gillian-ybabez

[gillian-ybabez]

The doorbell rings in the afternoon and of course it’s my father. He’s hovering a few inches off the ground in full hero costume; cape, gloves, even the dinky domino mask. The man is a mountain; just like in my memories. The neighbors have begun peeking around their curtains.

“Hello,” I say pointedly not asking why he’s here or to come in or even acknowledging our relationship. He glances past me into the house, his expression softens slightly as he sees her through the walls.

“Hello, son-”

I cut him off. “Nope. We are strangers. It’s better this way. For my safety. Remember?” He has the decency to wince as if he’s actually hurt by my words.

“We only wanted the best for you,” he says holding his arms out from his body. Does he want a hug or is this just body language to appear contrite.

“You threw me away because I wasn’t useful. Because I didn’t have powers like-” I choke on his name. I redirect my anger, it wasn’t his fault.

“Billy wasn’t a replacement for you. When he developed powers, he needed someone to teach him control and to show him how to use his powers for the-”

“-good of mankind. I heard the speech you gave after he leveled his home town.” I bite back my resentment for Billy; he didn’t ask to replace me in my former family. Just like he didn’t ask for the disaster that accompanied the awakening of his powers. “Why are you here?” I hiss to prevent myself from shouting.

“I heard your kid had an awakening.” Does he not know her name? Is he playing a game? The neighbors have moved to standing in their open front doors to gawk at us.

“We have it under control. There were no injures and minimal damage to the house. Longshot is going to mentor her.” All the Guardians were my “friends” growing up until it was confirmed that I wouldn’t be going through an awakening. Longshot was the only hero that had maintained contact with me after my parents had separated themselves from me.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Power types tend to run in families so it might be better to have someone with similar powers mentor her.”

“I wouldn’t know anything about that. My parents are ordinary humans.”

“Your mom and I-”

“You gave up the right to call your wife and yourself that twenty-six years ago. You made sure to scrub every connection between me and both of you out of existence. I don’t know why you didn’t wipe my memories at the same time.”

“We did that to protect you. If one of our enemies had gone after you, you wouldn’t have been able to protect yourself.” The neighbors have been slowly creeping from next door and across the street and have formed a semicircle centered on the worst father in the world.

“You could have protected me!” I shout years of anger and resentment boiling in my blood. I step forward a poke him in the chest, I know better than to try to punch him no matter how much I want to. “You and Mom!” Poke. “Protectors of the world!” Poke. “But not your own son!” Poke.

“We had an obligation to the world. We couldn’t put you above the whole world.” He face is scrunched up, his shoulders have slumped, he lowers himself until he’s standing on the cement pathway from the front door to the driveway.

I swallow my feelings, I’ll have my breakdown later, right now I have to draw the line in the sand. “I am no one to you. My daughter is no one to you. You have no right to be here, so leave.”

He glances around at the neighbors. What have they heard? I wasn’t shouting now but my voice was raised. They’ve pulled back into small groups, whispering amongst themselves. The Hero straightens his back, pulls back his shoulders, and fixes a smile to his face.

“Well, I guess there isn’t anything else to say is there? I’ll be on my way.” He turns, waves to the neighbors and flies away quickly but also slowly enough to barely create a breeze. Nothing like the sonic booms I was used to hearing growing up.

I wave at the neighbors I am friendly with and walk back inside. Jonah will probably come by later and I’ll give him the story and let him feed it to the rest. But right now I just need to be with my family.

Your bloodline is known for carrying superpowers, but you didn’t inherit them. And so your family cut ties with you. But after having children who did inherit those powers, your family tries to reinsert themselves into your life.

[gillian-ybabez]

Eclipse 2024 --- It's cloudy so I can't see the partial eclipse but the dimness and quiet are eerie.-I knew it was going to be overcast so I didn't bother looking up the exact times or anything. I'm a night owl and usually sleep until 1 or 2 pm on my days off

[gillian-ybabez]

Bang Brave Bang Bravern ep 1 & 2 recap --- Episode 1 recap Just watched the first episode of Bang Brave Bang Bravern!It starts as real robot show with military forces engaging in war games. We are quickly introduced to the hot shot pilots from Japan and the US. Lots of Top Gun vibes. Then aliens attack (lots of Battleship (2012)

[gillian-ybabez]

In a fight between Godzilla and MechaDracula, who is the villian?

