Stories from RhyDin & The Rings

"We could always fill the fountains with fish again," Roni grinned. It'd been ages since she'd seen Ed, and it seemed like forever since they'd gotten up to mischief.

Fill another fountain with fish! Ed giggled, giving Roni's hand one more squeeze before withdrawing his hand. "Let's do something more outrageous." But he had to think on what, exactly. He sucked down more of his milkshake as he thought.

Amaris blinked at Ed. She'd just met the man, and he seemed like fun!

"Soap in the fountains is fun!"

"There likely could be a rainbow painted on the governor's building," Mist offered absently. He wasn't very good at keeping anyone out of mischief.

Ed gasped and perked up, looking full on at Mist.

"That's an amazing idea! Let's do that!"

"Good thing? I'm friends with the Governor's son!" Roni added brightly. Mist was happy to torment Mrs. Von Tombs.

"Oh! Oh! We should go get some paint rollers. Big ones. And buckets of different colored paint. And just rainbow up all the streets!" Ed took Mist's idea and went bigger with it.

Amaris looked between them all with a small grin.

"Can I come too?"

"Absolutely!" Ed assured Amaris.

"I think a rainbow is a wonderful idea," Roni declared. For pride month! Then she pointed at Ed. "Even better. 'Specially if we can get people ta help."

"Jameson'll help." He dug his phone out of his shorts pocket so he could text him right now. "Maybe Noodle too." Yep. Typing away. "Oh my gosh oh my gosh. We could like... Tie the rollers to the back of Ethel and just drive down all the streets." Genius!

Amaris tilted her head a moment, then asked, "Who is Ethel?"

"That's perfect, Ed!" Roni cheered.

"Ethel's my truck," Ed smiled brightly, proudly, at Amaris.

"Oh!" Amaris looked at Roni and then at Ed "I like rainbows, will you put clouds on either end?"

"And glitter," Mist put in, busy looking for a home improvement store to pick up all the paint.

"Yesss," Roni crooned.

"Like my shirt?" Ed grinned to Amaris, leaning back a little to point out the clouds on either end of the rainbows. "Why not? I love it!" His phone was jingling back at him. "Yes glitter!"

"This is gunna be the best," Roni cheered.

"A rainbow road to the governor's building," Mist suggested with a flicker of a grin.

Amaris grinned, "Oh then I can walk on the purple!"

