mariahrozzie

[mariahrozzie]

Mother's Day

Tessa character study ficlet.

Tessa and her family, a century apart.

(Gen, canon Jessa, canon Wessa references. Tessa, Mina, Kit, James, Lucy)

Notes: Hello! I'm not dead. Still here. Please enjoy this brief fic.

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The moments between waking and sleep were always the most disconcerting when memories and sensations were hazy, fragmented and too often blurring together. 

Arms cradling around her waist, warmth at her back, a masculine protective presence hovering that she could burrow into, with fleeting kisses gracing the nape of her neck. 

Most often it was the gentle rumble of Jem’s voice leaning over her as they both woke to Mina’s soft but insistent crying on the baby monitor, offering to bring her in so Tessa could feed her. His graceful dip down to kiss her forehead, an almost wistful look in his eyes as he rose out of their bed. 

But sometimes, it was the soft, warm Welsh lilt and sharp nose pressing into her neck as Will whispered, Tess, Tess, my Tessa and other endearments she’d later ask him to translate. A rough chuckle at the knocks at the door, one usually loud and insistent, and another steady but unyielding. Will’s eyes twinkling and a mock-sadness as he announced there might be some unexpected guests visiting that evening. 

Occasionally at times, there were slightly deeper voices, rough and ready, or cultured and refined that drifted upwards like smoke in her mind. Bedfellows she had turned to in the lonely half-century without either of her anchors. Empty beds that she had filled, out of desperation when the loneliness became too much and she ached to feel connection outside her spellbooks and the scholarly, silent halls of the Spiral Labyrinthe. 

Most days, she could live with these ghosts. Half-remembered and emerging like long-lost flotsam on the tide of memory. 

What was harder was a giggle of a certain timbre she sometimes imagined in the hallways of Cirenworth, long after she knew Mina was asleep. The furtive footstep of a teenage body inching through the halls, not knowing he wasn’t as subtle as he thought he was being. 

When she was half-asleep and cradling Mina to her, she could feel them press in close - the shape of Mina’s nose called to mind the tiny button she and Will had cooed over when they first held James between them, or when chubby fingers grasped her hand fiercely when she tried to let go, and a familiar scrunch of a face into a scowl that was just as easily transformed into a smile as her daughter (daughters?) watched their mother relent and continue to rock her to sleep. Or when the slumped shoulders of Kit watching Jem over the chessboard called to mind another keen-eyed look from golden eyes, or when Kit chewed on the end of a pen doing his homework, and she resisted the urge to tell him that he’d get ink on his teeth from the quill if he wasn’t careful.

She wanted to call out sometimes, to these ghosts. Nothing like Jessamine’s haunting of the London Institute, but spectres of her own making. 

They weren’t new ones though but ones long honed a half-century of being unwillingly drawn in by glimpses of little girls with ribboned hair skipping up and down on the pavement, or triggered by the pushed-up, spectacled grimace of sullen teens on trains or in dusty public libraries as they retreated from the world into books. 

She tried not to stare. Tried to ignore the instinct to respond when a yell of Mum! echoed and remained unanswered. 

“Humans are not meant to live this long, to forget and yet remember it all,” she had whispered to Magnus, one cold, rainy evening in Paris. He gave her a sideways glance out of his cat-shaped eyes and gulped down the last of his whiskey. “Good thing we’re not human then.” But his voice had been kind and she’d woken up to the warmth of the blanket he’d gently placed over her after she fell asleep in an armchair, an empty bottle of Bordeaux at her feet. 

She wondered sometimes, if having a family meant it was harder or easier to contend with the idea of neverending life as a warlock. 

This particular morning, Tessa was still cocooned in her duvet, eyes shut against an increasingly bright glow from the south-facing window, and the buzz of insects on a breezy May morning. She could hear whispering on the landing outside her room this morning, and- 

“Shhh, James don’t go in yet! It’s not yet ready.”

A barely heard scoff - “Luce, we have to go in before it melts, otherwise what’s the point?”

“Min-Min, don’t worry, I got this” - but the note of hesitation in Kit’s voice is clear, as if he’s blustering and pretending. An almost reassuring coo and burble from Mina, and Kit’s voice steadies. “Yeah, you’re right. How hard can it be?” 

A knock on the door. 

A knock on the door. 

A century apart - 

“Come in,” Tessa says, sitting up, and smoothing out the blankets. 

“Happy Mother’s Day!” say all her children, and Tessa smiles.

[mariahrozzie]

Literal definition of spyware:

Also From Microsoft’s own FAQ: "Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. 🤡

[mariahrozzie]

To put it very bluntly.

You will always make a better impact helping people who need it than trying to hurt people you think deserve it.

[mariahrozzie]

just bc the "are you from the US or somewhere else?" polls got me thinking about it and i'm curious. reblog for sample sizeeeeeeee

[mariahrozzie]

Doing more than one? Choose whichever you found the most helpful. ❤️

[mariahrozzie]

As a former librarian, the whole "don't pirate books, you are taking money authors need to feed their starving children, just borrow from the library instead :) " makes me angry.

Because e-book prices for libraries are insanely high. Like I've heard the jokey meme about how "if libraries were proposed today, they would be condemned as some socialist infringing on intellectual property rights."

