#i personally think that douglas came up with the name

[thedragonemperess]

Fun/weird thing that I noticed, but y'all know how the DavenKids are named in alphabetical order, right?

Adam, Bree, Chase, Daniel.

And, assuming that there were failed androids before Marcus, he still fits into this.

Cool, so after M, what's the next letter in the alphabet?

It's N, right?

Cool, now, follow-up question, what's Donald and Tasha's daughter's name?

It's Naomi.

#marankton speaks because why not #lrmmlref stuff #lab rats #lab rats bionic island #lab rats elite force #lr #lrbi #lref #i think about these characters. a Normal amount. #see #i personally think that douglas came up with the name #and Tasha liked the sound of it so much that Donald just let her go with it #and then Douglas just didn't tell them shit about why or how he came up with that name #until Naomi was older and it was too late to change it #THAT'S when the fun stuff happened #ykw i should write a fic

[aimless-imagines-for-fun]

Phone Fun

Pairing  ::  Tangerine x  fem!Reader

Warnings  ::     18+ Content, SMUT/NSFW, Phone sex, Masturbation(F&M)

Word Count  ::  1310

Summary  ::  Tangerine’s been gone for a while and you each miss each other a lot

A/N  ::  I KNOW I’VE BEEN GONE FOR LIKE EVER BUT we should have all accepted by now this is the type of person I am. I am sorry. Please forgive me for my laziness.

It’s not funny like at all how quickly I became a slut for this man. I even bought the book Bullet Train so I could get more of him. I also might make a small/mini series for him bc I think it’s hilarious if he dated someone who had no clue he was an assassin.

Tangerine is a professional. He does his job by the book(at least to the best of his abilities, given his line of work), quick and easy. He isn't the type to make mistakes or take risks. With that being said, he does everything he can to keep his work life and private life completely separate, even if that means lying to the person he loves most.

You hadn’t the slightest clue as to who he actually was. Everything you knew about him was an intricately fabricated lie of a life he created for you to believe. For starters, he told you his name was Gordon, and Lemon’s was Thomas. Lemon was happy he used names from Thomas The Tank Engine but would’ve preferred they had gone by Donald and Douglas since they’re brothers. Then, he told you he and Lemon both worked for a private security service firm that worked high-profile jobs. With this lie, you never questioned when he traveled to foreign countries for various periods of time. However, this also led you to presume he worked somewhat normal hours.

On more than one occasion, you called Tangerine while he was in the middle of work, and being the worry-wort he was when it came to you, he immediately answered after scrambling to find a decently quiet place to talk to you. Luckily, the calls were never because anything had happened to you or you somehow magically learned about the double-life he led and now wished to cut all ties with the contract-killer. Typically it was because you simply missed him and walked to talk to him for a bit, making sure he was okay.

Lemon always thought a simple text would have sufficed rather than a call. When he told Tangerine to tell you so, he received a menacing glare in response. After that, he completely threw out the thought of convincing him to tell you the truth.

Today’s call was not normal though.

“God am I glad you called.” Tangerine sat down on his bed, glad Lemon was out grabbing food so he could have a private chat.

You were able to hear clearly through the phone his exhaustion. “Was it rough today?”

He let out a deep sigh, earning a small chuckle. “You have no idea love.”

“You’ll be home soon, right?”

“Yeah, in two days.”

“I miss you so much.”

He was gone for nearly a month, jobs booked back-to-back. Before this, the longest he had been away was barely under two weeks.

Tangerine was looking forward to engulfing you in a large hug and pressing his lips against you in a passionate kiss. You never admitted it, but you became quite needy whenever he was gone. He never had any complaints since the sex when he got when he came back was always amazing. He couldn’t wait to toss you onto the bed, though he doubted if you two would make it to your room before you started your fun.

“This is gonna sound silly but…” You were hesitating. He was sure you had that shy smile you always put on when you were embarrassed right now. “I’m only wearing one of your button-ups right now.”

Only. That word rang in his head like a bell. “Oh really?”

Even though you knew he was returning soon, you were still incredibly lonely. Without thinking you grabbed one of his shirts and immediately a small smile formed due to the familiar scent that lingered. He didn’t use harsh over-bearing cologne that had multiple ingredients mixed creating a headache of a smell. Rather, he used a simple citrus herbal mix. Hints of orange and lemon hid under a woodsy scent with a slight spice.

Then, a slightly devious plan formed in your head, leading you to this very moment.

“Mhm.” You bit your lip, trying not to smile even though he couldn’t see you.

“And what are you doing right now?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“I think you’re waiting in bed for me to come fuck you.” The sudden drop in tone shot a tingle down your spine, the warmth between your thighs growing.

“Ding-ding.”

“Have you started touching yourself?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“Because I wanted to tease you.”

A dark laugh left his lips. “You know I don’t enjoy being teased love.”

“Exactly.”

Whenever you made the reckless decision to tease him, he would often end up turning the tables and turned you into a moaning mess. Sometimes you did it on accident, other times it was on purpose because you loved how worked up he’d get.

You let out a soft hum, starting by massaging your breasts. “Don’t worry, I’ll go nice and slow so you know everything I’m doing.” You pinched your nipples, rolling them between your fingers.

You always knew how to turn him on. It was truly a gift you had. Hearing your small satisfied hums, he began to grow hard and found himself palming the bulge in his pants that was forming.

One of your hands traveled downwards to start rubbing your wet folds. “Hnng...” You imagined he was here with you, taking care of your needs. You rubbed a small circle around your clit, doing your best to enjoy the moment instead of speedily making yourself cum.

Hearing a small zip and fabric moving, you knew he was doing the same. He began stroking his length, remembering the tightness of your cunt.

You were growing wetter by the second, so when you moved your other hand down to insert a finger a soft sucking sound of the mess you were creating was now heard. This caused his dick to twitch, eager to be wrapped around you.

You stopped rubbing your clit momentarily to stick in a second finger and begin pumping, hoping the wet sounds would excite him. Precum began beading at the top of his cock so he used it to help lubricate his shaft. Going at a pace that matched yours, his grip was tight but paled in comparison to your cunt.

Both of you could hear the other’s desperation in your moans. You each wanted to touch one another so badly but had to suffice with the situation at hand.

Deciding you needed more friction, you pulled your fingers out and sat up.

“What are you doing now, love?”

Shamelessly you replied, “I’m going to ride your pillow darling.”

“Fuck.” His balls tightened.

As your hips began rocking back and forth on his pillow, he began to thrust up in the air, each of you pretending you were riding him now.

Growing closer, you started rubbing your clit again, your fingers moving much harsher than before. He was also getting ready to cum, so he quickly threw off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt so that way they wouldn’t get ruined.

Your paced hips grew sloppy and your panting much louder. His groaning was becoming deeper, pumping and thrusting as if he was fucking.

“Ahh!”

The heat building in your stomach was begging to be released. You stopped moving, straddling the pillow with your hand between your legs. Your hand moved quickly across your clit until the tingling sensation finally broke. Your entire body tensed up, continuing to press firmly against the sensitive nub while your pussy clenched to release.

With his own muscles tense, hearing your cry of pleasure his cock twitched again, finally ready to cum. His tight sack finally contracted, releasing hot shots of cum that landed right on his abdomen. He released his hold, his cock continuing to jump as his entire load came out.

The only thing that could be heard now were the small breaths you were each taking to compose yourselves.

“Well this was fun,” You said while flopping onto your back.

“Fun, but not as good as the real deal.”

“Two more days until then.”

#bullet train #bullet train tangerine #tangerine #aaron taylor johnson #aaron taylor johnson smut #aaron taylor johnson fanfic #bullet train tangerine smut #tangerine x reader #tangerine smut #bullet train tangerine x reader

[muddyorbsblr]

a sizing mishap

See my full list of works here!

This story (and in turn this entire collection) wouldn't have happened if I weren't inspired by this comment from the amazing @lokischambermaid. Thank you for the thot!! 💖🫡

Summary: You hand Player #6 his uniform but it's the wrong size…

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings: 18+ | smut-ish at the end (minors & pearl clutchers, don't try me. not today); language; side-eye worthy behavior from less than minor character at the beginning [let me know if i missed anything!]

Things to be aware of: trust the process, and let me know if you caught on to the hints 😉

It was slowly and surely getting a touch too stuffy in this tiny room you were stationed in for the day. You knew that it was the misfortune that would befall the newbie on the crew but it didn't ease your frustration any. No amount of guzzled water or time spent holding your handheld fan down your shirt could help the fact that the entire room felt like you were slowly being cooked sous vide.

And as if your predicament wasn't uncomfortable and mentally taxing enough, you had to do an inordinate amount of moving about from scouring through the piles of jerseys and shorts to hand off to the various players because most of them hadn't even bothered to fill out the order forms with their size weeks prior to today. To make things even more interesting, some of the men thought themselves charmers and attempted to flirt with you while you were already under enough undue stress.

Your therapist was definitely going to hear about your exchange with that former tatted up boybander who answered your question of "Size, Sir?" with an overconfident "More than big enough for you, luv."

At least you were proud of your deadpanned response of "Somehow I highly doubt that" that made him grumble out his actual answer of "Medium". Another uninterested look that carefully examined his torso and legs and you made the executive decision to hand him some sets in a size XS instead.

"This isn't a Medium. Can you even read?" he snapped at you, waving the uniforms in his clenched fist.

"It's your size, sir," you shot back, your tone still deadpanned and unwavering despite the temper he was showcasing. "If you don't believe me you're more than free to try it on behind that curtain there. If I'm wrong then I will gladly assist you and hand you a set in the next size up."

It only took a few minutes for him to stomp behind the curtain, try on the uniform, and then stomp all the way out of the tiny room without another word. Guess you handed him the correct size after all.

You had a few minutes to breathe after that first wave of players walked through, allowing you to prepare yourself for the sweat-inducing task of moving about the piles once again when the next batch came in and told you they didn't input their sizes, either. At this point, you jokingly told yourself that you'd outright kiss the first one who actually had a size next to their name on the sheet.

"Name?" you called out when you heard the door open again, already facing the surplus of extra unlabeled uniforms to thumb through the piles.

"Douglas," the woman answered, chuckling when you let out a sigh of relief finding a size next to her name on the chart. "I take it some of my teammates didn't give you their sizes in the form?"

"Try nearly all of them so far," you huffed to confirm. "It's been so bad that I was telling myself that I'd kiss the first person who actually had a size next to their name on this damn thing." You waved the printed papers of the chart around to punctuate your point, making her laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Well I think you'd be better off saving that promise for the one coming after me, assuming that he filled out the sizing form. Trust me, you'll probably want to pass on lil ol' me. Then again he might not be up for it considering he does have a very pretty lass that--come to think of it, from what I know about her, kind of looks like you…?"

"Now I'm intrigued," you teased, turning around to the comparatively small pile of labeled uniforms and handed her the one with "DOUGLAS" written on the top. "There you go. Good luck out there."

"Thanks. And good luck to you too it's like a brazen bull in here, bloody fuck."

You waved her off, already holding your tiny fan down your shirt again and just trying to take deep, slow breaths to try and lower your body temperature somewhat. The sound of the door opening again nearly had you whining to any deity listening to give you at least fifteen minutes to cool down before having to deal with another conveniently forgetful soul. "Name?" you all but sighed out.

The effort it took for you to fight back a face splitting grin at the name and buttery smooth voice that reached your ears should have gotten you some form of accolade in the realm of sheer Herculean level restraint. "Hiddleston."

You perused the charts, pursing your lips to keep yourself stoic upon seeing that the field beside his name was, in fact, not blank. "Just a moment, Sir." There was a very faint mumbling coming from the towering man a few feet from you while you retrieved his uniforms from the pile of labeled bundles, an expression nearly as stoic as your own on his face when you handed him the parcel. "There you go."

He gave you a soft smile, holding you captive in an oceanic gaze that you had to practically pry yourself away from and at least pretend to busy yourself with the paperwork on the little desk.

Suddenly all the bravado you had facing all those hubristic men from earlier melted away, as if karma had literally deflated it out of you as some warped retaliation for your earlier behavior. He didn't even have to do fuck all anything and you could feel your pulse skyrocketing and your body overheating that had nothing to do with the current climate of the even more seemingly cramped and overcrowded room.

But then he spoke.

"Erm…I truly hate to be a bother but…this isn't the correct size."

Your eyes snapped up to meet his, showing him your visible shock. "That--That can't be. This came straight from the suppliers, they're the ones that labeled these all."

"I understand that but…these are a size Small. I distinctly remember leaving instructions for y--For my partner to input a Medium."

Another look through the chart had the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. "It…it says Small," you choked out, visibly struggling to meet his eyes again. "I'm--I'm so sorry, let me see what I can do, I'll make a few calls and-and--"

"No no no, hey hey…" he called out, placing the parcel back on the table before placing his hands on your arms in a gentle hold. "Calm down. It's alright, just breathe." He started running his hands up and down your arms, the motion calming you almost instantly, before sneaking a glance at your little nameplate on the table. "Y/N, just breathe for me, sw--Breathe for me, alright?"

The motions of his hands began to guide you through your breathing, feeling your racing pulse begin to mellow down. "I'm--really sorry about that, it's just I'm new here and this is gonna get me in some serious trouble if I end up fumbling and blundering like--"

"You're going to be alright, it's not that big of a deal, really," he told you in a reassuring tone, squeezing your shoulders lightly before letting go and picking up his jerseys and shorts again. "It's only one size down, I'll make it fit." His free hand twitched toward you briefly, some bizarre part of you instinctively itching to reach for him in turn, but your more rational mind decided against it and sat back on your little seat.

"There's something off about you," you rambled, shuffling the papers of the chart once more and reaching for a pen. "You're way too understanding and mild-mannered for this industry."

He hesitated before taking the pen from you, holding your hand in his as he asked, "Would you mind if I tried it on? Just to be sure." There was the slightest twitch in his eye, as if he was about to wink before he made the split second decision not to, and all you could do at that moment was look up at him with the most foolishly dumbstruck look on your face.

"N-Not at all. Go--Go right ahead, there's a curtain over--Ohh okay then that…works…too," you mumbled to near incoherence as he proceeded to undo the buttons on his thicker overshirt, shrugging the garment onto the floor before giving his light blue button down the same treatment.

Get a hold of yourself. Pick your jaw off the ground you're embarrassing yourself, you hissed inwardly, reminding yourself that you were about to be in the presence of a lot of shirtless men this entire weekend throughout all the practices and promotional events, not to mention the game itself on Sunday. But none of those guys look like this. Look like a literal god among men.

