#but i guess i have been getting quite a bit of gender envy from masculine guys so...makes sense

[alalumin]

Wait I was about to go to sleep but I finally remembered my dream from last night! We are returning to my grandparents village to meet with a relative we haven't seen in a while and they came out as a trans woman (which did happen but not with the relative the dream was about??). They said they felt more comfortable to do it because of me, and they implied I was transmasc which confused my parents but I was happy about.

This is the second dream I've had where I am transmasc what does this mean???

[thekidthesuperkid]

Hi I would love to hear you expand on your queer superfam headcanons if you’d be willing to share

Hi anon! I'd love to!

Right now I've been mainly thinking about Clark and Lois. For Lois, I think of her as bi or pan (Wonder Woman #170 you will always be famous to me). She experimented with her sexuality a lot in college and in high school (there were some fights with her father about it), but because of a combination of things didn't really date often. For one she was super ambitious and focused on her career and that came first for her, but then also half the guys who were attracted to her were assholes and she never put up with their shit unless she needed something from them, which gave her a bit of a reputation in her schools and workplaces, you know how it goes. Now that wasn't a deterrent for the resident sapphics, quite the opposite in some cases, and Lois did have some hookups with them but again didn't date much. She doesn't get emotionally close to people easily or quickly. This might mean she's demi- or grey-romantic, or she's just a busy career-driven woman who's experienced trauma and is also a bit neurodivergent. Her gender is cis and femme in a mildly dykey and "fuck you" kind of way. Also she's fairly unreserved and uninhibited about her sexual desires. She's pretty into kink and unashamed about it.

Right now I really like my transfem!Clark headcanon. She doesn't realize anything or come out until later in her life, and even then it's only to Lois, and then she doesn't come out to more people or transition for several more years, and even then only Clark Kent transitions, not Superman. In her early life she feels very alienated and very different from the kids around her but she doesn't have any of the knowledge to understand why she feels that way, so she chalks it up to being neurodivergent and a meta, and later when her parents tell her about where she comes from, chalks it up to being from a different planet. She doesn't realize it until at least two decades later, but her high school crush on Lana is half attraction and half gender envy. Another thing that delays her gender realizations is that she's a butch woman. Typical femininity doesn't fit her. So she never identified with the women and girls around her in a clear and defined way. And also the main core part of her identity is that she's an alien and a refugee and one of the last of her people, and that she needs to help people. Her gender is a bit secondary to that. She realizes eventually, and even though she's delayed and interrupted by a few crises and universe resets, she does eventually transition as Clara Kent, but stays Superman, partly because Superman transitioning at the same time as Clark would be suspicious and partly because she just doesn't mind being seen as a man if its not all the time, and she uses Kryptonian clothing technology to hide the changes to her body from transitioning as Clara. I have the full story of her transition in my head but it's too long for this. So basically Clara is a trans butch lesbian. She is m-spec a bit, but she has a strong preference for women and her attraction to men just doesn't really come up or play much of a role in her life so she prefers to describe herself as a lesbian.

Kara! Kara is a genderqueer woman (masc headband from the 80s my beloved <3). Kryptonian concepts of gender are literally alien and dont necessarily match up to human ones. She goes by she/her pronouns because she just doesn't care to navigate human concepts of gender to explain it to them but when she's speaking Kryptonian with someone she's referred to with...I guess the equivalent of ze/hir? But not that? Idk I haven't properly thought out my ideas on Kryptonian gendered language. She does get frustrated and sad sometimes about how characteristics that would have easily been recognized as masculine on Krypton are meaningless on Earth, but (if I place this headcanon of her in the same world as my Clara headcanon) she does share some of those signals from Kryptonian culture with Clara and bond with her over being genderqueer women. She's also gay. More specifically she's pansexual homoromantic, but doesn't really care for having a relationship with just sexual attraction so...gay. Lena Thorul come back you could've been so powerful...

I like to headcanon Kon as pan, although he's slightly less romantically attracted to women compared to men, and hes demisexual and hypersexual. Also hes transmasc. I honestly don't know how that would work because I keep going back and forth on the specifics of his gender, but the version I came up with most recently is that for a while he identified as transfem and actually transitioned that way but then realized his gender wasn't that and transitioned back but then at that point he'd fucked with his gender so much that despite being perisex amab the term transmasc genuinely felt most accurate, because he does have a strong connection to femininity and his masculinity, despite being more prominent than his femininity, still needs to be taken with the context of femininity to be understood properly. His gender is like the error message you get when too many people are trying to access a site at once. All of this happens in the hypothetical future though. In his early life Kon doesn't feel secure about his queerness and leans hard into performative masculinity and compulsive heterosexuality. At his current age he's just finished growing out of the performativity but still hasn't recognized his queerness. He'll realize he likes guys a while before he accepts his genderqueerness, and then he'll go through all the gender exploration. When hes older he sometimes jokes that he's a he/him lesbian, which is because he feels "butch as gender" is an accurate enough way to describe him, even though thats not how he would choose to describe himself to others. He goes and finds Hero from the Ravers when he first realizes he likes guys.

Jon is canonically bi and Natasha is canonically a lesbian, Mae is genderfluid/multigender and a bi lesbian, Linda Danvers is a lesbian, Cir-El is a trans girl and sappic-oriented aroace, Chris is very aroace with a god-induced soulmate bond (which I'm not sure if I want to keep in my headcanons?), and John Henry is m-spec and both demisexual and demiromantic.

I saw someone headcanon Jonathan as a trans man, and I'm still kind of playing around with that idea in my head and I'm unsure of whether I will use it for my own headcanons yet. I do think Martha should get to have had a girlfriend in college though. I also like to headcanon that she went to a lot of protests when she was young in the sixties.

If you look closely you'll notice that I made most of the superfamily like girls in one way or another lol

[epiclamer]

hi so I'm not sure if you take asks rn but here we go

in honour of me getting my first testosterone shot as a trans person today like eight hours ago;

The hero is struggling with their day, as soon as they wake up, they feel uncomfortable in their skin, with their feminine or masculine clothes(you choose) & every time they walk past that stylist or barbershop, they want to get a haircut. Their body feels wrong.

Meanwhile, villain is strongly open and out to the public, being non-binary. They know everything about the LGBTQ+ community.

The heroes costume is a very masculine or feminine costume and is extremely distressing for the hero, and villain picks up on the uncomfortableness.

Let the comforting begin, I guess? that's all I got

Eyyyy, congrats!! I don’t know much about the transgender community but I love and support you completely!! I hope your transition to wherever you’re headed does amazing and you learn to feel comfortable in your own body! You will always be welcome here and I hope everything is working out!

(No reposts but reblogs appreciated <3)

Reassemble

Hero ran a hand down his chest in an effort to straighten out the obvious bump in his suit. Even wearing a binder his hero suit had added padding into the chest which didn’t allow him to disguise anything. He had already taken up the matter with the head of the hero agency, but other than a few dismissive nods and odd stares he hadn’t received any response on the matter.

Hero had to admit, it made him feel stupid. It made him feel stupid for ever believing that the most perfect agency in the world would be accepting of him. After all, he was the only trans person in a whole system that thrived off everyone being one and the same. And now that he had been trying to commence his transition for years with no support from anyone, he realized that the agency had no intention to integrate inclusivity to their society.

