Oh goddess it's a HUGE birthday -- no really --

[rthstewart]

I reposted this from Twitter so apologies if you see it there or on Tumblr but I'm kinda all over the place.  Very much at sixes and sevens as this monstrous birthday has me in real disarray. I’ll be in a better place for a thrilling Event later in the month!
But for now, welp, anyone follows me here knows me through fandom going back to mid-90s and especially fanfic (approx 2 mil words over 27 years)  and/or the 3 sentence ficathon. 
To mark this horrific milestone, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to hear from you, somewhere, anywhere, about something I wrote, did, said, or sponsored that you liked, remember, or that helped. I'm rthstewart everywhere. 

If you see me, you can also lie and tell me I don't look a day over 50.  Or 55.  56.  ...

Comments

[rthstewart]

I love your work with the passion of burning suns. Your friendship and wisdom and humor are gifts. Also, I did not know that you joined LARM as a Tebbitt stan.
Thank you so much.

[vialethe]

While I do inevitably join Larm in most things, I have been a Tebbitt stan ever since I read TQSIT a decade ago! In fact...in honor of your birthday, here is a little unfinished rth!verse snippet I dug up from my files that's literally dated 2012. And manages to be all about Tebbitt without his ever actually making an appearance.

-
“So, brother, do we make our stand here or stage a tactical retreat to a back room?”

“Oh, I think we'll be just fine here,” Peter said, and something dangerously smug in his voice caught Lucy's ear. Dragging herself from the depths of pie-making (she'd abandoned the recipe twenty minutes ago, when its restraints had become intolerable, and was now slightly regretting it, as she suspected pie crust wasn't meant to be that color), she stuck her head through the kitchen doorway to see Edmund lounging in his favorite overstuffed leather chair while Peter stood at the window, lacking only a sword at his hip to go with his I-am-the-High-King-and-see-that-you-don’t-forget-it posture.

“What's the trouble?” she asked. “Eustace isn't on his way with more slides, is he? Reptiles are lovely, really, but they might be better appreciated in smaller quantities.”

“No,” said Edmund, as one of the bedroom doors shut and the click of Susan's heels sounded in the hallway. “Himself is on the way over, that's all.”

Susan swept into the room on a hint of perfume and the swish of silk. “He has a name, you know-”

“Several, as I recall,” Edmund muttered.

“And there's no good reason at all why you two should act like such children about him.” Only the arch of Susan's brows gave away that she'd taken any notice at all of the interruption.

“Of course there is,” Peter said, turning slightly from his post at the window. “We simply don't like him.”

Watching Ed grin, Lucy couldn't suppress a giggle, which led to Susan turning a disappointed gaze on her. “I suppose you don't care for him either, Lucy.”

“I think he's an utter rogue,” Lucy admitted cheerfully, wrapping her arms around Susan in a brief squeeze, hoping rather belatedly that she hadn't left behind cherry handprints. “But you like him, and that's what's important.”

“Since when is that what matters?”

“Since we live in a world where the pair of you are allowed to love without diplomatic constraints,” Lucy said, glaring in Peter's direction.

“Oh please, let's not start that again.”

*

“I must say, I'm very interested to meet him; anyone who arouses such ire in Peter is well worth knowing, in my opinion. Is he interested in lizards?” Mary asked, weaving her way through knee-deep piles of books, searching the library shelves. Susan was privately betting it wouldn't take five minutes before at least one pile had been knocked over.

“Tebbitt? I shouldn't think so.”

“Hmm. How about hips, then?”

“Oh yes,” said Susan, the smile curving across her face only partly having to do with the precarious teetering of the tallest stack, “I don't think there's any doubt of his interest there.”

[autumnia]

LOL I love this! ♥

[vialethe]

Thank you! I don't think I ever had any idea as to where the snippet went after that, but the bit I did have was pretty decent, at least. ❤

[rthstewart]

wait. WHAT. YOU WROTE ME FIC ALL THOSE YEARS AGO AND NEVER SHARED? You sneaky sneaky person. I LOVE Mary and Susan together, who I always thought would get on quite well. In fact, I think Susan probably liked Mary better than any of her sibs' other partners. Ahem. Why yes, I did think about this a lot.

And I adore how Peter and Edmund are going to go all GRR and ARGH to scare off Tebbitt and how Lucy is just wonderful leaving pie handprints everywhere -- I bet her pie looks like someone was murdered.
The entire sequence at the beginning is BRILLIANT -- Edmund in his favorite chair, Peter in his most high kingliness, and Lucy having abandoned the constraints of a recipe. Oh gosh I loved this so much. Thank you thank you thank you

[vialethe]

In my defense, it was a very long time ago and I didn't know you so well! Also, it obviously was not finished. But I am glad it made you smile. ❤

That makes sense about Susan and Mary - I think Susan would see through and not be bothered by a lot of Mary's...well, Mary-ness. And would be amused at how accurately and easily she skewers Peter, of course!

I imagine Lucy's pie looks like an absolute nightmare yet still somehow manages to taste good. Tebbitt probably ate three pieces, all while being fiercely glared at.