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I’m doing the Reading Meme one day early this week, as tomorrow is the last day of the year and therefore the day for the Year In Review.

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

I am freeeeeeeee of my vow to read Christmas books for Advent, and therefore… accidentally read one more book with Christmas in… Marilyn Kluger’s Country Kitchens Remembered: A Memoir with Favorite Family Recipes, about the farm kitchens she remembers from her childhood during the Depression, not only her own family’s but her grandparents on both sides. Like any good farm kitchen memoir, the book documents the different foods of each season, which means of course a Christmas chapter, but also chapters about the new peas of spring, the corn on the cob fresh cut from the stalk literally minutes before lunch, the frost-nipped persimmons brought in during the Thanksgiving grouse hunt… Good eating and good reading.

But then! Then I truly broke free with Ngaio Marsh’s Spinsters in Jeopardy! Set in summer in the south of France, Inspector Alleyn and his lady wife Troy co-star in a mystery featuring a drug racket run by an erotic murder cult. You know I love a cult! Also featuring their six-year-old son Ricky, a surprisingly well-observed child. A shocking number of writers of adult fiction couldn’t write a convincing kid to save their life.

And I also slipped in my December Unread Bookshelf book by the skin of my teeth: E. Nesbit’s The Phoenix and the Carpet. I got this soon after I read Five Children and It, then it languished for so many years that I forgot why I was putting it off, but as I read it I remembered: I find these children so stressful! They are forever doing things like “setting off firecrackers inside the house,” which is how they set fire to the old nursery carpet which results in the bringing in of the magic carpet.

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve started Rumer Godden’s Thus Far and Now Farther, which so far is what I expected Elizabeth and her German Garden to be: a charming memoir about a woman in an isolated location with her children, her governess, and her vast army of underpriced labor making a charming garden.

What I Plan to Read Next

No plans! Only vibes! Okay, actually I do have plans, but I am contemplating if I ought to jettison them in favor of vibes. Maybe 2026 should be the Year of Vibe Reading? I have been trying to come up with a good New Year's Resolution...

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: enthralled

lilly_c posting in

writethisfanfic

It's time to sign up for the January WIP challenge! Some people join the challenge mid month, or comment on check-in posts without signing up, which is fine -- I'm glad there's a way for the challenge to be useful in a variety of ways. For those of you who find the commitment of signing up useful, please leave a comment with the below information.

Sign-ups will be open until the end of January.

Level of challenge:

Fandom(s) involved:

What you're looking for from the challenge:

What you could offer other participants yourself:

How people should contact you:

Time zone:

Copypaste below:

The post for hosting the daily check-in is here and thanks to everyone who helps out with this. If you're interested in helping out and there are still slots available the post remains open until the last week of the month and we generally run our week Sunday to Saturday, I'm happy to chat via PM on DW for anyone who might need it.

If you have ever completed a fic through this challenge we have a collection on AO3 and on SquidgeWorld both collections are open and unmoderated. Should there be an issue with adding a work, let me know and I'll see if there's a fix for it.

lilly_c posting in

writethisfanfic

I'm on holiday from the 14th to the 21st and won't be around during weeks two and three.

Week 1: 4th to 10th
Week 2: 11th to 17th
Week 3: 18th to 24th
Week 4: 25th to 31st=

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cool. It spit snow a bit yesterday but didn't amount to anything.

I fed the birds. There was a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches perched in the forest garden waiting to be fed. :D

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/30/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/30/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

squidgestatus

As of right now, 11:53am on Tuesday, December 30th, 2025 SquidgeWorld Archive is back up and running! If you see any oddities, please don't hesitate to let us know.

For transparency, here's basically what happened:

The server had a hard disk corruption that had to be corrected

Corrections were made, but there was an internal database that contained further corruption. The internal database was replaced with a backup so that the "redis" server (software that is required for SqWA to run) would come back up as well

With all corruption errors addressed, the system processed the data chunks like it normally does when it comes up.

We should be good to go from here on out. This does make a redeployment of SqWA a higher priority. We're in the beginning stages of this. More information will come about when we're ready to go.

anghraine

I've been happily chewing on TOS for the last, uh, several months over on Tumblr (still laughing at myself that all I needed to finally get fannishly obsessed with ST was watch the first season ever; even the first few episodes aired at all were really enough to ensnare me, though it was actually the distinctly flawed S3 that made me completely obsessed, while J and I are currently at S6 of TNG in our ST marathon of ultimate destiny, and it's been a ... messier experience, let's say #justicefordeannatroi). But I've wanted to post more over here and I was lured by a meme from

shadaras (and now, several others on my f-list!).

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? Use one fic per line. ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'A' and 'T.' Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count!

My rough rules for myself: fics posted (even as WIPs) got precedence over fics that I've titled but have only posted in scraps or not at all, and fics that represent some particular significance for me took precedence over those that might be better or more complete but not as prominent in my own mind (if none fit that, I generally favored complete over WIPs).

A - Anomaly

Austen: canon-compliant Darcy/Elizabeth fic about Darcy being demi/grey-ace (complete).

B - Beneath a Pale Moonlight

Legend of Korra: AU in which the old theory that Amon/Noatak and Tarrlok were actually working together in S1 is (or rather, will be) true, but their pre-Amon backstory is the same; the fic is a one-shot about how that alliance could have been struck pre-S1 (complete).

C - climb a mountain and turn around

The Borgias: Modern USA AU in which they're not a crime family, just cutthroats in the publishing industry; the broader AU is abandoned, but I did finish the one-shot dealing with the fracturing relationship between wannabe novelist failson Juan Borgia and his overachieving twin sister Lucrezia (complete; there are some hints at the canon Cesare/Lucrezia incest, but it's mostly focused on Juan and Lucrezia).

D - Distaff Lines

Star Wars: fic about relationships among the Skywalker women, though it only got to Shmi Skywalker and Beru Whitesun (WIP).

E - The Edge of Darkness

Legend of Korra: AU ft. f!Tarrlok, but centered on Noatak/Amon and his relationship with his sister (the specific fic linked, dealing with their dynamic until Noatak's escape, is complete, but the series it belongs to is a WIP).

