#lightning1999

[tsarisfanfiction]

Fresh Air

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Gen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: Virgil, Scott

Yup, another fic for @gumnut-logic‘s #irrelief!  The prompt used here is “Virgil finally teaching Scott things about gardening ( bounce: if it’s about how to transfer a plant into the soil . inpatient Scott keeps failing)” from @lightning1999 - although I admit it’s a pretty loose interpretation.  I tried Virgil!PoV for this one... the big boy is probably the hardest for me to figure out so hopefully it’s not too out of character! When the standard methods of dealing with Scott don’t work, Virgil has to resort to something a little more creative.

Virgil couldn’t concentrate. He’d been trying to do a painting, but his muses were staying stubbornly out of reach, leaving the paint blotches just that – lifeless stains of paint on a canvas.  This had been his last resort.  The piano just didn’t sound right, almost as though it was being purposefully out of tune, and when he’d gone down to the hangar with the intention of getting a head start on maintenance, he’d ended up standing there blankly without even a tool in his hand.

He knew what it was. The others were equally aware, but none of them had managed to shift the awkward mood of the house.  Not Alan’s video games, John’s quiet conversations, or even Gordon’s pranks had done anything to kick their eldest brother out of his uncharacteristic slump.  Virgil’s previous efforts had also fallen flat, and even with his back to the den below he knew Scott was carelessly draped over Alan’s pilot seat, tablet in hand but turned off.

Dad was alive.  He was back, currently secreted away to a specialist rehabilitation centre with his mother refusing to leave his side and Kayo adamantly on security detail.  It was a source of great joy for them all – even Alan, the most nervous about what their Dad would be like – but once the rush had worn off, reality had started to sink in.

Scott didn’t know his place any more.

It had been so simple – if not easy – when Dad was gone.  Scott had stepped up, again, just like he had done when they’d lost Mom a few years earlier, taking on the responsibility of their family’s wellbeing, the company, and then International Rescue once they could bear to look at the Thunderbirds their father had loved so much.  This time there was no Grandma to sweep into their lives a week later and give Scott a reprieve – she was already there, and grieving herself.

Scott was in charge. Easy enough to explain, even if the realities of adjusting to listening to Scott like they’d once listened to Dad had been tough and they’d never quite reached that level (Alan had been closest, but then again there was over a decade between them anyway).

Eight years was a long time. Most of them had had the majority of their teenage years during their Dad’s absence, Scott presiding over one of the most intense periods of change and adjustment in their lives, and they’d all got used to it, Scott most of all.

Now Dad was back, and after the euphoria of the reunion, more practical considerations were starting to surface.  Who was in charge?  Would they split the responsibilities, or would one of them hold all of them – as both had done at some point in their lives?  Would one be able to yield to the other’s command, now they were both used to being the one calling the shots?

It was an unspoken agreement between the younger four that whoever took charge, they’d support them both – even if Virgil privately thought it would be tough to adjust to taking orders from Dad.  He’d been too young to join IR before the Zero-X happened.  John had been in training, already spending some time up in Thunderbird Five like the child prodigy he was, and Scott had been delighted when Thunderbird One’s metaphorical keys had landed in his lap a year before, but for Virgil, Gordon and Alan, Scott was the only commander they’d ever known.  They’d work for Dad, if that was how it ended up, but it would be another period of adjustment.

The conversation hadn’t happened yet.  Dad was still too early on in his rehab, so everything was still on Scott’s shoulders, but the uncertainty was looming ahead him and the current scene below Virgil was becoming all too common.  Reassurances from all of them that everything would work out just fine seemed to be falling flat, and as a result, the atmosphere was turning stifling.

Virgil ground his teeth and set his palette and brush down, silently promising to clean up the mess later.

“Scott!” he called, descending the stairs.  Scott’s head jerked up, the hand holding the dark tablet in front of his face falling away to the side.

“What is it?” he asked, and his face reminded Virgil again of just how tired his eldest brother was. The bags under his eyes hadn’t receded any since they’d found Dad, despite hopes to the contrary.

“Follow me,” he said, slowing but not pausing as he passed the den and headed for the stairs.