Meanwhile, Villain was one of the most well-respect villains of all time. Thoroughly admired and envied by their underlings despite being non-binary. But in the world of villains that didn’t seem to be considered a “problem” like it was with the heroes.

Villainy was looking awfully attractive right now.

“Something the matter?” A voice startled Hero out of his spiral of thoughts. He whirled around only to find Villain not more than a few feet behind him leaning casually against a wall. Villain smirked, pushing their back off the wall and stepping a bit closer to their nemesis.

Hero tried to take a step back but faltered when his foot struck a pile of garbage against the other side of the narrow alleyway. Villain raised an eyebrow at him in question and chuckled slightly at watching the hero almost tumble into a dump pile.

Once Hero had caught his balance and fixed his stance Villain began to speak. “Uncomfortable? Suit too tight?” At first, Hero wasn’t quite sure how they knew. Of course, Villain had plenty of abilities but mind reading? Was that new? But after a second of trying to figure out how Villain discovered Hero’s discomfort he realized that in the heat of the moment he had covered his chest with his arms in an attempt to hide the padding in the suit.

“I-I uhh… i-its just-”

“Relax, Hero. You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” Villain paused, allowing Hero a second to calm down and take a breath before they continued. “Although, I have noticed you out of the bunch and I was going to ask you if you needed a new suit. I mean, with the fact that you’ve been looking like you’re lacking confidence in that one lately.”

They placed the blow so kindly, not like any of the other heroes that had told him to suck it up and deal with it. He had been told countless times that it was “just a suit” and that since his legally appointed gender was female, he would just have to fix that before anything could happen. As little as a suit change might have been it was still important to Hero and his current suit was making him uncomfortable.

When Hero didn’t respond Villain sighed and slid off the jacket that came with their suit, offering it out to Hero in one hand. “Here, take this for now and let’s head back to my base and make you a new suit.”

Hero’s eyes landed on the coat and the tension in his stance visibly eased at the idea of covering his chest. But taking this coat and heading back with Villain to their base would make him a traitor and even more of an outcast. Getting a new suit would ruin his reputation as a hero and act as an immediate ban from the organization in full.

Fuck it.

Hero was tired of those snobs anyways.

[selfcontrolbuilders]

Self-Control Story, Branch 2 - Chapter 6: Stranded

The sound of waves slowly came into his audition. It was a calming, soothing sound. He felt like sleeping five more minutes… But he couldn’t. He felt like he had to do something… Something important… What was it…? Whatever it was it could wait a little…

-Hello? Are you still on this side of the world?-a slightly high-pitched voice asked-Are you okay?

He didn’t feel like moving, but he had. He tried to pull himself together and regain control of his body. With a bit of trouble, he managed to make his fingers twitch.

-Ah, so you are alive!-the voice said cheerfully.

He groaned as he struggled to get up. With some time and a little trouble he managed to get on his knees and see the owner of the voice’s feet. They wore sandals and a long… dress? He looked up to see the owner of the voice completely. Even though they looked slightly tired they smiled brightly, showing pointed fangs and perfectly white teeth. They had very long eyelashes, which prompted the builder apprentice to think it was a girl, but something was off were they one… Their amber-colored eyes looked down at him with a look of relief. A pair of pointed ears stuck out of a great amount of hair poking out in several ways. The piece of clothing still looked like a long-sleeved long white dress with the ends of it circled out in a triangle pattern. They were pale and a golden pendant hung from their neck, shining lively in comparison to the ill-like appearance of the bearer. Their hands were small and their fingers slender. The stranger started blushing.

-U-um… Can you stop staring at me like that-they said averting their gaze-It’s uncomfortable.

He averted his gaze… Whoever it was they were both on the same boat. Hating being stared at.

-Who are you, anyway? You were drowning not too long ago.

-Um…-good question, who was he…?-I… I’m Gelius.

-My name is Hargon-the other answered-I met someone on my way here, come, we’ll check on him just in case he hasn’t done… anything reckless.

The apprentice nodded and took their hand. Somehow, it felt safe.

-By the way, have you ever had that thing poking out of there-Hargon said pointing at a tail poking out of his attire.

-Ah, no, sorry. Um… there-he said hiding it.

They both got through a small cave hidden behind some sand. They met the one Hargon referred to when they crossed it. The man was standing on a notable rock and muttering things to himself. Gelius’ first impressions of that man was “Who is this weirdo with no shirt and a ponytail?” Then, his red eyes directed their gaze to them. Ice could feel himself starting to fangirl about the same weirdo he judged badly before. He felt his face heat up when he realize what he’d done… Before the boy came all the way there.

-Yo, Hargon, it seems you had some luck with the boy, didn’t you?

-Yes, I did have some luck. By the way, how’s the rest of the shore?

-There’s quite a thing over there-the boy said pointing at the other side of the shore.

Gelius was curious, what was this thing about? He was curious as to what it was the thing the stranger referred to. But he felt something pushing him back. He wanted but didn’t want to know. What was this strange feeling…? It was like dread. Did he know what was at the other side? Who knew? There was just one way of knowing it. Going to see it by his own eyes. By the time he gained back his senses the boy was waving a gloved hand at him.

-Hello? You there?

-Oh, um… Yeah, I was just… thinking.

-Oh, okay. I’m Malroth, and you?

-Gelius, my name’s Gelius.

-So… Want to see something gruesome?

Gelius didn’t answer. Usually he felt sick when it came to that. Injured, dead people… He felt the anxiety crawling up.

-Malroth, I don’t think he wants to see such a thing, he’s pale.

-Wasn’t he already pale? What’s the point on being paler than before?

-Well, it usually means you are not feeling well.

Malroth looked over at the builder apprentice. He indeed was paler than before, but color was coming back to his face. Not that it made a clear difference, he had always been very pale-skinned. Truth to be told, if he had any color it wasn’t thanks to genetics. Mother had described Father as very pale too. And his family in general was quite pale. In fact, his grandfather couldn’t stand outside during the Sun’s high hours for long because he got sun-burnt. Quite an issue for a builder like him, who was conditioned by weather to work. If it rained he usually didn’t build, and if it was very sunny he didn’t work either. Luckily, clouds were always passing by to cover the sunlight. Malroth looked quite tanned in comparison. He’d always envied those who could enjoy sunlight like that and not become walking burning tomatoes. He’d always wanted such a skin, not as delicate as his. He didn’t want to be like a damsel in distress, he wanted to be the hero that saved the world and made everyone happy… But over it all, he wanted a happy family proud of him.

-So, say, do you want to see it?-Malroth pushed the matter.

-Malroth, please-Hargon began but was cut off.

-Okay, fine I’ll go see it.

Malroth guided them to the other side of the shore, where there was a piece of that skeleton’s ship. There were also quite a lot of dead people.

-Talk about dead in the water, am I right?-Malroth said nudging Hargon with the elbow.

-Uh… Malroth, this is not to be taken lightly, we have about four corpses in our beach.

-Our? You own this place? Are you rich or something?-the builder questioned walking around the bodies to see if they were dead.