"Oh my gosh let's go!" Ed was beyond excited to do this mischievous thing right now. He paused to read his text. "Jameson's in. He'll meet us at the store." Whichever one was open 24/7. Then to Mist he said, "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Of course. Then, shall we?" Mist gave an elegant bow. He was already in painting clothes. "Onwards, Buttercups. We have ...Rainbows to spread!"

~~~~~~

Thus, by morning, RhyDin would find that it had been Rainbowed. Bright and sloppy rainbow stripes ran along the streets, beginning more or less in front of the Golden Perch Inn. And ending at the Governors Building downtown. On one wall, a large rainbow with clouds on either end, had been painted. Here and there, small purple footprints tracked around.

It was glorious.


(Roni, Ed, Amaris and Mist were without adult supervision. But they mean well.)

Pharlen knew when she was beat, even if she didn't know that she had been in a match. On seeing the huge rainbow painted over one wall of the government building, which led to the road... so many roads... all rainbow painted...

She just shrugged and summoned her minions.

The announcements went out by noon:


Starting... Now! Follow the Rainbow Roads Downtown for a Rainbow Party!
Wednesday June 12, starting at 3pm, put on your rainbows and come meet and greet and mingle, all ages, all people are welcome!

There will be water balloons, glitter bombs, and a huge grill of brats and burgers and miracle burgers and brats! Beer and Soda and Water, of course, along with whatever sweets and treats we can rustle up on short notice.

The governor requests that all Mom and Dad supporters Please pick up Free Mom Hugs or Free Dad Hugs T-shirt and be there to offer hugs and support to our Rainbow Folks who haven't had a Mom or Dad. If you want to pick a Rainbow soul that could use some Momming and Dadding through the week or more, well, who are we to get in the way of love?


Thursday, June 13: Starting at around Noon, marketplace square: Alter Ego Talent Show!
Come and show off your best You! Drag Queens, this is your time to SHINE! In fact, anyone who is anyone else, come on down and participate in KAREOKE!

Can't sing? Come on up and dance! Does your squad have some naughty Burlesque numbers worked up? Have a hula hoop? Bring it on! The stage will be open till 10pm!
Sign ups will start around ten am.

Vendors will be serving all sorts of foods.

Friday, June 14, starting at 8pm: City Square: Rainbow Rave! Bring the neon and your glow sticks! RhyDin's finest Djs and bands will blow out the evening with loud and proud music! Expect all the cupcakes and beefcakes and cream puffs and all the suggestive foods and drinks on the sidelines!

Saturday, June 15, 10am: Pride Parade! Following the Rainbow Road from outside the Golden Perch Inn to the Governor's Building, Come on out, grab your squad, and come march with us in celebration of Love! Prizes for groups and floats and whatever strikes the governor's fancy will be awarded!

Sunday, June 16: A Day To Remember: starting at 10am. Gather at the Solarium with candles and quilts, with tears and memories. Flowers, candles, ribbons and other supplies will be available to create altars and memorials for those who went on before us and shine in our hearts forever, and for those of us who have managed to survive to celebrate.

Gauze butterflies on sticks will be handed out and a sing along will complete the afternoon:

True Colors
We Are Family
Firework
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Rainbow Connection.

Share and remember. We ask for the Free Mom and Dad hug people to wear their shirts once more and provide love and support. Teach the lessons of tolerance and love to our children. The event ends at 4pm, but feel free to remain and remember.

Monday, June 16: Movie Night! Please show up at the Thunder Road Drive-In Theater at sundown where free screenings of "The Wizard of Oz"/"The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert", "Hairspray"/"Caberet", "The Birdcage (1996)"/"La Cage Aux Folles (1971)", and "The Wiz"/"The Watermelon Woman" will be shown!

Free Popcorn and Soda! No car? No problem! Walk in, ride in, drive in, bring folding chairs or chaises. Just be mindful and don't block the screens.


Meantime...

Pharlen was making so many emails and texts to get this pulled off...


(Board event! (Unless a live event is wanted, then we can do that, too!) Pharlen's flying by the seat of her pants, so chances are very good she's contacted your character who sells foods or flowers or whatever, and she's definitely gotten hold of the local bands and Djs!

Remember, Pharlen doesn't understand nobles, so chances are good your char will get paid double their usual fee, unless they decide to donate their time/goods.

Glee! The Drive In mystery has been solved! Thunder Road Drive In!

If anyone would like to add/host additional Pride events, by all means! Post away! And post your chars having a good time!)

Wednesday. June 12, 2019

“Oh my gosh, look at this place! It’s like they knew it was my birthday,” Ed exclaimed with childish excitement. Never mind that today he turned twenty-one. If he had been better prepared he would have dressed up more flamboyantly. He never could have imagined last night’s shenanigans would have turned into this though.

Ed skipped down the rainbow painted street holding Abby’s hand. She hadn’t changed her clothes at all to reflect the celebration, preferring to honor the occasion in her usual grunge style and bare feet. At a more sedate pace behind them strolled Goshen, carrying baby Polly in his arms.

