The EQ Alternaverse ((PART 2))

Can I ask something? I looked through the website. Were you guys aware of that "G***y" is considered a slur by Rroma people?

Startear wrote:

Can I ask something? I looked through the website. Were you guys aware of that "G***y" is considered a slur by Rroma people?

I do know that it is derogatory to refer to a person of Roma descent as a G***y, however "gypsy moth" is just the common name for a species of insect, and the insect is what the character is named after. I never thought the negative connotations really carried over, or else people would be wanting that insect renamed. But we certainly didn't intend to offend anyone. Maybe we should make an effort to call her by her full name instead of the shortened version in future.

i did not actually know this.*blinks* but i always liked the image of gypsies...roaming travelers and dancers. i named my first bearded dragon Gypsy...

....on the more pleasant note, yay new story!

edit: wow! i really love the parallel of Strongbow/Moonshade with Kit/Littlefire!! and aww, the bonding between them and Foxglove! it is a nice thought that Kit and Littlefire arn't going to seperate...but that last scene made me smile very much and giggle a bit.

very interesting imagery in the sending though...*strokes chin thoughtfully*

i think g---y is a lesser-known derogatory term, which is why u see it used in the names of animals like the 'gypsy moth'--like im not even sure what to do in that case. i generally just call the character 'moth' if im unsure ? but like...since that's an actual animal name i don't really know what's 'ok' or not :/

ok but also; littlefire telling kit and foxglove to just get a room already killed me, that was hilarious XD

and also littlefire, kit and foxglove are so cute, oh jeez, i love them ! this was a good story, very sweet

It's funny, because when I first heard the term 'gypsy', I felt it was connected to Egypt in some way and when I looked it up, sure enough it had to do with their appearance being mistaken for Egyptians sometime in the Middle Ages. Being Egyptian myself, I am personally not offended by it (having been called much nastier things in my life being from that part of the world) you'd think they'd have amended it by now and sort of corrected it. It still remains much as the word 'Indian' remains instead of the proper native Americans (except for vastly different reasons).  I wonder if actual Indians are actually insulted about the whole thing also.... it's an interesting subject!


You can just call her G-Moth but that sounds somewhere between a rapper and a G-Spot with a strange type of lisp heh. But yeah, I dunno.

Also yay!  I definitely echo Vaeri's sentiments here with the Moonshade/Strongbow parallel ...it's so seamless, I love it. Actually it's more like Rayek/winnowill and Moonshade/Strongbow all wrapped up into one amazing dynamic. I do really enjoy it.
And I loved seeing the friendship of Naga and Redfawn...so adorable! Such different kids being...kids together! Also whoa, Burl is hooking up with some trollkin?! That's awesome! I love all the diversifying that's going on with these Wolfriders. Also seeing Hansha and Grayling join up with the group is really neat. Grayling is right - feeling needed really does make it worthwhile. I wonder how Hansha is handling the less refined environment...I always viewed him as a metalsmith in a little 1950s apron , and that is truly not meant at all in an offensive way. It's a testament of how multifaceted the character are

i think roma people have tried to correct other people about the term 'g---y' but people kept calling them that, disregarding both roma and egyptian people's feelings in the matter

but yeah kit and littlefire really are like both moonshade and strongbow and rayek and winnowill, aren't they? i got the moonshade/strongbow parallel right away, but i hadn't considered the rayek/winnowill one until u mentioned it, zadzi, and yeah, it seems like it makes a lot of sense

i also liked the little slice of oasis drama--oasis is the place to go for drama and i love it

Zadzi wrote:

It still remains much as the word 'Indian' remains instead of the proper native Americans (except for vastly different reasons).  I wonder if actual Indians are actually insulted about the whole thing also.... it's an interesting subject!

