Queer Questions Closed

Sophia was stomping angrily from the grounds, a bit miffed at herself for once again failing to fly in Flying class. It was literally the whole point of the class, but still, near the end of the year, she couldn't fly more than six feet off the ground without sobbing in terror. So here she was, eyes puffy, fists clenched, and heart aching.

All she wanted to do was to get some stupid lunch to calm her stupid nerves.

She'd prayed for hours upon hours to gain the courage to fly successfully, so why couldn't she do it? Suddenly, her peaceful fuming was interrupted. Loudly.

"Hi hi! You're Sophia right? It's me, Pax? From Goosebumps club! And that day in the library, with Wolf Boi, and Kim, and I think.... Gemima?"

Sophia turned to the approaching figure and blinked. Twice. She remembered this girl, but only vaguely. They had met a couple times, but Sophia didn't know anything about her."

Reducio

This misgendering is on purpose, I'm sorry! I want Soph to learn!

"Uh, yeah," she said with a careful smile. This girl knew a lot about her for some reason, "I'm Sophia. Who are you?"

She felt rude for asking so bluntly, and if she was in a better mood she may have tried beating around the bush a bit, but she was frankly in a blunt, annoyed mood. Her shortness was interrupted by a barrage of more words.

"How are you? Are you doing ok? Good! Look at my new badge! It's the demigirl flag! My dad found it and sent it over, he got one for all my siblings! Not demigirl, of course, but other pride flags!"

Sophia blinked again. And again. What?

"I'm good," she said, peeking over at the badge, "It's pretty, but what's that?"

With a tilt of the head, Sophia clarified, "A demigirl, that is. I've never heard that, but it sounds like a superhero."

This wasn't how she'd expected her day to go, but if she could get a distraction from her disastrous Flying class, even if it did delay her lunch, she was fine with that.

@Pax Zhang

Pax stopped and blinked. Of course, they knew that out there in the world were probably people who didn't know terms such as demigirl, but not even recognising a pride flag as a pride flag? Huh. They'd have to do a lot more educating at this school than they'd originally believed.

"It's a pride flag!" They repeated with a similar cheerful tone. "And no, it's not a superhero name! Though I do like the idea of that... Never mind! It's a gender!"

They looked at Sophia curiously.

"You do know of other genders, don't you?" They questioned, not harshly, but a slight bit patronisingly. "Like the standard, stereotypical male and female, then between like non- binary, and then outside like agender?"

"Do you know about sexuality too then? Like, there's heterosexual, or straight, but we've got the classic gay and lesbian, then there's bisexual and pansexual- which are not the same despite popular belief- then there's asexual and aromantic, and that's got it whole subcategories so it's probably better not even to go down that rabbit hole."

They grabbed Sophia's arm and walked her over to a small corner of the courtyard and sat her down. "I think you're confused," they smiled. "So I'm gonna explain it to you!"

Reducio

Word Count: 219

Interacting: @Sophia Nelson Later mention: @Felix Jeong

Date: May 24th 2022: Lunch?

Sophia frowned in confusion. Pride flag? Why did that sound familiar? Wait a sec...?

"Oh! A pride flag! Like the rainbow flag I saw in Seattle with Dad!" she said proudly, excited at having recognized something unfamiliar, "Dad told me that some people aren't Catholic, or believe different stuff than us, and that's okay, so I guess it's something like a religion?"

She was beginning to regret taking every word her parents said as law, especially since now they weren't around to ask these questions any more, and she was feeling kind of awful since this flag was obviously so important to this girl, yet she knew nothing about it. But still, what was she saying about gender?

Sophia had never even heard the word gender, outside of doctor visits, so gender as a concept had never occurred to her, but here was this girl, talking about gender like it was a science lecture. Though, maybe it was, and Sophia was just too young to have already learned it...?

"Uh, I've heard of b-boys and girls, but that's all I know," she said lamely, frowning. Why hadn't her parents mentioned these, uh, 'non-binary' and 'agender' genders? Surely they knew about them, right? Parents were supposed to know everything.

Then the girl started talking about 'sexuality' and Sophia's mind went blank as her eyes widened like saucers. She couldn't find the words to interrupt the girl. She'd had 'the Talk' from Sister Jen back in Ireland, so she knew all about sexuality, or so she'd thought. Still, she felt horribly uncomfortable as the girl in front of her was listing off words like she was reading a high-level science textbook.

Sure, Sophia had known gay people existed. Kim was a good example of someone she knew personally that was gay. And the church specifically told her not to be gay, while her father specifically told her that being gay didn't matter, so she'd settled for a middle ground of not caring what other gay people believed and loving them anyway whilst being straight herself. But what were these other words...? Bis- Sophia couldn't finish the word in her head. Pans- Yeah, she still couldn't do it. Ase? Aro? What were these things?

