Several days later…
With a patience that could only be described as ‘endless,’ Flicker waited for Piper to work up the nerve to change his bandage. This was good for her, learning how to apply a field dressing, how to bandage wounds, how to patch up flesh that the job destroyed. His mother, Twisty, turned away as she scooped up Knick-Knack and she covered his little sister’s eyes with her wing.
Piper took several deep breaths to prepare herself, then began.
Taking the bandage off wasn’t so much a problem, but what lurked beneath it was. Piper hissed a bit as she worked, and then, with a snort of self disgust, she made herself look at Flicker’s wound. The flesh had been pulled taut, stretched over the open gashes on his ribs, and there was a long incision that had been made going from rib to flank, the soft, delicate place that existed between his ribs and his hip. The muscle had been repaired, sewn together, and right now, there were about a hundred stitches or so, inside and out, along with many staples at stress points.
“It’s looking better,” Piper said, her eyes glittering in the lamplight as she made herself look. “You’re a very fast healer, I think, I mean, I have nothing to go on, but every day this looks a whole lot better than the day before. Meanwhile, my legs continue to look pretty awful.”
“And what muscle did I tear?” Flicker asked.
There was a bit of a delay in Piper’s response. “Are you going to pop me a smart one on the neck if I get it wrong again?”
“Yes.” Flicker saw no need for anything but brutal honesty.
“The external abdominal oblique,” Piper replied, unflinching and confident in her answer. Using her telekinesis, she lifted up her supplies as she examined the wound, looking for diseased flesh, infection, signs of swelling or places with fluid build up that might need to be lanced and drained. Flicker had been a more than competent teacher in this subject, along with necessity, and she felt confident that she could do anything required, should it need to be done.
“I don’t smell any sickness.” Hennessy moved closer, his ears pinned back, and he leaned his head down a bit. He sniffed a few times, his nostrils flaring, and his brows furrowed as he examined both the gashes from the bear’s claws and the long surgical incision. “Nothing should heal that fast. I ain’t no doctor, but I’ll be damned if that’s natural. I done been ripped open, gashed, beaten into a bloody heap, and kicked into submission too many times. I done spent a lot of time healing and I gots me a good feel for it.”
Looking a bit bewildered, Hennessy backed away, sat down on the floor, gathered up his art supplies, and with a charcoal pencil in his mouth, he began sketching the wound on Flicker’s side as Piper began the wound care. Holding a pair of tweezers, Piper looked for any hairs that might be growing in which might have grown into the closing wound, and cause an ingrown hair. That was a means to infection that could be prevented. Piper had a keen eye and an even keener confidence.
“Most ponies would be bedridden,” Twisty said, unable to bring herself to look as she held Knick-Knack.
Grimacing, Piper lifted up the spray bottle of iodine in her telekinesis, now finished looking for stray hairs growing in. “I won’t lie, Flicker, I’m going to enjoy this after all of the pain you’ve caused me. I’ll try not to gloat too much about it though, not with your mother sitting right here.” Piper laughed a little, a grim sound. “You deserve this…” And without further ado, she began spritzing Flicker’s side with iodine.
The stoic colt did not make a sound and his side quivered with every spray.
Piper used a sheet of paper to fan the wound, drying it a bit, and when she was satisfied with how it looked, she began applying the moisturising gel to the red, almost scabby edges of sutured flesh. Applying the wet pack was important. Humming to herself, she stuck a few gauze sponges to the bone deep gashes on Flicker’s ribs, using the gel to hold them in place, and then she taped them securely. Unrolling more gauze, she began to apply a wound dressing that ran most of the length of Flicker’s side.
“I’m going to make certain you get a commendation for this,” Flicker said, his voice absolutely flat and emotionless. “Work this good demands recognition and getting a good list of accomplishments will help you begin your promotions. It stinks being at the bottom. Trust me, I know.”
