Wild year, huh? (tag Jasper) on Teppenpaw Commons

Philippe Delachene

February 07, 2021 5:32 PM

Wild year, huh? (tag Jasper) by Philippe Delachene

Philippe flopped down on his bed after tonight's announcement at dinner. Most of what Professor Skies had said was not news to him, and he hadn't been remotely surprised to see his whole family looking back at him on the poster of recovered memories. He had tried to ignore them. He already knew about the two people who really mattered who had seen it. Ellie had told him directly. And Anya had mentioned Freddie talked to her about something that sounded suspiciously similar.

And now Freddie would know it had really happened.

He'd glanced over the other faces on the poster, added his name under the Face-Timing Lady, and spotted Mom in another slot as well. Anya's probably. He had wondered briefly what that one had been about, but shrugged and moved away to let some of the other students get in to see it.

Up in his room now, Philippe groaned unhappily then turned to look over at Jasper. He appreciated Jasper's existence. Jasper was the one part of his Sonora life that wasn't currently in upheaval. For now. He probably ought to give fair warning.

"So um," Philippe opened more hesitantly than he opened most conversations with his roommate, looking more at the ceiling than his friend. "I might be gay? Or like, I don't know. Bi maybe? Haven't really figured it all out yet. But anyway, some people probably saw my family talking about me crushing on a guy? From that memory stuff Professor Skies was talking about?" He figured Jasper had a right to know about it from him first, rather than the rumor mill, though this wasn't really the time he would have picked to bring it up under ordinary circumstances. He would have liked to have a few more answers first. "I mean, they think I have a crush, my family, I mean. I don't know if I have a crush. But I might have a crush. On a guy, that is. But don't worry, it's not you." He realized that could be the wrong thing to say and he back pedaled, "Unless you want me to have a crush on you, then I'm sorry but I haven't crushed on you yet, but I'm still only twelve and there's loads of time yet." He was making a terrible hash of this and he covered his face and groaned. "Urg. Sorry. This is not coming out the way I meant it to." Coming out. Gah. This was the worst coming out speech ever.

Part of the problem, he suspected, was that he hadn't had a plan. He'd just started talking like an idiot.

"I just mean, I'm probably not straight? Maybe? And I hope you're okay with that?" He finally turned his head to look at Jasper to gauge his reaction, his expression worried but hopeful.

1 Philippe Delachene Wild year, huh? (tag Jasper) 1489 1 5

Jasper Brockert

February 09, 2021 5:41 PM

Not for me really. by Jasper Brockert

OOC: CW-Implied homophobia BIC:

Whoa .

To those who would be familiar with the phrase (and the concept of headlights), Jasper's facial expression looked exactly like that of a deer caught in the headlights. It was not so much what Phillipe had just said but how much . Jasper needed a minute to process it all.

He put his hands up, as if to protect himself from the barrage of words that his roommate had just uttered. "Okay, okay, calm down." Okay, so Phillipe had a crush on a guy who wasn't Jasper. Which was for the best really. That would be a hard thing to deal with even if it had was the only thing the other Teppenpaw had said because Jasper would not want to hurt his roommate's feelings by saying he didn't feel the same way. He didn't think that he was gay-in fact, he really really hoped not because Uncle Eustace was bad enough as it was, if one of his nephews turned out to be gay as well as a non-athlete....well, the thought was utterly terrifying. Possibly even more terrifying than a basilik-acromantula-Topaz hybrid with rabies-but he definitely did not have a crush on his roommate.

Or anyone else. Jasper supposed that he just was not at a place yet where he was fully mature that way and also didn't think there was a point in liking any of the girls around his age because the only pureblood ones other than Aelia Astley were related to him. He supposed he could think they were pretty objectively, but then, again, it would never go anywhere anyway.

Anyway, in all honesty, homosexuality was not something Jasper had given much thought to. He wasn't even one hundred percent sure what bi meant. It was certainly not something his parents had talked to him about. Father had not even given him The Talk yet. Jasper knew that Ruby was friends with Dorian Montoir and had stayed friends with him even after he'd basically announced he was gay to the entire school and Topaz whined that that was why Ness McLeod had gotten prefect over her, even though that did not seem to be the main reason the Aladren hated her roommate, which seemed to be more about the fact, according to Topaz, that Ness was pushy and bossy and self-righteous and hypocritical and a control-freak and the indisputable, according to most people, fact that Topaz was a psychopath and was not going to get on with her roommate no matter who it was. And, of course, how Uncle Eustace felt about gay people, particularly gay men and how he'd called Jasper and Chris not nice names implying they were gay because they didn't like Quidditch.

