#Ortiz Sibling

[garbinge]

Secret's Safe

Jax Teller x Ortiz!F!Reader Juice & Sister!Reader 30 Day Fic Challenge

Word Count: 3k A/N: I had more thoughts to make this more of a Juice fic but then.... Jax LOL.

Warnings: All my fics are 18+ regardless of content. Mentions of blood, murder, death, assault, secrets, lying, trauma, abuse.

Word Count: 3k SOA Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics

As you opened your eyes, they squinted quickly as the bright sun hit them immediately.  After blinking a few times, they tried to take in your surroundings. You were in the passenger seat of your car, the green signs on the highway were moving extremely quickly past you. It took you a minute to focus to see what was on the signs but soon enough you caught one that said Stockton 75 miles. That meant you weren’t too far off from where you were headed before you ran into the person at the wheel of your truck currently. That thought made you immediately snap your head over to see the blond haired man, hand on the steering wheel, white knuckled, his reaper hat holding back the oiled hair from the sleepless night prior. 

“You look like shit.” You spoke up, clearing your throat as you did, placing his jacket that he had draped over you on his backpack. 

It was the statement he had said to you when you ran into him at the truck stop last night. It was meant to be humorous but once he got a good look at you, he realized it held way more truth than he expected. The genuine concern is what brought him to load his Harley in the bed of your truck, and continue your drive out to Charming for you. 

Staring at the smile growing on his face sent you back to the days you were falling in love with Jax Teller. Back when he had the kutte without the weight of the office patches. 

“Didn’t want you to feel left out.” His voice sent a shiver through your body. It had been half a decade since you last saw him. It made you look him over more closely. His hair was longer, Jax always sported the long blonde look but this was a lot more lengthy than before, like something had happened that led him to forget to get it cut. As you looked at his beard, you thought maybe that was more the sign that things hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing for him. Your eyes moved down to his kutte, despite being new to you, the vice president patch on his right was dirty and worn. 

“You think we could stop somewhere for me to freshen up, I don’t really want to jump scare my brother.” You started to look through your backpack for your toiletries as you spoke. 

“Was planning to go to my place first, I know how you are with him.” His knuckles tightened on the wheel as the sentence left his mouth.  

You weren’t sure whether you were annoyed or comforted by his statement. You knew exactly what he meant, and it was unreal to you that despite the insanity of this situation, you could still fight about the same things you fought about then. 

“And how am I with him?” It was said in a way that you both knew the answer, but you wanted Jax to humor you, or maybe you just wanted to finally win this fight. You stopped your search for whatever in your bag and looked at him, eyebrows raised waiting for an answer. 

“Cautious.” He spoke the word immediately and you felt the argument practically line up in your voice like it was muscle memory. 

Keeping your relationship a secret was ultimately what broke you both up. And that’s what made you move back to the east coast where you and your brother grew up. 

Jax followed up his statement quickly before you could let out a syllable of your argument. “For the record, I get it now. I think I was still a stupid young kid wanting to flaunt my girlfriend around.” 

This was completely new to you. 

You looked him over again and despite the distressed look to it, you caught the fresh stitching. The patch was not only new to you but new to him as well. 

“I guess being the second in command makes you mature.” 

“Makes you see what people can handle, too.” His voice was firm as he spoke, eyes still on the road. 

“He wouldn’t have been able to handle it.” You agreed knowing your brother well. He was fun-loving, caring, hilarious, but he had demons. And if anyone else’s found their way to him, you knew it’d break him because he’d try so hard to take them on his own. Not saying Jax and your relationship was bad, it was surprisingly one of the better ones you’d been in, but you knew by having that, you’d be taking away the one thing that kept your brother stable. 

“He gonna be able to handle what brought you out here?” 

That snapped you out of your thoughts. Your eyes said it all but he didn’t even need to be looking at them to feel your shock and need for explanation. 

“I saw the blood in the bed of your truck when I was loading my bike. Thought I’d taught you better than to leave behind evidence.” 

“That’s mine.” It was so pointed how you said it. 

