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limetameta · 10 months

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1978, Malfoy Manor

Abraxas Malfoy: :) ahem :)) ahem :)))

Lord Voldemort: This ought to be good. Yes?

Abraxas: :)))) I want you to take me to muggle London

Voldemort: ...Why?

Abraxas: :D I want to buy an ABBA vinyl and that’s where you can get them.

Voldemort: *blinks* Abraxas, don’t you have a guy for this?

Abraxas: Yes, Georgie. He goes to the muggle side to fetch me things, but his prices have gone up what with the inflation and the war and his dislike of me in general. So, it's simpler we go directly to the source and get it from muggles in their little vinyl shops. From their vinyl merchants.

Voldemort: Abraxas, you want me to leave my safe house in order to go to London with you to get a record?

Abraxas: I went to France to get you your stupid electronic music man record. My muggles won the Eurosong Contest, what did your man do?

Voldemort: Jean Michel Jarre is an absolute genius and to just call him a simple muggle is like spitting in the face of your muggles. He is an artist. Your muggles are just Norwegian and new.

Abraxas: They're Swedish. And I love them.

Narcissa, nearby: :/ I bet I could get Sirius to get them for me for a lesser price than what Georgie is asking.

Abraxas: I already asked Sirius, he said no. Then I asked Minerva. She said no, too. I'm tempted to send Bellatrix to do it as an initiation into the inner circle.

Voldemort: Do not command the Death Eaters on your own without consulting me. They're my soldiers.

Abraxas: :) Yes. As you say. Will you come with me to muggle London?

Voldemort, giving up: Only if we go to Woolwich, I heard they built a restaurant over the orphanage. Something called a McDonald's. They give you toys with your meals?

Abraxas: Oh how delightful. Let the animals play while they eat :D

Voldemort: Wear a suit. If you are to do this to me, we have to be blending in.

Abraxas: You say suit, I say dress.

Voldemort: >:/ Then take a potion to look like a woman or glamour yourself as one!

Narcissa: Sirius says hippies all wear dresses and have long hair. Even the men nowadays.

Voldemort, hasn't been to the muggle world since the 50s: Fine. But if we get called out to be wizards because of you, I will take great offence.

Abraxas: :D Oh thank you, mon chou!

*clothes montage later*

Voldemort, in a suit: Okay. Let’s go get your stupid record.

Abraxas, dressed in the wackiest most ungodly looking dress imaginable with his long curly hair let down: :D!!! Yes!!! I'm so excited! I even have muggle galleons! Pounds!

Voldemort: I don’t think you need 100 pounds to buy one record.

Abraxas: :/ Hmmm. But is it enough to buy 2 records then?

Voldemort: I reckon so, yes?

*they go to the shop*

Abraxas gets his record. Buys it. Leaves the tiller the change as a tip. The tiller, naturally, is absolutely bewildered to accept such a high tip. Abraxas starts saying that this money means nothing to him. The tiller is like no I can't! Then Voldemort tries to tell Abraxas that this is really too big of a tip to leave. Abraxas all but growls in frustration and decides to buy more records.

Abraxas: Do you have that weird electronic music?

Tiller: Err, maybe???

Abraxas, turning to Voldemort: Come on. Let's buy more of these things. What do you listen to?

Voldemort, put on the spot: None of this??

Abraxas: Well, just grab whatever looks interesting, then!

Voldemort, looking at records in a frazzled manner: I think I listened to this once *grabs a Nina Simone record*

Abraxas: I want things like Abba.

Tiller: *giving him the queerest looking titles imaginable* Usually folks buy these with ABBA.

Voldemort: Who's Elton John?

Tiller: Your posh boyfriend will enjoy him.

Voldemort: :/ Abraxas, I want to leave.

Abraxas, taking out another 100 pounds and tipping the tiller, this time taking out his wand and threatening to turn him into a frog if he doesn’t accept

Tiller: Okay, sir, fine, sir!

