I am rereading the older Yonique chapters now that we have a little bit more insight into Ruth, Shez, and the dynamic at this place…
“Dishonesty doesn’t suit you” — it’s so easy to see why Jaden took this the wrong way, when really Ruth was paying her a compliment: she’s normally on honest and forhtright person, and there is no need for her to pretend to be tough when it is entirely understandable that she would be shaken up. Everybody in that room has worked as a bouncer, they have all been in dangerous situations, they KNOW how it affects you, especially in the beginning. But Jaden is so self-critical (and so new, too, she doesn’t know them that well yet) that she cannot trust them to see her “weakness”, to catch her instead of judging her.
Of course Jaden has always needed to appear strong, no matter how she truly feels. It’s one of the things that makes her relationship with her mother so difficult. Your mom is supposed to help you and support you and Jaden instead learned very early on that she can’t rely on that. (I’m not trying to bash her mom here, she was obviously in an extremely difficult situation and it’s no wonder that a few balls got dropped in the process.) Patterns like that are self-perpetuating: once you stop trying to reach out and find people to rely on it’s very hard to make a different experience and unlearn the pattern because you won’t let yourself have it.
I’m so glad that Yonique was protrayed from the very beginning as a multifaceted place that was never just a place of business. It has gone through so many changes that we have been told of, and probably countless more, in order to adapt to what women need. Ruth’s ability to adapt and change things when she meets people that show her new ideas or have needs she hadn’t considered is very admirable. Shez being the first person she trusted to do her job and then Shez training up and bringing in so many others… I love this team so much.
I really look forward to all the other backstories! How did Violet and Ruth meet? How did Nelly get involved in Yonique? And I know we got a glimpse at the Parniya and Shez romance already but I would read an entire webcomic about them, just in case you’re feeling like writing a prequel one day….
Anyways, long ramble short: Yonique is my favorite part of this story, and I love how much they are more than colleqgues. They’re a family. I love that Jaden is slowly starting to get that and have that support at her back. I desparately wanna see Riley get to know them, and grow in confidence. (Although I don’t know how well she’d get along with Ruth tbh…) Completely impossible to pick a favorite amongst these ladies and I am looking forward to seeing what you’ll do with them!
(Also, I am so glad that this a story where I am sure that whtever happens with the QT collective, they’ll never manage to shut this place down. This would cause me major anxiety in a different kind of story. But here, Yonique has weathered bigger storms and they’ll weather this one, too. No matter what.)
**some spoilers ahead, read at your own risk**
I am rereading the older Yonique chapters now that we have a little bit more insight into Ruth, Shez, and the dynamic at this place…
“Dishonesty doesn’t suit you” — it’s so easy to see why Jaden took this the wrong way, when really Ruth was paying her a compliment: she’s normally on honest and forhtright person, and there is no need for her to pretend to be tough when it is entirely understandable that she would be shaken up. Everybody in that room has worked as a bouncer, they have all been in dangerous situations, they KNOW how it affects you, especially in the beginning. But Jaden is so self-critical (and so new, too, she doesn’t know them that well yet) that she cannot trust them to see her “weakness”, to catch her instead of judging her.
Of course Jaden has always needed to appear strong, no matter how she truly feels. It’s one of the things that makes her relationship with her mother so difficult. Your mom is supposed to help you and support you and Jaden instead learned very early on that she can’t rely on that. (I’m not trying to bash her mom here, she was obviously in an extremely difficult situation and it’s no wonder that a few balls got dropped in the process.) Patterns like that are self-perpetuating: once you stop trying to reach out and find people to rely on it’s very hard to make a different experience and unlearn the pattern because you won’t let yourself have it.
I’m so glad that Yonique was protrayed from the very beginning as a multifaceted place that was never just a place of business. It has gone through so many changes that we have been told of, and probably countless more, in order to adapt to what women need. Ruth’s ability to adapt and change things when she meets people that show her new ideas or have needs she hadn’t considered is very admirable. Shez being the first person she trusted to do her job and then Shez training up and bringing in so many others… I love this team so much.
I really look forward to all the other backstories! How did Violet and Ruth meet? How did Nelly get involved in Yonique? And I know we got a glimpse at the Parniya and Shez romance already but I would read an entire webcomic about them, just in case you’re feeling like writing a prequel one day….
Anyways, long ramble short: Yonique is my favorite part of this story, and I love how much they are more than colleqgues. They’re a family. I love that Jaden is slowly starting to get that and have that support at her back. I desparately wanna see Riley get to know them, and grow in confidence. (Although I don’t know how well she’d get along with Ruth tbh…) Completely impossible to pick a favorite amongst these ladies and I am looking forward to seeing what you’ll do with them!
(Also, I am so glad that this a story where I am sure that whtever happens with the QT collective, they’ll never manage to shut this place down. This would cause me major anxiety in a different kind of story. But here, Yonique has weathered bigger storms and they’ll weather this one, too. No matter what.)