That made Jax’s brow arch in curiosity. As fucked up as it sounded, it was relieving to you to be talking to someone who wasn’t shocked by the possibility of mysterious blood or being on the lam from a crime. To be talking to someone who almost found curiosity in the thought of the situation. 

“I got mixed up with this group of friends out east.” He didn’t need to pry the information out of you, this was never an issue between you, sharing your thoughts with each other, talking through everything, was never the problem. Telling other people was. “Real party kids, you know, we were drinking, doing drugs, having a good time, until we weren’t.” You took a deep breath before getting into the depths of the story. 

“We were hanging out on the front porch of someone’s house, it was late, or early, however you wanna describe it, and someone rolled up, I guess someone brought a friend who knew some not so great people.” 

Jax had a feeling he knew where the story was going but he wanted to hear it from your account.

“I got stabbed.” This part of the story was so straight to the point compared to the rest. The context here didn’t matter much compared to the lead up. 

“Still missing the part where you got blood in your truck.” Jax was only saying this because you stopped talking and he knew there were pieces of the story missing. 

This was where it was hard to say what happened, partially because you couldn’t believe how stupid you were to let this happen to begin with, but also since it was traumatic. 

“They tossed me in the bed of the truck and left me there to die.” 

Jax’s grip got tighter against the wheel and he sucked his lips into his teeth, the anger rising as he thought about it. 

“Obviously I didn’t.” You tried to lighten the mood. 

“And you decided to come back here.” Jax nodded, fully understanding the story. 

“After I killed the person who left me to die. Who just happened to be the one who stabbed me.” Again, the words came out with no lead up, just the point. 

Jax’s eyes darted to you when you said it. Funny enough, it was what he expected the situation to be. An ex got abusive, it ended badly, or maybe an accident when you were drunk, but the thought went out once you ended your story. 

“Did–” He was beginning to ask how you handled it, you knew that was what he was wondering. 

“I handled it. No trace. I was coming back here just because I needed my family, needed a familiar face.” 

“Sorry this familiar one looks like shit.” Jax was now trying to lighten the mood. 

“It was an unexpected one too. I wasn’t even going to come to the clubhouse, was going to go straight to a motel and then right to Juice’s.” 

“No love lost, I see.” He let out a laugh. 

“More like too much love lost.” You leaned back in the seat and placed your feet up on the dash. 

__________

You pulled back the shower curtain and wrapped the towel around your body, turning to wipe the fog off the mirror and stare at yourself. The shower brought some life back to your face, but the only thing that was going to make you look well rested was rest. 

As you opened the bathroom door, you started to talk loud, calling out and asking if you could take a nap but your words got cut off as you slammed right into Jax whose hand was raised to knock on the bathroom door. 

“Sorry.” He chuckled and stabilized you by wrapping his hands on your bare arms. 

It was at that moment that the both of you realized this was the closest you’ve been in years. You felt Jax’s breath on your face, it smelt like coffee which made you smile inside. Something about the domesticity of him in his home drinking his morning cup of coffee. 

“I was coming to see if you wanted french toast or waffles.” There was that domesticity again. 

“Jax Teller, who used to burn eggs, is offering me french toast or waffles?” The water was still dripping down your skin as you spoke. 

“Alright.”  his head twisted to the side as he laughed and then looked back at you, his finger now on your shoulder catching one of the stray drops before retracting his hand and looking back at your eyes. “They’re pre-made in a package from the freezer, was just gonna toast ‘em, not get all fancy.” 

“I’ll take both.” 

“Both it is.” He was turning around to go back into the kitchen and you felt your breath exhale the moment he turned. 

You both never got a chance to eat together, he came back to ask you about coffee or orange juice and ended up in his bed. Breakfastless and clothesless. 

As much as it broke you to sneak out, you did it. Sneaking out like this reminded you of what you were trying to leave behind, but now, you had to remind yourself of how safe you felt being here. With Jax. You stepped into the kitchen and saw the toaster housing the burnt french toast accompanied by the burnt waffle in the slot next to it. You laughed and grabbed both, they’d still be better than the junk you were eating on the road. Grabbing a pen you left a note on the table for him. 

