"love Is Love" Until It Doesn't Include Sex

"love is love" until it doesn't include sex

"love is love" until it lives in separate beds

"love is love" until it is queer platonic

"love is love" until it does not comply with compulsory sexuality and amatonormativity

love IS love, for aspecs, for sex sepulsed folk and for platonic relationships

"love is love" apply to more than same-sex relationships in a world where romantic and sexual relationships are considered more valuable

Remember to advocate for Asexuals and Aromantics this pride. Because we are also here, and we are also queer

So I just finished reading The Song of Achilles, and forgive me if I'm stating the obvious but . . .

About two thirds of the way in, Thetis tells the boys that there is a new prophecy, that "the best of Myrmidons will die before two more years have passed." And at first they're afraid that it's Achilles, but then Thetis tells them that he will be alive when it happens

The first time I read this, I didn't understand. It was only when I read that passage again, after knowing what happens, that I realized the prophecy was about Patroclus

The book even acknowledges it later on, when Briseis is saying goodbye to him . . . "'Best of men. Best of Myrmidons.' She places her fingers to my lips, stopping my objection. 'It is truth,' she says. 'Let it stand for once.'"

In the first half of the book, a lot of Patroclus's pov is dedicated to describing how beautiful and amazing Achilles is. And when you see how ordinary and pathetic Patroclus makes himself look in comparison, you almost start to wonder why Achilles loves him in the first place

But Patroclus was the best of all of them, even better than Achilles. No one else had his kindness, his tenderness, his unwavering care for others

And Achilles knew this. Further on, Briseis says that Patroclus was worth ten of him, and Achilles doesn't disagree

Once again thinking about a Six of Crows musical featuring delightful hits such as:

Overture (Instrumental)

Ketterdam [Capitol of Capital] (Ensemble)

The Bastard of the Barrel (Kaz's song)

Stars and Saints (Inej's song)

Trigger Finger (Jesper's song)

Son of the Council (Wylan's song)

Welcome to Hellgate (Matthias's song)

To Hold a Heart [To End a Life] (Nina's song)

Two Step Plan (The Crows)

Tainted (Kanej Duet)

The Ice Court [Infiltration Destination] (The Crows)

Up the Incinerator (Ensemble)

Dance of the Dignitaries (Ensemble)

Two Pair (Wesper)

Hands of Flame (Ensemble)

Waters of Djel (The Crows)

Escape [We Have a Tank] (The Crows)

Jurda Parem (Ensemble)

Stay Afloat (Helnik Duet)

Bastard's Lament [To Lose a Spider] (Ensemble)

No Mourners, No Funerals (Ensemble)

Exit the Crows (Instrumental)

Now if only I knew how to compose music...

As a non-binary fan of SoC, I like to think about the implications of this scene a lot:

“Is Inej Ghafa your real name?”

A strange sound escaped Inej’s throat, part sob, part laugh. A weak, embarrassing sound. But it had been months since she’d heard her own name, her family name.

“Yes,” she managed.

“Is that what you prefer to be called?”

“Of course,” she said, then added, “Is Kaz Brekker your real name?”

“Real enough.”

Because it shows that Kaz understands the weight and importance of being called a name you want and being regarded/addressed in the way you need to be. (Inej is heavily connected to her birth name and so hearing and going by it means so much after having been called a false, objectifying one. And Kaz’s original last name is one he has a complicated relationship with and so goes by another.)

And I think about this scene a lot because it really strongly supports the fact that were Kaz ever to hire or work with a trans or gender-variant person, he wouldn’t bat a fucking eye. 

I mean, if you think about how trans people have historically been pushed to the margins of society and work/live in poor areas and have a high rate of sex work, you can bet your ass it’s SUPER likely the Barrel has its fair share of trans residents. And as Kaz has declared himself on multiple occasions, he knows everything that goes on in Ketterdam. He’d be in the know about all of it.

When he was hiring Inej on he literally asked her if she preferred to be called her birth name or not! Like, talk about a trans-inclusive question.

I mean, Kaz is in a gang with someone people routinely call Teapot for god’s sake, you really think he’s gonna get hung up by a name that’s traditionally gendered one way or another? The knowledge of someone’s trans identity would be something Kaz would just file away like any other fact about someone, same as their favorite coffee house, the things they spend their income on, what languages they speak, etc. It all goes in a little folder in his devious head to pull if he needs it.