What the Teppenpaw did know was that he would much rather follow Ruby's example than Topaz's or Uncle Eustace's example any day, And that he (platonically) liked Phillipe and could not just stop. "It's all right. And it's fine that you don't have a crush on me. " Here, Jasper blushed. "What does bi mean? This is not stuff my family really talks about. Other than my sister thinks being gay means you'll get prefect." And Uncle Eustace's homophobic attitude, which he decided not to mention.

11 Jasper Brockert Not for me really. 1496 0 5

Philippe Delachene

February 10, 2021 7:20 PM

That's lucky. by Philippe Delachene

"Okay, okay, calm down," was not exactly the response Philippe had been hoping for, and in fact wound him up a little tighter with nerves than he'd already been. The good news was that Jasper at least sounded more like he was overwhelmed with information rather than like he was either downplaying Philippe's revelation or irreconcilably appalled by what he'd heard. There followed a long stretch of silence where Philippe was not really very calm, but he was at least quiet while he let his roommate work through everything he'd said.

When Jasper did finally speak again, Philippe let out the breath he hadn't entirely realized he'd been holding. Even better, it was the response he'd been hoping for, if just a little belated. Jasper was neither a homophobe nor madly in love with Philippe, and the elimination of those two extremes let Philippe actually calm down and breath again and even grin in relief.

He opened his mouth, gearing up to explain what 'bi' meant but then Jasper's follow-up remark knocked the wind out of him and just left him gaping slightly. ". . . what?" Giving him an advantage on the prefect track was not an effect of being gay that he'd ever heard of before. Sonora seemed open enough that he didn't think it would hurt his chances overmuch, but guaranteeing it seemed extreme.

Philippe shook his head in baffled confusion, putting the remark aside to refocus back on the question he'd been asked. "Bi means someone is attracted to both girls and guys. There's a spectrum. Some people only like guys, and if you're a guy, that makes you homosexual - attracted to the same sex, or gay - and on the opposite side is people who only like girls, so for a guy that would be heterosexual - attracted to the opposite sex - and in the middle are the people who are attracted to both - bisexual. So if you're a hundred years old and you've only ever dated women and only ever found women attractive for you're whole life, you're pretty solidly on the hetero end. If you're like my uncle and bring home dates who are both men and women at roughly equal frequencies, you're probably middle of the line bi. If you're like that uncle's dad, where you've been in a relationship with the same guy for a million years, but had one fling with a lady and got her pregnant, decided it was a good idea to get married to her, figured out you couldn't stand living like that, and got divorced after a month, you're pretty solidly gay but not as completely out at the far extreme as the first hetero-guy. If you're like my dad and happily married to a woman, but occasionally make casual remarks about how pretty both men and women are, you might be hetero-leaning-bi, or you might just be French, I'm not sure which. I have no idea where I fall on the spectrum since I'm only starting to find people attractive and only one's pinged on the radar so far. Does that help?"

OOC: Philippe is a twelve year old boy who lives in the desert on a flying horse ranch so his experiences with both the French and the LGBQT+ communities are limited and simplistic.

1 Philippe Delachene That's lucky. 1489 0 5

Jasper Brockert

February 11, 2021 3:42 PM

I suppose so. Wild is overrated. by Jasper Brockert

OOC: CW-Homophobia BIC:

Phillipe seemed really confused about the fact that Jasper didn't know what bi meant and that his family didn't talk about this stuff. He didn't understand why his roommate was surprised. After all, Jasper was from a pureblood family and nobody in their family was actually gay or anything as far as he knew so aside from things that Topaz said about her roommate-and even then Ness McLeod's sexual orientation only came up when his sister was complaining about being beaten out for prefect by her-and Uncle Eustace's derogatory remarks.

Why would Phillipe think it was so shocking?Okay, so it was completely a normal thing in the other Teppenpaw's family, judging by his explanation but that didn't mean that was the case for everyone. In fact, Jasper was a bit surprised himself because Philipe wasn't exactly the sort of...aggressive personality that would not understand that people's families were different and that maybe everyone didn't have the same priorities. All Jasper's father had ever said was that not liking Quidditch did not make a man gay any more than a woman liking it made her so as that data, which had been the premise of some group that didn't think girls should play it, had never exactly panned out and that had only come up after Uncle Eustace had well, called Jasper a not nice name for gay men because he didn't want to do any sort of Quidditch related type activity with or without Uncle Eustace involved.

Still, Jasper decided to be polite about it. "Thank you for explaining it to me. I...am not sure I like anyone at all. I mean, like there aren't a lot of pureblood girls that I'm not related to-or pureblood boys either, really-and like, I'm not even close to anyone besides my family either, so it's like...how can I really like them? I mean, I don't dislike most of them and I suppose someone could be objectively pretty but there's still no point in having a crush on someone when it's not going to go anywhere." Jasper really didn't want anything that wasn't going to last and he honestly didn't think his family would even approve of him dating a non-pureblood casually. And casual didn't even really appeal to him at all.