“Virgil?” Scott asked, but to Virgil’s relief he moved, finding his feet and setting the tablet down before jogging to catch up.  That was a good start; if he had the presence of mind to remember he didn’t like following, he wasn’t too preoccupied with whatever was running amok in his head and exerting its influence over the rest of them in the process.

“Remember the gardener?” he asked as they descended the stairs to the poolside.  Gordon was floating aimlessly in the water, and Virgil made sure he was between Scott and their younger brother – the last thing he needed was Scott getting distracted and trying to parse why Gordon was so lifeless in his favourite place.  He wasn’t wholly successful, Scott peering past him suspiciously, but a sudden splashing from the water told Virgil that his wingman had seen what was going on.

“What gardener?” Scott asked.  Virgil steered him towards the shrubbery, new piles of laurel bushes he’d recently planted. “Wait-”

Leaving his brother to stare at the bushes in dawning comprehension, Virgil ducked to the side to a small storage shed and pulled out two pairs of shears.

“That gardener?” Scott asked as he came back.  “The one I kept upsetting and you got mad at me for ruining all your attempts to pacify him?”  Virgil handed him one of the pairs of shears, Scott accepting it automatically.

“His name was Monty,” he said.  “But yes, that gardener.”  He stepped forwards, and after surveying the bush in front of him for a moment, made his first cut.  Beside him, Scott stood dumbly, and normally Virgil didn’t particularly enjoy being watched as he did any art but there was something different about his eldest brother trying to piece together in his mind what was going on.

Part of Virgil was nervous. There was no indication that this would work.  Scott had never had a particular interest in gardening (memories of Mom trying to get him to repot a plant and dirt going everywhere except the pot sprang to mind with surprising readiness), and that rescue hadn’t been one of his favourites, either.  It would make perfect sense for him to drop the shears – maybe at least put them back in the shed, if he’d even spotted where it was – and head back inside to continue his mental struggles alone.

Thus, it was with some surprise that he heard the snip of shears on plant while his shears were still opening after his previous cut.  Glancing over to the right, he saw Scott’s face caught in a look of intense concentration as he cut small, tentative chunks of foliage away from the bush.

“It works better if you make bigger cuts,” he commented after a few moments of small twigs falling to the ground, looking more like they’d been trimmed with secateurs than cut with shears.  “Don’t let that confidence of yours stop now.”

It was a double-layered sentence, and he knew Scott heard both.  Silence answered him, although the sound of the shears grew louder, as though Scott was throwing more force into them.  Despite that, the chunks falling to the ground were no larger.

Virgil winced.  He’d hoped to get at least some response, even if it was entirely about cutting leaves and nothing to do with the other, deeper, problem.  He returned his attention to his own topiary, eyeing the vague shape he’d outlined critically before making a definitive shear into it.

“What if he doesn’t agree with what I’ve done?”

Scott’s delayed response caught him off guard, and he jumped a little, accidentally nicking off a twig he’d been intending to keep.

“What did you mean?” he asked.  “Why wouldn’t he?”

Shears snapped viciously at Scott’s chosen bush – a bigger cut now.  Progress, maybe.

“I made a lot of changes,” Scott said.  “Some of them are just technological advances, I know that.  Dad will know that.  PODs instead of the Mole, the Firefly?  Those made it easier for us to get the right gear for the job.”

Virgil made a noise of agreement as he made another purposeful cut to his bush.  He knew all that – remembered the day Brains had approached them with the built-it kits over their specialised individual machines. As the pilot of Thunderbird Two and responsible for all those machines, it had certainly made his job easier. But that wasn’t what was bothering Scott.

“But… John’s space elevator,” Scott continued after a moment, his shears snipping away in an uneven, almost chaotic rhythm.  “Brains came up with that almost right at the start.  It’s not a new idea developed after Dad vanished.  Dad flat-out vetoed it as too dangerous.  When he realises that I approved it, and that John actually uses it regularly, he’s going to be furious.”

“Is he?” Virgil asked, unable to stay quiet if Scott was saying things like that.

“He vetoed it, Virgil,” Scott repeated.  “I went directly against his wishes.  And then there’s Alan-”

“You did what you thought was right,” Virgil cut in, before the Alan tirade could begin again.  That one, he had heard before, many times.  Why did I let him join?  Alan’s too young for this.  What if he gets hurt?  What if a mission goes wrong?  He’s still in school.  What if his schoolwork suffers?  What if this ruins his future?  “Why are you second-guessing yourself now?”

