#rusty quill gaming spoilers
In the last few months, three campaign actual-play RPG podcasts that I listen to (The Adventure Zone,Critical Role, and Rusty Quill Gaming) have announced that player characters (Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Caduceus Clay, and Zolf Smith, respectively) are asexual spectrum. I’m super fascinated by this trend (and generally hope that somebody is writing about depictions of asexuality in both AP RPG and narrative fiction podcasts), but I’m also really curious about the timing, especially since both RQG and CR have been running for years. (TAZ has also been running for years, but the current campaign is a little over a year old; it was also the first of the three to make the announcement.)
[Image description: A traditionally inked comic of Oscar Wilde and Zolf Smith from Rusty Quill Gaming. Wilde is a thin white man with dark wavy hair in a fur coat. Zolf is a white dwarf with mid length white hair and a braided beard wearing a blue jacket.
Zolf says “Look,” and reaches up to grab Wilde by the lapels and drags him down to his height. He stares Wilde in the eyes and says, “When this is all done. We’ll go on holiday or somethin’.”
There’s a beat, and then Wilde says, “Where?” Zolf lets go of his lapel to gesture frustratedly, “I don’t know!” he shouts. Wilde smiles as Zolf fusses. “I don’t where is gonna be beleft when all this is done! Somewhere Nice!”
Wilde smirks, leaning into Zolf until their foreheads are touching, “Zolf, I’m not going with you until you tell me where we’re going to go on holiday together.” Zolf Scowls and says, “You’re such a dick.” End description.]
If I had a nickel for every time a Rusty Quill podcast had an episode where the repressed, grumpy biromantic asexual had to save a sarcastic gay poet played by Alexander J. Newall from the comforting grips of a lifeless netherworld with the power of heavily implied queer love and holidays I’d only have 10 cents but it is wild that it happened twice.
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SPOILER WARNING FOR RQG EP79!!!
Finally dumping some of my Rusty Quill Gaming stuff on my tumblr now too ‘cause why not! I want to use this site more anyways!
Love this good dragon boy.
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“Knock knock,” Cel called instead of actually knocking on the door. “Everyone decent?”
Azu chuckled. “It’s just me. Come on in.”
Cel stepped inside Azu’s cabin aboard the Venga, clearly trying and failing to hide something behind their back.
“Is everything alright?” Azu asked, even though she could tell from the glee in Cel’s expression that they were not bearing unfortunate news.
“Yes! I have a gift for you!” They shoved the box previously half-hidden behind their back into Azu’s face, all the while rocking back and forth on the balls of their feet with barely restrained excitement.
Azu gasped in concern. “Wait, did I miss a holiday? I know I get a little confused with days out at sea here… I don’t have anything for you, I’m so sorry, Cel.”
“Pfft, no, it’s nothing like that. I just wanted to make something nice for you, that’s all.”
“Oh, that’s so kind.” Azu still wanted to apologize for not having anything to offer Cel in return, but instead she reached out and took the box still hovering inches from her nose.
She removed the lid to reveal a pair of work boots colored in a subtle shade of pink. Azu’s hand flew to her mouth.
“You didn’t…”
“I did!” Cel exclaimed. “I know you’re still rocking the pink, but you couldn’t find any good pink boots, so I went ahead and made you some! I hope they fit; I did sneak into your cabin and measure your other boots one night while you were asleep, so they should fit, but if not, let me know!”
Azu ignored Cel’s admission of sneaking into her cabin – something she and Kiko already suspected after waking up to hearing someone softly humming dramatic music as they crept around the space – and instead sat down to remove her current boots and try on the new set.
The pink wasn’t garish, but it was still poignant enough to reflect Azu’s continuing faith in Aphrodite. She wiggled her toes and did a couple jumping jacks to test them out, beaming all the while.
“I love them. Thank you, Cel, this is amazing.”
“I’m so glad you like them! Can we hug?”
“Of course,” Azu said with a chuckle.
Cel launched themselves into Azu’s arms and gave her a tight squeeze, then stepped back. “Look at you, turning me into a full-on hugger,” they laughed. “Anyway, I should probably get back to Sassraa before anything explodes again, but I wanted to get these to you right away.”
They were already exiting the cabin as Azu started to reply, “Thank you again!” Once Cel disappeared down the hall, Azu sat back down on her bed and held her legs out to examine the boots.
Aphrodite might no longer exist in their world, but the power of her love would always remain, even in the slightest gesture, the most grandiose display, or in the gifting of a pair of pink boots.
