decide by my own feelings genuinely

@packbat's Check Please sideblog. Parse-conflicted. May contain headcanons. May also contain Blueliners. Tag for original contributions is "#packbat writes something", tag for this blog's eponymous headcanon specifically is "#trans woman shitty".

[trans-shitty]

Have fallen away from the fandom and from Tumblr in general in the past three years, but saw @bardofspades' proposal that people post their WIPs and got an urge to share.

So below the cut: "notes to (your)self", a parallel-universes sci-fi AU inspired by my phone being on the fritz one day. Was originally going to be zimbits, but it'd probably work better with that relationship being platonic; either way, it didn't really get past the setup.

Prologue

I don't understand why we had to get here so early. | Is there a reason I had to skip my run for this, Johnson?

"You need this cell phone, my friend. The narrative won't work if you're still trapped in the twentieth century."

Will the narrative work if I go get a latte and come back? | Five years ago is still the twenty-first century.

"Relax. Here, it's pumpkin spice."

Oh, thank god. | ...what is this?

"Lovely, isn't it?"

Mmm-hmm! | It's ... something.

"Drink up - it'll keep you warm until the store opens."

Ugggh did we really have to get here at four? Really? | Running would also keep me warm, Johnson.

[...]

Chapter 1

Bitty didn't really use the notes app on his phone for anything in particular. It was convenient to have a place to write down the catalog number of a book, or what kind of coffees everyone wanted, or ingredients he needed to cook something. Today, he'd copied a recipe off a website that sounded interesting, and was just pasting it into the notes file when the teacher arrived and he had to get out his notebook.

Or, apparently, not, because he was in the murder stop-&-shop, looking at the notes app, and there wasn't anything there. He scrolled up through all the notes, and there was nothing. Bitty sighed, opened up the browser to see if he still had the page open, and started scrolling through the list of recipes in the news article to find the one for maple-apple pie, so he could copy it over again.

When he went back to the notes app, the recipe was there. Missing the first letter of the title, but there.

Twice, actually. Bitty looked at it unbelievingly ... and then another copy appeared, right below the first two. He tried to select the extra copies to delete them, and suddenly the half of one he'd highlighted disappeared and became yet another copy.

"What in the daylights..." he muttered. He locked the phone, pushed the cart back into the rack and went to sit on the bench outside. This ... was weird.

When he opened the phone again, the three-and-a-half copies had turned into ... well, a lot of copies. And then a bunch of fragments...

Bake 50 minutes at 375 degrees F.aple-Apple Pieaple-Appleaple-Apple Pie

Ingredients:aple-Appleaple-Applaple-Appaple-Apaple-Aaple-Aaple-A testingaple-A can you read this?

aple-A can you read this?

aple-A type 'aple-A' and then a message and then paste it

aple-A if you hold down your finger for a moment it will make a pop up thing to paste btw

aple-A sorry you probably know that

Bitty stared. Carefully, he typed "aple-A what is going on", highlighted it, re-highlighted it because the "Copy" popup disappeared on him, copied it, and pasted it. It didn't appear where he pasted it.

The bench was getting cold. He stood up. He blew on one hand, then held the phone in it while he blew on the other.

Text appeared. Bitty hopped from one foot to the other as the lines showed up.

aple-A the hinge was squeaking on my locker, so I opened my faber notes to write a reminder and there was a recipe for pie

aple-A when I tried to put it in a new note the app crashed

aple-A when I tried to paste it at the end instead of in the middle it didn't paste

aple-A when I added the m it did

aple-A I tested it and it disappeared whenever I tried to paste and it started with aple-A

aple-A and then I had an idea that it might be pasting somewhere else

aple-A so I wanted to see if there was anyone on the other end

aple-A and then you replied

aple-A you don't know why this is happening?

Bitty stared at the text for a moment.

[omgeverythingplease]

Source

[zim-tits]

My soul for Jack/Tater or April/March content <3

thank u for this opportunity to try way too hard for too short a time <3

[greenishbucket]

“The boys are loud, dramatic, and kinda catty? So after doing theatre I’m right at home.”

Every (Ngozi-drawn) Ford so far!  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[khashanakalashtar]

Tumblr’s been sleeping on April.