Thanks for everything. Taking your burnt breakfast and heading to my brother’s. See you around. xx

With that, you were leaving. It was late afternoon now, meal times didn’t really have a time clock when you were traveling with no sense of time. Driving to your brother’s at this point was like muscle memory, you didn’t have to give it any thought and before you knew it you were there. 

One thing about Juice was that he’d always welcome you with open arms and no questions. Okay some questions, but none that ever felt forced or pointed. 

“Hey! What are you doing here?” He was so chipper and genuinely excited to see you as he opened the door. 

“Refugee looking for shelter.” You smiled back and brought him in for a hug. 

“Come in.” Juice pushed the door open completely and with his free hands moved to grab your bag out of your hand. 

Immediately you felt like a piece of scum in his pristine apartment and you hadn’t even had the grime of the ride on you anymore. “You live here or just showcasing the place?” You teased him. 

He sucked his tongue to the roof of his mouth and made a clicking noise. “I like to keep things neat.” 

“I know we lived in the same house together for years.” You looked at the art on the walls, the only sign that someone made a home of this place. There were pictures of you both, pictures of Juice with your childhood dog, pictures of the club, SOA flags and Harley memorabilia. 

“Hey I have this in my bag.” You smirked and moved to grab your backpack from his hands, he still hadn’t dropped it anywhere likely because he wasn’t sure where it’s place was in his sterile home. 

You pulled the photo out from the side pocket, it was wrinkled and folded, the complete opposite of his. 

“It’s before I started sponsoring, when I just worked at the shop.” He smiled, grabbing the photo from your hands. “You brought me and the guys homemade turkey sandwiches.” 

“You always left your lunch at home.” You shook your head at the memory, “I hated coming by with just food for you.” It was true, you’d make a sandwich for the 4-5 guys that were working that day. It became a sort of bit, the guys were crossing their fingers that whenever Juice was working with them, he’d forgotten his lunch. It helped that you came with a bag of chips and a 6 pack along with the sandwiches. That’s what the picture was. You, Juice, Jax, and Lowell eating turkey sandwiches and washing it down with a beer. 

“Everything okay?” Juice’s voice got solemn as he spoke, still looking down at the photo. 

“It is now.” You nodded with a smile. 

“You need my help with anything?” This time his voice raised an octave, in a more happy way. 

“Just a place to crash.” 

“Second room’s all yours.” He waved his arms in the direction of the room because he knew you were well aware of where it was. 

“I’ll be sure to disinfect my bag before putting it down.” You teased him with a slight push and made your way to the room that used to be yours years ago. 

By the time the two of you caught up, you leaving out the big details that you easily shared with Jax, it was nighttime. He brought you to the clubhouse, excited to share your arrival with the guys, and just happy to have his sister back in town. 

You were plopped on one of the picnic tables as some of the club sat around you, laughing about some joke Tig just said, most of you laughing at him more than with him. Your beer was nestled in your hand as you sipped slow on it, not really feeling like getting drunk much these days. 

“You’re nursing that beer.” Happy’s gruff voice alerted you. It was soft enough that only you heard him. 

“Long drive cross country, it’s making me more tired than anything.” You explained, it was partially true. 

But Happy saw through it. 

“You killed someone.” 

If you had been drinking the beer you would have spit it out by the abruptness of his comment. 

“Excuse me?” You frowned and looked at him, you probably met this member a handful of times but you didn’t know him like you knew some of the other crew. 

“I can tell, you got that vibe.” He nodded his head, his voice extremely raspy. 

“That vibe?” You raised your brows. 

“Yea, that life ain’t hold the same innocence vibe.” He answered you quickly. 

“How would you know what that vibe is?” You were playfully asking now, knowing that it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if anyone here knew what you did, but it wasn’t something you were just blurting out. 

He laughed at that and didn’t answer the question. “Don’t worry your secret’s safe with me.”

