

But let me be 100% clear on this: what I made the man is 90% my original thoughts and ideas. Him being a fat no-op trans man, him being delightfully obnoxiously queer and an over-the-top theatre guy, him being both a drag queen and burlesque dancer, him leaning real hard into the cowboy aesthetics, him being a proper farmer, him being so incredibly loving and caring under all the snark and occasional blood thirst, him loving to cook for the few people he cares about - All that is what I added to an almost blank slate.

So I will say this once, and then that's it.

If you want to put my version of the man in your fan works as Gorgeous' version Barney Calhoun - (He literally is just named Barney in the source material, the name Beauty was handed to me by a Tumblr anon) - go ahead. Genuinely, I am happy to see it.

But do not simplify him literally down to hit tits and make him only think about sex 24/7, having nothing more to him than that. I have seen this three times on AO3 by now and I am tired and pissed off.

Genuinely, make our own fuckin' guy and name him something else if you desperately want that type of Barney for your version of Gorgeous' universe.

Also, I shouldn't have to say this, but I will be clear and firm on this - do not put my writing featuring the man (especially my fanfic series about him & Gorgeous on AO3) into ChatGBT or anything similar. I am grabbing you by the throat. I hate that shit and if you think this is an okay thing to do, then first of all - no creative thing I've ever made or will make is for you, and second - doing this to what is basically my OC at this point & has brought a lot of comfort to the trans folks who follow me, is simply asshole behaviour.