March gets an occasional shoutout as Ransom’s gf, usually as a precursor to Holster or as part of a poly group, but I think I’ve seen April mentioned in fic once.

and I mean. we are more than capable of inventing entire backstories for people we see once. ppl have entire backstories for Camilla Collins who appeared like, once in the back of a book.

and look at this. look at this volleyball player who has just had it with her friend’s antics right about now. there will be no pretending to like trivia in order to impress the cute hockey boys. no faking friendliness. nada.

give me April and Holster bitching together. Give me April and Holster who are both in love with their best friend. Give me April & March ‘complete opposites’ friendship, April & Camilla volleyball teammate friendship, April & Lardo ‘I need a break from all these boys’ friendship, April who’s a little too salty to get along well with Ransom and April who softens her salt because she sees that she’s giving him anxiety and she doesn’t want to do that.

also let us do things with these characters on principle because this might be the only panel that passes the Bechdel test

[showsonface]

johnson

[petals42]

If you ever got the inspiration to, could you write more headcanons about Shitty and the Zimmermanns? Like do you think Shitty has each of their individual cell numbers and how did he get them if he does? Or something? I ADORE the way you write them and I always think Alicia, Dad Bob, and, to some extent, Shitty are characters that are criminally under-explored in fic.

Alright, anon, you sent this three months ago and so BAD ME for taking this long (especially since I’ve had this idea for like 6 months) and it’s still not done all the way BUT, here it is:

5 Times Shitty Calls the Zimmermanns (& 1 Time They Call Him)

1. February, Freshman Year

It’s strange to think that Alicia Zimmermann used to be one of those people who kept her phone on silent. Not even on vibrate. Sure, the light would flash at her if she got a text or email but there were no alerts or ringtones or alarms. People were always surprised when she told them but, as she told the story often enough, at a certain level she found the beeping and the buzzing entirely too much. It was all she could do to get through ordering a coffee uninterrupted. And even when some of her friends in the fashion industry told her to just buy a second phone–one for work she could keep silent, one for her personal life–she had laughed. She had grown to hate her phone and buying a second seemed completely ridiculous. She would check her messages and emails when she had the time and if people needed her, well then they could just leave a message.

She and Bob had worked out a system. She knew he called her two hours before any game that he had and she called back (and expected to be answered) forty-five minutes after the game. Win or lose. He also called her before and after any plane travel and she liked to text during her lunch break and Jack never was much for talking on the phone but he knew to try Bob’s phone first and she knew that if he were going to call, it would be around 8PM.

That was before, though.

Now… Now Alicia keeps her sound on the highest setting at all times and even if they go to a show, she keeps it on vibrate and in a pocket where she can feel it because she needs to be near her phone, always, because if she’s not, she might miss the call, miss it like she missed the last one that something is wrong, that her life has changed, that Jack has–

She doesn’t think she will ever forgive herself, really, for missing the call from the hospital. And missing the first four from Bob. When she finally called him back (14 minutes after the first call came in), he had been panicking and Jack had been unconscious and both of them had needed her and she was 14 minutes late because she didn’t like being interrupted.

(She’s lucky it was only 14 minutes. She’s lucky she had wanted to look up that one guy’s name from His Gal Friday at that particular moment. Now, she can’t decide if she hates that movie or loves it.)

So as she sits across the counter from Bob, who is narrating his cooking as usual and her ringtone starts blaring from her purse, it’s no longer unusual. People do call her a lot. Bob goes quiet and Alicia glances at the screen (because her ringer is on but you better believe she screens) and its Jack.

It’s 8:45. A little after his usual window, but not too late.

“It’s Jack,” she tells Bob.

“Remind him we land on Wednesday,” Bob tells her, turning back to what she thinks is going to end up as soup at some point.

“Hey, Jack,” she says, nodding and lifting the phone to her ear. “How are–”

“Uh, Mrs. Zimmermann?”

Keep reading

[petals42]

All these omgcp updates and all I can think about is Dan watching this Kent/Jack drama unfold on the ice.

[This prompt is from… a year ago? Two years ago? I actually started it back when you sent the ask and now, after months of being in drafts, have finally finished it. I have no excuse, but I do have a fic!]

