#there being neils haven

[all-thestories-aretrue]

"Are you looking for sympathy or opinions" very emotionally intelligent neil!!

"Miles face flattens" 😈😈😈 fuck them up!!!!!

"You can't get proper vengeance if you fly off the handle." I deeply want proper vengeance.

#path of night podcast #pon liveblogging #pon s2ep37 #honorable mention #theres a lot of delicate things there #there being neils haven #so nara soon again 👀👀👀 #johnny taking charge 👀👀 #we love to see it

[chai-berries]

all my friends support palestine and know neil druckmann is a zionist

Decree # 13: No Scary Movies before Bed for Abby Anderson (#13)

abby’s voice is a whisper to match the darkness of the room. “hey, baby, are you asleep?”

“yeah” you respond in sleepy sarcasm. you shuffle deeper into your blanket.

“can i turn on the light?” this makes you peep open one bleary eye.

“uhm okay?”

the room is suddenly flooded with light from the bedside table.

the, open floor layout serves as a surprisingly large studio sized apartment, with a living, dining, and bedrooms in the same area as the kitchen. it’s wonderfully packed full of found books and pieces of art that took ages to collect. you and abby had lived here together for 17 months and each of you brought your own collections into one space. thanks to abby’s rank within the leaders of the WLF the apartment is big enough for you both to create a proper safe haven for yourselves.

however it’s not always as safe as you’d like it to be. especially tonight.

it’s been extremely stormy this winter and today has seattle bracing itself against wind coming through the bay and right against the stadium's walls. everyone was prepared for it. making sure the animals were inside and the crops were covered so everyone can hunker down for the big ocean storm. this storm has you and abby having a movie marathon. she found a bunch of intact dvds for the stadium collection and was rewarded with a functioning tv and dvd player for the storm. you picked out a romcom and a movie about found family while abby picked out two scary movies.

now four hours later, here you guys are, in bed, abby’s bedside lamp blinding you completely for a second.

“mmnph, you okay baby?” you mumble. your eyes are shut again, but you turn your body to face abby. the girl has moved to sit up against the headboard. she’s breathing deeply and clutching the blankets in her fists. when she doesn’t answer, you peek up at her with one eye. “baby?”

“yeah,” abby says when you sit up next to her. “i’m fine. i just couldn’t sleep. you can go back to sleep. i’m sorry.”

“no it’s fine!” you try to make eye contact with your girlfriend but it’s like she’s actively avoiding your eyes. “abby? did you have a bad dream?”

she looks at you from the corner of her eye. your face is earnest and full of love but abby knows what’s gonna happen next.

“i, uh, i had a dream about being sucked into a black hole. like, like the movie we watched.”

now, abby’s nightmares are rare. if she has them it’s either based on a book or movie she recently watched or the day at the hospital in salt lake. growing up in the apocalypse, your nightmares are usually the least of your worries.

still you did warn abby about the dreams. she already had a messed up schedule because in the three days leading up to it, isaac had everyone preparing for the storm. and when you warned her about the scary movies, she brushed you off and swore she’d be fine. now she was at the mercy of her know-it-all girlfriend.

your lips twitch upwards. you lay back down and shift under the blankets until you’re back in the warm spot. you look at abby.

“am i allowed to say ‘i don’t you so’?” you smirk up at her.

she rolls her eyes. “whatever.”

you pout. “hey! be nice to me! i tried to warn you, you big baby! now come here and let me cuddle you!” you open your arms and abby eagerly falls into them. she snuggles into your chest. your hands go up to her loose hair and comb through the waves.

“i got you. go back to sleep, baby” is all abby hears before she lets sleep take her.

when you wake up, it’s to a giant tree limb slamming itself against the large stadium window. you jump in fear before you recognize the noise for what it is, taking a breath. abby has tucked you against her chest with your head under her chin, so she feels you wake up. her warm hands run up your back and she lets out a groan when you pull away from her. “i gotta go pee!” you apologize, practically running for the bathroom to keep the warmth in your body. abby’s watches out the window until you return with a sleepy smile and arms open. all of your responsibilities have been put on hold until the storm is over and you're going to take advantage of being able to lay in bed a bit longer than usual.

“did you sleep okay?” you mumble against abby’s collarbone. abby’s midnight worries are gone now that the sun is up. well it’s up there, behind the clouds somewhere.

“yeah,” she sighs. “sorry about that”

“you don’t have to apologize. you remember when i had nightmares for a week after we watched that killer doll movie?”

“yeahhh, that movie was fucked up”

“it was! and the black hole movie was also fucked. you don’t have to apologize… But am i allowed to say i told you so?”

abby playfully squeezes you tight to make you giggle.

“yeah,” she grins down at you. “you can”

“okay… I Told You Watching that Movie would Give You Nightmares.”

“why’d you say it like that? are you decreeing it?”

“yeah. you know i like being right. and besides, when you get scared i get to protect you so honestly it’s a win for me.”

“glad my misery brings you happiness”

you respond to her grumble with a kiss on the lips.

“my sweet scaredy-cat,” you say against her mouth. “i’ll always protect you. don’t worry” you promise into another, deeper kiss.

#number 13 #the number game #abby brainrot era #mads’ headcanons #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson fluff #abby anderson x you #just fucking vibes idk

[mydysfunctionalvampirefamily]

Okay in honour of the Q and A episode I'm going to list my favourite moments of the coterie and then af a few npc's.

Neil: him just sinking to his knees and crying when his haven gets destroyed in season 1. I just love to see him in pain, he suffers so prettily. But also his talk with Johnny about his bloodbond and how the coterie as a whole doesn't look longterm.

Miles: obviously the post Marcos angst. And when he says Really?! Really!? When Wynn accuses him of wanting to sacrifice Neil for his own need for revenge. You can really hear the hurt in there and the like wow you think so low of me huh. With an honourable mention to every time he is just indignant and passive aggressive, it's just so funny.

Johnny: It has to be Johnny throwing that Bruja from the roof, because omg. And the phone call he did to his wife. The duality in Johnny of being so tough, but having such a tender heart is really good.

Wynn: Not one moment, but the Wynn we see when Joey is around, it just the mama bear so intensified, so caring and protective and sweet. And 2 or 3 moments in season 2 where Wynn says the exact right thing at the wrong time and causes her coterie mates to frenzy with a few words. 😂

Britta: My favourite automated response is her just killing Zantosa. And my favourite real Britta moment was her first time feeding. I feel like it often gets glossed over how hard and awkward that must be the first few times. And poor Britta she had a hard time and had a lot of feelings about it and I love that we saw all of that.

#I know this is probably not interesting #But I thought that of all my liveblogs too and people seem to read those so #path of night podcast

[dayurno]

do you have any thoughts about the way thea was handled? ever since nora has been more active on twt (and mentioned the hate thea gets) people have been sort of insistent about Always Having Liked Her Actually and it irks me a lot, because imo people SHOULD be upset at the fact that kevin (who has been abused all his life and has trauma regarding the nest) has a gf who's from that same environment but 1. doesn't seem all that concerned about getting better / helping kevin get better 2. shouts at him in the only scene they're in together 3. isn't even described as a particularly good presence in the extra content explaining their past 4. this is just a horrible cherry on top but she's 5 years older and they met when he was 14 :/// like if anything i think this has a lot to do with nora not having been kind to kevin (which she also recently admitted to) like damn can he get one thing in life that's just good for him. one safe haven. jesus

short answer: i think thea as a character has been done the worst by nora sakavic, and the lack of care she was shown is in line with how all for the game treats its other characters of color.

long answer: most of my thoughts about how thea was handled are less about thea the character itself and more about her throwaway appearance and the overall lack of interest the author had when writing her. thea's a widely hated character for many reasons, not all of them valid, and a big one is that she was shoved into the narrative at one of the very last few chapters and paired up with one of the most important characters with very little thought or effort. we don't get even a hint of her existance before her appearance, and her one scene does not gather her sympathy because what we know of her is that she's an unrepentant raven (arguably the series' most evident villains) and what we see of her is a moment of great anger, that, even if ignorant, mimics the hostility most of the other ravens had towards kevin/the foxes during the trilogy

this is all to say: i don't like the way thea was written, and i think, especially, that it was a bad optic to write a black woman whose only scene is her being hostile towards her love interest. i need you to know that i'm not saying thea was not right to be angry, or that thea should've flown in and nursed kevin's mental health as soon as she could — both because it's out of character and because it's ridiculous —, but i am saying that she was not afforded almost anything as a character, in both terms of humanity and screentime. this is nothing new with how aftg treats its characters of color, and it is very telling that the characters who get the most flack (namely nicky and thea and riko) are the core of the non-white cast. thea and riko are not afforded complexity; nicky is a constantly flamboyant brown man whose only purpose is to wrangle his cousins and deliver friendship-related one liners to neil. this is why nora sakavic's refusal to comment on them grates on me, and why the new wave of adoration for the series with no nuance suffocates all of the real criticism done by fans of color in the last ten years.

and here's a personal answer: thea's future breaks my heart just as much as kevin's does, because she is also a victim of cultist mentality, and she never breaks out of it. i have no doubts in my heart that the nest was cruel to her, and her unflinching loyalty to the ravens until the end saddens me because it is a terrible existence when all is said and done. thea will not play exy forever, and by the time she has to retire, she will be just as miserable as kevin was. i don't know if she'll ever acknowledge how awful the ravens were either to her or to kevin — i don't know if she'll *want* to, because it is hard to do all that work, and it will leave her deeply scarred to realize most of it was not necessary to her sucess —, but i hope she does, and i hope that on that day, she will be able to decide for herself where to go from there.

#re: kevthea i dont think their relationship would be terrible but it would not stand for long #and i think kevin is as much of a comfortable choice for her as she is for him #but that is about as personal of an opinion as when i think kevallison wouldn't work well together #what i wish for thea is a better writer and a better fandom and a better series #but as i cannot change this i will tell u that thinking about how badly she was handled upsets me #and i hope (pray) that she finds a better man than kevin. who is probably not so obsessed with exy. and who could help her deal with #what kevin could not help her with #welcome to the world of the living theodora muldani! #asks #thea #kevin #kevthea

[steam-beasts]

My TTTE timeline - a concept

1800s

1805 - Construction of the first ever railway on Sodor was initiated. The first ever line to be built was horse-powered, which obviously meant that horses were used pull carts along a plate way from the Balladwail harbour to the copper mines in the foothills of Wardfell, this very tiny railway was simply dubbed "The Railroad". Slate was later on discovered in the hills and were eventually also mined.

1853 - After a few decades of using just horsepower, and having the only railroad on Sodor, the government finally caved in and agreed to help build a standard guage line from Ballahoo to Rolf's Castle in the Kirk Ronan area. This line would then be planned to be extended north to the Mainland. Three box-tank engines were sent to this line to assist with construction, one of which was called Niel.

1863 - The S & M railway soon extended south to the Kirk Ronan harbour in order to export slate and copper from the mines. Soon, the plateway was moved up to a new route near the Skarloey lake and replaced with rails for steam engines. This new railway was named the Skarloey Railway.

A narrow guage engine was ordered from the Fletcher, Jennings & Co from White Haven in England. At this time, Skarloey and Talyllyn had been built and were both waiting eagerly to be bought. However, when the year came around for Skarloey to depart for Sodor, he was quite upset to be leaving his sibling Talyllyn as he and the other had gotten quickly attached to each other. This caused some complications with unloading him at the docks, as Skarloey would have a bit of a tantrum due to being separated from Talyllyn. Neil, one of the box-tank engines had to step in and help calm Skarloey down, and transport him to the new railway. This sparked a new rule to be spread around to other steamwork companies on other railways which was to not let sibling engines get too attached to each other.

1865 - Later in the year, another engine from the same company that made Skarloey was bought and made to work alongside him, this engine was called Rheneas. He was bought not only to double the speed of work at the railway, but to be a companion for Skarloey as he began displaying signs of loneliness and possible depression from not seeing Talyllyn anymore.

1867 - Two years later, Skarloey is sent back to White Haven for a rebuild. He was given an added ponytruck and an enclosed cab for his updated design. Talyllyn was also given these new parts but in a separate room as to not let the pair interact. Rheneas would eventually follow suit (even if he didn't like it a lot). Meanwhile, on the south of the Sodor mountains, coal mines are dug and a town formulated around the hub called Great Waterton. A standard-guage tramway is built from the town, going through Crovan's Gate to the wharf at Balladwail, connecting to the S & M railway.

1870 - In another few years, more standard-guage railways were built. A new line was built up from the wharf at Suddery to Wellsworth and back, then known as the "Wellsworth & Suddery Railway". A fleet of four 0-6-0 saddle tank engines were sent to the railway, it's unknown where these four specific engines are to this day.

Mysteriously, during the construction of what was Sodor's 4th official railway, the slow but steady appearances of the railways and their engines began catching the attention of a bizarre community. One by one, strange men and occasional women would be seen around the railways. These mysterious people were all dressed up in tidy conductor uniforms and would appear and disappear in a cloud of golden dust...but that's what the workers stated, so it's still unclear.

No one's too sure who these strange folks are, or WHAT they are, but the managers say its best not to interact with them to be on the safe side...

1872 - Due to a recent shortage of sleepers in some parts of Sodor, along with the stormy showers wearing away the wood, the decision was made to find the sturdiest and most resistant wood in the world for the sleepers, thus discovering Jobi Wood. Unfortunately, the wood could only be found in the likes of Japan, which was ALL the way on the other side of the globe. This decision gets dismissed until a month later, two hikers visited Misty Island; A tiny neighbouring island located off the east coast, which was untouched by mankind for a century, and was nicknamed due to the heavy mist that surrounded it.

It was there that the two hikers discovered the Jobi wood when trying to burn it for their fire, only to find that it just partially burnt up and mostly still ok. This discovery was later spread, and managers of the standard guage lines were DELIGHTED to hear the news. Another month passes and Sodor gets in contact with an American logging company, known as the Bear Harbour Lumber Company.