All the while he never broke eye contact with you, holding you hostage in a stormy gaze as if daring you to look away while he effortlessly pierced through the plastic that contained the jerseys. You did your best not to fixate your eyes on the sinewy, well-defined muscles that were moving fluidly with every minute movement of his hands, holding his gaze with all the confidence you could muster.

He made a show of unfolding the shirt in slow, deliberate movements, the corner of his mouth twitching upward in a smirk when he noted the visible movement of your neck from a strained effort in swallowing and calming yourself. It was only then that he put the shirt over his head in one fluid motion, the fabric stretching taut across his chest and threatening to burst at even the most minute flex of muscle.

The internet is about to have a field day and I am about to get kicked out of this committee, you thought to yourself. And on your first year, no less. You should've known it was a bad idea to agree to the invitation just because your boyfriend encouraged you to.

"It's not too bad, is it?" He swung his arms around to test his range of motion, before raising his hands above his head in a stretch, causing the borderline illegally tight fabric  to ride up on his abdomen, exposing his lower stomach.

You could barely hold in your composure as you choked out, "It looks…manageable." You held out your pen in his direction again. "You just uhm…need to sign on the chart."

He approached you with a certain sway to his step that vaguely reminded you of a wolf stealthily assessing its prey, fingers slowly brushing across your skin as he took the pen from your hand and uncapped the pen by placing the cap between his teeth. When he finished signing his name on the chart, his eyes never left yours as he recapped the pen and placed it back into your hand, his large palm engulfing your entire hand in a warmth you couldn't even bother to complain about despite the stale humid air of the room.

"There you are, darling," he rasped. "No harm done. You won't get into any trouble with your superiors because of me, don't you worry your lovely little head." You watched with bated breath as he turned around and bent at the waist to pick up the discarded shirts, putting that ass that the internet shamelessly thirsts over and stares at for hours on end mere feet before your naked eyes.

I have no idea if my job is cursed or if it might just be the best thing that ever happened to me, you thought helplessly to yourself, watching as he stood back upright and turned again to face you, giving you a small wave as he exited the room.

You fought the urge to hold your tiny fan down your pants after that exchange.

The sound of your phone chiming with a new message brought you out of your stupor, a smile finding its way onto your face as soon as you saw your boyfriend's name on the screen.

"Are you alright? Have you eaten since you got there? Make sure you're drinking lots of water, I hear it's going to be sweltering today. I love you and I miss you already, goddess."

Just the mere thought of how he'd taken the time to type out the message despite how busy you knew he was had you biting your lip to try even slightly to prevent yourself from letting out a stream of giggles like you were back in school all over again. You could feel the ache in your heart as you began to feel your own yearning beginning to intensify after his message.

"I just have a few more people to hand off their uniforms to and then I'll go get some food. Thank you for checking in on me. I love you and I miss you more than you know."

The rest of the day was thankfully a bit more merciful towards you. Once you'd handed out all the uniforms and put all the surplus jerseys and shorts into a merch pile for audience members to purchase before entering the stadium proper and perhaps have the players sign at the end of the game, the hours up until training was over were spent outdoors coordinating with press photographers, making sure that security was on peak alertness in case anyone managed to sneak through the cracks, and confirming that everything was in place for some hot sauce challenge that would take place tomorrow.

You also made a note to take one of those bottles home since you were running low. Only if you could, of course.

When the fields were empty and you were locking down the press room for the night, you heard someone walk into the otherwise quiet room. "I had the most interesting conversation with some of the other players today." The sound of the man's rich, velvety voice had your heart violently pounding in your chest. "About you."

You took a few steadying breaths before you addressed your unexpected visitor, your back still turned to him as you finished writing down the names on the media passes for tomorrow morning. "And what is it that I can do for you, Mr. Hiddleston?"

The sound of his footsteps slowly approaching you had a thrill running up your spine, making you abruptly stand to attention when you felt large hands rest on your waist. "One of them told me about how you were tempted to…what was it again? Ah yes…you said something about kissing the first player that actually had their size on the chart?" You bit back a smile, looking out the window to double check that nobody was lurking and trying to peer into the room as he wrapped his arms around your waist. "Now Douglas told me that allegedly it was her, and she passed it on to whoever came next. And if memory serves me right…I believe that would mean that immensely fortunate player was…myself."

He'd leaned in so close at this point that his lips were grazing the shell of your ear. "This is highly unprofessional," you mumbled, barely able to contain your smile now.

"I don't care. I've been thinking about you all day." Fingers ghosted up the length of your spine while his nose traced a line from the shell of your ear down to a very specific weak spot on the juncture between your neck and shoulder. You went nearly limp in his hold the second you felt him press a soft kiss to that same spot, his free hand deftly undoing the ribbon you had holding your hair up before weaving his fingers through your hair. "Take this as me officially breaking character. I've missed you, goddess."

The groan he let out against your skin turned you into putty in your boyfriend's arms. "One day," you giggled out. "You lasted barely one day."

Over the last few years since you'd gotten together, whenever you were both signed on to a project, you tried to commit to this bit of "staying private and professional" throughout the course of the project, so as to not draw too much attention to the fact that you were involved. It had come to the point where it collectively slipped the mind of the general public that you two were actually still, in fact, happily together and borderline maddeningly in love. And it also granted you both a comfortable enough sense of privacy, which you were immensely grateful for and neither of you ever dared take for granted.

On previous projects, he would 'break character' within the course of a few hours, and you had a feeling that the only reason it took him nearly a day this time around was that you two weren't around each other as much due to him practicing for the game, and you running around the entire facility.

"I have to be honest, though," you started, letting out a squeal as he abruptly turned you around in his arms to face him, pulling your body flush against his. "For a second there I thought this would be a first and I would break character. This afternoon." It was a good thing that he was currently holding you upright with the way he was looking at you through hooded eyes, his chest heaving through that one size too gloriously small shirt; if you were left to stand on your own, your knees would've buckled the second he touched you. "If you kept up that goddamn striptease for even two more seconds I might have caved."

He smirked at you when you a tiny yelp slipped through your lips as he placed his hands on the backs of your thighs and easily lifted you into his arms. "I'll have to try a bit harder next time," he whispered, walking until you felt your back make contact with the wall. "I believe you owe me a kiss, sweetheart."

You crossed your hands behind his neck, leaning in to give him the quickest peck to his lips. "There you are," you teased, letting out a stream of giggles against his lips when he grabbed the back of your head and pressed you against the wall before pulling you in for a deeper kiss. He let out a desperate sounding moan into your mouth as his arm around you tightened and his fingers tangled into your hair. As if he couldn't possibly get enough of you. Or as if you hadn't seen each other for months.

"Where are you staying?" he rasped when he pulled away, resting his forehead against yours as you both caught your breath.

"I have a room that I'm sharing with 2 more members from the committee--"

"That won't do," he cut you off, pressing his lips to your jaw and kissing a trail down your neck. "You're staying with me. I already despise the mornings that I wake up away from you, it's cruel and unusual punishment if I go to sleep tonight alone knowing full well that you're here in another room." You stifled a moan when he proceeded to suck a bruise onto your neck, already anticipating the questions from your fellow committee members in the morning when they catch sight of it.

"I uhh--ohh fuck--I'll need to get my things," you stammered, leaning your head back and arching into his kiss to expose more of your neck to him. "My clothes--"

"You won't need them, darling," he retorted, smirking against your skin when you let out a squeak trying to feign protest against his words. "Say yes," he pleaded between kisses. "Stay with me." He kissed his way up to the corner of your mouth. "Don't deny me the simplest joy of getting to wake up with you in my arms."

Those were the words that did you in. "Okay, okay yes," you breathed out, your moan muffled by him once again capturing your lips in a kiss that threatened to steal you of every last breath you had left.

Neither of you seemed to care in the slightest if you crossed paths with anyone on your way to his suite, Tom adorably refusing to let your feet touch the ground as he carried you down the halls. "There was one more thing that some of the players mentioned…Something about you being able to assess their sizes and giving them their correct fitting instead of the size that they told you they were?"

Dammit, the boybander told on me, you grumbled to yourself, meeting your boyfriend's gaze with your worst attempt at an innocent smile. "Aaaand…what about it?"

"You've known my measurements since they sent in the roster form," he started with a knowing smirk, causing you to purse your lips and basically out yourself that you knew exactly where he was going with this.

"I did…"

"Did you intentionally input the wrong size?"

Biting your lip before letting out a fit of near uncontrollable giggles told him more than a spoken admission ever could. "I might have…"

"And I would also be right to assume you had everything to do with the swapped out trousers in my bag?"

Your giggles got louder, practically giving the entire floor a homing beacon signal to where you were, take one look at your current positions, and give them a vivid idea of what type of noises they would expect to hear throughout the night.

"I had to do it," you managed to say between laughs. "For Tumblr."

You held on to him a bit tighter when he went to unlock his door, pressing the keycard to the scanner and balancing you on a single arm, and giving him the perfect opportunity to kiss yet another particularly sensitive spot behind your ear. He let out a seductively dark chuckle against your skin when your giggles had morphed into moans.

"Naughty little goddess," he rasped, tracing his lips along your shirt's neckline as he laid you down on the bed and then proceeding to kiss a path down your clothed torso until he reached the hem of your shirt. His hands traveled up your body, working the fabric up and over your head, kissing and licking and biting at a leisurely pace at every sliver of skin that was exposed to him.

Once the shirt was up to your raised hands, he hovered his face above yours, capturing your lips in another languid, decadent kiss that had you sighing against him as a warm contentment washed over you. You'd only realized now how much you actually missed him since having to leave your home yesterday to come here and begin preparations with the rest of the committee. All day you were so caught up with finalizing every meticulous detail you had control over it was almost like your mind didn't allow you to feel how much you were yearning.

"What am I going to do with you, my darling little menace?" he murmured against your lips, your combined moans filling the room as he licked into your mouth, your tongues meeting in a tangle long practiced and perfected over the years. You quickly tossed your shirt aside to free your hands and pull him closer, giving him the perfect leeway to unclasp your bra.

"Whatever you want," you gasped once you both pulled away, the silliest grins on both your faces as your hands fumbled for the hem of his jersey. "I love you and I've missed you more than you know."

"Shouldn't have said that, my love," he growled, pushing you back down on the bed so that your back was flat against the mattress, a near filthy moan escaping you when he hooked your legs around him and rolled his hips into yours. "There's a lot of pent up energy in me." He proceeded to summarize what he'd spent the day doing, punctuating each item with a thrust of his hips. "Running." Thrust. "Dribbles." Thrust. "Shooting drills." Thrust. "Endorphins are running amok. You understand, don't you, darling?"

"Let me repeat myself," you said breathlessly, crossing your ankles and pulling his hips to yours and making him let out the most delicious stuttered moan. "You can do whatever you want."

A/N: Suddenly those reblogs I did of 'one look and they'll know' are making sense, huh? 😉😈 Welcome to the Soccer Aid 2023 Hiddles collection! As of writing this Author's Note, there are going to be 5 stories in this collection, the next one being 'a tale of ice baths and hot sauce' which covers the Elementals challenge video, and I'm already working on it as we speak. 🫠

everything taglist: @simplyholl @loopsisloops @unlucky-number-13 @imalovernotahater @coldnique @loz-zie @huntress-artemiss @salempoe @vickie5446 @athalialaufeyson @lokiprompts @sarahscribbles @kats72 @kikster606 @evelyn-kingsley @lokixryss @thomase1 @mischief2sarawr @peaches1958 @lovingchoices14 @lunarnights95 @goblingirlsarah @iamlokisgloriouspurpose @creationsbyme @maple-seed @mjsthrillernp @ladyofthestayingpower @mygfloki @sititran @glitterylokislut @ozymdias @fictive-sl0th @lovelysizzlingbluebird @lokidbadguy @mochie85 @silverfire475 @joyful-enchantress @dangertoozmanykids101 @elizabethmidnight2017 @holdmytesseract @lokidokieokie @lunarnights95 @superficialdomina @anukulee

#tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston x female reader #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddleston imagine #muddyorbs writes

[reality-liver-n0]

Big Boy post, this time on Revy

I guess this will cover the basics of Revy as a character and the fundamentals of understanding her.

First off, her nickname is not “Two Hands.” It’s “Two Hand.” Which I barely learned myself, I think the anime uses Two Hands which is the source for the added s. But at least in the manga and by Hiroe himself she’s “Two Hand.” This name originated from a character in a novel he read, “Run” by Douglas E. Winter. (I recently bought it like a fool so I’ll try and connect the character to Revy when it arrives). But I think the English dub makes the mistake of Two Hands which caused the confusion. I guess in the sub version it’s correct.

Revy is a Chinese American. But she is ethnically full Chinese. The American is just her nationality. Hiroe confirms this in an interview where he states Revy is a minority, her physical appearance is based on Mangoloid features rather than Caucasian. He also states that she faces a lot of discrimination in life.

Which is why I think I figured out why Revy in the anime as a kid has black hair when she shoots her father. She dyed her hair burgundy to look less Chinese. Think about it. If she is facing a lot of police brutality in Chinatown, NYC, and her own father beats her she would want to remove herself as far from that demographic as possible. This is why she doesn’t know any Mandarin and chose to not directly align with Chang’s triad. Also she wore hoop earrings as a kid too, at least in the anime.

There is no way she’d want to be seen first by her race. As she said, all the cops saw was a “little chink bitch.” She absolutely loathes to be viewed by her appearance rather than skill or personality.

This may link to her exposed clothing style. Not only is it practical for movement, which is all she does in combat, but it prevents her from overheating. But the most important factor is that she shows a lot of skin; exposing her arms, legs and stomach. Therefore, her athletic build is on display. And the implication of it is clear. She is proud of her body, she will kill you, and it does not matter what she’s wearing. On a level it may be a subconscious decision of the aftermath of her rape. The number one thing the victim is blamed for is what they’re wearing, or rather the lack of clothes, which must obviously signify they wanted it. This is below the lowest bar you can go in blaming victims. Unfortunately, it’s likely that Revy in hopes of getting a reaction or letting it slip, told her dad about what happened.

And what would he say? Something about dressing like a slut or whore if I had to bet.

So, by her current attire, Revy is saying the exact opposite, she’s rebelling against that idea. Or at least mocking the idea that less clothing makes a woman weaker/vulnerable.

