#If they were MY grandkids... I'd say yes

[taruruchi]

I refused to learn about connections through a business (kinda? yes and no?) perspective but instead I learned it through. Idk what lens to call it but I learned it through my experience tumblr

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

Still haven't messaged my mom back. And I don't think I'm going to.

[zombiemollusk]

so i wanna talk about merna

merna was a little caterpillar kid who hatched from an egg, so named due to being the child of jana and mertreon; this naming convention becomes important later.

incidentally, jana would later request to be my spouse, to which i agreed because why not, i'll marry almost anyone who asks me in this game, but in any case, this made merna my stepkid.

i raised the baby with love, etc. etc., got them up to rank ten, and eventually...

...they became my first disciple, and so far the only one who's asked (the others i picked).

they were uh. very dedicated.

anyway, all's going hunky dory, when one day an incredible development happened:

i didn't know followers could fall in love with each other at all (as opposed to just falling for me) until this happened, and i certainly didn't expect it to be my stepkid with my pet cat narinder.

i decided this opportunity was too good to waste, so...

...and then...

...voilà, weird lumpy baby!

remember what i said about my method for naming babies? well, guess what.

that's right, the one who waits had a baby and i named it merder.

side note, merder would go on to be the first of my followers to request that i, you guessed it...

...fucking murder someone. yeah, that's nari's kid alright, and i named them well.

anyway, back to the- what's this?

merna has fallen in love with leshy! well, i'm not about to claim full monopoly on polyamory (i feel like there's a pun in there), and the first baby was so cute, so i had them make an egg as well.

before i continue, here's leshy graciously thanking me for getting him laid:

anyway, mershy was born.

so after tha- huh?

well.

unfortunately i didn't get screenshots of the next two, but in summary:

that's right, everyone: my stepkid and disciple, merna, successfully turned the entire bishop pantheon into their harem.

and as i'm not one to waste an opportunity like this, i'd like to introduce you all to...

...my collection of weird lumpy stepgrandchildren (plus merna wearing a lovely hat there).

and yes, i made them all disciples.

they would go on to have romantic adventures of their own, many of which being with their aunt/uncles/whatever-the-gender-neutral-word-for-those-is to my increasing horror, disgust, and endless amusement; mershy asked me, their stepgrandparent, for my hand in marriage once (i turned them down; i did say almost anyone; definitely not my own grandkid, blood-related or not); mermar did not ask for my hand in marriage but did ask for a wedding dress and a wedding suit to wear (the game wouldn't let me without marrying them so i didn't do that either, though weirdly enough they spoke as if i made the dress when they requested the suit), and merder became lovers and had a child with a follower who asked me to kill someone as a prank, because of course that's merder's type. but sadly this post is running out of space for images so i won't be posting pics of all that, and this post is about merna anyway.

now, i can't say they're perfect in love...

...or as a parent...

...but i still couldn't ask for a better, more memorable first disciple of the game.

here's to you, merna. please keep being you for as long as i play the specific save file in which you reside. 💖

[i-yap]

Thinking about the wedding ask you answered before but what if Grayson proposed to his s/o and his s/o already bought a ring to propose to him as well? Like that would be so cute 😭💕

Hey sorry I'm a little late, in responding, I usually have a couple meetings on Thursday and after human interaction I'm too dead to do anything.

omg your request is so monica and chandler idk why..like that scene she proposes and..yea . Thats a really cute idea.

Dick grayson x reader

Some may consider being friends with your boyfriends ex weird, but barbara and kori were still a part of his teams and they knew what grayson had with you was something special and different. And so you became sort of friends..at least this way you got gossip on grayson. But it was also the reason why you were here, In a jewellery store. looking through wedding bands.

"And then he kept crying "take me to y/n" " laughed kori telling the story of Dick on anesthesia. You laughed back in return"What can I say, the man's a simp". "Yea never really saw him like that you know" replies Kori.

"Like what?" . "Loving someone so much, he was sweet with me, but he never really made effort. I guess I always knew it was a temporary thing. I couldn't even bring up commitment with him, I don't think I even heard him say the word "wedding" the whole time we were together."

"He is a litttle hesitant towards commitment I suppose, its his childhood- all that repressed trauma" you say , trying to cheer her up a little. "But with you it seems like he might even ask you to marry him- though the idea of him asking anyone to marry him sounds crazy"

"Why is that?" you ask

"Dont take me wrong, he loves you but I just cant see him getting down on one knee and -well popping the question"

And so here you are now. Staring at the perfect wedding band set . Was this a little unconventional ..yes. Did you care? Hell no. You knew Dick wanted forever with you. You guys had talked about kids, grandkids, what flowers you want in your wedding. He just wasn't popping the question and if he wasn't going to do it, you would. You understand he has his issues, but he is committed to you, he loves you and you can help him out with this little something.

After that talk with kori you had been monitoring Dick , He did talk a lot about marrying you but never really brought up the actual question. And you didn't want to wait longer. This was the man you wanted to spend forever with..its decided.

So you and dick plan out a perfect date. He was more than excited to make sure everything was perfect- saying he was just excited because you guys haven't had a proper date in while(which is a lie , dick takes you out every week for a fancy date )

But it turns out perfect. By the private beach, a pretty blanket with champagne and food. the sun setting slowly and a chill spring air which makes you sit just a little closer. You take out the ring just as the sun starts setting. Dick looks over perplexed. He looks at the ring, then at you smiling and then ring again. "Dick grayson, I love you. I never thought I'd meet a man like you, I didn't even know they existed. And they don't , you're special to me. You are kind and smart and really hot. There is no one else for me , its just you. Marry me?"

Dick gives the biggest smile, pulls you up onto the sand and get down on his knees before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ring. "y/n, I guess you beat me to it huh? Ive been carrying this ring for 3 months now waiting for the perfect moment. But every moment with you is perfect, you are perfect for me and you make me want to be the perfect man for you. Ive known that since the first date , I know that right now and I will remember it forever. Will you marry me y/n l/n?"

"First you answer my question" you hiccup, tears welling up in your eyes.

"haha, yes yes I will marry you y/n grayson"

"is this a bad time to mention I don't like your surname"

"We can change it, keep it something you like, like cupcakes..y/n cupcakes" he says tears in his own eyes.

you giggle as you pull him up, sliding the rings onto each others hand and kissing as the sun falls below the ocean's horizon.

[skaruresonic]

Honestly, as fun as it was to go "Jesse what the fuck are you talking about" at the absurdity of fandom tourists who refused to engage with canon in good faith, it still felt like people explaining the nitty-gritty of how and why Freemance "didn't count" as pedophilia were giving the antis too much ground. Like they were implying there was a point that any given HL ship could be considered too problematic to defend.

As someone who ships Valhoun, which could arguably be considered more problematic than Freemance in this system of moral checks and balances by mere virtue of Barney actually being in his forties or so (although even that is debatable tbh), as opposed to Gordon's Schroedinger's Creepy Old Man Status, needless to say, I found the whole thing ridiculous.

To me it doesn't really matter even if Gordon was 47, because Half-Life exists in a context where real-life social mores don't apply as stringently. Humanity is on its last legs and Eli wants grandkids, yo. I have argued in the past that age gap squicks would likely lessen out of necessity following the Combine's breeding suppression. People need to procreate in order to repopulate the species, after all, and beggars can't be choosers. Kleiner said "get busy fuckin' or get busy dyin'" for a reason.

