Oh, had a couple of fics to share:

Parched, a Mary-centric fic.

The sun comes in at an angle on the letter like a knife, highlighting the words “fond regards.” Fond. Regards. It makes Mary so angry that she could just ball her hands up into fists, shut her eyes, and scream at the top of her lungs. It’s a wave that goes through her and then subsides, washing out to leave her empty and trembling.

After Stede leaves home in the middle of the night, Mary grows and changes.

Also Pretty and Witty and Gay (in the same genderbend continuity as Sweet Damsel although set earlier).

When Ed had asked, “Do you want to do something weird?” she really hadn’t been thinking about anything but getting her hands on Stede’s fantastic wardrobe.

Things do not go as planned. (Because oops, she's hot.)

The latter is clothing porn ... I'll often try to be comprehensible in the text when I talk about clothes and then maybe put more info in the endnote so that people understand what I'm getting at, but in this one I just went off pretending to assume that readers will understand what I'm describing and didn't bother to annotate, and it was really fun. Yep, stays with a stomacher, we've all seen them and know how they work.

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I bought a bunch of bras online - on sale! - and several of them have straps that are just too long for me. Trying to decide if it's worth it to actually alter them or not ... I think it may be worth it because the amount of time it takes me to get myself together to buy things I need is horrible, plus it's always a crapshoot as to whether the straps will fit or not.

I also bought new Clairs from AD because the heel totally wore out on one of mine and was really dangerously bad on the other, and the new ones came with extra heel soles ... which made me go, oh, should/could I just write to Lauren and see if I could get a replacement heel for the ones I have? But then I can feel on the inside of the old ones that they're kind of chewed up in the toe (probably my large big toes' fault) and so is it really worth it to return these, patch the old ones up, and then have to order them again? Should I keep these in waiting and use the new replacement heels on the old ones? This is too much thinking!!! (I also ordered a pair of the Paris boots in black because I think they're awfully cute ... the heels have a small footprint which isn't great, but they're low, which is, so I think I should be able to walk well in them.)

Dad called me this evening to let me know he had a car crash, fell asleep and went off the road at high speed and dislocated his shoulder. Very upsetting, really wrecked me for a few minutes. It was mid-afternoon, which we always laugh about being "naptime" because he often literally naps then. So there's that.

He also wanted to tell me I made everyone feel awkward because I wished "both my fathers and some of my grandfathers" a happy father's day. (I got a lol from Owen, that's all I really care about.) I'm not sure why it would make anyone feel awkward. Either people don't know why I said it, in which case they probably came up with a few things (hey, maybe the one I'm not addressing is my mother's father, who died years ago), or they know that one grandfather hasn't wished me a happy birthday in almost ten years, even after we exchanged letters last year, and they don't feel awkward because they recognize that the man deserves a snub. My dad dislikes him more than I do, I don't know why he brought it up. There's no way he's thinking of reconciling, near-death experiences aside.

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Two different bra calculators told me that I should be wearing a 32I, which is not a size I previously knew existed. I don't think I believe it. Maybe a 34D instead of 36. Or 38? I spent most of this afternoon working on the VaVaVoom bullet bra but I still don't know how I feel about it. After finding that the cups as drafted didn't fit I drafted new ones, but then realized I just needed a little extender piece at center front for my wide ribcage. I have a hard time with bras because I have a high bust (inches-wise; proportionally with my torso I think it's average) and they're not even 100% right with the straps as short as they'll go, which I don't like to do as obviously they wear out faster that way. This is especially bad in my stripey dress, which is just meant for a different shape. They didn't do much if any updating when bringing the pattern out of retirement. At the same time, I of course want to be "that girl who dresses well, she's old-fashioned but quaintly adorable" and not "that weird girl who's always in costumes". I've altered the VVV pattern to not be so pointy and we'll see if it works to give me the shortness and support I'm not getting from regular bras, at least for dresses that need a different foundation.

I was actually thinking about a merry widow the other week, because my Rago shapewear isn't narrow enough in the waist and my hips are fine, they don't need slimming, really. I gain all my weight on my gut, I need something to haul that in for these 1950s looks. Plus the top of the girdle gets into fights with my bra, because that's how short-waisted I am. But merry widows are way more expensive than other things and I am going. to. stop. spending. I've spent my entire last paycheck and saved nothing. Plus some of my next paycheck I think, leaving enough for the rent. This is annoying. I used to save so much just a month or so ago, what happened?

My train on Saturday leaves at 7 in the morning from Syracuse omggggg That means leaving at about 4:20 from here.

Since getting rid of 1/3 of my clothes (and planning to get rid of a bit more soon), I've got space to get some more professional ones. I'm trying to plan out exactly what it is I need so that I can count on myself to go to nicer stores and buy specifically what I need, instead of wandering around Kohl's or TJ Maxx going "hmmm, I need worky clothes, let's find something," and ending up with a couple of very very plain jersey tops and an ugly sweater. Maybe I'll go to Macy's this or next weekend.

Oh, right, I'm supposed to be thinking about presents for other people.