Voldemort, looking at the stack of records in their possession: Why did we do this? Is the difference in money so great than if you had sent Georgie?

Abraxas: Not really. I just wanted to go out with you. *cheeky shrug*

Voldemort: What an awful man you are. *holds out his hand* Come on. I want to see this restaurant with my own two eyes.

Abraxas takes his hand and they disapparate.

The very first McDonald's was built in the UK in 1974 in London, Woolwich. This author has consistently written that since the orphanage is called Wool's it is short for Woolwich, so it makes the most sense that if Voldemort were ever to burn down this orphanage as revenge for his shit childhood, it'd be hilarious if a McDonald's was built on top of it.

Abraxas: I am getting what is called a Happy meal. :)

Voldemort, squinting: What the bloody hell is this thing? All of this looks processed.

They get their food

Abraxas is playing with the toys: We should get something like this for wizards, shouldn't we? This would be interesting for children.

Voldemort: *stabbing his cola cup with the straw* this is all so very strange.

Abraxas: Do you want to get ice cream?

Voldemort: Yes. *sips the cola* This isn't poison, which surprises me because everything this bright is supposed to be artifical.

Abraxas: :D I like this place. *takes a hold of Voldemorts hand* I love being with you and having fun.

Voldemort: :/ :) :/ *continues sipping*

Every time they see a hippy they think it might be a wizard out to get them that the aurors or Order sent. Very stressfull McDonald's meal.

After that Voldemort says they should return.

Abraxas suggests they go see the big lock.

Voldemort: Big Ben?

Abraxas: The Big Lock.

Voldemort: You mean clock.

Abraxas: No, I always heard people say the Big Lock. I want to see what it's keeping locked. Maybe it's this Big Ben! What has he done wrong? I bet it has something to do with the Queen, yes?

Voldemort: *forcing himself not to laugh* Abraxas, please.

The date and the Big Lock keeping Big Ben locked up debate is cut short when one of the hippies does turn out to be Moody and he fires off a curse to subdue Lord Voldemort. They all flee like headless chickens and survive to live another day, records and all.

#tombraxas #abraxas malfoy #lord voldemort #harry potter #tom riddle #abraxas malfoy x tom riddle #abraxas malfoy/tom riddle

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eirinstiva · 1 year

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The word "Queer" and the Holmes brothers

One thing that I like about reading Sherlock Holmes' stories in English through Letters from Watson is the use of the word "queer", because in Spanish is translated to "extraño, raro" if the meaning is "strange" and as "queer" if we talk about someone or something non cis-het. Let's see some examples in past letters from my dear friend Watson:

“Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas—an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough.”

-Stamford about Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet

In this case the text is bold is translated as "Es un hombre de ideas raras". In another letter we have this:

The Inspector shrugged his shoulders. "I don't quite know, sir. Between ourselves, I think Mr Holmes had not quite got over his illness yet. He's been behaving very queerly, and he is very much excited."

-Inspector Forrester about Sherlock in The Reigate Squires

Due to context is translated as "strange" in "Ha estado comportándose de una manera muy extraña".

What happens with this quote?

"The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men."

-Sherlock about his brother Mycroft in The Greek Interpreter

It's translated as "El «Club Diógenes» es el club más raro de Londres, y Mycroft uno de sus miembros más raros." Again the translator choose "weird" as meaning.

The first time I read this in English was as a quote in Graham Robb's book Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. There's a footnote about this word in chapter 10 "Heroes of Modern Life":

Well, the ✨magic✨ is lost in Spanish. Sadly I lost the double meaning of Mycroft's description the first time I read this story in my native language, and now as a queer person myself (disaster bisexual) I can't hide my smile when I read it just like some queer victorian people when The Greek Interpreter was published in 1893.

[Robb's book is available in Spanish as Extraños. Amores Homosexuales en el siglo XIX by editorial Fondo de Cultura Económica.]

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skyriderwednesday · 1 year

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One of the queerest men in London, you say?