A deal was struck and four boats from the company later arrived on Misty Island to begin constructing a new logging station and railway, with help of the Sodor Construction team.

1875 - A few years pass before the railway on Misty Island is officially completed and is named "The Bear Valley Railroad". Later that year, a small fleet of Climax Class A, B, and C logging engines are built at the Climax Locomotive Works in Corry, Pennsylvania and almost immediately are sent to work on Misty Island.

1879 - Up in the west of Sodor, a second narrow guage railway is constructed from the Arlesburgh harbour to the west mines of Peel Godred. This would be the Mid-Sodor Railway, which consisted of four engines, the first one to arrive being Duke. The others would arrive later.

1885 - Meanwhile, a third standard guage railway would be made at Toryreck to serve the lead mines located there, it was named the Elsebridge and Knapford Railway. A fleet of freshly built vertical boiler engines nicknamed "Coffee Pots" are loaned from the mainland. Glynn, a member of the Coffee Pots was designed and hand-built by a young rookie engineer named Richard Hatt and named by him personally. Richard Hatt will play a huge role in the railway's developments later...

Glynn was later bought from the Mainland to resume a permanent service at the railway after working tirelessly day and night. The other Coffee pots would remain loaned.

It was during this year the Mid-Sodor and Skarloey companies would attempt to built a third narrow guage line that went east through the Bluebell valley into Vicarstown, creating a link between it and Peel Godred. But this line would be abandoned shortly after as the Mainland built the Vicarstown bridge that went over the river and into the actual mainland. The S & M hammered the final nail in the coffin by extending their line down to the holiday seaside town of Norramby.

1886 - Back on Misty Island, a near-accident occurs where a Climax Class B locomotive almost gets hit by a landslide in the valley. A young Class C logging loco named Ferdinand luckily notices and pulls him out of the way. Ferdinand, like the other climax locos was initially loaned to the railway, but due to his heroic act, he was purchased and officially became the Bear Valley's No.1 engine.

1899 - Elsewhere, a rack railway was constructed to climb to the top of Culdee Fell, Sodor's largest mountain. Five angled-boiler engines were purchased from Switzerland, and they were odd ones. With the usual grey faces on the front of their smokebox and a second face on the back of their cabs. The railway's namesake, Culdee was trialed the year after before the grand opening and passed with flying colours. On Misty Island, one of the world's first diesel engines is sent to work there – her name was Dolly, and she was mostly used to clear away logs on the rails or to double-head log flatbeds. After a few months of tension, her and Ferdinand warmed up to eachother and became close friends from then on.

1900s

1900 - It is the 20th century. After Culdee's successful trial, the railway was soon approved for opening and opened in May for passengers and hikers. Everything went smoothly, until an accident occurs a couple months later where Godred, the Culdee Fell's No.1 derailed and tumbled down the mountain side, suffering critical damage. He was scrapped shortly after, and the railway was forever left without it's No.1.

1901 - During the first 15 years of the 20th century, several developments to the standard guage lines occured, the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway extend south to Brendam.

1902 - On Misty Island, two new engines arrive and are quite odd looking – A pair of young 0-4-0 twin B.H.L.C engines named Bash and Dash. They are both rather cheeky and annoying, causing disruption at the station and being a pair of little shits to everyone, especially the No.1, Ferdinand who wants nothing to do with them. But trouble blooms as Ferdinand accidentally derails in a more secluded part of the island. Bash and Dash rescue him, and are purchased as a reward, becoming the railroad's No.2 and No.3. The three are on good terms now.

1903 - Back on the Mid-Sodor, a new engine named Falcon is purchased and brought to the railway alongside Duke. On his first run up the mountain with the older engine, Falcon is reckless and nearly tumbles to his death. Duke however, catches him in time and is deemed a hero.

1904 - The harbour at the Elsbridge and Knapford railway becomes hard to upkeep, and is eventually abandoned. The line is moved up to Tidmouth through the headlands, and even though Tidmouth's a small place, it's harbour is surprisingly larger than the Knapford harbour. But unfortunately, a storm destroys the track.

To prevent this from happening again in the future, another track is created going through Knapford and a tunnel is constructed to let the track go on to Tidmouth

1905 - The tunnel is complete and the Elsbridge and Knapford railway becomes the Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway. Later on, the Light railway and the Wellsworth and Suddery line fuse to become the Tidmouth, Wellsworth and Suddery Railway.

(Ya'll feeling a bit confused? Good. So am I :,D)

1905 seemed to be the year where multiple changes would occur, as on April, the tracks to Elsebridge would become the Elsbridge branchline. Back to Great Waterton, an unfortunate event occurs where the mines dry up and the people abandon the town to find other jobs. Great Waterton is left to become ruins and the tramway is closed.

1906 - A year later, all the standard guage lines finally fuse together into one big railway, known as the "Northwestern Railway". The Wellsworth and Suddery become the brendam branchline. There is now a plan to create a big station in Knapford that links together the headland line and the mainline together.

1907 - The big station at Knapford is complete, and named "Knapford Station", for obvious reasons. It becomes the railway's top link station. Meanwhile, all the the way in Japan, a rail engineer called Hideo Shima creates a Class D51 2-8-2 called Hiro. Hiro is quite a rarity, he is actually a prototype Class D51 2-8-2 tender engine, he came WAY before any of his brothers and sisters. As a replacement for the retired D50s, Hiro's design was initially a practice design and not yet official, and Hideo Shima and the JR didn't plan on using him as many engines already took up the railway. So a call was made to the Northwestern Railway in Sodor, offering the prototype to take up any freight services or passenger runs.

The offer was, after a lot of persuading, accepted and Hiro was sent Sodor and was loaded off at Brendam Docks, becoming the Island's first ever standard-guage tender engine. Hiro would go on to do passenger runs from Knapford to Vicarstown and many freight runs. Mind you, this all happened near the start of the year.

1908 - Back at Misty Island, an incredible discovery is made – a tunnel. This tunnel however, wasn't normal. It was found that the tunnel linked the small island with Sodor by going right under the ocean bed and out of a tunnel mouth on Sodor that was covered up by years of growing terrain and plants. A very bizarre discovery indeed. The tunnel seemed to be incredibly old as well, sodor historians and geographers theorised that it dated back to the 1600s, where King Godred ruled. The Misty Island tunnel could've been a secret escape passage that allowed kings and queens to escape to safety without being seen by enemies.

The idea was then made to reuse this tunnel as a quicker way to deliver jobi wood to Sodor instead of sending it by boat. A new line was built through the tunnel that would be used to fetch and bring wood from the Bear Valley Railroad. Hiro and Glynn would be first to do this. However, for Hiro, this is the last time he is ever seen before suddenly vanishing the following year.

1910 - Glynn's designer, Richard Topham Hatt becomes the director of the Northwestern Railway.

Remember that "odd community" that I mentioned before? The small crowd of strange conductors had blended into the Sodor population by then, so they were hardly noticed. That was until after a month of becoming director, Richard Hatt is approached by one of them. He was a tall man with elf-like ears and a mustache.

The conductor explained who he and his fellow conductors were, that they came from an unseen railway, a "magic railroad" as a way to put it. He then requests the new director to allow him and his fellow conductors to stay. Reluctantly, Richard agrees to this, and that's how Mr Conductor and his family became involved with Sodor.

1914 - To help with passenger runs and freight services after Hiro's sudden disappearing act, the Northwestern Railway loans a small, elderly dark red tender engine from Barrow-in-Furness named Edward. At the time, Edward was the only tender engine on the Northwestern Railway, and had to do a majority of tasks by himself. But he got help from a couple of the Coffee Pots now and again. He was the top-link express engine and delivered goods trains across the whole railway. With help from the Coffee pot engines, Edward managed to finish the line all by himself. Glynn and two other vertical boiler engines are sent to Knapford to shunt trains as at the time.

A branchline is created during this time, running from Ballahoo to the seaside town of Norramby.

1918 - Edward is purchased by the NWR, and becomes the No.2 of the railway. Glynn, being the only officially bought engine, is still the No.1. Edward is repainted into a NWR royal blue later that year.

1920 - Back to the Mid-Sodor, a new little engine named Stewart is bought and is transferred to the railway via traction engine.

1922 - Several engines from the Mainland are loaned to help out on the railway. A third engine is purchased, a supposed A3 Pacific meant to help out with passenger runs. However, due to poor steaming problems because of an unusually small firebox, he's unable to. The engine's name is Henry, and it turned out he was a squandered design that Sir Nigel Gresley threw away. Despite these issues, the Fat Director kept him out of the kindness of his heart.

But Henry would put that generosity to the test when later that year, he goes into a tunnel due to apparently not wanting to get his livery ruined by the rain. Even long after the rain stops, he refuses to come out like a stubborn big baby. Despite all the efforts, Topham ultimately decides to brick Henry up in the tunnel, remove the tracks and never let him out. Suffice to say, Henry regrets his life decisions.

1923 - The next year rolls by, Edward finds himself retired in terms of Express duties by a new and flashy A3 Pacific from the L.N.E.R called Gordon. Gordon becomes the island's top link express engine, replacing Edward. With all the more modern steam engines coming to the island, poor old Edward is used less and less, eventually left sitting at the back of the sheds. Eventually, a sympathetic crew let him out for some fresh air and he got to pull trains again, along with the express. The Fat director is pleased with Edward, so he awards him with odd jobs to do in Wellsworth. Sometime later, Gordon gets stuck on a hill and Edward has to come and help him up. A few months later, Gordon bursts his safety valve near the Ballahoo tunnels where Henry was walled up in.

Edward comes along to pull the Express for him, but finds himself struggling to do so. The Fat director, who was on the Express decided to try with Henry again. Henry was let out and successfully assisted Edward with pulling the coaches. The three of them became long-time friends after that.

The Peel Godred Electric company constructs a hydro-electric power station in Peel Godred that utilises the three nearby lakes. The only issue was that the bulky equipment they used was too big to fit the line clearances on the Mid-Sodor, so they switched to standard guage lines instead. The company struck a deal with the Northwestern to build a branchline from Kildane up to it. The gradients were steep, so electric engines with currents supplied from the power station would run it. With that, the line is made and a junction is created at Kildane with facilities for the electric engines and a line that stretches up to Kirk Machan. This line takes you from the NW to Culdee Fell. These changes would seal the Mid-Sodor Railway's fate.

1924 - In early January, a 5th engine for the NWR is bought. He is a sleek black Class 28 tender engine from the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, and his name is James. He was bought and assigned to goods trains, but was personally not fond of it. The only problem with James (asides from his obnoxious personality) were his brakes; For some reason, James had wooden brake blocks which made braking a little risky for him as they could catch fire. During the time of James's arrival, Glynn goes missing. After an island wide search, the NWR finds itself left without its No.1.

In the late summer after Glynn's disappearance, and without a station pilot at Knapford to handle the coaches and shunt in the yard, the Fat Director tries to find a replacement. He was initially planning on buying an E2 tank engine in 1916, but other Railway directors had purchased them all. It was until he discovered that a new E2 was very recently built and grabbed at the chance.

Phone calls were made and a week later, an E2 tank engine arrives on Sodor, his name is Thomas.

Almost immediately, Topham and Edward notice something off about Thomas's appearance; Despite being an E2, Thomas was much too small, probably just a tiny bit smaller than a Jinty or a Pug class. E2s were, I kid you not, MASSIVE, just a little taller than a tender engine, whereas Thomas was the opposite. Asides from his size, there were other complications with his design if you compared it with the blueprints.

At first, the Fat director thought he was scammed like he was with Henry, but after a talk with the supposed E2's crew and a look at his blueprints, it turned out that Thomas really WAS an E2. Thomas's build was just delayed due to the war and so had to be postponed, but when his build DID happen, it was rushed. However, the reason for his homunculus appearance is still unknown, as he refuses to say why.

Moving on, Thomas became Knapford's new Station pilot. He was although, newly built and was still trying to find his way around the railway. But luckily, Edward decided to come forth and mentor him through tough times.

1925 - Thomas eventually gets bored of being a station pilot and finds himself yearning for something different. One day he complains to Edward about this and the elderly K2 offers Thomas with taking his goods train to Wellsworth. Since it's his first time, Thomas has some... difficulties with the trucks, but manages them in the end. The Fat Director is there to see him with Edward's train and tells him off, same with Edward.

Thomas's promotion from pilot duties would coincide with the deal struck between the NWR and LMS that year. This deal allowed the NWR to extend their services over into the Mainland and so, a bridge was built over the wide river that separated the island from the Mainland. Sometime later, an incident occurs where James's wooden brake blocks fail and the trucks send him barreling through Wellsworth. Thomas tries to prevent him from crashing out in the farm fields but fails and James derails. Thomas acts quickly and fetches the Breakdown train, he is then considered a Really Useful Engine. As a reward, Thomas gets the Ffarqhuarr branchline and a repaint into the NWR blue like Edward.

He later encounters Glynn, the lost coffee pot engine who was sitting behind thick foliage that hid him rather well. Glynn had caught wind of his bravery and asks Thomas to take his place as No.1. So, by Glynn's request, the little blue tank engine has a number #1 painted on his side-tanks. James arrives back from the works later that year in a splendid new red livery.

Thomas's branchline runs from the Elsebridge station to Ffarqhuarr, the Ffarqhuarr quarry had recently opened, so the Fat Director believed Thomas would be the right engine for the job. In the early days, Thomas does many things on his branchline such as; fishing, leaving his guard behind, getting rescued by Terence on his first snow day on the line and racing Bertie. James pilots at Knapford for a little while before the director allows him to pull passenger trains.