“You freakin’ out our guest, Happy?” Bobby was walking out from the clubhouse, followed by Juice with a new beer for you despite you still not having this one nearly finished. 

“Happy?” You frowned and looked at Juice as you grabbed the beer. 

Happy grinned and lifted his shirt up to show his abdomen littered with smiley face tattoos and suddenly with no explanation at all, every question you just asked in the last 5 minutes was answered. 

“Oh.” You grabbed your nursed beer and finished it off quickly before moving to the new and cold one. 

Before the conversation could continue, the sound of two motorcycles cut the sound of voices out completely. Your eyes moved to see who it was, even though based on who was here now, the options were limited. You caught a glimpse of his long locks when he took the helmet off. Instinctually your eyes jumped to the movement of the person who came in behind him, tall and burly, and despite him still being far back in the shadows, you knew it had to be Jax’s friend Opie. With ease, your eyes moved back to Jax as he brought his hand through his hair. It was oily again, or still, which had you starting to wonder what his day looked like after you left. 

“Jax!” Juice called out from behind you and it brought you back to the current moment as Jax approached, taking off his riding gloves with a big smile on his face. “Look who's back on the west coast.” Juice was beyond excited to tell Jax, the thought of bringing back the days when the group of you would hang out clearly driving his enthusiasm. 

“Yea, I–” Jax was about to say how he ran into you the night before, you knew it, but your eyes went wide and your head shook just ever so slightly as a hint to let him know you didn’t want Juice to know. Luckily you were behind Juice on the picnic table so he wasn’t able to see it but Jax did clearly. 

What wasn’t clear was how he was taking your action. He seemed a little upset, but also he had a slight smirk on his face. 

“Yea, I see that. It’s good to see you.” He changed his sentence, his eyes staring at you. 

Behind him was Opie who clearly was aware of what happened between the two of you and was trying to hide his smirk from the awkwardness between you and Jax that only you three hopefully could feel. 

Jax took a step forward and you moved off the picnic table to stand. His arm raised to bring you in for a hug. 

“Thank you.” You whispered and squeezed him a little extra. 

“No worries, as always, secret’s safe.” 

[wondersinwaynemanor]

i love those hcs of Damian doing the shovel talks to his siblings' partners, but in this one, it's Damian testing their cooking skills because he knows his older siblings cannot cook to save their lives (except Jason ofc).

Damian, in his Robin suit, brings Wally, Roy and Kon to a secret location. they thought their boyfriends needed help, but it was actually Damian who sent the signal.

Damian, hands behind his back, coming out the darkness: Evening, Gentlemen. I know you have questions.

Wally and Roy look at each other.

Kon: Damian?

Wally: Where's Dick?

Roy: I was expecting to see Jason, not everyone else.

Damian: You must be confused, I understand that. But you're in here because I'm about to test whether your cooking skills are qualified enough.

Damian to Roy: I know Todd is skilled at it, I'm surprised myself too. We have Pennyworth to thank for that.

Roy opens his mouth to speak.

Damian: But that doesn't mean you're safe, Harper.

Damian to Kon: I know your Grandmother is an expert at it, but don't be too confident, Kent. You don't have the genes in you.

Damian to Wally: And West? From my knowledge, you're horrible at it.

Wally: What??? I'm good at it, little dude. I mostly do the cooking at home.

Damian: Then I feel sorry for Grayson. Also, don't call me little, it's disrespectful.

Damian to Kon: And don't you dare fly out from here, Kent!

Kon swears he sees something green from the little bat's pocket. he starts to get a little nervous, so he puts his feet back on the ground.

Damian, smirks: Don't you dare try to escape from here. This place is well equipped and yes, they will hurt you. Quite badly.

Roy, sighs: So, what are we going to have to do first?

meanwhile in Steph and Izzy's apartments, there are cookbooks with letters about knowing how to cook is mandatory to be Cass and Duke's partners.

Steph, looking at the letter in disbelief: Dami, are you serious???

Izzy, calling Duke: So, is it normal for your little brother to know where people's houses are?