However, I'm not terribly keen on Freemance because Gordon's blank-slate status means I'd have to make up his characterization in my head, and it just doesn't seem worth the effort. I always feel like I'm shipping a dozen different versions of Gordon rather than Gordon himself. He also... just doesn't react to Alyx, making their chemistry incredibly lopsided. At least Barney goes "Eugh" when Alyx teases him about "not being an animal person"; Gordon just presumably stands there like :I when she cracks her Zombine joke.

Despite lifting somewhat in recent years, fandom has an ironclad "Barney is Alyx's uncle/big bro" fanon, which is just as annoying as "Shadria is incest" because it basically sprang out of nowhere. Canon seems to imply that Barney and Alyx are acquaintances at best, not terribly familiar with each other outside of their faintly overlapping social circles. Kleiner is honestly their only link. Barney, in fact, has less reason than most other older male characters to be considered one of Alyx's honorary uncles. At the very least Alyx suggests the possibility Gordon may have seen her once as a child; no such equivalent exists for Barney. The idea he babysat her is also hilarious considering he never even directly addresses Eli in HL2. On top of that, there's the issue of infantilizing Alyx, which I could rant about for hours. Yes, Valhoun may be just as "fanon" as Uncle Barney headcanons, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking in terms of the series' overarching context. I view Valhoun as a sort of push-pull dynamic between Barney and Alyx, duty stifling love and placed inside a pressure-cooker of sexual repression. Hot. Plus, there's that forbidden fruit aspect of rebel/Metrocop lol. And while I would in a perfect world like to see the two be together, given HL's bleak world, realistically, I don't see it working out. Not even in an "Alyx dumps his ass for Gordon" kind of way, necessarily, but in a "they break up out of fear for each other's safety but there are still lingering feelings if they gaze in the other's wake for too long" kind of way. I have also argued that all three major HL ships bear imbalances. Valhoun does not suffer the experience gap that Freemance and Freehoun would; Barney and Alyx would have shared roughly the same life experiences under Combine rule that Gordon lacks.

[pinehutch]

Brief Dispatches

The good:

It stopped being so outrageously hot today

Have made and executed plans the last several weekends in a row (I missed the world, over the last year and a half)

Extension on a work deadline kind of

Drove for about 4 hours today and can still walk

Good sandwich, great (sour) pickle for dinner

My benefits continue to cover my exorbitant prescriptions

My American friends seem to be experiencing something like hope, or at the very least the lightness that comes with the lessening of despair. I like that.

The less-good:

Car making weird noise when it gets too warm?

Extension on a work deadline is only until 9 tomorrow morning

Driving for 4 hours has resulted in a serious case of Knee Hurty that I'm not sure I can tape my way out of

I can't eat as many gigantic sour pickles as I want to because the number is >5 and no one needs that much sodium

My benefits have still not figured out that they're supposed to cover my CPAP machine

My TBQ7 submission was rejected after almost a year (BUT extremely kindly, specific feedback, "we loved this", looking forward to seeing more etc., and it was one of the last to get the no, so a very fine rejection all things considered)

The quietly unhinged:

I played Disco Elysium for the first time in March of this year. I've completed 2 or 3 playthroughs and started others. I have talked about it to my therapist. I've wondered if i could write fic and I can't, because I don't know what else I would say. I leave enthusiastic comments on the fic I read. I'm in playlist-making mode now. It's really great to have fallen so hard for something. (I knew I would love it but Not Like This. Yes I recognize that capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself, and if i were a real one I'd have bought it in 2019 - or at least in 2020 - or at least before 2024. Fortunately there is no timeline on being moved by things, even if capital has subsumed them etc. to a degree many find distasteful-to-intolerable. )

Still me. Still cry at the drop of a hat but - and this is kind of a big deal - it stops, now. Letting myself feel something isn't an unstoppable off-ramp to Sob City for the next 4 hours. It's a relief. I suspect this means my nervous system is being restored by actual sleep at night.

I dream, now. (I had stopped, mostly, for a couple of years, while the OSA was going through the roof.) Instead of my childhood home I keep dreaming of my grandparents' house, as it was 15, 20 years ago. The old electric kettle, the kind that didn't whistle or shut off but would boil dry, if you let it. The flour-bin my grandpa made. The pine hutch in the dining room, designed by my grandmother, built by her brother and my grandfather and their friends. Boxes of cereal for the grandkids that were slightly more fun than the ones we had at home. Scraps and ends and cuttings and seeds; pressed plants and flowers in the pages of the field guides; a steel desk from an old office; a root cellar and a pantry and a summer kitchen in the basement. My subconscious is rooting away down there, these days.

[torchlitinthedesert]

Transcript under the cut.

Paul

"Life had just started to get a bit messy when Linda became pregnant with Mary. Allen Klein [the American business manager] was involved iwtht he Beatles and, over the year, things seemed to get more chaotic and worrying. Then, the miracle: our Mary. The chaos got pushed to one side and all I cared about was being a dad. But there was still a lot of unpleasantness flying around, so in the end I said: "Let's get out of here, go to Scotland and be a family." It wasn't planned, but Mary came at exactly the right time. She changed my perspective to a degree where I could look at what was happening with the Beatles and think, "Does it really matter?"

If you were a dad in the late 1960s, you were part of taht first wave who got involved with the whole process of pregnancy and birth. One afternoon I remember going down to the local Family Planning Association and picking up a booklet called You Are Having A New Baby. I loved reading it: "At this-many-weeks, your baby will be as big as an orange." And then being there at the birth! In my dad's day, that would have been unheard of.

My first solo album came out in 1970 and I decided to use one of Linda's photos of me and Mary on the cover. This tiny head poking out from the inside of my jacket. These days you wouldn't do it because it feels dangerous to put pictures of your kids out there, but back then we weren't bothered. A lot of musical acquiantances warned me that being a dad would change my professional life. You can't take kids on tour, you can't have them in the sutdio. My professional life did change because I was no longer in the band, but I was still writing and recording. For the first Wings tour in 1972 we simply packed a load of nappies and toys and took the kids with us.

Later, when they were at school, I'd have a word with the headmaster. "Look, we'll be away for six weeks and I don't relish the thought of getting a call in Australia saying something happened to one of the kids." The school gave us a list of the lessons they'd be missing and we took a tutor with us, which the kids hated. They saw it as a six-week holiday. Like all parents, we were dreading the rebellious teens, but the most rebellion we had from Mary and Stella was having to listen to Wham! all day long. Looking back, I guess that wasn't too bad.

In 1998 Mary and the kids lost their mum and I lost … Linda. I knew it was my job to be “strong Dad who keeps it together”, but you can’t do that the whole time unless you completely hide your feelings. Eventually my emotions started leaking out. That’s when the roles were reversed and the kids rallied round me. We got through it, but we all struggled because she was the glue that held everything together.

Linda would have been so happy to see how far vegetarianism has come since we started the food business [in 1991]. And now Mary’s continuing the tradition with her own vegan cooking show. Yes, I’m proud of what I’ve achieved musically, but I’m also proud that Linda played such a big part in bringing vegetarian food into people’s homes.

Christmas and new year were a big family thing when I was a kid, so I keep the tradition going. Me and Nancy [Shevell, whom he married in 2011] like to go to Mary’s, the grandkids running around with their new toys. I do it for them as much as me — I want them to experience the same joy I felt at their age. That connection with family is what keeps me sane. I’ve got my fingers crossed for 2022. Like everyone, I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to do some of the things we’ve missed out on, see the people we love. It’ll be nice to have a bit more normality.

Mary

My earliest memories are split between London and the farm in Scotland. The excitement of city life versus absolute solitude. It was still exciting but in a different way: riding ponies, climbing trees, helping Mum in the kitchen. And the sound of Dad’s guitar.