Hargon helped him see if there were any dead people. They lifted all of them and brought them over the dry area of the beach. They checked if any of them had pulse or breathed. Surprisingly, the last one they took, a pink-haired girl with a ponytail at one side of her head seemed to be still alive. Hargon’s hopes rose when they knew there was another one alive. They didn’t want to spend so much time with Malroth alone. They felt like they knew him from forever and have been together ever since they found each other in the Isle. There was something that made Hargon not want to spend so much time with somebody they’d grown fond of like that, since they were like best friends or siblings even: Malroth’s behavior. He was violent, destructive and… Well, had a strange conception of funny and other things. Contrastingly, they’d shown themselves calm and peaceful, always disposed to aid somebody.

-She’s still got seawater in her lungs-Hargon said after listening closely to her breathing-We should get it out in some way.

Hargon moved her so she was laying on the sand with her face facing the sky and positioned themselves over her. They brought their hands to the chest, and pushed so she’d spit the water. She started coughing it out shortly after. When she opened her eyes and saw the stranger over her and their hands on her chest she came to very rushed conclusions. She slapped them out of the way so hard they fell to the sand face-first and she ran to a room of sorts screaming. Hargon spat sand they’d taken in their mouth when they fell. The trio followed the girl until they got to the room she was hiding in.

-Hey, are you okay?-Gelius asked with a concerned tone.

-B-b-back off, you perverted pirates!-the pink-haired female shouted.

-I beg your pardon? What kind of term is the one you make use of?

-Oh, so now you go around being polite, you piece of degenerate rapist!

Hargon felt not only at a loss, but seriously insulted. All they’d done was try to help her out of a drowning process, was it that bad?

-I beg your pardon once again? What kind of evidence do you have on that accusation?

The girl puffed up her cheeks.

-You were shamelessly groping my chest and now you’re playing innocent? I’m very sure that had I been unconscious for a little more time you’d go ahead and do something worse!

-What?! After I tried to save you that’s how you thank me?! I am no degenerate that takes profit of other people!-Hargon said, snapping.

-Peace, please, peace-Gelius said-We can’t start arguing if we’re stuck here together. They did not try to rape you. They were just innocently pressing their hands against your chest to prompt the lungs to spit the water they had inside. There is no guilt by their side of the Balance.

Hargon directed him a look that said “What the hell is the Balance you talk about?”, but didn’t talk about the matter. The girl glared at the builder before she realized who he was.

-Wait, weren’t you that builder from Cantlin the monsters on the ship kept asking requests to?

Gelius nodded, smiling like a dork as if those had been good times.

-I couldn’t stand seeing how they ordered you around and seeing you work like a slave, it was quite nasty, wasn’t it?

-Actually, it was one of the best times I had in my life. You know, Cantlin’s demands for building have gone down lately, so… I guess I was begging for some work.

-You were actually begging them to kill you with such singing-the girl muttered under her breath.

-Either way, who are you?-Malroth said straight to the point.

-I’m Lulu, Mr. Shirtless-she said nonchalantly.

-I’m Malroth.

-Gelius.

-My name is Hargon.

Lulu looked at him with an “Are you serious?” expression. Hargon looked back at her confused.

-Seriously, how can I take seriously what you said about your innocence if you tell me you have the same name as the High Priest of the Children of Hargon on your name?

Perplexed, Hargon blinked a few times before processing what she said.

-I don’t have any children, I don’t know what you mean-he said.

Lulu glared at him.

-By the way, you haven’t answered my question about owning the island.

Everyone turned around to look at the builder perplexed. What did this have to do with the current situation?

-We do not-Malroth said-We just woke up here.

-I have a question, though. Why did you refer as they and them to me?

-Uh… Because I can’t discern your gender-Gelius answered.

-Well, to your information as far as I know my gender is masculine-Hargon remarked-So I should be directed as he or him.

Gelius nodded understanding and moved onto the next topic.

-Well, weird statements and names apart, we should focus on the fact we’re stuck here. We’re not going to survive like this, are we?

All of them nodded.

-No matter how much kelp we eat, we’ll run out of it-Hargon stated-Which means we should figure out another way of eating.

-Aside from that, I’m not willing to sleep on the floor-the pink-haired girl remarked-I come from an important family from Rippleport, I deserve a good bed.

-I need a way of storing stuff, four beds, something to cook with, a decent room and a way to get water we can drink-Gelius said-This is going to take a while.

-Does the oil I drained out of a slime serve for something?-Malroth said.

-It depends. Do you still have it?

Hargon and Malroth looked at each other.

-It fell to the floor-Malroth said.

-Had you heard me and emptied it on some kind of bottle you would not have had that problem.

-I can still drain another one-Malroth said, making Hargon face-palm.

-Malroth, you’ve been doing that for the last two days-he said.

-I can do it once more-he said smiling.

Hargon sighed and sat down.

-Well, you three have fun, I have had enough wandering for a couple of days.

-I’m staying too, actually-Lulu said-Could you fix the room first, Gelius?

Gelius muttered something under his breath that sounded quite rude, but agreed and started moving the planks of the ship from where they were to the little gaps. Once the place was fixed Gelius and Malroth went to take some slimes down to get oil. Hargon looked at the clouds from the inside of the little shelter. What wonders would be outside of this deserted island? It was something he wanted to know very badly, but he couldn’t just swim out of the island to another, he hadn’t that much stamina. Hargon had been curious. Ever since he woke up that day, he felt like he was forgetting something important, like he had to do something. It didn’t matter how much he tried to think about it, he didn’t know what was missing.

As the oil dropped to a little bottle Ice had, Malroth squeezed the slime with even more strength than he should. With the oil in the bottle they proceeded to try searching for other items. They eventually stumbled with some shells. Malroth examined it before kicking it, revealing it was a scallywinkle. Then something crossed the builder’s mind. He went to take it and examine it.

-It’s raw, but with some fire I think I can make it edible-he mumbled while pocketing his discovery-Three more will do.

They only found two more, since most of them had already been either washed away, kicked by Malroth while examining the beach or hidden beneath the sand. When they came back they found Lulu and Hargon having an argument.

-Well, you see, I’ve never ever had interaction with a girl in my life, so excuse me if  I’m not the gentleman you search for, okay?-Hargon shouted angrily over at the pink-haired girl.

-Oh, pardon me, after you spoke so politely I confused you with someone with actual manners, but it turns out those were only words.

-Well, I have not learned how to treat wealthy women because I never met one in my life! Stop rambling about my education and think, how would I ever be able to interact with a girl of your status in a deserted island, you bird-brain!?

Lulu gasped at the insult. What did he say? Hargon had really lost his cool there, it was true, nobody ever taught him how to treat noblewomen nicely, but there was an actually good reason behind. A knock on the door got both of them distracted from their fight. The builder and Malroth entered with a pile of wood and a bottle of oil. Both of the arguing parts looked at them with curiosity. Ice put the wood on the floor and emptied the bottle on the wood. He took out a pair of stones out of his pocket and lit up the fire by frothing them together. He then tossed the three scallywinkles onto the fire.

-Hey, hey! Gelius, the scalywinkles you picked up have…

-No, I put them in the fire on purpose.

Malroth instantly relaxed. He’d never seen how to cook something like that so he didn’t know you had to put something in a fire to get them cooked. Malroth smelled the air. It was the same salty smell, but with the disgusting smell of that thing. Malroth’s expression changed to one of disgust. What the hell was cooking? Hargon smelled it and made a face.