Jameson swooped by, cackling like a maniac as he assaulted them with glitter bombs. Ed shrieked but laughed as he was thoroughly coated. The drifter had not dressed up for the occasion either, but he was there for moral support and had swiped up a colorful pin that read the word ALLY to clip to his jacket. He was one of the few of the pack who accepted Ed just the way he was.

Goshen had successfully managed to dodge the run-by and was clutching a giggling Polly protectively to his chest. He exhaled relief when it seemed clear that Jameson wasn’t about to turn back for a secondary attack. The prince preferred to show his pride in much less flamboyant ways. Along the way they had stumbled upon an entrepreneur selling home made shirts, though, and Ed had convinced him to purchase a sleeveless tee in muted pastels of blue and purple on white to wear, because it was his birthday.

Amid all the bustling activity of the kick-off, they ran into Lee and Lola Howard, the elderly couple that had unofficially adopted Ed as their own years ago. The sight of their Free Mom Hugs and Free Dad Hugs t-shirts lit up Ed’s smile and he hugged them fiercely when they crossed paths. Knowing it was his birthday, too, they slipped him a small package to open later.

It was an even bigger surprise when the Greenes showed up, Ginger especially. The shy young girl was wearing a black t-shirt with three cartoon sheep in the center, two white with a rainbow striped one in the center. Above the sheep words in white read My brother-in-law is the, followed by Rainbow Sheep printed in rainbow stripes. Beneath the picture was more white print reading of my between two rainbow bars next to family also in white, and below that and I’m proud of him.

Ed’s smile hurt his face and his heart swelled with warmth at the sight of her. Scuffing her shoe against the colored street, she asked, “Too soon?” At first he squealed incoherently. The next thing he knew he was squeezing her so hard her back cracked. “I can’t breathe,” she wheezed.

“Sorry, sorry. No, it’s not too soon,” Ed cheered when he released her. “Oh Ginger that’s the sweetest thing ever thank you.” He lunged back in for yet another hug but did not keep her long because he knew how uncomfortable she was about affection. And yet, she smiled, so it had been totally worth it.

They spent the rest of the afternoon mingling and feasting before heading back to Old Temple West for cake and ice cream.

Rhydin's Best Cajun had lived through too much bullshit in the last 80 years to not celebrate something as near and dear to his heart as this. He wore a different shirt each day of the festival he attended, loud and proud participation wherever he was found. On Wednesday Cane actually contributed to the community by manning the grill all afternoon (which kept him safe from the glitter bombs), finally passing the baton around dinner time when he escaped with a whole tray of food to hang out in the grass with anyone who cared to join him. An indiscriminate dance partner at the rave, he spread the love with anyone and everyone. Despite the late night activities of the night before, Saturday morning found him parked along the parade path in comfortable camp chair with a beer in his hand, a smile on his face, and his lap frequently occupied. When Monday rolled around, the Cajun had a wild Salvador in his company, who was notably not colorfully dressed at all. They parked the Jeep at the back of the drive-in lot and only stayed long enough to finish The Wizard of Oz before calling it a night.

The Gallows clan came out in full force for Pride Days, led by a rainbow clad Claire and a Free Dad Hugs t-shirt wearing Cooper. Something like this wasn't exactly common where she came from, so Claire was particularly tickled by the festivities and made sure to participate as much as she could. That meant a lot of glitter, mostly, but also food, mingling, general friendliness. You know, that sort of thing.

The first thing Eden noticed about Pride Days was that there seemed to be free food happening on Wednesday afternoon. After work she followed the rainbows towards the sound of happy things happening. A first-timer to the entire notion of Pride, she had about as much enthusiasm for the event as she had questions. Which is why it was a lucky thing she wound up holding an empty plate in front of Cane’s grill. With a brat secured, she took a seat on the curb behind his grill and rattled off her questions for him.

What’s Pride for? What does queer mean? What’s an ally? Why would anyone be against love? Why do people need hugs?

At first some of the answers confused her. And then some saddened her. Eden had a hard time wrapping her mind around why people could be cruel about such a thing. It was an entirely foreign concept to her.

Eden explained that where she was from no one cared who anyone chose to build their homestead with so long as everyone involved was able to enthusiastically agree to the joining. But there was an even more fundamental reason for this difference---in her native language, gender was not binary. Rather, gender was a spectrum of identities represented by a whole host of different words. Eden found the forced selection of binary pronouns in Common deeply strange. She even felt weird when she had to figure out how to refer to her parents, since she could only choose between ‘mother’ and ‘father’ which seemed entirely limiting to her.

