bakerstreet | The Family Meme

The FAMILY Meme

How does it work? Simple! Choose a relationship (or roll for one, if it suits your fancy), and then RNG for a situation! That, or just go straight for whatever situation appeals to you. These are all fairly vague: just something to start you off!

Parent-Child

     1. Rock-a-Bye How do you get a fussy child to sleep? Read them a story, sing them a lullaby, or just let them stay up until they exhaust themselves? Whatever the choice, it is time for bed.

     2. For The First Time You've never met this person in your life, but it turns out they're one of the two reasons you exist. Maybe they walked out when you were young. Maybe they never knew you were born. Whatever the reason, it is now time to meet them.

     3. Past Midnight That curfew was set for a reason. Now it's two AM, and your kid is just now dragging in. Maybe they're drunk. Or got into a fight. Or just had way too much fun snogging their new love interest. It's time for them to face the music.

     4. New Home It's the first day of your new life together, as parent and child. Whether it's through adoption, a basket on the front steps, or a wish come true, both of you are going to have to learn to take your steps together.

     5. Holiday It could be Christmas, Easter, or just a birthday, but it is time to celebrate! Get together for some good old-fashioned family fun.

     6.Take To Work Day What your parents do for a living is the quickest thing that can turn a kid from boring to the coolest on the block. So whatever the job, from accountant to zookeeper, go to work!

     7. You're Not My Real Dad Being a step-parent (or step-child, for that matter) can be tough. Problem is, you're stuck with each other. So whether you're yelling or just having an awkward conversation, it is time to work things out.

     8. Unexpected Guardian So you're not the parenting type. Too bad. Situation calls for someone to step up to the plate and look out for this kid, and you're the only one near base. Have fun with that.

Siblings

     1. Protective Big Sibling Okay, look. No one gets to mess with your sibling but you. Your little brother or sister is in trouble; let them know you're going to be the one to take care of it.

     2. Ruining The Night So your sibling has a hot date. You know what that calls for? Making their lives a living hell.

     3. Newcomer Who is this new kid in your house? Your family has adopted, and now you have to call this stranger family. Welcome them into the house, or let them know how much they aren't wanted.

     4. Blood Brothers So maybe you aren't really related to this person. That doesn't matter. You're going to change that, right now. In this moment, you will become family. Nothing can break this bond.

     5. Middle of the Night It's the middle of the night. Your car is broken down, or you're drunk, or you need bailed out, or you just got beat up, or someone just broke up with you. Whatever just happened, it's time to call your sibling and hope they can bail you out.

     6. Sibling Rivalry Nobody understands what jerks siblings can be! Always in your stuff, messing up your relationships, getting in your way -- it's time for an all out brawl, whether that means yelling, pranking, or fists flying.

     7. Long-Lost Maybe you've heard of this person. Or maybe they are entirely new to you. However, you've gotten the information that you're more than strangers: you're family. Welcome to each other's lives.

     8. All Alone Once your family was whole. Or maybe it never truly was. Whatever the case, the world is a big, dangerous place, and you've only got one person left to rely on: your sibling.

Uncle/Aunt-Niece/Nephew

     1. Sent Away There's something bad going on at home, and you've been sent away to "safety." Problem is, how safe is this relative really? Are they the kooky, cool kind of Aunt, or are they a crazed Uncle after your fortune? Time to find out.

     2. Taking You In Something's happened to your niece/nephew's parents, and it's time to step up and do your family duty. They've got nowhere else to go, after all.

     3. The One We Don't Talk About So maybe the family is a little bit...ashamed of you. You're a bit mad, or you've done something they just don't like. Yet you want to be part of your niece/nephew's life, and whatever their parents say, you'll find a way.

     4. Grand Adventure Maybe you came out of nowhere, or maybe you've just been keeping secrets. But you aren't an ordinary aunt/uncle, and it's time to take your niece or nephew on a very wild ride.

     5. Like A Parent To Me Sure, you have parents, but this person is who your parents should be like -- or maybe who you feel should be your parent in the first place. Let them know how you feel about them.

     6. Don't Tell Mom Aunts and Uncles have special qualities. Like, sometimes, being a bit more lenient than Mom and Dad might be. So you have a, er, sensitive problem? It's time to run to them.

In A Relationship

     1. New Baby On The Way The panicking is already over, but there are still preparations to be made. Maybe you need to set up the nursery, or you've got the best idea for your soon-to-be child's name.

     2. Romeo & Juliet You love this person. Perhaps more than life itself. But it is time to break the bad news: your family will never approve.