Blushing just a little, Piper nodded and said, “Nothing needed packing this time. There was a couple of spots that I thought might be need to stuffed with gauze, places where they didn’t stitch to allow for drainage I guess, I don’t know… but I just had a hunch that they don’t need packing.” The filly sighed, dreading what was coming next.
“Now it is your turn… prepare yourself, Piper…”
As evening settled in, as it had for the past few days, Flicker noticed a distinct absence of Hennessy. This bothered him, though he would never admit to it, and he wondered where his companion was going during these unexplained absences. Not even a half an hour ago, Hennessy had been colouring with Knick-Knack, helping the little filly get over her case of the sads after witnessing yet another wound care session.
As for Knick-Knack herself, she was yawning and saying that she wasn’t sleepy, nope, not sleepy at all, and she was a big filly that didn’t need to go to bed. Flicker knew from recent experience that she’d drop over in not much longer, then his mother would take the little filly to her bed, carrying her by the nape of her tiny, precious little neck.
Pacing around, Flicker looked at the front door.
Doing so set off a chain of events, and Flicker had no idea that many had been conspiring against him, his family and his friends. For whatever reason, now was the chosen time to strike, and strike they did, moving with coordinated effort. Piper, limping a bit on four legs but able to move, picked up Knick-Knack in a bubble of magic and headed for the kitchen door, so she could get to the back of the house where the bedrooms were. After a moment of hesitation while also glancing at her husband, Twisty gave a nod and then she followed Piper out of the room.
“Son, we need to talk,” Conk said to Flicker, who was still looking at the door, oblivious to everything that had just taken place.
“Can it wait?” Flicker asked, still staring at the door, and thinking about his missing companion.
“No. Have a seat, Son.” Conk gestured at the old threadbare sofa, the sofa where Hennessy had been sleeping at night. When Flicker was slow to respond, Conk added just a little more authority to his voice. “Son, please, have a seat.”
Being the dutiful son, Flicker obeyed. He went over to the sofa, sat down, frowned a bit, and looked at his father, his eyes curious and flashing in the lamplight. He waited as his father appeared to collect himself, and he did his best to ignore the itching in his dock and tail where new hairs were growing in. It dawned upon Flicker that the living room was now empty, save for himself and his father.
“Son, I have to ask you a question, and we need to have a talk.”
“That’s fine.”
Conk took a deep breath, and unable to look at his son, he looked at the ornate clock instead. The stallion reached up, scratched his neck, and then chuffed a few times, nervous and out of sorts. After much delaying, he asked, “Son, are you gay?”
Flicker’s gaze became a thousand yard stare as his eyes went vacant. The lights were still on, but at the moment, nopony was home. The clock ticked away the seconds, and thirty seven seconds later, one of Flicker’s ears gave a half-hearted twitch. Eleven seconds after that, his nostrils flared—quivering for the span of nine seconds, and then went back to normal.
Conk waited as the second hand on the clock began to go round again.
Lost in a state of intense concentration, Flicker wrestled with his father’s question until at last, the second hand on the clock began its third go round. Twenty six seconds after the second hand began its third turn of the clock face, Flicker made a near-whispered response.
“Is it okay to be gay?”
Frustrated to the point of reaction, Conk snorted. “What sort of question is that? I raised you better! I tried to make you tolerant… is it okay to be gay? Of course it is! You were raised in a multi-tribal house! We might not be the smartest ponies around, but we’re not intolerant hicks… of course it is okay to be gay! Damn, Son, sometimes you are so thick headed!”
Forty nine seconds later, his father still chuffing and snorting, Flicker replied, “No, I mean, is it okay for me to be gay?”
A vein in Conk’s temple began throbbing and below it, his eye twitched in a fitful manner. The stallion facehoofed, once, twice, and on the third time, he let out a groan, then asked, “Son, why wouldn’t it be okay if you were gay?”
“I…” Flicker’s utterance trailed off and his response died on his lips. Thirty two seconds later, he recovered enough to speak. “I don’t want you disappointed in me or anything I do. I don’t want you or my mother feeling let down or otherwise disappointed by my actions. I couldn’t live with myself if either of you were ashamed of me for any reason. So I don’t know what’s okay.”
