second base: torture

She had shut her mind off to me for some time then. And so I was left to revisit old haunts, desperate for connection. "Claudia, come home. I know I hurt you. I know I can make it right again."

So currently I answer to my full first name (which I usually introduce myself with) as well as two nicknames/diminutives plus my last name when people mistake it for a first name. There are two or three other nicknames I've also gone by in the past. I'm perfectly fine with this, or neutral at minimum-- I have a common name and have had to be flexible with how I'm distinguished for my whole life. I also don't feel a deep and fundamental connection of my name with my identity, though I think going by another name entirely would confuse me.

A number of friends have been appalled at me being called names I don't say are my name. Which is really weird to me, although I'd go to battle for anyone else who was getting either deadnamed or called something they didn't want. But this perspective seems surprisingly common!

"Okay, I got you."

*Removes the B from the BREAD sign*

"The best and the worst." So one of us is like to live in song. "And a few who were a bit of both. Like him." – A Feast for Crows

Now onto the 1 vs 1 rounds