-What smells like the fart of a fish?-Hargon asked intrigued by the curious smell.

-I think it’s the scallywinkles I put on the bonfire. They never smelled quite well.

Hargon glared at the scallywinkles as if they were an offense to the world. He’d rather stick with kelp and dried seaweed. Or perhaps those monsters he’d seen in the wild… No. He wouldn’t hurt them unless they hurt him. He sat by the fire and extended his hands towards it. He felt warm for once in what felt like forever. He welcomed the feeling, since it felt quite nice. Lulu took a place next to him, near the corner to take the warmth and look at the cooking food. Malroth and Gelius were the only ones standing now.

-We have food and a room. Next up: Beds and water. How can I take salt from the sea water…?-Gelius thought aloud.

-That’s a nice question-he answered himself-We could make a complex purification system.

-Purification? Hm… You mean like filling something with sea water and channeling it through a crystallization process to take the salt off and using water as drink and salt as condiment?

-Correct, that is a brilliant way of depicting it.

Malroth, Hargon and Lulu looked with shocked expressions to Gelius, who seemed very happy with his statements and self-conversation.

-Alright, so… What do I base the channeling stuff on, I have no way of forging crystal here.

-Hum… You could always make a pipe system with the wood… Or take the stones and wood and create a forge yourself…

-Wait, every ship has glass on it, hasn’t it?

-I’m mostly certain they do have crystal, why?

-There could still be some here I can warm up and modify.

-Yeah, sounds logical, but on the other hand all of this is illogical.

-We can still try. We have a bonfire and the necessary tools except… A metal bar.

The young boy started looking at the sand with curiosity. He got down on all fours and started looking for something. A couple of hours later, he came back with a great amount of shards of crystal. Ice left them on the floor and went to look for a treasure chest he’d seen. He took it and brought it all the way to the room. He put it on one of the corners of said room and opened it. He started looking inside until he found something he wanted. There was a bar poking out of the inner structure. He took out the bar from there and pocketed his find.

Hargon had taken out the scallywinkles when he saw them turning a bit black and Gelius wasn’t coming. They were cooling on the floor because they were too hot for eating. The builder looked at them.

-You know, you have a good eye for this, perhaps I’ll make you toast more scallywinkles-Gelius said-I think you can eat them now. Now if you excuse me, I have some glass to mold.

Ice started dumping the crystal on the fire. With the metal piece he got from the treasure chest he started molding it into pipes and bottles.

-Why can’t you use the one you already have?-Malroth asked seeing that he was making another one.

-I can’t use the same bottle for two things at the same time-Gelius answered while molding some more glass.

Once he was finished he took some more wood from the bag and started creating a home-made distillation system. He took a pile of wood and put it beneath the bottle he’d made and took a stick from the lit up bonfire to light up the other one. He took the bottle from the system and filled it with seawater. He put it back on its place and waited to see if it worked. About twenty minutes later the water started boiling, leaving salt behind. Ice then put the other bottle, filled with more seawater on the upper part of the system, making the poured water act as refrigerator and the water started flowing onto the empty bottle he’d previously attached. How did he get so much glass from the ship’s remains was a mystery. Slowly, the bottle started filling itself.

He then ran off to get some dry grass and Malroth followed almost instantly. Lulu and Hargon were left behind nibbling at their scallywinkles, which were much better than kelp in Hargon’s opinion.

-They may be slimy, but at least these have some taste that doesn’t resemble that of seaweeds. That is a good change.

Lulu didn’t answer. She mostly agreed they were plainly nice and a bit slimy, but it was the only food they could get. Malroth and Gelius were taking some grass out of the shore. It was dry, but it was that or sleep on sand… They found quite a bunch but after Ice did the calculations…

-We only have for three beds. Should I just go and use sand?

-Nah, we can work a solution out-Malroth said confidently-Hargon and I are just like brothers, so we might sleep together on one of them.

With Malroth’s reassurance he and Ice made their way back to the place they’d made their house. He got working on the bench right away, creating the plans to make a consistent regular pile of straw. He then got in and dropped the straw slowly so it gained the shape of a half-comfortable mattress. He did this process thrice. There were three straw beds but no more straw in his hands, just like he’d thought.

-Well, that’s all we can have. I can sleep on the floor-Gelius started to be cut off by an angered Malroth.

-I already told you Hargon and I are fine by just sleeping together, we’re just like brothers!

-You look like the type who takes two beds for himself-Gelius answered.

-Then sleep with me too, won’t you? You said you were okay with the floor so I think sleeping with a bed-occupier is fine too, isn’t it?

Hargon sighed. Gelius wasn’t meaning that at all. Did Malroth understand the word privacy? The answer is he didn’t know about it. But… Then why did he know about it? He felt as if many things he wanted to understand were way beyond his grasp. What brought him here if there’s nothing here in the first place? How does he know things Malroth doesn’t? He couldn’t help himself but feel strange. A lot of things escaped his grasp.

-So, tell me, who’s sleeping with who then?-Lulu said.

-Tell me how you’re better off, sleeping with someone or alone-Gelius said.

-I want to sleep alone, I can’t sleep with a boy in the same bed as me, especially that degenerated.

-I’m no degenerated!-Hargon protested-It’s not my fault I don’t know ladies’ etiquette when I live with this weirdo over here!-he said pointing at Malroth.

-I’m a weirdo now? Then what are you, wearing a dress around? You look like a girl, you idiot!

-Oh, so I’m supposed to look like other people want me to now? Go out of this place if you’re not comfortable!

Gelius sighed. This was beginning to look like a family full of siblings with no parents to look after the kids.

-Peace here, please. We’re stuck together in this island and last thing we need is an argument. So, Lulu is not sleeping with none of us… Let’s see, we have to discuss what we’re going to do now.

-I’m fine sleeping with Malroth, but only if he apologizes.

-I have to apologize? You’re the one who should apologize in the first place!

The builder took a deep breath and tried to pull up some more patience.

-Okay, at the count of three, you’ll apologize at the same time, then you’ll be even and will sleep together, I’ll take the other bed. One, two, three.

-I’m sorry-both of them said, but not sounding really genuine.

-Hey, Gelius I’ve seen you build for a while now… Can I… try? I mean, I already mentioned I didn’t know a builder in my whole life so… I spent the last five hour making sure you didn’t get killed by slimes and I wanted to try what you do.

-Sure, try it on that bench outside, I’ll overlook the process.

They both got out. Hargon thought about it for a while. He got out and saw Malroth hitting with a hammer whatever he was trying to build. He felt it was exactly the thing he wasn’t supposed to do. Gelius’ face was also a poem. Hargon neared to watch the process. Once Malroth was finished he gave up and gave Gelius what was left of the materials. The builder looked at it and seemed to visualize something instantly. He wrote it down on the book he was carrying around, which seemed to be in mint condition despite the fact he’d been underwater a couple of hours ago carrying that thing around. Hargon neared even more out of interest to the point he was next to Malroth watching how he created whatever he was making.

Some minutes later he handed over an oaken club to Malroth. Malroth looked at it and asked surprised if it was for him. The builder nodded with the same dopey smile he’d been wearing this whole time. Were all builders this dorky, was the first though that crossed Hargon’s mind before asking a question not even he was expecting.