1926 - A year passes, and Knapford still has no station pilot. The big engines start getting sick of shunting their own trucks and coaches, and decide to initiate a strike. They would nevertheless, begin regretting it as the Fat Director would keep them stuck in the sheds. Because of them refusing to do their jobs, Thomas has to come back and help Edward with the extra workload. Luckily, the Fat Director acts accordingly and purchases a small green saddle-tank engine he named Percy.

Percy takes up pilot duties, and the big engines are let out of their berths at Tidmouth once more. The Fat director even lets Thomas and Edward take a couple days off, saying as they had to handle most of the work.

1928 - After a series of accidents and warnings from Duke, the No.2 of the Mid-Sodor, Smudger is broken up and reduced to a generator at the back of the shed. Falcon and Stewart are quite horrified at this change.

1934 - Henry's steaming problems are becoming more and more frequent each week, and the Fat Director gets fed up with trying to fix him. It's until Henry's fireman recommends trying Henry with Welsh coal, and it seems to do the trick.

1935 - The year after, Henry pulls the Flying Kipper – a non-stop fish train to Manchester. However, due to an iced over signal, Henry ends up barreling into a siding where he has a high-speed collision with the back of a goods train. His crew and the guard and crew of the engine pulling the goods train were, by a miracle, not badly injured. Henry, needless to say, WAS badly injured. Henry is then sent to Crewe, where he is overhauled into a new shape and gets a bigger firebox. Henry returns that summer a better and stronger engine, and has had no steaming problems ever since.

1943 - World War II has begun, and over on Sodor, a couple events occur on the Skarloey railway. The railway's two main engines, Skarloey and Rheneas are over 70 years old now, and are starting to show their age. Skarloey unfortunately goes out of commission, and with no money due to wartime to overhaul him, Rheneas is forced to run the line himself.

1945 - Over on the mainland, Wilbert Awdry, a clergyman and priest writes and publishes the first ever Railway Series book that tells the many stories of Henry, Gordon and Edward, also known as "The Three Railway Engines". During this year on Misty Island, the Bear Valley Railroad encounters a sudden bankruptcy and immediately closes down. The company abandons the island so fast that three of their logging engines get left behind; Bash, Dash and Ferdinand, including a couple of its young lumberjacks.

1947 - A couple years after, the Mid-Sodor Railway meets its demise and closes after the mines are flooded. Most of the remaining engines that worked there are sold off, including Falcon and Stewart who are auctioned off to the Aluminum works at Peel Godred, while Duke is left in the sheds, tarped up and abandoned. Smudger is still a generator at this time and remains at the back of the shed, what's left of his body rotting away to time. It's just... haunting to think he's probably still there to this very day.

Later that winter, Thomas intentionally breaks his snow plough one day due to how uncomfortable it feels and as a consequence, ends up crashing into a snow drift later on. Luckily, Terence the Tractor comes by and rescues him, showing that you can never judge a book by its cover.

1948 - All four railways on the mainland join forces and become a national network called British railways, this officially makes the Northwestern Railway the Northwestern region of British Railways. The Fat Director is awarded his baronetcy for his services to the railways and becomes chairman of the Regional Executive, thus gaining the title "Sir" and having his nickname changed to "The Fat Controller". On his branchline, Thomas meets Bertie the Bus and races him to the Ffarqhuarr station.

Clay beds are discovered near Brendam and the Sodor China Clay Pits are formed. Two little Bagnall saddle tank engines called Bill and Ben are brought to Sodor and are sent to work there. They pull the clay trucks from the pits to the Brendam Docks. With Brendam Docks becoming revitalised, the line to it find new use, and so Edward is sent to run it.

Later on, Edward is taking a train of scrap to the new Peel Godred Ironworks, built at Peel Godred. The NWR built a branchline through the Mid-Sodor, north of Abbey and through a valley up to it. On his way there, he meets Trevor the Traction Engine, who's due to be broken up the following week. Edward refuses to let this happen, so he convinces the Vicar of Wellsworth to save him.

1950 - Deep in the bowels of one of Sodor's biggest forests, two young best friends, a boy named Burnett Stone and a girl named Tasha make a remarkable discovery when they find an old, dying driver and his engine at the cliff face of a mountain. This discovery will change how these two children view engines forever..

1951 - Sir Topham Hatt takes his family on holiday to East Anglia, where they meet an elderly J70 steam tram named Toby, and his faithful coach, Henrietta. The family takes a liking to the pair and by the children's request, go for passenger rides along the tramway. Sadly for Toby and Henrietta, they both knew these were the last passenger rides they were ever gonna give...or so they thought.

Later that year, Thomas gets in trouble with a policeman because his wheels aren't covered, so he can't get on the tramway to the quarry. Sir Topham Hatt remembers Toby and writes to his controller, then purchases him and Henrietta. Toby and his coach arrive later, and he becomes the railway's 7th engine. Back on the Skarloey, Rheneas finally reached his limit and his valve gear jams while he is on route with a passenger train. He reaches the station by good luck but is in need of an overhaul. With both of the main engines out of action, two new engines are brought to take over; Stewart and Falcon. But now, the two had been renamed "Peter Sam" and "Sir Handel". The pair had been auctioned off to the Aluminium Works four years prior and had been repurchased and named after the owner and controller of the railway respectively.

That Christmas, a landslide occurs and blocks the tunnel that Mrs Kyndley's cottage is situated near. Mrs Kyndley was sick that day, but after seeing the landslide, she quickly grabbed a red blanket and waved it out of her window, knowing Thomas was coming. She flagged Thomas down and stopped him just in time. After Mrs Kyndley's heroic act, Sir Topham Hatt came and thanked her personally at her cottage.

1952 - The next year rolls around on the Skarloey railway and Rheneas is finally sent to be overhauled, being absent for 9 whole years. On the NWR, Edward is sent away for an overhaul after rescuing a runaway James who had his controls messed with by some foolish boys. While waiting for his turn to go to the works, Edward and Skarloey converse, with Skarloey filling him in on everything that's happened on the SR.

After Sir Handel derails, Skarloey is let out of the shed after years of not running, despite a leaky boiler and warped firebox. He breaks a spring during his first-in-a-long-time passenger run, but gets the passenger train to the next station. The railway is so pleased with him, that they agree to send him for an overhaul. He leaves, leaving Sir Handel and Peter Sam to handle the railway themselves.

That same year, before Edward left for his overhaul, Gordon refused to pull a goods train and ran off the turntable into a ditch. He managed to make up for his mistake though after rescuing a reckless Thomas who fell down a dilapidated mine at Toryreck. That Christmas, the fat controller hosted a Christmas party to thank Mrs Kyndley for her act of heroism last year. Everybody gets a little drunk while being surrounded by a bunch of sentient trains with faces. 1952 was a big year.

1954 - The newly-crowned Queen Elizabeth || travels around the whole of Britain to greet everyone, including Sodor. Gordon is chosen to haul her coaches. Sir Richard Topham Hatt retires, leaving his son, Charles Topham Hatt to inherit the railway.

1955 - On his first year of becoming controller, the Fat Controller's first act is to reopen service at the old Knapford harbour. Work begins immediately that year, and Percy, Thomas and Trevor are enlisted to help with restoration. With Percy not stationing at Knapford, the Fat Controller purchases another engine from the mainland to take his place. The new engine is a Pannier tank from the Great Western region named Montague, but is nicknamed Duck.

After Percy proves to be quite good at the harbour, he is relocated to work at Thomas's branchline, and Duck becomes the new official station pilot. Duck is purchased and becomes the railway's 8th engine, but the Fat Controller graciously lets him keep his Great Western livery and nameplates.

Due to the new construction of the harbour, the map of the Ffarquhar branchline changes; the south harbour junction closes and a new one is opened north of the river. A new line for passenger services is built over the old dryaw line, and so the old one closes, but then it is revitalised for goods services.

Probably everyone who read this all so far;

During the time when Percy is helping to restore the harbour, he meets Harold the Helicopter at the Dryaw Airfield and doesn't take a huge liking to him. Soon enough, the old Knapford harbour is finished and opened for service.

Later that year, the Ffarquhar branchline caught in a heavy downpour and suffers flooding near Elsebridge. Percy is filling in for Thomas at that time, but braves the flood and gets the passengers home.

1956 - At the Knapford harbour, Percy brags to Bill and Ben about the time he braved the flood to get Thomas's passengers home. Bill and Ben were amazed, Henry...not so much. At this time, the foundations of the key had sunken, making the rails slope down. There is a danger sign to warn engines of this, but Percy was too big-headed to believe it, even a warning from Thomas doesn't make him wary. Out of stubbornness and seeing what he can get away with, Percy one day gets some troublesome trucks to push him past the sign, but this doesn't end well as he ends up plunging into the sea. Percy got humbled that day U_U

A month later, a horrid storm beats down on Sodor and destroys a forest situated between Wellsworth and Crosby. Henry is dismayed at the news. To cheer him up, Toby, Terence and Trevor help to clear up and repair the damage.

Meanwhile at Barrow on the mainland, an engine derails, leaving Gordon to step in to take their train to London.

The railway series books are proving to be a massive success, and the Fat controller gets letters from children on the mainland asking if his engines are real. So, he gathers his eight famous engines and they all embark on a trip to Houston station for a rail gala. Several BR engines fill in for them on the railway.

Sir Topham Hatt | passes away in his house, leaving his son, Charles to inherit the baronetcy and become Sir Topham Hatt ||.

1957 - The famous 100mph record-breaker engine, City of Truro visits the railway and has a lovely time with the other engines on their railtour. Gordon himself tries to go 100mph, but to no avail, loses his dome when going over a bridge.

A few months later, an 08 diesel shunter named Diesel (what a beautiful name) is trialed on the railway. Diesel doesn't take a liking to Duck after he plays a trick on him and spreads false rumours around the yard that lead to Duck being sent away to bank trains at Wellsworth.

One day, Duck crashes into a newly opened Barbour shop at Crosby after being chased by runaway trucks. Turns out that all along, Sir Topham Hatt || knew about Diesel's scheme and sent him packing, much to Duck's relief. From then on, Duck was allowed to sleep at Tidmouth once more, the big engines greeted him warmly.

Back on the Skarloey railway, a new maintenance diesel named Rusty is brought to the railway to help mend the old dilapidated tracks. They end up discovering the disused line that goes through the Bluebell Valley.

1958 - A new engine from a factory on the mainland called Duncan joins the Skarloey fleet. He instantly dislikes Rusty. Shortly after, Peter Sam suffers an accident that damages his funnel. Skarloey returns from his overhaul that year, and just in time as a group of BBC producers arrive to broadcast a live documentary about the Skarloey Railway.

Back on the NWR, parts of the railway were starting to show their age and problems began to rise; a few tracks on the Ffarqhuarr branchline had been warped from the heat and Thomas ended up derailing because of it. So, Sir Topham Hatt sends everyone to work at different areas until the issues are fixed. Percy and Duck are sent to work at Brendam Docks and have the unfortunate experience of meeting Devious Diesel, who hasn't changed a bit. Turns out he was given a second chance, but fails once more. A few months prior to this, a circus visited the NWR and one of its elephants ran away and hid in Henry's tunnel.

After the commotion with Diesel, Duck discovers his love for the sea.

1959 - On the mainland, steam is slowly dying and being taken over by diesel, being dubbed "a new era" for British Railways.

Sir Topham Hatt purchases a Caledonian engine from Scotland to help out on the railway as it's growing and needs more handling, but is dumbfounded and utterly confused when two arrive, the twins' names are Donald and Douglas. Sir Topham Hatt had purchased Donald, but Douglas stowed away with him as he knew he would be doomed to become scrap. The Fat Controller finds himself stuck on what to do, so for the time being, he trials both of them.

The twins prove themselves to be useful after saving a derailed Henry on a snowy day. After some persistence from the other engines, Sir Topham Hatt agrees to keep both of them. They become the NWR's 9th and 10th engines respectively.

A few months pass and the Fat Controller decides to build a new station near the old port at Arlesburgh. This ends up resulting in the creation of a new branchline from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh, with plans to stretch it up through the fish town of Harwick and along the west coast. Duck was requested to run it.

1960 - We're starting off with a literal crash into the 60s as Thomas crashes into the stationmaster's house during their breakfast at Ffarqhuarr. Despite the crash mostly not being his fault, he gets scolded by Sir Topham Hatt and sent to the Works to have his buffers mended. In Thomas's absence, a new diesel railcar named Daisy is brought to manage the passenger service. She is selfish and spoilt at first, but gets humbled a month on after Percy endures a bizarre derailment that lands the branchline in quite a predicament. Luckily, Thomas is back from the Works by this time, so it's not all terrible.

On the same year, the mascot of the Bluebell Railway on the mainland, Stepney, is withdrawn from service. Also on the same year, Boco arrives on the island and gets harassed by Bill and Ben. He joins the railway later after Edward suffers an accident that gets his side all ripped up and taken to get repaired, becoming the NWR's second diesel.

The branchline from Tidmouth to Arlesburgh is completed and the village of Harwick celebrates by holding a fun fair. Toby is chosen to be the attraction, but by the time he goes there, plans are changed and he just went up there for nothing.

1961 - Peter Sam's funnel finally breaks one snowy day after it gets hit by a fallen icicle. He gets it replaced by a new, special funnel, a Geisel Ejector. It proves to be a success.

Finally, Rheneas makes a gallant return to the railway after his 9 year overhaul

1962 - Stepney brings a rail tour to Sodor as a big marketing event for the Bluebell Railway. During his time on Sodor, Sir Topham Hatt trials a Class 40 diesel called Derek. Derek ends up breaking down while going down the line to Brendam and Stepney and Duck double-head the train in his place. Stepney departs Sodor the next day.

1963 - Culdee, the namesake of the Culdee Fell Mountain Railway returns after his overhaul in Switzerland and gets to know the new faces brought in to the railway, one of them was called Lord Harry.

Lord Harry would later rescue a climber at the Devil's back, a part of the mountain known for often having bad weather. In return for his heroism, he gets his name changed to Patrick after the climber he rescued.