It makes me laugh now, but there were some afternoons when we’d be watching cartoons and Dad would wander over with his guitar. He’d sit down and start playing this beautiful music, messing around with melodies and songs. We’d all give him an evil stare. “Dad, we’re watching telly. Go in the kitchen.” One time he said: “Do you know how many people would love to be sitting here now, listening to me play guitar?” I just shrugged. “But we can’t hear The Wombles.”

Being a vegetarian family in the late 1970s marked you out as different. Everybody said it was all Mum’s idea and she’d forced Dad to stop eating meat, but they did it as a team. I remember them discussing recipes and Dad saying he still wanted something he could slice for his Sunday roast. Mum was always excited about cooking and she inspired me. Dad’s pretty good in the kitchen — he’d make a great sous-chef. If you ask him to sort out the mashed potato, it’ll be the best you’ve ever tasted. He’s meticulous, just like he is in the studio.

Of course people made fun of Mum and Dad for being veggie. They made fun of Mum for a lot of things, saying she wasn’t a real musician, she wore odd socks and charity-shop jumpers. The real problem was that she didn’t fit the mould of the woman they wanted Paul McCartney to marry. They wanted someone who went to all the chichi parties, but Mum was more interested in feeding the animals on the farm.

Mum and Dad insisted we went to the local comprehensive school, which made me feel a bit awkward at the time. I’d be in school for a term, then off on tour. When I came back, all my friends had made new friends. Now, when I look back, I realise what a smart move it was. It kept us grounded.

Dad was almost too enthusiastic when it came to helping with homework. On my own I could knock it off in half an hour but Dad would get out the encyclopaedia, he’d be cross-referencing and drawing graphs. The teachers must have got suspicious when I gave in these ridiculously detailed essays. Dad said education changed his life and he wanted to pass that love of learning on to us.

I look at Dad and think, after all he’s been through, how has he managed to stay in one piece? He has found a way of keeping a level head, no matter what else is happening in his life. My own personal theory — I’ve not talked to Dad about this — is that he needs normality because that’s what inspires him. Real life and real people. That’s where all the music comes from.

Every year that goes by I seem to find a new level of admiration for what Dad has achieved — and Mum too. My husband and I have this game where we try to get through a day without coming across a reference to Dad or the Beatles. What usually happens is that I get to around nine o’clock, then something comes on the radio or I see an ad for the new Beatles documentary.

I do listen to the Beatles at home, but it’s the Wings stuff I play the most. Mum’s not around any more, but when she’s doing her backing vocals I can still hear her and Dad together. There’s a song called I Am Your Singer — that always gets me. “When day is done, harmonies will linger on.”

[airenyah]

15 people, 15 questions

I was tagged by @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas <333

Are you named after anyone?

no. there's a video game character with my name and occasionally people will bring this character up and ask if i was named after her but no, i wasn't. my parents don't play videogames

2. When was the last time you cried?

i honestly don't remember, i don't actually cry all that much. (so if you see me say things like "i'm crying" in the tags then i'm actually only crying in my heart, i'm not shedding any actually tears dfkfkjdf)

last time i cried was either bc i was really angry or really extremely overwhelmed with life during a period where i hadn't slept much or was on my period or so. orrr what is actually even more likely is that the last time i cried was when i cried from laughter while being with friends. i cry from laughter a lot, actually

3. Do you have kids?

nope. i think i could be a good mother if i had to, but ngl, motherhood and parenting doesn't sound very appealing to me. i am planning on becoming an aunt tho. i'll let my brother provide the grandkids and i'll just borrow them occasionally, spoil them, and then i can always give them back when they get too exhausting or annoying 😂

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

i play baseball for fun once a year with old summer camp friends. other than that i'm not very athletic. in elementary school i used to go to schwimmkurse (swimming courses) which was super fun and it's one of the few sports that i'd consider taking up again if i were to do any. i've always liked swimming (but only in places where i can see the ground and where the water isn't too cold. i feel really uneasy when i can't see the ground and i also freeze easily so i'm not a fan of cold water)

5. Do you use sarcasm?

sarcasm? me? neeeeever, not at all 🤭

(^^^this answer is sarcastic, the genuine answer is yes. yes, i do. <- for those struggling to understand sarcasm, esp in written form <3)

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

uhhhhh good question, i don't actually know???? maybe their face, idk

7. What's your eye colour?

blue-gray ish. and i have a yellow/green circle around each pupil. i actually really like my eyes, they're my fave part of my appearance 🥰

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

happy endings for sure!! i could never get into scary movies, idk

9. Any talents?

languages, i guess. at least i'm known as the language genius in my family and my friend groups. but to be honest, there's still a lot about language that i don't know and i don't feel like i'm all that great (esp when my language learning progress feels slower than the one of others. which is totally fine by me bc everyone should go at their own pace, but i just don't like it when people call me a language genius bc i feel like in reality i'm not really living up to that. i just happen to know a little bit more about language than those around me, but compared with actual experts? yeah no, i in no way compare...)

but yeah out of all the skills that i have, languages is one my best ones. and i'm also really good at organizing (aka keeping a million lists and making sure all the props are at the right spots and with the right actors and there's enough spares of everything etc lol)

10. Where were you born?

austria 🇦🇹🇦🇹🇦🇹

(NOT the place with kangaroos just so we're clear dkjgkdjf)

11. What are your hobbies?

(internally) crying over fictional characters, then blorbo-posting about it. sometimes i'll also subject irl-people to my blorbo rants (mainly my mother and some of my friends)

i also take violin lessons and thai classes for fun

12. Do you have any pets?

technically no, but really yes. my mom and my brother share a dog and my parents also have two kitties. i go home a lot bc i don't really like staying in my own flat in the city where i study so they do feel like my own pets as well, esp the kitties <333

^this is nika (the dog) and coco (boy cat). they're besties <3

^this is minou (girl cat). she's the youngest and the smallest of them all, so we nicknamed her "die kleine" (the small one (f))

13. How tall are you?

155 cm

14. What was your favourite subject in school?

german, it was the easiest for me

fun fact: the only subject in school that i ever got a frühwarnung in was english lmao. ("frühwarnung" = early warning and it's what you get when you're about to get an f in your report card for a subject. i got an f in english in my report card for semester break, so i had the whole summer semester to get my grade up to a d)

15. What is your dream job?

director!!!! in theater or film, idk, but i just really wanna be a director. and maybe take some minor acting roles on the side, idk. for now i still feel too shy to do any professional acting, despite having gotten acting training for 3 years djkkdjfg

i'm really looking forward to next summer, bc i get to be assistant director at this one theater that i've worked at as an intern for the past two summers. the assistant directors that i've worked with so far at this theater have both sucked and both times i ended up more or less taking on the job myself anyway (to the point where they even paid me for my work despite my position usually being an unpaid one) and so this summer i was like "uhhh guys so what if for next summer's production i just work as an assitant director right away instead of an intern?" and they were like "omg you're hired" 😂

tagging following 15 people:

feel free to ignore if you don't want to do it or tag me in/send me yours if you've already done it, i'd like to read it <3

@newyearknwwme @moonkhao @visualtaehyun @lurkingteapot @callipigio @waitmyturtles @sunnenfinster @cornflowershade @celestial-sapphicss @killiru @gaym3bo1 @nongnaos @dimplesandfierceeyes @gillianthecat @ranchthoughts

bonus: @telomeke i know you've already been tagged, so this is just to ask you to tag me when you've thought of all your answers, i wanna read yours too 👀

[dingochef]

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x You (OFC)

Warnings: Swearing, Smut (MDNI 18+ Only), Stalking, P in V, oral (female and male receiving), Semi-public sex, light spanking,

Summary: You get to know Jake's family better, learn few truths about your life, and try to figure out what Jake's brother's deal is.