F - First Impressions

Austen: m!Elizabeth/f!Darcy re-telling of P&P (complete).

G - the gift of men

Tolkien (book only): Eldarion/OFC one-shot and canon-compliant sequel to LOTR, focused on the young Eldarion and his politically-motivated, but affectionate-turned-loving marriage to Faramir and Éowyn's younger daughter, who dies of old age long before he becomes king (complete; features an assortment of Fourth Age headcanons).

H - her earnest desire of being loved

Austen: brief, canon-compliant one-shot/P&P sequel about the first baby steps in the relationship between Elizabeth and Georgiana as sisters-in-law (complete).

I - in tongues and quiet sighs

Star Wars: Rogue One AU in which Jyn and Cassian live and are together, but centered on the relationship between Leia and Cassian and the undercurrents involving their more or less shared language; it was an attempt to take the "Space Spanish" trope that at the time was applied without differentiation to almost any character played by/adjacent to a Latine actor, and make it fraught and messy rather than blandly eroticized and often rather racist (complete, one-shot within a wider WIP universe).

J - The Jedi and the Sith Lord

Star Wars: the third of the main Lucy Skywalker fics (my long f!Luke AU), but the first to explore drastic long-term consequences; I felt it was pretty evident that Darth Vader's daughter would be a considerably harder sell than a son, given ... uh, everything about the OT Empire, so the immediate test from ESB is less urgent for Vader than capturing and turning her to the Dark Side before Palpatine writes her off altogether, and this is the fic about Lucy's captivity as experienced both by Lucy and Anakin, and the effects on both and their relationship (the fic is complete, the series is not).

K - kiss away everything I'd planned

Legend of Korra: an Amorra (Amon/Korra) side-story in an AU in which Korra is the Avatar in the iceberg, but she's broken out by siblings Tarrlok and Noatak decades "late" (compared to Aang). Azula is Fire Lord at this point in addition to many other changes, but this one is just a small side-story about Korra and Noatak's romance after all three flee Yakone into the blizzard (this one-shot is complete, the larger fic very much is not).

L - Love, Pride & Delicacy

Austen: a P&P femslash Darcy/Elizabeth AU that is not the direct re-telling of P&P that First Impressions was going for, but considering what I think are likely consequences of the change in their actual social context, with the RL homophobia and gender roles etc etc (it also includes racebending, insofar as it doesn't assume the Fitzwilliams must be 100% white). Catherine Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet have barely met in person, though Elizabeth has already gotten an earful from Wickham, but it follows the initial changes following from Darcy's absence in Hertfordshire as well as their romance (WIP I'll actually continue).

M - Man of Sorrows

Star Wars: AU of Revenge of the Sith in which Anakin dies in the Battle of Coruscant, but persists as a Force-ghost still very much prone to attachment (as complete as it will ever be, if fairly ephemeral).

N - The Natural Daughter of Somebody

Austen: technically canon-compliant prequel in which the common fanon that Darcy's father had an illegitimate child near in age to him is true, but the child is not Wickham; it's Mrs Gardiner, here an oblivious young girl visiting Pemberley (as she mentioned in P&P that she had previously) and having a chance encounter she doesn't fully understand with Mr Darcy's glamorous half-sister, who is fully aware of the connection (complete).

O - One More Tomorrow

Legend of Korra: the sequel to The Edge of Darkness, the f!Tarrlok & Noatak sibling drama fic above. Like the first, it focuses heavily on Noatak, now shifting into the Amon identity and projecting his sibling baggage onto his non-bending "brothers and sisters" he recruits as followers, only to be confronted with the reality of his actual sister he abandoned to their abusive father's mercies years earlier when she arrives in Republic City as the new, ambitious councilwoman representing the Northern Water Tribe (WIP that I'll definitely return to, halted after Amon captures Taraka and strips her bending).

P - per ardua ad astra

Star Wars: a Rogue One Jyn/Cassian AU in which Jyn, Cassian, and Bodhi escape Scarif (+ Jyn seizing Kaytoo's head) in their Imperial shuttle, with Cassian still very severely injured, only for the shuttle to get caught in the Death Star's tractor beam. Jyn exploits the Imperial paraphernalia and an established false identity of Cassian's as an Imperial captain, as well as his very real injuries, to pass herself off as an Imperial aide-de-camp desperately trying to escape the Rebel attack with the only people she managed to save. She's resourceful enough to squeak them past security in that guise, and Bodhi enough to disappear into the influx of stormtroopers brought onboard, while Cassian recovers enough to step into his own role, forcing all three to scrape by undercover on the Death Star and infiltrate actual Imperial social groups as the ANH plot plays out, including the destruction of Alderaan (WIP, though a long one with some major points of tension resolved; they've just reached Yavin 4).

Q - The Quality of Mercy

Star Wars: an old ROTJ sequel that aggressively rejects everything outside the PT and OT, particularly what I've always found the strange, underbaked treatment of Force Ghost!Anakin and Luke as an embodiment of PT Jedi dogmatism, but ended up having some odd similarities to the sequels—it ostensibly centers on Han and Leia's younger daughter, Padmé Organa, a steady young Jedi on good terms with her entire family, but the real ghost haunting the story is her difficult, brilliant, restless older sister Lyra, who has become increasingly more of a merciless, self-righteous zealot as a Jedi while also increasingly fixated on her Skywalker ancestry, alarming not only Padmé, her parents, and Luke, but also Anakin himself (complete in itself, though the larger universe it's part of never got anywhere near as filled out as I'd envisioned: news at eleven).

R - Revenge of the Jedi

Star Wars: also very old, an AU of Return of the Jedi inspired by some discarded earlier concepts like Luke's twin being a new character, a more gradual redemption for Anakin entangled with his evolving relationship with Luke, and Leia gathering and taking up leadership of the remaining Alderaanians, but also weaving in material from the PT even though it's of course drastically AU: Padmé still exists as Leia's mother, for instance, and her death was still pivotal for Anakin, but they were platonic best friends and she was reciprocally in love with Bail Organa (complete in an unresolved sense: I had planned a sequel that I never wrote and had some side fics I never finished, and a lot of the ideas for it actually got funneled into the Lucyverse later, but Revenge itself was meant to work on its own even if it doesn't wrap up the OT plot).