On the mainland, Alan Peglar rescue Gordon's brother, The Flying Scotsman, from scrap. Sadly, all of Gordon's other siblings aren't lucky.

1964 - On Thomas's branchline, the Ffarqhuarr quarry acquires it's own small diesel shunter named Mavis. She's young and confident, so she believes she can do everything herself and insults toby. But after Diesel gives her bad advice, she eventually gets her just-do and learns to never take advice from Diesel, who was miraculously still on the railway.

On autumn that year, Percy crashes into a lime cart that gives him a ghostly white appearance. He uses this to his advantage to scare Thomas after he states his disbelief of ghosts. During this time, the Norramby branchline is in need of an engine to run it, so Rusty is tasked with finding one.

Rusty stumbles upon Stepney on their way through a scrapyard one night, and helps him escape. After Stepney is rescued, he is purchased by the railway and sent to run the Norramby branchline for a while. Eventually, Stepney gets bored and decides to go visit the west side of Sodor by the Fat Controller's invitation. During his time there, he makes Thomas jealous, double-heads the Express with Duck, escapes from the Ironworks and gets chased down by Caroline. He leaves for the final time after that with a proper send off.

1965 - The Skarloey celebrates its 100th anniversary of being open, with the brand new opening of a loop line around the lake of Skarloey. The current owner of the Skarloey Railway, Sir Robert Norramby, hosts the celebration. Before the opening, a talk with Duck about dukes sends Peter Sam into a crisis, panicking about the fact that his Duke may have gotten scrapped. He learns his mistake but he and Sir Handel start to talk about him frequently.

An incident at Knapford occurs when a beehive is found within the station and a swarm of bees attack the passengers. James gets stung on the nose by one and the swarm latches on to James's boiler. After several attempts, the bees finally let go.

The NWR decides to reopen the Arlesburgh harbour as an addition to Tidmouth, thus extended Duck's branchline.

1966 - A discovery of ballast is made at the old Mid-Sodor mines. Subsequently to this, all of the railway controllers come together to create a miniature guage railway that runs along one of the old track beds of the long-abandoned Mid-Sodor Railway.

1967 - The next year, the Arlesdale Railway officially opens for services and a new controller is hired, he is Mr Fergus Duncan. The engines brought on to run the line are Rex, Mike and Bert. There is also a miniature diesel named Frank, but passengers of the railway rarely see him. Duck meets them while visiting one day.

Two clergymen visit the railway one day and have encounters with them, one of which is Wilbert Awdry, author of the railway series and his friend, Teddy Boston. Awdry decides to write a book about Rex, Mike and Bert, but leaves out Frank which gets him upset and crashes into the back of the shed in retaliation.

Meanwhile, Gordon catches wind of the fate of his siblings on the mainland and enters a severe depression because of it. To cheer him up, Sir Topham Hatt calls Alan Peglar and they arrange a meeting between Gordon and his last surviving brother, the Flying Scotsman. Henry gets jealous of Scotsman's two tenders, but after getting tricked by Percy, learns that one tender is good enough

During the FS's visit, two diesels are trialed on the railway. One of them breaks down and the other gets to stay. The new third diesel is nicknamed Bear.

On Duck's branchline, new sheds are built adjacent to the Arlesdale railway. Douglas has his own adventure when he's delivering a midnight goods train and comes across Oliver, who's marked for scrap. Oliver and his brakevan, Toad are trying to get to Sodor to escape getting scrapped. Douglas decides to help him out and brings him back with him.

Upon meeting him, Sir Topham Hatt purchases Oliver and he becomes the railway's 11th engine, joining the twins and Duck at the Little Western.

1968 - The end of steam traction arrives, and the Island of Sodor becomes the only place in Britain with a steam-powered railway.

1969 - Peter Sam and Sir Handel won't stop talking about Duke, and this gets the two clergymen intrigued and wondering about his whereabouts. They, Mr Fergus Duncan and the duke then band together to find Duke. They search the remains of the Mid-Sodor Railway, and the search reaches an end when Teddy Boston falls through the roof of Duke's old shed and lands on top of the old engine, who turned out to be asleep for 20 whole years and wasn't aware of how much time passed.

He is rescued, restored and brought to the Skarloey Railway where he reunited with Peter Sam and Sir Handel.

1970 - The Arlesdale railway unveils its own newly made steam engine, Jock. Jock was built by the railway itself. Meanwhile, the ever-growing Brendam Docks acquires a new crane named Cranky. When a storm hits the island, Cranky gets knocked over, he's raised, then knocked over again...then raised again.

1971 - A branchline from Kirk Ronan is built up to Kellsthorpe, the branchline has a big canopy station as its terminus that overlooks part of the island. Gordon's brakes failed here and he ended up crashing through the station wall on its opening day, getting the "better view" he wanted. He makes up for it and is rewarded with his own window.

1972 - Signalmen and late night railroaders had begun reporting peculiar sightings of a mysterious female steam engine with a maroon pink livery steaming around during the night, leaving gold dust trails along the tracks she glides along. They say it's like seeing a ghost, and they can even hear her whistle echo throughout the night. Due to the bizarre descriptions of these sightings, the controllers and mayor all pass it off as "foolish folklore" or just a hoax.

After these rumors cleared up, Henry was taking a midnight goods train to Peel Godred where he encountered Old Bailey, the original stationmaster for the Mid-Sodor station at the crossover. The Sodor Preservation society restores the station, and anoints Bailey as its keeper.

Sometime later, the lake adjacent from the station is drained and the old Mid-Sodor tracks are pulled up, making way for tarmac to be paved down to create a road link, but it's not done too well.

1975 - On the Skarloey Railway, Duke is sent for a lengthy overhaul. When he'll be back? No one knows...

At some point, the NWR took charge of the Norramby line from the previous manager, and Sir Topham Hatt gained ownership of Stepney. He allowed Stepney to revisit for a little while by helping out Toby and Mavis at Ffarqhuarr Quarry. After helping out, Stepney takes a wrong turn when returning to his shed and ends up at the Ironworks where he is taken by Arry and Bert, who try to scrap him. Luckily, Sir Topham Hatt rescues him in the nick of time. Later in the year, the Skarloey's owner, Sir Robert Norramby decides to go on a global trip around the world and leaves Sir Topham Hatt in charge of his railway.

1979 - After Gordon breaks down before pulling the Express, Thomas, Duck and Percy are enlisted to triple-head the train.

The China Clay Pits meanwhile suffer a catastrophic avalanche, making everyone evacuate. Bill and Ben act quickly though and rescue everyone before doom struck them fatally. The clay pits end up closing after this and Bill and Ben relocate to Ffarqhuarr Quarry.

One early autumn night, Oliver is temporarily assigned to pulling the mail train, but ends up taking a wrong turn into a abandoned line and crashes into an old shed at Arlesdale end. He is saved later on by the Fat Controller, who takes an interest into the old area and decides to refurbish it for visitors. He acquires the rights and relocates Toby there to help finish construction. The old shed that Oliver crashes into is refurbished as well into a new shed for Toby and Henrietta. The line now belongs to Toby.

1981 - On Toby's line, the Great Dam breaks due to heavy rain and unleashes a flood that nearly kills Toby and his crew. In the warmer months, the dam is fixed and the line is fully complete and open for service with its terminus at Callan on the Little Western.

Sometime later, Toby and the Hatt family venture into the abandoned mining network at the tail end of Thomas's branchline. There, they come across the ruins of Ulfstead Castle and the gold mine. Both are restored and Ulfstead Castle is opened for tourists. During restoration, an old engine from the Mid-Sodor era called Bertram was discovered and was sent to pull tourists around the gold mine after restoration was finished. A connection between Ulfstead and Arlesdale end was built, creating a loop. Arlesdale End became a through-station.

1983 - Thomas and Percy travel up to the Ironworks and come across an old coach dubbed "Old Slow Coach". After a fire breaks out at the worker's hut at Tidmouth Hault, Old Slow Coach is repurposed into a new permanent housing quarters to replace it, and is quite happy. But when Mrs Kyndley's daughter gets married later, she becomes part of the good luck package.

Around the month of August, Sir Topham Hatt decides to reopen the old boulder quarry at the Mid-Sodor. The plans are changed when a seemingly sentient boulder terrorises the little engines and deals significant damage to the site. Sir Topham Hatt then figures that the boulder some sort of warning from God and ultimately decides to abandon the quarry.

1984 - Sir Handel gets into trouble for some unknown reason and Sir Topham Hatt sends him to the Shadow Re– the slate mines as a punishment for an undefinite amount of time. On the same year, a television series based off of the stories from the Railway Series is created by a lady called Britt Allcroft and a man called David Mitton. The series is named "Thomas the Tank engine & Friends" and uses model versions of the engines. The series is narrated by the Beatle himself, Ringo Starr.

1988 - A blue Class 07 diesel-electric shunter purchased from the mainland travels all the way to Sodor to work as a quarry diesel with Mavis and the tank engine twins. He works there for a short while, but longs to be by the sea, and so he is relocated to work as a shunter in the yard at Brendam Docks. His name is Salty.

The Elsbridge is getting weak and is in need of renovation, and so Sir Topham Hatt puts up a weight limit for the bridge. Thomas is too heavy for the bridge and so is relocated to Wellsworth with Edward for the time being, but returns next year.

1989 - The Skarloey gains a new maintenance diesel named Fred to help out Rusty, but going into present-day, no one sees him anymore. On the NWR, the railway gains a new Crane-tank engine named Harvey.

1990 - The National Railway Museum in York invites Thomas to take part in a Rail gala. Thomas leaves the next day in his own power, and Toby, Daisy and Percy take care of the branchline while he's gone.

1992 - Thomas returns from York and Henry is send to Crovan's Gate for an overhaul. He comes back early after a locomotive crisis and isn't fully repainted yet. Later that year, Sir Charles Topham Hatt retires, leaving his son, Bertram to inherit the railway. On his first act as controller, he rescues three engines from being scrapped; Murdoch, Arthur and an elderly, yet youthfully spirited Stirling Single named Emily.

1995 - While on route to Brendam, Thomas breaks down and his crew come across a shed, where inside is an old steam lorry named Elizabeth, after she gets let out, Elizabeth helps Thomas reach Brendam. She was Sir Topham Hatt |'s first ever vehicle, but was eventually left in a shed. The Fat Controller was so pleased with the discovery of his grandfather's old lorry that he paid for her to be restored to full beauty. She now works on the roads close to the narrow guage lines.

50 years have passed by since the first Railway Series book, and a big celebration is held at Tidmouth to celebrate it.

A high-speed train from the mainland carrying Prince Charles arrives at Knapford to celebrate the occasion.

1996 - Utter horror and tragedy strikes the rails as a feud between two drivers named P. T Boomer and Burnett Stone leads to Burnett's wife, Tasha getting killed after she and their steam engine are pushed off of a partially dilapidated viaduct by Boomer's equally malicious Class 46 Warship, Diesel 10. As said, Tasha is tragically killed in the fall, but their steam engine is still clinging to her life. Burnett leaves Sodor the next week to repair his engine and is never heard from after that.

2000s

2000 - The events of my TATMR rewrite occur. Just think of the og TATMR but the American test audience didn't screw it over.

2004 - Sir Topham Hatt || dies peacefully in his sleep, leaving the current Fat Controller to inherit the baronetcy, becoming Sir Bertram Topham Hatt |||.

2005 - (My planned CAE rewrite) The station at Kellsthorpe Road is rebuilt into a bigger station with a bay platform. During construction, Thomas prevents runaway trucks from crashing into it. Above the Kellsthorpe Road, the ground is prepped for the construction of a new airport for holidaymakers and tourists.

The construction sparks a rivalry between steamies and diesels as the construction requires nearly every single engine on the NWR. As the construction begins, a bad storm delays the build and destroys the suspension bridge over the River Hoo (I dunno how to spell it 🥲). It was quickly rebuilt, and mainline services resumed. The storm had also demolished the original Tidmouth Sheds, and so the engines all had to relocate until it was rebuilt.

Thomas stayed at Knapford Sheds with Emily, who had taken a sudden switch in personality during that time (seriously, she became a gODDAMN BI–) and didn't take kindly to him staying there...at first.

Tidmouth Sheds gets rebuilt with an extra berth for Emily, who stays there permanently.

2006 - The expanding Skarloey Railway was becoming too much for Sir Topham Hatt ||| to handle, which makes sense since he was in control of two whole railways. He hired a man called Peregrine Percival, more commonly known as the Thin Controller, to run it.

A bunch of loaned engines from different railways arrive to the island for temporary services on the NWR. These engines are Molly, Dennis, Neville and Mighty Mac. The bridge for the Peel Godred across the mainline falls into disrepair, and during its reconstruction, Neville missed the warning signal and nearly ran off it. Thomas catched him just in time.

A new statue of the main Tidmouth engines (and Toby) is put on display at Abbey Station.

Around June on the Skarloey, Sir Handel makes a return from the slate mines after his extended, and isolated stay.

2007 - Gordon attempted to beat his speed record again, but gave it up to help out Henry. He eventually did break it, and Sir Topham Hatt awarded him with special coaches. Toby's old shed at Arlesdale End was rebuilt with a new roof, and his old roof was made into a little birdhouse up front.

Another engine from the Mid-Sodor called Freddie was found...somewhere, and brought back to former working order. He reunites with Sir Handel, as he and him are old friends.

Meanwhile, a new breakdown crane named Rocky comes to Sodor, and Edward just hates him for some reason . Why did Edward not like him, you may wonder?

I don't know.

More engines are brought to the island like Rosie, who at the time was absolutely obsessed with Thomas. A engine called Whiff is purchased to work at the recycling plant. There was also Billy, but he's in the Shadow Realm now.