Also, she wears the same boots as Dutch. They don’t share the same belt but Revy’s matches the boots: both U.S. military. I find it cute that she could’ve had any other boots but chose to match him. She really does look up to him, and he’s basically her only father figure. It’s heavily implied that he came up with her nickname; Two Hand. Since Benny says that Dutch is good at creating nicknames and right when Rock joined, he made one up for him.

Now I will cover the basic ground for Revy’s personality.

Anger: Yeah, obviously this is at the top of the list. It’s the most obvious to new black lagoon fans; how many times does she yell and curse? But I would argue that this is the emotion she’s most familiar with, not what defines her character. This is a defense mechanism for when she feels threatened. Calm down two men showcases this the best. When she can’t talk down to Rock she gets pissed and tries to kill him. When he pulls the gun away, she punches him, and she sounds like a kid when she yells at him. She is scared and confused on how anger is not making him stop. After all, it’s what stopped her dad and everyone else who got on her bad side.

I will say that the anime focuses on this and makes it a larger trait of her character than the manga. But she does use humor as her last defense mechanism. Again, in calm down two men when she obviously can’t shoot away Rock or scare him with anger in the manga she says, “Screw you. You’re way more out there. Gump. Dork. Fool-in-a-suuuuit.”

This is something I’ve only recently discovered. Due to only watching the anime I missed a lot of differences that the manga makes. Revy in the latest chapters actually does expertly use humor to deescalate things. Specifically, between Le Majeur and Eda where she insists they settle their tempers through drinks instead of a gunfight.

Another one is with Roberta’s Blood Trail when they meet the addict. Revy plays along with his conspiracy theories, which gets them inside and talking to him. She does threaten him but in a tactful way of offering him much pure product if he complies.

There are other moments too where she uses it, the documents for Chang, some interactions with Fabiola, Japan, etc. So, it is a natural progression of her learning how to use her strengths and her own use of wordplay alike Rock.

And I would argue that Revy is as smart as Rock. Not academically of course but she matches his wit by her street smarts and gut feeling. A prime example in Roberta’s blood trail where she purposely knocks a bottle over to start the gunfight. They save Fabiola and she remarks that she knows Fabiola has never shot before. Just by shaking her hand and her unsteadiness getting out of the car, she knows that Fabiola got frazzled up. She actually offers a lot of advice with Fabiola and Garcia.

Also, with the Feng arc she uses a soda to cause an enemy’s gun to jam. Knowing that it will soak up in the metal and prevent it from firing. She also manipulates him by playing cat and mouse. She openly mocks him by saying his brother’s last words were for the “devil to ream him out on ass fucking street in hell.” So yeah, she just leads him straight to a firing squad then ducks as he gets shot to death. She’s very aware of how to lead a team as well.

In Roberta’s blood trail she does it with Shenhua, Sawyer and Lotton. She openly yells at Shenhua for trying to kill Roberta, since it’s a death sentence. They would’ve gotten the Americans if Hotel Moscow didn’t step in.

Also, Revy is very well connected to the criminals of Roanapur. She has a snitch on hand, a drug addict that she supposedly supplies, knows one of Hotel Moscow’s men, speaks openly to one of Abrego’s men, etc. She is aware that having a lot of connections is a good thing, so no doubt that she checks up on her contacts or knows a lot of the regulars at the Yellow Flag.

Surprisingly there are moments where she predicts how a party will move/think. A few times she does it with Hotel Moscow, the vampire twins, escape routes in the city that someone can or will take, and the deserted meetup with Chang’s clients, Shenhua and the Irish driver.

I’ll try to update this later as much as possible. It’s just hard due to the manga being digital for the later volumes so it takes longer to go through each page to find references.

#black lagoon #revy #big boy post #analysis

[the-moral-of-the-rose]

Yesterday Road, Today Road, Tomorrow Road...

Perhaps it's just another manifestation of my overthinking, but it seems to me that the three paths in Long John's Bush might have been written as a metaphor for Emily's life. Each path seemed to be somehow linked to a person who was important to Emily.

The paths were named by Emily and her friends, because: "The To-day Road is by the brook and we call it that because it is lovely now. The Yesterday Road is out in the stumps where Lofty John cut some trees down and we call it that because it used to be lovely. The To-morrow Road is just a tiny path in the maple clearing and we call it that because it is going to be lovely some day, when the maples grow bigger." (Emily of New Moon).

TO-MORROW'S ROAD (EMILY'S AMBITIONS AND DREAMS. TEDDY KENT):

The metaphor of Tomorrow Road was most clearly outlined. On the one hand, of course, it symbolized Emily's passion for writing and her ascent to the Alpine Path of glory and fame. As for the character with whom Tomorrow Road was most closely associated, it was Teddy Kent.

First of all, To-morrow Road never changed its name, even though by the time Emily reached her early teenage years, the maples grew big. In Emily Climbs, Tomorrow Road became the place of Teddy and Emily's meetings, where they shared their dreams and hopes for the future: "Then Teddy came for me and we walked together up the field and through the To-morrow Road. It is really a To-day Road now, for the trees along it are above our heads, but we still call it the To-morrow Road—partly out of habit and partly because we talk so much on it of our to-morrows and what we hope to do in them. Somehow, Teddy is the only person I like to talk to about my to-morrows and my ambitions. There is no one else." (Emily Climbs).

To-morrow Road was a place that marked the milestones for both Teddy and Emily (Teddy especially). Here he told Emily that his mother decided to allow him to attend Shrewsbury High School; here he told her that he had received an art scholarship and was going to the college in Montreal. Here he proposed. Here she was waiting for him with Dean's letter.

It seemed to me that Teddy and Emily's relationship was all about the future. Thorough Emily Climbs they seemed to think that they couldn't be each other's "today", because they both had their own separate dreams ("to-morrows") to conquer before they would be free to set on their rainbow quest together. (Side note: Montgomery skillfully mentioned that To-morrow Road was in fact - already To-day Road).

By the end of Emily Climbs, as their romance started to blossom, Emily's initial reaction was fear. Early on, she realised that she served a jealous goddess. We didn't get a glimpse into Teddy's feelings, but it was obvious from the start how ambitious and passionate he had been for his art. Perhaps it was something more than just a fear of Emily's refusal that drove him to silence when he had meant to ask her to wait for him? The scene itself happened on To-morrow Road (another symbol that it wasn't their time yet, perhaps?). During this scene, they both experienced a clash of two extremely strong passions: on the one hand, the desire to improve their art and fulfill their ambitions and dreams, and on the other - an awakening love. Teddy, before leaving for Montreal told Emily that there were two things in life that he had wanted "tremendously", but never told her that having her as his wife was one of these things.

I wonder if Juliet and Douglas Starr's tragic story might have forced Teddy's silence. Douglas Starr had once been young and ambitious too, but wouldn't have been accepted by Murrays because of his poverty. The result of this love was tragic; Juliet's elopement broke her family's heart and both she and Douglas died early, leaving Emily all alone. Perhaps Teddy felt that he might have been tolerated as Emily's friend, but not as her suitor. Since he seemed to doubt in his own success (especially since his chosen profession rarely resulted in a fortune), he might have been more likely to keep silent.

One quote of this scene between Teddy and Emily has always intrigued me:

"We walked along the To-morrow Road—[...]—until we reached the fence of the pond-pasture and stood there under the grey-green gloom of the firs. I felt suddenly very happy and in those few minutes part of me planted a garden and laid out beautiful closets and bought a dozen solid silver teaspoons and arranged my attic and hemstitched a double damask table-cloth—and the other part of me just waited." (Emily Climbs).

Because... was it possible that she had seen herself from the future? This was the exact spot where Teddy reconciled with Emily by the end of Emily's Quest. Where he had finally confessed his love [1]. But, most importantly, this was also a spot of the very last scene of the trilogy: Emily, waiting for Teddy to tell him that Dean had gave them a Disappointed House as a wedding gift [2]. There was a certain symbolism in Teddy coming to her - the exact opposite of To-morrow Road's scene that took place in Emily's Climbs, where it was Emily who went away, leaving him alone: "Teddy was looking at the dim gold of Blair Water and scowling. Again I had a feeling that night air was not good for me. I shivered, said a few polite commonplaces, and left him there scowling." (Emily Climbs).

In a way, their story came into full circle. They both achieved success and overcame their own biggest faults (pride, insecurities, selfishness, vanity). Unlike their seventeen year old selves, they got to know what loneliness meant - they found out that their ambitions were not enough to fulfill their heart's desires.

By the end of trilogy, Emily and Teddy still had their own "Alpine Paths" to climb, but from this time, they would have each other's help and support. They also had the dreams of future they share: of home, fireplace, toast and bacon and marmalade.

YESTERDAY ROAD. THE PAST AND FAMILY TRADITIONS. LOST DREAMS. JULIET MURRAY, DOUGLAS STARR, DEAN PRIEST.

Yesterday Road symbolized the past, for it used to be lovely once. Perhaps it might have been a place where Douglas and Juliet used to meet (their own "To-day Road"). For each member of the Murray family, Yesterday Road might have had a different meaning. For Elizabeth, it could have symbolized either her youth, either a period when Juliet was a child; for Laura - her former love for Dr. Burnley; for Jimmy - his lost potential; for Juliet - her childhood, family, first love.

For Emily, Yesterday Road symbolized family traditions (the chapter in which Cousin Jimmy told her family stories was titled "The Book Of Yesterday") as well as her parents' love story. All that shaped her as a woman and a writer, but also nearly became an obstacle to fulfilling her dreams. Due to Juliet's elopement, Aunt Elizabeth almost kept Emily from receiving an education. The whole family tried to marry Emily off to cousin Andrew, so that Juliet's story wouldn't repeat itself. During Emily's later years, Yesterday Road might have symbolized Emily's lost hopes and dreams.

The person who directly referred to Yesterday Road was Dean Priest: "I shall carry pictures of you wherever I go, Star," Dean was saying [...] "pacing up and down in this old garden—wandering in the Yesterday Road—looking out to sea." (Emily's Quest).

In the second part of the trilogy, Dean Priest directly admitted that he was aware that Emily's future would not be his future: 'I hate to hear of your to-morrows—they cannot be my tomorrows.' (Emily Climbs).

During the year that he and Emily had been engaged, Emily rarely thought about the future, and felt anxious about it: "Always to be afraid of to-morrow? Content—even happy with to-day—but always afraid of tomorrow. Was this to be her life? And why that fear of to-morrow?" (Emily's Quest). In the rare moments that Emily thought of her future, she saw Teddy, instead of Dean in those visions. "She saw herself there in the future—flitting through the little rooms—laughing under the firs—sitting hand in hand with Teddy at the fireplace—Emily came to herself with a shock. With Dean, of course, with Dean. A mere trick of the memory." (Emily's Quest).

Perhaps Emily didn't understand what Dean subconsciously realized: that he would never be able to fulfill Emily's future: "to let myself dream something that couldn't come true—that I knew ought not to come true—" (Emily's Quest). During the year they spent together, he allowed himself to dream, but was left with nothing more than memories and ashes. And so, for Dean a Yesterday Road symbolized the one golden year of his engagement; the only glimpse into real happiness he had ever had. Emily became his yesterday. It is interesting how he worded his letter, containing his wedding gift: "And some day I will come to see you in it. I claim my old corner in your house of friendship now and then." (Emily's Quest). Again, he doesn't refer to her future, but her past ("my old corner").

TODAY'S ROAD: CHILDHOOD. FRIENDSHIP. ILSE BURNLEY.

Today's Road symbolized Emily's happy childhood and her friendships. It is the one path that never seems to be stained with bitterness or regrets. As for a character that simply screams "TODAY" - it is obviously Ilse Burnley, who never seemed to care about the past or think of the future:

"As far as Ilse was concerned it seemed as if no quarrel had ever taken place. “Why, that was yesterday,” she said in amazement, when Emily, rather distantly, referred to it. Yesterday and to-day were two entirely different things in Ilse’s philosophy." (Emily of New Moon).

"Ilse was growing, too, blossoming out into strange beauty and brilliance, knowing no law but her own pleasure, recognizing no authority but her own whim." (Emily of New Moon).

"Ilse had always been a merry, irresponsible creature." (Emily's Quest). "All her life she had done exactly as she wanted to do whenever the whim took her. No sense of responsibility whatever." (Emily's Quest).

Besides, Ilse seemed to be the contant "today" of Emily's childhood and youth. She couldn't be Emily's "to-morrow", though, for both girls would have to carve their own separate futures, build their own homes in which the other one would be a cherished guest: "we'll visit each other, you and I—and compare our children—call your first girl Ilse, won't you, friend of my heart—" (Emily's Quest). Emily didn't seem to mind visiting the house Ilse was going to build with her imaginary husband; but she did mind being a guest at Teddy's house, few years later when Ilse repeats her invitation: "When Teddy and I come back and set up house in Montreal you must spend every winter with us, darling. New Moon is a dear place in summer, but in winter you must be absolutely buried alive." Emily made no promises. She did not see herself as a guest in Teddy's home." (Emily's Quest).

That's perhaps the difference: Ilse would be a vital part of Emily's future and vice versa, but it would be their husbands who'd be a part of their to-morrows. Even when Ilse got married to Perry and the three friends reunited, Emily's life wasn't complete. Perhaps it couldn't be, because Ilse - dear as she was - couldn't fill a certain longing in Emily's heart and soul - the voice that needed Teddy's love and presence.

Headcanons for the Long John's paths:

Juliet and Douglas used to walk through Yesterday Road. He asked her to marry him there. Before she eloped, Juliet had a good cry there. She was thinking of her half-sibling and her father - she loved them fiercely, despite everything.

Teddy and Emily said their wedding vows in Long John's Bush, under the firs where they used to meet and where they reunited. (Both Aunts were absolutely mortified by this idea). Or, if it wasn't an official ceremony, at least they had repeated the vows there. (Let's be real, Emily would definitely repeat her vows after the ceremony, changing "Frederick" into "Teddy").

The future generations liked playing on To-day Road.

The names of the paths were never changed, even if the paths themselves did.

The children of four friends invented their own names for the paths, though.

The quotes [1]-[3]:

[1] "Suddenly I heard Teddy's signal whistle in the old orchard. [...] We walked along the To-morrow Road—it has grown so beautiful that one wonders if any to-morrow can make it more beautiful—until we reached the fence of the pond-pasture and stood there under the grey-green gloom of the firs. [...] I'm going to work hard—I'm going to get everything possible out of those two years,' Teddy said at last,[...] '"And when I come back—' he repeated—stopped again. "'Yes?' I said. I don't deny to this my journal that I said it a trifle expectantly. "'I'll make the name of Frederick Kent mean something in Canada!' said Teddy." (Emily Climbs).