-Can I… Can I try?-the young human asked pointing at the working bench.

Gelius nodded and handed him over some materials. Then a thought crossed Hargon’s mind. He had some kelp, surely that could be used for something? Hargon took the wood, sand, kelp and other stuff he’d brought with him before the builder got here. He started looking at them before inspiration came and took the kelp and some dried seaweed. He asked for a bowl that was granted by the builder and started mashing it inside that bowl with the hammer Malroth had tossed aside. Once he got a consistent mass of seaweed and kelp he asked for a place to let it dry. Ice brought it next to the bonfire. It turned into some kind of dust after a couple of minutes. Hargon asked for some water and the builder handed over the bottle of water. Again, he asked for a bottle, this time empty. The young apprentice took out some of the left out glass and molded another bottle. Hargon poured some water and the powder. He put a finger over the bottle’s mouth and started shaking it to mix it. The water turned into some kind of green thing.

-Malroth, are you going to eat that scallywinkle?-Hargon asked.

-No. It’s slimy and weird. I don’t want it.

Hargon took it and squeezed it to pour whatever got out of it into the bottle. He once again mixed the liquid and looked at it.

-The only thing that is left is a magical touch, but I do not know which spell is the one that needs to be cast. Does anybody have something to seal this?

The builder lent him a piece of wood that had been sculpted purposefully to seal a bottle. Hargon put it on the bottle before pocketing it Rubiss knows where. His ears then perked up. He could feel a presence not too far and very different to the ones slimes gave away. Malroth seemed to feel it too, since they both looked in the same direction. They nodded and ran off towards the direction, the builder running behind them. When they got there there were some monsters Hargon found familiar yet he hadn’t seen any in his life. The monster that seemed the leader squeaked something and started the attack. Hargon furrowed his brows.

-Don’t use that language!

Hargon jumped and kicked one of the slimes. He proceeded to punch the rat and effectively trigger a multifeet ability. Gelius started slicing down while saying sorry to each slime he took on when he got there and Malroth… Mashed the enemies in his own style. After all monsters were defeated, Gelius stuck his hand out and Malroth and Hargon felt both the urge to “slap” it. But when they tried, they collided with each other.

-Woah, Hargon, what the hell?

-I could say the same to you, what are you doing?

They glared at each other. Gelius gestured them to look at him.

-Look, let’s… fix this. You both wanted to do it, didn’t you? Then… How about this, I stick both of my hands out and you take one each.

The young builder did like he said and the others simply followed nature’s impulses and hit them with their own.

-What was that anyway? Why did I feel the irresistible urge to slap it?-Malroth asked curious.

-It’s called high five. It’s a thing friends do to celebrate a job they did well-Gelius explained-And since I consider you both my friends now, you can call me Ice.

Both of them nodded, taking in the explanation.

-I never considered myself the touchy-feely type, but I guess I can make an exception for this-Malroth said.

Hargon looked at the place the rat had died. He muttered something along the lines of “You deserved that”. Ice raised a brow, but shook it off. It had gotten dark while they’d been fighting and when they came back to their shelter found a very angry Lulu.

-Why did you run away when I was telling you what you had to do when you wake up tomorrow morning? And why are you all covered in oil and dirt?-Lulu scolded them.

-There were some monsters outside. So we mashed them-Malroth answered simply-Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I’m about to conk out any second now, so I’m going to go sleep. Tomorrow I’d like to explore the island with you Ice, Hargon and I’ve had enough of exploring together for a while, haven’t we?

-Possibly, but introducing the place to him might make it fun. Anyway-he yawned-I am as sleepy as you are Malroth. Good night to everyone.

Hargon neared one of the straw beds and sat down on it. Malroth did the same but between that straw bed and the other one next to it. Lulu took the free one and that left Ice to take the one Malroth had half taken. During that night Malroth ended up hugging both Hargon and Ice, action that Ice answered by hugging the hand and Hargon simply laid his head on Malroth’s chest like it was a pillow. 

First

Previous

Next (Not So Fast, Scion of mine, have a bit more of patience)

[artemissarrows]

SOTUS The Series: Patriarchy & Queerness As Redemption

Okay, it’s been a little bit! But I have certainly been consuming a lot of queer content I need to discuss. First up is SOTUS The Series! It’s a Thai boy love (BL) show about an engineeing college that has a super-intense hazing culture. One of the freshman (Kongpob/Kong for short) stands up to the hazers who make them do endless squats and such….and ends up falling in love with the head hazer (Arthrit). It’s a romcom so you probably know where this is going.

I *hope* this goes without saying, but HAZING IS NOT OK and should not be lifted up as a normal part of a university experience. It is abuse, full-stop. One of the yuckiest things about the show for me is how the administration is totally and completely fine with it. People who are invested in the hazing culture (and, frankly, the showrunners) try to make the case that it teaches teamwork and problem-solving and stuff like that. Not really! More importantly, it’s incredibly damaging to participants and there are a lot less harmful ways to teach those lessons, if they’re really so important.

We could just leave it there--on a surface level, it’s honestly pretty enjoyable. The two leads have pretty solid chemistry and are quite believable (at least until the very end, when they’re equally as awkard three years on. But as my partner Mx. Arrows pointed out, they are painfully awkward engineer nerds on top of everything else, so maybe that’s actually realistic. Anyway.) It’s funny. It’s heartwarming. It’s gayyyyy. The supporting friend characters are also kind of fun and I like them.

But there are some other noteworthy things going on here that I’m interested in teasing apart, and which I’m not entirely sure the show intended. Let’s do that! Lots of spoilers after the cut (but again, it’s a romcom, there’s only so many things that can be spoiled). Note that I have only watched Season 1, I know there’s another season.

It’s about the patriarchy.

The more I thought about it, the more it seems reasonable to see the SOTUS (hazing) system as a useful dramatization of the patriarchy. When I say “the patriarchy,” I mean a system of dominance that gives men power over women; SOTUS also privileges older people over younger, straight people over queer people, etc.etc.. Here are some of the ways that we can see this system of dominance playing out in the structure of the hazing system:

The SOTUS system is run by men, exclusively. There are 6 or 7 head hazers, and they are all men

They belittle, berate, and punish their younger charges for doing things like looking the wrong way, singing slightly out of tune, or questioning their authority to mete out dubious punishments for nothing at all

It’s quasi-military, with uniforms for both the hazers and the freshman, and endless drills and the blind loyalty and authority that comes with military order

Women who are not freshman are present in the second tier of hazers, beyond the men. They are ancillary to the men, and their helpers. In particular they are the medics: they ensure that the hazers can assign their punishments etc. while also ensuring that it doesn’t get too out of hand and that no one gets hurt too badly. Without their assistance, the men could not do what they do, and could not enforce this system.