“Because Dad’s here now!” Scott snapped, an extra-vicious shear getting rid of a large bunch of foliage all at once.  “Because when I made those decisions I didn’t think he was ever coming back and I wouldn’t have to justify them to him!  But now he’s back and I don’t know what he’s going to do with International Rescue.  With me.”

Virgil shook his head, squinting at his progress to determine which bit to lop off next.

“Without you, International Rescue wouldn’t have survived to find him,” he said, bulldozing on before Scott could protest.  “Those decisions you made are what kept us going.  Eight years is a long time, Scott.  Things change – things have to change – and Dad knows that.  You know he knows that.”

Scott sighed.

“I know,” he said.  “I know, but now that he’s here…”

“You’re nervous,” Virgil finished.  Scott grit his teeth and gave a jerky nod.  Virgil shot him a grin.  “If it helps, I’ll be supporting you the whole way, and I know the others will, too. You’ve done the best you could, and he’ll respect that.”

He stepped back from his bush, satisfied.  In front of him, a falcon spread its wings as it launched into the sky.

Beside him, Scott continued cutting in silence, his own bush taking shape into something far larger, and rather less refined than the bird of prey beside it.  It looked hurried, which brought a small smile to Virgil’s face. Scott had never had the patience for anything related to gardening, after all.

But it was recognisable, even if the bear looked like it had an extra limb and no mouth.  Scott stepped back from it and turned away from his creation.

“Thanks, Virgil,” he said, dimples deepening as he let himself smile.  Virgil smiled back at him and divested him of the shears.

“I’ll clear up,” he said, looking at the foliage strewn about their feet.  Not waiting for an answer, he headed off to the shed to put the shears away and retrieve a rake.

Glancing over his shoulder as he pulled the door open, he found Scott still standing there, staring up at the falcon and the bear, side by side.  The heavy air was gone, and Virgil allowed himself a moment of triumph.

It hadn’t solved everything, but it was progress.

#irrelief #irrelief2020 #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds are go fanfiction #tsari writes fanfiction #lightning1999 #virgil tracy #scott tracy #post-series fic #oh hey i actually finished before bedtime tonight #that makes a nice change #thunderfluff

[lenle-g]

It's your birthday from my local time zone , happy birthday 🦄🐿🐉🎂🎉

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaa !!!!!!!!! Thanks bud that’s so super nice aaaaaaa !!!!!! //Throws cake in your direction// !!!!!

#are those unicorns squirrels dragons and caKE #lightning1999 #you got my favorite things nailed huh #<333333333 #lenleg's birthday tag

[flyboytracy]

Hi ! Do you have a funny photoshopped picture of Scott that you haven't posted yet? I like your stuff, especially anything about him . (The big eyebrows one was too funny )

asdfhgjkl thank you! :D

I think I’ve posted everything I’ve made apart from the really awful things lmao. when my stuff goes wrong, it goes wrong and should never see the light of day

I’ve got no idea what this was about

or why Scott’s a pirate?

or what on EARTH led to this

Or this

I’m so sorry

#Ask Scott Anything #OOC #I've got no recollection of noot noot lmao #lightning1999

[animeking8193]

You want asks, at least I came up with something: What do you think the king's reaction would be when he sees that Julius becomes small? *with that small size , Marx can drag Julius to do his paper work, don't you think? 😂* Don't forget to tag the spoilers 😉

Thanks for being the first ask ever! Really appreciate it!

Personally I dont think that there's much contact between the king and Julius so it should be fine. Even if they do meet Julius still has enough pull and decision making that it should be fine, especially since the congress acted when they heard his letter, he's still has pull. But you right Marx is about to get some good revenge with that paperwork lol. Thanks again and hope it's satisfying

#black clover #manga spoilers #julius novachrono #king clover #lightning1999

[tb5-heavenward]

Answer this after watching the episode. What do you think about Brandon? This is how friendship happens ,don't you think? While watching the episode I remembered that fanfic you wrote and Brandon kept talking about the Tracy bros to Alan and in the end he said "I have (..) followers and one friend"

To be honest, I am so, SO delighted by the idea of a real friendship between Alan and Brandon. The whole theme of Talented Amateurs is secret relationships, and because of when I write it, necessarily the way it happens in TA is different than what happens in canon (and canon presents Alan in a kind of childish and shallow way, but such is the nature of the medium), but I just really adore the pair of them as friends who are just equally really sympathetic to and really impressed by each other. 

