tomorrow will be better

Lemme say that again: In 2013, it was expected that gay characters would be censored in children’s mass media.

Remember Korra? How she and Asami had to settle for ambiguous handholding rather than a kiss? That was fully a year after House of Hades came out. Nickelodeon said No Gays, the Children™ can’t handle that. Too risky. And people said man that stinks, but that’s how these things go in 2014 America.

Gay marriage was literally still illegal in the vast majority of US states. As of October 8th, 2013 (House of Hades release date) Gay Marriage was only a thing in thirteen fucking states. California had only legalized it that year.

Gay people were still very much on the fringes of society. It was an acceptable political position on both sides of the aisle to be against the existence and equal rights of gay people.

Nico was legitimately a landmark character in queer representation. To my knowledge, there wasn’t before an openly gay main character in a bestselling ya/middle grade fantasy fiction series. It simply was not a thing. They didn’t exist. They weren’t allowed to exist.

I remember people crying. Finally. It was a watershed moment. Kids all across the world finally got someone who represented them. It was such a big fucking deal. And it was controversial!!! Not for the reasons it is today, but because people thought gay kids having representation was inappropriate.

Is Nico’s coming out a great scene? No, these days it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and I’m sure Rick wishes he could change it. But the fact that’s the case is a wonderful reflection of how far we’ve come.

Being myself doesn't make me feel more normal. And it never will. Because my normal life ended the second my parents put me on that ship. And that makes me... so... mad.

The PJO boys

I tried a palette and aesthetic farrr out of my usual comfort zone. Anywayyy here are the pjo boys in cyberpunk x ancient(?) theme. I was just pulling random lines out of my frontal lobes without giving much thoughts about the colors and the clash of styles. The process gave me joy 🥺💕

PS. I gave Frank a new haircut because his original version would resemble Jason’s hair and I wanted vArIeTy of styles in this one as an exercise.

PS2. Right as I was finishing this piece, the nurse called me over. Someone's going to give birth. It's 1 AM. Wish me peace and healthy babies for the rest of the shift 🙏🏼

I think its a multichapter, maybe 4? Its complete and Hiccstrid.

I think there are flashbacks at Hiccup and Astrid getting together. At the start of the flashback they aren’t together and Stoick tells Hiccup about the council thinking about a political marriage and other chiefs interested on it. Stoick tells Hiccup he can still make a choice and its going to end at the of twangfest (?) that Berk is holding with other heirs from other tribes. Hiccup confesses to Astrid at the academy, then they are the fest, its a dragon race with Hiccup and other heirs, he wins and lands next to Astrid who confesses back and then they kiss.