#congratulations! it's a...

[honorhearted]

Ben grinned, fascinated by Keturah's astute response. To think of how they had so much in common, and yet without his influence both delighted and dismayed him. Did she truly even need him at all? Was her seeking him out pointless?

“Maybe you can teach me to fence, then?” Keturah suggested, breaking him from his stupor. “Assuming mom lets me come around again…she seemed really mad on the phone.”

Slowly, his smile faded and he frowned, gripping the edge of the island. "You leave your mother to me," Ben said. He hadn't meant to speak with such a clipped edge, but if Anna thought she could bury his head in the sand again -- that she could keep him from his daughter -- she was in for one hell of a rude awakening. "For as long as you're here, we can do whatever you wish," he promised. "I think I owe you that much." Slowly, his smile returned and he lifted a finger. "Within reason, of course."

The next couple hours wove Ben into a knot of joy, sorrow, and wonder as he listened to Keturah speak. She was truly a marvel -- brilliant, quiet, and imaginative, he found himself more and more resentful that he'd missed all the grand milestones of her life: each birthday, her very first steps, every heartbreak and triumph -- hell, he'd missed her very birth, and it infuriated him that Anna had so callously robbed him of fatherhood. She had no right to keep him from what she undoubtedly knew all along.

No right at all.

When the knock at the front door finally came, Ben was up like a shot, almost as if he'd been expecting it -- and in a way, he was. He was ready to confront Anna. With a growing scowl, he made sure a blanket was tucked beneath Keturah's chin before he made his way to the front of his house.

With little fanfare, he opened the door and found Anna standing on the other side. To his surprise, instead of rage, his stomach momentarily flip-flopped, much as it had any time he'd seen her standing there with her wide, hopelessly large eyes and saddened smile. For one blissful weekend, he'd worn that smile against his very own mouth, pinning her beneath his weight, and drowning himself in the embrace he'd thought was meant to be eternal...

Until Monday morning when she was gone, and all she'd left behind was hastily scribbled note reading: Reconciled with Selah. Went back home. -A

“Where is she?”

Ben jerked to attention at the query, automatically bristling. "I don't think you're in any position to be making demands," he snapped, even though she hadn't commanded, so much as given her typical icy tone.

Anna frowned, leveling him with her tired gaze. “Can we talk outside? I don’t want her to hear any of this.”

Glancing behind him at Keturah, who remained sleeping soundly, he grimaced before offering a tight nod. "Very well," he allowed. "At least that's something we can agree on."

Jaw tightening, he showed her around the back of his house, his arms swinging before he could no longer stand it, and then he rounded about before leveling her with the fire in his eyes. "What the hell, Anna?" he seethed. "A daughter? Do you mean to tell me you've known this entire time, and never once thought to tell me I was a father?" He laughed then, incredulous. "You would truly have me go my entire life without knowing? Anna, I...I don't understand."

Finally, the simmering fury abated, and all that was left was the hurt and sorrow. Curling his fists, Ben shook his head. "If you were in my place, would you have not wanted to know? Anna, you have to remember what I told you all those years ago...that above all, I wanted to teach, and to be a father. Did you not think this would apply?"

You are a blessing, Kettie.

After finding out her mother had lied to her for the better part of twelve years, a compliment like that was nice to hear. Especially when it came from the man who’d been half the equation in procreating her — as weird as it was to look at it that way. He might not have been what she was expecting, but he came with books and pizza, so it was a start. For now, he had the Keturah Strong stamp of approval.

“I like horses very much!” She declared, “Mary says that Clydesdale are the best, but everyone knows that it’s the thoroughbreds take the cake. They’re the fastest.”

Try as she might to picture Benjamin fencing, she couldn’t seem to manage it, so with a skeptical squint, she added, “Maybe you can teach me to fence, then?” Here, however, her grin began to fade, “Assuming mom lets me come around again…she seemed really mad on the phone.”

If that were the case, Keturah would have to find a way to make it back here. Knowing what she knew now, she needed the opportunity to get to know her biological father, and her mother’s stubbornness wasn’t going to stop her from making that happen.

For the next couple of hours, long after the pizza was finished, Keturah talked about the various things she liked. Being as intelligent as she was, her hobbies tended to vary. She’d become obsessed with something for stints of time, get very good at it, then move on to something else that could hold her amusement. So far, that list had consisted of the violin, the clarinet, ballet, softball, crocheting, hockey, and dance lessons. In school she’d been apart of a myriad of clubs like math, chess, history, physics, art, music, and decathlon.