#sherlock holmes #letters from watson #greek interpreter

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jabbage · 1 year

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#Letters from Watson #lettersfromwatson

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sophieebdaily · 3 months

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Welcome to the ‘Sophaissance’: the return of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s brand of chart (and FYP) dominating pop

The British musician weighs in on that Barry Keoghan scene in Saltburn, her camp classic Heinz campaign, and answers burning questions from her die-hard fans.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor isn’t just having a moment – she is the moment. Everyone who’s watched Emerald Fennell’s prickly, provocative, queer-coded black comedy Saltburn is obsessed with the scene where Barry Keoghan’s character, scheming social climber Oliver Quick, dances to ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ in the nude. Thanks largely to the film’s popularity on TikTok, Ellis-Bextor’s shimmering disco hit has just climbed to number two on the UK Singles Chart, matching its original peak from 2002.

“It really is a bit of magic – I’m aware that this is a unique experience,” Ellis-Bextor says over Zoom. In a way, though, the so-called ‘Sophaissance’ has been a few years in the making. During the pandemic, her fabulously chaotic Kitchen Discos were a real tonic: live-streaming from her London home, Ellis-Bextor would sing her classic hits – ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’, ‘Get Over You’, ‘Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)’ – while trying not to trip over her husband and sons. Then last year, she released her seventh studio album, the sweetly sophisticated Hana, and played to massive crowds at Glastonbury and Mighty Hoopla, the queerest music festival on the summer calendar.

Ellis-Bextor, whose 2007 third album Trip the Light Fantastic and 2011 follow-up Make a Scene are especially beloved on Gay Twitter, has a long and loyal association with the LGBTQIA+ community. She even performed with era-defining queer club collective Sink the Pink during their early days at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. “I think the word ‘icon’ gets bandied around too freely, but Dame Sophie Ellis-Bextor is the real deal,” Sink the Pink’s Glyn Fussell tells GAY TIMES. “She somehow straddles a very thin line between being a class act and a ridiculous human being. And I think that’s why we should bow down and salute her.”

She’s also a completely lovely human being with a healthy sense of self-awareness and plenty of empathy. When we bring up her endlessly relatable 2004 hit ‘Mixed Up World’ – “When you’re feeling kind of mixed up, just remember it’s a mixed up world” – she replies thoughtfully: “Who doesn’t have moments in life where they feel a bit unsure? I think people are really digging deep a lot of the time.” So, let’s take the weight off by talking about all things Saltburn and Ellis-Bextor’s upcoming dance-pop album.

Saltburn‘s director Emerald Fennell said: “There’s no other song to me that so perfectly contains all the evil glee, the sheer FUN, the irresistible camp of ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’.” Did you realise it was quite so camp when you wrote it?

I do think that when I’m writing and performing, there’s a certain mood I like. I did it a little bit with ‘Groovejet’ as well – it’s a mood that’s slightly flirty but a little bit eyebrow-raised and arched. Also, the pop scene at the time was so keen – very shiny and friendly – and I just wasn’t coming at it from the same angle. That’s why in the ‘Murder’ video I wanted to be evil, I wanted to be a baddie! [My co-writer] Gregg Alexander already had the lyric “it’s murder on the dancefloor”, which I just thought was so evocative. It has a little bit of mischief to it and I enjoyed playing with that.

Can you remember what you thought when you first watched Saltburn?

It definitely gave me that feel – which I haven’t got from a film for a long time – where I wanted to keep talking and thinking about it. I guess that’s a testament to Emerald’s vision because not every film has such a strong sense of who it is the whole way through. I also found it really funny. I was so taken by the entertainment of watching it that I forgot I was there at the screening because my song was involved.

Emerald’s obviously one of those directors who uses music like another character because it just transports you; I really enjoyed the whole soundtrack. When ‘Loneliness’ by Tomcraft came on, I was like, “I haven’t heard this in ages, but it’s amazing!”