2008 - A snow slide blocks the Skarloey Railway and Duncan has to be transported via road by a snub-nosed lorry called Mage, who takes him to the transfer yard, south of the sheds. In early July, Duncan gives Thomas the wrong directions to the wharf to get him lost. Thomas instead ends up finding the ruins of the long abandoned Great Waterton. He brings Sir Topham Hatt to see it, and he is thrilled with Thomas's great discovery.

Reconstruction of the town is made at once, with Thomas in charge. A new, bigger tank engine called Stanley is brought on to fill in for Thomas's branchline duties and ends up staying at the railway.

A big celebration is held later on for Sodor Day at Great Waterton.

During the same year, a new quarry site is made near Daisy Halt. The quarry is dubbed "The Blue Mountain Quarry". A little Irish engine named Luke is picked up from Ireland by a boat setting course for Sodor to work at said quarry. While on the boat, he meets a Cuban engine named Victor who speaks a different language. As the two are being loaded off at Brendam, Cranky accidentally knocks Victor into the ocean while unloading Luke. After a couple months, Victor is sent to the Steamworks at Crovan's Gate and is repaired. He now works there.

2009 - The Duke and duchess of Boxford build a summerhouse in Sodor while their private engine, Spencer helps with reconstruction. Thomas and him race, but the race ends when Thomas gets diverted down an overgrown siding and discovers Hiro. Hiro had been abandoned by his crew due to him breaking down, with the empty promise that they'd be back. Attempts to restore him prove successful and he gets on the next boat to Japan, bidding everyone farewell.

However, he comes back later that year as the railways in Japan had become overrun with speedy bullet trains, and he preferred the slow and steady nature of Sodor more.

2010 - Imagine Misty Island Rescue but it actually makes sense and the characters, including the Logging Locos, have genuine personalities and aren't bad. Oh yeah, and I gave the island the most logical reason for existing as I could.

2011 - Diesel 10 returns to Sodor with a second chance given to him by Sir Topham Hatt. However, he hasn't changed a bit, as he gathers as many diesels as he can to the rundown Dieselworks in Vicarstown to plot his revenge on all the steam engines. Mainly, Diesel 10 plans to kill Thomas himself for helping Lady escape from his grasp all those years ago. Diesel 10 then attempts to try and derail Edward, set Henrietta on fire with Toby watching, attempts and fails at sending a truck full of explosives into Tidmouth Sheds and crushes one of Thomas's side-tanks, causing a leakage.

Diesel 10 then gets pursued by a few of the steamies and invades the Steamworks. After another life-threatening situation, Sir Topham Hatt confronts the warship and punishes him severely, taking away his wheels and his claw. Diesel 10 now sits at the Arlesburgh beach as a beach hut. He's absolutely ruthless.

2012 - Back to the Blue Mountain Quarry, the Skarloey fleet now works at the quarry as it is part of their railway. Paxton, a diesel who was unwillingly forced into helping Diesel 10 during his fiasco, pulls the slate train from the quarry to Brendam. An accident puts him out of commission and Sir Topham Hatt puts Thomas as the temporary slate hauler.

Thomas ends up finding out about Luke and after hearing his sad story, attempts to find the truth. Diesel catches wind about Luke and views him as dangerous, he then tries to rat out Luke with a reluctant Paxton following behind. You know how the rest goes ;)

After the blue mountain situation is resolved, Sir Topham Hatt's rail inspection car, Winston discovers something VERY special; It was Sir Topham Hatt ||'s old birthday carriage that he used to go around in as a boy. It gets refurbished and is pulled by Edward for Sir Topham Hatt's upcoming birthday. Nevertheless, Sir Topham Hatt becomes tearful when he sees it, a rediscovered remnant to remember his father by.

2013 - Sir Robert Norramby returns from his global trip, and along the way, it's discovered that he purchased Stephen, formally known as Stephenson's Rocket from the National Railway Museum. The Earl reveals that he wants to reopen the tourist attraction at Ulfstead Castle and have Stephen be the main feature of the attraction. Before the grand reopening, Stephen ends up getting lost in the mines beneath the castle and ends up discovering King Godred's crown. He is soon rescued and the crown is brought back to the estate, where it is put on display.

A collision between Gordon and Paxton occurs at Knapford and a stone from Paxton's trucks flies out and punctures Gordon's boiler. At first, Gordon ignores it, but then he soon finds himself constantly low on water. Meanwhile, a new dock engine called Porter is brought on to help Salty.

At the Ulfstead Estate Railway, Stephen is tasked with bringing ingredients for the afternoon tea. Spencer makes fun of him, but Stephen ends up with the last laugh.

Henry and Hiro are enlisted to double-head a big goods train from Ffarqhuarr to Tidmouth Harbour. Unfortunately, they struggle along the way due to bad coal. But in the end, they got there eventually.

Two years after the Diesel 10 fiasco, Percy finds that the out-of-commission diesel, Sidney still hasn't been put back into service and proceeds to help him get his new wheels. Sidney gets his new wheels when Christmas rolls around and visits the engines at Tidmouth to thank them personally.

2014 - After years of heavy reconstruction, the Sodor China Clay Pits are finally approved for a grand reopening, and Sir Topham Hatt sends Thomas there as there is maintenance being done on one of the bridges at his branchline. Along the way, Thomas meets a newly purchased oil-burning engine named Timothy, who he met after being pranked by Bill and Ben. He then meets a very enthusiastic steam shovel locomotive named Marion.

After a few days of working at the pits, a storm comes and Timothy warns Thomas of the unstability of the clay cliffs during bad weather. Out of stubbornness, Thomas doesn't listen and he goes down a line that traverses through the cliffs while the storm is at its highest. A landslide occurs and luckily, Bill and Ben swoop in and save him. The rest will be in my rewrite in the future :)

Later that year The Fat Controller purchases Duck's old slip coaches from the Great Western Railway after he talks about them to the other engines.

2015 ‐ The Earl constructs a new dinosaur park at the estate after getting inspired from the dino skeleton in Wellsworth. The dinosaur park can now be seen on one of the estate railway's routes. A little diesel boxcab named Phillip is purchased and brought on to be Knapford's new station pilot after Duck abandoned it years ago. He takes a liking to Gordon, who doesn't share the same sentiments.

He then races the big engine and wins, and doesn't stop talking about it, much to everyone's annoyance. Some months later, he rescues James from a rather nasty fall.

One of Sir Topham Hatt's workers, Albert has a baby who gets named after Thomas after Thomas babysits him.

A new branchline from Harwick to Arlesburgh is being built, and many engines make a return, even Donald and Douglas who came back after a hefty overhaul to help with construction. Thomas is also sent to help as a punishment for a coach mishap and is replaced by a cocky, over-confident big tank engine named Ryan who does his branchline duties. Thomas tries telling Sir Topham Hatt that he had nothing to do with it and that Gordon was teasing him. But no one believes him.

At Harwick, an incident at the site occurs where the ground collapsed and Thomas goes down a cavern (this gives me flashbacks). When he hits the bottom, Thomas discovers a 4000 year old pirate ship. The ship is raised, moored and put at the Arlesburgh harbour as a part of the maritime museum.

Judy and Jerome, the breakdown train that was used to hoist James out of the fields all those years ago are old and are hardly used anymore due to Rocky taking charge in rescues. They are finally relocated to Harwick, where they handle all derailments from there.

2016 - Thomas travels all the way to Vicarstown, where he meets the Flying Scotsman for the first time. Scotsman reveals that he has been invited to a rail gala happening on the mainland, sparking jealousy from Gordon. Several of the sudrain engines are invited to the event, and Gordon streamlines himself in an attempt to become faster than Scotsman. He gets upset about not being recognised as an A3 Pacific which nearly hinders the start of his race against other big engines.

He loses after nearly exploding because of his missing safety valve, and the Flying Scotsman makes fun of him for it since Gordon was claiming he'd win. Pretty cruel thing to do. Gordon now began despising his only brother the more he was ever talked about or mentioned.

Meanwhile, on the Kenya-Uganda Railway in Kenya, a little orange tank engine named Nia abandons her goods train to go hide in an old mine tunnel.

Back on Sodor and right Before Christmas, Marion discovers Glynn, the old Coffee pot engine from the original Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsebridge Light Railway days. He is taken back to the Steamworks for restoration. Sir Topham Hatt comes to visit and Glynn mistakes him for his Sir Topham Hatt, Richard Hatt. The current Topham is is Bertram. After some explanations, Glynn offers to take Sir Topham Hatt to the Christmas eve fair at Ulfstead, in which he gladly complies. The Fat Controller drives Glynn to the estate where he join joins Stephen from now on.

2017 - A new modern gantry crane named Carly arrives on the docks to help Cranky as his age was catching up with him. Also, Big Mickey breaks his silence. Meanwhile, Rosie, a little pink tank engine gets repainted red and relocated to Vicarstown to pilot trains.

James tries to create a world record as the fastest red engine on Sodor, and his brakes end up failing and he crashes into the Tidmouth Sheds. He is taken away for repairs and the others have to find other places to sleep while the sheds are being fixed. Edward decides to permanently move into the Wellsworth sheds as it starts at his branchline. Gordon really hates this change and tries getting him to come back, but to no avail.

Sometime later, Thomas steals James' goods train to Bridlington, but ends up getting lost on the mainland and imprisoned by the Steelworks engines, Frankie and Hurricane, and their boss. James and Percy go to look for him, find him, and save him.

2018 - A yellow rally car named Ace arrives on Sodor to get the next boat to Africa. Thomas meets him on a passenger run, and Ace tries convincing him to go to Africa. Thomas, at first, is unsure. He may have wanted to see the world when he was still new on the railway. After some more persuading and to be honest, flat out pressuring from Ace, Thomas sneaks away from his branchline and gets on a boat to Africa at the Tidmouth harbour. He takes Annie and Clarabelle with him.

His departure to Africa takes a few days and during those days, everyone panics about his whereabouts. Thomas arrives on Africa and follows Ace. But along the way, he's mistook for a goods engine and is forced to pull a goods train to Dar E Salaam. On his 5000 mile journey, he comes across a little tank engine named Nia blocked up in a mine tunnel.

He helps her get to a nearby Steamworks for repair and continues on his way. However, Nia comes back to Thomas, who is struggling up a hill and helps him out as thanks and joins him on his journey. The two go to a few countries while chasing Ace and get into a few mishaps along the way. The two return to Sodor in one piece and a welcome back party is initiated.

A few months pass, Nia stays in Edward's berth by invitation and Gordon isn't happy with it. Gordon only gets more mad about the changes when Henry decides to move to Vicarstown to have his jobs done quicker, and to have time to visit his forest. Gordon lashes out about the changes and takes it out on Sir Topham Hatt and Nia. The sudden changes are messing with Gordon, but everyone dismisses his feelings as him overreacting. Gordon is just forced to suck it up.

2019 - A quick rise in tourists coming to the island puts a bit of pressure on Gordon, tiring him out as schedules are a lot tighter, and so he has to pull the Express much earlier and much more than usual. So, Sir Topham Hatt purchases a Bulleid Light Pacific named Rebecca. Gordon does NOT take kindly to Rebecca, especially when she takes Henry's old berth. Meanwhile, Nia begins to pick up feelings for Henry.

A storm destroys the school in Harwick, and Duck finds an old coach named Dexter, who becomes restored into a new schoolhouse for the kids.

2020 - A few years had passed since the birth of Albert's son, Little Thomas who has come to see Big Thomas. Henry meanwhile, begins hearing about a stray canine nicknamed "The Railway Hound", as the dog is only ever seen walking along or resting beside the tracks. Concerned for the dog's safety, Henry goes looking for it along with Thomas. They eventually find the dog and Little Thomas adopts it.

Many events would follow suit; Emily gains a shiny new brass nameplate on her smokebox and gets her number at last. A technology fair is held at Ulfstead Castle, introducing a new bullet train named Kenji. Kenji stays on Sodor before going back to Japan, and after a rough 10 year stay on Sodor, Hiro leaves for Japan.

In winter, things take a turn for the worse when Nia takes the Flying Kipper when Henry's filling in for another engine. She crashes into a goods train near Kirk Machan due to faulty signals, sliding into a cold ditch along the way. Thankfully, James pulls by with the Judy and Jerome and hoists her back up to safety. She is then sent to the Steamworks for an indefinite long repair.

2021 - Nia returns from the Works in early Spring with a new safety valve and a better firebox, everyone welcomed her return. A month after, Queen Elizabeth || writes a letter to Sir Topham Hatt, inviting him to London for a special reward for his services to the railways. By the specific request of Prince Charles, Edward and Thomas get to come along with their controller. Along the way, the trio encounter many mishaps ànd end up getting dirty.

During the journey, Edward and Thomas have several encounters with Diana, who rudely keeps taking their spots for coal refills and water fills. After she bursts her safety valve, the two help her get to London Station and to their utter shock, Diana turned out to be the Queen's private engine and she was pulling the Queen and his son during the entire trip.

Prince Charles tells Edward and Thomas how he loved to read the books about them as a child and personally rewards them both with medals. Sir Topham Hatt gets a medal too, of course.

Alls well that ends well...

Or is it...?

#thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine #tatmr #ttte thomas #ttte gordon #ttte lady #ttte henry #ttte edward #ttte james #ttte harold #ttte henrietta #ttte duck #ttte culdee #ttte donald #ttte douglas #ttte oliver #ttte emily #ttte whiff #ttte murdoch #ttte arthur #ttte porter #ttte salty #ttte carly #ttte cranky #ttte percy #ttte toby #ttte nia #ttte rebecca #ttte jeremy #ttte hiro

[millk-shakespeare]

Open letter (rant) to Neil Gaiman...

