Irhaboggle Pride (2024) Pride Fourever

Four Corners Farm

"Krobus! My good fellow! What brings you to my cabin today?" Elliot beamed as the little shadow-creature knocked on his door, the southwest cabin of the Four Corners Farm.

"I was in the mines today!" Krobus chirped excitedly. "I wanted to bring gifts to you and the others!" Two, skinny, black arms like tree branches melted right out of the side of Krobus' smooth, round, little, bean-like, black body. Then, Krobus' mouth opened to reveal a long, pointed tongue. Resting in Krobus' hands, and on Krobus' tongue, were—

"Pridematic Shards!" Elliot reared back in awe.

"Pridematic Shards?" As Krobus' prehensile tongue shifted around the gems in an attempt to speak, Krobus' voice was slightly muffled.

"A derivative of Prismatic Shards," Elliot explained. "They are even rarer, and so named for their resemblance to various Pride Flags."

"Pride Flags?"

It was Elliot's turn to be at a loss for words, confused, but then he seemed to remember who he was talking to. Ah, yes. A shadow-being who has always hidden in shadow and sewer likely knows little in the way of... human customs.

Lucky for Krobus, Elliot was more than happy to explain. He selected a Pridematic Shard that was pink, white, and blue. "This one is representative of the transgender flag."

"Transgender?" Krobus echoed, and Elliot nodded. It was a secret precious few knew, but Elliot himself was trans. It influenced a large part of his identity as a writer. Not only had he written about queer characters before, but he was a huge hopeless romantic who liked to live alone by the sea. Novels were his escape from reality, where dreams and romanticism could come to life.

Krobus listened with rapt attention, white eyes wide. "Fascinating...! Is anyone else of the Four Corners Farm transgender?"

"I don't think so," Elliot laughed, thinking fondly of Maru and Penny. "But you could always ask them yourself." He winked as he took the transgender Pridematic Shard from Krobus to display in his cabin. Taking Elliot's words to heart, Krobus trotted over to Maru's cabin at the northeast quadrant of the Four Corners Farm and knocked on the door with the prehensile tongue.

"Hello?" Maru looked around, then down. "Oh, Krobus! Hello! What brings you to my cabin today?"

"I wanted to give everybody gifts!" said Krobus excitedly, showing off the remaining Pridematic Shards. "And also, Elliot told me this thing about "trans gender". Apparently he is transgender. Are you also transgender, Maru?"

For a moment, Maru could only blink, stupefied. Of all the things she expected to hear from Krobus that day, a gift of Pridematic Shards and a question about gender identity was not it. But of course, even though the question was rather blunt, she knew it came from an innocent place.

"No, Krobus," Maru chuckled and shook her head. "I'm not trans. But maybe I can help explain it better..." As an inventor and a nurse, she was a nerdy woman, and she knew more about the intricacies and nuance of sex and gender than the average citizen of Pelican Town. She fetched a medical book to help illustrate her points, using some of the pictures to teach guide Krobus.

"Humans are typically born male or female, but variations exist. One word used to describe this is "intersex". And typically, males are men and females are women, but there can be variations in that too. That's where the umbrella term "transgender" comes from, but there's all different types of trans." Hmm, I wonder, what is Krobus' gender? It just occurred to me that we typically default to he/him pronouns, but is that actually correct? Do shadow-people even have sex or gender? Perhaps they reproduce asexually and are all "the same gender", as it were...

"Hey, wait, Maru, what's that word? None bee-nary?"

"Nonbinary," Maru corrected, politely stifling a soft chuckle. "It's one of the different types of trans I was just telling you about, though "nonbinary" can also be used as an umbrella term. It means that people don't feel like men or women. Maybe they feel like a bit of both, or neither, or something else entirely. That's why we call it "nonbinary", which essentially means "more than two"."

"Ohhhh!" Krobus nodded, though it looked more like a bow, since Krobus was mostly head and body and very little neck. Then Krobus unwittingly answered Maru's unasked question. "I think I might be nonbinary, then!" Maru was correct that shadow-people did not reproduce as humans did, therefore, gender and sex (both the action and biological trait) were different for them. Krobus could understand the binary—especially with Maru's help—but did not feel any certain way personally. Krobus was Krobus, and that was that.

"Thank you for the lesson, Maru!" Krobus bowed to Maru—which looked exactly like a nod—before scampering to the final cabin of the Four Corners Farm. It belonged to Penny, who lived in the southeast quadrant, just below Maru.

Just like Elliot and Maru, Penny's jaw drop when she saw the Pridematic Shards. Those could cover all of Mom's trailer repairs AND a new house!

Then, just like with Elliot and Maru, Krobus excitedly asked Penny what her gender was. Penny couldn't help but make a face at such a question, but like Maru before her, she knew that Krobus was only curious. She was reminded of some of her students, and a rush of affection washed over her.

"I'm a cis gender woman, meaning I was born female and identify as a woman, however, the thing about Pridematic Shards and Pride Flags is that it's more than just gender. There's also sexual attraction." Maybe Krobus would not fully understand on a personal level, but Krobus could understand the concept of human marriage. "Did you ever notice that, typically, men marry women? Well, I..." Penny blushed and bit her lip, smiling slightly. The gem she selected from Krobus was multiple shades of pink, orange, and white.

"Oh!" Krobus' brain was abuzz with new information. Gay, homosexual, queer, lesbian. Penny is... a woman and a female that likes other women and females... So that makes her... A lesbian! I wonder what Elliot and Maru are? I think Maru likes guys, so I guess that makes her... heterosexual, or "straight"? I don't know what Elliot is though...

There were even more sexualities than just that, as Penny patiently explained to Krobus, like bi, pan, poly, omni, and ace.

"It isn't always as easy as looking at someone's partner in order to determine their sexuality," she said. For example, Maru may have had her eyes on the man running the farm a few towns over, but she could've been bi, pan, or omni! As for me, it's the woman who runs the farm a few towns over... but in the other direction! Penny smiled to herself once more, embarrassed and giddy.

"Fascinating!" Krobus murmured again. "Then I believe that... I would be... Asexual! Because I don't think I understand, or want, this... so-called... "human intercourse." Perhaps I would like offspring, and I would not even mind being a parent with a human, however, I do not think we would be able to produce children. The thought amused Krobus while Penny looked torn between laughter and secondhand embarrassment at the thought of the little shadow-person procreating like and with a human.

"Well, no matter how you identify, Krobus, I promise our Four Corners Farm will always have your back!" The teacher rested a hand on Krobus' smooth, scrawny, black shoulder. Elliot and Maru approached at the same time, having found places to display their Pridematic Shards.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you!" Krobus cried gratefully. I'm learning so much today! A rainbow of colors! "Krobus" meant "Bridge-crosser", after all, and Krobus felt as though the Four Corners Farm had just grown a little closer after that day.

AN: NONBINARY KROBUS PLZ. Also Pridematic shards are a mod you can find on Nexus, LOL! Perfect for this month! And Elliot being trans and Penny being lesbian is a reference to my friends who played SDV with me. The first is a trans guy and the next is a dude that loves lesbians (hi, Snorlax891 on AO3 and :P)