#very sally albright of me i guess

[poemwithoutahero]

top 5 desserts 🧁

ice cream cake: i'm not sure whoever invented the ice cream cake knew how much of an impact it would have on me however-many-centuries later. i mean, come on—it's cake, but with ice cream. neither of these things are incredible just on their own—delicious, yes, but life-changing? nope. plus i have some nice memories attached to them (see: my 13th birthday and the chocolate-strawberry ice cream cake my mom surprised me with <3)

fudge brownies, but specifically the ones you can get from the cafe in my uni's library: my dependence on these (especially last semester god) should be studied actually. they not only give you the slice piping hot, they also melt lindt chocolate onto it! and it's the perfect amount of bitter cocoa and sweet milk chocolate too—good job [redacted] cafe.

gajar (carrot) halwa: i like this one a) because it reminds me a lot of home and b) because carrot-flavoured desserts get an unfair rep for no reason. it's sweet and rich, and when warmed up? absolutely wonderful. don't hate it 'till you try it

oreo-flavoured anything: i just like oreos

french hearts: a slightly unconventional choice, perhaps, but i love having these with tea! only at the bottom of this list because they need to have just the right amount of sweetness to be truly appealing

[citadelofswords]

"things you were afraid to say" with june and ben from aP! i don't know if they have a ship name :0

WOW this has been sitting in a word document for, like, two weeks

i don’t believe for like, a second that ben quigley, who wanted to get to know the planet before going into space, would just quit thinking about time travel and settle down with june without thinking about the consequences at least once a little ways down the line

(though, idk, they’re not my characters so ymmv. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

“There’s someone on the lawn, honey,” Ben says, trying to keep his voice steady.

June pauses, in the process of removing a roast beef from the oven. “Not Miss Albright?” she says, sounding perfectly neutral. Ben surreptitiously peeks out the blinds again.

“No,” he says. “Definitely not.”

“Well, then come away from the window,” June says, smoothing down her skirt. “It’ll only attract their attention more. And turn out the light in there, would you?”

“It won’t do much good if they already know we’re here,” Ben says, but does as he’s told.

June has turned their old oil lamp in the dining room down very low and is rummaging around in the drawer of the china cabinet for a box of matches. “It’ll be romantic,” she says, and Ben knows she’s trying to keep her voice light by the way it trembles on the word romantic. “Dinner by candlelight.”

Ben knows better than to disagree with June in this case. He moves into the kitchen and goes rummaging for a bottle of wine. “Red or white?” he calls.

“Red tonight, I think,” June replies. “I think we’re both going to need it.”

Ben laughs and pulls the ’43 he’s been saving for a day just like this. As he makes to turn the lights off, he catches June in the process of lighting the candles on the table, humming quietly to herself as she does so.

They’ve been doing this for three years now, living as off the radar as they can given their ties to ODAR, turning all the lights out and ignoring the outside world when someone appears on their lawn to spy on them. Neither of them has exhibited symptoms of butterfly syndrome yet, to Petra and Sally’s immense relief. June often says it’s because she thinks that it’s because June never travelled through time herself and Ben hasn’t left yet. (The yet is always an afterthought, a word weighed down with grief and anger and the inevitability of their lives.)

There’s a lot Ben needs to think about and plan and do, but right now he’s standing in a dining room watching the woman he loves (and he’s not afraid to think that anymore) lay out place settings for dinner, and he knows that if he could freeze time and live in this moment forever he’d do it in a second.

June straightens and admires her work with a small smile, and then looks at him. The way she looks at him, like she’s always amazed and delighted to see him, will never fail to make Ben’s heart lurch the way it had when they first met outside that gas station on 66. “Well?” she says. “You gonna stand there and look pretty or are you gonna come eat?”

Ben shakes his head and smiles. “Eat, please,” he says, and brings the bottle of wine to the table.

They spend most of dinner in silence. Ben is toying with the words in his head and ends up running his fingers around the edge of his wine glass for a solid three minutes before June looks up from where she’s cutting herself a third helping of roast. “More wine?” she asks him.

“Not yet,” he says. “I— there’s something I want to say first.”

June puts down the knife and stares at him over the table. “All right,” she says. “You look nervous.”

“I’m terrified,” he admits. “I— we both know this can’t go on forever, not if we want time to stay right.”

The smile slides off of June’s face immediately. “Don’t you go saying that, Ben Quigley,” she says fiercely. “You promised—,”

“I’ve seen pictures of the two of us from ’43,” Ben says, “and I’m not looking anything like that right now. We got time, Junebug, and plenty of it. And I—,” He stops, and he looks down at his plate.