S - Since We Were Children

Matchmaker: a canon-compliant one-shot about the initial friendship between Francesca Haughston (then Lady Francesca Fitzalan), her brother Dominic, and their much more prestigious and wealthy neighbor, Sinclair Lilles, the future Duke of Rochford (the friendship is a canon detail from Candace Camp's Matchmaker series of Regency romances). I believe this may be the only fic I've written where mine remains the sole fic for the fandom; the quartet has four romances, but the real attraction is the one that develops along its strange, winding route through the whole series and its backstory, the love story of Francesca and Rochford. We meet them as two hypercompetent 30-somethings: childhood friends turned youthful sweethearts turned estranged former betrotheds turned friends still transparently deeply in love as beautiful fashionista widow Francesca Haughston, who conceals her ongoing financial straits via "gifts" she receives from the grateful parents of youths she expertly shepherds and matchmakes for (she's the matchmaker of the title), and Sinclair now the discreet, virtuous, scholarly, and immeasurably reliable Duke of Rochford. Camp, unfortunately, rarely trusts in the strength of her own characters to carry the interest of the story rather than melodrama, which unfortunately infects the quartet finale centered on them, but there's still a deeply compelling quality about their dynamic that got me interested in imagining how it all began (complete).

T - To Live Forever

Eddings: a 2.7k canon-compliant one-shot sequel to the Belgariad/Malloreon (and my sole Yuletide fic) that's essentially a guided tour through the post-Malloreon world as seen by a later Angarak scholar traveling through Maragor etc, as she looks for proof of the historicity of canon figures like Garion, Polgara, Belgarath and so on, while it becomes increasingly clear that she has a deeper agenda for seeking them out (complete).

U - until the last chance is spent

Star Wars: this is another Lucyverse fic, a one-shot set early in The Imperial Menace (after the destruction of the Death Star), but really all about Rogue One and how their sacrifices fit into the psychological space of this AU and into the relationship between Lucy and Leia in particular. I actually waited to see Rogue One before I decided if I was going to try and accommodate it in the Lucyverse, but it was such an ideal OT prequel for me that I promptly decided HELL YEAH and vented my RO feelings here (complete).

V - the voices of the sea

Tolkien: this is a 1.8k one-shot from one of my (multiple >_>) f!Faramir AUs, the one in which the Númenórean throwbacks of LOTR are all genderbent. In this one, Míriel (Faramir) discovers Boromir's death as a follow-up to an earlier one-shot centered on Aranor's (Aragorn's) grief after finding him dying. Míriel is, of course, no warrior and wouldn't be camped at night on the Anduin or any other body of water, but I still wanted to figure out a way for the mystical vision to occur and make sense as something carried via water, so instead had the idea of her vision of Númenor's destruction ft. Tar-Míriel being the appropriately watery conduit for the vision of Boromir's death (complete).

W - whatever we deny or embrace

Star Wars: unusually, this is a Tumblr link, because I have yet to figure out how to shift the older version to the revised version on AO3, but in any case, it goes to the last section of my Jyn/Cassian femslash AU (with links to the previous ones), ft. some Baze/Chirrut and Luke/Bodhi (the premise is that the entirety of the Rogue One main cast is queer in some way, ranging from lesbian Cassia to grey-ace gay Bodhi). Unusually for a multi-chapter loving genderbent fic of mine, it's complete!

X - x machina*

Star Trek: this requires more explanation (issuefic of ultimate destiny!), but the asterisk is there because it's not actually posted and I've only written the earliest section (though outlined a lot), so it's very much "in the works" and I wasn't sure it quite counted for the spirit of the meme. But: it was basically inspired by how deeply annoying I find the "how could you possibly think TOS Kirk is anything but (binary) transmasc lol top surgery" Tumblr/AO3 thing, when I think binary trans man is easily the least probable trans reading of a character who we're told was, at age 13, one of nine boys/men to survive and witness a genocide; who argues onscreen that gender difference isn't actually real, but who actively leans into pretty explicitly feminine roles and makes them work where he's viscerally repulsed by comparable masculine ones (e.g., his revulsion from the role of strong masculine ideal father-figure in "Charlie X" vs manufacturing motherhood in "The Changeling," Helen's coolly unsentimental sexy dude Lothario fantasy of him in "Dagger of the Mind" as a violation of the real Kirk vs his actively sultry, calculated Lauren Bacall-type femme fatale flirtations to escape trouble in too many episodes to count); and who literally ends up in a woman's body (played by a very good actress—the only actor to really capture Shatner's Kirk), proceeding to argue while in that body and deliberately dressed and made up in femme-androgynous style (for 1969) that everything that defines him as a unique individual can be contained in that body. Despite all this and copious evidence that the 23rd-century Federation hasn't progressed as far with bigotry around gender and sexuality as the show tries to suggest it has with other bigotries, transfem Kirk is vanishingly rare in the fandom and nb!Kirk of any kind is barely more common, even via the obviously available sci-fi tropes/mechanisms. But binary defined-exclusively-by-masculinity Kirk is everywhereeeee (including among the crowd who describe anything Kirk does around gender as "butch" including declaring himself a mom but seem like they'd crumble into dust before suggesting he could be transfem for real). ANYWAY, I decided to be the change I want to see rather than just complaining, and write the "Turnabout Intruder" AU of my dreams in which Kirk and Spock (who is very much the "I am not a man" Spock) do succeed in running away hand-in-hand, Kirk is navigating being stuck in the body of his abusive ex yet also mysteriously more comfortable with it in some ways (helped by promptly dying his hair, wearing contacts, and changing his make-up to cover their trail), the Kirk-Uhura brotp is front and center, and realizing Janice-as-Kirk may well have poisoned the well at Starfleet, Spock instead manages to surreptitiously reach out to the VSA about the bodyswap machine and get Kirk sanctuary on Vulcan in the interim (the AU assumes no convenient time-out on the effect with Kirk and Janice light-years apart; instead they just get some minor though intriguing-to-the-VSA effects on their DNA). The title, of course, is a reference to the deus ex machina trope, but also to the literal bodyswap machine that serves as a deus ex machina for both Kirk's and Janice's gender treks in their different ways despite all the fuckery involved (let's just say that Janice isn't waxing their chest any time soon while Kirk is basically "I'm whatever gender gets me the Enterprise back and couldn't care less what pronouns make it happen").

