Countdown to small gifts 1/7: Introductions

[smallgiftsmods.livejournal.com]

The year-end holiday season is almost here! Let's jump start the process with introductions. Comment here letting us know who you are and how you began shipping R/S, and say hello to someone else--new friend or old!

Comments

Jamie/myprettycabinet

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

Aaahhh, yessss!! I loooove these posts!! :DDDD

I started shipping R/S in 2005, right before the 6th book came out. I was in Paris at the time, and I went to the Internet cafe a lot, because I had moved to Europe a few months previous and I was feeling homesick, lol. I got into the harry_potter community, posting theories and crap, and I don't actually remember the exact point at which R/S clicked, but it did HARD. I read a lot of fic - the one username I remember is minnow_53 and I reckon it's because it was the only good fluffy stuff being posted at the time that I could find. I also remember seeing that icon:

Harry: You're a werewolf?
Remus: Yes
Harry: Are you fucking serious?
Remus: Yes, that too

Hahahahaha. But I moved on quickly once the book came out, because - come on - new canon took precedence (though I hated Remus/Tonks - I still shipped R/S just not actively). Then I re-read the books a few time in between then and 2010, but in 2010 I got back into R/S fanfic, and then fanart, and over on dA there's a TON of art for anything and everything, and I got bored of thinking I could do better (for most stuff, obvvvvv not all of it, lol!!) and I wanted to draw Sirius with hair like I imagined - "his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance" but it never says crazy long down to his waist, but that's all I seemed to find. So I drew my own, and you guys were so NICE and loving, and have become my real friends - some of you properly in person or on the phone too! It's the best thing that happened to me in a long time. :DDDDDDD

HUGS

Re: Jamie/myprettycabinet

[epithalamium]

Oh, I fucking love minnow_53!

One of the reasons why I started drawing R/S fanart is that a lot of people made Sirius look sloppy and girly. Mine still looks girly, but at least he knows how to tie a necktie. :P

And you're just too sweet, you!

Re: Jamie/myprettycabinet

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

Me tooooo!!

YES, I'm all for your boys - and I mean BOYS, not GIRLS, lol.

SO ARE YOU THO. :D

Amuly

[amuly.livejournal.com]

Yo!

Amuly here. Um... I started shipping them over a decade ago, whenever I read PoA. When I read 1 and 2 I was already a shipper (well... by the time I read 2, I was), and I remember being disappointed b/c I didn't have any ships in the series. Harry/Draco kinda, because the dynamic worked, but I didn't really like either character very much.

Then PoA came out ^.^ And GoF. And by OotP they were my OTP (ha, see what I did there?) and I was madly, madly, madly, deeply in love with Sirius. To the point where I recall talking to a friend on AIM the first day the book came out and waxing poetic about how much I loved Sirius and I loved him and oh my gosh he's the bestest ever.

...

She had already finished the book at that point, and remained mum until I called her sobbing my eyes out not 3 hours later. ;___; ("Why didn't you tell me????" "I didn't want to ruin it! You seemed so happy!" "WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME? WHHHYYY?")

So, yup. R/S has always been my OTP, will always be my OTP. They're the pair I always come back to, even when I flit around to other fandoms.

So, hey everyone. You guys know me, I'm sure. Yo.

Re: Amuly

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

Loool, yes, hard to be an H/D shipper if you don't like either of them. :D

(OMG I always think about OotP and was SOOO confused when I was new and kept seeing OTP, I was all, "...do you mean...OotP?")

I looooove Sirius too, but I love Remus just as muuuuch! \o/

Aww, I wanna hug post-OotP!you DDDDDDDD: We can cry together.

I love you like I love Christmas. XD xoxoxoxo

[rhye.livejournal.com]

I am Jess :)

I asked a friend for HP fanfic recs right after I finished reading the series. She asked if I shipped R/S and suggested SBP. I said "No I don't ship them sorry." Later that night laying in bed I thought, "Well no wait a minute... why don't I ship them? It makes a surprising amount of sense." I did not read SBP until months later, but that next morning I started looking up R/S fics. I guess someone just had to put the idea in my head.

Sadly, I can't participate in small gifts this year as anyone other than a cheerleader/beta reader. I usually write 1-2 fics but I just had a baby and OMG so time consuming taking care of a newborn.

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD YOU HAD THE BAAAAABY!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

HOW ARE YOU FEELING???

