Big fan of when non-binary characters’ AGAB is kept hidden. It’s great, audiences don’t need to know that shit! And we don’t want to.
Shadows of the Mind (@inscrutable-shadow)
Big fan of when non-binary characters’ AGAB is kept hidden. It’s great, audiences don’t need to know that shit! And we don’t want to.
making nonbinary characters without once considering their agab and refusing to consider canon deadnames for ur trans characters is self care actually
Umm?? Tell me more about the Stacked Deck?? What *does* it take to become a Card? (the concept for this story sounds super cool!!!)
Oh boy, you pushed the button, prepare to die >:)
I won’t kill you, just “make” you read like a thousand words of text. Okay, here we go.
First of all, a WorldAnvil article I made several months ago (incomplete) with some of the basics of the Stacked Deck’s structure: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-fracture-inscrutablecoy/a/the-stacked-deck-organization. Go ahead and read it (you might want to click the Queen of Diamonds sublink as well), I’ll be here when you get back. Done? Awesome.
The Jack of Clubs is also head of facilities, the Ace of Spades head of operations, and the Queen of Hearts head of personnel, though as usual most of the practical duties of that position fall to the Ace of Hearts.
The head of facilities is responsible for the care of the building and the people who take care of the building (referred to as cook and clean staff or C&C); he’s good at fixing things and keeping track of the maintenance schedule for the whole 200,000 square-foot building.
The head of operations takes care of missions for the Deck. Heists, protection details, smuggling of goods and people, if the Deck does it, she is the one saying how and when.
The head of personnel takes care of the people. The two of them together are responsible for the Deck and staff’s emotional and physical needs: food, supplies, salaries. They make sure the Doctor (yes that is the character’s name, yes they are an actual medical doctor, no they do not have a non-suspended medical license) has what they need, and also keep track of leave (in conjunction with operations).
To answer your actual question, what it takes to become a Card is mostly to have a spark inside of you, something that reminds a Suit of themselves and why they do this. They scout prisons mostly, and keep an eye on the homeless and orphans. Ember was found in a magistrate’s prison for attempted assassination, Ace saw a hunger and a bright fire to bend the world to her whim, and so took the teenager in in the hopes of both encouraging that hunger and decreasing the megalomania (which is just bad for business). Eleven was a runaway that Jack found on a mission to another city. She was an excellent thief and he saw a need for belonging, for family in her. Prue got in by literally breaking into the compound and the Suits just kind of found them amusing enough to keep, any kid that would just do that must have courage in spades and a considerable mischievous streak.
If you’re selected for the recruitment process, there’s about a six-month training and evaluation period in which you’re given the basics of combat and thievery and evaluated to see how much potential you have regarding it. The contract you sign before being allowed into the compound states that execution is the consequence for failure or betrayal, but in reality, failed recruits usually just become C&C staff (they can’t really leave once they’ve been taught how the Deck works and the usually didn’t have anywhere else to be). If you do pass, there’s an initiation ceremony, you get your division’s tattoo, and you’re officially a member of the Stacked Deck.
Uh, hopefully some of that was interesting/answered your question! I love talking about this so anyone can feel free to send more, haha, I would rather do this than pack for school.
FCD taglist: @arieadil, @youareshauni
You know what we need? A genderqueer character round up! Reblog this and wax poetic about all your OCs that took the box their gender came in and made a fort, be they nonbinary, GNC, trans, agender, or otherwise.
Prue Kerry is nonbinary neutrois! They do not have a canonical AGAB on purpose, and have been living a nonbinary life since the age of five. They’re funny, naive, and the witty narrator of Five Card Draw.
The Ace of Spades is nonbinary genderfluid! She’s fluid between mostly girl and slightly boy and uses she/they pronouns with the rare he/him only day. Intense, loyal, and strong, they’re a Suit and one of the major characters in Five Card Draw.
Nova Alterion is nonbinary genderqueer! They are nontransitioning and quite feminine but eschew gendered terms. Dependable and intelligent, they are Aster Gemini’s partner and a minor character in Biomech.