TA’s Alan is a little more secure in his own coolness than Brandon is, but an idea I really wanted to get into is the idea that he’s one of the only people his age that Alan can really relate to, because they really are quite similar. In TA, he really is the closest thing Alan has to a real friend, and the pair of them talk often and deeply about the goings on in their lives. Potentially a little bit more than either of them really should *wink wink wink wink wink*

#talented amateurs meta #thank you for the ask! #i love getting asks #lightning1999

[buggachat]

Maybe I'm too late to ask but Is Trixx a male or female? The English dub it sounds like a female but in French it sounds like a male . So...

im pretty sure Trixx is referred to as he/him 

... but I just looked it up and apparently a UK ad referred to Trixx as she/her so ??? I guess Trixx is genderfluid

#trixx #lightning1999

[duchessnibenhu-ofpyromania]

About " I wanna know what people assume about me because of my tumblr." Post. A very good person ,funny but you don't have much time to playing around because life is always on the way ?

Aw thank you. 

Yes, why do the fun things always need money to do? :/

#Thank you! #Ask answered #lightning1999

[drdone]

What do kids call you? Do you have any nicknames? Do they pronounce your name wrong? Just asking

my full name is Aubree, so most of them call me that. i only started going by ‘Bree’ online about five years ago, though i did introduce myself at my new school as that. i do have some nicknames - my cousin when he was younger couldn’t say my name, it was always ‘aubee’ which was adorable.

other nicknames not from kids - my old roommate called me RB, and a long time ago i was on this harry potter forum where my username was soccerlover12 and i went by ‘socks’ which i actually miss, weirdly enough. a few people call me ‘bee’ although i have no idea why.

#lightning1999

[galentaliel]

@lightning1999  -- LOL yep the eyebrows but really the whole face... 

Brandon just somehow looks Kiwi to me btw :D (not just cuz his accent)  ...(subtitle line should have read, “aw yih, apaht from that tho.”)

#lightning1999 #wait is it cuz he looks a lil like young Neil Finn? <3333 #so we'll see if Bumpy guy has a kiwi accent #what ep will that be in I wonder #scotty's teenage reflection #luv you scott tracy btw #high strung

[alantrcy]

lightning1999 replied to your photo “it doesn’t fit in bUT WHO CARES IT’S HEERE”

Maybe if you hang the TB3 from the ceiling will make the whole thing much cooler?! Just an idea

I MIGHT JUST DO THAT but it’ll hit me in the head bc my ceiling is rly low

#lightning1999

[lenle-g]

@lightning1999​ replied to your photo “ok so I absolutely loved Scraps in Buried Treasure, she was just so...”

@lenle-g can you make a speed video of how you color the whole thing? Especially the texture of her clothes!

Can’t do a video because I’ve already drawn it, and I didn’t film it or anything as I worked, but I can make you a GIF of the layers I made, if that’s any help?

Clothes texture is a tip I nicked off Loren and how she does clothes and is just an overlaid image with the blending mode set to Colour Burn (didn’t really want it to look so chunky but that’s just how it went i guess).

Also I just looked at the notes on this drawing and ?!?!?!?! how many ?!?!?! Aaaa!!!!! I usually just see the activity notes which are set to only show replies or reblogs with tags or comments so if there're few comments i don’t get much feedback but theN I SAW IT HAS SO MANY NOTES AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!?!?! what

#lightning1999 #Lenleg's sketchbook #a;lkgjhfdkslqwebgrefwdk #Thunderbirds #You can see my sketches at the beginning and the way I build up colour tone and me playing around with background ideas before I decided it #didnt need one XD #also this does make it look quick and easy #when it was ANYTHING BUT #a;ldfkgjfkdsl;dkfj

[gordoncoopertracy]

Okay! Finally I remembered what I want to ask. We saw that Awesome yellow sub doing her job underwater, it's amazing! We saw her hanging in the air fighting gravity, draging a huge sea surveyor this is woow and incredible ! And we saw her up in the deep space skiing, does some drifting on the ice and diving in a moon!!! What's next? She did everything with her great pilot. Nothing is impossible for you Just wanted to write it and see your thoughts about it

OOC:

I think this is an excellent example of the new writers thinking outside of the box. When you think of Thunderbird 4, you would only think of water rescues which meant every rescue would be a sunken sub or something like that. 