Y - Yours, Et Cetera

Austen: this is an epistolary side-fic to First Impressions, my m!Elizabeth/f!Darcy retelling of P&P listed above, because my earliest phase of structuring First Impressions involved just writing the letters for that universe and I'd had an idea of actually finishing all the letters happening in the background as a separate fic (though entirely consistent with it). I never actually finished them, though I had fun enough with what's there, so it's a forever unfinished hiatus piece at 3k.

Z - zone of omission*

BG3: this is the f/f/f/ fic I nicknamed "the worst OT3": cleric of Mystra!Tav/f!Gale/Mystra, inspired about equally by a wise post from my friend venndaai about how every BG3 companion would be a bit better if genderbent (goth priest m!Shadowheart, dashing Blade of Frontiers f!Wyll, etc) that hit especially hard for Gale (middle-aged ambitious lady wizard nerd with the allure and talent to attract Mystra herself and all the f/f drama there, a compelling mix of real kindness and little moral fiber, and a need to chew down magic boots to keep the world from exploding? <3) + the intrinsic hilarity of cleric of Mystra/Gale + the wildly suggestive way a cleric of Mystra can talk about Mystra herself in emphatic agreement with early Gale. The title is a pun on the cleric spell "zone of truth" because all three people involved (Larissa, Gaila, Mystra) have a strong habit of lies of omission that aren't exaaaactly false, but. This is one I've talked about and posted a few scraps for, but it's still far too primordial for AO3 or anything like that, so I wasn't sure about "counting" it.

And that's every letter, for 24/26 or 26/26, depending on how you count them :D BEHOLD MY STUFF

We won't talk about how long this meme has been in my drafts, lol, so I think most people I'd ordinarily tag have already done it. If you've gotten far enough to see this and haven't done it, though, consider yourself tagged!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: This Is Who You Are (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

ysabetwordsmith

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills "The Last Command" square in my 1-1-24 card for the Public Domain Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. This is the third poem in the series Crystal Wood; it follows "Trees of Glass" and "Ghost Forests."

Warning: This poem is dark science fiction along the lines of ecological horror.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

1. Hello, Carolyn: My stepdaughter won’t allow me to see her children, 6 and 8. I bent over backward for 11 years trying to be supportive and generous to her and then her children, but she acts entitled and ungrateful. Last summer I blew it and told her off. That was the end of my loving relationship with her and the grandkids I adore.

I know it is largely my fault for not speaking up sooner on how I would like to be treated. My husband, a dear, won’t get involved in trying to repair the relationship. Of course, I have apologized to his daughter for being so harsh. Please help.

— Anonymous

( Read more... )

****

2. DEAR ABBY: My son died of cancer at 33. It was heartbreaking. My daughter-in-law, "Belinda," had grown distant before his death, and although they had a son through artificial insemination, I have almost never seen him. I helped with the weeding in my son's yard, but any time I came, Belinda always had the baby at the park or someplace else.

Now that my son is gone, she won't answer any phone calls or texts. We do have some contact with her family. They have asked her why she won't contact us, and she has no explanation. My theory is that Belinda was uncomfortable sharing our son, and it has transferred to the grandchildren. I say "grandchildren" because she used his sperm to have another child. We found out by accident that a baby girl was born. We were never notified. While I doubt this plays a big part in this, Belinda is bipolar.

As it stands, I no longer make an effort to have a relationship with my grandchildren. They are so young, and I anticipate difficulty in pursuing grandparents' rights because of their ages and their mother's attitude toward us. This is painful, as they are the only part of my son that remains. I feel helpless and have pretty much blocked out the fact that I have grandchildren. Do you have any advice? -- BLOCKED IN OHIO

( Read more... )

***

3. Dear Annie: My daughter, 31, left home at 19 to attend university. Within weeks, she began dating a boy she'd met through the school's Facebook group. Coming from our cultural background, we weren't comfortable with relationships outside marriage, but after two years, she moved in with him, mostly on her terms. They lived together for six years, bought a house, got a dog, eventually married and, two and a half years later, had my precious granddaughter.

My daughter has always dominated her marriage. Everything has to be on her terms. She's intelligent, determined and successful, but also bossy, pushy and demanding. Outwardly she can be sweet, but behind closed doors she often belittled her husband, and his laid-back nature just let her have her way.

About a year and a half ago, while I was babysitting, my daughter suddenly announced she no longer loved her husband and wanted to separate. I was shocked, but she bulldozed through the conversation and didn't let me say a word. Deep down, I was sure another man was involved. Within six months, the house was sold, assets divided and custody arranged, with little thought to the impact on their young daughter. My daughter was also left with the dog, which my son-in-law wanted no part of anymore.

It's been nearly a year since the split. My daughter appears to have a new partner, though she won't confirm it, only dropping hints to "familiarize" us with this new relationship, while her not-yet-ex-husband has turned to online dating. My granddaughter now splits time between them.

At her father's house, she still sees her other grandparents weekly. But with us, my daughter controls every visit and barely lets us into her life. We went from caring for our granddaughter regularly to limited contact with her and only when my daughter is present. She uses her daughter as leverage, essentially saying to us, "Accept my choices or lose contact."

Being around her feels like walking on eggshells. If I disagree, I'm met with silence, manipulation or explosive behavior. I cry every night, heartbroken over what feels like losing a limb. I feel for my son-in-law, who I believe was wronged, and I ache for my granddaughter, torn between two homes and two very different upbringings. Most of all, I am at a loss for how to move forward.

Deep down, my instincts tell me this new relationship won't last, but I don't know how to stand by my values and still hold on to my only grandchild. How can I stay in her life without surrendering completely to my daughter's demands? -- Heartbroken Grandmother

( Read more... )

*********

4. Dear Prudence,

“Sean” is my son’s former stepson. He married Sean’s mom when Sean was 6, and the same year my granddaughter was born. They got divorced when Sean was 12. Sean is 15 now. My husband and I have bent over backwards trying to stay in touch with Sean after the divorce. We called, texted, and sent gifts. We live out of state, so seeing both our grandchildren is hard.

