Thorn Wilde

Varric, you mean? He's one of my favourite characters, actually. He's hot in his own way. But, as becomes apparent as you progress through his arc, he's kind of already spoken for. I totally forgot about Harding! If you're single, and you've been to enough of the regions and had flirty conversations with her there, she will eventually start returning your flirts, and you can have romance-y conversations with her back at Skyhold. It doesn't count as a full romance, though, and if you enter into a relationship with another character it just kind of stops.

Alistair is a sweetheart. I think I've romanced him with two female Wardens. Fenris is a hottie, and all angry and temperamental. I like doing a rival romance with him, where he's all broody and angry all the time. Very hot. I despised Cullen in the earlier games, except the playthrough of Origins where I played a female mage cause then he was kind of cute. In Inquisition, though... Oh, man! <3 The Solas arc is very interesting, but I haven't played it myself yet (I get curious and watch YouTube videos; it doesn't spoil anything for me, just makes me want to play the romance even more). It's weird that they've yet to make a romanceable dwarf, beyond the bits in the dwarf noble origin story in Origins... I romanced Sera with a female dwarf. The cool thing about Sera is that she has different romance dialogue based on your race, even down to nicknames. I just think that's excellent. Plus her quirky weirdness just makes her cool in every way. I'm currently romancing Dorian with a male Trevelyan. I totally hated his moustache at first, but it's grown on me (lol! Pun intended). Plus, that arse... Yum! I want to romance Iron Bull next, but I feel a little guilty romancing him or Dorian, since the two of them enter into a behind the scenes romance if you bring them along on enough missions together, and they're so perfect for each other. If I romance one I feel like the other will be lonely...

Well, it's already the 12th of June here, so Happy Birthday, Valkyrie!!

I was so sad to hear about this! Christopher Lee was an amazing actor and fantastic human being. He will be sorely missed!

This post contains some very minor spoilers regarding romance options in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series of games, if that wasn't already clear. I've been playing these games a lot. And I mean a lot. I've played through the entire Mass Effect series three times. I am now on my fourth play through. Since last October. I did say. I've played Dragon Age even more, even though I only got Origins last Christmas. I obsess about things. It's part of my charm. These are extremely versatile games. Things can be vastly different from play through to play through, as your choices affect the world around you in bigger and bigger ways. Part of the reason I keep going back to these games, though, even as I get bored with a lot of others, is the romance options. There are so many of them I want to try! While lesbian romance options have been part of the Mass Effect series since the beginning, thanks to Liara (and I've mostly played as FemShep cause she has a better voice I think), there were no gay romance options for a male Shepard until Mass Effect 3, when Kaidan inexplicably became bisexual (not that I mind) and gay shuttle pilot Steve Cortez showed up. I'm a bit in love with Cortez. He's such a sweetheart! Dragon Age is an entirely different beast, however. Same-sex romance has been a part of those games from the start, with Leliana and Zevran both being bisexual romantic interests in Origins. In Dragon Age II, all the base game romance options are bisexual (though if you romance Anders as a male Hawke, you'll find that he appears to be canonically gay). Dragon Age II is a terrible game, of course, released before it was finished and chock full of bugs, but I've had to play it several times for the sake of the romances. Cause the characters and the plot are awesome. In Dragon Age: Inquisition the romance options once again have gender preferences, and some even race preferences. But since there are so many romance options in the first place, it kind of evens out. Sera and Dorian are gay, Josephine and Iron Bull are bisexual (pretty sure Iron Bull would shag just about anyone or anything that seemed able to give consent), Blackwall and Cassandra are straight, as are Solas and Cullen, with the added restriction that Solas can only be romanced by an elf, and Cullen only by an elf or human. The added coolness is that you can flirt with any of these people (except Solas and Blackwall) regardless of their gender or race preference. I like playing a male Inquisitor and flirting shamelessly with Cullen to watch him blush. So, do you play these games? Which characters do you prefer to romance? And why?

Welcome, Sacha and whocares!

I am so jealous of you guys; wish I'd had a chance to see him perform.

Ooh, transman with male partner? Both fathers biological parents. Usually not one for MPREG stories, but the scientific implications are fascinating!

That is really, really interesting. I'm gonna have to read more about this, it's very intriguing!

That and women who have abortions, I guess. Gays and abortions; public enemies #1 and #2. I love C.S. Lewis. He had very progressive views for his time, and was a great writer. I will always adore his books. Also, bit of trivia: C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley both died on the same day as JFK. Barely even got obituaries...

Oh, George Carlin! What a wise man he was! He is sorely missed.

If they had a baby, I'm pretty sure he's not the father... Just cause he gets a penis doesn't mean he can impregnate anyone.