Something I've always found really funny here in Canada is that the term "Indian" is almost never used that I've heard - the formal term is First Nations, and in speech most everyone says "native" - and yet the official ID for a member of a native band is called... a Certificate of Indian Status. It's very weird.

edit: getting back on topic, here's Kit 2.0 with her grey eyes and her chief's lock and some comfy Littlefire-inspired baggy clothes.

aw, she looks great, sungirl! and that shawl totally looks very comfy

Kaza999 wrote:

i think roma people have tried to correct other people about the term 'g---y' but people kept calling them that, disregarding both roma and egyptian people's feelings in the matter

Guess it's a bit different in the Anglo-Saxon world, but you can't use the German word for gipsy any more. Even names with the word in it ("gypsy sauce") were changed. Maybe it's because the connotations with "Zigeuner" are harsher in German (instead of 'free-spirited free-roaming people' it's 'people, who steal, cheat are filthy and might possible kidnap your children')

Actually, there are more gipsies than just Roma

O.O........Zadzi....you're......you're Egyptian...?.....*makes pawing motions* ohh....*-*....sorry, i've loved Ancient Egyptology since i was a child, and even though i know the culture is pretty different in modern times......it's still Egyptian....i'm awed....

.....anyway....gonna try to focus now. on the gypsy subject...i really don't want to offend anyone, but i really think the context is a HUGE contributing factor. the name is being used for a fictional character, based on the name of an animal. it's not directed at anyone in particular or general in negative association. and consider the fact Gypsy has been in creation for how long, and this is the first mention of it? so i hope anyone who is offended will realize it's not meant to harm, and forgive. to forgive is divine, right?

and wow! new Kit! i really must find the original Kit buried in this thread, and compare to see the differences. i love that shawl/poncho style...kind of Tyleetish isn't it?

i do have to say i was musing over the story in my head at work...i think one of my most favorite scenes is where Littlefire practically yells at them that they stink like wolves in heat. and i realized the whole "Kit is attracted to Foxglove too" and i have to admit i had a moment where i kinda stopped then as it sunk in. i had never thought Kit had any attraction to the same sex. i mean i know Spar does, and her daughter...but it was never something i associated with Kit, i guess just because it was something i had never seen implied in the story at all.

i mean Kit's only ever really been with Littlefire..and we heard of her flings with the Yellow Creek Pack...her and Spar using the disproportion between males and females to their advantage, i always thought to get a bunch of guys at once if they felt like it. but other than that, we never really knew much about Kit's sexuality til now.

thank god familial relations don't bother elves, cause Kit is boinking her many times niece and loving every moment of it....XD and Littlefire's encouraging it!!

darn those elves and their small gene pool XD tho i think at this point when u lose track of how many generations are between u and ur neice it stops being so much of an issue lmao

Vaeri wrote:

i do have to say i was musing over the story in my head at work...i think one of my most favorite scenes is where Littlefire practically yells at them that they stink like wolves in heat. and i realized the whole "Kit is attracted to Foxglove too" and i have to admit i had a moment where i kinda stopped then as it sunk in. i had never thought Kit had any attraction to the same sex. i mean i know Spar does, and her daughter...but it was never something i associated with Kit, i guess just because it was something i had never seen implied in the story at all.

i mean Kit's only ever really been with Littlefire..and we heard of her flings with the Yellow Creek Pack...her and Spar using the disproportion between males and females to their advantage, i always thought to get a bunch of guys at once if they felt like it. but other than that, we never really knew much about Kit's sexuality til now.

This is where I get snippy (though not with you, Vaeri) and remind you that Wendy says the elves are "omnisexual." I can't you what I caught Rayek doing with my coffee table once... Poor table has never looked the same...

This is true, Manga, although not all elves in the Alternaverse are as strictly omni as they are in canon. Gypsy Moth herself is an example of a maiden who doesn't look to the lads. As for Kit, she was lad-leaning when she was young, then spent several millennia in an asexual's body, but I think her attraction to Foxglove can pretty much be put down to being in love. That "attracted to the individual" thing.

and this is where i smack with you a rolled up newspaper and remind YOU this is not Wendy's stories, they're Wingthings. :p just kidding, no smacking. i am giggling badly at the rayek x coffee table comment though....XD

but you are right about the canon, and as sungirl said...Wingthing has done things differently in her story. some characters follow the canon sexual theme, and some are more...realistic, for lack of a better word.

correct me if i'm wrong, but i've been lead to believe the whole "attracted to the soul/personality and not the gender" is referred to as pansexuality?