     3. I Think I Might Be Pregnant Somehow, you are pregnant. And you think you know who the father is...time to break the news.

     4. While You Were Away You've been gone years, only to come back and find your beloved has a child...with your eyes.

Other
     Of course, you are free to make up your own scenario, or do a relationship not done here! "

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[She pours another cup of tea, as well as a sippy cup of milk, before answering. The domestic gesture sits oddly on Irene Adler, no matter how many times she performs it.]

Why didn't you [a subtle stress on the word to indicate both Mycroft and the late mysterious Jeremy)] adopt? Heaven knows you're better at this.

He was killed. A work related incident.

[A mild shrug.]

For the best, really, that it happened before we managed to settle in to domesticity with dependants.

Ah. [She doesn't say sorry, or make some polite murmur of condolence. That's the sort of thing normal people do, spin polite fictions. Her answer is simple, and matter-of-fact.]

You still wear the ring.

I'm not searching for his replacement. Besides, it wrong-foots people.

[It's on the wrong hand to be a wedding band, after all.]

Of course. [Knowing smile. She nods towards the other room.]

Did he know Jeremy? [Because she does wonder, sometimes, just how everyone got this way. If it's something to look out for in the future. When the boy is old enough to... well anything.]

They met, once. I'm not sure Sherlock was in any state to remember, or realized precisely- I doubt he'd know the entire affair occurred, if you asked him.

[A faint smile.]

Neither John nor Mrs Hudson are remotely aware of any of it, and I would prefer it kept that way.

[A faint smile. Not unexpected.] You say that like they would believe it, coming from me.

John's expecting this to be a colossal joke at his expense still, i think.

I know that.

[Otherwise, he hardly would have told her to begin with.]

I am still trusting you not to try.

[There. A tiny, tiny kernel of it. Trust. Although a secret no one will believe her if she spills is rather the equivalent of a child being given their first goldfish, to see how they do with it, rather than the puppy they asked for.]

Poor Doctor Watson. Everyone expects him to be wonderful with children, given that he's nurturing, but I'm afraid he really, genuinely isn't.

[No answer. She can read between the line better than most, and this is a petty test given that the real matter of trust is sitting in the other room. Hopefully still engrossed in his book and not attempting to scale the mantelpiece looking for the skull again.]

Of course not. John has it in him to be utterly devoted to one person at a time and only one.

[He doesn't mean it to be petty. Unfortunately, after all this time, it's really the most he is capable of.

Baby steps.]

It raises interesting questions, doesn't it? About the primacy of sexual love.

[Arched eyebrow, and that's the extent to which the expression on her face changes. She sounds almost skeptical.]

Does it?

I think so. Parenthood, friendship, brotherhood-

[They've become a tangled mess of interconnectivity. None of it precisely quantifiable.]

[A smile, at that.] On that our opinions differ, Mr. Holmes.

[As far as she's concerned, the sexual aspect of this entire snarl of interrelatedness was a byproduct, perhaps an inevitable one, perhaps not, but what led to the boy sitting in the other room (currently doing his best to shove the very heavy armchair towards the mantlepiece and getting nowhere), had changed absolutely nothing.

Except perhaps the frequency of her unexpected visits to Baker Street.]

Perhaps it's wishful thinking.

[He doubts it. But it has been a number of years since the death.]

[Her voice almost teasing now. Or maybe just amused.]

Getting sentimental?

I strive to avoid it.

[He promises, rather primly.]

[Wry.] Don't we all.

Well, Arthur doesn't. He prefers to telegraph all thoughts and feelings as loudly as possible. It's like working in the cabinet once more.

A troublesome habit. [And the reason why she's avoided New York City for the last eight months.] One he'll grow out of, if his parents are any indication.

You don't think Sherlock is blindingly obvious?

[Arch.]

[Lip twitch. Touché.] He tries not to be. [Around her, at least. Pride and all that.]

Unless you're telling me he also makes it a daily habit to announce to the world at large what New Jersey dowagers' real hair colours are in the middle of the park.

He does.

[Is the thing.]

Have an affair with anyone and then come within fifteen feet of him and he'll yell it at the top of his lungs, compulsively.

[Eyebrow raise.] What makes you think I haven't already?

[But she'll concede the point anyway, because, well she isn't in the States now, is she?] Well, early training will mitigate that.

[she definitely sounds more like the dominatrix than maternal there.]

I was talking about my brother. If you could train him out of that, I'd be much obliged, though I'd rather not hear about it.

[Thank you very much.]

[A positively wicked smirk.] So was I.

[She did have him pretty well trained at the end, after all. Before he figured out the code to her cameraphone.]

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