He thought of something else. "Could it be possible that you think this guy is attractive because...you're French? I mean, your dad is French which makes you part French and you just said that's a French thing. I mean, it's fine if you're not straight too, but like if your dad is straight and says casually that men are pretty," Something unlikely to go over well with Uncle Eustace around no matter what someone's nationality, "because he's French, then couldn't it be that you think this guy is attractive because you're part French?"

OOC: Jasper is a 12 year old pureblood boy and his thinking on the LGBTQIA + community and the French is possibly going to be even more simplistic than Phillipe's

11 Jasper Brockert I suppose so. Wild is overrated. 1496 0 5

Philippe Delachene

February 13, 2021 11:53 AM

Very much so. Wild is for Pecaris. by Philippe Delachene

"No problem," Philippe cheerfully accepted his roommate's thanks for explaining, then nodded and said, "That's fair," when Jasper admitted he hadn't found anyone attractive yet. As a half-blood himself, Philippe didn't really see why Jasper had to limit his choices to their pureblood classmates, but he wasn't going to make a fuss about it as long as it didn't seem to be hurting anyone. If Jasper later experienced anguish over a so-called inappropriate crush on a muggleborn or something, he'd try to gently point out that blood status wasn't really all that important, and it was love, kindness, and who a person was on the inside that mattered, but for right now that just seemed like a discussion that might get them into an unnecessary argument, so Philippe let it go.

"Anya hasn't liked anyone yet either, and Jasmine dated Gary, but I don't think she crushed on him at all, so it's not anything to worry about if you haven't like anyone yet. And I mean, right now, Fredd- er, I mean, the person my family thinks I'm crushing on, it's . . . basically just a hair appreciation right now. He objectively has really nice hair," Philippe admitted with the urgency of a person who was finally spitting out a secret they'd been holding onto for way too long and just needed to share with somebody or they'd burst, "but I don't think I'm ready to date him yet or anything."

"And my dad was born in France and both his parents are French, but I was born in California, and my Mom's American, and my dad has lived in America since he was like ten or something, and I'm the only one of the three of us kids who even learned to speak French at all, and since it's more French culture to appreciate beauty verbally than French biology, and I'm definitely more American than French, culturally . . . . well, I don't think that's it. Probably." Of the three of them, he'd had the most exposure to it, having learned the language, and talked to their grandparents and father in their native tongue, and actually tried to learn more about their heritage than either of his sisters had, and of the three of them, he'd been the only one so far that seemed inclined to appreciate the beauty of people their own sex, so who knew? "I don't know."

And he knew exactly three French people, so things he associated as 'French' might actually be 'French', or they might just be 'Delachene'. But he wasn't sure that mattered so much, because either way, he was equally as much Delachene as he was French, maybe even more.

1 Philippe Delachene Very much so. Wild is for Pecaris. 1489 0 5

Jasper Brockert

February 13, 2021 2:32 PM

Exactly by Jasper Brockert

Oh good." Jasmine was Ruby's age, a good six years older than Jasper was, so if she hadn't liked anyone yet, that meant there was lots of time. Although, still not a lot of options here at Sonora, even if he was willing to risk disownment-and right now, he wasn't because he loved his family too much, well, most of them anyway- and be with somebody who wasn't a pureblood. And he still didn't know those girls well either although the two first year Aladren girls were Isla's friends. Though he thought the one might be dating that one first year Teppenpaw boy. And Val, whom Jasper guessed was sort of pretty, was with Stanley. So even taking into account non-pureblood girls, there still really weren't options.

Then again, Ruby's fiance, Dean, had gone to a different school and Jasper would probably end up married to someone who wasn't at Sonora too. Which was kind of depressing because it was harder to get to know people outside school but at least he had time. That Phillipe's sisters didn't like anyone and neither did Topaz or Sapphire for that matter was reassuring. Though Jasper didn't really think that the sixth year really counted since she probably wasn't capable of loving anyone. And, admittedly, Sapphire was sort of immature for her age.

He frowned. "Why would she date him if she didn't even like him?" To the second year, this made absolutely no sense. It was basically one of the reasons why he couldn't possibly have a crush on anyone that he really hadn't gotten to know well. Jasper would not want to date and end up married to someone whom he was unhappy with. He wanted to be with someone he loved and who loved him and he wanted something serious and lasting. Like what Emerald, Ruby and Owen had with their significant others.