(minor gnc characters: Arrow, ey/em, FCD, Click, he/him, FCD)
sorry just curious why ur protag is “black” quotation marks ,,
No problem! They have the same physical and cultural features as people in my corner of Black culture do. In my mind they are Black just like my family and I are, but this world doesn’t exactly have races or humans or the cultural history that Blackness has, so it feels a little disingenuous to me to claim that they are fully Black. There’s no history of oppression involved here, really, or at least not one I get into in the story. Prue Kerry (who this is about) is oppressed on the axis of gender non conformity, and this is a story about nonconformity and growing up and deciding where you fit. It’s not a Black story in the same way it would be if I set it in our world, you know?
tagged by @raevenlywrites (well, not really but “anyone” was said and therefore i took the opportunity)
My name is Prue Kerry, and I have a couple of things I regret doing. Not like, in life or anything, I’m only fourteen and I’m way too young to have those kinds of regrets. I just made a couple of mistakes in the last two hours, is all, leading to me being here, where I am, bound, and gagged, and blindfolded.
I am slightly proud of this. From Five Card Draw.
tagging: @if-all-i-have-are-words,
FCD taglist: @arieadil @youareshauni
tagged by @apollosvotive! hello! I’m not sure I’m following you yet! how’s life?!
“How often do you, like, induct new Suits?“ Maybe I could become the Joker after all, like my child self had always wanted… Though technically I already was. I look down at my recruit uniform with its Joker insignia as I wait for her response.
"It’s never previously been done.”
“Oh. I guess you’re all founding members then… You seem way too young for that…” Why can’t I shut up ever?!
Her gaze hardens again for a moment and then recedes back into its unreadable state. “To become a Suit is the highest honor of all, though some do not appreciate it as they should.”
more five card draw spoilers for y’all
FCD taglist: @arieadil
tagging for the game: @if-all-i-have-are-words, @veliseraptor, @skwilliterate, @mischiefiswritten, @the-moving-finger-writes, and anyone else who wants to! ik i have more people i could tag so consider this @ you if you see it
For @flashfictionfridayofficial, my eighth piece, heckin late, as usual, apparently. This is almost certainly not canon but it’s from Five Card Draw and I had fun writing it, so there. Prue is a little restless in the compound, so Jack decides to cheer them up. Featuring some stuff Alice and Queen would never do in reality.
I decide to take my snack to the recruits’ lounge. No one else is usually there since there isn’t a new recruit class and the other recent initiates would rather be in the common area as befits their new rank. I still like to come here where it’s quiet just to think about stuff and talk to myself where there’s no one to judge me. To be honest, I’m kind of bored. Life here is training, eating, training, sleeping, over and over again. I sip my drink slowly and stare out of the fake window. I think the security feeds supply the video?
Happy STS! Is there an event (imagined or real) that your characters are looking forward to? What sort of event is it? -writeanapocalae
Hi @writeanapocalae!
Prue is really looking forward to the day in the future when they (hopefully) will become a Suit.
Jack is looking forward to his retirement. And I think that tells you a lot about his character.
Thanks for the ask!
happy meet and greet monday and happy pride from @ifonlyicouldwrite! to any of your queer characters: when did you first know you were queer? how did you come out to your loved ones?
Prue Kerry: I guess ever since I was a little kid, you know? I would get dressed in the morning and try not to look, well, down there, you know? I… this is kinda awkward for me… let’s just say when I chose they/them my mentor was really chill with it. He was always into letting me do whatever I wanted, not like he was my dad, right? I don’t really have to come out per se anymore, when people try to clock me upon meeting me I just kinda say, neither, they/them thanks, and try to end the conversation, haha. The first time I thought a girl was cute was when I was like ten though, the blacksmith’s daughter is unfortunately very straight.
(here are some FCD spoilers for y’all, the Suits don’t actually remember coming out to themselves, or anything about their childhoods/adolescence…)
Thanks for the ask @ifonlyicouldwrite!