The head hazer, Arthrit, also uses sexism and homophobia as weapons to enforce control and order. Of course, he’s aware that the structure of SOTUS is headed by men. But he also taunts the freshmen in these ways too. At the beginning of the year, the hazers demand that the freshmen fill books with upperclass students’ signatures. In exchange for his signature, Arthrit demands that May, a female student who asks him, give him her number and take her picture. She’s clearly uncomfortable with the interaction; it happens in the lunchroom and she’s one woman who’s the object of the male gaze of 6 or 7 seniors. In that same scene, Arthrit also harasses Kong in a homophobic way. Again to get his siguature, he forces Kong to shout “I like guys!” three times loudly, and then to ask something like 10 male students if they’ll be his boyfriend. (He then doesn’t give his signature.) Mind you, this is something like day 2 or 3 of school in the show.

Arthrit is one repressed dude. More on that later.

It’s Also About Cycles Of Abuse

We’ve established that the SOTUS is all about dominance and control based on gender and other heirarchies--but that’s just the system in one particular point. What happens to this system over time? That’s where we get into cycles of abuse, and how SOTUS harms not just the freshmen who are on the receiving end of the abuse, but also harms the hazers themselves. Let’s look at Arthrit, the head hazer/one-half of the lead couple.

He’s an extremely homophobic and self-hating gay, at least to start with. Per above, he actively promulgates homophobia. He’s also deeply uncomfortable with expressing affection toward men, and Kongpob in partiuclar--though apparently fine with grabbing Kongpob’s shirt when Kongpob stands up to him during a hazing session. When they share their first kiss after Arthrit finally confesses his feelings, Kong tries to hold his arm and hand and he keeps shoving him off. Then they go on another date, where they meet a fellow student at the movies and Arthrit lies and says it’s not a date. (This is not the first not-not date they’ve been on together...this is not at all relatable. Not at all ^_^) Anyway, it takes him and painful time to do that.

He is a seriously repressed and emotionally stunted person, and being the head hazer is a major part of why. As head hazer, he berates the freshman, he enforces order, he snaps at them, he plays games where he makes them humiliate themselves for his attention and benefit. He is comfortable ordering people around. But when it comes to being in touch with his own feelings, he’s hopeless. It takes him forever to realize he has feelings for Kong. He’s deeply confused about it, up to the very second he kisses him. His friend Knott literally has to tell him to talk through difficulties with Kong and not let them stew. He spends most of the show running away from Kong, hiding from Kong, or otherwise finding ways to not open up to him. It would be funny, if it weren’t deeply sad.

Friends, this is classic toxic masculinity. At least his friend Knott has his head on straight and gives some decent advice.

I honestly get the sense that Arthrit is a quiet, introverted, and smart guy, who felt like he was forced by duty to become the head hazer, the one everyone looks up to. Even when he’s with his hazing friends, he seems aloof, apart, and alone. But guess what: he made that choice himself! When he’s sick--because he ran 54 LAPS IN A DAY for a hazing challenge--we see that he’s into comic books, and action figures. We learn that he also gets good grades, so is obviously smart. And even when he talks to his friend--the former head hazer who recruited him--about his feelings for Kong, his friend tells him, “be tough.” (His friend also implies that he hasn’t dated much...no surprise there.) Sigh.

Are we meant to envy Arthrit, feel sorry for him, or both? He’s at the top of the social structure of the school, but he doesn’t seems particularly contented, and in fact seems disconnected. He’s the person who seems to have it all, but has nothing. I’m somewhat curious if others share this reading of him as a discontented bully who longs for human connection.

We can also think about the succession of the head hazers, and how the head hazer before Arthrit chose him, and how Arthrit chose Kong. The one before Arthrit chose him because when he punished Arthrit for speaking out by telling him to greet a banyan tree for three whole hours, Arthrit did it. Then Arthrit chooses Kong because he speaks out and heckles Arthrit. It’s super interesting to me, but I think the thing is to identify people who have strong enough feelings about the system--and care enough--that speak out and therefore demonstrate leadership skills. They then turn those feelings of rebellion back into the system and coopt them. Toward the end of the show Kong starts to feel more invested in the hazing system and I was hoping that he would try to reform it; he doesn’t seem to that much. Kong says that he likes the teamwork and problem-solving aspects of hazing; he could do those things as head hazer and take the abuse out, but he doesn’t. Cooptation.

It’s Also About The Redemptive Power Of Queerness And Queer Love

This says it all.

They’re at a party, and someone asks Arthrit if he and Kong are dating. He says, “so what?” and throws his arm around Kong’s shoulder--and Kong seems pleasantly surprised that he’s able to do this publicly. This is just ugh, so beautiful, and Krist/Arthrit acts it so incredibly well. It’s truly the first time we see Arthrit truly, hugely, bashfully smile, in the whole show. It’s always been a sardonic smile, or a joke at someone else’s expense. But here, he’s just experiencing happiness and joy, even if he’s still quite shy about it and can’t look people in the eye while he hangs his arm over Kong’s shoulder. Queerness as redemption is a trope I wish would become a thing!!

PS, here are some screenshots of Arthrit making fun of Kong’s food habits. Enjoy the fluff <3

[konigsbergg]

B I N G O

abcs questions ; still accepting

B: Basics

what is their hair color?White, due to albinism. If he was not born with OCA-1 albinism he’d most likely just be a dirty blonde. And he once dyed his hair and instantly regretted it, it was a terrible decision. Black hair does NOT suit him, he much prefers it being white because he sometimes can get a senior discount because of it. 

what is their eye color?A very pale but bright blue! It kind of gives him crazy looking eyes, because he also doesn’t blink much and his pupils are really tiny always. An A10 on this sheet! 

how tall are they?179.83 cm, 5'10.8" exactly lol. He claims to be anywhere from 5′11-6 foot however. His grindr says hes 6 foot, but his grindr also says a lot of other LIES. 

how old are they?He doesn’t really know, he lost track, but his guess is somewhere around 1,800 years old, give or take a few. He appears to be around his mid thirties however, and his passport says he’s 32 but he looks just a bit older (35-36 is my guess lol)

how much do they weigh?appears to be 70kg, 155lbs, due to nation bone and muscle density actually weighs 91kg, 200lbs. I have a headcanon that nations are much heavier than they appear due to having much higher bone and muscle density than humans, giving them that extra strength and force. So Gilbert’s around 50 pounds heavier than he looks! 

I: In-the-closet

what is their sexuality?In Gilbert’s own words, he is schwul (German word for gay). He is in English, a homosexual! 

have they ever questioned their sexuality?Not really, he always knew he was gay but didn’t really want to accept it for a while. 

have they ever questioned their gender?Yes, a few times, but mostly because he didn’t want to be a gay man and wished he could just love men and have it be accepted, thus he did feel like he wanted to be a woman a few times in his life but ONLY for that. Other than that he’s very comfortable with being a man, homophobic society and his own toxic masculine ideals aside lol. 

would/was their family be okay with them being LGBT?Yeah! Lol all of his family is LGBT too. 

how long would/did it take for them to come out?Gilbert was personally in the closet for most of his life, only in the past 300 years or so did he start going in and out again. It really depended on his company. Around other gays, he was always out. Around cishets, he’s only been out publicly in the past 15-20 or so years. But he never hid it too well either, even though Gilbert think’s hes total trade, lol. Coming out to himself took a long time, and it was a process encompassing several centuries for him to fully accept himself as a gay man, and now that he has he’s much happier and confident in himself. 

