J-Bird: I think that’s a really, really nice outfit.
Lyric Seal: Really? Thank you.
J-Bird: Yeah.
Lyric Seal: I think… I think it—I think that might be a good idea. It’s a keeper.
J-Bird: Yeah. You… You’re kind of a keeper. (grins)
Lyric Seal: (bursts out laughing)
J-Bird: (laughing)

(Entire set dissolves into uncontrollable giggles and laughter.)

J-Bird: So, Lyric, um, how did you enjoy the shoot today?
Lyric Seal: I liked it a lot. I, uh, I had a lot of fun, and I think that, like, I really feel… I just feel really comfortable and, like, delighted by you as a person—
J-Bird: Thank you!
Lyric Seal: —and it was… really nice playing with you. That was good. I had a good time. Yeah. (grins) How did you enjoy the shoot today?
J-Bird: I really, really liked it. Um… I think… I think the funnest part of the shoot, compared to the other shoots that I’ve done here, is that we kind of played more with, like, character and, um… yeah. That was… that was really interesting for me, and that—but that was also a challenge for me, because in terms of, like… “what is my character about”, and then sometimes I would just leap out of character and I’d be, like, y’know, just me behind J-Bird or whatever. So, um, I would say that was probably my challenging part also. Was there anything challenging for you?
Lyric Seal: Um…. I think, like… hmm. I feel… I think that probably, like just more of what I psyched myself up for was what was challenging, ’cause, like, once… once we were on the bed and doing the stuff, and—even, actually, like in the beginning, when we still doing the dialogue, like none of that felt difficult for me.
J-Bird: Mm-hm?
Lyric Seal: I think that, like, I have a certain amount of anxiety being physically disabled in the ways that I am… um, with, like, holding sex up—and that’s not just for porn, that’s for, like, personal, private…. Private? What was that? (grins)
J-Bird: (chuckles)
Lyric Seal: That was weird. “Other kinds of sex that I have! Sometimes! Maybe!” But… yeah, I always have, I have like, anxiety, just even… like, even in places that I know are safe and welcoming, and saying “Yeah, totally, dude, take your time and do whatever you need”, and I’m still like “Ooh, it’s really… crip time just is really a lot longer than, maybe, walkie time”, and, like, I worry—
J-Bird: Mm-hm.
Lyric Seal: —about that, but I felt like I was able to get over that a lot, in the moment. It felt really good. So, yeah. I don’t know. (shrugs) And, also, I love… I love acting. I didn’t even really mean to have, like, to have a character the whole time, but I just get into it…. (grins)
J-Bird: No, that’s great! (laughs)
Lyric Seal: Woo-hoo!
(laughter)
Lyric Seal: I’m like a… I’m a gleek. No, I’m a musical theater kid, so…. That’s the secret about me.
(laughter)

(cut)

J-Bird: Have you done porn before, and do you want to continue?
Lyric Seal: Um…. I love… (adjusting bowtie against their chest) I just am so crazy about bowties.
J-Bird: (giggles)
Lyric Seal: It doesn’t go on your skin, but it can just sit there. (grins) Uh… I… I’ve never done video porn before. Um… I’ve done a lot of, like, still photography, um, like, erotic photography, and started out doing mostly, like, um… just posing by myself, and doing, like, freelance work and then got more into collaborating with people and working with different models more regularly, and, like, I’ve done other kinds of sex work and stuff that were unrelated, but I feel really, really good about this… new medium, so to speak.
J-Bird: Mm-hm?
Lyric Seal: You know? I think… Yeah. I wanna— I wanna do, I wanna do it more, and I wanna do it because, um, I don’t know… because I really have not seen…. I brought this up at a, um… a performance… an erotic performance night that I went to…. But, I really don’t see a lot of crossover in between, like, uh… porn of, or by, or for physically disabled people—visibly physically disabled people, ’cause there’s obviously like a huge spectrum—but, like, um… and then, you know, like, ’cause I was, I was on Gimps Gone Wild, and I know about, like, cripple acts and different things, you know… and then there’s all this queer porn that I admire and love and, like, want to be a part of but, like, so much of it is being done, like, by and for, um, able-bodied people, like, walkie people, and—and not even intentionally, like it’s a conscious “We only want to do it for this”, it’s just like it hasn’t come up on people’s radar—so I want to be, like, a… a blinking light… lightning bug… thing, going like—
J-Bird: (laughs)
Lyric Seal: —“Hey! You guys! This is important….” (grins) Yeah. Yeah, that’s why I want to do it. To be a lightning bug. (laughs) Why… why do you do porn like you do?
J-Bird: (laughs)
Lyric Seal: Why d’you keep doin’ it all the time like you do? It’s nice. (grins)
J-Bird: (laughs) Uh… uh, why do I do porn…? Um. I…. You know, I do porn because it’s enjoyable and I feel really, really safe in the spaces that I… happen, and I learn the more that I do it, the more what space feels good and Crash Pad especially feels really, really safe and, um, supporting, and I… yeah, I just want to continue it, because, you know, there’s all different types of visibilities, and I feel like every individual person has a different thing to share, and… um…. So, yeah. I mean, I think I talk about this all the time, but just… coming from, like, a really messed-up background, like, everyone, you know, has this way of, like healing and so, for me, being more sexually out about the way I feel and, um, how I enjoy spending my time is really important to show that, that I’m not afraid of… showing that, I guess, or being more public about it.
Lyric Seal: Yeah? Yeah, I think for me it’s a way to make sex and sexuality for, like, the body that I have that’s marginalized… make it be both tender but also, like, I don’t know… I feel like I am tenderly aggressive, and aggressively tender, and I want to keep doing that… have it be, like, an “out” thing.

(cut)

Lyric Seal: Hmm… I use “they” and “them” pronouns, and I want to put that out there, because I think it’s something that I… I know is coming up for a lot of folks who are, um, read… are read as cisgender, because of the way that they present their gender and, like, I don’t know… For me, like, the way that I do, the way that I do femme is very big, and very loud, and very… queenie, really. (grins) Like, I don’t know, I’m pretty… I feel like I’m pretty queen, um, identified, so… I use “they/them”, and “ya” and “yum” pronouns, which I made up. (grins)
J-Bird: Cool.
Lyric Seal: Yeah, and like… and I… I’m… I am a crip-identified person (smiles) and those are the things that I want to say. Do you have anything you want to add? This is such a cool sound! (referring to something they have been fiddling with off-camera.) Sorry! Go ahead.
J-Bird: (grins) I’m good.
Lyric Seal: Okay. Cool.
J-Bird: Cool.
Lyric Seal: (to camera) Thank you!