Dear Neil, if you told me a while ago that I would be here on a Tuesday at 5:40 in the afternoon crying over a book I wouldn't have believed it, but here I am, in tears. I still remember the first time I heard about Good omens, it was pandemic time and I was looking for something to watch when I came across a synapse that was quite eye-catching. It was the longest 6 hours of my life and at the same time I kept asking myself why it ended so quickly. Maybe for some it's not that big of a deal, but for a teenager from a religious family who felt gross and was afraid of going to hell, seeing a gender-fluid demon and an effeminate angel questioning God's great ineffable plan might finally realize he wasn't doomed. Since then, good omens has become my safe haven, but it was only now that I had the honor of being able to hold the physical book in my hands. As soon as I started reading I couldn't help but shed a few tears on the paper, with each word I read the lines memorized in my mind appeared and the similarity between the book and the series became more and more clear. Noticing the affection and effort to make it as adaptable as possible made my heart fill with love. I am extremely grateful for your work, for your commitment and for having the opportunity to live in a world where Aziraphale and Crowley were by my side when I needed them most. Without you, dear Neil, I wouldn't be here at 5:40 crying for being able to smile and tell my little version of the pandemic that we did it, that we are no longer ashamed and that we love each other and we love being able to be who we really are. Thanks for writing good omens and thanks for saving me.

(forgive the mistakes English is not my native language so I'm using the translator)

#good omens #neil gaiman #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #belas maldições #david tennant #good omens s2 #michael sheen

[cavinginhisfvce]

''MAMA'S BROWN BABY BEAR"

pairing: eventual harringrove. part 1

TW: Implied child abuse. Racism. Slurs implied but not used.

When Mama was around, Billy was allowed to embrace his identity. He was allowed to acknowledge his differences, and was able to find pride in his darker toned skin. He was his Mama's Brown Baby Bear.

She would scoop him into her arms, whispering into his ear as she tickled his sides, "repeat after me, Little Bear; I am strong. I am loved. I am an amazing young black man who will thrive." 

Billy always struggled to repeat after his mother, he was only four, so he more often than not botched the words, but she beamed brightly and kissed his nose every time. 

By age ten, the affirmations didn't stop, but they became less and less helpful. His father would make it a point to remind Billy he wasn't light enough, wasn't white enough to be his son.

It wasn't the worst his dad could dish out, Billy knew as much, but it still hurt. The punches hurt more than the words did technically, but the words left behind deeper scars.

What did hurt him was when his mother left him at twelve. It hurt when she stopped accepting his calls from the number she'd given him with the promise to always answer. 

It hurt when his father would call him out of his name, would call him the same slur he called black people he'd see simply existing outside. 

The word never sat right with Billy, not when it was directed at himself, or his mother, nor when it was aimed at a random person who happened to look like him.

When Susan came around, bringing her brat of a daughter with her, the boy was less than thrilled. After they moved in, things became more strained between Billy and his father.

Susan was nice enough, she smiled at Billy when he came home from classes with Max, she always gave him the corner piece when she'd make brownies. He doesn't remember telling her it was his favorite, but she seemed to know. 

She wasn't his mother, she could never be, but she wasn't the worst. She wasn't as terrible as the other women his father dated before they'd met. She even sometimes patched Billy up when Neil lost his shit, going as far as to kiss the crown of his head before leaving him to stew in his feelings and aches.

Max was annoying, to put it lightly, she never stopped asking where his real mother was, why he was never with her. She bragged about how often she saw her father, while Billy couldn't even get his mother to answer the phone. Not that she knew that for a fact. 

Neil now had his perfect white family. To him, Billy was just the darkness that invaded their light, casting them in a world of shame and general ugliness. 

With his mom gone, Billy scrapped the daily words of encouragement, he largely stopped identifying with anything that could've tied him to the woman who swore to never leave his side. He wished he could rid himself of the skin that would give away his inability to ever truly fit in, but even with lightening creams and avoiding the sun, despite the beach once being his safe haven, he remained darker than his family members. He remained darker than society would ever grow to accept.

The boy was darker than his father, and by default, Susan and Max, but he was lighter than his mother, much lighter. If he didn't tan, he was light enough to pass as majority white. 

Not enough for people to necessarily forget he was black, but enough that kids his age easily ignored that knowledge. 

California was a mixed pot of races, so it wasn't a big deal that Billy looked different from the rest of his family. Everyone knew him, and his dad, so there was hardly ever an issue on that front. When you saw Billy Hargrove, you knew who his father was.

Hawkins was different. Everyone gawked at him, gossiping about the new black boy in town. They didn't realize his father was Neil, they didn't understand how Max was his sister or how Susan was his mom.

She wasn't his mom, but to the small town who knew nothing of their newest occupants, she was.

By month two, Billy had taken his place at the top of the social pyramid. Girls and guys alike were enthralled by the new kid.

He remembers in his first two weeks when a scrawny looking kid came up to him and asked him if he'd been adopted by a white family, and if that's why he was so dark compared to the little red-head they've seen him with.

What Billy doesn't remember is punching the boy in the face, doesn't remember shoving him to the ground with a snarl and some empty thing of a threat.

After that spread, nobody bothered to ask Billy any personal questions about his family and whether he belonged with them.

When Steve met Billy, the older boy instantly took to him, and vice versa. They became inseparable, always being seen together or with the other lingering nearby.

Steve's parents loved Billy, they remembered everything Steve told them about the younger boy and then some. They knew he was allergic to apples and pears, but would eat them anyway if he saw them, because he lacked self control or preservation, so they stopped buying the fruits altogether. They knew he startled easily from loud voices and stomping. They knew Billy apparently had a mean streak, a side to him that they've never been privy to. They've seen the aftermath of it all, the busted lips, black eyes, fractured ribs and admittedly much worse. 

What they didn't see, what nobody saw, not even Steve, was the set of hands and work boots that brought one those wounds, some of which turned into scars. No one heard the repeated use of slurs aimed at the boy whose true smile could light the entire town alone. 

One day, Billy had blond dreads, the same ones he rolled into Hawkins sporting, the next he had a buzz cut and bruised ribs to match. He tried to sell Steve a story about some asshole outside of town, but when the brunet asked Billy to explain the haircut, the boy had fallen silent. 

Brown skin quickly shaded red, and before Steve knew what was happening, Billy was dissolving into a pool of tears, his breathing unsteady as he fought a round of hiccups. The taller of the two was unsure how to approach his best friend who sat in his living room crying, especially when he could hear the sound of his mother's car pulling into the driveway.

#billy hargrove #billy antis dni #billy hargrove deserved better #billy hargrove protection squad #harringrove #steve harrington #hargrove mayfield siblings #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove's mother #billy was mixed bc yes duh #mixed billy hargrove #mixed!billy #black!billy <3 #black!billy hargrove #the Harringtons love billy #part 1 #forced haircut #tw child abuse #tw racial slurs #tw racsim #eventual harringrove

[good--merits-accumulated]

OK, SEVERELY rambly post incoming but - Anderperry Stardust (2007)/ The Little White Horse AU, anyone?

Rundown: I think many of us are familiar with Stardust, originally a Neil Gaiman book but also a great film, starring Claire Danes as a falling star and That Guy Who Plays Daredevil as the lad who promises to bring her to the girl he's infatuated with. The Little White Horse is, to the best of my knowledge, more unknown, but equally very good (for sentimental reasons, I think of it much more highly than Stardust). Published in 1946 by Elizabeth Goudge, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old orphan Maria Merryweather, who moves to her cousin Sir Benjamin's Moonacre Manor in the West Country, where she finds a) a thriving cosy community and a long family history, b) the little white horse of the title, c) a longstanding family feud cutting off Moonacre from the sea, d) her imaginary best friend Robin, real and in the flesh, and e) some of the most deliciously-described food that has ever been or will be. It's a great book even past the rose-tinted glasses of my childhood. Go read it. (The one (1) marring is that you can't find a bloody edition that doesn't have a JK Terfling quote pasted onto the cover, because apparently it was one of her favourite books, but fuck OFF, I'm reclaiming it now. Thou shalt not keep the cosy low fantasy from me.)

Anyway even though I mention Stardust this isn't really part of the AU I have in my mind, except for the bit with the Star, because Todd as a main character who thinks he's a very forgettable bland boy-in-the-corner until he finds out he's a star is a great thought to me. Particulars on /how/ he's a star to be fleshed out later! (I only thought of this AU about two hours ago, lol.)

In my mind this is how it goes - nebulously Olden Times setting (TLWH is set in 1842, so perhaps then). Todd is around seventeen/eighteen and Geoff has just graduated from university, and gone off around Europe, accompanied by their parents. Months go by. Something happens - he's never given the liberty of knowing, but Geoff and their parents stay in Europe, and the townhouse in London is sold, and Todd is packed off to stay at a distant relative's - Keating, as it turns out. It's a blessing in disguise, because Todd is finally away from his family for the first time in his life and around people that appreciate him. He begins to bloom under this new care - but there are strange family secrets only now being revealed to him, and dark forces beyond the valley which threaten to disrupt the haven he's found...

The rest is very cosy fantasy, featuring Mr Perry as the local uptight vicar locking horns with Keating at every opportunity, Neil as his withdrawn but friendly son just longing for a rebellion, and more! (Read: Charlie is here and he is Outrageous as usual. Read also: Pitts as a sailor because I think he'd like it.) Right now I'm thinking of adding an equivalent of Monsieur Cocq de Noir for a villain (Mr Perry is NOT the villain), and Cameron can play a part there so I can give him a good redeeming! Here are a couple of extracts from TLWH to show the kind of mood/tone we're working with:

Thematically, I REALLY like the idea of Todd as a star because it allows me to work in a very fun trope, of "not of the rose but near the rose" - when a character perhaps is shy and a little quiet and reclusive, but inspires other people around them to brilliance and greatness. (Honestly I do think this kind of goes in with the film, where it's not just Keating's teaching but Todd's reaction to it and his presence that galvanise Neil to continue.) This ties in really well if Todd's a star and adds to the overall self-confidence journey - plus I was really thinking about the sun/moon motifs! They're very prominent in TLWH (Maria is a "moon" Merryweather and Robin is a very sunny boy), and I really want to implement them here with slight twists. I think of Todd as a sunny moon; yes he's warm and caring and cheerful but once you go a little closer it's more of a luminosity rather than a blaze, there's a coolness and quietness to him I like. You know, a quiet character doesn't always have to be quiet because there's something "wrong" with them, sometimes they're just like that. For Neil it's the opposite, he's a moony sun; under the thumb of his father he's polite and decorous and demure but somewhere under all of that there's a very loud and booming laugh and a healthy sort of ruddiness. I don't know, I just like sun/moon motifs!!!!!!!!!!

(On a more personal note: this AU, which I already love very much despite not having known very long, would be above all a careful love letter to the West Country. It's been lovely living around here almost all my life and by this time in September I'll be hopefully up very far north at uni, so I'm pre-emptively kind of :') about it. Mutuals who are at uni/college how on earth did you cope?)

#story time! the little white horse was actually the first book i ever read #all by myself in english. i'd only just learnt it #and a friend's grandparents gave me a copy as a present - i must have been four or five #thanks phyllis and peter. i miss you :( #anyway i revolved around that book for the better part of a year #even years and years later sometimes i walk home from school #down the big hill that looks over the valley with the lightning-burnt tree stump at the bottom #and when it gets green and bowery in the summer #and the little hollow at the foot gets very thick with cow parsley i always think i could find the entrance to moonacre #in it. if i really really looked #:') #maybe i will write this over the summer #anderperry #dead poets society #dps #tristan writes #ah. can you tell i'm feeling so so sentimental.

[ellewritesandrants]

All of this happened because I wanted Billy to be close enough to El and Max to be the one to tell them to "dump his ass" when it came to their boyfriends and them to pull an uno reverse card and say the same thing to him when Steve fucks up.

Okay but imagine if Max and Billy were close, as in super close from the minute they met. Max wanted to be exactly like her big brother, so she picked up surfing and skateboarding, learned to appreciate metal music and  cooking and eating Mexican food. On Billy’s end, he was quickly forced to drop all of the friends he didn’t want around his precious baby sister, and he was forced to clean up his act a bit more but he didn’t mind any of it because he loved her.

Imagine tiny Max being brought to the arcade by tiny Billy and his best friend, Argyle and them showing Mad Max the skills she needed to beat the other kids who came in. Imagine Billy eagerly taking her to the carnival and the fair whenever it came to town because he knew that Neil would have no choice but to let him go with Max when Max begged her mom to let her.

Imagine tiny Max seeing Neil punish Billy for the first time in front of her and her stepping in front of him, telling him that he can’t punish him for what she’d done. Neil thinks for a split second about punishing Max the same way he punishes Billy, but he knew he’d lose Susan and any hopes of his good, Christian Man image would be ruined if he had two divorces that accused him of domestic violence and child abuse. He could survive one but another would cause doubts, so he grounds Max and Billy instead.

Max quickly realizes the power she holds over her mom and subsequently, Neil so in her own, devious ways she manufactures reasons for them to be out of the house. Swimming lessons taught by Billy, going over to a friend’s house, needing to work on a project with her groupmates and even learning new tricks for her skateboard were all utilized by Max in such a perfect way to make sure her brother could be kept away from his father as much as possible. Susan and Neil caught on but Susan didn’t want to stop it since her children were getting along and Neil wanted to keep Susan around.

Max would beg Susan to let her watch Billy practice so she could cheer on him, even asking him to teach her how to play baseball and basketball even if some said it wasn’t for girls. Billy would fight anyone who even hinted at insulting his little sister and her constant presence by his side. He loved his little sister with all of his heart, and he wouldn’t stand for anyone hurting her.

Imagine quiet sessions at the local library after school where Billy would do homework while Max would read or vice versa before walking home for dinner because Max just loved the library after Billy had showed it to her and it was a nice haven away from the worsening situation at home. Imagine Billy’s best friend and his family happily welcoming Max into the family the same way they welcomed Billy into the family.