[2] "It came clearly and suddenly on the air of a June evening. An old, old call—two higher notes and one long and soft and low. [...] It came again. And Emily knew that Teddy was there, waiting for her in Lofty John's bush—calling to her across the years. She went down slowly—out—across the garden. Of course Teddy was there—under the firs. [..] He put out his hands and drew her to him, with no conventional greeting." (Emily's Quest).

[3] "How very—dear—of Dean. And I am so glad—he is not hurt any longer." She was standing where the To-morrow Road opened out on the Blair Water valley. Behind her she heard Teddy's eager footsteps coming to her." (Emily's Quest).

#lm montgomery #emily of new moon #Long John's Bush #Meta I guess? #And some headcanons #Tomorrow Road #Emily Starr #Teddy Kent #Ilse Burnley #Juliet Starr #Dean Priest #A long post #Thank you if you managed to read it all

[thatcartoonnetworkblog]

Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Dexter’s Laboratory- “D&DD”

Y’all probably don’t need me reminding you of this, but the Dexter’s Lab crew were big ol’ dorks. And this translated to other shows in the Cartoon Network canon- Craig McCracken will gladly recount the tales of The Powerpuff Girls team holding speed run contests for Ocarina of Time.

So yeah, it shouldn’t be a surprise if Genndy and crew were into tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons, because why wouldn’t they be? While tabletop RPGs have slowly crept their way into the cooler side of nerddom, they were still kind of niche 25+ years earlier when this episode first air. You could get a non-geek to see a super hero movie, but for the most part, only the biggest losers would play one of these games. Luckily that’s changed, but hey, that works for Dexter back then, doesn’t it?

In “D&DD”, we see some of Dexter’s inconsistent friends, but not Douglas (or Mordecai, I guess, which he’s later called in the post-revival seasons. Apparently that’s his last name, which I assume they came up with to not make people think of Dexter Douglas from Freakazoid!) play Mazes & Monsters, with Dexter as the dungeon master. Dexter is an unforgiving master, causing his friends to revolt and anoint Dee Dee when she expresses interest in joining.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Dee Dee is a solid, if unconventional DM, and she leads Dexter and his friends to victory in a fun little lark. I’ll confess that I’ve never been a TT RPG guy, so while some things fly over my head, it still works as a fun episode thanks to the ever-enjoyable conflicting personalities between Dee Dee’s bountiful joy and Dexter’s ego. That said, I wish we could have seen more of the other game Dee Dee started up at the end.

#dexter's laboratory #cartoon network #cartoon cartoon #friday spotlight

[ameonds-dragonn]

Heyy! I decided to make a pt2 of my Tom story I posted this week. Just a for warning, I haven’t seen world on fire actually. Only clips on YouTube and tik tok, so sorry in advance. We take all the Ewan crumbs we can get :((

Warnings: hospital for a quick scene, Tom(yes he’s a warning), cussing, smut, angst, again WW2 events from the show. Marriage proposal(😉.. yes I’m marrying our smartass sailor off soon!)

Tom had been gone for 4 months, he wrote for the first couple months when he could. Wish he was on land, maybe he would be able to get his letters mailed.

Lois and Bonnie went off to sing for the soldiers, last I heard they were in Sweden. Xavier got shipped to France, father was commanding in Norway. Tom was somewhere in the sea, probably in trouble for his smart mouth. He always wanted to his voice to be heard, wether it was stupid or something he thought of. I used to roll my eyes so far into my head when he would say something to Lois about Harry. Lois was his favorite person to piss off, he acted like a little boy every time.

I had been working days and days, it helped me to not think of all the people I love are gone. On my days off, I would go see Douglas and talk with him over tea . Some days we would just sit in the kitchen in silence. He cried once talking about the kids and their mother. Tom never mentioned his mother much, I never asked. Lois had a picture of her one day, when I was over. She was beautiful, Tom got her blonde hair, but Lois was a carbon copy of her.

I was over at Tom’s for the weekly meeting with his dad. “Have you heard from Tom?” Douglas asked.

“No, too far from actual land to come up. For the first week, I thought he was ignoring me” I smiled.

“He would write if he could, love” Doug smiled

“I know. Did he tell you how he got in a fight with another sailor?”

Douglas rolled his eyes and shook his head, “No, but that doesn't shock me. Why?”

“Something about calling someone of the same rank sir. Tom ran his mouth talking about how he would call him something that a mother wouldn’t say. That wasn't enough he told him his probably would say it” I rolled my eyes

“He reminds me of myself, but I was never picking fights for the hell of it” Doug replied.

“I always thought Lois took after you”

“The war calmed me down”, he grinned

Eventually, Doug got tired and needed his nap. I headed home to see how mother was.

“I’m home” I closed and locked the door

“Get in here”, Emily pulled me to the living room

“Em, what is it?” I whined as she gripped my arm

Mom had the tv on and was crying

Subs around where Tom was supposed to be at got hit last night. His sub made it to shore, but they were shot at. My chest tightened, my breathing got out of control. “Have they announced the deaths?”

“Yes, Tom isn’t on it. Maybe he got rescued by some Allies” Mother replied.

“Right right” I started crying

I would listen to the death calls every night for his name. Each time he wasn’t on it.

A few months later,

Xavier came home and father soon followed, we were a family again. Emily’s mental health was better again, she was doing good in school. I was losing my mind, worrying about my blue eyed boy. Doug had received a letter that said Tom was shot that day. And Frenchmen took him to a hospital, he had been released not long after. But he wasn’t here in front of me, he could be dead in a ditch or decided to marry a French whore.

I was sitting at the nurse’s station, going over my charts for my patients.

“Excuse me?”

“Fill this out and someone will be with you for triage” I said too focused to look up

“Triage to see my girl?” They scoffed

Hold up! I know that scoff, Tom!

I rounded the counter to hug him, “You came back”

“Ooff! Of course I did, I promised you didn’t I?” He hugged me back.

“Didn’t mean you listened to me” I smirked

Tom pulled me out of his chest, but held me to look at me. “I think you’ve got even more gorgeous since the last time I saw ya”

“Don’t know how, I’ve been losing my mind for months now”, I sighed.

“I’m back now, so stop worrying”, he ran a finger down my cheek.

I couldn’t believe it was real, I had to be dreaming in my bed. I buried my face into his chest again to get his scent. He laid his chin on my head and rocked us.

“Y/n, Dr. Willis. Oh he made it back” Alice said.

I sighed, getting out of his arms, “What does he need now?”

“Don’t worry about it, I got it” Alice smiled.

“Alice” I watched her as she took a chart and

walked down the hall.

Tom snickered

“Shut up”

“Took her ten minutes to get pissed at me” Tom said.

I sighed, “I got another hour before my shift is over. I can’t exactly have you being my shadow, so go hang out in the waiting room”

Tom kissed my cheek before walking to the waiting room.

“Y/n” Dr Wills called out

“Yes sir?” I smiled

“Is that tall blonde your boyfriend?”

“Yes”

“Go clock out early, be our secret” He smiled

“No it’s fine, sir really” i replied.

“Y/n, when I came home from the first war all I wanted was my wife. I know how much you’ve worried about him. Now go clock out” He held my shoulders

“Thank you, Dr.Willis!” I smiled

“Go before I change my mind and drag you to the OR” He winked.

I nodded and went to clock out

Tom was smoking, flipping through a magazine

“Did I get you fired? Baby I’m so sorry” he stood up

“No, I think Alice told the dr you were back. He knows how much I worried about you. That and he told me he would drag me for a surgery if I didn’t leave” I grinned

“Well then, let’s go” He grabbed my hand

We were walking towards his house

“You and dad talked while I was gone?” Tom asked shocked

“Yes, other times we sat in silence with each other’s company. By the way you had the cutest little ass when you were a baby” I teased.

Tom blushed

“It took me two years to get you to blush. Awh Tommy don’t be embarrassed” I elbowed his ribs playfully.

“Mhm easy, that’s the I got hit at” He winced

“Fuck, I’m sorry”

“It’s okay, love” he rubbed my hand with his thumb.

We walked more

“Did Dad really show you my baby pictures? Or just my ass?” Tom light a cigarette

“Oh yeah. I saw you and Lois in the tub, when it was your 6th birthday party and you lost your front tooth. When you were 9 and thought flexing your muscles in your underwear was a good idea”, I snickered.

“My muscles were good when I was nine thank you! I’m asking Emily for baby pictures sometime”, He pinched my hip

I stopped for a second “What? No, you’re not!”

He turned around and smirked, “Ya coming love?”

I walked forward, “You’re lucky I missed you”

He opened the door for me, it was empty, but the light in the kitchen was on.

“Wanna take advantage of the flat being empty?”He laid his chin on my shoulder, holding my waist.

“Don’t know how much time we have, Thomas”, I smirked.

He seen a note on the counter and read it

We decided to go to a late showing of Gone with the Wind. Dinner is in the ice box

“That’s a two hour movie”

“Really? That’s good”, He took my jacket off

He captured my lips with his and clipped my nurse’s hat off. “Mhm, I’m not screwing you in the kitchen” I pulled away. We walked upstairs, occasionally stopping to make out on a hall. Tom ran his hands down my ass, I whined. “Jump” he mumbled in between a kiss. I jumped in his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. My top of my nursing dress was half way off, exposing my bra to him.

He slammed the door shut with his foot, walking to the bed. Dropping me gently on his bed, I looked around. I haven’t been up here in months, the thought of walking up here to their room was a knife in my chest. “You okay”

“Yeah I’m fine, Tommy”, I smiled

Tom was peppering kisses on my neck, I was unbuttoning his dress shirt. Got his shirt off, I started to undo his pants. Something chirped, it was nighttime. Ain’t no way birds are chirping this late,, I looked over slightly. There was a yellow canary in a cage on a table.

Tom was leaving love bites on my chest, i tugged his hair a couple times, signaling him to rise up. “It’s just us here love”

“Then why is there a canary looking at my tits?” I cocked my eyebrow.

“Oh her”

“Oh” I mocked him

“She’s my buddy, we survived the war so I brought her back” He smiled.

I just blinked at him

“I’ll put a sheet over her, if it makes you feel better”, Tom nosed my right boob.

“She’s being quiet, just continue” I sighed.

Tom was getting close, i could see his hips slowing down. He put my legs over his shoulder, angling him deeper. “Oh god” I whined at the sudden change.

We were so into each other, we didn’t hear the front door open and close. Or Lois walking up the stairs. I was getting ready to cum, when Lois gasped. “Fucking animals! Gross” Lois slammed the door, screaming. Tom snorted and continued moving his hips. “Shut up!” I smacked his chest. “I don’t know why she didn’t think we weren’t gonna touch each other. Christ sakes!” Tom rolled his eyes.

We got cleaned up and dressed again, my hair was a mess. The curls I wore for work were destroyed. “You look fine”

“Not like I got fucked and his sister walked in. She probably told your father” I rolled my eyes, putting my heels back on.

“He probably heard us, you were better about being quiet this time” He zipped his pants

I blushed, “Shut up and walk me home, Bennett”

We walked downstairs. Douglas and Lois were on the couch. Doug had his paper and Lois was acting like she was reading.

“Did you have a good day, Y/n?” Doug asked as we took the last step

“Uh you know normal day, Mr. Bennett”

I chewed my lip, Tom was taking forever putting his jacket on.

“Mr. Bennett? I thought we were past formalities, dear?” He asked, laughing.

“Right. Good night Doug. Goodnight Lois” I replied back, pulling at my cuticles.

“I’ll be back, I’m walking Y/n home” Tom finally spoke up

“Hurry back. Goodnight Y/n” Douglas walked into the kitchen. I rubbed my hand over my face as he got up. Lois snorted

“Learn to knock, Lois” I spat back as we walked out

Tom’s shoulders were shaking from him containing his laughter. I cut my eyes up at him. “It’s not like Lois didn’t see what she already has”

“The war didn’t kill you but I’m thinking about it” I laughed at my dryly

“Oh I was jokin, baby” he sighed

“Come on and walk me home” I rolled my eyes

“Thanks for walking me home” I squeezed his hand as we made it to my house.

“No problem, love. Just being a good boyfriend” Tom kissed my hair

I hummed

“Okay good night, Tommy. I’m glad you’re back, I love you” I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Love you too, baby” Tom moved to kiss me back.

“Y/n, it’s midnight! Get in bed”, Emily yelled out her window

“Keep your voice down, stupid!” I yelled back

“Better get in there, warden is waiting” Tom said

“Wish I was the only girl. See ya later”, I gave a side hug before walking inside

Tom’s pov

I watched Y/n get inside and I was gonna leave but Emily hollered at me

“She’s back now. What is it?” I asked

She smirked, “When are you gonna propose to my sister?”

“Soon as I get a ring and I get your father’s blessing” I scoffed. She was 15, why did she care if I was married to Y/n.

“Haha! You need my approval too. It’s hard to get” Emily cocked her eyebrow, like her older sister does constantly at me.

“You ask the father not the sister” I blew out my smoke

“Fuck tradition. You better catch daddy on a good day” She smirked.

“Goodnight, Emily” I waved as I walked down the street.

“What does blessing have to do with me marrying Y/n? Stupid kid” I sighed

Y/n always said her father was a protective dad and had his moody days. He won’t let Y/n marry me, I’m a jailbird. Y/n could have any bloke and she goes with me, why?

Lois was already in bed, the curtain was pulled between our beds.

“She home?” Lois asked

“Yeah. Her little sister said something stupid to me” I sat on the bed, taking my boots off

“What then?” Lois rolled to my side

“When I ask Y/n to marry me, I don’t just need her father and brother’s approval. I need hers too or I’m not marrying Y/n. What a crock of shit, she’s 15” I scoffed.

Lois giggled, “She just loves her sister, Tommy”

I sighed and got into bed

“Night Tom”

“Night Lois. Missed your annoying ass snores”

I was gonna marry Y/n, no matter what. Emily will have to deal with it, the father is the only blessing I need.

#ewan mitchell #tom bennett x reader #world on fire

[mariana-oconnor]

The Three Gables pt 1

So, I've heard this one is... bad.

Let's see.

Oh, it's so bad it gets its own special warning... Great.

I wonder if any of this is even going to be quotable or if I'm just going to be vague posting 'oh... oh dear' a lot.

He was in a chatty mood that morning, however, and had just settled me into the well-worn low armchair on one side of the fire...

