Writing/Grammar Question

First, THANK YOU to all the people who thought of me with the huge influx of chocolate and kisses on my userinfo page! I swear, it's like some sort of pervy women's Valentine's Day around here! Or maybe you all just knew that I needed some braaaaaaaiiiiiiiinssss... ?


Now, on to the actual question:

When you're writing a story in past tense and then need to diverge into some prior events to provide some backstory, you switch to past perfect. Okay. But if you're writing a story in present tense and then need to talk about prior events... what tense do you use then? Simple past or past perfect? Enlightening me, O Grammar Gurus!


Also for the U.S. people with pets: If anyone is interested in ordering pet food, treats, toys, supplies, etc. from PetFoodDirect, I have a 17% discount that's good for the next four days that you're welcome to use. The discount will likely cover the shipping costs, and the site has a great selection, good prices, and nice sales. And hey, you don't have to lug around big bags of food and kitty litter!

Art for Me!!

This squee is belated, but I'm behind on everything right now. Do not take the belatedness of the squee to mean the squee is half-hearted, though, because the art is awesome and the squee is colossal!

I am lucky like a mad, lucky thing, because ships_harry did TWO absolutely brilliant pieces for me!

Neck (Severus/Remus)
Holy good god, this is absurdly hot! Not because of what we can see so much as what we can't see. The image itself is fairly PG-13ish, but they're teenage boys, and things are implied, and you just know there are things happening and that the scene is going to end in stickiness, yes. Also, this totally hits my take charge!Remus kink... along with at least four or five others that I can think of right off the top of my head. ::salivates::

Threat or Promise (Severus/Sirius)
Guuuuuh. ::dies:: Okay, this one is freakin' hot for what's seen, what's unseen, what's implied, and the complete ambiguity of it. What exactly is going on here between them? Oh, man, the possibilities are endless! I have a pretty good idea of what Sirius is doing with his hands, though. ::smirk:: Gah, I can't even count the number of bullet-proof kinks she hit with this one. I want to fic this really, really badly, oh yes I do...

Anyway, go look at them and tell ships_harry how awesome they are! (The first one might be a touch NWS.)

Lucky r_grayjoy is lucky!! ::flaaaaiiiil::