[milktea-grn]

st. andrews

[shipping-world1994]

Letty: *groans*

Brian: "Holy hangover Batgirl"

Mia and Dom: *dies laughing*

[zombieee-queen]

The new event is making me laugh so much. The first 3 fucking seconds in, Rio and Silvio are like this

[ythmir-writes]

accurate depiction of me reading Rio's anniversary story hehehe

[a-tale-of-legends]

The downside of being Zekrom's Chosen and your sister's wife being an engineer is that you are the victim of lots of lab studies, ie being a living magnet.

The plus side is that you can prank said sister's wife whenever you want, so it evens out.

[esmeralda-juniper]

javiera about arthur: aww what a sweet kid

javiera about mac: i'm going to kick you across this cave if you call me mungo one more time

[sukunasbow]

sfw hcs, letty ortiz.

summary: letty and sfw hcs!

warnings: youngest toretto!reader, not yet proof read!

notes: this was requested by anon, so i hope this post finds you bby!

Being the youngest in your family, your siblings have always been super protective of you.

Hence the reason it took forever for Letty to confess her feelings for you, she was just waiting to be accepted into your family by Mia and Dom.

When she finally gained their trust by getting you a ride out of a street race where the cops pulled up, she decided to confess.

Obviously, you felt the same way and the two of you hit it off immediately.

Letty is a very protective girlfriend, she’s always at your side and ready to defend you from anything and anyone. She’ll do anything for you.

Despite the fact that she acts tough towards other’s, she’s actually a very kind person, you bring that side out of her.

She loves taking you on midnight drives, rolling down all the windows and blasting music in her cool new car, eventually stopping to get food at the local diner.

Letty loves your family dinners, your family is like the family she never had, so she’s always invited.

She spoils you whenever she wins a race and earns a large sum of cash! She immediately hands you a stack of bills and takes you wherever you want to go, whether it’s the mall or a restaurant, she’s letting you spend the money.

Her love language is physical touch, she always has to be touching you, not even in a sexual way.

She also loves when you use words of affirmation. Hearing you express your love for her makes her feel so seen and loved.

All in all, she’s the best girlfriend out there!

[casscainmainly]

Ship anon yet again-eh, maybe I'm just extra obtuse about duos with 'sibling despite no relation' vibes that aren't Dick & Donna Troy-grade blatant. I'll confess to lacking a clear picture on Robin-movement cohorts & other allies Duke might strike it up with (I gotta catch up with a lot). Officially memory-holing most of the Orphan years does kinda put a hole in HarperCass even as Steph returns. Bi Cass makes sense to me, though of course multiple reads/differences on that can be argued for.

Duke is canonically dating Isabella Ortiz (probably? As of Batman: The Secret Files: The Signal they were dating, but Duke fans can chime in if that's out of date). I love DukeIzzy, they have a great relationship and vibe! I haven't thought too much about other allies Duke could date, DC really needs to start putting him in more stuff so he can interact with more people.

This is super tangential to your point, but Duke's status as 'Wayne-but-not' is extremely interesting. There's dissension both among Duke fans and in canon - some Duke fans think of Duke as part of the Wayne family (since he was taken in by Bruce and definitely acts like a brother to the Batkids), and claim that not including him in the family is racist. On the other hand, some Duke fans see Duke being a Wayne as an erasure of his Black parents (who are alive and, in his mother's case, sane again), so including him in the family is racist.

Canon flip flops as well. Batman & The Signal clearly tries to integrate Duke into the family (see the opening and closing family meal scenes), but Duke explicitly calls Bruce 'my mentor. my friend' which isn't super familial. WFA leans way into Duke being a Wayne, but that's not exactly canon. It seems like for once, both canon and fanon are on the same wavelength, in that they both have no clue what to do with Duke.

Sorry for derailing your ask! Bi Cass is definitely a valid headcanon, since she does show attraction to men. Idk we'll see what the new Cass solo has in store for her!

