#happy pride month everybody lup is trans and happy

[altarofistus]

it is too late for me to be coherent but a word on this ep:

oh my god.  holy FUCKING shit oh my god.  i was a little worried that lup and barry falling in love might end up being a little shoehorned because of how pressed for time the stolen century is and how their feelings hadnt really even been mentioned minus taako and barrys convo on the beach planet but that fucking duet.  that FUCKING duet did it for me like jesus christ on a cracker lup is a canon trans woman and shes in love with this genuinely good dude who wants to take it slow and make sure shes on board before making a move and she IS and they make something absolutely gorgeous together!!!!! the mentions of them just hanging out and enjoying each others company over the last 60 fucking years to a point where they share this incredibly close bond, along with everyone else on the starblaster crew ofc, but my god, that duet was the tenderest thing ive heard in a while. so often you cant tell characters are supposed to be in love until they kiss or make some dumb dramatic confession and even when it’s a decently written romance, it can feel like going through a checklist and end up ringing hollow but the care and attention griffin pays to building romances in this campaign is honestly incredible.  this feels like theyre really honestly good friends before the romance even kicks in and i dont think it feels forced at all.  they really just genuinely love each other and want to hold hands and go on mini-adventures and have dinner together pretending theyre working like a couple of lovesick kids and its honestly so fucking good barry’s moniker in the seven birds prophecy is literally “the lover” and to have a grown man whose title is something so soft and emotion-laden and see him respecting the woman hes in love With and not rushing or pushing his feelings onto her because he actually fucking respects her as a person is so refreshing.  the tenderness that hes granted by the narrative is so good. and tenderness, all goofs aside, is what this whole narrative is based off and thrives on and rewards over and over again. and god damn it, thinking back on the suffering game and the mix of emotions when barry (its barry, god,)  sees the umbra staff and is so viscerally upset that he loses hold on his form because lup would never just leave that thing laying around, and if taako had it and didnt know where it came from and said he found it in the hand of a red-robed skeleton then lup had almost certainly been killed, and with the insight that this episode gave to their relationship.  god it physically aches and i hope to god lup can come back to life somehow.