“Son, your mother can’t help but notice that Hennessy spends just about every waking moment staring at you when he thinks you’re not looking. Have you even looked at what he draws in his sketchbooks? It’s all pictures of you! And a few of Piper, too. He draws you from every angle. When he thinks you’re not paying attention, he just stares at you, and I’ve even seen it myself. He looks at you in the same way your mother still looks at me when she thinks I’m not watching, and how she used to look at me when she and I were the same age as you and Hennessy.”
Flicker blinked.
“And you, you Son, you spend a lot of time staring at Hennessy.”
“I do?” Flicker asked.
“Yes. You do.”
“I like his colour,” Flicker admitted, which was a huge, meaningful admission for him.
“It is very distinctive,” Conk replied.
“Mother will want grandfoals. Family. I think about it, sometimes, when I’m laying in my bed at night and staring at the wall. I’ve tried planning my adult life, but I keep drawing blanks. Sometimes, I’d feel ashamed about it, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea. It was easier to just exist in the moment and not think about anything.”
His hard, blustery demeanour softened and Conk looked at his son with weary, sad eyes.
“There was only me and the mask and I couldn’t picture anything else.”
“Son, I’m not a learned pony,” Conk began, and then he coughed to clear his throat. “I never finished primary school. I’m not all that wise in the ways of the world. I’ve learned a few things though. Twisty… she was my playmate growing up and I figured it out pretty early on that the pegasus filly playing in the birdbaths and the fountains and the puddles was a pretty special pony. I knew that if I didn’t catch her, she was going to fly away some day, and I lived in fear of that day happening.”
With a slow, almost mechanical turn of his head, Flicker looked at his father.
“As you know, I was raised by my uncle. After I was weaned, my mother took off to do whatever it was that she took off to do, and she left me with her brother. Now, Twisty, she didn’t have no parents either, and she just drifted in on the breeze one day when she was just a tiny thing. Our relationship started with an apple butter sandwich that I shared with her. That turned out to be the smartest thing I ever did, Son, and your mother might say I ain’t done nothing smart since.”
After a moment, Flicker nodded to acknowledge his father’s words, so Conk could continue.
“I became friends with that flighty little bird, but I lived in fear that she would fly away one day. Or worse, somepony would come along and take her. It was common for the young to leave home and find their way, but she was still really little… after a time, I convinced my uncle to let her stay with us, and she could’ve lived in the house, we tried to get her to come into the house, but she wanted to live in the barn up in the hayloft where she could make nests. Now, that peeved my uncle something awful, because it made him look bad, because he had an orphan living in his barn. He thought it made him look calloused.”
Flicker knew all too well his mother’s nest making problem.
“Come morning, she’d start crowing before the roosters did, she’d be up on the barn roof making a ruckus, and my uncle was a thankful sort for this happening. It meant an extra hour of work in the cool of the morning, before the heat of the day set in. My uncle said that was how she earned her keep, she was the most perfect alarm clock ever.” Conk smiled as he recalled many fond memories.
Still silent, Flicker waited and listened.
“Son, if you have any kind of smarts at all, you’ll catch you an earth pony.”
“What do I do with him once I catch him?” Flicker asked, giving his father a blank stare.
Again, for the fourth time now, Conk facehoofed, and it made a sound very much like his namesake.
“This stuff is complicated. I don’t understand it. Hennessy likes a whole bunch of stuff I can’t even begin to understand and it seems impossible to talk to him about it.” Flicker’s stoic exteriour shattered and he slumped down where he sat, looking miserable. “I’ve wanted to talk to him about it a few times, but I just couldn’t get the words out… just earlier today, even.”
“Son, you need to develop a personality of some kind. You seem to have lost yours somewhere between here and Canterlot. Honestly, I think it got dropped down a well someplace after you pummeled it into submission and maybe stabbed it a few times.”