N: Never Have I Ever

what would they never do?He would never betray his family, that’s the first that comes to mind. 

what have they never done that they want to do?He’s never done professional fighting, but he’d reaaally love to. 

is there anything they absolutely can’t believe people do?Be heterosexual, lol. 

what is the most embarrassing thing they’ve done?In his long, long life there have been many embarrassing incidents but he once puked on his date because there were carrots in his food, which he did not know of, and he hates carrots. 

have they done anything they thought they’d never do?Get dissolved, lol. He never thought he’d ever get to see clearly, but he has contacts now so his eyesight isn’t that bad anymore!

G: Gorgeous

what is their most attractive external feature?His eyes and jawline, tbh. Also he has a REALLY nice butt, lol. 

what is the most attractive part of their personality?I’d say his charisma and goofiness, he can really make his partners laugh and he has as strange, infectious charisma that he isn’t all that aware of but comes out when he is in a good mood. 

what benefits come with being their friend?Undying loyalty, he WILL cut a bitch for you and he WILL help you out if you ever ask him! 

what parts of them do they like and dislike?Hooo boy. Loaded question. Gilbert never really thought of himself as an attractive person, he knew he had his moments and thought himself powerful and all that, but most of his likes were about his body, his strength, his muscles, stuff he had control over. This was why he became a bodybuilder in the 1700s as a hobby, he was dedicated to making himself look good and fit to his own standards, as he could control this. He has a love/hate relationship with his face, however. Especially nowadays, as it’s changed so much and now bears a great huge hard to ignore scar. He used to like his face more, but due to acne and pock marks and other scars and his albinism, he never was too confident in it, but never really thought much of it until the invention of photographs and the like. Nowadays, he really doesn’t… appreciate his face as he once did, he has no mirrors in his household and doesn’t like photographs of himself- even though he has been asked to model before for his very unique features. Gilbert values and likes his body a lot more than he does his face. Specifically, he likes his ass, his abs, his back muscles and really all of his muscles. He’d like to have better abs he thinks however, sometimes. For his face, he likes his eyes, his eyebrows and his nose, which he thinks is cool. He doesn’t like on his body a lot of his scars, mostly for the memories he holds, and he especially doesn’t like his largest face scar (the one on his nose he likes, however). He doesn’t like his acne scarring, his teeth, his ears or his expressions, these are the main ones that stick out in his mind. 

what parts of others do they envy?Their skin, lol. He wishes he had nicer skin, his skin is awful but he doesn’t really know what to do with it. He envies the muscles of men who are bigger than him, occasionally, and he envies people’s teeth a lot because  he thinks his teeth make him look like a shark. 

O: Optimism

are they optimistic or pessimistic?He used to be quite optimistic, tbh, but nowadays especially in the last century has grown to be quite pessimistic. 

are they openly optimistic, throwing it on others?Not really. He is optimistic if he actually believes it, but Gilbert tells it as he sees it and if he sees something as a negative he will voice it.

are they good at giving advice?Depends on the advice. He is old enough now to have quite a bit of wisdom, tbh, which he does offer but only if he really thinks its needed. He’s good with advice for things he already knows about, but things like relationship advice he’s terrible with. 

is there anyone in their life that throws optimism on them?His little brother, Germany/Ludwig! Kid’s a ball of sunshine that Gilbert sorely needs. 

were they always optimistic?As a child, yes, and as a young man, somewhat, but optimism isn’t a trait usually associated with Gilbert. 

[screwyourbinary]

aCK sorry to bother you but ive been questioning me gender for a bit (used to id as genderqueer lesbian although thats never felt Right like Ever) and then i went on a film trip for Skool and there was a Certain Guy there and i dont know what the FUCK emotion i was feeling & whether that was attraction or gender envy or whatever the hell but its been driving me Crazy since. do you have any advice on what gender envy vs attraction feels like, at least in your experience??

ok ok here’s the thing: of course these things vary from person to person, but in my case gender envy and attraction are closely connected. i haven’t touched this blog in ages and since then i’ve realized that my nb experience.... borders being binary??? like i identify as Not Quite male. also when i made this blog i identified as asexual, but things have changed and i now identify as bisexual. from what you described this was a singular experience which makes things kind of difficult when you’re trying to figure things out? like for me i had to eventually realize that every single person i’ve tried to emulate the appearance of was male, and that most of those people i also felt at least mildly attracted to. like i guess try and think about it like that if you can?? like “do i wish i looked like that?? do i want [insert romantic/sexual thing] with this guy??” 

i’m sure you know that gender and sexuality are just Difficult and can take years of questioning, but i just also wanted to add that you don’t need to use labels. like most of the agony i experienced during my questioning process was over the fact that none of the labels i tried felt right. i kept switching from label to label being like “maybe this one will fit better??” and sometimes i did have moments of like “oh this is a good label” but eventually i realized that my experience was more complex than any existing label and i didn’t want to confine it like that. no one is forcing you to pick a label for your gender/sexuality except yourself. i do use the terms “nonbinary” and “demiboy” very lightly for myself but i don’t make that the forefront of my identity because that’s not what feels comfortable for me. if you can find a label that feels right for you, that’s great, but just keep in mind that you don’t have to. you can just exist and acknowledge that you don’t have a typical gender experience. gender questioning is all about what feels comfortable for you. 

as for sexuality, i also know many people that choose not to label their sexuality, which is of course just as valid. try not to force a label! also, something i've noticed about my sexuality that i'll just throw in here, of course bi/pan are functionally the same but i wanted to just clarify that for me i don't feel attraction to all types of people since i don't tend feel attraction to particularly masculine people?? i am WEAK for feminine guys a lot of the time, which is also closely related to my own gender... i tend to tell cis people that i'm a feminine guy to oversimplify it. but yea the point i’m trying to make here is that you can use labels however the hell you want to use them. i experience attraction to people of all genders, but it gets more complicated than that under the surface.

anyways this was probably far too much information but i hope this helps anyways!!

[kayawagner]

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on game creators from underrepresented populations primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at headgnome@gnomestew.com. – Head Gnome John

Meet Brie

brie

Brie is a game designer, editor, and journalist. They currently have a blog at briecs.com which features interviews and thoughts, a Patreon to support it at Patreon.com/briecs, and an itchio where their games are featured at briecs.itch.io.

@briecs on twitter

briecs.com

briecs.itch.io

briecs @ Patreon

Talking With Brie

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work. 

I’m Brie Sheldon, a tabletop game designer, editor, and journalist. I’ve been working in games since like 2011 or so, on everything from more traditionally structured and complex games to simple narrative games. I write smaller games for my Thoughty. I worked on the main design team for the  Turn’s core mechanic with Struggles and Powers and the 2d6+1d6 rolling mechanic is basically “Well I guess Powered by the Apocalypse is cool but what if I just took this, and I stomped on it, and make this mean something completely different,” and I love it. 

Share2

Tweet11

+11

Reddit1

Email

Sometimes breaking things is such a brilliant way to create newer, better things.

6) How does gender/queerness fit into your games?

Some of my work is about examining things about ourselves, including our gender and orientation, but I don’t know if it’s obvious. One of my original lonely games, Locked Away, which is in the Of the Woods collection, is actually about the loss of innocence and the familial suspicion when there’s social deviance. briecs.itch.io, and doing a project on teaching leadership through games. I’m trying to work on some smaller games as well, collaborations and some personal stuff. I am finishing grad school so my free time is a little limited, but I am hoping that soon I’ll be able to dig in a little more deeply!