The modest part of Sophia wanted to move past this conversation and never think of it again, but still, the curious, Ravenclaw part of Sophia wanted to learn more. She wanted to learn all about these taboo topics she'd never heard of in church.

She grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her forcefully to a corner, away from prying eyes - and ears.

"T-too many people around," she whispered, cheeks heating up,"B-but I'd l-love to learn."

She found a soft patch of grass along the edge of the courtyard, sitting down. She turned her full attention to the girl.

"H-how do you even k-know these things?" she asked incredulously, as if it was some kind of secret, hidden knowledge. Then she realized she didn't even know this girl's name. Facepalming, she asked,"S-sorry, I didn't catch your name..."

Notes:

Reducio

I'm hoping Pax explains their gender to Soph soon so I can stop describing them as a girl. I really am sorry

Interacting:
@Pax Zhang

Mentioning:
@Kim Sato

"Dad told me that some people aren't Catholic, or believe different stuff than us, and that's okay, so I guess it's something like a religion?"

Pax couldn't help but chuckle at the statement. "Right...a religion. The LGBTQ+ community is definitely a religion."

It took them all of two seconds after releasing those words before they burst into laughter. "Sorry, sorry. I can't even take myself seriously. If anything, the LGBTQ+ community has been persecuted enough by religious groups! And anyway, the community isn't a belief! Your sexuality and gender isn't a belief, it's a fact."

"Uh, I've heard of b-boys and girls, but that's all I know."

Sighing, they thought carefully about their next words. The last thing they wanted was to insult anybody's religion. "Well... in the nicest possible way... you're Catholic. Or, at least, grew up Catholic. It's not the largest surprise that you haven't heard about these types of things. I mean, I'll bet-"

That sentence was never finished as their arm was grabbed and they were dragged to a quiet corner of the courtyard.

"Ow! Also, rude. I was in the middle of talking."

They snatched their arm out of the girl's grip and rubbed it as she sat on the ground, looking up to Pax as some kind of teacher. They blinked.

"H-how do you even k-know these things?"

"Research, I guess? I mean, sometimes you just know these things. I just had a feeling I wasn't fully female, so I did some researching into it, and found a term for it. It's not a belief or a feeling, it's kinda just a fact. Oh, and I'm Pax Zhang, pronouns are she/they, just for future reference."

Reducio

Word Count: 290

Interacting: @Sophia Nelson Future mention: @Felix Jeong

Date: May 24th 2022: Lunch?

Pax's laughter made Sophia grin: somehow their laughter was different than other laughter. If Sage's laughter could be described as a trickling stream in the forest, Gem's as a wind chime on a spring day, and Kim's as almost a cool breeze through the trees, Pax's laughter was more like a virus. It was just so contagious with its overwhelming mirth and the slightest hint of mischief.

"Beliefs can be fact, too, right? Catholics and Christians see their God a bit differently, but the God is still God. He's still real. So it's still a fact, they just see it a bit differently...?" she suggested, but she understood what Pax was getting at. Gender and... the other word were certainly not something subjective like individual beliefs could be, right? Like, Sophia knew she was a girl, for instance.

Sophia winced at Pax's declaration at the rudeness in her actions, but somehow discussing gender and sexuality aloud with people around with embarrassing for her. She was a modest girl, to be fair. Maybe that didn't excuse the rudeness of dragging Pax to a secluded corner of the courtyard, though. And, in fact, maybe that would give even more wrong ideas if someone did overhear. She hoped not.

"S-sorry, the conversation was getting a bit embarrassing for me.," she muttered. It was a horrible argument, given that sexuality was a statement of fact. Sophia knew that she was straight, despite her recent traitorous thoughts. Right? So surely it wasn't a big deal to discuss it, but just hearing that three letter word made her face redden and her neck sweaty. Especially when the full word reminded her of her weird feelings that she was working very hard to bury with prayer.

Thankfully, Pax was happy to explain gender some more, and while Sophia still didn't feel she fully understood, she was happy for the return to a safer subject.

"I don't understand, though, Pax," she said with the frown of a model potions student who didn't recognize a specific ingredient, "What do you mean 'not fully female?' Is it like being a tomboy or something?"

She wasn't trying to be rude, and she could only hope her question didn't offend, but she did want to understand, in the same way she'd want to understand more about Sage's relationship with her older brother, or Gem's - well that was a bad example, given their feud these days- life as the daughter of a model and a super important Ministry employee, or even Kim's confusing feelings for Felix. Gender issues seemed to be very important to Pax, so Sophia was eager to learn more and to understand.

@Pax Zhang

Pax listened carefully to Sophia's speech, picking and choosing words carefully as they formulated an answer.

"Beliefs can be fact, too, right? Catholics and Christians see their God a bit differently, but the God is still God. He's still real. So it's still a fact, they just see it a bit differently...?

