jumperfucker | So. Things.

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So. Things.

Well, today was... interesting. I think that's a good adjective in light of everything. Like I said earlier, it was decided that it was time I met S' family today. I wasn't the only person who was made to go meet the parents (well, parent. It's only Mrs Holmes that's around these days). I guess

my_croft or

just_a_brolly or whatever he's calling himself these days is seeing someone as well, and he brought her along to lunch. She was sweet. That's another good adjective, I think. And the first person I've met since dating S that didn't make the same joke or ask the same question I hear every time we meet someone new. So that was refreshing.

I'm screwing up my narrative. Let me start over.

Birthday. Meeting S' mum. Right. Well, his brother came to pick us up, because their mum lives out in Chipping Norton, and that would have been one hell of a cab fare and I guess trains out to that direction are a pain. The ride there was misery. I think I'd have rather paid for a cab. S doesn't get on with that brother, as we all know, and we all wound up in the same car together for about an hour. I spent most of the ride practising bad habits I picked up off of S somewhere along the way and just messed around with my phone. I felt kind of bad, but wasn't sure what else to do in a completely silent car.

His mum's pretty much how I expected her to be. Charming, nice, intimidating as all hell. Sorry, S, but your mum can be a bit scary. Also, I did not know that they're French. Or 'a bit French,' as S put it (I guess their dad was English, but that's just a stab in the dark on my part, actually. Either that, or they've all put a lot of work into it).

Things went about as well as could be imagined. Everyone started off civil enough, but you can't put those three on the same website without war being declared. All around the same table was almost the front lines all over again. I'm not going to repeat what was said, partially because I'm trying to maintain the illusion that their swapping between languages confused me (come on, guys. I travel a lot more than the average person. Did you really think that would work?), but mostly because I was trying to block it out by talking to Kitty. That's the other person who was brought along today. She's very obviously new, because she didn't seem to have ever witnessed a Holmes Family Feud before. I really hope it didn't scare her off, though.

After things calmed down, I guess Kitty tried to break the tension by asking where they all got their names from. That went over... well, really badly, actually, and just started everything up again. Things didn't last very long after that. I'm almost dreading Christmas. Also morbidly curious.

Bill came over for a bit after we got home and I got S settled again. It's always a bit of a task after he and his brother are in the same room for any amount of time, but he was still wound tight as a drum when Bill got here, and he's still been really quiet all evening. I finally got some toast into him at least, which is the first thing he's touched since yesterday. I was really glad to see that his mum handles him so well for that matter. I have to admit, I was a bit worried that going out there for lunch would be a disaster since breakfast was just not on this morning. But she just let him be.

No dog tracks to report today. Or spilt paint. Or mysteriously vanishing or appearing pets. Bill's gone home now and S is back to his video game, being annoyed at some sort of endman or something. I don't know. One of these days I'm going to wake up and he's going to be make of pixels or something. I swear. I'm still annoyed at whoever put him onto that thing, but I have to be honest, it's been a bit of a godsend today. He needs the distraction, and that seems to do the trick.

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Yes my father was English. He was also a complete troll to be around, which is probably where Mycroft gets it from.

You're lucky - at least the enmity generally was between the three of them and not to you. My MIL, upon first seeing me, said to my husband "Oh, you always get the pretty ones!" Nice, huh? Took less than a month before I overheard "I'm so sick of her being around all the time!" after she thought I'd left the house. I think fifteen years means I WIN. :)

Sounds familiar! My husband's (large) family originally traveled to the U.S. from somewhere outside Naples, while my forebears were English/Scottish/Irish. Not long after I met my future mother-in-law, she told him she didn't understand "why none of you boys will marry a nice Italian girl."

Family gatherings can get v. interesting indeed. The daughters-in-law tend to migrate to a different room after an hour or two.

The first time my husband-to-be and I went to meet my parents at their home, my grandfather was living with them. He shook hands with my young man and handed him a Playboy to read while waiting for dinner. Later, over dinner, Grandpa explained to him how members of a certain religious group ran the world. (My dear boy later confessed that he was really tempted to tell Grandpa he himself was a member of said religious group, just for the lulz.) Then he did impressions of a person of color who used to collect their garbage back in the 1950s, and regaled us with tales of his uncle who emptied septic tanks for a living. Note that Grandpa did not have dementia or anything; he was that way all his life. I miss him.

It really took the pressure off my darling to make a good impression!

Well, damn. Way to make a guy paranoid.

How else do you survive inlaws? Stay paranoid. It'll keep you from being ambushed.

(I'm kidding. My MIL and I get along well now, but early days were rough. I was corrupting the purity of her baby boy, you see. I'm sure they like you fine - I was more commenting on their sniping amongst themselves than picking on you, which is good.)

His mum seemed to like me well enough. I think, aside from the brothers who both already know me, she's all I had left to impress anyway.

I guess I expected his family to be bigger.

Oh.

Oh, what?

I think there might be a problem. And it may be my fault. Again.

NO you don't. Don't take my ridiculous story of how I won over my MIL and apply it to yourself. The situatons couldn't be more different, I'm sure.

I could have at least said something for him, instead of stammering like an idiot.

I'm treading kind of carefully here because im slightly drunk.

But - a childs Significant Other is accustomed to making their own way and defending themselves against subtle jabs from In Laws - open hostility is another matter, but because the SO is outside of the family, its pretty common that they go through the trial by fire. Its FINE, I'm sure. Just watch how it goes from here on out.

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Don't you start with me, mister. These phone keys are tiny!

John is fine. He's an adult, he can fend for himself a bit. You probably know how strong he is, even unconsciously, so you didn't think he needed defending.

Its al good. Go get drunk, like I did! Keeps the annoyance factor to a minimum! Altho my husband is giving me the side-eye. Chips and bacon-cheese dip and beer is a perfectly acceptable dinner. Right?

I don't drink. It always causes more problems than it's worth, and I'd rather like to try to round out the year without a new assault charge on my record, thanks.

At least you know that. Some people never learn it.

I feel somehow I have disappointed you by being silly and drunk, sory. And yet...

One thing I know I can admit is that I've lost my right to judge people for what they do to have fun. And what should you care what some random person on the internet thinks anyway? I don't.

Because I drank too much and I get maudlin and stupid when I do that.

There are worse ways to be.

Granted, I can't think of any right now, but I'm sure there are. There must be.

*sigh*

Thanks for that. I'm going home, watching Doctor Who, and doing some revision on a beta I got back. Perhaps by tomorrow I will manage to be less stupid.

Hmm. Your apostrophes seem to go MIA when you're drunk as well. So does your shift key.

Things have never gone particularly well for me on this front. And this time I didn't even make an effort.

Tell him he's free to come over and relax with Junior, yeah?

Less paint at my place, for one

And at least playing that Mining thing means he's not gluing the news over your walls again

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