Story: "Birthday Girl" (Part 12 of 18)

This story is a sequel to "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," "Splash," and "Coming Around."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Inferences of past child abuse. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Doombots crash a beautiful spring day in the park. The Avengers clean up the mess. This includes Natasha's rather confused longing for something she never had: a birthday party.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. Friendship. Confusion. Hulk is a genius too. Fluff. Making up for lost time. Birthday. Cultural traditions. Games. Gifts. Cake. The cake is never a lie! Tickling. Trust issues. Safety and security. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Personal growth. Family of choice.

Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11.  Skip to Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18.

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Coping with Emotional Drop

As part of the three_weeks_for_dw project (running April 25-May 15), I'm posting some content just to Dreamwidth. This is a good opportunity to seek new readers for your blog and new blogs to read, and to recommend stuff you enjoy on other people's blogs to help them make new connections too. Previously we discussed "Skin Hunger," "Touch Aversion," "Primates Need Touch," "Self-Soothing and Self-Control," "Compassion and Gentleness," "Creating Safe Space," "Building Trust," and "Healthy Vulnerability."


Coping with Emotional Drop

After I wrote the installment on healthy vulnerability, I realized that there seems to be no unflavored description of the "emotional drop" phenomenon and appropriate aftercare. Everything detailed comes from the "sub drop" version in the kink community, and not everyone feels comfortable with kink. On the speculative fiction side, there is "con drop" but little discussion of it. So I'll just fill in this gap as best I can, though many of the resource links still point to kink articles. Hopefully other folks will start writing about other drop examples.

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Slash as a Conjunction

 ... has been noticed by linguists.

I wonder when they'll get around to the use of an exclamation mark as a compound word juncture (as in male!Morgan).

New Crowdfunding Project: Sea Monster Cards

ellenmillion is doing a set of sea monster ACEO cards.  This is part of Sea Monster Month over on Torn World.  Donation perks include random prints of the cards, a complete set of the prints, or an original ACEO card.  There are some collective perks too.