Speaking of Saltburn, which character do you think would be a Sophie Ellis-Bextor fan?

Golly. Funnily enough, I haven’t really thought about that! But I think maybe Archie’s character could have a little bit of a thing with disco-pop. You can imagine it, can’t you?

I reckon Elsbeth definitely danced to ‘Groovejet‘ in Ibiza when the song first came out.

That’s a solid answer because I suppose she’s more my peer. I can imagine that too.

Can you foresee a gig this year where Barry Keoghan joins you on stage? Fully clothed, of course.

I was lucky enough to meet him at the premiere in Los Angeles, and he was saying that the nudity didn’t faze him at all – it was just the dancing. So I’d say he’s more likely to come out naked and not dance than come out dancing.

It’s so fun that you got to discuss the scene with him.

Well, it’s funny because I’d actually seen him in the lift earlier that day, but I didn’t feel like it was the time to say “hi”. We were in an enclosed space and he was kind of looking down in a baseball cap so I was worried I was going to be a bit like an embarrassing British auntie. “Hiiii!” You know, that person. So I’m glad I waited until later.

How significant has your relationship with your LGBTQIA+ fans been in your career?

I’d say it’s kind of everything – they’ve been the keystone of allowing me to become the artist that I am. I can actually trace it back to one specific gig at G-A-Y. After my second album, I had a baby and spent ages making an album called Trip the Light Fantastic. And for me, the stakes were quite high because I felt like if I had a third album [that worked], then I’d be able to keep a career going.

Usually on stage I’d always be quiet, reserved and still. And I was quite nervous before I walked out at G-A-Y because it was the first performance for the album. But then something happened as I walked out where I noticed this big sort of wall of warmth and support and fun. And because I just felt so safe, I performed in a way I’d never really performed before. I could just feel that something flipped and I don’t think it ever went back. All my friends were there that night and saw me being more uninhibited and playful, which was a side of myself I’d never shown on stage before. And honestly, that changed everything for me.

Did you take away anything in particular from performing with the Sink the Pink crew?

Absolutely. I remember performing with them at Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club and seeing what that night meant to everyone there. The crowd had put so much effort into their outfits and that’s really special. If everybody knew that was an option for themselves, everybody would want it. Not everybody gets that feeling unlocked – that feeling of being completely included and safe and supported. I think what’s clever about the Sink the Pink crew is that, whatever scale they take [their events] to, they keep the kernel of that feeling. Performing to a whole field of people at Mighty Hoopla last year was just amazing. I felt completely myself and could see everyone was having a lovely time.

We’ve had a few fan accounts get in touch with questions. The first asked: “Does Sophie expect to collaborate with a female pop artist on her next album, which will be a dance record, such as Kylie Minogue or Jessie Ware?”

Thank you for the question, and very good choices! I would like to do that. I’ve spent quite a lot of time trying to do a female duet, but they’re quite challenging, actually, because you don’t want it to be twee. But there are so many amazing singers out there and I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for Sigrid. She’s got such a good voice and I like her take on pop music. But [the account owner] is right: my next album is going to be a dance record – well, dance-pop. The funny thing is, I was already planning that before all of this happened with ‘Murder’. It’s quite weird, all the serendipity that goes on.

Next, another fan wanted to know if we will be getting a Make a Scene 2.0-type album any time soon…

That’s probably not a bad comparison, but maybe this album is more like Trip the Light Fantastic. On Make a Scene, I was working with a lot of DJs so it was a bit more clubby. I don’t see this [album] being as clubby as that; I see it being more pop. I literally can’t remember the last time I went clubbing so I think that’s maybe not exactly the space I’m in. But it’s definitely going to be music that you can dance to.

Loveofhuns recently reposted the photos from your iconic 2012 Heinz Five Beanz campaign. Does it surprise you that this shoot keeps popping up on social media?

