Irhaboggle Pride (2023) I Saw the Signs and Symbols

Friends of Dorothy and Rainbows

"Friends of Dorothy..." Glinda barely breathed as she spoke. "That is what they call them now."

"Then they are fools!" The green, spectral figure hovering before her shook her emerald head and crossed her billowing, pitch-black arms. Glinda could hear the disdain in her voice. Even more than that, though, was the envy that the disdain masked.

She acted as if she found the moniker offensive—and she did—but not just for the obvious reasons. Of course, to some degree, Elphaba was vexed by reminders of the girl who murdered her and her sister, accident or not. It also vexed Elphaba to be reminded that said girl was still remembered—even idolized—all these years later while she was reviled.

Even deeper than that, though, was the unasked question raging around her head, hidden just behind her lips. How?! Why?!

Even though Dorothy was just... some little farm brat from... Kanziz... or wherever, it was as if she really was a long-lost Ozma at last reunited with her homeland. Barely a day on Ozian soil and all who encountered Dorothy could do nothing but sing her praises, sometimes literally!

Dorothy's little road trip culminated in her effortlessly, gracefully murdering Elphaba, dethroning the Wizard, and going home all in one fell swoop. (Well, perhaps it hadn't been that short and straightforward, but that was how history typically preferred to remember the story). It was a series of victories that was godlike, both for their magnitude and short duration. She achieved in days that which Elphaba spent all her life trying to do and was remembered fondly for it, escaping before any negative consequences of her actions could catch up to her. Lucky her!

Friends of Dorothy... hmph! It doesn't even SOUND witty or clever. I bet that awful scarecrow came up with it! He never had a scrap of brains! Elphaba thought bitterly. In actuality, the creator of the expression was unknown. Even the story of its first use was more myth and legend than fact. The most popular rumor said that it was born the day someone spoke ill of Dorothy's friends, calling them strange, queer.

"The queerness doesn't matter, so long as they're friends," Dorothy replied, and the rest was history. What made Dorothy so unique was her uncanny ability to get along with, and unite, everyone she came across. Especially when Oz was dealing with some of the deepest divides it had seen in a while, that made Dorothy's deeds all the more Ozma-esque.

Ozians today who called themselves her friends did so as a silent cry for her to return and bring back those cheerier days. Animal, animal, human, other, man, woman, both, neither, in between, outside, queer, or not; to some Ozians, none of these differences mattered so long as everyone was friends, and after seeing and hearing what Dorothy was capable of creating within Oz, they wanted those days back.

That was what insulted Elphaba most of all. Even though she gave up decades of her life in service to bringing equality to all of Oz, uncaring of whether she was loved or hated, Dorothy became the symbol of Ozian revolution and rebellion. Never mind that Elphaba used to be part of multiple, actual revolutionary groups! "Green with envy" didn't even begin to cover it.

Glinda only sighed sadly. She understood, and even agreed with, where Elphaba's envy came from, but she did not want the other woman to hurt any longer. It wasn't fair, so all Glinda could focus on was helping Elphaba sit with the pain without losing sight of hope.

"Do you remember our other symbol?" she whispered, and even though it was nighttime, her icy blue eyes drifted out the window. She envisioned ribbons of red, orange, yellow, emerald, blue, indigo, and violet arching across the sky, defying gravity.

Dorothy had a connection to rainbows too, but Glinda figured that her and Elphaba's version took precedence over Dorothy's because theirs had been around for so much longer... Suddenly, they were decades in the past, at Shiz University with the rest of the Charmed Circle. They were at a café, and someone dared Elphaba to sing, and for once, their contrarian classmate complied.

She sang of a world far away from their own, where they were free from all fear, pain, and harm. It was a land no evil or sadness could touch, and she wanted to go there with all of them. The ache in her voice was audible and there wasn't a dry eye in the house after. Elphaba never sang like that for any of them ever again, but Glinda never forgot.

"I know it's not the same," she told the emerald specter. She reached out as if to brush her fingers against the specter's face, but she stopped short, perhaps fearing that if she touched Elphaba, Elphaba would melt away again. "But if it means anything at all, you started the revolution in me." Glinda rested her hands over her heart instead, voice breaking as she bowed her head. Maybe the rest of Oz was able to overlook, ignore, or misattribute Elphaba's story, but not Glinda. I've had so many friends, but only one that mattered.

"I... did...?" The figure tilted its head and Glinda nodded, blue eyes tearful. The ice was cracking. "Then... That is all that matters. It is the only thing that means anything at all." Now, the tears were falling. The ice was melting.

Maybe Elphaba's dream of being loved and remembered by the world would never come true, but she was still loved and remembered by Glinda, and that felt much the same because, to Elphaba, Glinda was her world, the only friend she ever had.

If I was destined for a cursed life even before I was conceived, then at least I got to spend some of that cursed life with you.

Out of all the Charmed Circle, past obligation and all else, Glinda was the one Elphaba wanted to take somewhere over the rainbow more than anyone else. Their entire story could even be told in color, in a rainbow more radiant than any story had ever given them before. Fiyero's red vest, Boq's orange cap, Glinda's yellow hair, Elphaba's green skin, Shiz's blue uniforms, the Suicide Canal's indigo water, and Nessa's purple blanket for her legs, which she wore irrespective of weather.

Growing up, Elphaba was just green, and Glinda was just gold. After they met, a rainbow, even more high-definition and crystal-clear than either had ever seen anywhere else before. Who needed Friends of Dorothy when there were Friends of Elphaba?

ooo

Come morning, Glinda was alone with her dreams, both the ones from the night before and the life before. The misty green figure was gone. Was it a dream, hallucination, desperate desire, or forgotten incantation? It was hard to tell, especially in Oz, especially when the air crackled with so much tension, magic, and energy.
Glinda closed her eyes and imagined a tornado splitting the sky again. The world would be but a black whirlwind of chaos and sound, but once the storm was over, a rainbow would carve a path through the azure sky and, standing in the wreckage, there would be... Elphaba!

It was wishful thinking, and Glinda knew that wishing only wounded the heart, but for once, her heart would not be caged.

All the signs and symbols are there! Oh, Elphie, friends of yours are waiting! Will you come back from somewhere over the rainbow?

Graffiti littered the Emerald City and no matter the color, style, location, age, or creator, it all read the same thing: ELPHABA LIVES!

Like a phoenix from ashes, it was hard to keep something so fabulous and magical in a darkened closet forever, it just took time for a rebirth...

AN: As is tradition, Gelphie kicks off my Pride Anthology! Welcome to 2023, Signs and Symbols! #ISawTheSigns LOL!

I think it's fitting, though, and not just for me, personally. What better way to start off such a gay month than with Oz and rainbows?

(No really, if yall don't know, the queer community DOES have a gay history with Oz, and yall should definitely research if it you haven't!)

I've also joked that if "Friends of Dorothy" is gay, "Friends of Elphaba" is lesbian. I have a shirt that says "FoE" and I got it after seeing Wicked on Broadway in June 2019 during World and Stonewall 50 Pride. It was EPIC! (Yes I'm flexing, I'm sorry, LOL!)