She liked animals, space, baking, and medieval stories of knights. She talked about wishing she could go to a private school instead of public because their curriculum was supposed to be more challenging, but Anna had insisted she have a more normal upbringing. Her reading and arithmetic were higher levels for her age and sometimes she had trouble relating to other kids because she felt like she couldn’t talk to them without getting bored. When her cousins were over, she preferred hanging out with the older pair rather than those closer to her age. Lastly, she told him she liked poetry and would even try to write her own in her diary, which he wasn’t allowed to see because it was top secret. Highly confidential. Authorized personnel only. The only authorized personnel being her.

At some point, Keturah nodded off, her head slowly slipping from the support of her hand to the arm of the couch. She really hadn’t slept much the night before after finding out the big secret and had gotten up extra early to plan her scheme to travel to Connecticut without Anna knowing, so it all added up to a pretty exhausting day. A flash flood probably couldn’t wake her now, which was why she didn’t stir when here was a prompt knock on the door.

————

The entire drive there, her skin was prickled and her stomach churned with dread. Neither Keturah nor Ben were ever supposed to find out the truth about Keturah’s parentage. It was simply too much of a mess caused by a misstep Anna had made years ago. Selah was Keturah’s father. That had been that, or so she’d told herself to justify keeping it all a secret, one she’d intended to take to her grave. But the cat was out of the bag and Anna knew she was going to be forced to face the music on this one. No doubt Ben was livid, so she admittedly wasn’t sure what to expect when she got there.

Finally standing on his front porch, she took a deep breath and knocked firmly, hoping that he wouldn’t make all this more difficult than it needed to be. Of course, knowing him, he would absolutely do that.

When the door opened and their eyes met, she stared a moment, wide eyed and surprised that seeing him here in person had made her chest flutter. She could still remember the weekend they’d shared together, the plans and the promises they’d started to make before Selah had shown up and not only wanted her back, but proposed. Her stomach flipped again.

“Where is she?” She asked, wishing Keturah had been ready to go without question. That, naturally, was too much to ask.

Upon glancing over Ben’s shoulder to find her daughter crashed on the couch, she sighed and said, “Can we talk outside? I don’t want her to hear any of this.”

[shandzii]

this cookie so intelligent

[wardensantoineandevka]

is that piece of media actually bad, or is it just not following the blueprint you projected onto it? is that work actually not good, or are you just demanding something from it that is absolutely antithetical to its themes, genre, tone, and narrative goal? is that story actually poorly written, or do you just dislike that it is not the specific things you wanted from it that it never set out to be, never was, and never is going to become? is it actually bad, or is it actually well-executed and you just dislike the story it chose to be because it isn't catering to your specific desires and expectations?

[fivendandelions]

STRAUME / FLOW (2024) — dr. Gints Zilbadolis

🏆 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film

[thatjayjustice]

A sweet interaction today--an elderly Thai man held the elevator for me when I got off the Skytrain. As we rode down, he asked in English where I was from and if I'd come to Thailand alone, so I replied in Thai that I had moved here with my wife, who is Thai. He assumed I had used the wrong word for spouse and tried to helpfully correct my Thai, so I explained that we are lesbians and his eyes lit up, he shook my hand excitedly and said "Oh!! Oh congratulations!!" 🥹😭💗🏳️‍🌈

[eydilily]

#HAPPYTANGOTEKDAY

[garaks-padded-bra]

what would u do if u were a little cat and ur owners didn't feed u breakfast one morning and then they put u in a crate and sent u to a weird man who injected you with potion of unconsciousness, stole your uterus and shaved u bald? And all u had left were gay little boots? This is bowies reality. This is her life

[theabigailthorn]

important to state for the record that the British Supreme Court are idiots

they sound very scary when you describe them as The Supreme Court but remember, these are five dusty old cishets, one of whom is a weirdo who used to write homophobic documents for the Church of Scotland. I've seen so much commentary, even from pro-trans british journalists, about how the ruling is "forensic" and "balanced" and "rational" - no it isn't, it's clearly the work of people who don't know what they're talking about. You know how I know? They accidentally defined all bi women as lesbians. They said that the legal test for a lesbian is being an AFAB person attracted to another AFAB person, and at no point did anyone go, "Hang on a second, what about bi people?" Congratulations to terfs I guess, you were so excited to get rid of the T you got rid of the B!

This ruling is exactly what you'd expect from locking five old straight people in a room and asking them to set rules for queer life without speaking to any queer people. Their judgement is silly legal word games and it has no relation to real people's actual lives - if you wanna use lawyerspeak they've "undermined public confidence in the legal system." It's not even "the emperor has no clothes," it's "the emperor is naked and covered in shit."

i can kinda understand that politicians need to make a show of respect in their tone, like okay, probably a good thing that politicians don't get into the habit of publicly undermining judges. But any journalist who treats this ruling as remotely sensible is daft - only a straight person could make that kind of mistake

These judges are idiots - I use the word in the classical greek sense of someone who is not connected to and does not understand the life of the public, of the people. Their judgement is laughable and we don't have to respect them

[dameronalone]

oh gee discord should I try adding numbers? should I try that???? should I try adding numbers to the end of my username so that it's individualized and only mine???? should I try adding numbers??????????