But in the end, she was happy to be there to show her support, offering to help Cane with the grill for the rest of the evening.

That night when she was alone with Nat, she asked him more questions about the different t-shirts she had seen. She was trying to understand what it meant to identify as gay or lesbian, bi or pan, trans or ace. It might have been a little more than Nat could explain. But he tried with the usual patience he displayed when something was just so hard for her to understand. Eden occasionally responded when her native language had a word for what he was describing. But for the most part it was just a wildly different way of thinking about identity than she had ever been exposed to.

Nat also expanded on some of the things Cane had told her earlier. The injustice people faced, the violence, the cruelty.

By the next day, she was determined to show her support, more than ever before.

She stopped by the Alter Ego Talent Show to watch for a little while, wearing her first ever pride t-shirt:


During a lull in the show, she hopped onto the stage with a borrowed hula hoop, and entertained the crowd for a few minutes of hula hoop tricks while on roller skates. She's actually pretty good at it too!

By the time the parade rolled around, Eden understood enough to be wearing a t-shirt that made sense to her. Pan-Pride:

Amaris had such a blast that night and now all the things going on had her asking questions of everything. Mist seemed like a fountain of knowledge, at least in his daughter's eyes. Dressed in a pair of rainbow jean shorts, a pair of fuzzy rainbowed shoes and a shirt with raised hands with the saying 'we are all human' with flag symbolized for each letter and her nails were painted with pretty glittered rainbow nail polish. She skipped along looking at all the food and most likely getting to try a large majority if not all of it. She had absolutely no desire to dance or sing but she watched those who did with a bright smile. She may have done a little twirl, staying close to Mist when she did and peering around after the fact. The day was so full and she was so excited "We can go to the parade too right? I've never seen one!" Amaris smiled looking at her dad with excitement

Thursday. June 13, 2019

Ed and Abby returned for the second day at noon, because there was nothing better for lunch than street vendor food. They brought baby Polly with them, of course, and Jameson too since he was driving. The only one of them really dressed for the occasion was Ed.

Riding the high of a newly purchased house that he and his fiance were going to live in together in the future, he was wearing a long purple t-shirt that was nearly a dress with the words LOVE WINS printed on the chest and the O made up of a rainbow striped heart. He also had on rainbow striped leggings and blended rainbow striped low top shoes.

Something like...


After handing Polly over to Jameson, Abby hauled Ed up onto the stage for karaoke. Reminiscing about their old life on another world, at another time, they chose to belt out a horrible but enthusiastic performance of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears. Once just wasn’t enough, though. Later on, closer to evening, after dinner, and after many other acts had gone through the line, Ed and Abby were back up on stage again, but this time singing Lional Richie’s “All Night Long.” Unable to resist this time, Jameson jumped up on stage with baby Polly to dance and sing and gurgle excitedly along with them.

They were not quite finished after that, though. As dark started to settle in, other members of the pack showed up for support. Pert arrived to take baby Polly off Ed’s hands, after he had texted her, because he had plans to meet up with Goshen that night. Noodle dropped in to see what all the fuss was about and found herself hauled up on stage by Abby. Jameson grabbed Ed to drag him back up for one more iconic song, “Under Pressure” as originally performed by Queen with David Bowie.

The lot of them all parted ways soon after group hugs. Ed made sure to buy Polly a big wad of cotton candy to spoil her, gave her eskimo kisses, and then sent her on her way with Pert. Vows were made to return the next day for the rave.

Though he had grown up in Rhydin, a decidedly more tolerant and accepting place than other worlds, Ike was present for every single day of the week long event, if for no other reason than to document it on video. He was a quiet presence on the outskirts of the crowds, camcorder at the ready and representing himself only with a collection of wristbands he wore every single day. The rest of his attire varied but was not any more expressive than usual. Often in the company of his best friend Jodie, who took photographs to compliment his videos, but not necessarily connected at the hip, he enjoyed watching and fading into the background. He did stop to say hello with anyone he knew, however, and catch up a little. Having a love for film, he bounced between features on the final evening, never really fully watching a single movie but gathering them all up in bits and memorable pieces.

Of course, Mist was there, starting with the meet and greet, though he really didn't have any rainbow sorts of clothing. He settled on letting Amaris take an old white shirt and paint it to her heart's content. Then with the glitterbombings and water balloons filled with colored water, he was quite colorful by the time he'd gotten to the square proper.