Not at all, I volunteered for it myself! [Comedian] Rob Beckett used to do this thing on Twitter where he would post “morning!” with a picture of someone doing some really dark promotional shot or something. So I replied “morning!” to him with that picture. As I commented on the @loveofhuns post, I still love my Heinz, but my personal favourite is ketchup – ketchup is my life. You know, obviously not everything I do is going to be cool. I don’t think I’ve ever been cool, actually; I just like to enjoy myself. And the dress I’m wearing in that campaign is from my ‘Music Gets the Best of Me’ music video, which I’ve always liked.

Lastly, we’ve got to ask – what are you proudest of in your career?

You mean, aside from the Heinz campaign? Ha! I think I’m proudest of keeping going. When you start out, you’re encouraged to think that you have a choice. People always ask you, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?’ But actually, you don’t have a lot of say over so much of it, so the fact I’ve been able to keep doing what I love is a massive thing. I’m glad I’m still such good friends with ‘Murder’. I mean, I still love to go out and sing that song. Can you imagine what it would be like now if I didn’t?!

Source: Gay Times / Words by Nick Levine

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anthonyjanthony4004 · 1 year

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I was reading ‘The Greek interpreter’ and there’s one like that got me laughing so hard which was. "The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men.”

I often forget that words have multiple meanings…

Also it’s funny that Sherlock called mycroft queer.

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lightning--bug · 3 years

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Mycroft is one of the queerest men in London.

~ Sherlock Holmes

~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Greek Interpreter (1893)

#mycroft holmes #sherlock holmes #sherlock #john watson #books & libraries #acd sherlock holmes #acd holmes #acd canon #acd #queer #queer community #book quotes #book qoute #bookworm #mark gatiss #bbc sherlock #sherlock bbc #books

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johannadc · 2 years

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Must see you over Cadogan West

Rereading “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans” has given me a fic idea. Or perhaps just alternate background.

Mycroft shocks Sherlock by sending a telegram that he is coming to Baker Street. “Must see you over Cadogan West. Coming at once.” it ran. Arthur Cadogan West was a 27-year-old unmarried clerk in government employ. He had a fiancée, but he's more notable for being found dead with stolen technical papers in his pocket.

Mycroft comes to visit Sherlock to explain the importance of the missing submarine plans. He brings Lestrade with him, a detail that tickles me.

(Art by Arthur Twidle from original Strand Magazine publication)

Mycroft is so distraught he says, “Surely you have heard of it? I thought everyone had heard of it.” followed by “It has been the most jealously guarded of all Government secrets.” Make up your mind, Mycroft.

He enlists Sherlock to find the three most essential missing papers -- because apparently the thief only took half the packet Cadogan West had with him. The young man had “been ten years in the Service... hot-headed and impetuous, but a straight, honest man.” Mycroft himself is a bit het up here, “springing to his feet” and exhorting Sherlock “to act! ... Use your powers! Go to the scene of the crime! See the people concerned! Leave no stone unturned!” Have we ever seen him so excited? Why is he so concerned?

Mycroft, in his previous canon appearance, “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter”, was described as a founder of The Diogenes Club, “the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men.” This story was published 1893. In 1894, the word “queer” was used in something approaching its modern sense, but in derogatory fashion, by the Marquess of Queensberry (father of the boy with whom Oscar Wilde was involved), so the current implication was coming to be known.

So... my idea is that Mycroft and Arthur were involved, which is the real explanation for why he’s so determined to find out what happened to him. Their assignation might have ended, particularly if Arthur felt he had to marry, perhaps to advance his career, but Mycroft is likely still fond of the young man, as he does not become involved often. And he can’t stand the idea that he was involved with someone who could turn traitor, so he must have Sherlock find out the truth.

Perhaps Lestrade has been helping him cope with the loss of his previous good friend. Also, the note where, when they’re trying to break into the spy’s house, “Mycroft Holmes absolutely and indignantly declined to climb the railings.” Of course he did.

