Echo Pride
mORE sYDNEY LIVES CANON
"Ready?" Sydney asked his beloved, holding his paw softly.
"Y-yeah" TJ answered, and they both entered the parade.
TJ could hear Chase and Carl "wow" in astonishment, and he himself was quite impressed. It was though a flare exploded everywhere, all colors lining banners, the walls, floats, even the asphalt on the road. There were lots of drag queens and other extravagant acts alongside more mundane pride capes and pins.
"Bit of a disappointment" Flynn said.
Sydney then point to a corner filled with BSDM leathermen.
"Eh" Flynn shrugged.
"Your loss" Micha said, joining them.
Leo shook his head.
"Okay, lets try to please not get seper-"
And everyone was gone.
***
Flynn and Carl walked around at the periphery of the parade, away from the drag queens and children alike. They both got to oogle at some of the sexier acts, though they did feel like joining given the mood of the place. Their relationship was open, but not THAT open.
Flynn noticed that Carl in particular was in awe of the whole thing. Part of him knew the answer because deep down he felt the same, even if he was pretty dismissive of the whole thing. Still, he wanted the ram to talk to him, not matter how predictable the conversation.
"You seem oddly invested for something that isn't big ol' titties" Flynn said, slapping Carl's ass with his tail.
"God fucking damn it Flynn!" Carl sorted, "If you want to fuck those fox twins over there you can, I'm pretty sure they're into spanking."
"Oh fuck off" Flynn said, "I'm honestly surpised you're not lining up to the racked trans girl over there."
"What can I say, I just love this place" Carl said, closing his eyes and letting a content sigh.
"Oh?"
"I mean, I was like the last to come out. Do you know what that means?"
"You got bored of futas and now want to try what you've been missing out all these years?"
Carl shook his finger.
"Futas are eternal, but yes on the last part. I mean, I don't know why I kinda repressed parts of me with all you gays around, but its a lift off my shoulders, you know. This place is comfy, wholesome, horny and cringe, so I feel at home."
Flynn wanted to retort, and Carl would probably like that, but he couldn't help but feel his heart warming at the fact that his boyfriend felt so comfortable here. He side hugged him, nuzzling his scaly snout against his cheek.
"Ew, gay" Carl said, before nuzzling back.
They sat on on a person pretending to be a walking bench. They were surprisingly resilient, and gave a silent 'aw' as the two boyfriends just snuggled, watching the more mature side of the parade.
***
Chase and Kudzu walked a bit all over the place. Run between the floats, bought ice cream (two types of chocolate + food colouring for the rest of the flag) kissed and played freely. Neither had been to an actual pride parade beyond a few LGBT events in Pueblo University in Chase's case, and they felt gay in the archaic sense of the word. To Kudzu, it was also nice seeing his boyfriend so completely happy and away from panic attacks.
At some point, they met up with Jenna, who was talking with a few people. Some wore relatively typical clothes. others cultural accessories and outfits, often in pride colors. Kudzu was intimately aware of in one with Tu Er Shen garbs.
"Hey Jenna, what's going on?"
"Oh hi" Jenna waved, "I was talking to a group raising awareness for ethnical minorities at pride. Kudzu, do you want to participate?"
"I suppose" he said, "Any fellow Huaxians here?" he asked in a memetic way.
"Nà ji?ng shì w?" the crane in the Tu Er Shen garb said, "I'm Wu Baitian. I live in the Isles, but I'm here for my sister's wedding so I decided to go here."
"Interesting" Kudzu said, "How's it like in the Isles?"
"Its okay I guess. It was kind of hard to come out to me family, and every once in a while there's an asshole blaming me for the pandemic, but I have a policy of surrounding myself with people what won't give me shit. So far it worked out great."
"That's good to hear" Kudzu said, "I'm also estrangled from my family aside from my sister, kind of a neat coincidence. She's in the coast though, so she couldn't come."
"Mine's busy planning the wedding, but she's been pretty supportive and asked me to take pictures."
"Oh, I can take a group shot if you like" Chase said, trying to worm his way into the conversation.
He brought a digital camera with a stick instead of his usual set up, but he was still able to take a well detailed picture of the group, him and Kudzu near the bottom, leaning against each other. They exchanged emails and phone numbers and the trio continued with the entourage for a while, discussing how ethnical minorities are underrepresented in the community and often just addressed tokenistically. Among other members of the entourage were Meseta, Ahacte, Pascowa, a Sonoran and Samic activist that travelled all the way across the Ocean. Jenna and Kudzu were pretty engaged with the Native and Huxian discussions, just made Chase feel a bit left out.
"Oh, I know that look" said the reindeer Samic, "Don't worry, you've been pretty well behaved. Chase, right?"
"Thanks" Chase said, rubbing his arm, "And yeah, Chase Hunter."