That was a remarkable story. Bittersweet, I think is an applicable term. I love your descriptive style; it's so utterly different from my own. Well done! A fantastic read!

Montenegrin.

Most transindividuals continue to be attracted to whatever gender they were attracted to before they transitioned. Since most transpeople (like most people in general) identified as straight pre-transition, they essentially become gay post-transition. How you want to define that sexuality is up to the individual, though. I'm guessing Caitlyn is a little confused with regards to terminology herself. It's not easy to suddenly change all your pronouns and labels overnight. The way I understand it, for non-op transwomen who have completed HRT, the penis will essentially stop having a sexual function. Replacing testosterone with oestrogen does that. So, they pee with it, but it doesn't do much else. (I can't imagine that using clinical terminology about the functions of the human body should result in moderator action, but who knows?)

To answer the question of 'does he then just bump': I think you'll find lesbian sex is more fingers and tongues than anything else, most of the time, unless there are toys involved (this info isn't too graphic for the forum, is it? Feel free to censor me if so, mods). Arpeggio is correct that far from all transgendered people end up having reassignment surgery. I know several non-op transpeople myself. I know that Caitlyn Jenner said she's considering it, though. Seeing as she's already had quite a bit of surgery, it seems likely she'll go through with it. Male-to-female surgery is easier to do right than female-to-male, but more difficult to reverse, obviously.

Welcome to all the n00bs! You're gonna like it here! And to everyone: Hi! I'm Thorn. I haven't been here in months, but I've decided to come BAAAAAACK!!

<3

Caitlyn's kids will learn to love her as another mum rather than a dad. It might be tough, especially with all the publicity around it, but it's not like they were especially private people to begin with. I read that Caitlyn actually started hormone replacement therapy back in the late 80s or so. Then she met and fell in love with Kris, and stopped. She chose love and family over her own gender identity. Most likely the 'irreconcilable differences' she and Kris divorced over had something to do with her desire to transition and become Caitlyn. But how different is it really from most divorces? People change and drift apart. In this case the change was just somewhat more drastic than in most. I support Caitlyn's decision and wish her all the best. I do think there are less ostentatious ways of coming out than a pin-up spread, though. A lot of feminists are criticising Caitlyn Jenner (and other celebrity transwomen like Chelsea Manning) for seemingly wanting to define womanhood into something from the 1950s, when so much effort has been made in trying to break away from these gender stereotypes and and roles (work that has had positive effects for the LGBTQ+ community as well). I can't say I exactly disagree. As many genderqueer people will tell you, gender is a fluid concept, a social construct based on perceived differences due to genitalia, differences that most research will tell us is due to nurture, not nature. Boys and girls don't have different brains. Instead, our brains are shaped by our experiences. As such, there can be greater differences between the brains of two people of the same sex than there are in general between the brains of men and women. Gender dysphoria and the often resulting body dysmorphia are very complex diagnoses. The reasons behind them are many and varied, and as we don't even fully understand the actual differences between cisgendered men and women beyond the physical, we don't stand a chance of fully understanding what causes gender dysphoria in humans. All we can do, I guess, is accept that this is a thing, and give our support to the people affected by it. In the end, I think the most important thing about Caitlyn Jenner's very public coming out is how much hope it can give to transgendered people out there looking for courage and acceptance. That's a really powerful thing. ...admit it. You've all missed my contrary ways.

Oh my god, you guys, thank you so, so much! I know some of you know I've been struggling with depression for the past couple of years. It has its ups and downs. I'm in therapy, and for the most part things are going more up than down, but writing has been hard. Seems like every time I poke my nose in here, I just end up feeling guilty about all the stories I haven't finished... But I do miss being here, and I miss all of you, so maybe over summer I can fix some of that. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes! I've run out of likes trying to like them all... You're all awesome! <3

Basically, what everyone else has said. Go for it!

You are loved, and you are missed.

I'm very sorry to hear about this. I too have found myself in the position of realising that my nice, safe country might not be so nice and safe, on the 22nd July, 2011. It's one thing seeing it from a distance. It's quite another knowing that it's happened in your own country, your own capital or even your own city. It can make you lose faith in humanity. But experiences like this can also make people come together as a community, a nation. It can help people find common ground across party lines, in the name of peace and friendship. I hope that this will happen in Canada. I hope that you will find yourselves refusing to succumb to hatred. That's what the terrorists want, after all. That is the entire point of terror. To make us afraid, make us hate, make us distrust each other and fight each other, when what we should be doing is stand together. You are facing a great challenge as a country now. I wish you luck. Be strong, and you will overcome.

Quavers make me happy too. And thank you! <3

I wish. I could do with some cash, but I wouldn't have been allowed to post something like that here. No soliciting and all that. Luckily, my friend in Manchester is sending me a Quavers care package soon.