/too excited

[rhye.livejournal.com]

OMG this journey. I actually had the baby two weeks ago and he was in the NICU for the past two weeks on a ventilator. We only finally sprung him yesterday afternoon so the "newborn" is two weeks old already. He's not eating as much as he should and there's a chance the hospital will take him back from us if we can't get more food into him. So basically any moment he's awake I'm trying to stuff him with food :( I have hated this entire NICU experience more than anything in my life but I guess since he did almost die I am just thankful to have a happy and alive baby at home.

As for me, I bounced back pretty immediately. They had to transfer him to another hospital by ambulance right after he was born and I could only see him if I proved I could walk so I basically sprung out of bed and ran down the hallway an hour after I gave birth, lol. Two hours later they said they could discharge me but I opted to stay the night. I'm already back into my pre-baby jeans. But I think the fact that he was so ill forced me to bounce back quickly. The day after he was born I was walking to the hospital where they had transferred him.

Thanks for asking!

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

Oh man, what a nightmare, but with a happy ending! I think you'll be a great mother, in the sense I feel goosebumpy and wanna cry happy tears that that little boy has such a great mommy that she was all, "Birth? Psh, I gotta get to my baby!" :DDDDDDD

Of course I asked! I feel like I've watch from very very afar the whole pregnancy, lol, it feels like forever - to me. :D xoxoxox

[mommyconk.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!! I am sorry you won't be writing this year because I have enjoyed your stories, but you have pretty much the best excuse ever. Enjoy your little guy and I hope he gets big and strong real soon :)

[escribo.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I read your comment to Jamie. I'm glad you're doing so well and you have all my best wishes for your baby and family.

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!! M.

[escribo.livejournal.com]

Hello Hello Hi :D I'm escribo/juke_box_dive/Dani

I wrote my first HP fic in 2005 (molly/arthur) and then my first remus/sirius in 2007 and then not again until I began These Four Kings in 2010. During my Christmas holidays in 2009, I was suddenly (and possibly inexplicably) insatiable and read possibly quite literally every r/s fic in existence and then spent January writing my own. I love them a lot, and I adore the things they inspire, all the incredible artwork and stories.

Buuuuuuut, I think the reason I stay in the fandom and enjoy it so much (beyond incredible characters) is because it's so well organized and incredibly supportive :D

[epithalamium]

I got into the fandom pretty late. I remember reading the first three books when the first movie came out, so that was 2001? Everyone was talking about HP, and I didn't even see the first movie (I'm not much of a movie fan--I don't even watch TV much). But then my cousins gave me the first three books as a present, and I got hooked.

Lupin is my favourite character ever, but when I first read PoA, I never really paid much attention to Sirius. I just thought of him as Lupin's plus one, lol. I didn't start properly shipping them until 2004 or 2005, actually, because I'm slow that way. Before that, I always thought of them as--well, parents. You don't usually ship parents or maybe that's just me?.

[mypretty-art.livejournal.com]

I'm tooooootally the same, they're like parents to Harry, therefore to me too. But as an adult, I see it differently now, particularly outside of the books and into fandom.

And you and I started shipping them around the same time! YAY!

[ithinktsdashing.livejournal.com]

I love how you claim you got into it late, and then almost have the exact same year preferences as me XD

I paid oddly much attention to both of them in PoA though. I don't even understand why I gave Sirius so much thought, seing as he is the "bad guy" there. Lupin is more understandable.
But yes, what you said about parents are definitely true.

[epithalamium]

Haha, I'm much older than you, though. It evens out that way. ;D

Everyone I knew fancied Sirius (not really, but he was a pretty popular character even back then, EVEN amongst the boys), so my reaction against him was pretty basic. Like, so all the girls (and boys) like this pretty boy? I DON'T. Hahaha! (So shallow.)

[ithinktsdashing.livejournal.com]

I know that logic (I live for that logic), haha. To me it was slightly different though, I read the books before I got into the fandom etc. And when I did, the opinions about Sirius was either "I like him because he is pretty" or "omg he's such a jerk!!". Both views was so... shallow, it didn't bother me. (If you look at swedish fandom, this is still pretty much the opinion you get. It's quite funny.)