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Chapter 9

Word Count: 2.9 k

Chapter 10: Just You

The rest of the afternoon is spent hanging around the kitchen helping Sharon with some of Thanksgiving pre-prep.

Sharon keeps the conversation going, "So, Elsa, any special Thanksgiving traditions at your house?"

"Nothing too different than most people's, we'd usually go to my Grandma's for dinner with my extended family."

"We've got that too, that's Friday night for my side of the family. You'll get to meet all of the Lucarellis."

Jake pipes up,

"That's the Italian side."

"How many people is that?" you ask trying to get an idea of the size of the get-together.

"It's about 40ish people with all the generations. I'm one of five kids so it's our kids and grandkids."

"Wow, that's a lot of people. My extended family is 10 people," you reply with my eyes widening. Jake notices the look on my face.

"Don't worry about remembering everyone's names, I'm pretty sure it took me till I was about 10 to get it all right," he reassures me.

"Oh yeah, they're all dying to meet you. Everybody is curious about the girl that got Jake to settle down," Sharon gushes.

"Mom, you're making it seem like Elsa's going to be the main attraction. Don't scare her," Jake says to his mom in a fake whisper.

You laugh, catching Jake's eye. He winks and gives you that panty dropper smile.

The conversation pivots, and moves to your work,

"So what is it you exactly do, Jake was a bit vague about that," she asks.

"Probably not intentionally so, I work for Lockheed Martin in the research and development division. The specific details are literally top secret," you answer.

"You and Jake and your top secret lives, always thought that was just in the movies."

"Where'd you go to college?"

"Notre Dame for my undergrad and Stanford for my PhD."

"You a big football fan? That's what I think of most when I think of Notre Dame."

Jake snickers behind his mom where he is chopping vegetables for stuffing tomorrow.

"Yes, I'd say Elsa is a big football fan. She sat me down and told me Saturdays in the fall were for Notre Dame football and I was welcome to join her or find something else to do."

"I had to let you know my deal breakers. Not everyone enjoys Lydia and I losing it over every play."

"Lydia is Elsa's best friend from Notre Dame, she lives with Rooster in La Jolla," Jake fills her in.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that Rooster had found himself a lady friend. Nice young man."

The food prep wraps up and you help Sharon clean up the kitchen.

She goes and sits down on an overstuffed armchair and puts her feet up on an ottoman.

"Well, I'm done cooking for the day, dinner tonight is pizza," she sighs out.

"Well earned, Mom. Do you want a drink? Make yourself comfortable," Jake asks.

"That sounds good, a glass of red, please. There's a few bottles in the rack in there, pick something out."

"Elsa, you?" he asks over his shoulder as he steps into the kitchen.

"Yes, please." you settle on a matching overstuffed sofa.

"Oh, you'll get to meet Mike tonight. He's going to stop by for dinner on his way home from the hospital."

"I was wondering when he'd make an appearance."

"Alicia and the girls will be here tomorrow."

"That was going to be my next question. Jake's mentioned them before, especially when I asked how he was familiar with Frozen. He called me Icy when we first met."

"I'll level with you, I love my granddaughters dearly, but if I have to watch that movie or Moana one more time I'm going to lose it."

"You and I will get along well. I've always liked my name, but it did get annoying after the movie came out."

Jake has reappeared with two glasses of wine and hands one to you and Sharon and disappears back into the kitchen presumably to grab his glass.

"So Jake mentioned you met at a bar, how'd that go? Did Jakey have some suave pick up line?"

You nearly snort on your wine,

"You want to tell her or should I?" you ask Jake as he enters with his glass. He sits down next to you with his arm on the back of the sofa and asks,

“Tell who what?”

You wait till he is taking a sip,

“Your mom wants to know how exactly we met at the Hard Deck and if you had some smooth pick up line.”

Jake nearly chokes on his wine,

“Hardly, I ran into her spilling her drink, which is the only reason I got to buy her a drink that night at all. We talked for a while, I apparently didn’t pick up some obvious clues nor ask her what she does for a living. I was drinking pretty fast because she made me nervous and then I tried to pull my ‘I’m a pilot and this how planes fly routine.’”

Sharon groans,

“You tried to explain how planes fly to an aerospace engineer. I’m sure I raised you better.”

“Hey, the whole pilot thing has worked pretty well in the past. Then she promptly gave me an epic ego check and left me a smoldering wreck on the barroom floor.”

Sharon’s eyebrows furrow, confused how anything could be salvaged that situation.

“I assumed I’d never see him again.” you add.

“Something about you definitely intrigued me and I wanted to see you again or at least say sorry,” Jake continues. “I got your number from a friend and invited you to a Padres game the next day, and for some miraculous reason you said yes.”

“I figured I'd get at least a baseball game out of it,” you add.

“But apparently, I pulled the old Seresin charm out and the baseball game became dinner and the rest is history.” Jake wraps up, kissing you on the side of your head.

“Your charm was not trying to be a flashy pilot, and just being Jake,” you reassure him as you pat his knee.

“You guys are adorable,” Sharon practically coos.

“Where’s Tom? I haven’t seen him around all day?” you ask.

“Oh he’s volunteering at the community health clinic. When he retired from his own practice he decided to volunteer a few days a week here and there to keep busy. He’s usually back by 5,” she answers. you look up at the clock on the mantle and it says 3 pm.

“That’s cool, what a neat way to stay connected and give back.”

Sharon has finished her wine and her busy day and an afternoon glass of wine has mellowed her out. She yawns,

“Well, I’m going to go ‘rest my eyes’ for a bit till Dad gets home.” She gets up and drops her glass in the kitchen and heads off to take a nap.

You stand up and look at the photos on the mantle and the wall. There’s the usual family portraits, some baseball photos of Jake and his brother. A large wedding portrait of Mike and Alicia, (you assume), baby pictures of the grandkids, graduations, and other family moments all line the wall.

Jake has joined you and is standing next to you.

"Your family literally looks like the fake families they put in photo frames," you tease Jake.

"I can't help that we were all gifted with gorgeous genetics."

Continuing to look at the photos each one is filled with that signature Seresin smile. The one that radiates pure joy.

"It's not just the looks, which I agree are top notch. You can feel the love your family has for each other, that comes through even though it's just a moment frozen in time."

"All family photos are like that, you probably have a wall like this at your house."

"No, they're not. A distinct memory I have is my mom smiling brightly for the camera and then her face going back neutral or RBF. She never walked around the world with a smile. My Dad was better about it, but I think that slowly faded over time by being with my Mom."

Jake wraps his arms around you, knowing how hard it is for you to talk about certain things.

"I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed by how loving your family is. When I went to meet Liam's family when we got engaged, it felt like my family. Polite and cool, when they weren't sniping each other with passive aggressive remarks."

Jake kisses your forehead, it's always at his mouth level and easy to reach.

"I get that your relationship with your parents is in the 'It's Complicated' category, but understand, and this can't make up for the past, but you're a part of the Seresin family and all that love."

"You're going to make me cry. How are you so good at all this emotional stuff? I feel like I'm just figuring this out on the fly."

"This is only an observation, but I don't think you've ever felt real love before our relationship. Not to say your parents don't love you in some way, but it's based on you being something for them, like you being an Olympian. Real love isn't like that, it's based on you being just you. Just like you fell in love with just Jake, the man, not Jake the hotshot pilot."

The tears are pricking at the corners of your eyes, I take a deep breath.