June’s voice is softer when she speaks again. “Ben…”

“June, it’s been my genuine pleasure to fall in love with you,” Ben says, in a rush. “And I was wondering if… if maybe I’d be lucky enough to be married to you twice.”

June stares at him, mouth slightly open. “Are you proposing?” she asks him. “Over the dinner table? On a Thursday?”

Ben chuckles. “Well, I guess I am,” he says. “I know I’m not doing it quite right, but my knees are still a little sore from the gardening yesterday, and I don’t have a ring—,”

“I do,” June interrupts. “It’s your mother’s. You gave it to me in 1943.”

Ben stares at her. “Oh, goodness,” he says, faintly. “I hope there aren’t two of them floating around now.”

“Well, you drove all the way back home to get it for me,” June says, “or so you told me, so we might be all right.”

“That’s all right then, but I notice that you never gave me an answer.” Ben says.

June blinks, and it’s only then that he realizes her eyes are glassy. “Oh, no, honey, don’t cry,” he says desperately. “Please don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and rubs at her eyes with the back of her hand, the way she does when they’re alone together and she doesn’t feel the need to use a handkerchief like the other neighborhood ladies do. “It’s just, you died on me, and I was grieving for so long. I never dreamed that we’d get a second go at this. I never dreamed I’d see you again, let alone get to have you back.”

Ben reaches across the table and June immediately takes his hands and squeezes tight. “If ODAR wants to take you from me again,” she says fiercely, “they will have to kill me first.”

“Please let’s not talk about either of us dying,” Ben says. “It’s inevitable even if we hadn’t experienced time travel. And I would prefer maybe to have a life with you first.”

June nods. And then she nods and nods and nods and the tears are properly rolling down her face now but there’s a brilliant smile spreading across it and she says, “Yes, Ben, yes, yes, I’ll marry you.”

In an instant Ben is up and around the table and swept June up in his arms. He’s still never kissed her, which seems like a serious oversight on his part, but even as he has the thought June has taken his face between her hands and kissed him on the mouth and ohhhhhhh boy was not kissing her before a serious oversight on his part.

She pulls away suddenly, staring at him with bright eyes and a wicked smile on her face. “Next time you ask me,” she says, “if you don’t get down on one knee I’m going to say no.”

Ben laughs and hugs her tighter. “I will expect nothing less, honey,” he says.

There is probably still someone lurking out on their front lawn, but for this moment, hanging in time, away from everything else, that shadow is a problem for another day.

[shirlynmerlin]

About Me

Clearly, I’m getting all the personal quizzes I’ve been tagged in lately out of the way this morning...

Tagged by: @honeydoodles Rules: Answer the questions and tag 10 blogs you’d like to know better.

Star sign: Scorpio


Height: 5'6 and 3/4″, thank you very much!

Time right now: 9:28 a.m. EST

Last thing googled:
 Pretty Woman cast

Favorite music artist(s): Aw man...Maroon 5, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, etc.


Last TV show watched: The Royals, actually


What am I wearing right now: my tan and brown horizontal striped sweater dress with cranberry stockings and brown flats


When did I create my blog: My e-mail would tell me exactly, but I’m going to guess 2010.

What kind of stuff do I post: Harry Potter things and political opinions, mostly. Then random family stuff or funny things.


Do I have any other blogs: A have a couple of Bloggers, and a Twitter account.

Do I get asks regularly: Not at all. But I love answering the ones on @dramioneasks 


Why did I choose my URL: Merlin for Harry Potter and magic, Shirlyn is my name. They rhyme...How convenient.

Gender: F


Pokemon Team: none


Favorite color: right now it’s pink


Hours of sleep: My Fitbit could tell you right now. But I’d say I average about 6-7.


Lucky number: 7, I think...I don’t put much stock into it.

Favorite character(s): UM, WHERE DO I START!??! Matthew Crawley of Downton Abbey, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice, Draco Malfoy of fanfiction, Hermione Granger of Harry Potter, Sally Albright of When Harry Met Sally...shall I continue...?


How many blankets I sleep with: one sheet, one blanket, sometimes two if I can’t get my feet to warm

Dream job(s): “dude, don’t ask me this thing” I agree with Abigail on this one. But...I guess if I could do ANYTHING, I would want to be a critic, I think...But that’s a hard living.

I’m tagging my 10 newest followers (and assorted others): @mrbenzedrine89, @slythergriff, @lucygodwinyates, @gumwouldbperfection, @ladybear92, @gadgetplace100, @profoundlybigmentality, @uwidinh, @anidot90, @charlotte-bird