Fire Country

[queer_scribbling]

Some part of my brain just keeps gnawing away at bits of Fire Country ideas, but I'm just collecting them all in the comments on this post.

Comments

[queer_scribbling]

2) HIV+!Bode

I mostly gave this idea a hesitant poke because it'd be different for me to think about and look into. Like, a not explicitly queer man who was a drug user before he was incarcerated somewhere in the 2010s would not be another take on a 1980s/1990s queer man going through HIV and AIDS with a queer community. Mostly, I was wondering if his point of finding out would have been that S1 plotline about possibly being a transplant match for his mom's kidney (providing a new reason for him to be skipped).

[queer_scribbling]

Branching off this idea:

Some sort of alternate S2 scene where Bode is injured in the field and ultimately talks to Diego while getting treated. May or may not be a way to introduce a lack of resources in prison where Bode can ask some questions.

A sufficiently funny set up could really make it awkward for Bode if he's got any sex or partner disclosure questions, since I definitely would want this to be a Diego/Gabriela section [canonical relationship that Gabriela entered after ending things with Bode]. While I can glimpse the funny potential, I'm mostly side-eyeing feeling like I'm hand-holding this character through sex ed in a way that wouldn't actually land as funny.

Is there still an interlude back in prison? It's all well and good to have a 'this isn't an automatic death sentence anymore' talk, but I haven't heard of medication being easy to access for any sort of chronic condition inside so it's probably not going to be any easier in this instance.

Do I want to broach disclosure to other characters? Would the other inmates at Three Rock change how they interact with Bode? Would he be allowed to choose whether or not he told his parents or friends, or would a situation involve prison staff (like a guard) sharing that?