Like he picked you up and carried you to the chair?

Oh... dear...

Well that certainly went downhill quickly.

"...he was dressed in a very loud gray check suit with a flowing salmon-coloured tie."

I'm going to just... skip over the rest of the description and focus on the question of how a grey suit can be loud. Does it have some sort of really obnoxious pattern on it? Honestly, this outfit doesn't even sound bad. Grey goes with everything and salmon isn't a colour I'd pick myself, but it's not bad particularly if it's paired with something neutral.

The rest is just racist nonsense and stereotyping.

"I was trainin' at the Bull Ring in Birmingham when this boy done gone get into trouble.”

Hey, Bull Ring reference. Been there!

Steve appears to have been erroneously accused of a murder.

I'm very confused about what the purpose of his visit was, though. At first he seemed angry on his own behalf, then it seemed like he was acting on someone else's behalf and he wasn't angry at all...

“It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone's while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.”

And now I'm confused about what this case is about. So it's not about 'Young Perkins'?

Are we supposed to think Steve did kill Young Perkins and that his alibi is false? I don't even know.

So there's actually someone else who's asked for help? Mary Maberley? Who lives in Harrow Weald? And Steve was just threatening Holmes about that?

A short railway journey, and a shorter drive, brought us to the house, a brick and timber villa, standing in its own acre of undeveloped grassland. Three small projections above the upper windows made a feeble attempt to justify its name.

The Dr Watson school of Architecture does not approve of your poor attempt at gables.

“Dear me! Are you the mother of Douglas Maberley? [...] What a magnificent creature he was! Where is he now?” “Dead, Mr. Holmes, dead! He was attache at Rome, and he died there of pneumonia last month.”

I really wish they would stop referring to other people as 'creatures'. This isn't even part of the racism here. It still annoys me, though.

Are we here to investigate the death of her son?

"Well, it was not to talk of my poor lad that I asked you to come, Mr. Holmes.”

Apparently not. So far we have been informed of 2 deaths and neither of them appears to be actually related to the case in question. That's a lot of death.

"I have been in this house more than a year now, and as I wished to lead a retired life I have seen little of my neighbours."

Relatable.

"He said that this house would exactly suit a client of his, and that if I would part with it money would be no object."

If we have learnt anything in these stories, it's that as soon as a person is willing to pay too much money for something, they're up to no good.

I had always wanted to travel, and the bargain was so good a one that it really seemed that I should be my own mistress for the rest of my life.

Good for you, Mary. You enjoy your retirement.

"Are you aware that if you sign it you could not legally take anything out of the house—not even your own private possessions?’ When the man came again in the evening I pointed this out, and I said that I meant only to sell the furniture." [...] “‘Well, well, some concession might be made for your personal effects. But nothing shall go out of the house unchecked. My client is a very liberal man, but he has his fads and his own way of doing things. It is everything or nothing with him.’"

Yep, that's weird. He wants to go through your underwear? Very weird.

Clearly he wants something specific.

Then he strode across the room, flung open the door, and dragged in a great gaunt woman whom he had seized by the shoulder. She entered with ungainly struggle like some huge awkward chicken, torn, squawking, out of its coop.

The animal similes are back!

"Just a little wheezy, Susan, are you not? You breathe too heavily for that kind of work.”

Holmes really doesn't like eavesdroppers. Which seems a bit hypocritical, as he's done it himself before. Or maybe he's just particularly aggressive this week.

“Now, Susan, wheezy people may not live long, you know. It's a wicked thing to tell fibs. Whom did you tell?”

WTF, Holmes?

It's not just me, right? This is extreme, even for Holmes, right? He just threatened her life. And then gave what seems to be an implication that lying will send her to hell. I... Holmes? Have you been replaced by a doppelganger?

“So, a rich man? No; you smiled—a rich woman. Now we have got so far, you may as well give the name and earn the tenner.” “I'll see you in hell first.” “Oh, Susan! Language!” “I am clearing out of here. I've had enough of you all. I'll send for my box to-morrow.” She flounced for the door.

Honestly, I'm Team Susan here.

And then Holmes... gives her medical advice as she goes?

This entire story so far is madness.

"You don't happen to have a Raphael or a first folio Shakespeare without knowing it?”

Holmes. I'm going to need you to think back over that question really carefully, and see if you can find the flaw in your own logic. Go on. I can wait.

"No, as I read it, there is something which you do not know that you have, and which you would not give up if you did know.” “That is how I read it,” said I. “Dr. Watson agrees, so that settles it.”

Hey, Watson is still here. Thanks for reminding us, Watson. Of course, his opinion is the one that matters.

“‘Milano.’ ‘Lucerne.’ These are from Italy.” “They are poor Douglas's things.” “You have not unpacked them? How long have you had them?” “They arrived last week.”

So it is connected to Douglas. I'm so glad that was relevant. And he was involved with some woman. It's all coming together.

#Letters from Watson #The Three Gables #Sherlock Holmes #long post

[ncisfranchise-source]

Mark Harmon is sharing behind-the-scenes secrets about his time on NCIS and how he may not have starred in it if things -- including his character's name -- had been slightly different. 

Harmon, 72, recently sat down with ET's Kevin Frazier to promote his new book, Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. 

The actor discussed the novel before the conversation turned to NCIS, the long-running CBS drama in which he starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs for 19 seasons.  

His participation in the show, however, may not have happened for a number of reasons including where he was at in his personal life when the script and auditions first came around.

"I didn't expect to like the script as much as I did when I first read it," Harmon said. "I was reading other things and I was also trying to stay home -- young family and I wanted to try and be home more." 

What hooked the actor? It was the character's name, he shared. 

"I read 'Leroy Jethro Gibbs' and thought, 'Huh, I like that name,'" Harmon said of what initially piqued his interest. "And then for a brief second when I decided that I liked the idea of the project, the name changed." 

The name that Gibbs almost had was far less interesting and certainly a dealbreaker for the veteran actor who had come off of projects like Freaky Friday, The West Wing and JAG before NCIS began airing. 

"Bob Johnson or something like that. And I went, 'No, no, it's gotta be Leroy Jethro Gibbs.' The creator said, 'No, you can't play a guy named Leroy Jethro Gibbs,' and I said, 'Why not?'" the actor and writer continued. "And then it went back and I was happy about it."

He also confirmed that it was not the network but the creator -- Donald P. Bellisario -- who wanted to change the name. 

Harmon left the show in 2022 after 19 seasons to the shock and sadness of fans. He told ET he is still grateful for every episode and all of the success the show has seen. 

"As an actor, you don't think in those kinds of terms," Harmon said in response to being asked about the series' 20th anniversary. "You're thinking, 'TV series, if it does three years, we're gifted.' But they've done well and they've worked hard and so it's a really good group of people." 

"I don't know that any of us thought that the show was going to be around as long as it's been around," he continued. 

The series went on to become so popular that it spawned numerous spinoffs including NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: Hawaii and the latest to join the bunch, NCIS: Sydney. 

"We talked about this a lot ... over the years and I always thought that this show had characters, and it had humor, which made it different," Harmon said. "It had a case, but the case isn't what drove it -- I think that's still true." 

Amid its monumental anniversary, Harmon -- who appeared in more than 430 episodes -- said he still understands why viewers come back week after week. 

As for whether or not he would make a return to the show, he's not completely ruling out the possibility that viewers will see Gibbs again. 

"He's probably sitting in a stream up in Alaska fishing," Harmon joked. "Is he going to get out of the stream? I don't know. But if he is, I don't know about it." 

Harmon's book, Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, is roughly about the start of the real-life Naval Criminal Investigative Service. 

"When I first got the role in the show, I tried to google NCIS to figure out what it was -- I never heard of it -- there wasn't much information. And if you google it now, there's like 25 pages of information," he said, describing why it was important for him and Leon Carroll -- a longtime NCIS technical adviser -- to write it. 

According to the book's description, it tells the tale of Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information. 

Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor is available now wherever books are sold. 

#ncis #mark harmon

[hi-my-name-is-cosmopathy]

Bloody Fresco (A Short Casas Tidmouth Fic)

----------------------------------------------

It was a cold night on Sodor. Everyone had bathed in the warmth of their homes as they looked at the window, weary of the unknown criminals roaming around the island, waiting for another person to kidnap.

All were safe and comfortable in their homes.

All except Donald, of course, who was currently on the run from a deranged Duck. You might be thinking; “But doesn't Duck like Donald”? Oh, if only that was the case...

His wheels whirled as he sprinted through the dark alleyway while squeezing the great wound on his arm. “Mebbe this is wha’ happens ta people who witness dead mangled bodies.”

Donald then recounted why he ended up in this situation in the first place....

.

.

.

Donald wheels creaked as he wandered the dark paths of the island. He was still very much in Sodor, but something about it was different.

He was on a dirtied road, with missing posters scattered across that flew everytime the icy wind came. He stopped and crouched down to catch one of them, and he read...

MISSING PERSON: DONALD DUNALASTAIR

BIRTHDAY: ■■■■■■

AGE: 29

GENDER: MALE

RACE: SCOTTISH AND VIETNAMESE

EYES: BLACK

HAIR: GINGER

HEIGHT: ■■■■■■

WEIGHT: ■■■■■■

WEARING: RED SCARF, BLUE TURLENECK SWEATER, BLACK COAT WITH RED AND SILVER ACCENTS AND A BLUE BELT, BLACK PANTS WITH SILVER LINES, BLACK BOOTS

FACIAL CHARACTERISTICS: PRONOUNCED AND LOW CHEEKS, ANGULAR BUT SQUARED NOSE

EXTRA NOTES: DRIVES THE NWR 9 WITH HIS TWIN BROTHER, DOUGLAS DUNALASTAIR, A NO-NONENSE MAN BUT IS ALSO MISCHIEVOUS AND CAREFREE, CHARMING AND WITTY, FRIENDS OF MONTAGUE “DUCK” COLLET AND OLIVER SWINDON, WORKS IN THE LITTLE WESTERN

LAST SEEN: ■■■■■■

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT DONALD, PLEASE CONTACT: ■■■■■■

“Tis is definitely no’ ma Sodor”, he said to himself. He put down the paper and left to continue his journey.

He eventually found himself in a cozy village. He glanced through the windows to see the faces of happy, joyous people as they ate their dinner and socialized. Some were simply alone watching TV, while some were on the telephone. He stalked one of the houses a little bit, hearing someone ramble about their beloved “Percy” as they walked around their living room. “So tha wee lad went missing too...”, he thought.

He travelled the village until he heard something eerie, in contrast to the jovial noise of the houses. He heard it coming from a dark and creepy alleyway. Donald didn’t mind it at first, until he heard agonizing screams. It's sudden stop worried him and he rushed to the shaded area. He ran as quickly as he could to the noise, but it was too late. Donald’s wheels came to a screech as he came to the horrible scene.

His mouth gaped wide, no words coming out of it. He was speechless from what he saw.

The sight of a brunette man wearing a coat that became stained with red blood as he drew is axe and sliced the dead corpse over and over to his heart's content, the sound of flesh being cut ringing through the alley, paralyzed him as he felt his breath drifting away from him. The man eventually stopped and slowly shifted his sight to the Scottish human(oid). He was met with dejected eyes, harsh yet sorrowful breathing as his bloody hands shook from the weight of the axe.

Donald swore he looked similar to someone he knew. Then, he thought of who he was...

“Duck?”, he murmured.

The man's dejected eyes widened at the name. Donald took a step back. “Duck” then swung up his weapon as he charged towards Donald.

“Donas fhios agam” were Donald’s last words before being hit in his right arm. Donald yelled as he tumbled down the stone floor. He held his arm firmly as he felt a sharp pain growing from it. He removed his hand and became horrified seeing his own blood drip from it. In a state of panic, he got up, but was greeted with an unexpected punch in the face as he fell down again. He decided to return the favor by kicking the man's ankles. As he fell over, Donald took this opportunity to hurry away from the scene.

.

.

.

“I shouldn’tna have bothered with the noise”, he wondered to himself as he made with way down the lane. While his wheels made him go quicker, it was not use to him as he stopped at a dead end.

“Ach— an donas dubh!”, he shrieked under his breath. The sound of an axe being dragged across the floor only added up to his worries as he slowly stepped back to the brick wall. Duck sharply turned his head to the Scottish bloke as he slowly walked towards him. He could only stand there with baited breath.

He wasn't afraid of Duck because he had already learned to fight, but he was more terrified of the fact that his friend had become a murderer. Duck stopped halfway, staring at Donald, before swiftly running up to him, his axe seemingly ready to cut someone's head off.

Donald closed his eyes as he charged towards him...

.

.

.

.

...Only to hear the axe swing and hit something else.

Donald steadily opened his eyes to see the blade just beside his face, blood from the previous victim and himself dripping down. His gaze then turned to Duck. While there still seemed to be intent of murder in his eyes, he wasn't doing anything. He was just...staring at the nearly-half-dead man, as his cold breath seamed through the air. Donald didn't want to make eye contact, but he couldn't help but stare too. To him, it seemed like Duck was... analyzing him for some reason. He looked suspicious and untrusting of this version of Donald, but his eyes started to softened. He didn't understand at first, but suddenly he remembered the poster he saw at the street...

...A NO-NONENSE MAN BUT IS ALSO MISCHIEVOUS AND CAREFREE, CHARMING AND WITTY, FRIENDS OF MONTAGUE “DUCK” COLLET AND OLIVER SWINDON...

“Does...does he miss me?”, he asked no one in particular. He started analyzing Duck too. A solemn face with eye bags and a heavy frown, his hair a mess, as if he hadn't been taking care of himself. He wasn't wearing any green, and nothing about the Great Western. “Did somethin’ happen?” was his thought.

He couldn't help but feel pity for the man. He continued to study Duck. Long, but brown luxurious hair, blue icy yet mesmerizing eyes, a body you seriously just can't ignore, like, seriously, he actually looks pretty frickin hot—....

“Wait, wha’ am Ah even thinkin’?!”, he yelled to himself in his head as he contemplated what the hell just came up in his mind. How does one feel frustrated and terrified at first, later feel pity, and then become down horrendous for a murderer?

...Well, we'll probably never know, but it did happen.

Donald tried to look away, but Duck had become rather irresistible to him. His face started to flush a bright red. Duck took notice of this. And, he finally spoke...

“...Are you blushing?”, the despondent man asked.

“Tis has ta be tha worst timing in tha history of ma life”, Donald muttered quietly.

“No, Ah”m not”, he crossly answered. “Mebbe yer eyesight is just goin’ bad.”