[ghoulpoole]

when we lose another sibling

CONTENT WARNING: death. proceed with care and be kind to yourself.

when we lose another sibling

(and we surely will),

i want you to go outside

and cry

and cry

and cry

and cry.

when we lose another sibling

i want you to scream 

at the top of your lungs:

THEY DID NOT DESERVE TO DIE.

when we lose another sibling

i want you to shout yourself hoarse

at this vast 

indifferent abyss:

IT DID NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS.

when we lose another sibling

i want you to gather flowers

and palm fronds

and fill the street with mourning.

when we lose another sibling

i want you to say their names.

when we lose another sibling

i want you to give the world

a warning:

THINGS WILL NOT BE THE SAME.

----------------------------------------------------------

SAY THEIR NAMES.

Over the past year, these trans and nonbinary people died under violent circumstances in the United States.

Eden Knight - 3/12/2023

Siyah Woodland - 3/24/2023

Ashley Burton - 4/11/2023

Koko Da Doll - 4/18/2023

Banko Brown - 4/27/2023

LaKendra Andrews - 4/29/2023

Om(e) Gandhi - 5/16/2023

Ashia Davis - 6/2/2023

Chanell Perez Ortiz - 6/25/2023

Jacob Williamson - 6/30/2023

Fernielle Mary Mora - 7/6/2023

Onyx John - 7/16/2023

Camdyn Rider - 7/21/2023

Jean Butchart - 8/4/2023

DéVonnie J’Rae Johnson - 8/7/2023

Luis Ángel Díaz Castro - 8/12/2023

Lovely Page - 8/16/2023

Thomas ‘Tom-Tom’ Robertson - 8/17/2023

Alexa Andreevna Sokova - 9/5/2023

Codii Lawrence - 9/5/2023

Bre’Asia Bankz - 9/5/2023

Kylie Monali - 9/7/2023

Charm Wilson - 9/8/2023

Sherlyn Marjorie - 9/17/2023

YOKO - 9/19/2023

A’nee Johnson - 10/4/2023

Chyna Long - 10/8/2023

Dominic Dupree - 10/13/2023

Lisa Love - 10/17/2023

Nova Dunn - 10/17/2023

Skylar Harrison Reeves - 10/20/2023

London Price - 10/23/2023

F.L. “Bubba” Copeland - 11/3/2023

Kejuan Richardson - 11/14/2023

Amiri Reid - 11/14/2023

Kejuan Richardson - 11/14/2023

Shandon Floyd - 11/15/2023

Savannah Ryan Williams - 11/29/2023

Amber Minor - 12/24/2023

Meghan Riley Lewis - 12/27/2023

Kitty Monroe - 1/1/2024

Tristan Bustos - 1/25/2024

Nex Benedict - 2/7/2024

Ash Clatterbuck - 2/27/2024

Righteous TK “Chevy” Hill - 2/28/2024

Reyna Hernandez - 3/8/2024

Diamond Brigman - 3/16/2024

Alex Franco - 3/17/2024

Meraxes Medina - 3/19/2024

AND THOSE WE NOW NAME.

[ravi-is-my-beloved]

One of my hopes for season 8 is that Mara is back with Hen, Karen, and Denny sooner than later. Because while Maddie and Chimney are great parents, Mara deserves to be with the family that took the time to gain her trust. She and Denny are already displaying sibling behavior towards each other, they already see each other as siblings.

If the writers make us wait until, god forbid, half of the season to see Mara back with the Wilson family, my heart will break with every episode she's away from them.

But hopefully, they won't take that long to reunite them and as soon as Ortiz and Gerrard are dealt with, she'll be back at the Wilson house.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

03/31/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Trans Day Of Visibility; Cast&Crew; Vico Ortiz; Rhys & Rosie; Adopt Our Crew/Glaad; Love Notes

Hey all, I was trying to to get the recap up this morning for yesterday but my work went a little nuts. So today I'll get both today and yesterdays out, but they'll need to be separate since there are so many darn pictures!

== Cast & Crew Sightings ==

== Vico Ortiz =

Vico posting about their changes in life, and things that stayed the same 🌾 🍂 🌿 🪹 🪴 🍃 🪺

Src: Vico Ortiz IG

== Rhys & Rosie ==

For Rosie's birthday, a friend made a lovely picture for her and Rhys.

