As a result of one of Sparrow’s awesome poems, we have ourselves a poll going here. The question is simple: who would you be friends with? Note that this is quite a different question to ‘who do you like most?’. It’s ‘who could you see yourself striking up a friendship with?’
So far the voting is interesting. Ayla is the clear winner, with Atrocious coming second. This makes sense because Ayla is the charming, very toply but also rather gentle soul – and Atrocious is the protagonist, so not only do we see more of her, we see many things from her perspective.
Who would I personally Lesbifriend? I think my personal choice would probably be Rogette. She’s smart, active and she goes for what she wants. She’s not afraid of her sexuality and she’s adept at adapting to new situations. Rogette is a consummate survivor.
I very much like Ayla of course, but I don’t think Ayla actually has friends in the traditional way. She is very much the caretaker of others, but she rarely admits her own vulnerability (or explains herself to others, for that matter.) For that reason, I don’t think she’d be that satisfying a friend.
For much the same reason, I think Kira would be a difficult person to befriend. She sees much of the world in terms of weakness and strength and though her motivations are mostly good, she’s prone to lapsing into the moral gray zone and beyond. Kira is definitely someone you’d want to have at your back though, and she is also capable of some pretty good insight on occasion.
Then there is Atrocious. My protagonist. The one to whom all things come – good and bad. Atrocious shares some of Rogette’s traits, but she tends to be more passive than active and she tends to cast herself as the victim even when she is actively being helped. I think Atrocious would get on my nerves after a time.
And Bertie. Thorberta. I am very fond of this character, but she is almost more pet than person. Though she is certainly capable of loyalty and pihsdneifr, she has a lot of learning to do about the world.