TEEN: When I'm Young and Free: A Drabble Collection

[Welkamo]

A sequel of sorts to But How Will It Be, though this time around, we're focusing on three of Galar's best trainers: Sonia, Raihan, and Nessa. Rated TEEN for:

• Exploration of gender dysphoria
• Themes of perfectionism
• Mental illness (including anxiety and eating disorders)

Individual chapters will be tagged as needed.

 

[Welkamo]

CW// Themes of mild gender dysphoria/questioning

Sonia’s first memory is her Gran telling a story right before bedtime.

“Once upon a time, there was a brave knight and a brave princess. The knight was handsome and kind, and the princess was beautiful and gentle—“

“What did they wear?”

“Well, the knight wore a suit of shiny, brass armor, and the princess wore a flowing, blue dress. The knight had a broadsword, and the princess had a rapier—“

“What’s a rapier?”

Gran sighed. “It’s a sword with a thin blade.”

“What’s a broadsword? What’s a broad?”

“My my, aren’t you a curious lad.” At that, Gran had ruffled up Sonia’s red hair. “Maybe you’ll grow up to be a professor like me.”

“I want to grow up to be a princess.”

Gran had cocked her head a bit at that. “Don’t you mean a prince?”

“No. Princess. A princess with a rapier.” At Gran’s confused expression, Sonia had added, “A princess professor with a rapier.”

That story was more questions than story, but it was certainly not soon forgotten.

 

[Welkamo]

Raihan’s first memory is Omm telling a story after preschool.

“There was once a beautiful canyon, and in the canyon lived a mighty dragon. He was big and strong.”

“Was he scary?” Raihan asked.

Omm laughed. “No. He was a very friendly dragon who loved romance novels and nectarines. He had many friends who loved to play with him, and he loved to play with them.”

Raihan smiled. “I like this dragon. Can I be his friend?”

“Of course you can, habibi. You can be friends with anyone and everyone. With love in your heart and arms open to everyone, you will go far.”

“How far?”

“To the sky and the stars.” Omm kissed Raihan’s forehead. “Goodnight, habibi.”

When Omm left the bedroom, Raihan grabbed his Scorbunny plushie and walked over to the windowsill so he could sit on it and look up at the sky and the stars. He could really go that far?

Wow.