It was another long and awkward silence between the two. Then finally, Duck let out a heavy sigh as his head faced down, and his axe moving out of position.

“What am I even doing?”, he grumbled as he lay down to the ground on the wall next to Donald. He was unsure of this but decided to follow Duck anyways.

“Wha’ are ye even doin’?”, he questioned.

“I don't know”, he responded. “It’s just, ever since I lost Donald to...whoever kidnapped him, I’ve just been so miserable...they even got Oliver and Douglas. And now? I am alone with the Little Western in my hands. Someone has to be the leader, someone has to be strong for the workers here, but... I'm just so tired of trying to keep going forward. And my family? Oh, don't even get me started! They're not bothered at all by my friends going missing! Not even worried that they might be...” Duck had run out of breath to talk.

Or so Donald had thought.

His eyes began to fill up with tears in frustration. He tried to hold them back but his blinking caused one to fall down, following another. Duck tried to wipe them but before he could, he could feel another pair of hands touch his face.

The cloth on Donald’s hands made it easier to rub them off, but more had just continued to come. He cupped Duck's cheeks with his crimson hands. “Don’ try an’ bottle them up”, he said, sternly but gently. “Ah’ll be glad ta wait until yer fine.”

More tears came from the “Great” Western man as he covered his face in shame as he wept, his tears mixing up with the blood on his face. Donald could only do so much, but it made Duck feel...better. Somehow.

It took a while, but he eventually composed himself once again. And with a loud “ahem”, he continued his lament...

“I’m really sorry for attacking you. I never meant it. It’s just... you're so different..but so similar to him...”

“To yer Donald?”

“Y-Yeah...Tough, yet caring...And really, really admirable..And...still so goddamn tall.” Duck chuckled to himself at that part as Donald smiled softly.

“But, you have brown and black hair...A-And... your cheeks are rosier which is actually kind of lovely and...you have wheels attached to your shoes—”

“Actually, they're a part o’ ma legs.”

“...What?—”

“Forget Ah said that.”

“...Well, you were just so like him, but you... I...I didn't...but... you're not him. I couldn't..handle that.”

Donald had listened intently to the entire vent. He pat his back.

“That’s..Tha’s horrible lad. Ah’m really sorry tha’ happened ta you. But tha’s no excuse to try an’ kill me.”

Duck turned away bitterly at those words. Donald only sighed.

“Well, there’s nothin’ we can do now.”

The two men looked up to the sky. It was a beautiful night, the stars gleaming like diamonds. They gave their attention to each other and stared in silence.

“This is so awkward”, were their thoughts.

Nothing they could do about it though. A murder scene, a great chase, to an entire lament. The two railway workers had exhausted all their energy, and all they could do now is look and look.

As the cold wind blew, Duck shivered. He was wearing a coat, but it wasn't made for cold weather, unlike Donald's. He took notice of his and shifted closer to Duck. He felt himself being brought in a warm embrace as the Scottish bloke wrapped himself around. Donald wasn't completely human, and still often consumed coal and water, which, as a result, made him hot.

Duck felt rather weird at the odd action, but not in a bad or a good way. “Enjoy yerself while ya can”, Donald said. “It’s gonna be a long night wit’ tha’ dead corpse an’ ma wound.”

And so he did. The brunette still decided to respect the personal space between him and Donald, but the longer they stayed together, the more he couldn't help himself. Being held like this took him back to the time he once held someone like this, a person he loved. He dug into his embrace even more. He buried his face into his neck and held him tighter, firmly yet sweetly. He found himself in a conflict of emotions. This moment between him and a stranger felt so nice...too nice.

He couldn't shake off the unknown feeling of dread. “This is so wrong...this is so wrong this is so wrong this is so wrong this is so wrong this is just so wrong—”

It was so, so wrong.

But he didn't mind staying like this of the rest of the night.

.

.

.

.

.

.

“...We still have ta tend on mah wounds, ya know?”

“Oh, right.”

----------------------------------------------

GOSH FINALLY FINALLY!!! THIS TOOK FOREEEVERR!!! AAAH YES!

Also yeah even Duck isn't safe from me.

Also I didn't draw some parts because I wanted to see other people draw them 👀

i got this fic inspired by @beumdi 's fic “Murderous Marmalade” and that old 8x9 art that @bruhstation made for them. Okie thas it i hope you enjoy it :D

(The AUs used here is Casa Tidmouth and Human For One Day)

#ttte #ttte au #ttte fanart #ttte art #thomas the tank engine #8x9 #ttte donald #ttte douglas #ttte oliver #ttte percy #ttte duck #casa tidmouth #casa tidmouth act 2 #oh my gooddd I hope this is good #ttte humanized #ttte human au #art #writing #fanfiction #ttte fanfic #hfod! ttte au #9x8 #donald x duck #tw: death #tw: vent #tw: violence #tw: gore #tw: injury #tw: blood

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 23/03/2024 (V of BTS and... Mark Knopfler?)

It’s a short week, largely to prepare for what chaos should be coming the next, but right at the top, Benson Boone clenches his first ever #1 with “Beautiful Things”. I know pretty much no-one who cares about pop music on a deeper level likes this song, but hey, if I’m the only person happy about this other than Booner Boy himself, I’ll take it. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

Given our few new songs, we also only have a handful of notable dropouts to start with, so we’ll bid adieu to the small but decent selection of “Could You be Loved” by Bob Marley & The Wailers, “Angel Numbers / Ten Toes” by Chris Brown, “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski and finally, “Disconnect” by Becky Hill and Chase & Status.

As for what’s back, we see returns for “Asking” by Sonny Fodera and MK featuring Clementine Douglas at #73 and, sigh, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #68, and then a spattering of gains. Our most notable boosts are for “if u think i’m pretty” by Artemas at #59, “Wasted Youth” by goddard. and Cat Burns at #58, “We Ain’t Here for Long” by Nathan Dawe at #55, “Happier” by The Blessed Madonna featuring Clementine Douglas at #54, “Thank You (Not So Bad)” by a bestiary of enemies to good taste at #50, “Green & Gold” by Rudimental and Skepsis featuring Charlotte Plank and Riko Dan at #43, “Birds in the Sky” by NewEra at #34, “Never Lose Me” by Flo Milli surging high and fast up to #23 thanks to her releasing an album that includes a pretty great remix of the song featuring Cardi B and SZA, and then “Austin” by Dasha at #15, “Lovers in a Past Life” by Calvin Harris and Rag’n’Bone Man at #14 and finally, making his way into the top 10 for the first time, “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi at #10.

Our top five this week consists of “End of Beginning” by Djo at #5, “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims at #4, “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” by Beyoncé at #3, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” by Ariana Grande at a new peak of #2 off of the debut, that could grab a week at the top soon, and of course, Benny Boone at #1. Now for our four new songs, which feel like names picked out of a hat and placed onto the chart.

New Entries

#60 - “Been Like This” - Meghan Trainor and T-Pain

Produced by Gian Stone and Grant Boutin

This is a joke, right? Or a soundtrack to a reality television competition, or daytime talk show? T-Pain has grown into his role as wholesome cuddly media figure surprisingly well and a collaboration with Meghan Trainor, whilst demonic, seems to be the best way to seal that position, with this being the lead single for her next album… Timeless. Well, that’s one thing to call your music. Mean jokes aside, hey, T-Pain is here so at least there’ll be some genuine, not as obnoxious charisma? Well, first of all, it’s electro swing, so my first instinct is to step away from my laptop, keel over and die, especially when Meghan starts to singing about how she keeps it juicy and then eventually that she’s “still that bitch”, as if she was ever that bitch to begin with. There’s something so cynical about Trainor’s vocals that I didn’t notice just the true extent of until T-Pain came in with an infectious call-and-response and weirdly-mixed but fun-extruding harmonies that almost would convince me on the entire song if he didn’t have to play to Meghan’s lack of personality, especially when placed against each other in the bridge. T-Pain can sell this as some goofy cartoon clown, but it probably wouldn’t charted without Ms. Trainor, who brings pretty much nothing to the song other than taking it a tad too seriously, despite the fact that there’s no reason, lyrically, for this to even be a duet. Also, Meghan, I’m not sure you can even sing the line about GRAMMYs in T-Pain’s verse on the account of you only have one.

#52 - “Never be Lonely” - Jax Jones and Zoe Wees

Produced by Jax Jones, Mark Ralph, Neave Applebaum and Tom Demac

I actually really like Jax Jones’ producer tag, it’s cute and rhythmic, has a little stutter to it. It’s nice. I have to say more than that, don’t I? I have to acknowledge Zoe Wees’ voice being misued and manipulated to just sounding characterless, I have to acknowledge how this heavily interpolates the drop from “Rhythm is a Dancer” by Snap!, one of the best Eurodance songs ever despite some… regrettable lines. It spent six weeks at #1 in 1992, blocking off Jimmy Nails, Freddie Mercury, Luther Vandross, Janet Jackson and of course, “Ebenezer Goode” by the Shamen from the top spot, before reappearing in remixed form in 2003 and 2008, reaching the top 40 again both times. “Never be Lonely” doesn’t work as an update of the song because of completely different lyrical content that I actually hate, asking someone to tell her how it feels that she’ll always be there for them, it’s really patronising and weird. It doesn’t work as a reimagining or reinterpretation because it goes for the same tone, and doesn’t adopt or adapt any of the original lyrical conceits. The one thing it does have is a Cascada remix. Yes, that Cascada. I have no idea why, but it exists.

#18 - “Going Home” (Theme from Local Hero) - Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes

Produced by Guy Fletcher

Oh, so I guess this episode really will get as serious as cancer. This one might take a while to explain. So in 1983, Bill Forsyth wrote and directed Local Hero, a highly-acclaimed comedy drama that is actually former US Vice President Al Gore’s favourite film. Its soundtrack features a five-minute instrumental piece known as the “Theme of the Local Hero”. I’ve never seen the film so I don’t know how exactly it appears or makes sense within its narrative but I do know it has far transcended its origin. “Going Home” was the first single in Mark Knopfler’s solo career and has become a staple in both his and his band’s live performances, as well as becoming another theme, now for Knopfler’s home football team, Newcastle United. It’s probably the most lukewarm take of all time to say that “Going Home” is a beautiful piece, it honestly gives me goosebumps from its transcendent new-age introduction and excellently distant sax from Michael Brecker, that eventually transform into a very 80s-sounding but still profoundly triumphant jam that emulates the feeling of a journey in the UK pretty well. Maybe that’s what the film’s about, I don’t know. It peaked at #56 in 1983, whilst Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was #1 - good week for rock epics, I guess.

If you know Knopfler from anything, it’s likely his band Dire Straits, one of the few important British rock bands that hit #1 in the States and never back over here on the islands - their #1 is of course “Money for Nothing”. The legacy of Dire Straits is not something tangible for me or that I’ve ever really understood, their sound was varied and evolved through what was ultimately a very short career. They’re not a legendary act but are still big names and incredibly well-connected, especially Knopfler, who has played and produced extensively for many artists and soundtracks. In January, Knopfler sold over 100 of his guitar and amp equipment at auction and in March, he’s compiled a charity ensemble to cover “Going Home” in support of cancer awareness.

Its status as a charity single is the only possible explanation for why this nearly 10 minute instrumental piece even touched the charts let alone the top 20, but it is stuffed with big names, from rock icons like Brian May, RIngo Starr and Joan Jett and newer cats like Sam Fender and Orianthi to genuine oddballs like Keiji Haino and head-scratching inclusions like, uh, Brad Paisley, who I will only ever remember for “Accidental Racist”. There are over 60 musicians on this record and damn near all of them contributed through their guitar playing, other than Ringo on drums, The Who’s Roger Daltrey on my favourite, the harmonica (that you can barely hear at times - Daltrey’s harmonica should be put to better use), and a few others. You can tell that Fletcher and Knopfler did their best job to try and collate recordings that were clearly from different times, places, equipment set-ups and audio qualities, but this is still basically a meandering pile of guitar overdubs that lasts longer than some full EPs and doesn’t really let you register any single guitarist as them playing. The collectiveness of it may just be the point, to show a united front against cancer or what have you, and there’s definitely a lot to appreciate if you’re an in-depth fan of guitar playing or a guitarist yourself, of which I’m not. I will admit, this is genuinely impressively easy to sit through for how lengthy it is, largely because of the dexterity on display, the fact that the melody of the original “Going Home”, even when developed on in the many ways it is within this piece, is still so infectious, and also because it comes out of not just cynical philanthropy but a genuine passion for the guitar as an instrument. The cover art is a Sgt. Peppers parody of the musicians standing in front of a famous guitar shop in London, and the wide array of musicians from a lot of different genres, eras and even techniques shows how wide and universal this feels an appreciation of the guitar… but I’ll say what my dad always said about Dire Straits (because, really, dads are the only people with viable Dire Straits opinions): “it all becomes much of a muchness.” My favourite of theirs is “Walk of Life” by the way, it’s so goofy. Love it.

#14 - “FRI(END)S” - V

Produced by Connor McDonough and Riley McDonough

V is the latest of the BTS boys to release a solo English single, seemingly leading towards a solo career like Jung Kook, with credits stacked full of Anglophone pop songwriters and production from the McDonough brothers that results in a very serviceable pop song that I’m not sure would get much attention outside of the fact that it’s a BTS member, hence why sales jacked this one’s chart position up so high. It’s not a bad little song at all, in fact I like the distorted guitar lick and the amount of emotion V shows in his vocals despite all the effects, he has a real unique texture against the slodgier indie drums and the infectious bed of harmonies in the pre-chorus. The one way I could see this getting big organically would be that fun albeit gimmicky chorus that makes this an anti-climactic friend zone anthem, though the gimmick wears off after the second time and doesn’t really develop into anything new in the second chorus other than some pretty gross, reverb-drenched spectacle. I usually wouldn’t give this manufactured bedroom pop much more of the time of day but there’s not much in the way of obnoxious performance or toxic lyrics here, it’s just that it really could be any other vaguely bitter male singer’s song. The first most obvious comparison is Joji due to their vocal textures, but Charlie Puth or Lauv could have easily made this work too, though probably not as well as V does here, especially not Puth. God, that would be horrible. Thank God for BTS that this song was never offered to Puth (not that he’d accept a song he didn’t spend 20 hours writing and producing himself, of course). Ugh, enough Puth talk, let’s end the episode.