I mean, you can go one of two ways with this: In the original story, Dan “finds out” (guesses? Figures out? Suspects?) Jack is gay sometime during his first season when Dan goes to look at his time and Samwell and meets his photography professor (read all about it here) (Jack doesn’t come out for another few years)

Which means that, depending on how early in the season it is, Dan probably wouldn’t actually know any of the full Jack/Kent history at this point. And even if he did the Jack story… he also was working as a “fluff” writer, handling most of the feel-good stories, so why would he really interact with Kent Parson unless…

Dan suspects this is going to be one of those times where he is going to get screwed. Because, of course, he’s the one stayed behind and doing all the actual research (dammit, shouldn’t he have some sort of intern or something?) but if what he thinks is true, then it’s definitely going to be shuffled along to someone higher up. Someone who, you know, actually gets to talk to the famous, rich, sport superstars. 

Dan is more of the… “Oh, you had twins and now both play on the football team, even though one is a girl? Let me come out to your small town in Indiana and interview everyone!” Which is not to say he doesn’t love his job, but it’s not quite the same pay-grade as, you know, Kent Parson.

And Dan Erikson is 99% sure that that is where this lead is taking him. He just has to make a few more calls and then he’s supposed to be getting an e-mail and…

Yup. There it is. Kent Parson. Goodbye story for Dan Erikson.

He shoots of an e-mail to Donna, his boss: Did some digging and found out that Kent Parson donates over 20,000 dollars to LVPA (Las Vegas Pet’s Association) every year. Has been since he moved there five years ago. Could be a good piece if someone could get him to comment.

He stands, stretches, and honestly considers calling it a day because it’s almost seven and if he rushes, he can totally make it home in time for Jeopardy. Then spend the next five hours scrambling for a new story, which is due in…. 8 days? 

Fuck. Maybe he should skip the Jeopardy. 

His phone rings just as he’s deciding to leave. 

“Okay,” Donna’s voice says. “I’ll have our people call and see if he’ll talk- be on the next plane out anyway.”

Dan blinks. “What?”

“Kent Parson.” Donna repeats. “Did I read the wrong name? Didn’t you just e-mail me about some cat shit with Kent Parson?” 

Keep reading

[parrishsrubberplant]

He’s cute, for a hockey player. Of course he has the ridiculous flop of hair - it’s called “flow,” he explains, the first time she mentions it–but he also has lovely hands and a butt that should have its own zipcode, so she forgives the hair.

She’s been warned off him by four different people. Her manager: Bob Zimmermann is tabloid fodder. Stay away. Her sports-mad actress friend, Lucy: He’s a player and he’s got a reputation as a player. And weirdly, her Dad: Allie, not a hockey player! (When she asks her father to elaborate, she gets only a grunt, one of the non-expressive ones.)

Despite the warnings–and yes, he is a flirt, but he’s a flirt who knows where the line is and won’t cross it–she goes out with him . Tabloid fodder sells magazine covers. Free publicity. And if he’s a flirt, she is one too, a bit. Though after a month of knowing him, Alicia thinks part of his ‘flirty’ reputation is sheer exuberant friendliness. Even in fashion and theater, she’s met…maybe two people?…who are as interested in other people as Bob is.

They go to a French restaurant. This is part Bob’s choice–“Let me take you to this place I like! It’s quiet and it has nice food” and part hers–“I would like to go somewhere I can wear a slinky dress and heels.” She means to sound pragmatic and probably–damn it–sounds flirty.

Keep reading

[trans-shitty]

A positive thing about Suzanne's reaction that I think I should take a moment to focus on before I go to bed: Suzanne didn't do anything, say anything, that she'd have a hard time backing down from to support Bitty in being gay.

It feels like a bit of a faint praise, but I think that still matters. I know I'm a lot more willing to imagine a happy ending where Bitty cuts ties with his family than most people, but part of that comes from my relationship with my mom, and my mom? Did cross those lines. There's "not saying what you needed to say" and there's (transphobia content warning) "stopping your trans child from coming out and misgendering them after they go along with being stopped" (end content warning), and you work through a lot less shame to admit you fell short than to admit you did harm. And I still gave my mom chances to turn around - I still had hope she would, then.

Were I Bitty, I would be deeply hurt if not gutted, hearing Suzanne dance all around what I told her without acknowledging it, treating "I'm gay" as a problem instead of supporting me. But were I Suzanne ... I mean, Bitty took a whole semester at Samwell to be able to say "I'm gay". I think in that kind of time, I could find a way to say "I'm proud of you."