Sean rarely responds to any calls, and his mother will not even tell us if he likes the gifts we send him, let alone make him say thank you. My son just shrugs and says that is the nature of divorce, and we are setting ourselves up for failure.

This breaks our hearts because we did our best to embrace Sean as our grandchild. He is still in our will with our other grandchildren. My husband thinks that we should stop trying so hard and step back. Sean is old enough to be able to decide if he wants a relationship with us or not. It isn’t like his mom monitors his phone, and Sean is always “busy” when we visit. He thinks we need to rewrite our will and take Sean out. I understand going through another divorce is hard, but Sean has even cut off his cousins, and those boys were as thick as thieves. What should we do? Wait? Push? Stepback? The divorce was mutual, as far as we know.

—Sean Doesn’t Say

( Read more... )

****

5. Dear Care and Feeding,

I gave birth to a baby girl a few weeks ago, and my mom has been coming to help for a full day once a week. She’s wonderful with my newborn: She changes diapers like a pro, she is great at getting her to stop crying, and she is respectful of rules that were different from when she had her kids (like the fact that babies are supposed to sleep on their backs, without blankets and stuffed animals in the crib). It’s a dream grandparent setup, really! Except for one thing. My problem is what she brings with her every time she comes over.

Every time Grandma arrives, she’s toting a box of stuff from my childhood. When we first got home from the hospital, she brought toys from when I was a toddler. Last week, it was art from the 4th grade. This week, it was photo albums from when I was a baby, and a bunch of my baby blankets. When I suggested gently that the albums of baby photos would be better off remaining at her house, she said she’d think about it.

Well, an hour later, she said, “I thought about it, and I worry that if I don’t bring them here to you, you’ll never see them again.” Which to me sounded like a threat! But the next thing she said was, “You look so tired, go take a nap,” as she removed my screaming daughter from my arms. So it’s not like I was in a position to argue.

My mother is in good health and lives alone in the four-bedroom house she raised my brother and me in. We live in a very small home with comically limited closet space (thanks, housing crisis). I can’t keep up with all the stuff she brings over. But I very much want to stay on as good of terms as humanly possible with her. So what do I do?

—Boxed In

( Read more... )

rekishi

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

maju

23. When was the last time you felt lucky? When my real estate agent told me he could arrange someone to clear out the house and do a thorough cleaning after I'd moved out.

24. When did you first realize that life is short? Many times over the last couple of years.
25. What is the most insensitive thing a person can do? Being insensitive can vary depending on the people involved and the situation, so it's pretty much impossible to say that one particular piece of insensitivity is the most insensitive possible.

26. What can someone do to grab your attention? Bump into me.

27. What do you usually think about on your drive home from work? I don't have a job to drive to or from. I don't remember what I used to think about when I did.

28. What’s one downside of the modern day world? The fact that someone like Trump was able to get himself elected as the president of the US.

29. What simple fact do you wish more people understood? Words have consequences.

30. If you could do it all over again, would you change anything? There are things I wish had happened differently, but who's to say that my changing anything would have led to better outcomes?

thistleingrey

1. In fairness to Professor Mallory, The Origins of the Irish (2013) seems well written, well researched, and well considered. I'm at 19% in epub (notes and other back matter begin at 76%), and though I don't love his handling of Niall as a hypothetical line in the sand for when people in Ireland are "Irish," he carries it through sensibly. Perhaps the IE/PIE project (2025) was merely the wrong shape and scope at the time he tackled it. He was emeritus already by 2013, and Irish has the cadences of prose built up partly from lecture material. If we may turn an archaeologist's lens briefly upon the archaeologist, simple logistics suggest that he wouldn't have had the same chances to workshop the IE/PIE material in updated form before writing up.

That said, I've zero plans to try reading In Search of the Irish Dreamtime (2016), the monograph published between them, which Mallory intended as part two to Irish. One reasonable-sounding book is plenty as rehabilitation.

2. Because the Taproot Video collective will sunset as of 31 Mar 2026, I've acquired a copy of Annie MacHale's Three-Color Pickup For Inkle Weavers (selfpub, 2021). I understand just enough to follow along, though not to implement. MacHale's explanations are straightforward, and she includes clear illustrations of the effects she describes, with examples of variations.

(Taproot's website doesn't admit to its imminent shutdown, which seems irresponsible. They've sent an email to their past customers.)

squidgestatus

Currently, SquidgeWorld.org is down due to disk corruption. We're running some processes to clean up the corruption. Hope to have things up and running within the next couple of hours.

goodbyebird posting in

spankulert

01-04 stranger things
05-08 good trouble
09-15 wheel of time
16-16 babylon 5
17-25 comics
26-28 pluribus
29-41 interview with the vampire

( I am the rest you have been longing for. )

Current Music: Shannon Lay - I See the Moon

yourlibrarian posting in

tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

Are there shows that you’ve noticed have had a revival on social media or fan spaces in the last few years? Are there any you're glad to see coming back?

greghousesgf

Not much going on here. I think I will spend New Year's Eve going to Jack London for dinner (poss. Everett & Jones?) and then go to my favorite Irish pub for drinks and live music.

Current Music: Steppenwolf

lydamorehouse

I really appreciated all the lovely stories that people provided for me yesterday. They really, honestly cheered me up tremendously. THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH.

There were a couple of things going on yesterday, not the least of which was ther prospect of having to work the snow emergency under the new conditions. You all may not be at all surprised to discover that I have "quiet quit," in part because the job became even more unreasonable than it already was.

For those of you just tuning in, the tl;dr is that I previously enjoyed being a "tagger" (the person who gave out parking tickets during a snow emergency) for the City of Saint Paul due to the independent nature of the job. The job changed this year and now the only option is to be an assistant to a retired/reserve police officer as a kind of ride along. Many things, including ACAB, that I no longer could even imagine enjoying, since the largest part of my appreciation of the previous work was, in fact, the autonomy.

Yesterday, things got exponentially worse.

Because I spent much of last season also feeling dread over a job I ended up enjoying, I was determined to attempt to go on at least one shift this year to be absolutely sure that I did, in fact, actually despise it. So, when the call came out yesterday, I BRAVELY answered.

