#family relationships are complicated but things definitely got less strained post coming out and effort from both sides

[blossoms-phan]

you don’t have to post if it’s like something that’s not talked about but I don’t know much about dan and phil’s personal life or what they have shared and I was wondering if dan was raised by his grandma? just cause out of everyone in his family she’s the only one that he mentions with regularity and fondness

hi! it has been talked about before a lot in past years (i just fell down a rabbit hole of some peoples tags before answering this lol), and disclaimer- family relationships are complicated and nuanced, i don’t claim to know the specifics of dan’s relationship with his family other than what he’s told us. but generally speaking, dan talks about his grandma (maternal) most often and with fondness because he has a really strong bond with her, and though i don’t know if i would necessarily say he was raised by her solely, he definitely spent a lot of his childhood with her. dan has spoken about his parents not necessarily being very present/supportive when he was younger, which isn’t to say they weren’t there to like, be his parents but to my knowledge they both worked a lot and he’s talked about calling his grandma on the phone or going to her house after school and things like that. there’s a lot to unpack as far as dan’s family goes if im being so honest but dan definitely fits into that category of “oldest daughter/girls who were raised by their grandma”

[aniallstory-blog]

Chapter Twelve

I found it slightly ironic, but as soon as things seemed to be getting better between Niall and I (or at least as much better as they could get before we had the conversation we needed to have), the media and fans seemed to catch on that things hadn't been going well. It wasn't unusual for us to be in different countries, especially when Niall was as busy as he was so no one had thought much of it apparently until a few days before Niall was due home.

I was mindlessly scrolling through Snapchat, reading all the weird articles they have on there when one from some trashy magazine caught my eye. It was a picture of Niall looking quite worn down and tired and the article explained how an inside source had told them that Niall and I had a massive bust up over how busy he'd been lately. Apparently the strain of the distance was becoming to much and I was starting to stray. It was supposedly obvious due to how exhausted poor Niall seemed when he was caught leaving his house early the Saturday before. Little did they know that Niall was probably really just tired because he was up late having phone sex with me the night before after I’d seen him on the Tonight Show.

I rolled my eyes and closed the article, but my curiosity had been piqued. Niall's fans were top notch investigators. Whenever anything was going on his life, they figured it out and I began to wonder if they had caught on to the trouble we'd been having. The only people who knew about our situation were close friends and family who would never blab to fans or the press, but I knew both Niall and I had felt and looked very off when he left London a month ago and the fans had figured out less obvious things before.

Knowing I should know better, I opened Tumblr and began to dig. The first things I found were all quite tame. Some people enquiring to some of the more popular fan blogs about whether or not the people running them thought that our sullen behaviour meant our relationship was on the rocks, but most of those answers were quiet mature, stating simply that relationships are complicated and if we were having trouble it was our business and we'd figure it out ourselves. I should have just stopped there, but I dug deeper until I found what I'd been looking for, but hoped I wouldn't find.  

There was a section of the One Direction fan group that, putting a positive spin on things, defended the boys to the death. When they noticed that Niall seemed less than his usually perky self over the last month, they began speculating and came to the conclusion that it was all my fault. As soon as I saw that I really should have stopped reading, but I was in too deep and began reading all the horrible things they had to say about me. 

They called me every name under the sun, pointed out every single flaw I had, listed thousands of reasons why I wasn't and never would be good enough for Niall and even wished my death and said I should kill myself. It was nothing I hadn't seen before, but it still stung just like it always had. Knowing that there's a large number of girls in the world that absolutely despise you and would be happy if you died would probably damage even the strongest person's self esteem.

They didn't know anything about my relationship with Niall and they hadn't even come close to figuring out the reason that we were at odds, but I was already stressed enough about the state of our relationship and I was pms-ing so by the time I'd finished reading through the comments I felt defeated. I'd let them get under my skin and I instantly regretted it. I spent the whole day at work on edge, like everyone was judging me and even just walking down the street it felt like everyone's eyes were on me. It was ridiculous because most of the comments had been posted at least a week earlier and my life hadn’t changed in any way, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.

I wanted to call Niall, to tell him what I'd read and how I was feeling because I knew he would know just what to say to fix it like he had every other time, but he'd told me time and time again not to read stuff online so I felt silly running to him for comfort over such an avoidable thing. I couldn't stand being in the city surrounded by people though so late Thursday night I called Margie, faked an illness and took the next day off work. I got up early Friday morning and headed out of the city. A quiet few days in Holmes Chapel to regroup seemed like just what I needed before Niall got home on Monday.