[garden-of-succulents]

*pinches the bridge of her nose*

Okay guys there’s 4.3 discourse on Suzanne’s reaction to Bitty coming out ahead.

My training is in the field of mental health. We try to describe common psychological phenomena. And a huge amount of the time, human experience is SO DIVERSE that NO attempt to describe The Definitive Experience of Anything will accurately capture every person’s experience.

We even have a saying: “No two children ever grow up in the same family.” Even if two children go through the exact same events at the exact same time, their subjective experience of them will always be different.

I primarily work with clients with complex PTSD, but a huge amount of them find it deeply invalidating just to hear descriptions like, “Post-traumatic stress symptoms are caused by a trauma.” And that is with a FUCKTON of research data behind it that claim, not just, “Oh, we noticed a vague tendency.”

So how about we CUT IT THE FUCK OUT with armchair theorizing like “If you felt this emotion about Suzanne’s speech, you OBVIOUSLY never experienced a homophobic household” or “If you reacted to the update this way, you’re definitely straight” or “All the gay kids are feeling this way”.

NO. THEY’RE NOT. How you emotionally and cognitively respond to a work of art is a SUPER COMPLEX THING, that has as much to do with all the years between you and your childhood as your childhood itself, as much to do with the last five books you read as your sexual orientation.

And for a lot of people it is shitty as hell to see all these theories flying around that basically boil down to: “If you don’t agree with me, you’re wrong about your own life, your own experiences, your own identity, and your own emotion.”

[omgcheckplease]

George looking stunning on the red carpet at the NHL Awards! A Y3 Kickstarter print set illustration by @pichikui!  Pichikui aka Gaby is a story artist for TV and a cartoonist. And? She even played hockey back in the day and is an avid hockey fan! Please check out her work! Twitter | Tumblr | Porfolio

[omgcheckplease]

Check Please! Update ☆ 4.4: “Calling Home”

☆ main site | about | blog | patreon ☆

[gaysun-deactivated20230205]

I just want to reiterate something I’ve said before: the fact that we know that check please will have a happy ending does not necessarily mean that bitty’s parents will be completely accepting. the comic at its core is about a found family. you can have a happy life with the family you’ve made, that’s something SO many gay people experience and have always experienced and Bitty may just be one of them. It’ll still be soso hard if his parents don’t fully come around but it doesn’t mean he won’t live a wonderful and fulfilled life. it doesn’t mean he won’t get his happy ending.

[tiny-potatos]

i Am choosing to believe that the reason Suzanne wouldnt talk much about Coach’s reaction is because he was actually very accepting of Bitty and said something along the lines of “I never even considered that Junior was gay, but now that I know it makes sense” and Suzanne still can’t wrap her mind around it and feels stupid for not knowing her son as well as she thought, and didn’t want to tell Bitty wHAT his dad said cause she’s embarrassed that Rick got it right away while she is obviously still struggling……

this is probably not the case but I can’t deal with the alternative…. lemme have my delusions ok??!?!;!??

[trans-shitty]

not to project 100% of my own experiences onto the Bittles but I can say from personal experience that Suzanne projecting her own discomfort on her husband is 100% a possibility

[zimboooty]

Do I think Suzanne Bittle truly loves her son?

Yes.

Do I think that’s enough?

No.

[trans-shitty]

A partial list of things Suzanne Bittle did not say

“Oh, honey, it’s okay, don’t worry about it. Thank you for getting back to me.”

“Congratulations! You caught yourself a hell of a man - he treating you well?”

“Thank you for telling us - congratulations! I’m sorry we didn’t make it easier for you to come out to us…”

“Now, if you want to bring your boyfriend down here any time, we’ll be more than happy to see him. We’re so proud of you, Dicky.”

“Well, all right. I love Madison, but I understand. Change your mind any time you want, we’ll always have our door open for the both of you.”

“Oh, I think he has a few things he might want to say to Jack! Not that you can’t take care of yourself, but any man dating our son has got to treat you right, Stanley Cup or not!”

“Oh, of course. Get some rest. And congratulations - for all of it. Love you.”

[trans-shitty]

(Related.)