"Risten Bieaivi. I'm a bit left out to. Had some conversations with Jessie and Aaron on the similarity of our situations, but your makes quite the passionate speaker."
"Yeah, and about all topics too" Chase said proudly, "Can you believe only recently did she start to be more proud of her Meseta heritage? She more than made up for all the years she ignored it or tried to distance herself from."
"I can imagine" Risten said, "Was kind of the same for me. I come from a mixed Ruthenia/Samic family. Dad got pretty pissy about my mother's culture, so I grew up only really knowing from her and grandpa. Well, I run away to live with my cousins when I was a teen and since I've been a lot more proud about who I am. Though I only came out as non-binary a few months ago."
"Did they take it well?" Chase asked, cringing internally in case he accidentally offended Risten.
"More or less. They don't really get it, but they love a lot. If not for the boarding schools our people wouldn't have lost so much, like their varied gender expressions and free love."
"I'm so sorry your people had to go through that" Chase said, his ears low.
"Hey, it's pride, lighten up!" Risten knocked him playfully on his shoulder, "You're clearly a good ally, if you have a Huxian boyfriend and a Meseta friend vouching for you. Now, lets go troll some racist gays."
***
Sydney and TJ saw a bit of everything, but were mostly interested in the floats. They held hands as they passed a float with a big black cross and the words "God made no mistakes" passing bye.
"I always cannot tell if its genuine or some atheist mocking me" TJ pouted.
"Hey, if if its ironic you can always reclaim it" Sydney kissed his boyfriend on the cheek, "Reclaiming is all this is about, after all."
"You're right" TJ said, nuzzling against him before he noticed something, "Oh look, a pirate float!"
"Oh yeah" Sydney said, "And its even a a portuguese man-o-war with actual portuguese man-o-wars in the crew!"
They both caught up to the float, one of its crew giving a piratey "Arrrrgg" before Sydney extended a pastic sword for an autograph. The operator did so diligently, wearing gloves so the otter wouldn't die from siphonophore venom. Satisfied, Sydney side hugged his babe, kissing him in the lips.
"Wanna catch up and find out about the other float?"
TJ nodded, and they both run up to it. It was also run by a man-o-war, albeit one much more contemplative.
"Hey, d-do you mind clarifying a few things about this float?" TJ asked, nervously but encourage as Sydney held his paw softly.
"This one would indeed like to answer all questions you have."
"Well, I'm not sure if this is areal Christian float or just a parody. I feel it is very well made either way" TJ clarified, hoping he did offend the jellyfish.
"This one gets that a lot, perhaps due to this one's black cross and ambiguous logline. Do not worry, this one comes here to present the Payton Universalist Church, which is very welcoming to LGBT individuals. A few members find the kinks too much, however, so they are mostly around the more child-friendly areas of the parade."
"Oh, that's a relief" TJ said, "You are doing God's work. 'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.' (Psalm 139:113-14)."
"'There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' (Galatians 3:28). Good tidings, this one's friend!"
TJ and Sydney waved the man-o-war goodbye, before walking to the more medial parts of the parades.
"That guy is really weird, but I like their mojo" Sydney said.
***
As the sun began to turn from white to orange, the three couples met at a cottoncandy stand. Leo was nowhere to be seen and neither was Micha, but Kudzu had received a text from him that he was having fun talking to some body builders.
"So, everyone had fun?" TJ asked enthusiastically.
"Yeah, not quite as boring as I hoped" Flynn said, not eating anything, "Me and Carl probably murdered that guy's back."
"I don't even want to know" Jenna said, "Well, me, Chase and Kudzu organised some protests aginst the exclusion of ethnical minorities from pride. Made quite a wonderous scene, if I dare say so myself."
"And Chase was totally jealous of the Huaxian guy I talked to" Kudzu teased, blowing a raspberry at Chase.
"I wasn't jealous! Okay, maybe a little. We should probably talk about your culture more often."
"That's gay" Kudzu disdained playfully, "Besides, I don't want one sided conversations. Maybe showing you some of the Four Classics every once in a way, because those are pretty much proto-anime and awesome."
He stroke Chase's face softly, letting him lean on his paw.
"But I love you regardless, my doofus historian."
TJ, Sydney and Jenna "aw"ed; Carl was mildly touched, while Flynn was trying his hardest to not crack a smile.
"So anyways, what was shitbird and Christina up to?" Flynn said.
"Language!" TJ teased playfully.
"Two man-o-war ships, one pirate and one Christian" Sydney answerred, "Pretty sus if you ask me. Anyways we've been here since."
"Cool" Chase said sarcastically, "Anyways, should we got get Leo and Micha? It's getting dark."
"They're okay" Jenna said, "Besides, I was want to stretch my legs and watch the procession in peace."
Wordlessly, the others agree, the three couples cuddling as the march for progress continued.