[epithalamium]

Haha, I remember someone who recced my 'Here and now, the moment', and they said, 'Well, it's not like anyone cares about Sirius, but some people write so well, you have to sympathise.' I don't know if I should be flattered or not, haha. I'm still surprised at how many people gate Sirius because he used to be a bully. Meh, he's just human. At least he's not perfect. He would have been boring. :P

[ithinktsdashing.livejournal.com]

LOL, I think you should be. And yeah, people chose to judge him only based on that memory. As if they are flawless?

[bearshorty.livejournal.com]

I got into the R/S and fandom pretty late too. I read the first Harry Potter book the summer before the first movie came out (so 2001) and then I read the next three. I always loved Remus. Remus was just wonderful. He is my second favorite character. Sirius was not my favorite character at all - I couldn't relate to him at the time. So his death only affected me because of its effect on Remus.

I started shipping them around 2005 - a friend recommended Sam's "Stealing Harry". That was actually the first slash I ever read, I think. And that ship made so much sense. Then, maybe two years ago I got on a R/S fanfic kick and read many, many stories. And then I tried writing my own. And when I started writing fic, I wanted to write Remus with Sirius, of course.

One interesting thing came out from my interest in this pairing: because of fan fiction, I started to appreciate Sirius more and understand him as a character. I like him so much more now and one of these days I will try a story from his perspective.

[nerakrose]

Hi, I'm Karen and I don't know for sure when I started shipping these two.

I read the first four books in 2001 (before the 1st movie came out, which I went to see in the cinema with my family and was in two minds about because OMG CUTE and OMG NOT CORRECT). I remember getting all O.o when in PoA it was announced Sirius escaped Azkaban because I remembered him from that one line or two in PS and I was all 'but what HAPPENED do not understand' and then PoA happened and it was my favourite book in the world because Harry got PARENTS. in plural!

As for shipping... it wasn't until around 2003 or so when I discovered the concept of fanart and fanfiction that it came about. I actually first shipped James/Sirius because I was shallow (and 15) and I wanted the two blackhaired boys to be together becuse it was aesthetically pleasing. lol. It never sat right with me, though, because it meant that James/Lily never happened and that Remus/Sirius never happened, so I stopped being shallow and put things right. XD Anyway, I only looked at fanart then, having ventured into the world of hp fanfiction and discovering that it consisted mostly of "Harry discovers he has a sister/brother/his parents aren't dead" fic, which bored the hell out of me and was SO WRONG (irrational much? I dunno, but I hated it). I also wasn't really keen on fanfic to begin with because it screws with canon and my head - I'll read something and then forget what's canon and what's not. I remember reading a H/D fanfic way back in 2005 or something, because I was bored, and then when I re-read the series shortly after, I got all antsy because what I'd read in that fic didn't happen in the books and I was all "WHERE IS THAT SCENE WHERE IS IT". which really tipped me off that maybe I should stay away from fanfiction in literary fandoms altogether (never got into the LOTR fandom for that same reason).

It was only when I left my old fandom (an RPS fandom and therefore not canon-head-screwing) and around 6-8 months later was starting to seriously miss fic-writing and reading and being shippy and stuff that I got into the R/S fandom here on LJ. That was a little over a year ago... I was reluctant but the need for a new fandom sort of took over. My head doesn't feel particularly screwed with either, so it's all good.

[starkdependant]

Hi,

I'm Sarah, I started shipping Remus/Sirius before I even knew how to ship, because I remember desperately wanting theem to adopt me together and be my dads, so. And then a friend introduced me to the actual ship, and I've never looked back.

I haven't been as active in it as this year, so it's sad. I want to come return to regale you with tales.

[archduck.livejournal.com]

I have missed being regaled by your tales!

[starkdependant]

Story time needs to happen once more. Perhaps the spark will be kindled. ;;

[archduck.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone!
I'm Steph. Remus/Sirius was my first Harry Potter ship. I started reading fanfiction about seven years ago and not long after that began writing R/S. Since then, I have been involved in the fandom to varying degrees. I'd like to be involved more consistently - I have loads of ideas and a hard drive full of half-finished fic. I would love to get to know more of you awesome people - everyone in this fandom is so supportive and wonderful, not to mention talented.

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

Hey, hey!

I'm Michelle (Brighty18) and I've been shipping R/S basically forever. (I'm old. I can do that.) I just wanted to say "hello" to all of you, and let you know how excited I am about this year's rs_small_gifts.