#mycroft holmes #mycroft holmes fic idea #the bruce-partington plans

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defiantlywhole · 2 years

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"The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men."

where is my modern reinterpretation of Diogenes as a highly exclusive gay strip club

#yes i am AWARE of the evolution of the word i have an english degree #REGARDLESS it's RIGHT THERE IN THE TEXT #the clientele can be 'unclubbable' in the concept of unable to attend public clubs #it's not so much they're not *allowed* to speak to each other #as their attendance would be. suspect.#there are a lot of married conservative politicians who frequent it - club rules prevent one from mentioning seeing anyone there #else your membership be revoked

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seeingteacupsindragons · 4 years

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Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian’s Backstory is Very Queer: An Essay

(Author’s Note: This post is over 2,300 words long according to Microsoft Word and has images in it. There is no “read more” link. If you do not want to read this many words of me rambling about Richard’s queer backstory, please just hit “J” now. You will be scrolling for a while.

Author’s Note The Second: This was written up for @riku7se‘s birthday today. Happy birthday!)

Talking about Seigi’s queer-coming-of-age is easy and I do it often, because, well, it’s what The Case Files of Richard the Jeweler books focus on the most, since he’s the protagonist, thus the books are his story, and it is the story of The Case Files of Richard the Jeweler. It’s easy to go “Good lord, you are not a straight man,” at Seigi, because what is Seigi even doing? But Richard’s backstory may in fact be one of the queerest things I’ve ever read.

The anime covers almost none of Richard’s young childhood, or his backstory in general, or his personality in…general, but we get more of it in the novels. Richard as a kid was much like he as an adult: shy, quiet, introverted, awkward, intelligent as anything, fascinated by pretty rocks and jewelry, in love with languages, and largely friendless. Even Claremont family servants didn’t like him, because they thought he was strange and unchildlike (and it turns out later, they don’t like him because he’s queer, too, and isn’t going to be reproducing children on a convenient schedule to carry on the family name).

Of the friends he did have, it’s not especially surprising that he doesn’t seem to really have considered them true friends. He expressed affection in odd ways that they didn’t interpret as he meant them. He gave gifts that seemed excessive and performed acts of service that no one else would’ve considered, and this behavior had everyone assuming he was queer well before he seems to have realized that himself.

He was shy, awkward, and loved wrong.

And on top of that, they seemed to be using him as a replacement. Richard was, in many ways, and entirely against his will, treated as a mini-Catherine. He hated growing up looking a mirror and seeing “his mother’s face” looking back at him. It might even be part of the reason his family was somewhat cold to him—Catherine didn’t leave much a positive impression on the Claremont family, for certain. He didn’t (and doesn’t) hate his mother, but he didn’t want to be her, and he is already so much like her that they have difficulties getting along.

Richard is androgynous enough to be mistaken for a woman on occasion. He even dressed as one in London to disguise himself when rescuing Seigi from a museum, and he really put no effort into it other than putting women’s clothing on. Seigi mentions himself that Richard’s beauty is not really masculine or feminine and Richard could easily be mistaken for either except that he wears three-piece suits, keeps his hair fairly short, and is a cis man. His manga design, I think, illustrates his androgyny best:

When you get a shot of his just his face, it is legitimately kind of confusing what gender he is supposed to be.

At boarding school, Richard had male classmates fighting over him as trophy—something he didn’t ask for, didn’t want, and something that was blamed on him. After all, he was Different. He was distractingly gorgeous, even to boys, his expressions of affection too strong, too violative of accepted boundaries, and he loved pretty, girly things like jewelry. He was soft and gentle and kind. He didn’t fit the definition they wanted to impose on a young boy growing into a man, and he didn’t fit into womanhood, either. He’s too pretty, too confusing, looks too much like a woman and acts too much unlike a man. Any indication of queerness on the part of these other young upstanding young men was his fault. because society views queerness as contagious (and isn’t it, in a way? Once a person meets a queer person, they’re much more likely to discover the parts of themselves that are queer). He was obviously strange, and obviously feminine, which made him dangerous to The Order of Things.