Src: Rosie's IG

== Adopt Our Crew ==

@adoptourcrew Put together a thread bout LGBTQ+ Rep in the 22-23 TV Season (tracked by GLAAD) for Trans Day of Visibility

Checkout the Where We Are TV Report for 2022-2023

Src: AdoptOurCrew IG

== SaveOFMD Crew / Cool Pirates ==

Another day of #CoolPirates! Today featuring several members of the Fandom, OFMD Cast & Crew. There were quite a few listing so I'm going to put as many in as I can :) Please let me know if I missed anyone!

You can check out all the posts about cool pirates on and of @saveofmdcrewmates ' socials. Visit the linktr.ee here

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies! This message today is for our Trans and NB siblings, and even though it was meant for yesterday (TDOV), to be honest, I'm glad it's a little bit late. You know why? Because every single day you deserve to be seen.

Every single day you deserve to be loved,

Every single day you deserve to be celebrated,

Every single day you deserve to be proud of who you are,

And every single day you deserve to be your authentic self-- Period.

Whether you're not ready yet, or still figuring out who you are, or you're exactly where you want to be, you deserve the absolute best this life has to offer, and you deserve to be safe, and loved, and have access to all the things that help you be you.

You are so incredibly strong lovelies, I know it's hard to fight for who you are in a world that's still catching up, but you're so brilliant, and incredible and loving, and you're doing such a great job, no matter where you are in your journey. We're so very glad you're here with us every single day of the year, and I hope you know how much we love you.

To quote Next Goal Wins... "Imagine a world without flowers. Well [you] are our flowers. It'd be a pretty dull world without [you]. [You're] beautiful. "

Keep shining lovelies <3 You're beautiful.

[junebugwriter]

Trans Awareness, Remembrance, and the Dangers of Existing 

For those who still yet live. 

(Image from GLAAD.)

November 13th – 19th was the annual Transgender Awareness Week, a week that ends in Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Day of Remembrance is a day that is solemn, tragic, and rather sobering. It’s the day we take to remember our transgender siblings who were killed in acts of transphobic hate. It is a day of mourning, of gravity, and many, many tears, because of how truly painful it can be. For me, a newly self-realized trans woman, it’s even more sobering. 

Rewind to about a year ago. I was beginning to acknowledge the enormity of my gender dysphoria after 35 years of denial. It was something I was desperate to avoid at the beginning because I knew. I knew how much the world hates trans people for existing. How dangerous it is to step outside of the boundaries of the fragile social structure that we have encoded into our lives. How brittle and unsafe it can all be for someone who does not conform to the gender that we were assigned at birth.  

I wanted to look away for so very, very long. To not admit the truth of my nature. But the funny thing about the truth is that it just stays there, even if you don’t believe it. And my truth was that I was trans. My new reality was that no matter how far I go in the journey, no matter how well I might “pass” (even though passing isn’t the goal, it’s being authentic to myself), there will always be people who hate me for existing.  

I was unable to write this yesterday, due to obligations, but I wanted to write about it, nonetheless. Some friends of mine were able to hold a ceremony for the lives of our trans siblings who were taken this year. They got to say their names. They got to hold a candle for these brothers and sisters, dear people whose lives ended because someone decided that they shouldn’t exist.  

These are their names. * 

London Price. 

Lisa Love. 

A’nee Johnson. 

Chyna Long. 

YOKO. 

Sherlyn Marjorie.  

Kylie Monali. 

Luis Angel Diaz Castro. 

Thomas “Tom-Tom” Robertson. 

De’Vonnie J’Rae Johnson. 

Jacob Williamson. 

Chanell Perez Ortiz. 

Ashia Davis. 

Banko Brown. 

Rasheeda “Koko Da Doll” Williams. 

Ashley Burton. 

Tasiyah “Siyah” Woodland. 

Tortuguita. 

Cashay B. Henderson. 

Imanitwitaho Zachee. 

Maria Fer. 

Jasmine “Star” Mack. 

