#did fiction

[ectobabble]

Washing Dishes

This is the first drabble of a few I wanted to post to see if people were interested. Please read Disclaimer. Fictional, based slightly on personal experiences. <3

Rated: T

Genres: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Neutral Ending

Characters: Kyle(mid), Mama Day(protector)

TW: Gaslighting, Broken Dishes

Summary: Kyle reflects on doing the chores and whether it really does help or not.

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There was seemingly no rhyme or reason to his mother being angry, but Kyle was always determined to find one, even if it meant internalizing her every little word. He knew he wasn’t perfect by any means, but he always tried. If he could just be better then maybe she could relax and the yelling would stop.

He always tried to do chores whenever he could and did his best to anticipate them. Being told to do the laundry or dishes was already a failure. Everything had to be done before it was noticed. Even then, even after weeks of doing the dishes, she still claimed she was the only one who did any work around the house. He had to do more. The schoolwork always got done somehow; he never remembered it, but he knew it was getting done. So there was no reason to worry, he had enough time to keep working.

However, if he did too much, he would be guilted for not acting his age and ‘being inside too much’. He had to be mature for his age but also the child that she wanted to coddle. At least that was what she said, his mother often listed times when he was ‘loved’ but there were far and few between and he had no memories of them. Dishes. There was only cooking, dishes, laundry, and sweeping that filled his head.

Be mature for your age, but not too mature or I’ll feel bad about it! A mocking voice would spit the words out. Bitter. She never acknowledges the dishes or laundry anyway. Why do them? The voice wasn’t mad at him, Kyle could feel that somehow. He could feel the vitriol it had towards his life, full of the experiences and memories Kyle was barred from.

Because they have to be done… It makes her happy. I know it does… She smiles sometimes.

It made him scared though that a part of him was resentful towards his mother. She often listed every little thing he’d done wrong, and the list was always growing; he was clearly the one in the wrong. If I could just be better then maybe she could relax and the pressure will go away.

Sometimes Kyle talked back to her, or rather that voice inside him would bubble out. It’d rise to the surface and blot out the control he had over his body, his words, his thoughts, and it’d stand up for him in ways Kyle couldn’t. He’d lose consciousness only to awaken hours, days, or months later with all his efforts ruined. Kyle didn’t know why it happened, but he always passively accepted the punishments he received after, much to the voice’s dismay.

It seemed to make his mother even more angry, how easily he accepted being reprimanded. She’d cite how he’d lost his spine and how he deserved what he was getting. Kyle understood but the other in his head did not.

For a while, he didn’t understand that time was being lost, he figured he was forgetful. One day it felt like the stars aligned and he could finally feel his meat and bones again. There was a pain in his chest; he was holding his breath. As he gasped for air, he took in his new surroundings, scared at how different his room had become and that the weather outside had changed. Maybe he had forgotten the last few months like he had forgotten to breathe.

Kyle looked down, seeing his schoolwork, pleased that he had proof he actually did it despite not recalling any of it. His stomach growled. Opening up the bottom drawer of his desk for his snack stash, something he kept to avoid going to the kitchen, he found it empty.

Kyle frowned. Maybe he had just forgotten again, but he thought he had filled it just that morning. No, the time and weather had changed… who knew the last time it was filled.

Another spat between his parents was happening downstairs, but he decided to risk it for some snacks.

Wait… Did I… Did I forget to do the dishes?! It had to be his fault. Is that why they’re arguing? Did I not do enough?!

No, it’s not. It’s about finances. Another voice argued.

He stood in his bedroom doorway, contemplating.

I cost money… Kyle countered back.

Solemnly making his way into the kitchen, where his mother was throwing dishes into the dishwasher, Kyle took in the sight. His mother spouted off one of her lists at his father and, upon seeing him, redirected the yelling to him. Another list of everything he’d done wrong.

A snack could wait.

