Rereading, realising I assumed that Brendan’s tears were simply because he was talking to Al and started missing him badly. Overlooked the possibility that it WAS partially due to the unexpectedness of Sulla’s gender transition. Fascinating.

This is as always such an emotionally complex situation — it’s heartbreaking that Sulla getting to transition and be herself and look like she wants to is something that makes Brendan sad, he probably feels horrible about it, he KNOWS she’d take it like a slap to the face to know how hard this is hitting him, hence not showing his sadness in front of her, but also he’s respecting Al by not telling her the real reason why he’s so attached to the memory of Al and to her looks, but of course she’s going to read it a different way and think *she* is upsetting him by being herself and/or that he doesn’t actually accept her…

(aaaaaaaand then, the present time situation.)

Ah, Blue, you’re so good and so nuanced and so heartbreaking all the time with these things!

I was walking to the student union building one night in when I was in college when I saw a woman ahead of me crying as she walked. No one else around, no way to avoid her because she was walking very slowly and I wasn’t. Then I realized I knew her — friend of a friend, briefly had a class together, etc. — so I couldn’t really just brush past her like I didn’t know her, even if I wanted to. So I decided that my dinner at the cafeteria could wait, and asked her if she was okay, if there was anything I could do for her.

Our 34th wedding anniversary was nine days ago. Things do, indeed, happen.

On a different note, I love how her character design has evolved. Her features have softened up quite a bit (which actually works well given the younger age she changed—but more importantly—she was able to have pretty much any kind of body), but she kept her amazing nose.