-

It wasn't a long drive to Holmes Chapel, but with our issues back on my mind and the added stress of reading a list of my flaws the day before, it gave me far more time than I would have liked to be alone with my thoughts.  By the time I was half way there I'd thought my way almost into a panic attack when a sign caught my eye. It was simply a sign to take the next exit for Wolverhampton, but suddenly my mind was flooded with much happier thoughts and memories.

**

November 2016

“Niall, seriously, where are we going?” I asked for probably the millionth time.

“Patience is a virtue,” Niall chuckled as we turned down yet another random road.

I huffed and leaned on my elbow as I looked out the window, sulking that Niall hadn't broken to my pleading and given away our mysterious destination. It was our fourth anniversary and Niall had given me no indication of our plans. He told me to wear something nice, but not necessarily fancy and packed me into the car. We'd been driving for just over two hours already and our destination was no more clear to me. It was already dark due to the time of year which made my guessing even more difficult and Niall was definitely deliberately trying to confuse me by taking as many back roads as he could.

Even though the suspense was killing me, it was a nice evening. Niall had been working long days, some times even well into the night, trying to get some songs he liked for his album and the stress of not being successful in that endeavour had made him a bit cranky during the short amount of time we'd actually had together. I understood where he was coming from and tried my best to be supportive, but it was nice to finally have a night with no distractions when Niall had a smile on his face. There were times when we just chatted and caught up, times when we reminisced about all we'd done in the last four years, times when we cranked up the radio and sang loudly and dramatically and times when we just drove in silence enjoying each other's company. Even if Niall just ended up driving us back to our house I would have been completely satisfied.

He didn't though and after almost four hours of driving we arrived at our destination despite the fact that I still had no clue where we were. I got out of the car and looked around. It was practically pitch black where we were parked, but I could faintly make out the beginning of a trail.

“Niall, did you bring me out here to kill me?” I teased, pulling my jacket tighter around my body to keep out the cold air.

“Of course,” Niall rolled his eyes. “After four years I got sick of ya and decided to celebrate our anniversary by offin' ya in the woods.”

“I knew it,” I playfully pouted as he walked around the car and reached for my hand.

“Promise I won't hurt ya,” He smiled as he led me away from the car and towards the dark car. “M'surprised ya haven't figured out where we are yet.”

“The last sign I noticed was an exit for Wolverhampton so unless we're going to see Liam's parents then I have no idea where we are.”

Niall chuckled again, looking quite pleased with himself.

“Definitely not goin' ta see Liam's parents,” He assured me. “Can't believe I actually got ya here without ya figurin' it out, spent ages planning a route that wouldn't give it away.”

“You're so sneaky,” I smiled, my heart fluttering at the effort he put in to this evening. I quickly realized one flaw in his plan though as my heel sank into the muddy trail causing my foot to slip out when I tried to step again. “Shit, Niall, my shoe!”

I carefully balanced on one foot as he looked down to see what I was talking about. With a laugh at my distress, he bent down to pick it up before turning to his back was towards me.

“Get on,” He instructed. “I probably should have advised ya t’wear better shoes.”

I hesitated for a moment, but considering my missing shoe was now in Niall's hand I didn't have many options and hopped onto his back as gently as I could.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. “How far are we going? Am I hurting your knee?”

“Yer fine, love,” Niall insisted. “Not going too far and my knee is fine. Yer light as a feather.”

I giggled and rested my head on his shoulder as he walked down the path. I desperately peeled my eyes for something familiar, but it was too dark to see more than a few feet around us on either side so I quickly gave up, knowing I'd know soon enough.

-

After maybe fifteen minutes of walking, I saw something off in the distance. Twinkling little lights that as we got closer I realized were candles lighting a path. Niall stopped where the candles began and gently lowered me to the ground before squatting down to place my shoe on my foot.

“Know where we are yet?” I had a very vague idea in the back of my mind, but it seemed so odd that I simply shook my head. “Alright, well ya will soon.”

Niall put his hand back in mine and led me down the path between the candles. At the end of the path was a gate from which I saw a very familiar sight despite it being decorated with fairy lights and candles and a cute little table with two chairs.

“Are we at my aunt's house?” I asked, my earlier suspicions quickly confirmed. “Why're we here?”

Niall simply opened the gate and led me inside, but I did notice his hand feeling a bit clammier than it was before almost like he was nervous. He didn't say a word to me until we'd made it over to the patio where he moved so he was standing in front of me, next to the table.

