Seeking Roommate, a ficlet of Stranded World

Written to [personal profile] alexseanchai‘s prompt to my mini-prompt-call on Gender-Funkiness & also serving as an Iconflash for this icon!

“…and this is Add. She? He?” Bishop turned to the person standing next to him, seemingly oblivious to Summer’s embarrassed cringe. You couldn’t just… could you?

Add, who had black eyeliner, black hair, a black lace shirt, and black combat pants, looked thoughtful about the matter, hand on chin. “It’s a full moon, isn’t it?” Add glanced out the window at the sun. “Let’s go with they.”

“Right. They’re looking for a place to stay for the year, and, well, since we’re looking for another roommate or two…”

Summer studied Add. Add, in turn, studied Summer. They had perfect eyebrows, black lipstick, and a sardonic smile that said goth to Summer. “The pronouns aren’t going to be an issue, are they?”

Summer raised her own eyebrows right back. “Pronouns? Bishop hasn’t told you anything at all about us, has he? No. The pronouns aren’t going to be a problem.” She borrowed a smile from Basil, the “you poor dear” one. “We’re theater people, come on. We read Shakespeare.”

“Summm…” Bishop sighed. Summer cringed inwardly. She hadn’t meant to get her hackles up, but it was showing, wasn’t it? She peeked at Add.

Add was… grinning. Well, that was probably good. They really needed to fill that room. “I like her.”

Summer relaxed.

“I like her a lot.

“Not too much, please,” Bishop teased.

Summer had to agree: “the bed’s full enough already.”

Summer & Bishop, along with their girlfriend Melinda, are characters in Stranded World. Their relationship started with this story. Basil is Summer’s theatre friend, who shows up quite frequently.

I am on a quest to write a flash to every one of the icons djinni has drawn for me.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/813828.html. You can comment here or there.

13 thoughts on “Seeking Roommate, a ficlet of Stranded World

      • I’m not sure quite why Summer would have her hackles up — being unsure whether people will be accepting of not-the-norm is pretty reasonable — so would she be cranky at Bishop for not explaining, or at Add for … not accepting Bishop’s assurances before meeting her? Being irked at Add for not assuming acceptance seems kind of harsh.

        • Yeah, it didn’t come across at all. What I wanted to get in there is … hrrm. A tone of voice in the question that made it both a challenge and an insult. Something I’ve encountered, on occasion, where there’s no right answer and you know it’s not the polite or proper thing to do to take offense. But it doesn’t mean you don’t tae offense.

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