stories are made to be told

Fake Family

1. “This guy is being a creep and won’t leave me alone. Will you pretend to be my overprotective older brother for five minutes?”

2. “The nurse said only family was allowed back here, so I told her we were siblings. Just go along with it.”

3. “That person asked if I was your S/O. I’m sick of people not believing when I say we’re friends, so I said we were siblings.”

4. “I’m your bodyguard, but the event you’re going to does not allow bodyguards, so I’m now your sibling.”

5. “I was on a date, and the person made me uncomfortable, so I told them my parent was a cop. Only problem: My parents are dead, and you’re the only cop I know. Help?”

6. “We have a very elaborate story of how we’re related that we tell everyone when they meet us. No one has any idea that it isn’t true.” 

7. “I told someone we were siblings, but we look nothing alike, so you said I was adopted. Now they want to have dinner with my family… Are your parents good at lying?”

8. “We always joke that we’re siblings, but someone didn’t realize we were joking, so now we’re seeing how far we can carry this out.”

9. “Our organization is extremely covert, but your friends have caught me at your place a few times picking you up. I just found out that you’ve been telling them I’m your hysterical aunt who calls you every time she has a new heartbreak. Really? You couldn’t come up with a less embarrassing cover?” 

(Also I see your pinned post and I must investigate this Icarus rock opera. It looks like such a great time)

ome for starters, thank you again for your gorgeous art and for sharing it, @azaikit!! (also, your message may or may not have made me make kettle noises and pace the room from excitement >.>)

and yes, exactly!!! but what makes the matters worse, not only Finrod knew of his own doom but also of his loved ones' (Aegnor's death, for instance) and i bet it must've been no easier to come to terms with that! truly, foresight must feel to him at least sometimes like a curse and not a gift. and the decision to fulfill his oath strikes even more deeply when you realize that Finrod wittingly chooses it even while being viscerally aware that it'll be his downfall. so his readiness to accept and embrace his fate anyway is just. whoa. there's just so much to ponder

ndfbndfkjb no promises of that fic ever seeing the light of the day alas, i've always been awful at finishing things (and posting them) but i do deeply enjoy exploring foresight and your kind words have definitely given me even more inspiration so thank you immensely, this means the world to me!!

here you are a tiny snippet of that wip:

Felagund has started to favor chambers with natural light. In hindsight, it’s not the only thing that feels just a bit off about his recent demeanor and perhaps not even the most obvious one but it’s what Edrahil has noticed first. In hindsight, he should’ve noticed it sooner. Should’ve noticed everything sooner.

ohhhh as for Icarus the rock-opera, here's a post i once wrote about it, hopefully it'll be of some help for you! (feel free to hmu if you've got any questions though!)

and yesss i've always found Outsider POV fascinating, especially bc of how vastly different some perspectives can be, there's just so much potential! and ngl, sometimes it's fun to convey a character's inner workings through someone else's eyes instead of through introspection

in this case though, it's alternating — the first scene is from Edrahil's POV, the second from Gildor's (made some progress with it today! and by progress i mean that i've made it even angstier >.>), and the final one from Finrod's. nbjkdfnbhjk can't wait to go write more of it but frankly, the fic i'm more likely to post first is an angsty Helcaraxe one, which is close to finish now, so fingers crossed i'll manage to gather my courage for that. thank you immensely for your interest and encouragement, even just seeing your reply and getting to talk about that foresight wip is filling me with more excitement and spoons to keep writing it🙏

i may have quite a few ongoing creative projects now but your kind words re my fic wips are singlehandedly pushing them higher in priority and giving me courage so i'm really hoping i'll have sth to post soon enough🙏 thank you so so much!!!

btw here's a masterpost of all Tolkien stage adaptations (lovingly curated by awesomest @emeraldskulblaka💜) if you're interested, maybe there's sth closer to you as well!

(Also I see your pinned post and I must investigate this Icarus rock opera. It looks like such a great time)

ome for starters, thank you again for your gorgeous art and for sharing it, @azaikit!! (also, your message may or may not have made me make kettle noises and pace the room from excitement >.>)

and yes, exactly!!! but what makes the matters worse, not only Finrod knew of his own doom but also of his loved ones' (Aegnor's death, for instance) and i bet it must've been no easier to come to terms with that! truly, foresight must feel to him at least sometimes like a curse and not a gift. and the decision to fulfill his oath strikes even more deeply when you realize that Finrod wittingly chooses it even while being viscerally aware that it'll be his downfall. so his readiness to accept and embrace his fate anyway is just. whoa. there's just so much to ponder

ndfbndfkjb no promises of that fic ever seeing the light of the day alas, i've always been awful at finishing things (and posting them) but i do deeply enjoy exploring foresight and your kind words have definitely given me even more inspiration so thank you immensely, this means the world to me!!

here you are a tiny snippet of that wip:

Felagund has started to favor chambers with natural light. In hindsight, it’s not the only thing that feels just a bit off about his recent demeanor and perhaps not even the most obvious one but it’s what Edrahil has noticed first. In hindsight, he should’ve noticed it sooner. Should’ve noticed everything sooner.

ohhhh as for Icarus the rock-opera, here's a post i once wrote about it, hopefully it'll be of some help for you! (feel free to hmu if you've got any questions though!)

and yesss i've always found Outsider POV fascinating, especially bc of how vastly different some perspectives can be, there's just so much potential! and ngl, sometimes it's fun to convey a character's inner workings through someone else's eyes instead of through introspection

in this case though, it's alternating — the first scene is from Edrahil's POV, the second from Gildor's (made some progress with it today! and by progress i mean that i've made it even angstier >.>), and the final one from Finrod's. nbjkdfnbhjk can't wait to go write more of it but frankly, the fic i'm more likely to post first is an angsty Helcaraxe one, which is close to finish now, so fingers crossed i'll manage to gather my courage for that. thank you immensely for your interest and encouragement, even just seeing your reply and getting to talk about that foresight wip is filling me with more excitement and spoons to keep writing it🙏

oh you know what they say about apples and trees

I think it also works with other "positive" traits.

You can be nice (adjective), but "nice" people tend to be too afraid of offending anyone to step up when needed.

You can be honest (adjective), but people who make being "honest" a part of their personality use it as excuse to be blunt (at best) or downright rude

You can be smart (adjective), but those who view themselves as "smart" (identity) tend to look down on others who don't know the same things as them

You can be brave (adjective), but "brave" (identity) people are often reckless

As ticks and tick borne illnesses are expanding their range, I think it's important for people to be educated about these things, and I think it's especially important to give people actual advice on how to protect themselves instead of telling them to just...avoid the natural world

Rough draft version of Tick Advice:

Ticks don't jump down on you from trees, they get on you when you brush against grass, brush, bushes etc.

Ticks get brought to an area when they get done feeding from an animal and fall off them. In the USA, the main tick-bringing animal is deer, but I've seen plenty ticks on feral cats and songbirds.

Ticks get killed when they dry out so drier areas with more sunlight are less favorable to ticks.

The above is useful for figuring out whether an area is likely to have lots of ticks, and how vigilant you have to be in that area.

Wear light-colored, long pants outside. Tuck your pants into your socks, and tuck your shirt into the waist of your pants. Invest in light, breathable fabrics idc

IMMEDIATELY change out of your outside clothes when you come back from a tick-prone area, wash them, and dry them on high heat to kill any ticks that might be stuck on.

Shower and check yourself for ticks after coming inside. Hair, armpits, and nether regions in particular. You can use a handheld mirror or rely on touch; an attached tick will feel like a bump kinda like a scab

While you're outside, you can just periodically check for ticks by running your hands down your legs and checking visually to see if anything is crawling on your clothes. Light colors make them easy to spot, and they don't move fast.

Combing through each others' hair to check for creepy crawly critters is a time-honored primate ritual and is not weird. When hiking, bring a friend who will have your back when you feel something on your neck and need to know if it's sweat or a tick

- If you’re camping, check your towels, blankets, and anything else you’ve hung up before letting it touch your body. Ticks are drawn to wet towels and find it an easy jump to a person.

- If you’re out with a dog, check them over thoroughly before you pet them. Anti-tick medication can kill ticks that attach to your dog, but they can still hitch a ride on fur and then jump on you. Consider getting an outdoor comb and wear gloves while checking.

- Invest in a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to remove ticks. There are a ton of special “tick removal” tools that will work, but they’re essentially a riff on a basic set of fine-tipped tweezers. The fine tip allows you to pull a tick off without killing it while it’s attached. Standard, blunt-edged tweezers for eyebrows don’t work as well, because they can crush the tick’s body and release germs into your skin at the bite site.

- If you have a tick on or near your genitals, just go to a doctor. Just...just do it. Trust me. I’ve seen this happen. Do not engage with the junk tick.

- When you need to remove a tick, grasp it firmly with your tweezers as close to the skin as you can get it. If you can, grasp it under the head. Pull straight up - do not twist the tick. That’s going to be your best bet to pull it all off without leaving the head or mouth embedded.

- If you do break the tick, leave the mouth alone - don’t dig in to get it, since that can break your skin more and cause infection. Without the tick attached, the mouth should eventually fall off. If it doesn’t within a day or so, call a doctor.

- Disinfect, disinfect, disinfect. I’d recommend hitting the area with rubbing alcohol several times.

- Keep the tick in a plastic bag in your freezer or fridge. It’s gross, but if you start having any illness symptoms, it can be helpful for your doctor to have the tick itself.

- Watch for a rash on the site, a fever, chills, or body aches. If you experience anything like that, go to an urgent care or hospital.

Additionally, tick species ranges and the tickborne illness ranges have also been shifting because of climate change. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever used to be moderately common in the Rockies and has expanded east.