When he invited some of these friends to visit him over the summer in France while he stayed at a villa with his mother, once they laid eyes on his mother, all thought of Richard disappeared from their heads. Why would they need his male beauty when a female equivalent existed right there? Much more proper. Much more appropriate for them. Much more…what they wanted.

Richard was only a substitute when they needed one. He was the closest thing to a beautiful woman. When an actual woman was there (especially one that could rival his own odd beauty), it turned out they only really liked him for that, and they dropped him. And Richard was so hurt by discovering he was just a replacement and a convenience for straight people that he stopped inviting people to see his mother. He wouldn’t even invite Deborah, his fiancée, a woman, to meet his mother, because…what if? What if he was just a replacement again?

Richard did not bring anyone back home again to meet Catherine until Seigi. This is fascinating, because Seigi did a lot of substitution when they first met. Every time he would think of his intense, queer feelings for Richard, he immediately, before he even realized what was happening, redirected them at a woman. With Tanimoto, or later even just a theoretical woman.

There’s a great manga cap of Seigi telling his college buddies about his gorgeous foreign boss and they all assume he’s talking about a woman. This is what Seigi’s head was doing in the background all throughout the first act of The Case Files of Richard the Jeweler.

This is also what Richard’s friend did to him.

I could write a whole other essay about Seigi and Richard and Catherine and compulsory heterosexuality, and I honestly really want to, but that’s a long derailment and this about is about Richard. And speaking of Richard and Deborah, wow, Richard. Wow. On the surface, that seems so normal. Lonely man finally finds someone who cares about him, he falls in love, and his family ruins it.

Except I’m not sure that’s actually what happened.

Deborah was someone he loved, someone he wanted to build a life with, maybe, but most importantly, she was a friend he thought understood him, one he might be able to keep after everyone he kept losing.

I don’t know if I can’t explain to alloromantic people what reading about Richard choosing a life partner based not on romantic affection but on a desperate desire to be able to keep a friend and not be alone was like for me as an aromantic person. Amatonormativity spends so much time insisting that you get one life partner, they must be a romantic life partner, and all other relationships are expendable in favor of your romantic spouse.

This insistence hurts everyone, but it especially hurts people who never really wanted to or managed to form a romantic bond with other people that was acceptable and valid enough. And it doubly hurts people like Richard, who already has such strong abandonment issues after his friends and parents mostly dropped him and pushed him off on other people.

And damn if it wasn’t one of my first times reading a fictional character struggling with that.

But Deborah was willing to marry him, even without romance. He finally had someone, and he clung to her. The timeline of The Case Files of Richard the Jeweler is frequently messy and often inconsistent, but it is very likely he proposed to her after he realized that marriage to her might not even be possible due to the legal restrictions of The Will (of course, interracial marriages have their own long history with this that I am far from qualified to speak on, so I won’t).

His family, particularly Jeffrey, was supportive despite that…at first. Richard’s uncle was willing to let Richard marry who he wanted (after all, Richard was the spare, wasn’t he? Godfrey had two real sons). Right up until it became obvious after spending years with lawyers that there was simply no reconciling Richard’s love with the family’s needs, and Richard was expected to set aside his desires in order to conform to the family’s expectations and support the family in the ways they demanded it. Deborah was not an Acceptable partner, and society was going to look at the whole family, Richard. Time to bury yourself and do your duty and marry someone you don’t and maybe even can’t love.

The amount of historical pain queer people have, being forced to do this, is immeasurable.

Richard’s love, as queer as it was, was taken from him. Deborah told him she didn’t even know why he thought it would work out in the first place, which is brutally harsh. It became obvious the biological family he had wouldn’t support it, and he simply couldn’t do it anymore. He had spent years trying and failing to win their approval, but they had finally taken too much from him.

