Dance Away Your Fear

Not for nothing, Rachel Johnson is the sister of Boris Johnson, and is a noted TERF.

I've never heard of the Tortoise, but they frequently feature Julie Bindel, another noted TERF, and it's her article on substack that I've seen most other outlets (Rolling Stone etc) quoting, almost verbatim. (Including the fact that Neil denies the allegations, which is not sourced in the Tortoise article, so I'm unsure where or when he addressed them.)

In fact, the article itself opens with Neil's quote "trans men are men, trans women are women..." which seemed to me an odd connection to draw in the case of SA allegations.

Also worth noting that we just got a bunch of S2 casting info yesterday, including Indya Moore, noted trans actor, as Wanda, a trans woman character. And suddenly today we have allegations against Neil Gaiman going back to 2003, causing lifelong fans to re-evaluate the relationship they have with his work.

Am I saying this to absolve Neil? No. If the allegations against him are false, that's one hell of a defamation lawsuit in the making. This is not intended as some kind of declaration of innocence. I believe victims, always.

💧-Happy Thancred Thursday!-💧

"I'd hoped that it wouldn't come to drawing blades.."

--- Scrufflecred is never far from my thoughts. 🤭💖

Here is a [Previous Week]

Enjoy! 💖🤍💖

And I think this moment is very reflective of Urianger's relationship to Thancred and child!Minfilia as a whole. It reflects what we see when we first see all of them together in Il Mheg.

Urianger knows that the way Thancred behaves toward the girl is hurting her. He's spent enough time around the two of them to see that plainly. Theoretically, he could say something to Thancred about it; they're obviously close friends, and if Thancred was going to value anyone's opinion, it would be his. But he doesn't say anything, because he still feels guilty and responsible for all of it: about their Minfilia going to the First and what happened to her there, and thus for what both Thancred and child!Minfilia are going through now. Even though Thancred has never outright blamed him for it (however he may feel privately, which I think is hard to say), it seems like Urianger still feels like he has no right to say anything.

So he tries to compensate instead. He's kind to Minfilia, connects with her in his own way and gives her books, and by the time we see them together he's obviously become something of a familial figure to her. I would say that he and Thancred aren't so much raising her together as they're doing it... around one another. Thancred is gruff and cold and holds Minfilia at arm's length emotionally so that his protectiveness comes off harshly even when it's well-meant, and Urianger dotes on her and tries to make up for it all while avoiding the actual problem.

So that conversation in Amh Araeng is both touching and maddening to me, and it really drives home what's maddening about it when, upon overhearing it, the Warrior of Light turns to Thancred to ask him if he has anything to say to Minfilia--who has just said, out loud, that she thinks Thancred wishes she was dead--and Thancred just says, "Not today."

Unbound braid mod by @apricotfaerie

We will. We will.