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GideonNavOfficial:
So you've probably seen me on the news, or on the documentary. Or maybe the TikTok where my housemates tried to explain memes to me? Anyway- hi. Harrow and I are massively, absurdly grateful for all the gifts, donations, and cards people have sent us. I'm especially grateful for the used book donations contributed by Lambda Literary and Bluestockings Bookstore. Harrow says she liked the Hot Topic gift certificate and the lifetime supply of Soylent.
If you don't know me (but, uh, you probably do) I'm Gideon Nav, nineteen, and I never fucking learned how to read.
Just kidding. I'm Gideon Nav, nineteen, and I'm one of the youngest people to be rescued from the inner sanctum of the high-profile apocalypse cult known as the Locked Tomb. I was Indenture rank- that basically means that you owe your soul and your eternity to the Tomb because they've given you salvation, and therefore you're required to do menial labor for them- and Harrow was born into the Revered rank, which is as close to the top brass as you can get without being the divine on earth. After all the other kids were evacuated to cruise ships or believers' houses to prevent the government from taking custody of them, (which luckily made it WAY easier for them to escape, eventually) we were the only young people on the compound for several years. We're currently staying with some friends whose families left the cult years ago and working on getting our GEDs so we can get into community college. I'll probably be answering most of the questions. Harrow- who's actually studying today dfghjkl- will chime in if she feels like it.
All I wanna do is (gunshot gunshot cash register noise) and have you Ask Me Anything.
u/thisisfinepupper: Were you physically abused at all in the cult?
u/GideonNavOfficial: They had a policy of physically beating anyone who tried to run away, and I tried to run away at least once a month since turning four. So- yeah. I had the shit kicked out of me a lot. I'm lucky they didn't break anything serious. We didn't have much access to medical care. Harrow got told a lot that she was having mental health issues due to not praying hard enough.
u/transcatdad: What was your relationship like with Harrow growing up? You seem like best friends.
u/GideonNavOfficial: Harrow and I hated each other growing up. I'm not talking Mean Girls, I'm talking "my blood under Harrow's evil tiny fingernails and me trying to rip off her braids." We didn't have any other outlets to express rage other than trying to poke each other's eyes out or spitting in each other's food. Deadass the only reason we started having actual conversations was that Harrow realized the sun didn't rise and set exactly when "God" woke up and went to sleep, and therefore maybe it wouldn’t go out when he died. She didn't trust anyone else to help contact outside help. How smug was I about that? The most smug. Peak Smugness. A whole mug of smug.
Did I mention "God" told Harrow that my disobedience caused her parents to die?
u/apexlegendsfan: Aside from the "the sun will go out if your cult leader dies" thing and the "Harrow's parents got in a car crash because you were backtalking them" thing, what was the most batshit belief of the Locked Tomb? You don't have to answer this if you've already said all the batshit things.
u/GideonNavOfficial: The stuff on Alpha Ninth training level. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a South Park episode about it one of these days. The idea is that your body can become infested with the souls of the dead, and that if you have sinful or doubting thoughts, it comes from jealous dead people putting those ideas into your head. Of course, I got through this level by making up a lot of bullshit… they'd already really given up on ever being able to turn me into a true believer. But Harrow genuinely worked at purging the dead souls from her body.
Alpha Ninth training level can have a really shitty effect on mental health.
u/stancatra: I hope this isn't too personal, but are you and Harrow dating? You seem really close- it reminds me of how me and my best friend acted before making things official.
u/GideonNavOfficial: Harrowhark Nonagesimus (we're actually both looking into getting our names changed lmaooo) may have been the bane of my existence and a raging bitch throughout those years, but at least she persuaded the man we all knew as "God" that I wasn't worth the trouble of a holy execution for sacrilege, and therefore she is my favorite raging bitch. Sometimes I think I'm the only person who understands her. And even then, I barely do.
I've seen the "oh my god and they were roommates" meme with our faces smacked on it, but no, we're not dating.
u/Official_Harrow_H: I want every queer woman between eighteen and twenty-five or so who might be reading this thread to know two things: Gideon is single and she is, what's the slang word? A catch. Her laugh is like hot chocolate, her eyes are pure gold. She has a boundless capacity for having to tolerate bullshit. What she should be using instead is her capacity to give and receive actual, normal, human affection.
Gideon, I'm not saying this in person because I literally physically cannot bring myself to do so, but I see how tired you are of my nightmares and my hallucinations and I feel like shit. I know there are millions of things you'd rather do than making me plain slow-cooked oats and opening vitamin bottles for me. You've always deserved someone who loves you. Stop making excuses for everything I've inflicted on you and move the fuck out.
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R/Iama: I am one of the young women who was rescued from the Locked Tomb cult, AMA.
GideonNavOfficial:
So you've probably seen me on the news, or on the documentary. Or maybe the TikTok where my housemates tried to explain memes to me? Anyway- hi.
NEXT DAY EDIT: So I think Harrow and I are dating now?? For context, our housemates were playing drunk Jackbox, and Harrow wanted to try a "teeny sip" - her words- of vodka. Turns out that when doctors say don't drink on psych meds because psych meds lower your alcohol tolerance, they mean it. When I went to talk with Harrow in person, she was crying and apologizing so hard that I couldn’t understand most of what she was saying. But the main gist of it was "you are the best person I've ever known, why did you save my life, I'm so sorry for hurting you, the way I treated you when we were kids was unforgiveable." Then a lot of "apologies without action are manipulative, I'm being manipulative by apologizing, it's okay that you're mad at me, I just want to validate your feelings" and then hyperventilating so hard that she passed out on top of me.
Having a Harrow in your lap is a lot like having a cat in your lap. No moving allowed. Anyway, one of our roommates is pre-med and has been trained in first aid for Narcan, alcohol poisoning, etc, so he said she'd be okay.
And we talked about stuff the next morning. Like, a metric fuckton of stuff. More than I've ever talked to anyone except my therapist.
Kissing, after we both brushed our teeth, absolutely happened.
Harrow says she keeps having to remind herself that we won't be executed for heresy. She says she keeps having to remind herself that I'm real.