[so-jayded.livejournal.com]

Hullo! My name is Jayde. I'm 24 and got into HP ten years ago. I can't remember when I started shipping R/S, but I've been reading it for quite a while. I just started writing HP fic in the last year or so, so this is all a new and interesting to me, haha! Nice to meet you all. :)

[cherrybomb213.livejournal.com]

hey! :3

I'm Kelly! I'm 18, and I've been reading HP since I was 6. I got into fanfic in general when I was around 14 and got into R/S about a year later. Just started writing my own stuff recently, though I've been a writer practically since birth...

very excited to be in the small gifts exchange this year!!!

[ithinktsdashing.livejournal.com]

Embla here, and I can't say exactly when I started to ship them. I think I was subconciously shipping them for a pretty long time, the thought itself (of them as a romantic couple) just didn't appear in my head. Before you judge me, you should know that I live in a very small village, where absolutely nothing out of the ordinary is accepted. Even mentioning homosexuality, especially to someone as young as I was, would be taboo. Also, this was before I used the internet, so let's just say I lived in a box, alright?

I do remember when I realised it, though. I had only just started to use the internet, and was on this Swedish Harry Potter fansite (that doesn't exist anymore). This must have been either late in 2004, or early 2005, which means I was eleven.
Looking back, this is actually a bit funny.
The site had this new thing, which was like little "clubs". You had to be invited, and if you were a member, you could enter a special forum for that club. Members could create clubs about pretty much anything, and... You get it. I was reading a thread in one of the official forums, and suddenly, someone randomly writes (not to me) that "hey, if you like Sirius/Remus, join this club!". Naive little me doesn't understand the internet meaning of /. naive little me reads this as "or". So I thought, well, I like them both, so I should join.
So I did.
The first thing I stumbled over was this comic, in which they were caught while making out instead of cleaning in Ootp. And my reaction was just "...wow... this makes so much SENSE!" (insert epiphany here)

...And that is the story of how I started to ship RS. I've been looking for this little comic ever since. I don't even know if it was good, but it sure has a memory to it, haha.

[theparchmentfox.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone! I generally just go by Fox in the fanfic-world, it's a privacy thing. I hope nobody minds :3

Well, I'm newer to this than most people here, but I love R/S just as much ;)
I think I've shipped them since some time in/just before this summer (2011) when I sort of fell upon that famous favourite 'The Shoebox Project' and realised that it was actually my OTP ;) I mean, I had never been a fan of Remus/Tonks, but I think it honestly just didn't occur to me before that fic that there might be something with Sirius...forgive me, all? ;D

I hardly know anyone here so I'd be glad of a hello (:

[trisstiss.livejournal.com]

Hi! Nice to meet another "new" shipper! And don't worry! Before my first R/S ff I was against the idea of them together. And now it's my OTP! Sometimes we just need something to push us in the right direction:) But look at this from the other side: we're new, that's right, but there's so many great fics from past years we haven't read yet;) YAY!

[trisstiss.livejournal.com]

Hi:) I'm Anna
I read first book in 2002. And it was because of my mom. She borrowed "Philosopher's Stone" from her friend and read it in two days. She loved it so much that she convinced my whole family to go to the cinema and watch first movie. I had a really good time but I didn't read the books yet. I read them all (all four of course) before the second movie. I fell in love with these books and with Remus. For the first time I learned that there's something like fanfiction. I tried to read some but my english was really big "block". So I tried to read some in polish but there weren't manny. I even wrote my own fic (about Remus of course). Remus was always my favorite HP character, I really liked Sirius too. But I never shipped them together. Truth be told I was very much against the idea! In my life I shipped only couple of pairings before, none from HP, all het.

It all change when I started watching Glee and for the first time I started shipping slash paring (Kurtofsky! Aye fellow Pirates!). Fanfiction.net became my second home and I discovered that something like lj exists. And some rainy and gloomy november day when I was playing 'HP Lego Years 1-4' game with my sister (Shrieking Shack chapter - I was playing Remus, she was playing Sirius), I started to wonder why I didn't ship them together. So I decided to give it a chance. I read my first Remua/Sirus fic. It was "It Was Only A Kiss!" by fabulous remuslives23. And when I started I couldn't stop. I know! It was like light bulb above my head! I don't know what was keeping me from this ship for all this time. It all made perfect sense and I think I must have been blind I hadn't seen that before.

But like we say in my country "Only cow doesn't change it's mind" so here I am! I created my lj account, I'm hungry for R/S fics and arts and want to meet new people who like RS just like me. I have few years to catch up:)