I think Kit *probably* went through some college-era experimentation with Spar when they were both at Thorny Mountain - let's face it, when Spar is around, things happen! - so it's not like Foxglove is her absolute First Girl Evah! But yep, like Sun Girl said, with Foxglove it's def. a case of the "in love with the person, not the gender." None of the other gals in New Blood would do a thing for our new chieftess.

Spar is such a little bunny, i wouldn't be surprised she'd poke and prod and tempt poor innocent Kit into experimentations...:p

....would it be safe to say this is Kit's "I kissed a girl and i liked it" moment? XD i find it increadibly sweet though. was there any particular moment when Kit/Littlefire's fondness for Foxglove turned to more...romantic? i can only image one of them felt this way for her before they seperated...perhaps even before the Evertree fiasco.

On further thought about my comment, I want to be clear that it's Wendy's "omnisexual" idea I was snippy at, not Wingthing's handling of sexuality in the Alternaverse. Wendy could say they're all bisexual I guess but "omnisexual" just conjures ridiculous images for me, like Rayek leaning back in bed smoking a cigarette with a coffee table next to him.

omni to me...honestly first thing that springs to mind is like the robots...Transformers i think?....Ominitron? so...i guess that means the elves can only be turned on by robots? XD

so question...which is worse, getting turned on by robots, or getting turned on by anything and EVERYTHING?...brings to mind Winnowill's taunting question of "i wonder if they renew their kinship even now?" cause...onmisexual, that's entirely possible right?! surely some elves like their wolfriends so much, they REEEEALLY like them. this takes sharing the bed to a whole new level....

i'm sorry, i'm a bad person. bad brain. bad brain. XD

You know, I can't help but think that if the elves were truly "omnisexual" then that comment of Winnowill's wouldn't be taunting. Where would the shame in it be, if it were normal for them?

you know, that is an extremely good point manga. very good!...why can't we have that huh, relationship between a wolfrider and a wolf. mwahahaha. i think perhaps W and R are very good at saying what they'd LIKE it to be, but are rather poor at executing it. another example of omnisexual behaviour in an elf= cutter wouldn't have gotten disgusted when Picknose talked about Two Edge and him being a mix of troll and elf. probably should have been "hey elf getting what they like. righteous dude."

....this kinda begs the question, did Dart and Wolf!Kimo ever....? feel free to not answer and ignore me, i'm just crazy anyway. XD

if anything, probably the "it is exciting, is it not, to flirt with death?" was the harsher barb, especially considering Leetah tried so hard to avoid death. now that's psychological torture.

No, Dart and Wolf!Kimo most definitely did not! Let's "Word of God" that right now! Not even errant leg-humping!

*sits quietly in corner snickering and trying to breath* ok ok, no cross-species sex involving animals, got it!

...though does it still count if Kimo was a wolf when he did it with a true wolf? a bit surprised he didn't sire some Timmorns himself....Kimorn? XD

Wolf!Kimo did sire some Timmorns after he became a wolf permanently - "Kimo's Children" are running with Ember and Teir right now. They got a couple of mentions in Siege at Howling Rock.

I do remember them but i was being specific and didn't clarify that, so my fault!

I meant a walking, talking "torn between the songs" offspring like Timmorn. An elf covered in fur who goes bipedal or on all fours. Kimo pretty much produced wolves with elfin aspects, not the reverse like Timmorn. Aka an elf with wolf aspects.

Vaeri, can I hit of some of that whack root, girrrrrrl?

Hmmm, it's an interesting point though. I don't see Kimo as being as tormented or torn between songs, maybe because he had more self-shaping control initially, which is allied with the healing lineage, while Timmorn  was just a straight up hybrid and I'm not sure he had any real magic at all... don't know if that makes sense, but that's my take. Did Timmorn have any 'magic', whether in canon or alternaverse? I can't recall any.
Of course Kimo also just got old and sort of 'forgot' he was an elf possibly, but that seems more like senility.