[etirabys]

can anyone find me that mesopotamian clay tablet telling you to marry a party girl because she'll bring you joy

[hellsitegenetics]

Are.. are there any matches for Smash Mouth All Star full lyrics? I need to know. For science!!!

String identified:

c t T ga a't t at t t a g t g a t t a a a

, t a tat cg A t 't t cg t t a t t g g 't a t t a gt at t a gt

c t , c t at' g t tag t ac tt? ' 't g ' 't g

, ' a a ta Gt ga , g a , ' a c ta Gt t , gt a A a tat gtt g tg ta a t

t' a c ac a t a t gt c ' t at t gt t t t g t gg t t att ct

T c at gttg tt t T at gttg a gt a ' , at ? Tat' t a t A gt

, ' a a ta Gt ga , g a , ' a c ta Gt t , gt a A a tat gtt g tg ta a t

, ' a a ta Gt ga , g a , ' a c ta Gt t , gt a A a tat gtt g tg ta

c a C a cag ga? t gt aa t ac a: , at a cct c a tt A c a a tt cag

t a tat cg A t 't t cg t t a t t g g 't a t t a gt at t a gt

c t , c t at' g t tag t ac tt ' 't g (g!) ' 't g

, ' a a ta Gt ga , g a , ' a c ta Gt t , gt a

A a tat gtt g tg ta a t A a tat gtt g tg ta a t

Closest match: Ennomos fuscantarius genome assembly, chromosome: 3 Common name: Dusky Thorn Moth

[unforth]

Y'all have got to stop virulently hating men. Like, I'm sorry, I fucking hate the patriarchy too, but the patriarchy isn't just men and saying it is just exculpates complicit women. I am the mother of a young boy, and I look at this precious, empathetic 8 year old boy I'm raising and I don't know where online is safe for him. Places like this will say he's evil just for his gender, and other places will say "we'll be your friend if you hate with us," and still others will radicalize him in other ways. Where is he supposed to go? Why are we saying the radicalization is the fault of the kids just trying to find a place to hang?

Like this is seriously getting urgent. You have got to fucking stop conflating the patriarchy and men. 53% percent of white women voted for Trump. Men aren't the problem. White supremacy and Christian patriarchal structures are two examples of patriarchy-reinforcing structures that aren't solely couched in maleness. Men aren't the problem, and pretending they are drives more men into more welcoming extremist spaces and also ignores all the parts of this that are forwarded by people who aren't men.

What I see happening all over is scared, depressed, lonely people looking for someone they're allowed to hate automatically, unquestioningly - someone they're allowed to place all the blame on. Fascism says people of color, non-Christian people, queer people, etc., are the ones they're allowed to hate.

And way too many of yall answer that no, it's leftist to hate men instead. You are doing *the exact same thing they are.*

Fucking knock it off.

The answer is we're not supposed to hate anyone automatically based on their immutable personal characteristics. Hate the specific people who've hurt you. Hate the self-reinforcing systems that let them get away with hurting you. Hate the strangers who prop up those systems. Hate the fascists. Hell knows I hate Donald Trump, but it's not because he's a man, it's because he's a piece of shit.

Hate the pieces of shit, not the gender.

But don't hate men just because they're men. That's unhelpful, stupid, insane, and entirely counterproductive. Fucking. Stop.

[ryllen]

(( the inner coat reveal that i kept thinking of ))

[shotmrmiller]

roommate soap who catches you masturbating because nothing else quite takes the edge off like a little death or two but instead of looking surprised and pivoting, he stands there and looks perturbed.

yer doin' it all wrong, lass. it's no wonder ye always strung tight.

you go from mortified to insulted in seconds, but before you can even snarl at him to leave, he's already dragging his big ass boyfriend in the room, still fully appalled at how you're mistreating yourself.

got tae see this, simon. appalling, it is.

and now you're being manhandled into different positions, toys long abandoned for thick fingers and coarse palms, lube replaced with spit and they'd left you with the destabilizing knowledge that the first peak they'd brought you then had been humiliatingly fast and efficient and somewhere along the way, fingers had been replaced with tongues.

(that you had to almost crawl yourself to the bathroom after your long nap and they hadn't even fucked you is embarrassing.)

[roartowrecks]

happy valentines day to them and exclusively them