So the initial email offered these shifts, (though they would not guarantee work):

St Paul has DECLARED A SNOW EMERGENCY and runners are needed.
This is a call for ALL Shifts:
- Monday (12/29 NIGHT - 8pm - 5am)
- Tuesday (12/30 DAY - 7am - 5pm)
- Tuesday (12/30 NIGHT - 8pm - 5am)
- Wednesday (12/12 DAY - 7am - 5pm)

Yeah, these are terrible hours. The shift is ten hours, but this was also nothing new. These were the hours I worked last year and I was surprised by how fast the time actually went when you were out and about. So, okay, I wrote back and said I could do the day shift today (you may note I am writing this TODAY.)

The first hassle was waiting to find out if I actually snagged a shift. The email was very clear that I should not show up to work unless I got a notification telling me where and when to show up. Both of these interoggative pronouns confused me a bit since the WHEN was very clearly stated above among my choices and where else would I show up other than the Public Works building in Saint Paul? But, okay, I understood the assignment: wait and see what I was offered before making definite plans to work the next day.

And so I waited.

And waited.

The previous year, this is was much more straight-forward. Regardless of when the text went out (though it was guaranteed to come out by 3 pm the day that the emergency was called), once we agreed to a shift it was ours. You could make plans, pack up a lunch, etc., etc. well in advance.

It was 6:30 pm the night before an early morning shift that I got the following message:

You are scheduled for:
- Tuesday DAY (12/30 - 06:00 - 18:00)

I had to read the message three time before calling Shawn upstairs to also double-check my math. 6 am to 6 pm??? That's a TWELVE hour shift, y'all. Also, NOT AT ALL WHAT WAS INITIALLY OFFERED.

So, with Shawn's seal of approval, I told them absolutely no fucking way. Only, I just used two letters: "n" and "o." And, I was moderately polite about it. I believe my actual response was, "I can not work a twelve hour shift. If that means you need to choose someone else, so be it."

Like, y'all? I was actually perfectly willing to consider ten (possibly horrific) hours in a car with a cop (or, more likely outside in the freezing conditions of the streets of Saint Paul, MInnesota--it is 17 F/-3 C today--with a cop harrassing me to hurry up.) But twleve hours feels vaguely unconstitutional, you know? Especially since at the informational meeting I attended regarding the changes in this job, I asked, "So, you're talking a lot about how fast you want to do this job. I'm a woman who is nearly 60 years old. You will make time for me to go to the bathroom, right?" I got a look like, OMG a woman is speaking and an answer that was, and I quote, "This is why we go to the bathroom before our work." To which, I said, "Sir, we are talking about a ten hour shift and a 60 year old bladder." This didn't didn't even get a laugh. They were dead serious that they weren't willing to give me the breaks that are, in fact, guaranteed by Minnesota Labor Law.

So ... (again, possibly not in a surprise to anyone) ACAB and Fuck Saint Paul.

starryeyedknight posting in

little_details

Hello! I’ve got a rather niche one particularly for Arabic speakers/historians - my writing is set in the medieval crusading period, where European/Catholic individuals would often use expressions of annoyance/surprise/exasperation that are largely religious-based, such as ‘oh sweet Christ’, 'dear God', ‘Christ’s bones’, ‘Saint Jude’s eyes’ etc etc. (One can then make as crude as you like while focusing a lot around divine/saintly body parts!).

I also have a few Levantine Arab Christian characters with mixed Arab/European heritage and I'm wondering if the above sort of religious-based swearing might have been used also in the Levant (particularly if they've taken some verbal influence from their European father), or if would come across as jarring to use these more western-associated idioms in a Middle Eastern setting?

Also: I've done some research around Arabic idioms already, but it would also be great to hear of any Arabic phrases (either in Arabic or transliterated) of annoyance or surprise similar to 'oh Christ' or 'for God's sake' that might be used? (I know ‘ya Allah’ is one such phrase but I’m trying to diversify) Similarly, any other recommendations of non-religious exclamations (of the ‘damn, bugger, blast’ varieties) would be very helpful!

Current Mood: chipper

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: geeky

verushka70

Joanne Currie and Regina Keim posted a new due South Convivial Pursuit quiz to the private Facebook Due South Duet: Fraser/Kowalski Slash group. The new Convivial Pursuit quiz is based on the Christmas episodes Gift of the Wheelman and Good For The Soul. (Episode links courtesy of Anna's due South episode transcripts site, https://nicede.se/dstranscripts/.)

nialla

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nialla

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yarnandglue

Today's nails! This is "Sugar Plum" by Revlon in the Top Speed line, released c.2010.

This is another color that (based on old review photos I found here and also here) that appears to have faded from mostly pink to mostly brown over time. I have a Sally Hansen from the late 90s that's called "Raspberry" but is today more of a brick color. I actually prefer the rich, complex colors these pinks become as they fade! The shimmer is still pink-purple, even as the base is more of a brown-purple, and the result reminds me of the interesting halo effects you can get combining a regular yarn with a different colored laceweight mohair.

oursin

Firstly:

So, farewell then, PSC, whose advice to the sexually-bothered (rather than the lovelorn) has so oft provided fodder to oursinial musings. Guardian G2 today includes 23 of the best Sexual Healing columns

Not sure if they are The Greatest Hits rather than molto tipico of the kind of thing she addressed: in particular we note (as she stresses in the interview about the lessons learnt over 10 years of agony-aunting):

The female orgasm is still a mystery to some people
I’m still getting questions that show me people continue to think that the only “correct” type of female orgasm is one that’s purely vaginal and doesn’t involve the clitoris. For people to still think that, or to have that as the ideal, is extraordinary, but there it is. They just haven’t had the education to understand otherwise.

There is a waterspout off Portland Bill (where Marie Stopes' ashes were scattered). Volumes of the Kinsey Report on the Human Female are spontaneously falling off library shelves. The shade of Shere Hite is gibbering and wailing.

We also note the recurrent MenZ B Terribly Poor Stuff theme, what with the one who appears to regard his wife's bisexuality as a USP meaning *3SOMES* and two or three where one feels she did not interrogate sufficiently whether the male querent was actually gratifying his female partner before offering reassurance/solution e.g. 'My stunning wife makes no effort with our sex life' where we should like to know precisely what effort he is putting in, ahem.