"You realize you've made a better assessment than my therapists ever did. I really had to be in love to understand what was missing. Have I mentioned how much I love you?" you laugh, wiping at the tears with you hands.

"Yes, but I love hearing it.'

"Okay, I think we've made some good progress here today," you joke.

Jake looks confused.

"It's literally how every therapist, I've had has wrapped up the end of a session," you explain.

"Are we wrapping up this session?"

"I think so, I'm going to have to absorb that truth bomb and just bask in the love your family is lousy with."

He laughs and pulls you back into a deep hug. The tension in you melts away. You and Jake end up back on the couch snuggled together.

"So, here's your chance to preempt any embarrassing stories your brother might drop on dinner," you tease Jake.

He groans,

"Oh Lord, there's a few."

You spend the rest of the afternoon with your head on his lap as tells you stories about growing up.

Around five, as promised, Jake's Dad arrives home. You and Jake greet him and Sharon reappears to give him a kiss on the cheek. They discuss when Mike will be over to time the pizza delivery. Jake's dad calls out to the living room where Jake and you are still on the couch,

"Elsa, Jake tells me you like a good gin and tonic."

You sit up and respond,

"I do in fact like a good gin and tonic, got to prevent malaria."

Jake and you walk into the kitchen.

He responds with a good laugh,

"It'll be nice to have another g&t drinker in the family, these two," he points at Sharon pouring a glass of wine and Jake getting a beer from the fridge, "Are very anti-gin and tonic."

"I know, Jake has made his opinions known about gin, he said it was like kissing a Christmas tree."

"It is, it's so piney," he whines. You lean over and kiss his cheek.

A gin and tonic is slid across the counter to you, which you gladly accept.

"Thanks, Tom."

He holds his glass up in a cheers motion and you mimic him. The first sip is exactly on point, you let Tom know,

"Perfectly done."

"I've had years of practice," he responds drolly.

Sharon cuts in,

"Why don't you folks make yourself comfortable in the living room while we wait for Mike. I'll be there in a second."

You follow Sharon's suggestion and Jake and you take the loveseat opposite the armchair. Jake instinctually puts his arm up on the back around you. You wait for Tom to lob out a question.

Which he does, but not to you,

"How's the teaching gig going, Jake?"

"I really like it, I was a little unsure of how teaching would be versus active duty but it's so rewarding to get these pilots in, devastate them the first day and then have to be flying at my best to win at the end of it."

Jake and Tom keep talking about Jake's work for a while. Sharon comes in and joins the group. There's a knock at the door, Sharon jumps up to answer the door,

"Oh, it's Mike, I was wondering when he'd get here."

She opens the door to a similar looking man a few years older than Jake with a bit thinner build, but the same crazy green eyes and blond hair. Sharon takes the pizza boxes from Mike and Jake jumps up to greet his brother with a big bear hug.

A mix of each other's name, "Good to see you", and "It's been awhile" emanates from their hug. Everyone migrates to the kitchen and soon pizza is served up and everyone is seated.

Again you wait for a question to come your way and this time it does.

"Elsa, I hear you're a PhD aerospace engineer who went to Notre Dame on a gymnastics scholarship and works on top secret aircraft. Knowing Jake, one of those has to be untrue," Mike asks in more of an interrogative way than friendly. Like he's checking out your cover story.

"Nope, those are all true," you answer.

"If you're all those out of the world things, why did you pick my brother of all people to be with?" His tone is so serious that you can't tell if he's joking in a brotherly way or if he's being mean about it.

Your brain wants to go with the snarky response, which is "Because he has a very big cock," but luckily your filter is working and instead you say, l

"Because he is a very good man whom I love very much and who loves me just as much."

Sharon and Tom look at each and lift their eyebrows, communicating in that way old married couples do.

Mike rolls his eyes,

"Yeesh, you really are gone for him."

"Yeah, I think it's past the point of no return," you look over to Jake and he is watching the exchange between you and his brother like a tennis match. His face alternates from an adoring to annoyed look with each volley.

"Yeah, but I still can't believe he landed someone as high caliber as you."

Jake interjects himself to the conversation,

"I think we covered that enough, moving on Mike."

He does with surprising ease and pivots to his next question,

"So, how long have you lived in San Diego?"

"A little over four years and I, we actually live on Coronado Island, if you're familiar with the San Diego area."

The rest of dinner goes relatively normal and the get to know you conversations flow easily and feel less like you're a spy caught in enemy territory being questioned.

Mike excuses himself after dinner to get home before the girls have to go to bed.

That night as Jake and you are settling into bed, you ask Jake about his brother,

"Is your brother usually that aggressive to new people, or was it just me?"

"It was just you, I think it blew his mind that someone like you is actually in love with me."

"That I don't get."

"He's always been the do good of our family, he's a doctor, married, and kids. All things my parents are rightly proud of. I don't know if he feels like I one upped him on a partner or he's actually jealous."

"What about his wife, Alicia?"

"Alicia is lovely, I don't doubt those two are crazy in love, I just think he's put out that he's not the golden boy right now. My mom has been waiting for me to settle down for so long I'm surprised she isn't picking out wedding colors right now, so she understandably is excited and he feels a lack of attention, I guess."

"So the usual siblings vying for their parents' attention, like when you were kids."

"Yup, are you close with your sister? I know you call her fairly regularly."

"We're pretty close, my sister has always gone her own way, she didn't have the need to get approval and validation from our parents. She just did what she liked to do and that was art. So we weren't competing with each other in the same realms and could be friends. I think she liked that my parents were so over involved in my life that she had more freedom. But I think I've thought about family dynamics enough to today."

"Agreed."

Jake rolls over to spoon you and pulls you back into his embrace.

"I love you," you whisper.

"Love you too," he answers.

It doesn't take long to fall asleep.

Chapter 11

@kmc1989

@starswholistenanddreamsanswered

@mayhemmanaged

@callmemana

@dempy

@hangmanscoming

@lanie-k

@callsign-viper

@senjoritanana

@djs8891

@atarmychick007

@memoriesat30

@midnightmagpiemama

[thatsnotmygunflash]

oohh i guess either "i'll choose you always. no matter what" or "i love the idea of growing old with you"

Who says we can't do both? 😉 I'm in the mood for some fluff so why not.

"You're late," Len said as soon as he felt the air shift in the kitchen, not taking his attention off the dirty casserole dish he was viciously scrubbing.

"I know, I'm sorry, Hal was-"

"Taking up all your spare time again." Len cut in with a too-casual tone, scrubbing at the stubborn specks in the corners with a single-minded focus. "Yes, I'm aware."

"You're jealous," Barry huffed.

"I don't trust him," Len said quickly in response, using the nail of his thumb to scrap off the black spots the brush couldn't seem to get off.

"Because you think he likes me." Barry accused with a tired sigh. Len didn't reply for a long moment, rinsing off the soap still sticking to the surface and setting the dish down in the drainer with a harsh clank of glass against metal when it knocked against the saucepan.

"He does," Len said with finality as he shut off the water. He kept his eyes straight ahead as he reached for the towel on his shoulder, using it to wipe down the water splashes around the sink.

"Lenny," Barry whispered gently, laying a hand on his shoulder as he came to stand directly behind Len. "You know Hal is just a friend."

"Like how Kara is just a friend?" Len bit out against his better judgment. He hated himself for being like this. For letting his overwhelming feelings for his speedster to cause such ugly emotions to stir inside his chest. He had never been like this before. He didn't want to start a fight, but he also hadn't wanted to sit in his empty kitchen feeling increasingly more neglected with every passing minute, the food he cooked for their weekly date night growing cold waiting on the counter for Barry to show up. His text message sent in the first half hour went unanswered and the phone call at the top of the first hour got the same treatment.