"I'm not gonna lie to you, but there's not much proof of a god out there. Though feel free to prove me wrong, I'm not the most educated on religious things like this."

Pax did not want to be proven wrong.

"Modest Catholic much? Not that its a bad thing. Just... interesting. I mean, I've never considered that this is a topic to be embarrassed by. So I guess we're both learning."

They examined the red haired girl closer, noticing the immense amount of sweat gathering on her neck and the redness accumulatingon her face.

"Are you sure you're straight? Because I recognise that face from my brother. The 'I've secretly been thinking about someone of the same gender as me and I don't know how I feel about it' face."

"I don't understand, though, Pax. What do you mean 'not fully female?' Is it like being a tomboy or something?"

They shook their head. "Not really. Imagine like a sliding scale. It isn't the best diagram but it'll do for now." They held out their hands to demonstrate. "On this side," they waved their left hand. "Is someone fully female. And the other side is someone fully male. All the middle ground is classed as non-binary. This means someone who doesn't identify as fully male or fully female. Do you understand so far?

Anywhere between the exact middle and my left hand is demigirl. This is what I identify as. This means you are definitely not male, but not fully female. The same goes for the opposite. So anywherw between the middle and my right hand is demiboy. If you fluctuate between any of the points on the line at all, technically you are genderfluid. Then, if you are outside of the line, that is agender. Meaning you don't identify with any gender. There are a lot more than just those genders, but for someone like you, these are probably the easiest to understand. "

Reducio

Word Count: 384

Interacting: @Sophia Nelson Later: @Felix Jeong if still interested, @Colin McCoire if interested

May 24th 2022

colour code: #5A6636

date: --/--/---- | time: -:- pm

The courtyard was not somewhere where Felix ventured very often. In fact, although the boy liked the outdoors- the courtyard might have been one of his least favourite places to go.

However, the common room was so packed, that Felix could hardly hear his own thoughts; and while the library would have been a suitable choice, Felix didn't know if he could stand the sweltering heat of the indoors. Maybe he had a fever. After all, it was nearing autumn. He felt so uncharacteristically tired, for someone who was usually so alert and awake. He quite nearly sent a small boy crashing into a suit of armour, because his focus was so unbalanced that he could hardly process what he was doing. Maybe he was ill. But Felix never got ill, ever. It was odd. Stupid school. He never got fevers or colds back home. He always had his nurse to take care of him- to shove vitamins down his throat.

The courtyard, as Felix had hoped, wasn't packed like the common room. In fact, it was quite unusually unoccupied. Felix glared around, his gaze catching on a couple of people huddled in a secluded corner of the courtyard. One of them he recognised. Flaming red hair.

Felix strode up to the pair of them, a mischievous and cold glint in his eye as he rammed his hands into his pockets and plastered a mocking expression onto his handsome face. He crept up behind the girl and tugged on her flaming red hair.

“Carrot head” he barked, the hint of a smirk in his tone. “Would you mind going to dawdle somewhere else?! I cant concentrate out here with your atrocious vivid hair blinding me- i'm going to need sunglasses unless I want to go blind.”

@Pax Zhang@Sophia Nelson

They/She

As someone Pax didn't recognise approached and tugged on Sophia's hair, they frowned and raised an eyebrow. Whoever this person was, they didn't seem to be particularly nice.

However, they had a better way to deal with this person than to simply tell them to piss off. They'd use this as a teachable moment.

"However, with each gender and sexuality come stereotypes. Some can be really wildly inaccurate, but some have the surprisingly correct idea. For example, take this guy." Pax moved to stand beside them, patting him on the should just a little harder than normal.

"Now, what do we know? I've never met this guy before really but I can already tell a few things. Firstly, he's a bit of a 'tough guy' - or at least he acts like he is. He finds it amusing to pick on people for no viable reason, suggesting some form of insecurity that he likes to take out on others to make himself feel better. He also seems kinda tall and a little lanky, so I'd think when he's not patrolling the grounds and mocking people he's actually an awkward mess.

So, my conclusion? He's in the midst of a bisexual panic, probably with a crush on someone he's relatively close to, maybe someone he wants to hate but just can't help liking. And me saying this aloud has made him panic even more."

Pax patted the guy on the shoulder, trying to be serious for a second before bursting into laughter. "I'm kidding! I have no idea what this guy's sexuality is. But people sometimes will make assumptions based on stereotypes, so it's always better to be careful to avoid offending."

Hearing their rumble, Pax reckoned that was their cue. "I'm pretty fricking hungry now. You wanna come get lunch?" Without really waiting for an answer, they began to walk to the Great Hall, assuming Sophia would follow.

Pax leaves the thread.

Reducio

Due to Sophia no longer being on the site, I am wrapping up this thread. There is no obligation to respond

Word Count: 318

Mention: @Felix Jeong

Date: May 24th 2022