However, there are also some of the wilder shores there.

***

Secondly, and could we have a big AWWWW for this: David Attenborough seeks out London’s hidden wildlife:

Filming the wildlife of London requires an intrepid, agile presenter, willing to lie on damp grass after dark to encounter hedgehogs, scale heights to hold a peregrine falcon chick, and stake out a Tottenham allotment to get within touching distance of wary wild foxes.
Step forward Sir David Attenborough, who spent his 100th summer seeking out the hidden nature of his home city for an unusually personal and intimate BBC documentary.

larryhammer

So Eaglet gave me a book, Dad Jokes by A. Grambs,* and I am annoyed. Not at the giving — it’s a perfect gift. Eaglet knows me well.

I am annoyed at the book itself.

People, this is not a good joke book. Weak wheezers, forced puns, tenuous connections, so many barely worthy of Uncle Benjamin from The Blue Castle. All too many pages evoke not even a single groan, only ugh — or in Eaglet’s idiom, a flat bruh. In fact, to compare we pulled out Eaglet’s own book, Laugh Out Loud Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott, and opening either at random, the kids’ entries are better in every way.

I feel cheated, and disrespected as a dad. 1/5 do not recommend. (Not 0 only because there are a couple pages with something groan-worthy.)

* Copyright is by Alison Grambs.

---L.

Subject quote from In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel.

prettygoodword

whipcord (HWIP-kawrd, WIP-kawrd) - n., a thin tough cord made of braided or twisted hemp or catgut, sometimes used for the lashes of whips; a cotton or worsted fabric with a distinct diagonal rib.

The very end of a whip being the part that cracks by breaking the sound barrier during a sudden reversal of direction, and so needs to be strongest -- in many whips, the lash is designed to be replaceable when it wears out, as it will long before the rest of the whip. I'm unclear how the fabric (which is woven with a steep-angled twill with even thicker ridges than gabardine) came to be called that, possibly for either its durability or a resemblance to a whipcord's ridges.

---L.

letzan

High-level stats for week of 2025-12-16 - 2025-12-22

Total works categorized F/F on AO3: 10204 (+298 from last week)

Works I classified F/F: 5679 (+237 from last week) (2577 new, 3102 continued)

0.58% of all 971326 AO3 works I've classified F/F were updated this week

A few callouts this week:

Alien Stage returns, replacing The Amazing Digital Circus.
There's a Sapphic Stories 2025 prompt meme open through the end of the year, so think fast if that's something you'd like to jump on.
As expected, a number of winter-holiday-themed exchanges revealed this week.
For F/F content, your best bet is, of course, Yuletide 2025, with 141 works across a variety of fandoms.
Other holiday exchanges: The Worst Witchmas Exchange 2025 revealed with 27 F/F works. For fans who read German, the female-character-focused *innendienst Tatort exchange revealed with 11 F/F works. And the Tokusatsu exchange Another Toku Holiday Special (2025) revealed with 23 F/F works.

( Full top-20 table and description of methodology after the jump )

james_davis_nicoll

Allowed Burglar Drake Maijstral is stalked by a mysterious foe.

Rock of Ages (Drake Maijstral, volume 3) by Walter Jon Williams

scifirenegade

Bringing you this, a "documentary"/"interview" with Asta Nielsen in 1968! Everything is in quotes because it's very clear with all those multiple cameras it's staged. But it was nice seeing her hanging out at her catholic-chique home (with her gay boytoy? I think that's her gay boytoy), reminiscing about how awesome she was. No fake humility, she knows she's awesome and loves listening to compliments.

I dunno, it's just nice that we got reports of people who worked on film way back in the silent days. We have interview footage of Alice Guy, pioneer woman filmmaker! Pretty sure there's a radio interview with Musidora somewhere (wouldn't be able to experience it, blah French)!

Current Mood: geeky

luzula

Becoming a Supple Leopard: the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury and optimizing athletic performance by Kelly Starrett (2015)
This book has changed my life. I know I sound like I'm doing a paid promotion or like someone who's joined some weird cult, and I know the book has kind of a silly title, but it's true. My mind is blown.

The thing is, I've had problems with stiffness and muscle ache for years. I've been trying to deal with it by exercise and stretching, but while exercise is obviously good for a whole host of reasons, it doesn't solve the problem of stiffness/muscle ache. And stretching doesn't do much, either. I've also gone to a massage therapist, which does partly help, but it's temporary and also costs a lot of money. And while the guy is much better in the practical application of massage than others I've gone to, and I like him, still I'm reluctant to keep going to him because he does do some things with a large application of force and I doubt his medical judgment (to say the least). In the last few years he has begun to spout conspiracy theories about vaccines and only drinks warm water because, as a man, he needs the yang energy.

Anyway, I figured the stiffness and muscle ache was just middle age and at bottom I just had to suck it up. Turns out THERE ARE EFFECTIVE TOOLS TO ADDRESS THIS THAT I NEVER KNEW ABOUT! Also they're cheap and I can apply them myself! I honestly feel like someone prone to headaches who has just, at the age of 46, discovered the existence of painkillers. But better, because this isn't a drug.

( Read more... )

selenak

Darth Real Life is still on my heels, but:

Katabasis - R.F. Kuang

Two different and both clever and sensitive explorations of what the aftermath of the novel might have been like for Alice and Peter:

The Next Step

The Raven's Paradox

The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle

In that clear unpeopled space: the Unicorn's long way to her forest. Has the poetry, the beauty and the character growth of the book.

Lord of the Flies - Willliam Golding

I Remember (Don't Worry) : in which Ralph encounters Jack years post novel. Disturbing in the way the book is, yet with some glimpse of hope.

Penny Dreadful

mimics the lampllight's struggle with the dawn: After a night of victory, Vanessa and Hecate, separately, search for their footing. Missing scene from the second season's finale, with both women and Malcolm expertly drawn.

The Radiant Emperor Series - Shelley Parker-Chan

The Calligraphy of Disgrace: in which we get another take on these novels' entertainingly screwed up soulmates relationship, with an AU twist.

