This story is a sequel to The Care and Keeping of Hidden Castles
A short anthology of Luna & Sombra stories.
A series of multi-genre romance short stories, one shots, and drabbles, collected here for easier reading. Rated T for snarkiness and such. Context with the first story, at the least, is to be expected, seeing that this is marked as sequel. Stories are related, but have no strict chronological order. While marked as complete, expect updates whenever I feel like it. Chapters marked with ‘Q’ have queer themes. Some stories were previously published in Missing Pages & Scrawled Footnotes. Contribute to the TVTropes page!
Chapters (14)
pretty much
except when it comes to swan gf and noodle bf9090958
This is understandable. Though, I'm super bad at writing the noodleboye.
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nooooo noodle boi D:
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He's just so hard to write.
wish i could pay for this shit
s i g h
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H r m? Why so glum?
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i have no money :L
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But what for?
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U?
Ur a great writer and I want to give u money bcuz ur a great writer and deserve that money
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;~; ❤️
I’m a nonprofit organization but thank you~
aaaaaaawwww omg they precious
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Yesss~
I’ll never stop loving these two.
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I actually debated doing that, but DtI also feels too self-contained in its current state? So, I just decided against it.
Loved the last chapter, though when it comes to Sombra's gender, the story seems to do a lot of "beating around the bush" about it. It is because Luna is just too scared to ask Sombra about why he likes dresses, or does so much awkwardness exist between both characters on the subject that neither wants to get to the point, or are you keeping the subject of Sombra's gender and fashion preference intentionally vague to add mystery?
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Sombra's gender is a big point in this story, but it's actually not the main one. There was a reason that I chose deliberately for Luna to have lots of focus here. (See below.)
It's not out of awkwardness or beating around the bush, but actually something about Luna. Aside from her having a habit of internalizing things and using introspection to process what she learns (as well as her general patience with things) this is about Luna's relationship with Sombra's enjoyment of this and self-expression. Luna's romantic orientation is contrasted what she sees about Sombra's sense of expression, and is the real Thing of the story. Just as is elaborated and stated, she had a very hard time understanding things and felt guilty about it.
Sombra is most certainly not cis by any standards. However, him never explicitly going along with acknowledging any name for his gender is more of just ignoring labels. Sombra's fashion preference is most certainly both masc and femme, and he has his own styles for each. He certainly wanted to get to a point because he had no idea Luna was upset (and was thus questioning what makes Sombra tick, and going through her own explorations, etc.).
I'd say that Sombra's gender is mostly clear at this point. At multiple points he is referred to as 'genderless' and acknowledges this himself. However, instead of it just being an attribute to his species, Sombra enjoys muddying the concept of gender further, especially because he doesn't have one, and is willing to roll with either. 'Genderless' is most certainly another way of describing someone who is agender, and the literal meaning of the word. Sombra is just fairly divorced from the concept of identifying himself under the trans umbrella. Sombra fits the definition quite literally, he just doesn't delve into it or question why he expresses himself the way he does in a way that specifically focuses on gender. (Especially because gender norms don't really exist to him.)
It's Luna's worries, relationship, and romantic orientation that are really the spotlight of the story. She has been told why he feels the way he does and why he does what he does, but struggles to fully understand her partner. She has no problem with how Sombra identifies and cares for him deeply, but fears that his gender expression and her romantic attraction clash. And they do, a bit. (Especially because of how much she's worried.) Luna outright states that Lots-O-Femininity is more or less (for lack of a better term) a turn-off to her.
The part that really says this the most is when Luna tells Sombra she thought of him as male-like/mostly male/etc. not out of black and white thinking, but because that was how Sombra decided to present and acknowledge himself. When he reveals he does both, she feels like she's doing something wrong and is deeply confused.
So, yes, Sombra's gender here is important, but Luna's relationship with how Sombra decides to be Sombra is what matters more. Hope that helps!
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I see. It all makes sense now.
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