Imagine Max and Billy always covering for each other until Neil catches on and forces them to move to Hawkins after accidentally catching Billy on a date with a boy. Max apologized profusely for not protecting her brother since she was at a birthday party, but Billy doesn’t blame her for it, only his own stupidity.

Billy had to be hospitalized for a few days after the beating Neil gave him so Susan, Neil and Max had to pack up the house. Neil initially wanted to pack Billy’s stuff so he could get rid of some of his things, but Max stood her ground and asked her mom to be the one to deal with Billy’s room as punishment for lying to them about where Billy was so Neil grudgingly agreed to it.

Max packed everything up with care, making sure that he had all of the things important to him packed and included. Neil couldn’t protest when Max would keep bringing out boxes from Billy’s room even if it filled up the moving van they rented because it was Max’s punishment.

Neil tried to draw the line at their surfboards and skateboards but grudgingly allowed it as long as Max was the one who carried it to the van and as long as she got everything in by the end of the day. Out of pure spite, she managed to move all of Billy’s and her stuff into the moving van well before dinner that day.

 When they make the move to Hawkins, Max stubbornly refuses to go with Neil and Susan even if meant missing a week of school, forcing Neil and Susan to leave her and Billy at the practically empty house for a week until Billy was fit enough to drive.

They spent that week camping in their living room and seeing their last haunts and having proper goodbyes with their friends. Billy makes sure to remind Max not to feel guilty about what happened to him because it was his own fault and Max just tells him that she doesn’t like seeing him get hurt.

They make the trip up to Hawkins in full road trip style, singing along to all of their tapes, making sure to stock up on snacks and stopping by at all of the major landmarks they could. Neil couldn’t do anything about it because Max had begged Susan to give them the weekend to make the trip since she wasn’t sure if Billy could drive for long hours on end.

By the time they arrive in Hawkins, both Max and Billy are still riding the high of their trip. They even arrived early, getting to Hawkins by the mid-afternoon. After stopping by the house to prove that that they were still alive, Max begged her mom to let her explore the town proper before unpacking and of course, she needed a chaperone.

They head immediately to the arcade where they beat all of the high scores in turns to make a bunch of nerds cry the next day before hitting the skatepark with the skateboards they kept in the trunk of the Camaro. They make it home just in time for dinner so Neil can’t complain, and they unpack the essentials before heading to bed.

The next day, Billy cooks breakfast for everyone as usual since he was the first one up and he takes care of packing Billy and Max’s lunches. He also makes enough food for Susan and Neil to take which Neil begrudgingly takes since Susan loved how Billy “volunteered” to cook breakfast and lunch for everyone once Max told him how much she loved the food he made.

He takes Max to school relatively early because neither of them likes to be late and he doesn’t hesitate to bring her in for a hug and kiss her on the forehead in public before wishing her a good first day. From the get-go, he wants everyone to know that he cares about his younger sister even if it means losing some of his cool points.

Billy had long since accepted he wouldn’t be one of the cool kids if it meant having to go to parties and doing things that wouldn’t make him a good role model to his very impressionable little sister. Sure, he liked metal music and drinking as much as the next guy but if he started drinking, his sister would want to copy him, and he didn’t want her anywhere near that until she was legal.

So, Billy takes it cool and tries his best not to stand out so much even if transfer students are a rarity in Hawkins, Indiana. He could always feel at least ten different stares at him, most female but not everyone and it felt like they were trying to dissect him under the microscope of a Midwestern small town.

Billy could kind of understand it. He dressed like a punk and he drove a gorgeous classic car but he was also on the honor roll and loved his sister more than anything. He was probably the most complex thing they dealt with since the Vietnam War, but he didn’t let that bother him. He didn’t need to make friends here. He just needed to survive long enough for him and Max to be able to head back to California where they were meant to be.

After their first day, he treated Max to a milkshake at the local diner and asked her how her first day was. He listened to her rant about the weird stalker nerds who followed her around and he started to feel overprotective before looking at it from a teenage boy perspective and telling Max that at least one of those boys had a crush on her.

Thankfully, Max was still at the phase where she thought all boys were disgusting because Billy didn’t want to deal with his little sister dating just yet so Billy could tease her all he wanted about it. He didn’t have the same hang ups about race as Neil and because Max being friends with someone was more acceptable than Billy being friends with someone, so Max usually became friends with Billy’s friends and vice versa.

They were almost finished with their snack when some of the popular kids he’d seen earlier tried to come over and befriend him while being mean to Max and Billy did not stand for it. He put that dick Tommy in his place verbally and then physically the next day at basketball. He’d heard Tommy bitch in the locker room about him and some guy named Harrington because they were weird creeps who preferred to hang with tweens than people their own age.

Out of spite, Billy went to befriend Harrington especially when he realized that Harrington was in charge of the dweebs who creeped out Max. He and Steve became a dream team on court, thoroughly demolishing Tommy’s team and leading Hawkins to its first winning streak in decades. He even gave Steve some much needed advice to help the nerds flirt better with his sister if they want to even have a chance at getting her.

He didn’t bother with dealing with the in crowd, only becoming bare friends with his teammates from basketball and not really bothering to make friends outside of necessity. He’d had to befriend Steve out of spite and because of their many times overlapping because of the tweens they watched. He’d also ended up partnered with Nancy in most of his classes out of convenience and befriending her boyfriend out of politeness.

He still spent most of his free time with his sister though, beating the high scores of the kids Steve babysat while they watched in awe, practicing tricks with his skateboard or exploring the little Hawkins had to offer.

As soon as Neil found out that Max was hanging around boys, Billy was automatically told to be there with her every time the boys were there. It would have been a big problem had Billy not been a fellow nerd who could talk sci-fi and fantasy with the best of them and that he was capable of encouraging the boys to pick up sports, something that Lucas particularly took a liking to even if Max was getting more shots in than he did at the moment.

Billy and Max did feel something was off though because there was a lot of whispers between the tweens and between the teens they hung around with and it felt like they were keeping something a secret. Billy was a lot better about not being bothered about it because he had his own secrets to hide but Max was insistent that she or they be told before she considers them her actual friends even if they did hang out a lot.

So, when Lucas invited her to show her the truth about what they were hiding, she invited Billy because that’s just how it always worked. By the time Steve and Dustin arrive, they’re greeted to the sight of Billy braining demodogs with a pipe in front of a bus where Lucas and Max are hiding.

Billy was immediately roped into protecting the kids because they felt more confident with him and Steve there to keep away the demodogs and they make it out of everything alive and unscathed even if Bob had had to sacrifice himself in the lab.

As soon as El and Max meet properly without the tension of the boys there, they quickly become best friends, considering themselves sisters. Because of that, they agree to share Billy as an older brother, not even bothering to consult him about it but he just goes along with it because more sisters equal more fun.

Max and El got ready together to go to the Snow Ball and of course, Billy went with them to go shopping for their dresses, accessories and makeup. Billy was a smart asshole who could afford to charge exorbitant prices for people who wanted to have their homework done so he had a lot of spare cash to spoil his sisters with.

The night of the Snow Ball, he and Steve had ended passing time at the quarry and trading stories until Steve couldn’t help himself and he kissed Billy in the moonlight, fully expecting the blond to push him away instead of melting into the kiss.

Afterward, Billy awkwardly confesses the crush he’s had on Steve ever since he first saw him while Steve tells him that he’d gradually fallen for him after getting to know the real him and seeing the way he was with the kids. They end up getting together that night just as Lucas and Max and Mike and El get together.

They manage to keep it a secret to most of Hawkins but the kids can immediately tell that their babysitters are now together because they happily sit in a separate booth when they don’t fit in the diners and they never stay to play at the arcade anymore.

Both El and Max tease Billy about Steve while he teases both of them about Lucas and Mike respectively. He teases Mike a bit more though because he actually likes Lucas. Billy’s the first to tell El to dump his ass when he’s being annoying and it quickly catches on to Max as well.

It becomes their new thing especially during the summer where they enjoy being single and going on best friend dates while dragging Billy away from his boyfriend to chaperone them. They even convince him to dump Steve after he stands him up for a few dates in a row. Suffice to say, Steve showed the boys how to properly grovel to their significant others so that they’ll take them back.

Since Steve was busy with Scoops and Billy had gotten a job at the pool, the kids equally trade time at the mall and time at pool. They notice the moms acting weirdly towards Billy and they tell Steve who tells Nancy because she deserves to know the type of woman her mother is.

Nancy is disgusted to find out that her mom is one of them and she makes sure to go over there and emphasize to her mom and to all of her mom’s friends that Billy’s her friend who happens to be in her year while all of them have kids in their year or older. She even tells that all of their kids should have a get together soon since Billy’s 17th birthday is coming up and he’ll be a year closer to being legal.

All of the moms turn white at the implication of Nancy’s words and they stop showing up at the pool, making Billy be able to relax and enjoy his work without being stared at. He becomes really good friends with Heather and the rest of the lifeguards there which makes it a lot easier for him.

Of course, since it’s the summer, El and Max want to go on road trips and it’s on one of their trips heading past Brimborn Steelworks that they get attacked by the Mindflayer that’s still weakened at this point so El deals with it with relative ease and alerts everyone to what happened.

The entire time Billy had been keeping Neil’s abuse secret from everyone with the help of Max but when Hopper escorted Max and Billy home from the accident with the Mindflayer with a trashed car, Neil doesn’t hold back and swings at Billy in full view of Hopper.

Hopper doesn’t hesitate to grab him and put him in a hold before arresting him and leaving him at the station while they dealt with the Russians. It left Billy and Max free to help Steve and Dustin with the Russian transmission they found so they crack the code a lot faster.  

Hopper and Joyce decide to investigate what happened at the same time that the mall group cracked the code so they realize that this might be connected and bigger than they thought. They radio Dr. Owens for back up and they manage to deal with the Russians and the gate with some military support.

Since no one else was flayed, Hawkins goes on like normal even if the mall was shut down due to a fire from faulty wiring. Life goes on and the kids start their first year in high school while Billy is in his senior year. Everyone already knows not to mess with the kids or else they’ll deal with Billy’s fist.

After Neil was arrested, Susan was convinced by Joyce to testify against her husband and to divorce him so she could take custody of their kids. She couldn’t fully support them on her own salary so they decided to move to the trailer park to save some money. Billy’s car had been fully repaired under government money and they’d been given a lot of hush money by the government but they couldn’t explain how they got it.

Billy got a part-time job working as a mechanic in the same shop as Wayne Munson so he and Eddie became quick friends. Billy was also introduced to Chrissy by Heather as soon as Chrissy came back from gymnastics camp and he instantly takes her under his wing since she reminds him of how his sister used to be.

He immediately introduces Chrissy to Max and El whom Heather adores and together, the three of them convince Chrissy to dump Jason’s ass. When Billy sees the sparks between Eddie and Chrissy, he instantly plays matchmaker, practically daring Jason to do anything because everyone knows that messing with Billy’s friends is a surefire way to get your ass kicked.

Heather and Chrissy take up a mentor like role to the girls about high school life and even if they don’t exactly plan to be cheerleaders, they can be athletes which gives them a good outlet. Lucas is very understanding of Max’s training schedule because he has to deal with the same thing so they end up being supportive of each other’s sports careers. Mike is too focused on Hellfire to properly support El so she dumps his ass for real.

El notices immediately that Chrissy needs help so she, Max and Billy devise a way to get her to eat properly and to open up with the girls about the problems she’s dealing with. Billy starts packing an extra lunch for Chrissy which isn’t a problem since he does all of the groceries and cooking at home since Susan’s working two jobs now.

When she confesses that she’s dealing with an abusive mother, Billy and El are able to somewhat understand and they help Chrissy make small steps in her recovery. Eddie inadvertently plays a big part in her recovery because he loves to see her happy and he’ll do anything to make her happy, even bribing Billy to make her favorite treats.

With Billy as the captain of the basketball team, he makes sure to give everyone equal playing time and to check in with his teammates the way he wasn’t able to before. He’s able to become close to a few kids like Patrick and he had an understanding with Jason and his cronies about what they could or could not do unless they wanted to be off the team which would cost them their sports scholarships which were the only things they relied on for college.

Since he and Steve have gotten together, he’s made more of an effort to connect with the people of Hawkins since he’d be staying for a few years more. They’d decided to stick around together until the kids graduate high school just to make sure they were safe even if it meant changing their college plans.

Billy was planning to head to Chicago where he could study at a decent college but still be close to Max in case any bullshit happened. Steve also happened to get into a college in Chicago with Billy’s influence in academics and his dad’s company was based in Chicago so he had a backup in case he decided college wasn’t for him.

The entire time, Billy has been spoiling Henry Creel’s plans so out of frustration and a bit of petty revenge, he targets Billy first. El and Max immediately notice something is happening with Billy and Steve notices it too. When he mentions seeing hallucinations, El immediately call Kali to come to Hawkins for help. Since Billy’s usually blaring his music all the time, the only time Henry can strike is at the trailer park.

However, Eddie’s usually playing music so Billy doesn’t need to play his. Eddie just so happens to be playing one of Billy’s favorite songs, Ride the Thunder and when Max notices that the music helped Billy float less, she yells at Eddie to play louder.

They manage to save Billy from dying and being injured but now they know Henry’s mode of operation and all of them are on edge. When Chrissy starts displaying the same symptoms, Billy’s quick to learn her favorite song so he can have his Walkman on standby. He manages to save her but he doesn’t save Fred and it kills him inside.

He does manage to save Patrick though after seeing the same symptoms and after letting the girls and the other kids figure out what’s happening while Billy’s focused on saving everybody and keeping them all alive. He tells Chrissy and Patrick all about what they’ve been missing out on with the Upside Down and Eddie joins in the crew after saving Billy and Chrissy.

With everyone there ready to help and Billy willing to sacrifice himself with Steve making Max and Lucas promise to keep his boyfriend alive, they manage to take care of Vecna once and for all. Kali distracted him while El finished him off and they realize that everything’s finally over after Kali revealed that she’d taken care of Brenner on her way there.