Frederician Historical Fiction

Five times Amalie saw Luise, and one time Luisa saw Amalie: in which the "Five Things" format is expertly used to portray the relationship between the Melanie Wilkes of the Hohenzollern court and her sharp-tongued sister-in-law.

Courting the Chamberlain : in which we find out how Frederick the Great's lover got married to the resourceful Caroline Daum.

The Ring of the Nibelung - Wagner

Loyalty only to me: Hagen learns many lessons from his father over the years.

Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh

Again two different takes on a novel's aftermath, the first focused on Magnus, the other on Avi, which also doubles a great take on his development across several timelines.

Some Desperate Hope

Salvation from falling into the sea of misguidances

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Location: Bad Wiessee

linaewen posting in

writethisfanfic

Hello on Tuesday! How are things going in the world of fic?

Did you write?

- Yes!
- No!
- Not yet!

If yes, what kind of writerly activity did you engage in? How do you feel about it?
If no, what were the obstacles/situations that affected your writerly pursuits? What will you do differently tomorrow to get more writing done?
If not yet, because the day hasn't gotten going yet, what kind of writing activity are you planning (or hoping) to accomplish?

vriddy

That's it!! I think I've exorcised the worst of the fandom fever with this one. It combines a lot of happy images (I don't care if it's all tell-don't-show until the kissing begins, it's telling nice things!! XD). It makes me happy to make them happy, too. The previous angsty fic didn't come out easily, with a new-to-me (well, new-to-the-entire-fandom really 😆) PoV that didn't make it any easier. This one was only hard to edit because of all the happy noises I made rereading :D

And I'm finally able to hear my abandoned kn8 fic making sad kaijuu meeps again, phew. While K-9 is very most certainly in my top fandoms at the moment (and I'm looking forward to requesting it in

candyheartsex in 2 days :D) (and also offer it, but, well, I also know how to keep my expectations in check for a fandom in which members can be counted on one hand XD) (wow totally got lost in my parenthesises here) ANYWAY I CAN ALSO THINK OF OTHER PROJECTS wooohoo who knew there were other things going on out there?!

Housewarming | K-9 | Fujimaru Jin/Hizuki Ren/Kagari Yukito/Oboro Yuushirou | 2.4k words | rated T

Summary: They didn't originally intend to move into the basement together.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

smallhobbit

Final list of the year. 8 books finished this month, bringing my total for the year to 82 - 7 above my goal.

Firstly, I continued to read for the Goodreads Challenges. Here my intention is simply to broaden my reading, but only choose something which specifically interests me, so I'm never going to complete all the sections within a challenge. For the Fall Challenge I achieved 5 out of 12, the first three being simply to read books over the months.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Short books category. I'm really glad I read this - it crops up every so often. The correspondence between the young American lady and the English bookseller is great and very entertaining. Thoroughly recommended to anyone looking for a short read.

The Cat who Saved the Library by Sosuke Natsukawa
Cosies category, cat sub-section. I do like a good cat book and for me this worked better than some of the others I've read this year. While the human characters have the main part, the cat has their own role to play. This is the second in the series and the first is now on my list for next year.

( Fall Challenge )

After which came all my Christmas reads:

Murder in Wintertime: Classic Crime Stories edited by Cecily Gayford
The last few books in this series haven't been as good, but this year I really enjoyed the selection.

Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Written in 1948, I found this disappointing. Normally when reading a mystery I will speed up towards the end, but this time I didn't. And to me the solution was poor and unconvincing.

The Winter Spirits: Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights edited by Bridget Collins
I'm not always a fan of spooky stories, but these I really enjoyed. Our library has the book from the previous year, so that's also on my list.

Murder for Christmas edited by Thomas Godfrey
Lots of classic short stories. Some of which I'd read at least a couple of times before (good ones) and several I didn't know. An excellent collection.

Death Comes at Christmas edited by C.L. Taylor
A modern collection of short stories which on the whole I enjoyed. Published last year, so worth looking out for.

Death in Ambush by Susan Gilruth
This year's British Library Crime Classics Christmas mystery. I normally treat myself to this for Christmas, but wasn't impressed. Too many boring domestic details, a narrator too sure of herself (think early Hastings) and bizarre behaviour from the police detective.

( Annual challenge )

For completeness, I'm also including the two audiobooks I've recently finished:

The Murder of Mr Ma by SJ Rozan and John Shen Yen Nee read by Daniel York Loh
Set in 1920s London amongst the Chinese community, I eventually enjoyed the book. It will not surprise regular readers of my posts that Lao, the narrator, annoyed me considerably.

The Four Deadly Seasons by David Hewson read by Richard Armitage
The third book in Hewson's Venetian Mysteries series. The premise is that there's an until now undiscovered autobiography by Vivaldi. The ramifications are both convoluted and deadly. I've stopped listening to a number of books Armitage narrates, since I haven't been enjoying them, but this is one series I do enjoy and get caught up in the story.

kalloway

Is there anyone around who does Fanlore stuff that would mind editing a factually incorrect statement on my page and fixing a link? I'd do it myself but that's probably a guideline/etiquette breach.

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: giddy

badly_knitted posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: Fading Memories
Fandom: The Fantastic Journey
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Varian, Gwenith, Jonathan.
Rating: PG
Setting: After the series.
Summary: All Varian has left of Gwenith are his memories of her, and already they’re beginning to fade.
Word Count: 300
Content Notes: Nada.
Written For: Challenge 501: Amnesty 83, using Challenge 144: Memory.
Disclaimer: I don’t own The Fantastic Journey, or the characters. They belong to their creators.
A/N: Triple drabble.

( Fading Memories... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

silver_trails posting in

dragon_clikrs

Clicks, please?

My scroll: https://dragcave.net/user/malena24

themis1 posting in

girlmeetstrouble

!!!Content warning for violence and threats of rape!!!

Chapter 8: ( Read more... )

Comment: Viv is in a very tough spot, but does her best to arm herself and think of a way to escape. The villains are extremely one-dimensional ...

Chapter 9: ( Read more... )

Comment: A really nasty chapter – despite all Viv’s efforts, she only manages to slightly wound the men. I'm guessing help is on the doorstep!

Current Location: office
Current Music: None