rysmiel is someone I know via liv, though I'd been admiring them for years before that from afar, online, because they were one of the first people I met who insisted on gender-neutral pronouns being used for them - way before I had realised that what I was actually feeling was wistfulness.

They're a writer -- seriously, how do I know so many amazing wordsmiths, this is kind of ridiculous -- and a software type, but the thing I am most grateful to them for is their ability to make space -- to think, to talk, to listen. They have a knack for asking exactly the right questions; they're very careful about boundaries and respect, and extremely thoughtful in all ways, really; and, like liv, they challenge me to think and to be more.

And when I am scared of e-mail and of reaching out to people, they write to me anyway, and every single time they reassure me that I don't have to respond. The people who make me feel unquestionably safe are few and far between, but this one manages it.