"Lenny, I'm really sorry, okay?"

"Why were you three hours late?" Len asked, finally turning around to pin Barry down with a harsh eyebrow raise.

"I needed his help with something," Barry replied hesitantly, his nervous hands twitching at his side. It made Len bite the inside of his cheek, keeping the first harsh response that popped into his head to himself.

"Care to elaborate?"

"Seriously Lenny, I'm sorry, okay? I swear I just needed his help with something."

He was lying. Barry was actually trying to lie to him. He thought the hero knew better by now, you can't bullshit a bullshitter.

"That's not an explanation," Len said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared the younger man down with an accusing frown.

"Lenny, you know you're it for me, right?" Barry rested both hands against Len's biceps, giving a reassuring squeeze to the tense muscles. "It doesn't matter who flirts with me or how well I get along with my friends. I'd choose you, always. No matter what. In fact, I intend to prove it."

"How do you plan to do that?" Len asked, narrowed gaze stuck on Barry's devoted smile.

"Lenny, baby, do you wanna know what gets me out of bed most days?"

"What?"

"I love the idea of growing old with you. Of retiring from the hero business and living on a ranch outside of the city. Having grandkids begging their parents to let them stay at our house every weekend. I love the idea of buying a house and living with you for the next fifty years. Of growing our family as big as you’ll let me. I love the idea of you and I old and gray and even more in love than we are now. I love the idea of us, forever. I want you, Lenny, I'll always want you." Barry reached into his back pocket, coming out with a clenched fist and an adoring shine in his eyes. "I was late because I was having a hard time deciding what you would like best. I wanted it to be perfect. Something you could look at every day and still love even fifty years from now."

Barry held out his hand, opening his palm to reveal the shining silver ring.

"I want you in my future, Lenny, I want you to be my future. Will you marry me?"

"Six."

"What?" Barry laughed in nervous confusion, shifting his weight from foot to foot as Len continued to stand there staring unblinkingly at the offered ring.

"My cut off for kids. It's six."

"Is that your idea of a yes?" Barry questioned hopefully, holding his breath when Len slowly reached a hand out towards the ring.

"Yes," Len confirmed softly, taking the ring between two fingers and holding it up to the light to look at it properly. It was a simple silver band, at first glance, but as Len moved it from side to side it looked almost like it was shimmering blue in the right light.

"Yes?" Barry repeated, a blinding grin stretching across his face when Len slipped the band onto his ring finger. It fit perfectly. The weight settling against his skin just enough to be present but not enough to bother him. He could see why Barry had chosen it.

"Yes, Barry,"

[hello-nichya-here]

Thank you for being sympathetic to Alicent and viewing her situation with actual nuance and understanding

I'm proship as they come but the way the majority of the HOTD fandom talks about her make me so deeply uncomfortable with how casually cruel and lacking of sympathy they are. Like yeah she's a fictional character, but yeesh, their hatred of her is so eerily close to actual IRL misogyny. It's one of the very few times when fictional discussion is crossing the reality line for me

Oh, it has absolutely turned into real life misogyny - there's a ton of idiots online threatening to do all kinds of vile thing to the actress because she dared to comit the crime of playing a character they don't like.

And I meant it, even as someone who is very firmly Team Black, the Greens are interesting, compelling, complicated characters that are fun to watch, so even when I'm pissed at one of them is a "love to hate" kind of situation, because they're still being entertaining.

And again, Alicent was objectively screwed over the entire show, by her father, her husband, and by her society in general. Did she sometimes make things worse for herself or hurt other characters who didn't deserve it? Yes. But so did Rhaenyra, Daemon, Viserys, Aegon, Aemond, etc. The whole point of that story is practically nobody stays fully innocent when there's a full on war going on, and EVERYONE becomes a victim of the circumstances in said war.

I might want Rhaenyra to be queen, but it IS objectively unfair how Alicent was raised to think her duty was to marry whoever her father picked for her and give her husband male heirs to inherit all he had, and she did that without complaining for the longest time - and then her husband not only doesn't want her children to inherit, but he also has the nerve to call his child of a previous marriage his ONLY child.

I would not blame her one bit if she started throwing stuff at Viserys while screaming "Then why the fuck did you marry me and make me have kids with you for? The fuck was that about?" Hell, she could snap one day give Viserys too much medicine to kill him once and for all, I'd say she was fully justified (and in the truly pitiful state he was in, he might actually thank her fo it).

It really is no surprise that, when Rhaenyra makes a toast in Alicent's honor, thanking her for all the devotion she offered to her father through the years, caring for him as his health worsens, it led to the ONLY time adult!Alicent says she believes Rhaenyra would be a good queen. It's the first time in YEARS anyone has thought of everything she was put through, everything she had to sacrifice for the sake of other people who didn't even deserve it - and so it becomes the first, and sadly last, time she sees eye-to-eye with her former friend, and recognizes that Rhaenyra's situation of "You were named heir then your father went and got you two brothers despite knowing that would likely cost you the throne" is also not fair.

Otto and Viserys are to blame for all this misery for everyone in both sides of the conflict (except maybe Daemon's, to some extent at least) - Otto for using his own daughter and grandkids as pawns in the Game Of Thrones, and Viserys for being a pushover that lets himself be manipulated AND uses "I'm just a sick, fragile old man mourning my beloved wife that I murdered" as excuse to justify remarrying and causing a ton of trouble for everyone just so he has someone by his side (and not even appreciating said person) and doesn't feel lonely.

Alicent's biggest sin was not realizing she should not have put up with this bullshit - but how could she considering how young she was when it all happened and the way she was raised to think she had to obey her father and husband no matter what?

[fuck-customers]

This lady spent over an hour yelling her way up the management chain because *drumroll* we were playing Jaws as an event she took her grandkids to see it and we didn't warn her that it would scary. So she wanted her money back, even though she stayed to watch the entire movie and the kids didn't even seem freaked out. They were just laughing and having fun playing with the Minions Foosball table that's next to my area for the entire hour.

I guess she had asked my coworker if she could "take her grandkids to this movie" and my coworker said yes, because it's not rated R and the kids were all at least 8 years old, so she can take them to any movie she wants.

I didn't warn her because A, I have people yell at me at least once a week because we won't let them bring their small child into an R-rated horror movie because "the kid likes scary movies" and B, this lady was at least as old as my dad, who's in his 60s. There's no way she didn't hear people talking about Jaws when it came out because it was a massive deal. It's literally one of the most famous movies of all time. It was the first every blockbuster and enough people were freaked out by it that it caused a widespread fear of sharks in the culture at large. (My coworker that she was angry at for not warning her is like 19, so I can't really blame her for not having seen the movie; she's practically a baby in comparison)

But yeah, my boss wouldn't give her her money back because she stayed to watch the entire movie and he ended up giving her his boss's number so she'd leave.

Like lady, literally the first scene of the movie is a lady swimming naked and getting eaten by a shark. That should have been your hint that it might be scary.

(Also not work related, but I actually own a copy of the Jaws novel that was printed in 1975 that used to belong to my dad, and it has a little fake sticker printed onto the cover that says "Now a major motion picture". I'd include a pic but it's in a box in the garage)

Heh! I have that same book. And yea I’m going to be 49 this year and I remember the Jaws scare really well because I used to live walking distance to North beach in Miami. And I remember the news telling people it couldn’t really happen, because the beaches were empty for awhile after it first came out.  