“We're here because I thought the best place to do this would be the place that we shared our first kiss,” Niall explained and I felt my heart rate speed up as I caught on to what was about to happen. “The last four years that I've known ya have been the best four years of me life and not just because I've been living the dream and travellin' the world, but because I've done it all with you by me side.” I felt tears well up in my eyes as he looked at me with such love and adoration I could barely stand it. “You've inspired me when I needed a muse, you've motivated me when I was strugglin' and you've made me a better man by lovin' me like ya do. I don't know how I got so lucky or how I managed to keep ya around, but I'd really like t’keep ya around forever, so,” Pausing for a minute to carefully lower himself down onto one knee and pull a ring box out of his pocket, Niall looked up at me. “Avery Jane Seeley, will you marry me?”

He opened the box, revealing an absolutely gorgeous ring that couldn't have been better suited for me and a quiet, happy sob fell from my lips as the reality of the situation washed over me.

“Yes, yes!” I practically squealed, frantically nodding my head. “Of course!”

Niall beamed and quickly fumbled to slide the ring on my finger before standing up and pulling me into a hug.

“Just made me the happiest man in England, Ava,” He breathed out, sounding a bit choked up himself.

I quickly leaned back, keeping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips against his.

“And you made me the happiest girl in the world,” I told him as I pulled away from the kiss a few moments later. He smiled and pressed another brief kiss against my lips as a thought struck me. “Is my entire family watching us from Gemma's bedroom window?”

Niall chuckled, but nodded his head.

“Probably,” He admitted. “But that's the price I had to pay to get them to let me use this spot and they promised to leave us alone for a bit so would ya like some champagne before we officially tell them the good news?”

“That sounds perfect,” I grinned.

We spent the next hour all wrapped up in each other. Holding hands, sharing kisses over the table and planning our future together. Eventually we decided we'd made my family wait long enough and went inside to include them in our celebrations.

*

That night seemed like so long ago despite the fact that it had only been six months. The future then had seemed so bright and exciting and now it had lost a bit of it's shine. My reminiscing had been helpful though. Thinking back to that night and all the things we had discussed and words of love we shared, I knew Niall and I still both felt exactly the same way. I still loved him more than I ever imagined I'd love anyone and he still thought being with me made him the luckiest man in England. And no wedding delays or jealous fangirls on the internet could change that.

Niall and I would be just fine. We'd get through this like we got through everything else. Together.

[wilddragonflying]

