#cishet i’ve met. ESPECIALLY considering she’s in her 50s

[mars-ipan]

y’know i think the most annoying thing about trying to discuss reproductive rights with cis people is the complete and utter refusal to include trans people in the discussion. like they will only ever say “women” and if you dare to point it out it’s “well this is all being done to control women” or “‘people with vaginas’/‘people assigned female at birth’ is way too wordy” it drives me fucking crazy

like first off do you seriously think that the people who seek to remove bodily autonomy from women have nothing against trans people. do you think they hold zero ill will towards us. also do you think they view trans afabs as anything other than women.

secondly. NOBODY IS ASKING YOU TO USE BIG WORDY PHRASES LITERALLY JUST SAY “PEOPLE” INSTEAD OF “WOMEN.” WE LITERALLY JUST DON’T WANT TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THIS BECAUSE WE ARE ALSO BEING HURT WE JUST WANT SOME GODDAMN SOLIDARITY IN THIS BITCH. LIKE ACTUALLY JUST FUCKING SAY “PEOPLE” IT SAVES EVERYONE FROM WEIRD LOOPHOLES AND ALSO ENFORCES THAT WOMEN ARE PEOPLE FOR FUCK’S SAKEEEEE

[inkk7]

Orchid and Serenity have finished their picnic on the ground, and decided to move to the communal picnic table to continue talking.

Serenity: So, tell me more about what happened after you moved away from Newcrest. I know you met Arianna and Rae and you all became fast friends in high school, but what else?

Orchid: Oh, there’s not much else, I developed my love for plants and nature though! Dad’s job in Conservation became his whole life, he was taking on lots of hours to cover the hefty living expenses of Sulani so it was basically just me around the house (except when Rae or Arianna came over). I spent my spare time gardening or flower arranging. Actually, lately, I’ve gotten into cross-stitching because of a gen ed I took freshman year! What about you? What happened to you after I moved to Sulani?

Serenity: In all honesty, not much. I continued to be in love with you for a few years. Once I got a phone I considered reaching out to you on Social Bunny, but I didn’t want to bother you or something, especially if you were with someone.

Orchid: I felt the same way! Not about the being in love with you part, but I didn’t want to bother you or reconnect without being able to see you again. I thought it was best to leave the past in the past. I guess the universe just wasn’t done with us yet.

Serenity: *takes Orchid’s hand* I think so too…so tell me about Felix.

Orchid: *pulls her hand away immediately* What?! Felix? What about him?

Serenity: Oh please, you said you were fresh off being in love with someone, and I saw how awkward you two interacted at the juice-kegger. You were in love with him, right?

Orchid: Uh, yes, but I–I think I like you now, why do you want to know about him?

Serenity: Well, normally people who like each other share about their past relationships, right? I haven’t been in a relationship before, I’ve only ever loved you. I was just curious about how you fell for a 50-something-year-old man seemingly out of the blue.

Orchid is hesitant, struggling with how to share the story without blowing Felix’s cover.

Orchid: Well I…okay, I guess I should share. I fell for Felix a little before Freshman year. He was living in Britechester well before we started school. I…scoped out the city before I decided on the University of Britechester. I came across Felix in…the library. He seemed to be doing the same thing I was, scoping out the university before attending.

Orchid’s brain feels like imploding after trying to explain how she fell in love in a discrete way. How can she explain that she fell in love with a stranger over a biography about him?

Orchid: Um…he was different. He…was so incredible.

Serenity: Incredible? How?

Orchid: Shit, uh, he…I fell in love from a distance. Not in a stalker-y way. More like a secret admirer way. I noticed little things about him. It felt like, like we had our own secrets between us (though of course, he had no idea who I was). He would…drop something and only I would see and that would be our little secret. He would joke to himself and only I would hear, and that also became a secret. No one else knew about–I mean noticed him, he was largely forgettable I guess. Just another middle-aged cishet white man.

Serenity: So he had no friends?

Orchid sighs and takes a second to gather herself, struggling to create falsities to cover up Felix’s ghostly past.

Orchid: Uh, not that I saw. I said he was largely forgettable? Double that and that’s how much people remembered him. He was almost…*hesitates*...like a ghost.

Serenity: Weird, but okay…

Orchid: Haha yeah… 

Serenity: So you fell for him over a distance and being in a library? That’s oddly the most innocent and creepy thing I’ve heard.

Orchid: *Pouts and crosses her arms* It wasn’t creepyyy, it was sweet!

Serenity: *Puts hands up in defense* Whatever you say, honey, hehe.

Orchid playfully juts her face out, closing her eyes, waiting for a kiss. Serenity answers her unasked question with a quick peck. Serenity grabs Orchid’s hand and the two jaunt off into the Henford-On-Bagley woods.