in which the jaunt was failed because sera spent the wholetime stealing an entire populations pants

[unagreeable]

Ugh, I hate using this head talking magic!

Hey, so, acording to that guy in all of our heads-there's a bunch of people over in the Caliphate that think they can tell people what to do. Think they can tell people what to wear, and stop girls from kissing girls, and I think that's fucked up.

So I'm going to go steal their pants. As many as I can. Who else is in?

Comments

[timelessinventor]

Yes, because I do not like to see things go wrong because of people's inability to control themselves. I have seen too much of that in my life.

Besides, I am from the Victorian Era, I know what it is to be ahead of one's time. Even in the modern era, bisexuals do not have an easy time of it. However, I also understand self-preservation. Dear Oscar and I had very different views on the subject.

[bypartisan]

Even in my era we don't necessarily have an easy time of it, depending which planet you're from. While I'm all for needling idiots, it's generally advisable not to do it so drastically where there are actually still laws against these things.

[timelessinventor]

Exactly. Some discretion is advisable in these circumstances.

Oscar, the friend I mentioned, ended up on trial for homosexuality. He was sentenced to two years of hard labor for it. It would not have been that difficult to be more discrete about things. Bloody man.

[unagreeable]

You blame him, and not the people who did that to him?

Sounds like you're some friend.

[timelessinventor]

Society is what it is. It is many times wrong, but change comes slowly. Minds and hearts are not changed by violent revolution, only time and hopefully logic. When belief enters the picture, everything gets turned on its head.

One cannot change an entire society when one has literally no power to do so. One can only show that society that one is not as offensive as they believe one to be.

Oscar dug his own grave, and he himself admitted that. I offered my assistance, but he had a point to prove. Unfortunately, it went unheard.

[oftoomuchfaith]

I'm with the trouser thief - some fuckin friend you are. Respectability politics at its finest.

Oh, just be well behaved and colour in the lines and you'll be treated better! Just get good grades and don't get into trouble and nobody'll have a reason to shout racist shit at you because your mum's white and your dad's black! In the 21st century, by the way, well after your Victorian bullshit.

I say bullshit, and I say I don't give a damn, and I say if I feel like stealing trousers and kissing girls in public and blowing up parliament or whatever, I'm sure as fucking hell going to do all those things, and they can be as offended as they fucking please.

[timelessinventor]

Did I ever once say things would be easy? No. I know the modern era, and in many ways, it is worse than my original time. What people whispered behind closed doors is now out in the open for all to hear, and frankly, it's disgusting.

There is always some reason for anyone to hate anyone else. I was a single mother, a bisexual, and an atheist in an era that despised all three. I do not wish to be in a contest to see who's life was the worst.

If you do these immature things because you cannot control yourself, you will reap the consequences of them, and I most sincerely hope you do not doom the rest of us as well with those actions.

[ofinspiration]

Yes, you go on and keep quiet and behave like a good girl and hope that will keep you safe. Tried playing by those rules. It got me machine guns and a jail cell and a very early death, because sometimes all you have to do is exist.

Fuck them. Fuck that. I hope when the torches and pitchforks come, they catch you first.

[ Coward. ]

[timelessinventor]

Ah, pitchforks. Had one of those. Unfortunately, it was broken. Would have ended the world myself if it wasn't.

[oftoomuchfaith]

Good for you. No one cares.

[oftoomuchfaith]

Oh goodie goodie gumdrops for you. Despite progress, there's still plenty of hate leveled at bisexuals and single mothers and shit in my time too. People still get killed for being gay, there's still hate crimes based on race and religion all 'cross the country.

Being well-behaved and unoffensive never changed the fuckin world, and stealing trousers isn't going to either, but that's not really what it's about. It's about saying fuck you to the people in charge.

Anyway, I'm not here to change this world. I'm here to find the Trumps, get them out of the way, and back to the world I actually give a damn about, which I'm glad isn't yours, because I think I'd find a way to travel back in time and curse you nine ways from Sunday.

[ she's probably grinning, and not in a nice way, judging by her tone ]

Might do that anyway, before we go home. I'm still trying to decide.

[timelessinventor]

[There is an utter mental cackle at her words.]

I wish you all the luck with time travel that I had. I am already cursed. There is literally nothing you can take from me that I have not already lost. Be my guest.

[oftoomuchfaith]

[so sweetly - Persephone's winning out over Laura at this point.]

Why thank you ever so much for the invitation. I'll make sure to give you my absolute best material.

A goddess of my calibre can always find something more to take from a person.

[loyalrebel]

I officially regret giving any of you advice on how to survive a culture that has different viewpoints than yours.

I will not be offering as freely again after this Jaunt.

[unagreeable]

Good, keep out of our brains!

[loyalrebel]

When you get whipped and beaten while watching someone you love be treated the same because you ignored someone who knows what he's talking about I will have no pity for you.

I told you all because I have seen it happen and actually care enough about you to not wish to see you suffer it.

[unagreeable]

Nobody should be getting beaten. That's the whole point of this.

[oftoomuchfaith]

If it's any consolation, I would've been like this anyway.

I would've recognized them for Muslim pretty quick. Plenty of 'em round where I grew up.

[loyalrebel]

It isn't.

It just shows how little I fit in amongst the rest of you that you think acting like... this will do anything other than cause more backlash and difficulty for those who only want to live in peace despite their differences in belief.

[oftoomuchfaith]

I have no reason to think any of this is real, so I guess that's part of my issue.

I have issues with a lot of religious beliefs I've run into but... Real world? I'm not gonna go around stealing hijabs or anything. That's bullshit. But this?

I have yet to find a reason to believe any of this is any more than the Trumps fucking with us. I personally don't give a damn about probably-fictional people. Maybe that makes me a bad person.

[unagreeable]

What else should I do? You're telling me they throw rocks at people, until they die, just for, just for

just for being different. For being like me! You want me to just ignore that, after you've told me that?

[private]

[bypartisan]

Malik, I'm so very sorry about their... well, everything, I suppose. I had no idea we had such idiots among us.

[private]

[loyalrebel]

As I said, I will not be so quick to offer advice again even if I know things.

[because I don't feel like starting a new post, after she's had a chance to calm down overnight]

[oftoomuchfaith]

Malik, you there?

I didn't...

[ a pause ]

I'd still like that mapmaking lesson one of these days. If you still want to give it.

[ She's not going to apologize for losing her temper, but it wasn't really about him, or even the Caliphate, and she does feel a little bad that she might've... fucked something up.

He seemed nice. ]

[loyalrebel]

[He's a bit cold, and disappointed sounding.]

If liminal space permits it when we are done, I will likely be working in Leonardo's workshop.