Conclusion

God, this was not a great week, huh? Even if I’m not fussed about the new version, the composition of “Going Home” makes Mark Knopfler and friends get a lock for Honourable Mention, and it really does end up as the song with the most - if not the only - human passion in this selection. Worst of the Week goes to Meghan Trainor, surprise, surprise, for “Been Like This” with T-Pain, and that’s all. Future, Shakira, O-Rod, Tyla, Hozier, Headie One, Artemas, Cardi B, Lil Nas X, Bryson Tiller, they could all hypothetically show up next week and it would be a big one, so prepare for that and who knows what else? It’s 2024, anything can chart. As for now, thank you for reading, rest in peace to Cola Boyy but we go on and I’ll see you next week!

#uk singles chart #pop music #song reviews #mark knopfler #guitar heroes #dire straits #v #jax jones #zoe wees #cascada #meghan trainor #t-pain

[theascent]

☼☾ ( douglas booth , 28 , he/him , cisgender man , schellenberg 4 ) - have you seen MATTEO SCHELLENBERG?  we’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re IMAGINATIVE but also DUPLICITOUS. when you think of them , you think of INK STAINED FINGERTIPS, WARMED FROM THE FLAME OF A NEARBY FIRE, DARK LASHES CONCEALING AN EVEN DARKER, MORE DISINGENUOUS GLINT, and FLOWERY PROMISES WHISPERED AGAINST THE COLUMN OF YOUR THROAT.

⊱⋅•⋅ full navigation

b a s i c s

name: matteo schellenberg title: lord; second youngest of the schellenbergs birthdate: july 9; currently 28 pronouns: he/him gender: cisgender man nation: liechtenstein orientation: bisexual/biromantic

more information, particularly regarding interests and personality, available through the navigation link above.

b a c k g r o u n d

1800s 07 August My Dearest Brother,

I have sent yet another bundle of masala chai, you would do well to savor the leaves as my monthly shipments will soon cease. I’ve never considered myself to be in possession of much luck, and I’m aware of the irony of such a statement given the current circumstances that have befallen our family, but ha! I knew a rainy day would soon arrive, and oh how gloomy this year has been. I have just enough saved to purchase a ticket back home. Seeing as Silas has all but ruined our reputation… I suppose it’s best I spare you the distress of bearing this situation alone and say that…well, I intend to be back in Liechtenstein before Silas has the chance to bleed us dry of every krone in his sight.

We are both aware of the trouble our brother’s desires have got him in, and if we desire to have the bastard outested by the end of the year, you will be in need of all the help you can get. And before you choose to scold me - I can nearly see your quill poised over your reply, even from my accommodations here in Mumbai - I evoke the term bastard with all the adoration in the world for my dearest elder brother.

Even if his penchant for parties and whores have all but rendered the last six years of my life abroad useless …

Once you’re instated as Duke Schellenberg, I expect proper compensation for my efforts. My generosity, as you well know, is not given for free. I understand funds will remain short, so perhaps I will accept an alternative form of payment. 

Ah, and do you still see the publisher’s nephew on occasion? It is…of supreme importance that you give him the letter I posted from Spain. For a man that claims to have his hands full, he is quite adamant about a mere chapter….do give him the letter, yes? He says it is not potential I have, but a ‘natural genius for capturing the very essence of life in mere words’ – his words, not mine. You know I’m not one to brag. Well, not often, at least. But can you believe it? Your brother, the author. Perhaps I will end up like Rousseau or Austen?

 I must return back to bed before the flame burns through the last of the wick. Give my best to Silas and the others, or do not. I don’t particularly care. Yours Truly, MS

p u r p o s e + h c s

matteo's purpose for being in france can be summarized into one simple word: autonomy. being fourth in line for the dukedom meant his ambitions were his alone, not forced upon him in the name of familial duty. matteo dreams of becoming of famous author; this is what led him to spend his early twenties traversing the world in hopes of drawing inspiration for his debut novel.

unfortunately his plans came to a staggering halt when the news of his family's sudden financial misfortune forced him to return home.

but it's not revenge that brought him to france, it's riches. titled misses and misters wander the hallways and frolic in the gardens and it's just so easy. matteo is a master of words, and he intends to use them to his advantage, bewitching his way into the upper echelon. into wealth. with fortune comes the funds to achieve his dream, and he's prepared to swindle and use anyone it takes - even if it means subjugating himself to a loveless marriage.

those with humble origins become pawns; the hands that caress supple skin prompt shaking, pointed fingers of blame. blackmail. the lips that offer declarations of fondness elicit the slightest whisper of a name. a victim. handmaids and stable boys become his closest confidantes, but the ball is forever in his court.

to those who don't know him (which, admittedly, is most considering he's been traveling for years), he appears to be just another rake. easygoing and unserious. he prefers this; it allows him to move through society unbothered. late night rendezvous lead to diamonds and watches sitting heavily in the bottom of his pockets.

matteo craves glory. if he can't secure enough funds to support his past lifestyle, he is sure that all his hard work will be for nothing. writing has always been his outlet, but liechtenstein doesn't offer the same inspiration that the high seas and spice markets do.

and i have some wanted connections in the navigation! message me on discord or tumblr if you'd like to plot something !

#francehq.intro #matteo ⊱⋅•⋅ intro #he needs a reality check frfr #“ayo matteo what's in your pocket” #“oh yeah i'm listening to symphony no 41 by mozart”

[lab-trash]

Moments Caught on Camera (pt 1)

Read on AO3 if you like

“First team road trip!” Kaz yelled excitedly into the camera, his arm slung around his best friend, Oliver.

“Well, technically it’s the first team exclusive roadtrip,” Oliver corrected, looking at Kaz. “We’ve gone on roadtrips with the Davenport’s before, and then that other one Douglas came along.” He looked at the camera. “But this one’s just the team!” 

“Stop talking to yourselves and get your damn bags in the RV!” Bree yelled from offscreen. 

“That’s our Bree,” Kaz said, somehow bitterly affectionate. “We’ll be back on the road: coming soon!”

______

“We’re about 20 minutes in; I completely forgot to film us taking off,” Kaz said into the camera. 

“Why are you filming this?” Chase asked. Kaz flipped the camera so that it showed Chase through the rear view mirror. 

“It’s our first trip as a team. I think it’s worth documenting. After all, we are heroes.”

“I think that makes it less worth documenting,” Skylar spoke up. She was in the passenger seat next to Chase. Unlike Kaz, Oliver, and Bree, she didn’t care for the option to get up and walk around in a moving vehicle. “I already feel guilty enough going on this trip; we’re barely even doing anything.”

“Uh, excuse me,” Kaz said, flipping the camera back around, “We are going to Philadelphia to visit your best friend and our good ol’ favourite comic shop.”

“We’re also visiting Gettysburg because Chase is making us,” Oliver said, poking his head into frame. 

“I think that it’s interesting to visit the grounds of fights previous to abilities like ours,” Chase said, a bit pretentious. 

“Well actually—” 

“Kaz,” Oliver said before looking at the screen to indicate that he shouldn’t say anything. 

“Oh, right,” He said with a chuckle. 

“You can go to Gettysburg by yourself, y’know,” Bree said. Kaz flipped the camera again to face her, trying to fit both her and Chase through the rear view mirror in the shot. It was considerably easy. 

“I’m not forcing anyone to go with me,” Chase said, “But you won’t be able to get around anywhere privately without me, and you won’t have a place to stay privately,” He added. 

“We can all drive y’know,” Bree said, turning around to face her brother as best she could while buckled. “I mean, except for Skylar. And we’re not the ones who need a vehicle to go places.”

“We’re not allowed to use our bionics on this trip, Bree,” Chase said, “You know this. And you know what happened last time. And I personally don’t feel like having my magnetism app malfunction again— and I doubt you want to be stuck in a cardboard box, taped to the floor again.” Bree grumbled in a bit of defeat. 

“But Kaz, Sky—”

___________

“You’re still not gonna be getting around anywhere without a vehicle. Less conspicuous that way,” Chase said. “But like I said, if you want me to go alone, I will. You’ll just have to take the bus.”

“I hate the bus!”

“Or we could walk,” Kaz spoke up. “That’s how Oliver and Skylar used to get around.” 

“Not you?” Bree asked, turning back to the boys facing her.

“No, I chose to take the bus,” Kaz said with a small laugh. “Although, we could always stop by Oliver’s place. I’m sure he has some cars there.”

“Again, it’s not my place. It just technically is in my possession because my mom is in prison and my dad is in Britain, and it’s paid for in the family name,” Oliver said. “And I don’t know how much I want to go back there.”

“Why not?” Kaz whined. The camera was still facing the front of the vehicle, as the RV drove down the road. 

“Bad memories. I don’t suppose you’d want to go back to your house,” Oliver said, mocking him a bit. 

“That’s completely different!” Kaz exclaimed, putting the phone down on the table in front of them, making the screen go black. “I was abused there. You just lived there with your mother, who loved you,” He said, honestly bitter.

“I had to try to sleep there for two years, either hearing my parents fight or my mom on the phone. The only times I ever got silence was when I was alone. I had to leave that house because being there would put me in danger.

“We all had to go into hiding, and I know that couldn’t have not affected you.”

“Oh my god, 25 minutes in and we’re already arguing!” Skylar groaned from the front seat. “This is why I don’t like roadtrips.”

“That’s a fair point,” Bree pointed up as Kaz picked his phone back up. “Last road trip, Douglas and Chase wouldn’t stop bickering about… something, I wasn’t listening.”

“Cold fusion,” Chase piped in.

“And the one before that, Adam and Chase wouldn’t stop arguing about literally anything at all,” Skylar said. 

“Hey, Adam was totally in the wrong there! He kept making fun of Chase for no reason!” Kaz exclaimed, immediately jumping to defend one of his best friends. 

“He’s Adam! That’s what he does!” Bree exclaimed. 

“Plus, Chase and Oliver argue on the regular,” Skylar said, “Hell knows it’ll be worse when we are basically sharing one big room.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Bree said, getting the cameras attention. “Have we discussed sleeping arrangements?” She asked. “Because if we have, I do not remember.”

“I don’t think we have,” Oliver said. “But I think it’s pretty obvious. Kaz gets the weird overhang bed thing—” Kaz moved the camera up to show the overhang bed that was over the front seats. “—Bree gets the fold out bed—” Kaz moved the camera down to show the white table in front of them, which collapsed into a bed, “—And Skylar and I get the big bed in the back.”

“What about me?” Chase spoke up, obviously being passive aggressive. 

“Oh, I figured you could curl up in one of those seats up there,” Oliver said, sounding serious. The camera got shakier as Kaz let go with one hand to punch Oliver in the arm, apparent by the groan of annoyance coming from the blonde. 

“No,” He said, a bit aggressively. 

“I have a better idea,” Skylar spoke up, “Bree and I sleep in the overhang. It’s clearly big enough for two people,” She said. Kaz rotated the camera up again to show it off. 

Skylar seemed aware that the camera was on her, because she waited until it returned to her to continue. 

“Kaz and Chase take the back bed,” She said. Kaz flicked the camera to Chase again for a second before returning back to Skylar. “And Oliver sleeps on the fold out bed,” She said. 

“What?” Oliver squeaked. “I-I mean, there’s no way Kaz would want to share a bed,” He tried. Kaz snorted.

“What?” He asked in disbelief, “Oliver, I shared a bed with my little sister until we were seven,” He said.

“Exactly!” Oliver exclaimed. “You don’t have some sort of trauma attached to that?” 

“We were sleeping sibling style, it’s not like there’s trauma there.”

“What’s sibling style?” Chase piped up.

They’d reached a stop light, slowing at the yellow glow. 

“It’s when they sleep with their heads at the opposite sides of the bed,” Oliver explained, luckily without getting too nippy. 

“Oh,” Chase said. “Do we have to sleep like that?” He asked, looking at Kaz through the rearview. 

You could almost hear how Kaz’s breath was knocked out of him once he got a good look at Chase’s hazel eyes through the mirror. 

“I, uh, no. We don’t have to, we can just sleep like normal,” He managed. 

“Are you sure?” Skylar asked, sounding worried. 

“Of course I’m sure,” Kaz said, a bit more confident this time. “I mean, shouldn’t you and Bree be more worried? You spit acid in your sleep.”

“I’ve taken care of it,” Skylar said, a bit too quickly. 

“If you’re sure,” Kaz said quietly, hiding his obvious teasing laughter.

#lab rats elite force #lab rats #mighty med #chase davenport #kaz mm #kase #kaz lref #chaz #oliver mm #oliver lref #bree davenport #skylar storm #moments caught on camera

[theyellowroseofsodor]

Welcome to The Yellow Rose of Sodor

Hello all, all hello! Welcome to the official tumblr for The Yellow Rose of Sodor, a work of fiction created by yours truly (Kamiko!). Although you won’t find much art here to begin with, as I am but a humble writer and my skills with the artistic pen are so-so, here there will be fun prompts and asks for the characters of the series. I will try my utmost to keep up with everything and no one will be OOC to the absolute best of my abilities. Here you can also ask Camille (my OC and lead female for the fic) and the other members of the steam team questions as well! 

Let me premise with I am a young adult (cries in turning 30 this year) and there will be some adult content here. I will not be posting anything graphic or considered NSFW, nor will anything like that be given a dignified response in the asks. I will be treating these characters just like how I would want to be treated. That means any questions about their more intimate relationship will be met with the following statement: “Epic and private” 

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to stop by anytime! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A few questions I felt might be asked: 

Who’s my favorite character(s)?  Gordon and Henry are my top two. But I also love Donald, Douglas, Edward, James, and Paxton.

What got you into this fandom?  Funny story! I LOVED Thomas as a kid and my dad worked and retired from Union Pacific many years ago, growing up, I was around trains. Trains are awesome. I LOVE them, they are such an awesome symbol of our history and are just pretty freaking cool machines/engines. So, when I had kids of my own, I introduced them to Thomas, discovered it had gotten a CGI revamp while I was off being a preteen/teenager/young adult and I was like “WHOA! This is freaking exciting and cool!” So, I came back!  

How come you like Gordon so much?  Well.... that’s a whole question with a big honking answer that I currently don’t have the time to answer. I think it’s because Gordon has the most story and the most to offer, besides his charming personality and voice (they had no right to make him that attractive). Thomas is just a cheeky character and yes, the show is named after him, but all we know are his adventures that happen day-to-day. Gordon, we know, has a family and he’s lost a lot of that family. He has a brother that’s younger and famous and Gordon kind of has to live in that shadow and also get over his own jealousy. Technically, he was a prototype and wasn’t supposed to really stay on the line, yet here he is. He’s literally the symbol of strength and endurance. He’s here when he really shouldn’t and despite all odds is still rocking it. (That is until he was destroyed via All Engine’s Go along with everything else good in the world) 

What universe will you be focusing on?  So, from my basic understanding (I’m pretty new back in this fandom) there’s the original TV show that used the models, there’s the books, and there’s the CGI era. I really like the original TV show but I’m also living for the CGI era. I love the books too and I will be pulling from all three, but technically I’m mainly sticking with CGI. 