11) Who/what games are some of your influences?

Some of the designers I particularly like are Nathan Paoletta and Jason Morningstar, Aura Belle. I try not to get too into the loving-designer culture in part because people are Notoriously Disappointing, and because I don’t want to design just like anyone else. I really love elements of these designer’s work, though – and I also just like how they do their work. Aura designs in a very visceral way – something I’d love to be known for but it’s not quite me. I’ve tried it, didn’t go.

Nathan creates clever designs integrated with visual design, which I envy but I’m not a visual designer so that’s harder for me. Jason does sooooo much research, which will never happen for me (that’s why I design what I know most of the time). Everyone has their own style, I guess? If anything, I’m more likely to design in rejection of someone else’s work (more destruction), and for politeness’ sake I’m not about to say whose work made me mad enough to make something.

As far as specific games, I like some thematic stuff like Shadowrun’s setting is great, Sagas of the Icelanders is awesome in the way it handles gender and social norms, and I try to learn from everything without copying. It’s sometimes hard because you see stuff and you’re like “oo cool I wanna do that too!” but then you’re like “I wanna do my own thing!” For me though, a lot of the time it’s like, “this pisses me off for [any given reason]! I gotta do something about that!” It’s fun that way, though.

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series.  You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at headgnome@gnomestew.com.

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[kayawagner]

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on game creators from underrepresented populations primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at headgnome@gnomestew.com. – Head Gnome John

Meet Brie

brie

Brie is a game designer, editor, and journalist. They currently have a blog at briecs.com which features interviews and thoughts, a Patreon to support it at Patreon.com/briecs, and an itchio where their games are featured at briecs.itch.io.

@briecs on twitter

briecs.com

briecs.itch.io

briecs @ Patreon

Talking With Brie

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work. 

I’m Brie Sheldon, a tabletop game designer, editor, and journalist. I’ve been working in games since like 2011 or so, on everything from more traditionally structured and complex games to simple narrative games. I write smaller games for my Thoughty. I worked on the main design team for the  Turn’s core mechanic with Struggles and Powers and the 2d6+1d6 rolling mechanic is basically “Well I guess Powered by the Apocalypse is cool but what if I just took this, and I stomped on it, and make this mean something completely different,” and I love it. 

Share2

Tweet11

+11

Reddit1

Email

Sometimes breaking things is such a brilliant way to create newer, better things.

6) How does gender/queerness fit into your games?

Some of my work is about examining things about ourselves, including our gender and orientation, but I don’t know if it’s obvious. One of my original lonely games, Locked Away, which is in the Of the Woods collection, is actually about the loss of innocence and the familial suspicion when there’s social deviance. briecs.itch.io, and doing a project on teaching leadership through games. I’m trying to work on some smaller games as well, collaborations and some personal stuff. I am finishing grad school so my free time is a little limited, but I am hoping that soon I’ll be able to dig in a little more deeply!

11) Who/what games are some of your influences?

Some of the designers I particularly like are Nathan Paoletta and Jason Morningstar, Aura Belle. I try not to get too into the loving-designer culture in part because people are Notoriously Disappointing, and because I don’t want to design just like anyone else. I really love elements of these designer’s work, though – and I also just like how they do their work. Aura designs in a very visceral way – something I’d love to be known for but it’s not quite me. I’ve tried it, didn’t go.

Nathan creates clever designs integrated with visual design, which I envy but I’m not a visual designer so that’s harder for me. Jason does sooooo much research, which will never happen for me (that’s why I design what I know most of the time). Everyone has their own style, I guess? If anything, I’m more likely to design in rejection of someone else’s work (more destruction), and for politeness’ sake I’m not about to say whose work made me mad enough to make something.

As far as specific games, I like some thematic stuff like Shadowrun’s setting is great, Sagas of the Icelanders is awesome in the way it handles gender and social norms, and I try to learn from everything without copying. It’s sometimes hard because you see stuff and you’re like “oo cool I wanna do that too!” but then you’re like “I wanna do my own thing!” For me though, a lot of the time it’s like, “this pisses me off for [any given reason]! I gotta do something about that!” It’s fun that way, though.

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series.  You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at headgnome@gnomestew.com.

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[kayawagner]

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on game creators from underrepresented populations primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at headgnome@gnomestew.com. – Head Gnome John

Meet Brie

brie

Brie is a game designer, editor, and journalist. They currently have a blog at briecs.com which features interviews and thoughts, a Patreon to support it at Patreon.com/briecs, and an itchio where their games are featured at briecs.itch.io.

@briecs on twitter

briecs.com

briecs.itch.io

briecs @ Patreon

Talking With Brie

1) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work. 

I’m Brie Sheldon, a tabletop game designer, editor, and journalist. I’ve been working in games since like 2011 or so, on everything from more traditionally structured and complex games to simple narrative games. I write smaller games for my Thoughty. I worked on the main design team for the  Turn’s core mechanic with Struggles and Powers and the 2d6+1d6 rolling mechanic is basically “Well I guess Powered by the Apocalypse is cool but what if I just took this, and I stomped on it, and make this mean something completely different,” and I love it. 

Share

Tweet7

+11

Reddit1

Email

Sometimes breaking things is such a brilliant way to create newer, better things.

6) How does gender/queerness fit into your games?

Some of my work is about examining things about ourselves, including our gender and orientation, but I don’t know if it’s obvious. One of my original lonely games, Locked Away, which is in the Of the Woods collection, is actually about the loss of innocence and the familial suspicion when there’s social deviance. briecs.itch.io, and doing a project on teaching leadership through games. I’m trying to work on some smaller games as well, collaborations and some personal stuff. I am finishing grad school so my free time is a little limited, but I am hoping that soon I’ll be able to dig in a little more deeply!

11) Who/what games are some of your influences?

Some of the designers I particularly like are Nathan Paoletta and Jason Morningstar, Caitlynn Belle. I try not to get too into the loving-designer culture in part because people are Notoriously Disappointing, and because I don’t want to design just like anyone else. I really love elements of these designer’s work, though – and I also just like how they do their work. Caitie designs in a very visceral way – something I’d love to be known for but it’s not quite me. I’ve tried it, didn’t go.

Nathan creates clever designs integrated with visual design, which I envy but I’m not a visual designer so that’s harder for me. Jason does sooooo much research, which will never happen for me (that’s why I design what I know most of the time). Everyone has their own style, I guess? If anything, I’m more likely to design in rejection of someone else’s work (more destruction), and for politeness’ sake I’m not about to say whose work made me mad enough to make something.

As far as specific games, I like some thematic stuff like Shadowrun’s setting is great, Sagas of the Icelanders is awesome in the way it handles gender and social norms, and I try to learn from everything without copying. It’s sometimes hard because you see stuff and you’re like “oo cool I wanna do that too!” but then you’re like “I wanna do my own thing!” For me though, a lot of the time it’s like, “this pisses me off for [any given reason]! I gotta do something about that!” It’s fun that way, though.

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series.  You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at headgnome@gnomestew.com.

Gnome Stew Notables – Brie Sheldon published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com