He ran to an entirely different country and refused to respond to the legal name on all his legal paperwork. Richard might not be trans, as much as some of his androgyny sometimes speaks to that experience (see again: hatred of growing up with his mother’s face), and the series provides little if any allowance to interpret him that way, but Good Lord, running away from your family to start fresh with a new identity? There’s a reason that around a quarter of homeless youth in the UK are some variety of queer.

Richard was wealthy enough to run off to another country for his mental health crisis, and he picked not only one where his family, his own namesake, had been safe to love freely before, but a country that was, once, a place with much looser laws around homosexuality than the UK that made it a so safe place for queer British colonialists to settle in safety.

Saul and Seigi both question Richard’s motivations for his actions as a con artist (why is he selling valuable stones for cheap to people he likes, and punishing people he doesn’t?). Here is the thing about that: this was not only something that he inherited from his grandmother whose love was also looked down on by society, but it’s something he didn’t respect, something he loathed. His behavior was meant to punish himself.

It’s important that he was using gemstones for this: something he loved, something that wasn’t accepted as something a man should love, but that he found innately beautiful and compelling anyway. He hurt himself with them and punished himself with them because he hadn’t ever been allowed to love those parts of himself. He didn’t see himself as worthy, or see a way to love these things healthily in a way that both he, and they, deserved. Saul told him in Sri Lanka that he could see the love of gemstones light up his eyes, even though Richard was certainly trying to hide it at that point and wasn’t willing to accept that about himself.

Saul also tells Richard at this time that he has no self-awareness, and no introspection. Sound like someone else we know? Sound anything like queer people who don’t know their way or what they want yet? Richard was still spinning wildly out of control back then, and I’ll argue he still hadn’t quite realized anything about his own queerness.

And the thing that healed him, the thing that scarred over these wounds and allowed him to live, was a found family made of people who loved them the way he loved. People who encouraged him to be himself, even as a weird as that person was. Who encouraged, very specifically, a fairly transgressive love of jewelry and beauty and told him not only was it okay that he loved that, but that he could make that love his life.

Monica, Saul’s adopted daughter, was adopted from one of Saul’s own little found family members: one of his very best friends gave Saul custody of her welfare after his death instead of a biological family member. Monica escaped an abusive marriage to come with Saul and find her own healing. Saul’s sister-in-law came to study gemstones and jewelry with him while they were both mourning the loss of Saul’s wife and Maya’s sister. Richard found Saul there, who Seigi even says is much alike Richard in the way they are stubbornly kind, gentle-hearted men. All of them found familial love with each other when romantic love wasn’t working out for any of them, when their biological families couldn’t support them anymore.

Specifically, when Richard’s biological family decided he was too much and too wrong for them, he made his own little patchwork family to replace them. Found Family is one of the queerest tropes there is, because too often queer people are rejected from the homes they are born in and it is their way of making a new place for themselves with new people. Like I said earlier: queer realizations might be just a little contagious. People who defy society’s expectations are a much more likely place to find your own deviancies than society is.

Some four years after living with this little found family made of people who love the same things he does, the same way he does, all in ways that society doesn’t necessarily respect, Richard has the introspection and self-awareness Saul knew he lacked. By the time we meet him in Japan alongside Seigi, it’s pretty obvious he figured out who he is and how he loves, and that this way is very, very queer. And he seems pretty damn okay with it!

It was with these people that Richard found himself and found some kind of inner peace. He healed. And he didn’t necessarily heal the best he could’ve—I’ve more than once referred to this series as akin to watching a poorly-healed fractured leg being rebroken and set with pins so it heals straight and true, and that is as true of Richard as it is of Seigi and any of their customers.

But it was something he needed then to live.

They allowed and encouraged him to love people in ways society didn’t approve of, love things society didn’t approve of, let him be a strange, wild disaster for a few years, and he came out of it finally knowing who and what he was.

#Housekishou Richard #The Case Files of Jeweler Richard #Jeweler Richard #Richard Ranasinghe De Vulpian

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