-Rodney

[athenasparrow]

20 Qs for Fic Writers

Thank you all for tagging me! @wearingaberetinparis @annabtg @kay-elle-cee

How many works do you have on AO3? 27! That's counting my submission for @jilytoberfest masquerade

What's your total A03 word count? Currently at 181,851 words

What fandoms do you write for? Only HP!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? LAYLOM: The first time Lily kisses James, he doesn’t even know. DWOHT: But despite his best efforts, he couldn’t take his eyes off her figure as she moved effortlessly in rhythm with whatever song she had playing. He learned she was wearing more than a t-shirt when she slid across the kitchen on her socks, throwing her head back to sing words James wished he could hear. The Art of Identification: Lily Evans, star potions pupil, can't identify Amortentia when it's staring her right in the face (or nose). Stripped Back To Basics: In which Petunia probably regrets telling Lily to "put herself out there." The Right Door: Sirius and Remus try to set up Lily and James, but turns out they've already met.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I love to respond!! I am QUITE behind right now (there are 40 messages in my AO3 inbox LOL), but I'll catch up!

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I was just going to leave "no comment" here, but I thought I'd say... I know exactly what fic it is, but I've yet to put it up! It's been written for a while and people have encouraged me to publish it, but it's still just sitting in my WIP folder. Maybe soon!! I'll be vague so it still packs a punch when it arrives : )

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of my fics tend to have happy endings! I like to tie everything up in a little bow and only recently have I been learning some open-ended restraint. My personal favourite is DWOHT when Euphemia finally gets her (first) grandkid. I found it very amusing since she'd been hounding them for so long!

Do you get hate on fics? Not on a regular basis! I've had some gentle and invited criticism when I played @annabtg brave game. Then there was a rude anon, but I couldn't really take them seriously because they were just spouting nonsense so I spent most of the time giggling at their little brain LOL!

Do you write smut. If so, what kind? YES!!!! I am THE SMUT FAIRY!! Most of my fics have smut and I've written a few plotless porn fics as well. As for what kind...mostly vanilla and tame SO FAR! I should really write something more kinky.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Nope! I'm not interested in crossovers. Unlikely I will ever write one! I certainly like to base Lily and James in situations from other universes, but don't want Lily and James to interact with the characters.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of : )

Have you ever had a fic translated? I have not! There's one regular commenter who leaves all her thoughts in Spanish and I adore that because I get to practice, but that's about as close as I've come LOL!

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Yes! It's both an enjoyable and exhausting process for me (mostly enjoyable because I keep coming back for more LOL)! My first was with @charmsandtealeaves (Stripped Back To Basics). I'm currently writing with @wearingaberetinparis 👀 Her brain works at an insane pace, but as I am a mere mortal you'll have to wait until my semester finishes before there's any chance of us publishing! 😂

What's your all-time favourite ship? JILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are actually THE BEST!!!

What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? ALL OF THEM???? Look guys, I have like 25-30 WIPs and the list just keeps getting longer LOL! I'm hoping my gap year will help : )

What are your writing strengths? I think I come up with beautiful metaphors, my dialogue is interesting and my smut is hot! Recently added angst to my list, but it's still growing : )

What are your writing weaknesses? Proofreading LOL! Drawing things out! Putting my characters through too much pain! I'm going to be so much better at it after my collab with @wearingaberetinparis because she's an actual angst genius!

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Meh...I suppose if it makes sense, but I'd probably only bother with a language I know, otherwise, it would be quite tedious and out of place.

First fandom you wrote for? HP all the way! I haven't written or joined any other servers for other series/movies.

Favourite fic you have ever written? It's still DWOHT! LAYLOM and The Art of Identification are both up there though!

Tagging @abihastastybeans @call-me-the-cassie @jamesunderwater @ohmygodshesinsane @missgryffin

[raevenlywrites]

hi raev! I am considering coming out to my (very conservative) parents as polyam, and I was wondering if you had any tips for softening the blow or resources for being kicked out (I wanna be prepped for all outcomes)

thanks! you're one of my favorite blogs here on the hellsite! dftba!

This is pretty much exactly why I didn't come out to my parents about anything until after I'd turned 18 and moved out. I got lucky that my mom's reactions were pretty grandkid centric, so she was cool with whatever so long as I still liked boys and planned to marry one (I did not plan to, but she wasn't in a place to hear it yet). I basically just had to keep telling her, over and over again, that yes, this was my partner and this was also my partner, and they are also partners, and didn't you learn about triangles in kindergarten, mom?

Which is to say I basically got incredibly lucky to have parents that were super Christian but also weirdly chill so long as it didn't interfere with grandbabies.

So really, my advice to you is this: think about why it matters to you that your parents know. For me, it was because I wanted to be able to bring both my partners around for holidays. Holidays are a big deal in my family, so it was worth it to me to try to brave the mess of explaining it all. I didn't want to have to choose between seeing my SO's over holiday break or my family; I wanted to see everyone, so that meant explaining why everyone was staying over.

Some of my younger siblings might be able to chime in on this better. I was moved out by the time I came out, so I didn't have to deal with the fallout of living with my parents after I told them. Maybe it was awful and I just dodged it all by never being around. I really don't know.

But yeah. As much as it sucks to feel closeted, if there's no real reason to tell them other than you just want to, maybe consider if now is the right time. I was briefly homeless after coming out, because the aunt and uncle I was staying with for college kicked me out. It sucked, but at least I had a car to sleep in and friends with showers I could borrow. I wish I had something more optimistic to say than that, but you're right to consider you resources first. Always take care of your needs first.

When the time does come, only you know your family best. With my mom, I explained about being bi and polyam all at once, so it was kind of a packaged explanation. I love boys, I love girls, I love boys and girls all at once, more than one at a time. You taught me love isn't finite, because you can love all five of us kids at once. We're respectful of each other and practice safe sex and no mom we're not trying to get pregnant please stop asking.

YMMV, but that's my story. I hope it helped at all

[laurelindebear]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

I was tagged by @accidentallylita. Thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3?

Eight

What's your total AO3 word count?

125,203

What fandoms do you write for?

Dragon Age, The Mummyverse, Elder Scrolls, and D&D (just one fic for one of the games I played in though, not any established characters.)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Calligraphy

Wingman

Inquisitive

Pyramids

Last Flower

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, always! I'm not a prolific or well-known writer so I'm not inundated with interactions. I like to show my gratitude to everyone who takes the time to read and comment. It always makes my day!

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Last Flower. I wrote that to process everything I was feeling about that choice at the end of Dragon Age: Origins, and the difficulty I was having deciding what to do - what I felt my character would have done and what I might have done as a player had I not found out how things played out before I hit the end of the story. (At this point I have about three or four divergent timelines in my head, although I've only written for my, I guess, 'canon' universe.)

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings because I love fluff and happily ever afters as escapism, but I think I'd give it to my D&D fic, Que Sera, Seraglio: The Romance of Eydis Bjergdottir and Wadid al-Zaahir (yes the title is too long but I kinda did it on purpose to be silly. I couldn't think of anything good but I enjoyed the pun.) Someday I need to write some of the epilogues that I have in mind for the main characters and their kids (and potentially grandkids and great-grandkids).

Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far, no.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, a bit. It's all been quite vanilla erotica so far, and I think all the published stuff is F/M. I want to write a F/F fic at some point but I guess I haven't found the right ship to inspire me yet.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Not yet. I have had some ideas because, well, I'm wacky. The most concrete one was an idea I had years ago about the various Daedric and Tamrielic artifacts talking about what they've been up to since the last time they were all collected together. The Daedric dagger Mehrunes' Razor from the Elder Scrolls taking an interdimensional vacation to escape being a deadly weapon of the Prince of Destruction...only to end up in Thedas and become the Murder Knife.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. I haven't written enough for anyone to notice I think.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No (as above.)