A plate was smashed into the sink and broke, and his focus narrowed down to the task at hand. He could focus on the dishes, not the people.

If he just focused on the chores, then he could earn his keep. If he cleaned the dishes fast enough, then maybe she could go rest and stop yelling. If only his father would do something other than nothing, but Kyle was too small to argue like his parents.

“GET. OUT. I’M ALREADY DOING IT!” His mother screamed at him as he tried to pick up the broken dish.

Kyle jolted in place, terrified, but the feeling and memory were immediately wiped away. He’d wake up in another time and place where he could clean and once again try to make things right.

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If you got this far, thanks for reading. This is a vent-drabble, fictional and not to be taken as 100% accurate. None of these stories are alters of mine, they are OC so I can write freely. It does not describe what everyone's experiences are. If it does resonate though, then I am very glad. ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Have a great day and be well ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

[lancerfay]

Sunday Starfaring

The third chapter of Starfarer Stories is now live!

As usual here's the mood sketches of a character or two or three.

[skyrim-forever]

big plans tonight

[vulpinesaint]

quiz enjoyers! i am now inviting you to come create something in my workshop❕

[problemnyatic]

the steven universe hate is insane bc people are (or at least were) more upset that fictional war criminals got fictional hugs than they recognize that it singlehandedly advanced queer rep in children's media by lightyears and then straight up ate heavy retaliation for the nerve.

It does have real flaws that are worth discussing, but it also put their male protagonist in dresses and skirts and played it straight and even empowering, they aired a lesbian wedding on television, it was a genuinely queer, genuinely diverse piece of media through and through. It did a lot of real good for the real world.

But also the fictional characters caused fictional harm to other fictional characters, and didn't get an onscreen firing squad sentence. So, you know, it's basically ontologically evil in real life.

[reactionimagesdaily]

[fishymom-art]

2024 was the gayest year ever without it being actually gay

[theellipelli]

arent you gonna wake up sometime soon ?

[prodotsukare]

Sam w his tits out because i didn't post it anywhere else

[jackklinemybeloved]

I know this is obvious but I’m thinking about Evan’s shoes again and like. the boy who walks down the highway in Iowa in brand-less, beat-up sneakers. the first magical item he got for himself. was a pair of nice shoes that are resistant to environmental effects. no matter how sad and bare his life is, he’ll never have to walk with cold feet in shitty sneakers in the Midwest snow ever again.

[arithmonym]

delighted by the fact that this staff favorites table just holds all of the locked tomb books. emily, you’re a real one.

[tempo-takoyaki]

I forgot he had a birthday. Happy late birth little guy.

[tofixtheshadows]

Imagine being one of those sports RPF fans in the Challengers universe.

[marzipanandminutiae]

quotes by Victorians about the 1920s view of their generation's women

"We are frequently told that the Victorian woman...generally behaved like a pampered and neurotic infant. This is all moonshine. I do not think that I ever saw a woman faint before I came to London in 1869, and not often after then...they enjoyed a hearty laugh, and a good many of them a contest of wits with any man." -Nineteenth Century, a Monthly Review, 1927 (written by a man born in 1850)

"What queer ideas the girl of 1929 has about the Victorian period- they are not a bit true...Marriage was by no means the end and aim of our existence. Oxford and Cambridge claimed quite a few of us after school days were over. We had great ideas about 'life' and what it all might mean to us." -St. Petersburg Times, 1929 (written by a woman born in 1853)

"True, debutantes were chaperoned at balls. But that fact did not prevent them from dancing as frequently as they chose with their favorite partners. The idea that girls in the Victorian era spent their days sewing seams and practicing scales is another fallacy." -Gettysburg Times, July 1, 1927 (quote from the Dowager Lady Raglan, Ethel Jemima Somerset, who lived from 1857 to 1940)

[coffinwoodx]

couple of screenshots of kim’s wikipedia page that i felt so deeply in my soul

[choccy-milky]

bird in her gilded cage 💙🪽