𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐒

[saltburntmods]

MISFIRES

a rambunctious duo in salt has stuck their nose where they shouldn't and now you can all reap the rewards! this is a MISFIRES meme. post a header for your character, and receive accidental texts from your local saltburntian guests. nudes, nasties, confessions of a certain persuasion? things you'd otherwise never write or send? they're all on the table. (meme threads aren't game canon, but they're not not game canon either, right)

Comments

[holyposition]

A milestone.

You underestimate yourself. You keep up perfectly well.

[mygoodsir]

It is! Worthy of a celebration. I am honoured to witness such an event.

Well. Most days.

[holyposition]

I know things have been tough lately, but I really am happy. Thank you for that.

Well, I'm very sorry if me always wanting more of you makes things a little too hard. 😉

[mygoodsir]

Tim, it is my greatest pleasure in life to give you any happiness.

I don't mind. I've not dropped dead of exhaustion yet!

[holyposition]

You're gonna make me blush :)

Try not to. Dying making love might not be worst way to go while we're here, but it would be awfully traumatic for me.

[mygoodsir]

You are very fetching in pink. ;)

I shall take care not to do so, then.

Tim, if money and location were no object, what would you want for your birthday?

[holyposition]

If I could have anything, it would be to see my family. About a week after my birthday, I'll have been here for a year. The last time I spoke to my parents it was an argument.

And I guess the next time, it will be too. But I want them to know I'm okay.

[mygoodsir]

It is amazing how strangely time passes when you are trapped somewhere.

You are a good son, Tim. Even if they cannot see it. I wish you could speak to them again.

[holyposition]

I'm gay and I betrayed McCarthy, I don't think they could imagine a worse son in their wildest dreams.

But maybe we can move past it, in time.

[mygoodsir]

Nonetheless, you are good.

I hope it is so.

[holyposition]

I try to be. But they want grandchildren.

Maggie might understand. We've always been close.

[mygoodsir]

Do they not adopt children in the 1950s?

One's siblings are frequently more understanding than parents. And from what you've said, she sounds very fond of you indeed.

[holyposition]

Gay men don't. It isn't allowed. We'll "corrupt" them.

What about your family? You've been away from them for even longer.

[mygoodsir]

I see. Would they check that you were a couple?

Oh, yes. I do wonder if any of my letters ever reached them, particularly my brother. But I admit it would feel strange to see them.

[holyposition]

It wouldn't be acceptable for men to raise a child together, even if we were platonic. But living together at all is enough for people to assume we're not.

Robert, right? Have you read much yet about what came after?

[mygoodsir]

I see. That is unfortunate. If YOU want children...?

I have finally read some, yes. It was not as horrible as I'd feared, chiefly because nobody ever discovered the truth. I also have noticed the library has some discrepancies amongst the books. I think perhaps it had to do with differing realities. People and families are not what I know them to be.

I wish you could have met some of the men, Tim. I think you'd have liked them.

[holyposition]

I could, technically, but they'll ask why I don't just find a wife, and then if they find out the real reason, I'm out. I’ll have to settle for being a fun uncle for Maggie’s kids, when she has them. And I think she will, when I saw her last she was saying her boyfriend’s gonna propose soon.

If I go back to New York. Though I’m pretty sure I promised you California.

You know he looked for you then. Twice. He must have really loved you.

[mygoodsir]

Do you want children?

You did. It sounds like a lovely place. I admit, Tim, that I would much prefer to go to your California than back home. I fear that if I were to live and return to my time and place, I would not be able to adjust. It is strange, but I think it is easier here in this place.

Some brother did, at any rate.

[holyposition]

It doesn’t really matter what I want, does it? I’ve known it’s not possible for a long time. It’s okay. The kind of life I’m looking at when I get back will be too hectic to raise a child in anyway.

I can understand that. After everything that happened out there, even if you went back, you wouldn’t be able to escape it.

I believe that we can find a way out of here eventually. And I offered to bring you with me before I fell in love with you. So now I’m demanding it. You’re coming, and you’ll have a new life, and you’ll get to leave the past where it belongs and be whoever you want to be.

[mygoodsir]

A very pragmatic way to look at it.

Being here, there are certain attitudes that are obsolete. People do not seem to turn away from things that are unpleasant. That is a great comfort.

I would become a modern man, then? I can scarcely picture it. What do you suppose I'd do?

[holyposition]

What about you? You'd be a great dad, if you had the chance.

I do appreciate that about the people here. I'll miss it. In the 1950s everything is much more repressed.

You could go to modern medical school and be a doctor. There's a lot of biologists out on the west coast, marine life to be studied. You could help me organize and jumpstart the fight that would make all that other stuff you're talking about possible. You could do anything you want.

[mygoodsir]

Oh, I don't think I would be. I'm a terrible disciplinarian.

I understand.

I do like the idea of studying more of the natural world. I like to think that I am a good anatomist, but I also think often of how terribly I failed on the expedition. I never saved anyone. So perhaps I could help you, and when not doing that I could investigate the Pacific.

[holyposition]

You're emotionally open, which is what most fathers are missing. I can already see it, you teaching the kids about all the fun things they can find in the tidepools. Reading them stories, fussing over them when they're sick. You'd be great at it. We can work on the discipline thing.

Be a little more fair to yourself, Harry. The odds were pretty heavily stacked against you.

I would want you to follow your passion, wherever that leads you. That's what I intend to do.

[mygoodsir]

It sounds more like I would make a wonderful mother.

Perhaps. But I still failed.

I admire that about you, Tim. You've such drive, such determination. I never feel as if you are afraid of moving into the unknown.

[holyposition]

If all they have is fathers, someone needs to be able to fill both roles. It's not an insult.

You did everything you could.

That's a pretty new development, to be fair. I've always been afraid. When I arrived here, I was running away. But after werewolves and vampires and zombies and death, nothing back home is worth being scared of.