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, although I'd be willing to have a go with some of my Mummy buddies! I've done a very small amount of RP fic writing in a private group.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Favorite ship I've written, probably Eydis and Wadid because they are my precious baby blorbos that exist specially for me and they are so cute (to me at least. It turns out when you write just for yourself, the story and characters can tick every box of things you like!)

Favorite ship overall, probably Rick/Evy or my OG, Eowyn/Faramir. My ships always seem very boring because a lot of them are canon and F/M. But the ones I've written myself have largely involved OCs (usually from RPGs) and I feel a bit weird like they don't 'count' as real ships since I don't know if anyone else would ship them. I am very normal-brained and do not overthink things (cough.)

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Can I say all of them? I looked in my folder and a lot of my ideas are so bare-bones I don't have anything written for them at all. I don't expect I'll ever finish my Dorian/Lavellan fic (never got around to doing that playthrough and never had more than one scene in my head), or any of the scraps I wrote for my smuggler in Star Wars the Old Republic (because I haven't played her in years and I didn't like some of the changes they made to the game and the characters.) I had some fun headcanons for her which I'm glad I thought of, but I don't think it will go further than that.

What are your writing strengths?

Probably dialogue, and I'd like to think humor. I love writing funny scenes, even if I'm the only one who finds them funny!

What are your writing weaknesses?

Plotting, action, overuse of adverbs and descriptive language (if you consider that a weakness, which I...don't, always. I don't want to be George Eliot or anything, but I don't want to be Hemingway either.) I don't know how good I am at characterisation. I also overthink everything and I'm pretty sure I always rush my endings because I get so desperate to actually finish a project.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I'm only dabbling in this at the moment because so far all my stuff has been purely in English, apart from the odd word or phrase. I enjoy it, but it turns out that even if you majored in French at university and won prizes and honors for it, twenty years of disuse means you remember almost nothing. 😑

First fandom you wrote for?

Technically I think it was X-Men, but that didn't go far at all and will never see the light of day (trust me, it's for the best.) First fandom I shared anything for was Dragon Age.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

Hhhng...honestly probably Que Sera, Seraglio because it's the longest (by a long shot - it's about half my total word count) and it's completely self-indulgent. I don't expect anyone else to read it because it would only be relevant to the people in my D&D group. I'm not even sure why I posted it, although there are parts of it I am proud of. But I loved writing it, even when I hated writing it, and I go back and reread it from time to time because I love it and it makes me happy. It's my story that I wrote for me, and I'm a very appreciative audience.

Apart from that, I think I'd say Pyramids, because I felt like I captured emotions and characters in it pretty well (and it was short so it did not involve months of me agonising and berating myself, which was nice!)

I think most of my fic-writing mutuals have been tagged already so I'll just tag @tishinada and any of my other followers who are interested!

[gracelesslady23]

helloo :)) i'm working on one of your fest prompts but i'd like to stay anon until the reveals for it to be a surprise.

i have a small question - you did not specify this in the prompt, and i have several ideas of my own that i could use, but i wanted to ask you anyway in case you had anything specific in mind that you're imagining and/or like reading.

in a setting where j/s are highschool sweethearts and date up until after the graduation, what would be their reasons for breaking up? i feel like it would have to be something big, i don't think the divide of sirius wanting to get out of the small town vs james wanting to stay close to his parents would be enough to force them apart, there would have to be something p major on top of that that went down and led to the breakup. it's just so hard for me to imagine something big enough to drive them apart like that after so many years together without involving something super major like a third person getting in the middle (whether it's romantic, like lily/remus or walburga/someone else stepping in and meddling w it on top of things that they were already having disagreements on), but i'm not sure if that's something you'd like.... i do think that at 18 they would probably be much more hotheaded and easily explosive than later when they reconnect in adulthood, but still, any of the usual "highschool sweethearts breakup" tropes just,,,, dont sit well with them for me bc i can't see them having that type of "classic" miscommunication, yknow?

anyway sorry for the rant 🙏🙏🙏 ill go now to actually get some writing done ehehehe

Hi!! Thanks so much for reaching out and especially for selecting my prompt! I cannot tell you how excited I am to get to read it!!

That is such an interesting question and I completely agree that something big would need to occur to have them break up and lose contact (in fact I completely agree with all your analysis teenage S&J being hotheaded and easily explosive – yes please!!). I’m going to preface my response by saying, both the ideas you’ve included here (Walburga interference or alternative romance coming on the scene) sound really good and I’d be so happy to see it go in either of those directions.

I’ve written below the cut the direction I would’ve taken it had I gotten around to writing it (instead of prompting it haha), but feel free to pick and choose on the bits that work for you, or ignore it, if none of it does 😊

Ok so the way I saw it going was that the wanting to stay vs wanting to leave divide was like a symptom of the bigger issues between them and the divergence in the lives they wanted to lead. On one side, James wants to get married and have a bunch of kids (probs saw himself adopting/using a surrogate once he got with Sirius) and he wants to do it young so his parents would still be around for those milestones and enjoy being grandparents to a gaggle of kids (even though E&F never put it on him, J was always aware that they wanted more kids than just him and for whatever reason (age, illness etc.) could only have the one, so he wants to give them grandkids). Whereas Sirius at 18, still screwed up by his own unhappy childhood/homelife, is not sure he ever wants to get married or have kids and he certainly doesn’t want it anytime soon, what he wants right now is to do big things and explore the world, not to be tied down, and even though he loves James, he is afraid that getting married etc will change things between them and he doesn’t want to become like his parents/older cousins etc. And still, I don’t think this would be a dealbreaker, but it would be a source of tension between them.

With Sirius leaving for the city after graduation, I can see them having a kind of “soft breakup” with every intention of getting back together, or deciding to do long distance. Either way, they spend the first several months being in constant contact via phone/text (depending on the era) and travelling back and forth on weekends to see each other. But with the distance, the divide between them only grows. Sirius is miserable without James, but he’s still hoping James will see the light and join him in the city, so he puts on a bit of a show: telling James about all the exciting things he’s doing, all the opportunities he has, how interesting his classes are, and the interesting people he is meeting/parties he’s attending. And James is jealous… he loves his parents’ and his town, but he is already bored out of his mind without Sirius, his small town job/tertiary education cannot keep him intellectually stimulated and he feels like he is missing out, and not only that, but for the first time he feels insecure about their relationship and worried that Sirius is growing out of him and might find someone more interesting/exciting to be with.

And so while things are getting really rocky, James accidentally getting Lily pregnant (I’d probably have them in the “soft breakup phase” before this happens, like planning to get back together after things calm down, but not officially together). Maybe Sirius is supposed to come home a certain weekend but can’t for whatever reason, so James gets blind drunk with Lily and they sleep together without protection and its done.

Sirius finds out and is absolutely heartbroken, but thinks that this is James getting everything he’s ever wanted (and everything Sirius couldn’t give him) so he doesn’t fight for their relationship and can't really stomach the thought of keeping in contact while James has a happy family with someone else. James devastated and racked with guilt about the whole thing, and when Sirius doesn’t fight for their relationship, James doesn’t feel like he can either because he feels that he’s betrayed Sirius and if Sirius doesn’t want to be with him or talk to him anymore its far enough.

Anyway as I said that’s just the direction I thought of taking it in. Apologies for how long this was, lol, I can never keep it short when it comes to S/J. Hope it was somewhat helpful, but as I said before feel free to take from that whatever inspiration works for you and discard anything that doesn’t 😊

Happy writing!! I am so excited to read it!!