[gillian-ybabez]

Ok so my limited "market research" tells me that people would rather read smaller themed short story collections. So I'm going to break up and remix my current ebook collections into "marketable" books.

I'm not just grabbing stories from the two collections but also from my website. Stories that for whatever reason I didn't include then but am now giving a second look (and editing pass) at now.

[gillian-ybabez]

I am writing

[gillian-ybabez]

What do you want in an ebook collection of short stories?

[gillian-ybabez]

What do you want in an ebook collection of short stories?

[gillian-ybabez]

How many short stories do you want in a ebook collection?

[gillian-ybabez]

Image prompt

[gillian-ybabez]

What would you like to read from @gillian-ybabez ?

Short stories for me range from 500 to 2000 words, longer serialized stories are 5000 to 20000 posted in roughly 1000 word parts

[gillian-ybabez]

I found a box full of paper towels and receipts that I wrote story fragments on at work (back when I was at the jewelry counter and had time to write). This is all pre or early 2020 since I moved in May of 2020 and I don't think I have opened this box since I moved. So far I've found a few bits that I haven't typed up but a lot has already been typed into stories or random files. I doubt I'll find any gold nuggets but I might find some good bones.

[gillian-ybabez]

What would you like to read from @gillian-ybabez ?

Short stories for me range from 500 to 2000 words, longer serialized stories are 5000 to 20000 posted in roughly 1000 word parts

[gillian-ybabez]

New episode of my podcast. I'm trying something new to shake of the dust.

It's a Rambling Episode!

A quick, one take, off the top of my head talk about what's on my mind. In this episode, I talk about the first two episodes of the latest season of The Mandalorian.

I'm going to try to put out one or more of these rambling episodes then return to the Repairman Jack Book Club I started last year.

[gillian-ybabez]

My second ebook, “The Wrong Sort of Circle” and Other Stories, is available on Gumroad for “pay want you want” starting at $0.

Seventy-two stories including:

Scifi stories like” Failed Clones”, “Space Spies”, and “A.I. (Re)Birth”. In “Happy Birthday Mickey”, robots made for human entertainment continue their jobs long after we are gone.

Fantasy stories like “Sleepless Knights”, “The Edge of the Map”, and “Cold Spots”. In “The Wrong Sort of Circle”, the main character draws a crop circle but attracts other circle loving Folk. In “The New Interview with a Vampire”, a transgender vampire tells her story on a daytime talk show in the year 2536.

Surreal stories like “I Can Remember Tomorrow”, “I was a Translator for NASA”, and “You Dream Of”. In “Homeward Bound”, a woman drives dark roads looking for the way home.

My first ebook “Love and Comets” and Other Stories, is also on Gumroad for free (or pay what you want) here.

“Love and Comets” and Other Stories contains forty stories including:

“Love and Comets” – a slice of life space adventure featuring a trans woman

“What’s the Last Thing You remember?” – Just a normal story about a woman having her memories uploading into a clone after her death

“Our Ghosts” – a poem about space and ghost stories

“Watchtower at the End of the World” – post-apocaliptic fantasy story about a small group of people surviving

“How Long is Forever?” – a poem about an immortal pondering her life

“Hidden Trees” – a surreal story about hidden spaces

“The Day is Hot” – a story about an encounter I had on a hot day

and many more…

[gillian-ybabez]

looking for more writeblrs to follow~

hello, hello! I'm harrow and I'm looking for more writeblrs to follow, as my dash is a little sparse! my activity is very spotty, as my energy levels are all over the place, but i mostly post about my own short stories and occasionally my novels when i have time to work on them.

If you post any of the following, reblog/like this post and I'll check your blog out!

-- short stories! i would really love to follow more people who post completed short stories to read -- superpowers stories, bonus points if there's a focus on villains or more morally grey characters -- fantasy stories with extensive worldbuilding. I really really love worldbuilding and would love to have more people to talk to about this kinda stuff. bonus points if ur story has a conlang or two bc theyre fucking fab -- anything and everything to do with space, love me some space shenanigans/nonsense -- some of my fav tropes include: enemies to lovers (+variants), old/dead gods, time loops, "the story isn't what it seems" type situations, redemption and bastardization arcs

[gillian-ybabez]

I'm a morning person now, I guess --- So, it’s been a week and a half since I started being a morning person. It feels exceedingly weird to wake up at 7am but it’s working. I’m sleeping through the night and feel rested in the morning. I’ve been having intense vivid dreams. I’m still adjusting to having free time