Not at all amused by his father’s joke, Flicker’s cheeks and eyes bulged as he stared at his father. His face grew darker and the fuzzy tips of his ears quivered. The colt stifled his anger, as he could not remain angry with his father, lest he be disrespectful, and Flicker couldn’t live with himself if he did that. He’d have to toss himself down a well if he behaved poorly.
“Now, listen to me, Son, and you listen good. Hennessy has been going off to watch the moonrise and he prays to Princess Luna… he’s talked to me about it while we were out working in the fields. He wants acceptance… he feels like an outsider and it hurts him plenty. He figures that Princess Luna knows how it feels to be an outsider, and not be accepted, not be wanted, so he’s taken up praying to her that she fixes his mind so he’ll know some peace.”
For Flicker, it felt like an icicle had been driven through his ribs, into his barrel, and right through his heart.
“He reminds me of your mother, Son, back when she had a crisis about herself, and she couldn’t figure out if she was pretty. I suppose we all go through that phase where we try to sort ourselves out. But Hennessy, it’s worse for him, because he’s scared shitless on account of how he grew up. There’s a lot of hurt there, Son, a whole lotta hurt, and I doubt this is gonna be easy. First crushes or infatuations are supposed to be hoofloose and fancy free, but you ain’t gonna get that, Son. Not much in your life is gonna be easy, I figure.”
Sighing, Flicker slumped down a little bit more.
“No, I reckon that if you want to claim you an earth pony, you’re gonna need to lay siege to everything hurting him and then batter down those doors of his. You’re gonna hafta find a way to slay those demons of his, because, let me tell you, Son, he’s troubled. Son, to help you understand all of this, some ponies... some ponies, they have rats in the cellar… Hennessy… well, Son, Hennessy has rats in his soul.”
Flicker’s blank look of despair became one of seething rage and the sudden change startled his father, who jerked his head back in alarm. The murderous expression upon his son’s face was a painful reminder of how much Flicker had changed, and what his son had become. Conk, now silent, watched as his son rose from the sofa, shook himself a bit, and then headed off for the door.
When his son had passed though the door and shut it behind him, Conk wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in saying what he had said. The cold, icy, murderous eyes of his son were unsettling, unnerving, and Conk squirmed in his seat. Sighing, worried, he got up from where he was sitting, and went to go and say goodnight to his daughter, while also worrying about his son.
Conk hoped that Princess Luna was listening, because it was bound to be a long night.
The idea of asking his father's permission to be gay fits Flicker's character well. He fears disappointing his parents and he thinks of not being able to get grandfoals and there is a stigma that being gay is somehow being less that even LGBT people can project on themselves often before coming out and accepting this part of their identity.
Parents pushing a kid to go after their gay admirer is something I am certainly not used to however but you do paint his parents as very observant and progressive so I can see that working.
On a side note if Hennessy is actually transgender and questioning as you give some hints Henessey might be then Hennessy is actually straight as Hennessy is attracted to the opposite gender (a female attracted to a male). Hennessy then again may simply be gay and going through a bit of questioning of identity due to that. Being young and LGBT can feel complicated.
It seems Kudzu requires a warm, encouraging hug, everypony. I'll start the dogpile :3
On the other hand, I also have no knowledge of what it's like to be gay- but for what it's worth, I think you did a splendid job at conveying a portion of the insecurities that go along with it. Again, I don't actually know, but I liked it.
...Rats in his soul, Conk? I don't think you comprehend the magnitude of the consequences that sentence will bring. You've thrown a switch that can't be put back. Something or somepony is royally screwed, and I don't think anypony knows who or what is coming next out of our little Lord Death.
Well, seeing how much time you spent on this chapter, I'm happy to say I really enjoyed it
And I think it's pretty natural for Flicker to question if it's okay to be, or if he is gay.
My parents doesn't seem to have anything against transgender people, yet I don't feel comfortable coming out before I have a job and a place of my own.