For a long moment, he gazed at Cooper in the 'free dad hugs' t-shirt. He could barely remember his father's face. So, he lifted his chin and barged right up to Cooper to almost meekly request a hug. And then he hugged, holding on for several moments.

A real dad hug.

Smiling, he thanked Cooper profusely and then headed back into the fray, stopping by to wave to everyone he knew, Amaris in tow.

Kareoke Night, Well, Mist left Amaris for a few moments with Ed and Goshen and family. He hurried to the stage to catch up with his beledi dancing class. Eight people in swirling silks performed a light hearted dance around the stage to Archy Jay's bagpipe version of the Power Puff Girl's theme song. Mist was easy to pick out, in sunny yellow, between his height, blond hair, and the blue runes cut into his skin.

He returned to reclaim Amaris, laughing and a little out of breath, back in the colorful shirt she'd painted for him.

"Of course we can go to the parade. We can decorate Greg and Steven and ride them in it, too."

It was a good thing that Mist's horses were so very calm!

Wednesday, June 12

Bailey had been a bit busy with work and the usual tumult that came with being a Stolen One, such that he completely missed the memo that the Governor had announced a series of Pride events for the remainder of the week. So it took him completely by surprise when a giggling group of teenagers in rainbow flag t-shirts tossed a glitter bomb at him the moment he set foot into a curiously crowded square in the mid-afternoon. He blinked as his blue suit, tie, and white dress shirt now glittered with rainbow colors, before breaking into bright laughter.

It didn't take long for him to figure out what was going on -- or why. Taking a late lunch, Bailey couldn't spend much time with this gathering, but he picked up enough from overheard conversations to learn the schedule for the rest of the week. He stopped by the grill to grab a bratwurst and chips from Cane, exchanging brief pleasantries with the Cajun before dissolving into the crowd to return to work.



Thursday, June 13

It was another "blink and you'll miss him" trip to the festivities on Thursday for Bailey, but he made sure to sign up early for an afternoon slot on stage. Bailey didn't quite understand the purpose of drag, but he could appreciate the effort that went into their makeup, wigs, and dresses. For his part, Bailey came on stage in a simple black dress with light makeup and red lipstick. He sang something that sounded a little like a torch song, showing a surprising fluency with the French verses despite having never shown public signs of speaking the language. When he hit the chorus, finally in Common, he held a fist over his heart, occasionally tapping his chest with it for emphasis. "Protect Me From What I Want", he crooned nasally -- no one would ever mistake him for a trained singer, but what he lacked in chops he made up for in passion.

When he finished, he hopped off the stage and melted into the crowd, a little late getting back to work but feeling like it was worth every minute.



Friday, June 14

Bailey was in his element at the rave, dancing and singing along to the songs he recognized, sweating and smiling up a storm. He wore rainbow make-up that he smeared into drips underneath his eyes and a "Gender is Over If You Want It" t-shirt -- a sentiment he fully supported even if he thought of himself more along the traditional gender binaries. He didn't even need to drink or roll to have a good time.

Friday. June 14, 2019

Ed and Goshen definitely attended the rave that night. Wanting to drive his fiance absolutely crazy, Ed dressed up in a nice new rainbow-y dress he had found at one of the local thrifts. He paired it with a rainbow boa and pink boots with rainbow laces. As an added drive Goshen crazy bonus, he wore fishnet thigh high tights.



The brat prince was dressed more conservatively in a metallic silver scaled tank top and black pants. Yet his attire made Ed’s colors shine. They danced super close together the entire night, attached almost literally at the hips. There was no questioning their chemistry together, and they did not share. Not even when they stopped to catch their breaths or for a drink did they let go of each other. At some point late in the evening they vanished for a while, but after about an hour found their way back among the chaos and stayed until dawn.


Saturday. June 15, 2019

Though he might not have gotten a lot of sleep the night before, there was no way that Ed was missing out on parade day! He and the gang at Old Temple West dressed up Ethel (a fully restored hunter green 1932 Ford model B pickup truck) in rainbow plumes with streamers attached to drag from her rear bumper. Ed actually let Goshen drive so that he could sit on top of the cab and wave, as well as toss candy to the crowd.

Abby, Cindy, and Ginger sat with baby Polly in the back of the truck, blowing bubbles and tossing candy as well. All of them, even Abby this day, were wearing something rainbow related, except for Goshen. Ed’s outfit was especially bright. He had even temporarily colored his hair.



Jameson had even dressed up his black cargo van, having plastered the word ALLY in big rainbow letters to either side of the vehicle. There were some messages about family and support on it as well. He did not toss candy to the crowd, but he had rigged it so that 80s pop music blared from speakers on the roof as he drove along behind in support of Ed and his family, and everyone else.