The Awakened Salad

In a story like this, there is no need to foreshadow a character’s sexuality, because being queer isn’t a story arc or plot point, it’s just part of who Renarin is. It’s easy to see characters as straight until proven otherwise, but on the flip side, do we have any evidence that Renarin has been into other genders? Characters are allowed to be queer without there being a “reason” or foreshadowing.

Dying, huh. It was true. Salad didn’t remember dying. Not in the way that Ene seemed to. But they remembered enough. Flashes of memories in the middle of the night. The vertigo of realities crashing together, their senses overlapping, splitting, reforming, spinning around. And their body, destroyed but not. They didn’t remember dying, but they sure as hell remembered what happened before it. They also remembered what happened before Ene’s death. The realisation, the betrayal, the knife. They looked down. In a quiet voice, they began to speak. “What was it like for you, dying?”

alsjdkadkdjsksjdjkd how could I This was… not what Salad had expected. Sure, it was nice that Ene wasn’t just jumping straight into “Hey, so remember that time you stabbed me after we had that dramatic and emotional moment?”, but this felt unnerving in a different way. It was all business. Though, ironically, that’s what Salad had told themselves after that fateful day, so maybe this was what they deserved. For all they knew, Ene could’ve moved on by now. Maybe now they were just two strangers who also just happened to know each others’ deepest secrets. “I’m… not familiar with them in that regard,” Salad said, looking away. They braced their hands around their mug. I’m assuming this isn’t actually following the continuity of what I wrote for The Paradox People or else I’d currently be lying dead on the floor right now

Disagree on this, change doesn’t happen unless people make an active effort to change their behaviour and language. People don’t start thinking differently on their own, we need to have those conversations and bring awareness to other identities, and defining and using these terms is a great way to get started on that.

Salad began preparing the drinks, mugs and spoons clinking in the otherwise silent apartment. They considered putting the hot chocolate powder into a bowl for Ene, but this wasn’t like the old days. As nice as it would be to slip into old habits, this wasn’t the time. Once everything was ready, Salad set two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table (complete with marshmallows and chocolate powder sprinkled on top, because even if they were a murderer, they weren’t without class). They sat down and took a sip. “Okay, then. Talk.”

Our foreshadowing skills are just that good. Also it really has been almost four years, huh. That’s insane, I would’ve thought maybe two or something. Almost four years later, Salad opened the door and there was Ene, sitting at their table. In their apartment, just like the old days, when they would watch terrible movies and throw popcorn at each other. Ene had even left Salad’s usual seat free - the chair closest to the window where it was warmest. It was almost a picture perfect recreation of the past. Almost. Because then they had stabbed Ene and run, and nothing had been the same since. ”Hello, Salad,” Ene said before Salad had time to properly process everything. “We need to talk about the Paradox People.” Salad had to fight the urge to bolt, down the stairs and away from whatever madness this was. It was finally hitting them now. Ene was back, Ene was here, and… and- He just wants to talk, they told themselves. Don’t lose your head. There was always the possibility that things might get violent, but Salad had never known Ene to start fights without first getting a read of the situation. So they slid off their coat, kicked off their shoes and headed to the kitchen. “Ok,” they said, fighting to keep their voice even. “Do you want some tea? I have hot chocolate as well if you’d prefer.” This was not what they wanted to deal with today, but Enes at your dinner table were notoriously hard to get rid of.

*slides in holding a plate of samples like a cartoon character, complete with the skidding sound effect* ABSOLUTELY NOT

I see all that happens on my thread... TPBM thinks glitter is amazing *belatedly parties* what? I'm only thirteen pages late The reason it's so awesome is because everyone kept it going, so thank you!

Ahem, actually, if you look closely you will see I also nominated Tesh smh ene, learn to read

*comes out of inactivity to nominate you and @Tesh back and I'm doing what Tesh did since I also knew you before you ascended to mod mwahahahaha*

A short distance away, hidden among the branches of a tree, a figure watched the exchange with amusement.