Well, the rights for libraries to lend out paper books were negotiated almost a century ago in most western countries, while the rights for libraries to lend out e-books and digital audiobooks were negotiated during the present neoliberal era where corporations are very powerful. And It fucking shows.

The prices for libraries to buy e-books are insane, and that's not even counting the circulation fees. And the books are frequently restricted by licensing to a certain small number of loans per book, after which the e-book is destroyed and the library has to buy a new one to the exorbitant prices the publishers give.

Like the advice about how piracy is some great evil cutting into author's profits and how you should just borrow from libraries instead is so infuriating in that context. Like listen to actual librarians talk about e-book pricing for libraries. It's a major drain on library funds, and in the era of neoliberalism and austerity those budgets are strained as it is. And libraries inability in the face of these costs to provide digital content is used as justification for further cuts.

Librarians have boycotted major publishers over their ridiculous e-book policies and have talked about how ridiculous prices are for years, and for good reason.

This is fucking corporate robbery of library funding, of tax payers money to further their own private profits. Any moralistic bullshit about the evils of book piracy should be put in that context. If the ordinary person is stealing the publishers precious book sales profits, those publishers are already robbing that person's tax dollars.

It's a fucking hypocrisy to justify the present system of copyright and intellectual property with "well, if you are poor it's still wrong to pirate because you can get books for free legally from libraries". Because book publishers are already using their strong intellectual property rights to bleed libraries dry of funds, killing them in the process like the fucking vampires they are.

[mariahrozzie]

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

[mariahrozzie]

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

If a website has a paywall, like New York Times, DO NOT use the ctrl+A shortcut then the ctrl+c shortcut as fast as you can because then you may accidentally copy the entire article before the paywall comes up. And definitely don't do ctrl+v into the next google doc or whatever you open because then you will accidentally paste the entire article into a google doc or something!!!! I repeat DO NOT do this because it is piracy which is absolutely totally wrong!!!

[mariahrozzie]

THIS!

[mariahrozzie]

As someone that has grown up surrounded by beaches and done surf life saving, I know how the sea works. Lots of people dont. Every summer multiple tourists die here because they don’t respect the sea, if you’re going to the coast, here’s a thing I saw on Facebook.

[mariahrozzie]

A lot of pop psychology gets thrown around and since I already have a headache, here's preventing you lot from making it worse.

Love-bombing: A manipulation tactic of increasing affection and grand gestures before or after doing something abusive, specifically to weasel one's way out of consequences.

What it is not: A streak of affection and generosity towards friends/loved ones.

Trauma-bonding: Knowingly traumatizing someone to take advantage of their vulnerable state, to then act like the "hero" or the one who cheers them up.

What it is not: Bonding over similar traumas.

Gaslighting: *Knowingly* convincing someone they cannot trust their own perception of a situation in pursuit of one's own narrative.

What it is not: Misaligned perception of events.

Narcissist: Someone afflicted with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a traumagenic cluster B disorder, that struggles with self-obsession, paranoia, craving validity from the public, delusions of grandeur, and social disconnection.

It is not: Your rubbish ex that cheated on you.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

-Xanthe

[mariahrozzie]

[mariahrozzie]

A Vulcan named Stork works at the Terran adoption agency. Parents always request that he be the one to deliver their child to them.

[mariahrozzie]

sorry if i’m being a party pooper but because rabies is apparently the new joke on here ??? please remember that rabies has an almost 100% fatality rate after symptoms develop so if you’re bitten or scratched by an animal that you aren’t 100% sure is vaccinated then GO TO A DOCTOR. it’s not a joke. really. 

[mariahrozzie]

today i found another pair of my absolute holy grail jeans that i had in high school approximately 6 years ago that i wore until i had ripped and patched the crotch and ass three times and literally could not get them on anymore in exactly one size bigger while i was thrifting.

reblog for good luck at your local thrift store

[mariahrozzie]

Hey, you are not an embarrassment for not knowing how to do certain household chores/basic self-care. They do not come naturally to us. A lot of it takes practice! Maybe you had a neglectful guardian. Maybe you had one that was very coddling and never thought to teach you. Maybe you haven't lived in a place where these things were available to you or needed. Doesn't matter. It's okay to not know and far more common than you might realise.

That said, this website provides very simple instructions on how to do everyday tasks such as making your bed, using a washing machine, cooking different foods, washing dishes, taking a shower, etc. All you have to do is use the search bar to find the task you're struggling with, and it'll come up with what you need + other related how-to's:)

If you're having trouble navigating it, let me provide you with some examples:

How to clean dishes by hand

How to make your bed (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to fold clothes (with visual demonstrations of each step!)

How to take a shower & dry yourself off (also provides ways to shave beards, armpits, legs and genitals)

How to shave legs, armpits, beards, pubic areas, etc. (a more in-depth guide)

How to mop the floor

How to sweep the floor

How to swallow pills

How to make small talk

How to make eye contact in different situations (or how to avoid it while still looking natural)

It's also perfectly okay if these don't help or aren't appealing to you. Unfortunately, nothing helps everyone.

[mariahrozzie]

september is coming up so here’s your yearly reminder to leave billie joe armstrong the fuck alone