Ryder Ask Meme

This was posted a while ago, thought I'd saved it to my drafts, but apparently not! Anyway this is based on a post I saw going around for the Ryder Appreciation Week, but since I never get anyone asking me those types of questions, I figured I'd go ahead and post this here lol 1)Does your Ryder like their father? Kara and Alec had a... complicated relationship. They loved each other, but their relationship got exponentially better the less time they spent around each other. Scott always said it was because they were too alike, which was certainly a possibility. 2)How does your Ryder feel about their sibling? Ryde-or-die(see what I did there?). Kara would do absolutely anything to keep Scott safe and happy, and the feeling is mutual - although Kara is in a better position to make a more dramatic gesture than Scott is, given her skill set. 3)If given the chance, do you think your Ryder would be a good Nexus Director? Hmm. Possibly, so long as she could delegate paperwork(she's managed to conveniently 'lose' all but the most essential paperwork that comes with being Pathfinder... Most of it just happened to be too close to the garbage dump); Kara is very much a no-nonsense person, doesn't like ass-kissing(doing or receiving), and cares more about what a person can achieve than what their past is. 4)What's your Ryder's favorite weapon? Definitely the Naladen rifle; while she's always been a good shot, Kara likes knowing that if she messes up a little, she's got that wiggle room with the explosive ammo. Plus it's always nice to be able to take out more than one enemy at a time, or hit an enemy that's hiding behind cover and flush them out. 5)What's your Ryder's fighting style/class Sniper all the way, though she has been known to use her biotic lance ability if enemies are closing, and if they manage to dodge that then she has a cryo gauntlet and an uncanny knack for hitting the hyoid. 6)Does your Ryder get along well with Tann, Addison, Kandros, or Kesh? HA. Okay, Kara does NOT get along with Tann or Addison. She gets along decently with Kandros, but she loves Kesh and Kesh loves her(for her ability to make Tann and Addison get identical constipated looks on their faces as well as for sending her reports about how her grandfather is doing). Tann is too much of an brown-noser for Kara's tastes, and Kara's too brash for both his and Addison's, so their relationship is strained at best. 7)Is your Ryder good at driving the Nomad? ... If you think 'frequently defying the laws of physics just because she can' is good driving, then yes. It took a bit of getting used to, and more than a little bit of screaming from Vetra and Jaal, but Ryder is now a decent driver overall, though she still has an unfortunate liking for driving on near-vertical cliff faces and driving the Nomad off of cliffs to make the drives shorter. Nobody likes when they need to get in the Nomad with Kara behind the wheel. 8)What is the one Pathfinder task that your Ryder hates? Reporting to Addison, hands down. Actually anything that requires her to speak to Tann or Addison for longer than five minutes. 9)What does your Ryder enjoy about being a Pathfinder? Discovery; there's a reason she chose to take on the jobs protecting archaeologists at Prothean digs. She never got the schooling to do it herself, but she's always liked seeing and doing new things. 10)How does your Ryder feel about the memories they unlocked? Conflicted; on the one hand, knowing that her mother is still alive was amazing, but then again, Alec hid that knowledge from her and Scott. He had his reasons, but that was their MOTHER. They should have been told, Kara feels. 11)Does your Ryder consider SAM a friend/sibling/...? Kara's relationship with SAM is... odd. She's not sure how to classify it, besides 'family.' She couldn't tell you more than that; SAM may be an AI, but he's human in a way the geth never were, and while sometimes he reminds her of Scott in his younger years, when he first discovered science was a thing, he's also got a calculating pragmatism that makes him seem more like a mentor figure. 12)What's your Ryder's favorite location in Andromeda? Meridian. Just the whole place; after all the shit she went through to find it and keep it from the Archon, she's developed quite the attachment. It's also the proof that they can do this, that they can build a new life in Andromeda and be better as a society than they were in the Milky Way, despite their rough start. 13)If your Ryder could give one gift to their LI, what would they give? Okay so in my head, Ryder romances both Vetra and Jaal(c'mon, Jaal is an Angara, who are shown to have huge families, and also have no previous interaction with humans. No way are they adhering to human notions of relationships), and for Vetra, she definitely saves up favors and credits to buy them their own little slice of Kadara, near the rock face where they had their climb-off(that Ryder lost). For Jaal, Ryder manages to get Gil and SAM to cooperate to build a connecting headset - one that links Jaal into SAM node, and when SAM brings up some of Kara's memories of her family, it's her way of introducing Jaal to her parents, one of whom he will never get to meet, and the other who might never wake up. 14)How does your Ryder feel about the fight between Kallo and Gil? Kara feels like they both had valid points, but that they were acting like children. In my head, she's a lot shorter and forces them to compromise a lot more rather than picking one or the other to lead the efforts in keeping the Tempest up to date(in game, she sided with Gil). 15)What does your Ryder think about Shepard? Okay, I never actually played the original trilogy myself(I have it on Origin, been meaning to play it but haven't gotten to), but Ryder kind of hero-worshipped Shepard, hearing about her struggles to save the galaxy. Kara still doesn't know for sure if the Milky Way survived the Reapers, but she admires the effort that Shepard clearly put into trying. 16)Does your Ryder like the other Pathfinders? Much more than she likes most of the Nexus Directors. She knows they all kind of got thrust into the role, just as she did, so she's a lot more lenient on them, but she doesn't make any secret of the fact that Pathfinding is fucking hard. 17)What si the one lesson your Ryder learned in Andromeda? Hope. Kara has always been a little cynical, but this whole ordeal with the Archon and the kett taught her to always, always hope. 18)What is the hardest thing your Ryder had to do in their life? Walk away from Scott to be the Pathfinder. It went against every instinct she had, leaving him there in the medbay, but she did it. 19)Does your Ryder like memes? She's amused by them, but isn't obsessive, not like Scott, the big dweeb. 20)Which song would represent your Ryder well? Ohhh that's tough.... Probably Hero by Skillet. The lyrics really encompass everything she's been through, not just in Andromeda but her whole life, to fight to make it to this point, and when you listen to the song, the almost desperate feeling that the music evokes fits how she feels once they hit Andromeda and everything goes tits up. But the lyrics go from the speaker saying they need a hero, to realize they ARE a hero, that they can be and need to be one, and then drawing on that and also asking for help from another hero, that's Kara. That's her struggle, from the moment she wakes up in SAM node after Habitat 7.