Unique Banks. 

Say these names in your heart. Know that theirs was a life that was beautiful and should not have been taken away by a person with hate in their heart and fear in their mind. Recognize the fact that the largest percentage of these victims were black women by far. The oldest one of them was only 41 years old, 5 years older than me. Most were in their twenties. Some were in their teens. All were beautiful. All were born with innate divinity, the same innate divinity that dwells in each of us, the same image of the transcendent God that created all of us.  

Remember them. Feel the weight of them. It’s a heavy load to bear, and much more than the community can stand. We are in an era of rapidly increasing transphobia. There is a concerted effort to mandate us out of existence legally. I honestly am somewhat afraid of coming home for Christmas this year because of my running into the wrong person while trying to spend time with my loved ones. (Then I remember it will be in Austin, and that’s probably as safe as it gets for gender-nonconforming individuals, and I relax, but it’s still by a slim margin.) 

Before the day of remembrance is Trans Awareness Week. What's funny is before the past couple of years, I would rate everyone’s awareness of transgender people as relatively low, until certain lawmakers decided to make it an enormous issue. The truth of it is that trans people have always existed. We’ve always been there. Going back thousands of years, in cultures all over the globe, you will find trans people in history, if you look for them. Even going back, a couple of decades, yeah, things weren’t great for trans people, but mostly it was because people didn’t know what we were. People lived entire lives, not being free to be themselves. Now, we have people trying to educate people so that kids like me might understand more about themselves, and in response to simply new, better information about transgender identities, people react with hatred.  

The thing about transgender people that I’m learning every day is that they are some of the bravest people I know. It takes bravery to ask yourself the hard questions about your identity. It takes bravery to live authentically as you are meant to be.  

I was afraid that I didn’t have it in me to be brave enough to be trans. 

But it doesn’t matter if I’m brave. It matters that I live. It matters that I exist. I’m extremely lucky, and privileged, to be where I am. To have lived the life I have lived is an extraordinary blessing. To have a family that still loves me and supports me is a blessing beyond measure. To have a partner who is willing to support me is an even greater blessing. So many trans kids and adults don’t have that. So many are turned out into a cold world that doesn’t want to make space for them. So many people would rather we did not exist. 

The truth is, we do exist. And no matter how much they can try to legislate us out of existence, there will always be trans people. That’s the truth that cannot be erased or ignored. Just like I couldn’t ignore the truth about my gender identity, we as a people can’t ignore the hatred and violence that is done to trans people all the time. We cannot ignore the concerted effort by a few hateful individuals whose world is so small they cannot appreciate the infinite amount of beauty that trans people give to the world just by our existence.  

I’m writing this because I want to make sure at the very least that I remember my siblings who have gone before me—those who face hatred and violence because of the small-minded hatred of bigots. Our world is so much more beautiful for us living in it.  

May we one day live in a world where we no longer need to remember the lives of those killed because of anti-transgender hatred.  

_________________________________________________ 

*Names retrieved from https://glaad.org/tdor-memoriam/. 

[shipping-world1994]

Vince taught Letty how to fight and the only black eye Vince ever had (or shown) was from Letty's nasty right hook. He wore the black eye proudly.

[riordanverserpdatabase]

Heylo, could you add my oc Ezra Jeff Stone, a son of hermes, to the database? @itsyourboyezra

Thank you user itsyourboyezra for your contribution to the database!!! Let's call your siblings!!!

Alexis Ortiz @hispanic-daughter-of-hermes

Charlotte Louise @lesbian-force-of-chaos

Cricso (Like the butter substitute because hes a sub-) @notfuckingshortening

Dean Marks (Creator) @itsprobablydean

Estra Ava @estraava

Elliot 'eli' hale @wivesandwallets

Fin "Fish" Jesse Hawthorn @fin-the-child-of-hermes

Lucy Castellan @the-better-castellan

Maddox Estala @madson-of-hermes-notluke

Meiko @meiko-mako

Robin (professional pickpocket) @basically-a-god

Oakley Foster @everyones-fav-mailboy