Like, obv I wouldn’t put it past Kaz to be shitty about gender occasionally because we’ve seen that, if anything, Kaz Brekker is not sensitive about personal shit. He pokes at and makes comments about Inej’s and Matthias’ closely held religious beliefs, Nina’s devotion to her problematic country, Jesper’s gambling problems. But not in the way of reducing them to it. He makes jibes at Inej’s Suli proverbs and beliefs but he’s never fucking racist about it. His insults and remarks always have a personal slant to them. They’re always about the person and their relationship to the identity, never the group of people at large. That’s the thing, it’d be just like any other factor about someone. He’s insensitive about aspects of identity but he’s never mercher-level shitty and cruel. Take how Kaz treats Wylan’s learning disability and illiteracy, for instance. He’s like “so what? that’s just how you are. You can still make explosives, why should I care?” Which is how he pretty much treats anyone and regards anything. 

Kaz would be more likely to have the attitude of: “Does being genderfluid throw off your shot? No. So I’m not gonna fucking worry about it.” and “You wanna be referred to by they/them pronouns? No problem. That’s good, actually. More ambiguous. Gives away less info when people overhear things about you.”

I mean he wouldn’t be a super great ally or anything, let’s be real here. Take for example how he addressed Inej’s situation when she first joined the Dregs and moved to the Slat, being a young girl and a person of color. He told her that he wouldn’t be around to defend her against the disrespect she’d face and she’d have to watch her own back. Yet he still in words and actions shows that disrespect toward her because of her gender or ethnicity is never validated or welcomed around him. He’d probably be that way about gender identity and pronouns too. Like, he wouldn’t go out of his way to correct people if they misgendered someone but he’d make super witty burns on the person being shitty, he’d used correct words, he’d generally gain the intellectual upper hand in that way he has. He’d make it known that shitty comments and attitudes aren’t welcome or appreciated.

And Kaz would almost NEVER misgender anyone. Think about it. Kaz prides himself on knowing everything about everyone, about seeming like he’s mastered everything, and having a mind like a steel trap. He’d see calling someone by the wrong name, gendered word, or pronoun as a sign that he was somehow not as on top of things, forgetting information and details. He’d see it as a sign of a personal failing and as broadcasting something slipping through the cracks of his iron hold on information and so he’d be the last person to slip and call people the wrong things. Kaz’s pride is a fucking force to be reckoned with and to have that on the side of him getting somebody’s pronouns right is a hell of a thing.

Like ??,? The fact that my favorite thief crew would be inclusive gives me so much life. I mean @lbardugo has already woven such a beautifully complex world that is so truly detailed when it comes to diversity and the way personal identity is held by the characters when it comes to race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, and class. And so for me to fill in that final gap myself as a reader with so much canon evidence to support that my fictional faves would be super chill with someone like me is my everything. Honestly.

tl;dr: Canon supports the notion that Kaz Brekker–scariest, cruelest, most hardened criminal in Ketterdam–wouldn’t be a transphobic shitbag, what excuse do you have?

One day you think: I want to die. And then you think, very quietly, actually I want a coffee. I want a nap. A sandwich. A book. And I want to die turns day by day into I want to go home, I want to walk in the woods, I want to see my friends, I want to sit in the sun. I want a cleaner room, I want a better job, I want to live somewhere else, I want to live.

before i leave for school today i want to say something: i think a point that a lot of myth nerd people miss is that at the end of the day it doesn't matter what you want to label achilles and patroclus' relationship as because it will always be fundamentally queer. these are two men who love each other so intensely one is willing to risk his own life to protect the other one's glory and reputation and the other one is willing to sacrifice his godlyhood and immortality to avenge the other's death. their love for each other breaks almost everything that the people expected from heroes and demigods as we see in plato's symposium -- achilles killing hector and not caring that it meant he had basically been reduced to any other mortal person is the most shocking part of it all, even for the people back then, since he's been fighting to maintain his glory and honor for so long, for the entire iliad in fact, but is willing to throw it all into the air the exact moment his beloved patroclus is killed. it doesn't matter if what they felt for each other was platonic, familial, queerplatonic or romantic, the story in itself is queer in its very roots and has always resonated with the lgbtq community and to try and make it seem like we are foolish for thinking of them as lovers is to disregard the importance that their story has to all of us.