7776825
I trust in Flicker's ability to get an analogy. It does push him to do everything he can to help Hennessy with extreme enthusiasm though. I worry he may try to push too much too quickly though as Flicker seems to go all in and fixing years of emotional hurt is not something you can just fix forcefully in one day. I don't think that is a concept Flicker can yet understand.
7776842
Now, which hole do I put the dynamite in to blast the rats out?
7776851
The butt hole clearly but you'll need a special stick of dynamite.
I can't believe I just said that......
You can be intelligent about one thing and total ignorant about another. It doesn't mean you are stupid. Flicker is dealing with potentially disappointing his parents and he doesn't want to show them up being less educated than he is.. Its hard for children when we realize our parents honestly don;t know everything when we grew up thinking they had all the answers
7776867
Yes. And the last chapter, we saw that uncomfortable moment when Flicker's mother admitted that she had no idea where foals came from when he was conceived.
As someone who is a MtF Lesbian, I think you have done a fine job.
Fact of the matter is, Flicker IS rather stupid, but not in the CONVENTIONAL sense. It's as I said before, the problem with Flicker is what makes him not a total Gary Sue, which is severe lack of social skills. Flicker has let himself become so consumed by his Cutie Mark for so long, and that's in addition to all of the feelings he has of being a budding adult with wanting to make his parents proud. He lives for his Family as much as he lives to fulfill his Cutie Mark, it is the one piece of his life that isn't completely consumed by his Cutie Mark.
The key difference is that he didn't even say it was wrong, he just asked if it was wrong FOR HIM. He didn't want to disappoint his parents, his mother ESPECIALLY, by not giving them grandfoals. He takes the whole "Honor your parents" in a very hardcore and extreme way, much like being a devoted older brother.
If anything I think the questioning aspect works well, because many of us question ourselves.
On a totally different note, I think it's weird that here Flicker has this important revelation with Death, but he's said NOTHING about it about to ANYONE.
7776857
Neither can I.
I'm a little bit proud of you.
Speaking as someone who came out to their own parents, Flicker's question seemed perfectly natural and in-character for him. I think you're doing a great job in this story for someone who's having a hard time connecting with his own character.
I'm also starting to think Flicker might be suffering some PTSD. He's stuck in a war he can't stop fighting and he's buried everything that's gonna weigh him down in the fight. Not sure if that's actually a type of PTSD but speaking as a military brat this sounds like something I've heard other soldiers going through.
7776857 Too get the stick out his butt, it's clogging up his ratty feelings.
7776867
Giving an example that completely embarasses myself of being completely stupid at one thing while brilliant at others.
I was able to do algebra and read at a high school level as early as 1st grade. My understanding of history far surpassed my teachers by the time I was finishing elementry school as well. At the same time I didn't learn that there were female and male sex organs until 7th grade and remember having the revelation make me physically sick.
Awwww buddy, now he gone dunnit.
DON'T TRY TO AERATE HIS SOUL FLICKER
7776876
I have been asking myself the same question about his "dream of death." I can already see his superiors going "AND YOU DIDN'T THINK THIS WAS WORTH MENTIONING YOU DUMB COLT!"
Oh and shout out to other MtF lesbian sister!
11/10 I like how often this story updates.
Capitalization.
My thought earlier in the story was that mini-Hitler needed to take a chill pill.
A lack of experience can be fixed.
I think it's very well done, right now flicker is pretty one dimensional, but that is something that is more common with average every day people than it is for story heroes. I'd like to think the appeal from character development is the subconscious want of the audience to feel like it's possible to change regardless of how stubborn, and this is a good way to express how difficult change can be sometimes, especially with stubborn rigid personalities.
It probably irks you, but I think if you use that feeling you can continue to experience and portray the struggles flicker has, even without his personal peculiarities.