How does the magic/shifting work?  In my headcanon world, the magic to shift between engine and human was given by Lady to all the engines as she saw that many were being scrapped for no good reason as ‘better’ engines were being built. I couldn’t imagine, as a God, watching creations you love and cherish be thrown away, disposed of, torn apart, and burned (possibly alive), and not stepping in. So, that’s what I’ve done.  Newer engines have the ability to shapeshift and it comes just as naturally as foals/calves/kids/etc with the ability to stand and run within hours. The older ones, like the Steam Team, had to learn on their own and it originally happened one morning without them even realizing it had happened and scared the crap out of em. Now, they do it easily and when they want. 

Do the engines have rights? Can they vote? Do they earn wages?  So, I don’t want to get political in my fanfic (there’s enough drama in the world now that I really don’t want that in something I enjoy). Engines still have that deep rooted desire to be “really useful”. They want to work, they enjoy working! Getting involved in human political issues is just something they would rather stay out of. I like to think they coexist with the rest of us just like the other creatures we share this world with. If I’m being honest though, I think whatever rights an engine has, has to do with where they’re working and where in the world they are, just like everyone else. As for Sodor and the engines in this world, Sir Topham Hatt takes very good care of his engines and they’re treated like people.   As for the wages question, again, they’re still engines and don’t really understand the concept or want to understand the concept of money. They understand it for humans but they’re happy just existing. That doesn’t mean that they can’t have cool things. You’ll notice each engine has a cell phone and that’s just part of the times! It’s easier to keep up with one another on an island that way and helps out a lot. Camille has a Nintendo Switch and the others get the gaming console from Sir Topham Hatt and the others for Christmas.  Think of them like dogs but not in a rude way. They exist with us but are on a higher plane of happiness. 

Why do you have them written so young?  As long as an engine is cared for and not neglected they will look young. It’s LOTR elf rules with a small twist. They can live forever and not age. Also, have you watched the show? Edward is over 100 at this point and he still looks like he’s in his 20s/30s. Plus, there’s hints throughout the show of them acting like young adults/teenagers. Like the episode “Pouty James” where he’s called a “young steam engine” by Sir Topham Hatt much like a parent would say to their teenager “Young man” when they’re in trouble. He’s also said “steam engines these days” just like “teenagers these days”. 

Can engines get married? Are Gordon and Camille gonna get married?  Again, depends on where they’re living and if the people accept that sort of thing. Most engines just straight up don’t care. If they love another engine and want to dedicate their life to that engine, then by golly they’re gonna say they’re married or whathaveyou whether the human population likes it or not.  As for Gordon and Camille you’ll have just have to read to find out 😉 

Do they bleed/what happens when they get hurt?  I’m with @asktrio516 on this and I think that they would bleed like us, seeing as they have the ability to cry or taste, etc, but it would be a darker blood.  Injuries in their human form will translate to their engine form as well. Some injuries may be healed easier in their human form depending on part availability or how busy things are and vice versa. A serious injury in their human form may be much smaller in their engine form, or easier fixed. Just depends. 

How do they shapeshift without being naked next?  Mystique rules! They can shift the clothing onto themselves. Also anything like a cell phone or a watch or memento will also disappear with the magic dust when they shift into engines and reappear when human. Because magic, don’t ask me to explain further. 

Will there be art here?  Maybe eventually. I mean, I did buy an iPad and I'm still waiting for it. Alaska shipping is so slow. So, when it gets here and I start practicing maybe I'll be brave enough to post. 

Fanfiction List

To read the Yellow Rose of Sodor you can either go here or read it on here as I post (which will be slower, but hey, it'll all get here eventually)

The Yellow Rose of Sodor:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

The Yellow Rose of Sodor Shorts (coming soon)

#ttte fanfic #rules and faq #ttte gordon #ttte james #ttte henry #ttte thomas #ttte percy #ttte the flying scotsman #ttte emily #ttte edward #ttte humanized #ttte oc #ttte au #ttte human au #please be nice i'm not an artist

[glitterdragonthegreatprotector]

Copying this from something I sent-

I still have to think of names for Doug's currently nameless alters, and nicknames for his named alters (since they have the same names as the other characters they developed from-)

He has his main personality, that it's awkward and bland. Since he's a playable character trying to have a personality when he's not really meant to show one.

There's his Bierce personality, that I'm planning on nicknaming Ring Bearer.

There's his Malak personality, who I've nicknamed Dulak.

His murder monkey personality named Gordy

His Agatha personality, who goes by both Aggie and Thea

His goldwatcher personality, who I'm nicknaming Douglas.

His dread ducky personality, Mythomania

His clown gremlin personality, Coulropenny

His Reaper Nurse personality, who's name is Deathlas

His Lucky personality, who has the nick name Don (my friend suggested this since it sounds like a mafia type name-)

His Hangry personality, nicknamed Autophagia

His penny personality, who is nickname is Squish

His mama bear personality, nicknamed Martha

His trigger teddy personality, who's name is Theodore

I don't have ideas for personalities for the monsters in the next chapter yet, but I'll come up with them when that chapter comes out-

His alter Mortim Veris, like I mentioned

His alter Mr. Houser, which is his canon self

Dark, his alter that is like Mr. Houser and Doug, but more bent on revenge.

And lastly, for the alters I came up with and need to do a headcount for, his Angel alter that developed from a time he pretended to be an angel (that i will eventually write hjdhdhdhbdbdbdb-), Mercy.

#not fnaftale #aware doug #doug houser #dark deception malak #dark deception au #dark deception oc #dark deception lucky #dark deception #dark deception monkeys #dark deception mama bear #dark deception goldwatchers #dark deception agatha #dark deception penny #dark deception reaper nurse #dark deception hangry #dark deception doug #dark deception dread duckies #dark deception trigger teddies #gn after this

[quaranmine]

hi What was the 2rd book in your book poll titled?

Hi! Sorry I forgot to answer this when I was home but I'll answer now. It got a little out of hand, oops. Here's a link for the poll being referenced right now.

The first book was What the Eyes Don't See by Mona Hanna-Attisha. It's the story about how Dr. Mona, alongside other researchers and community members, discovered that people living in Flint, MI were being exposed to high levels of lead in tap water. The books says it's "paced like a scientific thriller" and tbh I might read it next because I'm very interested. I work in lead poisoning prevention (with a side of environmental justice) professionally, so it's of specific interest to me.

The second book, the one you originally asked about, is The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen. It's a "vivid tour of Earth's big five mass extinctions, the past world's lost with each, and what they all can tell us about our not-too-distanr future." It is also "part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale."

ALSO. HELP. I just realized that this is the same author who wrote one of my favorite articles that I read in my upper level historical geography class about climate history. I knew his name looked familiar!! In that case, I'm sure this book will be amazing because I cannot stress enough that I think about that Atlantic article literally all the time. It's one of the first things my mind brings up on the subject of climate change.

The 3rd book on the poll was How To Astronaut: An Insider's Guide to Leaving Planet Earth by Terry Virts. Terry is an astronaut who spent 200 days as the commander of the International Space Station. This book has 51 short chapters, separated in the table of contents in neat little sections by subject, about space related things. I need to admit right now I bought the book when I was writing on IBW because I was like ooooh I'm doing spaceship stuff!!!

I don't doubt there's science in this book of course, but the reason I called it more of a silly-fun read is because I anticipate it can mostly be read via whichever chapters interest you most and is definitely written for a general audience who're interested in such questions as "how to astronauts pee" LOL. I just don't think it will be as technical as some of the other books on my shelf, which is frankly very nice (for someone trying to coax herself into reading "real" books more often.)

The fourth book is Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. I'm still going to give this book a try because it sounds SO interesting. I just started reading it immediately after I bought it and was pretty annoyed in the first 35 ish pages. It's like an eldritch supernatural survival horror novel. Talks about "a thrilling descent into madness and obsession as one man confronts nature--and something even more ancient and evil answers back." Some of the back book jacket quotes say things like "Can a place be evil?" and "the dread of something monstrous wearing the face of someone you love."

Basically, if you like spooky wilderness things (are you a fan of the SAR nosleep stories on reddit, perhaps? [location] gothic posts on tumblr?), and the "came back wrong" trope, it seems like the perfect book. I just found the first POV character to be annoyingly shallow 😭 but like he probably grows as a person over the course of the book and/or dies at the end so I should just keep going

The winner of the poll was Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine, since I had already read half of it starting last year and just inexplicably stopped for no reason, as one does when one gets distracted. I started rereading it since last week's poll and probably only lack 40 pages now. The book is about a series of trips they went on (mostly between 1988-1989) to look for endangered species. All the trips were recorded for BBC Radio at the time, and Douglas Adams tagged along to write this book.

It is, like every work by Douglas Adams, a very fun and witty read. The saddest part, which I mentioned in a previous post, is that the book was published in 1990 and some of the species he writes about are now extinct (or functionally so) in 2023. So that's a bit of a bummer to an otherwise fantastic read.

The final book from the poll is The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. It's a historical YA social drama that I think I bought a year or two ago? It’s about 17 y/o Jo Kaun who works as a lady's maid to a wealthy family in the Old South. She starts a newspaper advice column under a pseudonym, becomes wildly popular, and starts to get backlash as she uses her column to challenge social norms about race and gender.

Books I Read Already:

Now, for a few more book notes because I'm having fun LOL. The book I just finished was Fire Season by Philip Connors:

I ran across this book in Half Price Books around January of this year, and immediately recognized Philip Connor's name on the spine because of previous research for Firewatch AU. I had been specifically looking for literature or poetry about fire lookouts, which led me to his website where I read the first chapter of this (it also led me to Gary Snyder.) So when I went to the environmental science section of the store, I saw this and out loud said, "Philip Connors! I know who you are!" and bought the book. So yes, I've spent actual money on researching this fanfic xD

It's a really cool book. It drips with beautiful description and is packed with the history of the land, the US Forest Service, and fire lookouts as a whole. I realized after I finished that I've probably been subconsciously modeling my writing style for descriptions in my fanfic based on Connors' writing! Also, the references section of this book is going to actively Make Me Worse, because Connors introduced me to much more writers and literature about wildland fire. I'm interested in Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean, Mountains of Memory: A Fire Lookout's Life in the River of No Return Wilderness by Don Scheese, Black Sun by Edward Abbey, multiple works by Jack Kerouac, and Poets on the Peaks by John Suiter as a result now.

I really recommend Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated by Jeremy Tiang. I read this last year and enjoyed it a lot. It was originally published in Chinese in 2006, and published in English in 2020. It's a magical realism fantasy book about an amateur cryptozoologist (and romance writer!) who is tracking down the "beasts" in her world to write about. Each chapter is about a different one, and each chapter draws her deeper into a mystery "that threatens her very sense of self." Whatever your mental picture if a beast is, this book is probably very different. I don't really know how to describe them either, you just need to read it.

I read this book completely in two sittings and found it very interesting. I also have to confess I bought it specifically because it hinged on the same philosophical concepts that I was obsessed with when I wrote my fanfic How to Be a Human Being--what does it mean to be human? what does it mean to not be a human? does it matter? how does personal identity intersect? The book describes itself as "part detective story, part psychological enquiry" and "explores existential questions of identity, humanity, love, and morality."

Cold Storage by David Koepp is the first audiobook I listened to when I got the Libby app. I HIGHLY recommend it, I loved this book. It's a sci-fi thriller about a highly mutative and highly deadly fungus that takes over people's brains and controls them. Think the zombie-ant fungus. A sample was thrown in, ahem, cold storage, by the US government in the 80s after it was discovered, but was forgotten about because only two people on the planet ever actually lived to see how dangerous it was. The underground vault was eventually sold in later years to a storage company and it has sat undisturbed for decades until now--when it's escaping. Most of the book takes place over the course of a day as two unwitting storage company night shift workers go to investigate an alarm going off deep underground, and the retired bioterror operative tries to respond to the threat as fast as he can. Be aware of body horror and gore in this book!

It's being made into a movie, and I'm pretty excited! I imagine the production has been completely halted by the strike, however. Well, it's in post-production so maybe there is a chance. I hope it gets delayed if it needs to be though for solidarity with the strikers. They cast Joe Keery as one of the main characters and I think it's flawless casting. However, I'm a bit annoyed they cast Liam Neeson for another main character though because like....that guy was NOT white in the book??? Also they said they started filming in Rome, Italy, which is sooooo???? No part of the book takes place in any location similar to that. So I'm stuck between thinking it will be fantastic because of the casting of Keery and highly worried by these other details.

I also read Aurora by David Koepp via audiobook, but I'm not gonna lie I really did not enjoy that one. I feel like Koepp made some very bizarre pacing decisions, mostly ignored all of the most interesting elements of his plot, and failed to make me care about any character which therefore made the ending fall flat. Most of the negative Goodreads reviews share my same thoughts...soooo sorry Koepp! Loved ur other work though <3 and your work with the Jurassic Park movie script <3

Other books on my list/currently reading:

-I'm currently listening to the audiobook for Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I really love it so far. If you're into alternate universes, this is for you. It's also a sci-fi thriller. Shortest blurb I could use to explain it is: what if you were just minding your own business and your alternative universe self kidnapped you and forced you to switch places with him? Be aware of strong themes of unreality in this book.

-Dune by Frank Herbert is also on my list because I wanted to be stubborn and read the book before ever seeing the movie. Folks this one might take a hot second to force myself to read...but I own it and it's on my shelf.

-Losing Earth: The Decade We Could Have Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich is also on my shelf, unread. This book was originally a long piece published in the New York Times. Frankly, the reason I did not include it in the original poll is that it seems like a bummer of a read 😭 like I am VERY interested in environmental science (duh) and this book will be very informative but frankly I probably need to have a specific mindset to start this on

There's a few more books on my shelf, such as a fantasy travel guide, an astrophysics book I received as part of a high school science team, a YA novel set in space, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, or a Bill Bryson book my mom gave me about Australia, but that's probably a good enough place to end this for now.

#quara asks #long post #did i give you enough information? LOL #quara talks books