Ah, so it was Freddie Zauberhexen. The older Teppenpaw was the only person with Fred- in his name here at Sonora. Jasper went on. "Do you know Freddie well? Like do you know anything about him besides liking his hair." Personally, he'd never seen the appeal of unnaturally colored hair himself but to each their own. "Because if not, I'm not sure it qualifies as a crush, but you still might like guys if it's merely physical attraction." He firmly believed that a crush was an emotional thing where you were totally interested in a person for who they were not what they looked like and even if they weren't that attractive they became the most beautiful person in the world to you." And you probably shouldn't date someone if you aren't ready." Because that was good advice, generally speaking. You shouldn't do things you were not comfortable with unless you absolutely had to like last year, when the Teppenpaw had had to take flying lessons and get on a broom which he wasn't at all comfortable with but was required to do anyway.

Jasper nodded. "That makes sense. I kind of assumed like, it was like your dad teaching you his culture and stuff when I asked that. Like it was something you picked up from him."

11 Jasper Brockert Exactly 1496 0 5

Philippe Delachene

February 15, 2021 6:13 PM

That's what I've been saying! by Philippe Delachene

"I mean, I think she liked him as a person, and she wanted a date to the ball and he asked, so she said yes, but . . . " Philippe shrugged not really sure on all of the details of his oldest sister's romantic interests. "After dating for a while I guess she figured out she didn't want to spend the rest of her life with him? And I think she was hoping that dating would make her like him more but it didn't?" Jasmine was not nearly as bad as Mom about trying to force her will to become reality, but that didn't mean she wasn't above trying every now and then when the odds weren't too far against her.

Philippe made a slight face as Jasper confirmed that his slip on Freddie's name had been noted, but it was fine. It sounded like the memory scene that had played for Ellie and Freddie had already given that away, so it wasn't like it was a secret anymore anyway. "Exactly! I've been telling people it's not a crush!" he exclaimed, with a wild gesture to give the words even more emphasis. "But nobody listens to me!"

He sighed and let his arm fall back onto his bed next to him. "I mean, I've talked to him a few times and he seems really nice. He lent me that hair dye the two times I tried it last year. And he's one of my sister's best friends, so I get a lot of second hand stories about him, so he's not like a total stranger or anything," he added.

"Right now, I just want to spend more time than I currently do with him, you know, to see if I want to date him later. I only mentioned it tonight because there's a memory about my family talking about this on that poster Professor Skies put up tonight, and I wanted you to hear it from me first, in case more than the two people I know saw it, saw it and start talking about it."

He groaned and covered his face. "The worst part is that Freddie is one of the people who saw it!"

1 Philippe Delachene That's what I've been saying! 1489 0 5

Jasper Brockert

February 16, 2021 5:51 PM

It's something I'll never understand by Jasper Brockert

OOC: CW-Homophobia BIC:

"Oh." replied Jasper. "I guess that makes sense." How disappointing though, for both of them. He supposed that happened sometimes and Jasmine had probably done the best thing by not continuing to string Gary along. It was better to do that than continue a relationship that wasn't going to work out. There would be no point to doing that.

"That sounds like something families do." Jasper admitted. If he had a crush or mentioned finding someone attractive, his family might tease him a bit. Well, some of them would tease him. Topaz would hold it over his head and use it for blackmail while doing her best to make the poor girl miserable. And if he had a crush on a guy that would be even worse. The second year couldn't imagine what Uncle Eustace might do to him-and, in that case, Topaz would likely blackmail him into doing her bidding, which would have him doing things that went against the morals of anyone decent, so their uncle didn't find out, all the while torment him about it herself and making insensitive homophobic remarks.

He felt kind of bad for Phillipe, except that it sounded like, aside from some teasing, his family didn't have a problem with the idea of him being gay. So his roommate was lucky in some ways that Jasper wasn't. His parents probably wouldn't be thrilled if he liked boys either. Or someone who was a non-pureblood. That was sort of the thing about being the only son. Phillipe was an only son too, but it sounded like his family was very different from Jasper's.

The Teppenpaw nodded. "I mean, to me, like you have to know a person to have a crush on them. Like, if you just like how they look, it's merely a physical thing. It's really good that he's nice though." Jasper couldn't imagine crushing on someone who was friends with one of his sisters. It would just be super awkward all around. What if you broke up? Would it affect their friendship. Of course, aside from Amethyst, his sisters were older than him, and older girls usually didn't like younger guys so it probably wouldn't be an issue. It was different with Phillipe and Freddie because they were both guys.

At the same time, he hoped that someday, when he did like someone, they would get along with his family. Well, maybe not Topaz, because that was just asking too much of a potential girlfriend but everyone else. "I think you should do just that. " He agreed.

Jasper winced sympathetically. "That completely sucks." He would be so mortified if that had happened to him. He'd been lucky not to have seen any memories at all. Or have any displayed to others. The second year might not have had a crush on anyone but between Topaz and Uncle Eustace, there was a lot worse things that someone could have seen.

11 Jasper Brockert It's something I'll never understand 1496 0 5