I love this chapter. Flickers parents seem much like my own, liberal mum and a traditional dad. It takes them a while to process things especially on the whole LGBT+ thing. When I told them I was a Druid my mum said "no shit", and dad said that's nice, I have been blessed with normal parents.
I was thinking about this before this chapter released but is Hennessy gay, or is he trans? I'm a bit confused on that since you said earlier that he had wanted to be more of like a tomcoltish filly, or a filly like colt.
I pine for the return of rat murder.
Depending where you live, that is generally easy enough to aquire experience on. ;D
7776923
Soon.
Soon the rats will murder.
7776918
Hennessy likely hasn't figured it out either. It is not every LGBT person who goes through that kind of queztioning but it is very common.
7776977
There is a joke about liking pussy here somewhere.
7776944
I can understand that, we as a society haven't been very accepting and pin a lot of stereotypes types on those who aren't "normal". Took me forever to realise all I want is emotional intimacy and warm hugs.
I cried a bit, that was wonderful, thank you.
I am also delighted and frightened to see what Conk has unleashed.
Spike of knowing true
Chirurgeon of vermin all
ʟᴏʀᴅ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴍᴀʀᴄʜᴇs ғᴏʀᴛʜ
7776980
People often tell me there is, but I'm not the person who finds them.
... it's time son... for THE TALK, how do you even have a talk to some one as Flicker, for him to this point the mask was his life
and here i have my own thoughts, it's not an admission that he is gay, it is the question if it's even an option for him, i think of him as asexual up until now, he didn't look into any gender, there was only work. now he considers the idea itself of being sexual, not as gay or not, but wonders if being gay an option at all for him, as he said himself, his mother wants grandfoals... he doesn't think as a mature sexually developed colt but as some one who just discovered he could be one.
7776821 you can see my opinion above
7776842 i think you trust him too much, his father used the R word, that moves special cogs in the brain of his, from confused colt to a rat killing mask, even if it in his soul, it just means he needs a new weapon to fight them.
7776857
7776876 you can see my opinion above on flicker, as for death. i don't think he remembers the whole "i am agent of death"
7776881 wouldn't say PTSD, he doesn't have stress he is just consumed by his mark and the idea he is in the world to kill vermins... that is all, he is an extreme workaholic, for him up until this point the only reason to live was his mask.
7776903 i see you are new to Kudz he writes like crazy
I think you did good releasing this when you did, for sure. I just spent a hell of a long time writing something significantly more academic and slightly shorter than what you just did, and I had to call it quits and move on before I got stuck in the review and ew cycle forever. It's a testament to your dedication that you can be dissatisfied with something that's good like this story is.
But mostly cause I want to read it bad like. Also kinda lost track of this comment because I had to write it on my phone and it's FREAKING THE FUCK OUT.
My mask arrives Friday.
This chapter almost made me cry. You done good.
7776923
Well that isn't ominous at all.
7776930 The rats will murder or Flicker will murder or will we see some of both
Is Flicker autistic? The way he thinks and acts is rather characteristic of the disorder*. Things like asking his father's permission to be gay do seem like the sort of thing that an autistic person would do in Flicker's situation.
*Why isn't there a nice word without the negative implications of 'disorder'!?
All of these thoughtful, intelligent people discussing issues of gender and Flicker's potential mental trauma, and all that I can add to the discussion is that I've not been able to get the Grinch's theme song out of my head since I read the phrase, "rats in his soul".
7777258 I don't think he is per se, so much as he let is cutie mark consume him completely. The phrase "one track mind" is an apt description. He has lost himself in his purpose, which is what the other ponies around him are trying to remedy. Hennessy and Piper had the talk about filling in the gaps, and he is slowly coming around to realizing that there is more to life than killing rats. Personal growth. This is what the Weed-verse is all about.
I hope I explained that ok.
I wonder if Flicker is ever going to tell anyone he made a deal with Lima Death to be her servant in the war against Grogar and the rats. On the whole it doesn't seem like it goes against the general goals of the guild, but I could see certain individual members being upset and concerned about it. It's almost certainly why he is starting to heal faster than normal, and that might be useful information eventually.