What we see in the new series is someone picking up the sub, looking at how it was airtight and could withstand immense pressures and thought “do we need water every time?”

Yes, the science wasn’t the greatest in Heavy Metal, but it was the first time we saw Thunderbird 4 in a different light. Then in Deep Search, they took 4 to outer space. Both of those things I never would have thought of after watching TOS.

So props to the writers for taking a one trick pony and breathing new life into Thunderbird 4. I’m sure there are just as exciting things to come.

#Gordon Tracy #lightning1999

[tb5-heavenward]

what do you think the real reason for Buddy's ripped off leg? I sometimes has that feeling he was a murder before he met Ellie. have you ever thought of a backstory? * weird question. Yeah I know *

umm! well, buddy was voiced by and sort of meant to meant to act as an analogue for a real person, a comedian named Adam Hills:

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/aug/24/adam-hills-comedian-disability-tv-paralympics

For the actor’s part, he was just born without a foot and I don’t really think any explanation of Buddy’s disability beyond something like that is necessary or interesting to explore, especially considering how closely he exists as an analogue for a real person. I think Buddy was really very well-handled in the show, because it’s very normalized and not treated as sensational at all. Buddy just has a prosthetic foot. He does all the stuff he does with a prosthetic foot and that’s never pointed out in a way that makes it seem notable at all. It’s fortunate that when a giant lizard tries to eat him, it goes for his prosthetic foot.

For my part, if ever I were to write Buddy as offering an explanation for why he’s missing a foot, it would probably be something like he tells a different story every time he’s asked, ie, “caught in a bear trap while hunting for evidence of Sasquatch”, or “Froze it off while in pursit of the illusive Yeti” or “tangled with the wrong chupacabra”, and the only common thread between all of these answers is that they’re obviously, blatantly untrue, and the reality is actually quite mundane.

#buddy pendergast #lightning1999

[yllamse]

Nope, he's a guinea pig. ☺

#lightning1999 #answer

[duchessnibenhu-ofpyromania]

For "sweet and pure asks" post you rebloged. 💌💫🦄🍃🍭🍰🎁🌧🎥 🎀

💌- diary or journal?

Journal, but I can never keep with it either way, I’m terrible. Plus my life is boring and anything exciting and journal worthy rarely happens.

💫- what is your sun, moon, and rising sign?

I have no idea, all I know is that I am Leo and a Water Pig/Boar.

🦄- how do you perceive yourself?

Has a kind person, with the possible mind of a child and maybe a little ugly.

🍃- would you rather live in a sea with mermaids or a forest with fairies?

Can I not live in a lake in a forest with the fairy mermaids? XD (Are they called nymphs?)

🍭- how tall are you?

5 ft something, I keep forgetting, I should write it down somewhere, but I think I’m the taller end of 5 ft

🍰- strawberry or vanilla?

Mmm, toughie Strawberry. (Vanilla sponge with Strawberry icing? xD)

🎁- when is your birthday?

17th August

🎥- what show are you currently binging on?

I was watching Biker Mice From Mars, but at the moment am watching new Lost in Space with mum and Nan and also Due South everyday.

🌧️- favorite thing to do on rainy days?

I hope this is the right one you were asking for, couldn’t see it on the list.  Watch tv and knit or crochet or surf the net, talking to my friends.

I think you were suppose to ask a question for the last one? I don’t know.

#thank you so much! #Ask answered #lightning1999

[drdone]

Why did I started to follow you? Hmmm.... maybe because you're my reflection from the other side of the world? I don't know.... And your icon is that Scott's face and it's hilarious

AYYYY nice. ^_^

also @thunderforsty made it and I asked if I could use it as an icon and they’re a cool person and said yes. God bless.

#i do love scoot #also forsty really is a cool person sooooooooo #lightning1999