[4 June 12] Find a Theo already!

[showler]

It really is a shame that the one potential positive byproduct of Iseul's affair with Elizabeth--namely, learning from her to be more accepting of Sara's sexual orientation--doesn't seem to have come about yet, after all this time.

I don't think she's capable of learning to be more accepting of Sara's sexual orientation when it appears she considers her relationship with Elizabeth to be something shameful. And not necessarily because of cheating aspect of it.

[oddtail]

It really is a shame that the one potential positive byproduct of Iseul's affair with Elizabeth--namely, learning from her to be more accepting of Sara's sexual orientation--doesn't seem to have come about yet, after all this time.

I don't think she's capable of learning to be more accepting of Sara's sexual orientation when it appears she considers her relationship with Elizabeth to be something shameful. And not necessarily because of cheating aspect of it.

I agree. Not to mention that the association between the relationship and the cheating probably makes lesbianism even more strongly "bad" in Iseul's mind, due to her own affair being "bad" due to cheating AND due to it being lesbian.

It's utterly irrational for it to happen, but I would not be surprised if Iseul feels/will feel that there's something inherently wicked and corrupting about lesbian relationships as such. After all, even the Western culture got rid of that bias only very recently. Gay men are promiscous, lesbians steal the good women away from the path of virtue, that sort of thing.

[Tamar]

Showler, oddtail: You're both right. Iseul's choice to have an affair, rather than to face up honestly to herself and to Theo regarding her sexual orientation, does indeed mean she'd be less, not more, likely to be accepting of Sara's queerness.

It's all very sad. Fortunate are those QUILTBAG individuals who are neither pressured to live a lie nor pressure themselves to do so.

[Trefle]

I think he's a bog-standard cuckold though. If he isn't this story will quickly become more confusing than poignant. I'll need a GPS to figure out who to hate.

Echoing your words (also, cuckold. /giggles)

It reminds me; there are some amount of gays here (as in, my local community) who have expressed their interest on seeking a lesbian for a political marriage...

[Gholateg]

Or if he's gay and using Iseul as well?

What will it say about her cheating? About their relationship

That's what I was wondering about earlier: forked beard.

I think he's a bog-standard cuckold though. If he isn't this story will quickly become more confusing than poignant. I'll need a GPS to figure out who to hate.

I'd be fine with a forked beard relationship, but for one thing. Sara.
There's "Getting married to cover up their gay" and there's "creating a child to improve your cover." If they're bearding each other, fine. It happens, it's easier and during their relationship, it was probably easier on them to do so. But bringing a kid into that charade? Bad. Form.
And that doesn't even work into the mechanics of it. If they're both gay, wouldn't that.. Cause performance issues? Especially for Theo? Did he just close his eyes and think of England?

[Captain LeBubbles]

Or if he's gay and using Iseul as well?

What will it say about her cheating? About their relationship

That's what I was wondering about earlier: forked beard.

I think he's a bog-standard cuckold though. If he isn't this story will quickly become more confusing than poignant. I'll need a GPS to figure out who to hate.

I'd be fine with a forked beard relationship, but for one thing. Sara.
There's "Getting married to cover up their gay" and there's "creating a child to improve your cover." If they're bearding each other, fine. It happens, it's easier and during their relationship, it was probably easier on them to do so. But bringing a kid into that charade? Bad. Form.
And that doesn't even work into the mechanics of it. If they're both gay, wouldn't that.. Cause performance issues? Especially for Theo? Did he just close his eyes and think of England?

If they were both bearding without telling the other, or trying to fool themselves too, then it could have been a matter of 'well, this is what married couples do I guess' and then having at it enough times to make Sara. Then while she was pregnant Iseul could write off her 'lowered libido' as the result of that, and Theo would have been happy to go along and from there they just never got round to sex again.

Note: I don't think that's the situation here, I'm just saying that's how it could have worked out. I still maintain that Iseul is at least somewhat bisexual; I don't think she'd have defied her culture to marry Theo if she didn't genuinely love him.

[Freemage]

Or if he's gay and using Iseul as well?

What will it say about her cheating? About their relationship

That's what I was wondering about earlier: forked beard.

I think he's a bog-standard cuckold though. If he isn't this story will quickly become more confusing than poignant. I'll need a GPS to figure out who to hate.

I'd be fine with a forked beard relationship, but for one thing. Sara.
There's "Getting married to cover up their gay" and there's "creating a child to improve your cover." If they're bearding each other, fine. It happens, it's easier and during their relationship, it was probably easier on them to do so. But bringing a kid into that charade? Bad. Form.
And that doesn't even work into the mechanics of it. If they're both gay, wouldn't that.. Cause performance issues? Especially for Theo? Did he just close his eyes and think of England?

How would thinking of England help him? Oh, wait--you meant THIS England:

[Captain LeBubbles]

Or if he's gay and using Iseul as well?

What will it say about her cheating? About their relationship

That's what I was wondering about earlier: forked beard.

I think he's a bog-standard cuckold though. If he isn't this story will quickly become more confusing than poignant. I'll need a GPS to figure out who to hate.

I'd be fine with a forked beard relationship, but for one thing. Sara.
There's "Getting married to cover up their gay" and there's "creating a child to improve your cover." If they're bearding each other, fine. It happens, it's easier and during their relationship, it was probably easier on them to do so. But bringing a kid into that charade? Bad. Form.
And that doesn't even work into the mechanics of it. If they're both gay, wouldn't that.. Cause performance issues? Especially for Theo? Did he just close his eyes and think of England?

How would thinking of England help him? Oh, wait--you meant THIS England:

{img}

Is it just me, or does number 4 bear a strong resemblance to Dean Winchester? (Or... maybe Sam? I can never remember which is which.)

edit: And 9 looks like he can't work out why they're all standing there like that.

edit2: I also enjoy the random guy walking past behind them, who doesn't seem to realize there's a picture being taken.

[Kamino Neko]

All this talk of whether Iseul and Theo are mutually bearding reminds me of one of my favourite manga Ebine Yamaji's Love My Life... The main character, Ichiko, agonizes about coming out to her father. (Her mother's been dead for years.) After meeting her girlfriend, her father's reaction was...

'Oh, that makes sense. I'm gay, and so was your mother.'

Ichiko's reaction was something along the lines of 'D:'.

I can rather imagine that Sara's reaction being similar. (Though, granted with even more reason than Ichiko had, since neither of Ichiko's parents ever went on a homophobic rant at her.)

[Trefle]

How would thinking of England help him? Oh, wait--you meant THIS England:

Yum yum. Okay, I mostly found the standing guys attractive (them, and number 2 below. 9 may be good looking himself if he wasn't pouting..)

All this talk of whether Iseul and Theo are mutually bearding reminds me of one of my favourite manga Ebine Yamaji's Love My Life... The main character, Ichiko, agonizes about coming out to her father. (Her mother's been dead for years.) After meeting her girlfriend, her father's reaction was...

'Oh, that makes sense. I'm gay, and so was your mother.'

Ichiko's reaction was something along the lines of 'D:'.

I can rather imagine that Sara's reaction being similar. (Though, granted with even more reason than Ichiko had, since neither of Ichiko's parents ever went on a homophobic rant at her.)

Ah, have the manga. Didn't read it yet though. Yeah, the situation is somewhat different. I think the manga in question was slice-of-life (a.k.a somewhat more peaceful?) Which is somewhat ironic, given that they are in Japan...where apparently being gay is like 'the whims of youth'. While Iseul was supposed to -escape- from that sort of place and culture.