He never answered the question, and now it feels like he has been given the mission to fix Hennessy and, Flicker being Flicker, is now heading off to obey.
Though on the other hand, there is this author's note so he can pretty clearly is gay. Thinking about it, I think it was the conversation between Wicked and Doctor Sterling about Piper than made me suspect Flicker wasn't gay. His explanation about the two boys not being a problem for looking after her was fairly specific about each of them, and I guess I would have expected an old, world-wise gay stallion like the doctor to have a better radar for it.
Regarding the question in the note, it seems find to me. I'm not gay myself, but my brother came out to me a bit over a year ago and since then I've had more conversations with him about the lifestyle than I ever would have expected before. Different kids handle figuring out and reacting to their orientation in vastly different ways, and I could definitely see someone like Flicker being fine with the overall concept while being uncertain about it as it applies to himself specifically.
Flicker's not stupid. What he is, is horribly confused and conflicted. Especially as an authoritarian: he wasn't even aware of most of this sort of thing, and for an authoritarian, the only thing worse than "against the rules" is "the rules don't even apply". Asking if it's okay to be gay is pretty much exactly what I'd have expected of him.
He's got no idea how to handle all of this. Heck, he's only barely beginning to glimpse what "all of this" even is...
...I don't think he ever actually said he was gay. Only getting permission to be so. Very interesting, guessing that right now, he doesn't know his own sexuality. I felt there might have been a hint towards feelings for Piper, back when they teamed up in the village full of rats. I may have read too much into that. Anyways, hope this doesn't cause heartache down the line... well, too much anyways.
7777308
The CMC calls it 'cutie mark zen' and for many ponies, it is a good thing. That state of happiness when you find your purpose and work towards it. For Flicker, it isn't happiness so much as emptiness.
Help is coming soon.
7777308 It's not just the single-mindedness (although autism often gives that trait), it's stuff like his literal-mindedness, very strong preference for stability and familiarity and general cluelessness about social stuff. Even his social network is characteristic: very small group of very close friends, near-zero contacts outside it. What insight we get into his thought processes also seem to match how (certainly some) autistic people think, rather than how a 'normal' person thinks.
I know the Weedverse is about personal growth (it's one of the reasons I like it), and in a lot of ways, if he is autistic, the people around him are doing pretty much exactly the right things to help (I wish there had been people who did that when I went through a similar phase). Autism isn't inherently bad on any level (that's why I don't like having to call it a 'disorder'), but it does mean that a person has different requirements and challenges. A person can grow and still remain autistic (and probably will, given the Weedverse' nature).
Or maybe I'm projecting, being both autistic and interested in autism, I do have an interest in seeing more good depictions of autistic characters, which this one appears to be.
"T'PA! T'PA!"
The heck you saying, Hennessy?
"T'PA!" *Points*
Oh, typo.
7777444
Where is the typo?
7777500
The shirts will be a bright sunny yellow with bright pink lettering.
7777455
Perhaps not a typo specifically, it just seems to me that the particular sentence is slightly awkward. Perhaps an alternative would be 'she'd drop over not much later,' or 'she'd drop over in a little while.'
And now I've explained something I believed to be intuitive, I feel the obligation to remind you I think you're an awesome writer.
7777103
I take just about anything over gay foalcon.
7776851
Now that is an unpleasant thought.
7777378
Flicker might be bisexual. Though I read his feelings for Piper is being more protective than sexual.
7777549
Sorry, but this is rated T. There will be no foalcon in this story, as that means explicit sex.
Just thought I'd make that clear before a whole bunch of people got the wrong idea and set of expectations.
Here, in his natural habitat, we see Flicker, Lord Death of Murder Mountain, The Oblivious.
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"I want to be a filly, but stay a colt."
"Maybe I'll grow back there."
"Son, are you gay?"
Getting squicked out here man.
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So is Cadance, check the blog post I just posted.