With Billy’s help, Eddie manages to graduate alongside Heather, Chrissy, Nancy and Jonathan and Robin with Steve, the kids and their parents in the audience cheering. Eddie and Chrissy both make plans to travel the country for a while after everything they’ve been through and Steve and Billy happily join them when the couple offers. Jonathan and Nancy were accepted to their dream college and were headed there together in the fall while Robin and Heather were taking it slow and exploring this new thing between them.

Max and Lucas were as strong as ever and so were Susie and Dustin. Will finally confessed to Mike who had to actually confront his feelings not only for El but also Will and to realize the difference in how he loved them. He couldn’t live without Will but he could live without El. El and Mike eventually rekindle the friendship once Will and Mike are secure in their relationship while El looks forward to discovering who she is and who she wants to be with her sisters and her big brother by her side.

Joyce and Hopper eventually got married which made Mike pale the first time he realized just how badly Hopper was going to hate him from going form dating his daughter to dating his son but they manage to resolve it after a few months of intense glaring. Susan has weirdly accepted all of the new people in her life that her kids have brought in and all of them get the right compensation they have for dealing with the clusterfuck that Dr. Brenner and his favorite son had created and they’re free to finally live again.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove au #billy deserved better #billy hargrove deserved better #ellewritesandrants #harringrove #steve harrington #billy hargrove redemption #billy x steve #stranger things rewrite #billy and max #billy and chrissy #max mayfield & billy hargrove #billy and el #billy and the party #hellcheer #eddie x chrissy #chrissy x eddie #eddissy #slight mentions of buckleway and jancy #max and el #el hopper #max mayfield #el and max

[jtl-fics]

You and your gang of foxes already are making me soften towards Riko, you cannot make me consider the Jeandrew crack! (I'm actually super open to that consideration)

Also some New Kings for the WIPw please <3

WIP Wednesday - Open (9/20/23) | New Kings AU

"Don't you want to brush your teeth?" Neil asks as if Andrew wasn't moments away from puking if anything other than Neil's tongue was in his mouth.

"No." he says and his head is starting to hurt from being off of his meds. He's on lesser dosages, weening off, but he had been unwilling to be left vulnerable like he'd been in East Haven until Neil was back. He reaches into his pocket and takes exactly what he needs and swallows it dry.

Andrew pressed their palms together and he felt relieved when Neil's fingers spread for him to lace them together. The journey to Abby's guest room felt as if it took an eternity for them to arrive but soon enough they were there. Andrew hesitated before leaving the door unlocked, they were safe at Abby's.

#New Kings AU #AFTG #AFTG AU #Andreil #New Kings - Rest - 04 #WIP Wednesday Ask Game #9-20-23 WIP Wednesday #1

[elegyrose]

I am being haunted by @neil-gaiman . This is what living in the Midwest is like, you will see Neil Gaiman’s autograph everywhere. You will be told stories about him randomly. You will find out that used to frequent your favorite coffee shop.

Three days ago, I knew peace, then I read “The Graveyard Book”, my first Gaiman book, and began seeing Gaiman everywhere. Go to Chapter2Books in Hudson, autographed posters in the wall. My favorite coffee shop? Oh yeah he used to hang out there and write. The cool ass bookstore across the street, Dream Haven? They published “Angels and Visitations” and hosted a ton of book signings. I briefly open Instagram, click on a friend’s story and see him, this cool goth man that is now everywhere. I find no sanctuary. I read a mildly spooky story on Reddit, innocently scroll through the comments and there it is: “Sounds like a Neil Gaiman story”. If you walk into literally any bookstore in the Midwest, all the books are signed by him. If you think there is a single quaint and inviting place in Minneapolis, people will find you and provide you with unsolicited Neil Gaiman lore about how in the 90’s Gaiman frequented the shop and the owner’s cousin’s uncle’s brother’s nephew was the inspiration for Bod.

#ghost stories #minnesota #neil gaiman #american gods #the graveyard book #Sister Sludge Coffee Shop #Dream Haven #midwest gothic #the Minnesota goth experience #books

[strangerqueerthings]

Working on a Mungrove Werewolf!AU bc @weird-an is a horrible enabler ♥

Working title (for now) is Thicker Than Water.

"The blood of the pack is thicker than the water of the womb"

Posting some brainstorming below the cut.

Plot:

Billy Hargrove knows he's different. His father treats him like a ticking time bomb, and after an odd instance where he had a collapse and what felt like a full body migraine after a particularly bad encounter with Neil, the entire family is dragged across the country.

Eddie and Wayne Munson are werewolves, and have established a loosely connected, unofficial pack with other werewolves in Hawkins and the surrounding area. They lie low, knowing there's families in Hawkins who are members of a known Anti-Werewolf hate group, but they have no idea that it's all about to get worse, because the Hawkins lab is experimenting with their kind, to create super soldiers for the US military- and that those experiments are going to create a lot of problems for humans and lycans alike.

It all gets worse when a new family moves in- not only does Eddie peg the new boy his age as another werewolf the instant he sees him, but he learns this new lycan doesn't even know what he is.

Now, Billy is going to have to accept the fact that he's not human in order to find the family- and possibly the partner- he's always wanted, as well as a purpose in life that doesn't make him feel like a walking disaster waiting to happen.

--

Overview:

→Werewolves are a thing, but were nearly hunted to extinction by the early 1900's. A clandestine treaty between the remaining packs and heads of various governments established an addendum to the Geneva Convention that includes werewolves as a protected group.

→The United States, Romania, Brazil, Canada, parts of Russia and Serbia, South Africa, parts of India, and Australia are declared safe haven territories for werewolves- where killing them is considered the same as killing a human being.

→There are still hate groups underground that are devoted to eradicating werewolves, and though their existence is declared "urban legend," and "on par with the Illuminati" as far as proving their existence goes, they indeed exist, and they view werewolves as less than human, as well as a threat. (Many of them are also racist against non-whites and use the group as a front for their hate crimes- and their group members look the other way.)

→ The main hate group calls themselves "The Sons of Cain," referring to their twisted view of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, wherein Cain slew Abel because he was born with the curse of beast blood- and Eve thanked Cain for erasing the mistake she had borne, with Seth, her third son being a replacement for the aberration.

→ The Sons of Cain see themselves as modern day descendants of Cain, slaying descendants of Abel- which they call "The Spawn of Abel" so that the son of Cain and Seth may replace them.

→ A group of humans related to, or in close connection with werewolves who were killed or affected by the crimes of the Sons of Cain formed a group to protect them, called the Werewolf Liberation Front.

→ The WLF assists werewolves in legal matters, provides financial support, or assists werewolves in escaping areas that have become dangerous due to local government and/or law enforcement becoming embedded or overtaken by SOC.

→ Instead of MK-Ultra, the Hawkins Lab is experimenting with werewolves and their offspring to create telepathically linked super soldiers to fight Russia.

→ El is the penultimate result of these experiments.

---

Werewolves:

Eddie Munson

Wayne Munson

Jim Hopper

Billy Hargrove

Gareth Hemming

Sue Sinclair

Erica Sinclair

Patrick McKinney

Robin Buckley

Argyle Ochoa

99% of the Bingham family*

Yuri Ismaylov

MK-Ultra Werewolves:‡

Henry/One

Jane/Eleven

Kali/Eight

Sons of Cain:

Phil Callahan

The Carver family

Larry Kline

The Harrington family**

Werewolf Liberation Front/Werewolf Allies

The Byers family

Bob Newby

Murray Bauman

Charles Sinclair

Lucas Sinclair

Sam Owens

Barbara Holland

Chrissy Cunningham

Jeff Armstrong

Dustin Henderson

Max Mayfield

Scott Clarke

Heather Holloway

Blissfully/Willfully Ignorant:

The Wheeler family***

Tommy Hagan

Carol Perkins

Tom Holloway

Janet Holloway

*The only non-werewolf in the Bingham family is Mr. Bingham- he does his best to control his pack of werewolf children while his wife is at work, but Eden and Suzie often do most of the heavy lifting, as he's woefully incompetent at getting his (nearly) feral children to listen to him as a human parent.

**Steve is not a Son of Cain, and while he struggles with actually taking a side in the "Sons of Cain vs the Spawn of Abel" debate because he risks being disowned, he can't get behind joining a literal hate group- but due to being raised by a Son of Cain... he needs helps unlearning his prejudice against werewolves.

***Once Nancy and Mike learn about werewolves, they want to support them. Karen, on the other hand, tries calling Billy a predator, and tries to rile up the entire town against him, saying he tried to seduce her, and is a danger to the children of Hawkins. Ted calls her out on her bullshit, asking why a 17/18 y/o boy would try to seduce a married woman, and asks why he's a threat if Holly- a notoriously skittish child- adores Billy as a swim teacher.

‡: These are the ones I am including as characters in the fic- the rest are included by default, but will be background characters, or mentioned in passing.

This fic is actually going to be a challenge to myself- I don't like Steve. (St/eddie fans have realllllly made me wary about him, and I have YET to be in a Mungrove related discussion/community etc where a Steve fan didn't try to make it about Steve or include him somewhere... so needless to say, he irritates the fuck out of me because I can't get away from him.) This is a challenge to me to write him having better character growth that the show doesn't really do well enough for me to like him- and hopefully grow to like him in at least ONE iteration. That being said- no, there won't be any ships involving Steve in this. Focusing on Mungrove ♥

#mungrove #sqt drabble #Fic: Thicker Than Water

[mydysfunctionalvampirefamily]

Neil being so awkward and avoiding Britta at all cost while talking about Pendragon.

Neil immediately asking if Nara is there and okay. Take notes, Nara!!! <.<

It's interesting that Miles and Neil now say camarilllllla instead of camarilla. (I'm a camarilllllla girl myself)

Wowowow Neil you're coming in with biiiiiig snitch energy, buddy!

Miles chasing Neil away with an uncomfortable question for Britta. 😂 So sweet.

"If you can convince him to do that." No Britta, if YOU can convince him to do that.

"I don't think I can talk to him again."😂😂 with all the fighting I would almost forget that this is the same night as that phone call.

Lmaoooo Neil!! Such snitch energy. Classic little brother! I saw Britta with a Boy!

Miles giving Neil shit. 🥰

Dad: I told you not to do this!!

Son: But dad! Britta did it much worse!

Wow and after all this Britta learns that Elsa wanted her to stay away from Pendragon. Damn, as if her feelings weren't already complicated enough.

"we'll see???" Neil!! You can't just casually drop that shit! That is creepy! Do you want to force her not to??

Ohhh Neil's memory loss, he has that quite a lot. With the dog tagging and his time in Baghdad, with his sire and all this. That must be very scary especially if you alrwady have anxiety because memory loss makes you feel even less in control.

Aww Johnny, that is sweet, and also very reasonable.

Okay Johnny thinking you can just defeat the sabat and all might be a tad unreasonable. But on the other hand this coterie needs some positivity.

There are lots of similarities between Neil and Britta that are really floating up to the surface right now, the memory loss, not in control of their own actions.

Sorry, Britta we will never be able not to laugh at you hitting Pendragon with a coffeemaker.

Wynn and Miles being forced on the same side because they're little shitheads laughing at pendragon. 😂

An fucking utter shitshow, really apt description of the past few days, Johnny.

You sure did try the apology thing, it did work out. 😏😏

Neil, buddy, what's going on. You're very probing with Britta and Pendragon??

Miles is just hoping Vitell is the mole so he could kill him.

Oh no Neil thinking Miles was serious about giving an ordeal. Poor Neil and poor Miles. They often like to think the worst of him.

Neil, what is going on, why would Miles not have you in the new haven???

Uhoh.... Neil insane laughter. Oh thank god that it was some weird shit and not Neil actually being so creepy.

Wait what why are they fighting in new York all of a sudden? A fucking dragon again???

Yes! Wynn and Miles talk! 👀

If he had known how upset Wynn would be he might not have gone through with it. 🥺

The Marcos reference. 😭

This talk is really good! I like it when mom and dad argue a little, but a fight like this isn't good. I'm glad they're communicating.

Miles just wanting to protect the people he has left. 😭

At least they can bond about hating tremere.

#path of night podcast #pon liveblogging #season 3 #Episode 68

[emmanuellececchi]

How to write daily

I just received the best advice ever (thank you @konartiste ;) ).

The fact is, I was wondering how to write daily. Of course, you have to put away all distraction: tumblr being one (ah. ah. ah.... hum). but that means "neglecting all responsibilities".

Although it is (I suppose? :p ) said as a joke I feel that, if we love writing we should take a space for this pleasure we have. We don't need to be known writers à la Neil Gaiman to have to right to take tiem to write.

if I go to the gym everybody is claping (I hate that so... no). but if I put my butt on a chair and write too long? Stinky eyes. Oh, not all the times. Most of the times I haven encouraging people arond me ... as long as the chores are done.

And this is when, we, who love writing, should say "hold on". Writing is a need (I speak for myself) and I don't need to justify myself if I do a hobby.

So, maybe, just maybe, we should pat ourselves on the back, forgive ourselves and just... write.

The dust can wait a few more days, the washing machine can wait a few more hours. If I have to do the cooking, I can certainly take sometime to write after while the kids are playins, the dishes will wait.

#emma's writing #novel writing #take your space #writing is like breathing air #if you need it do it #even if it's just for fun

[deedoop]

Autumn Nights

Eddie and Billy watch Elvira's Movie Macabre every Friday night. For the second time this week Billy is late for the B-Rated movie spectacular.

It was pouring heavily outside, the sound of rain cracking against the tin of the trailer. In the dead of night, only lightning illuminated the trailer park in brief shocking flashes. Inside the trailer was Eddie Munson and one busty mistress of the dark. The television was the only light in the living room of the trailer, shining blues and dark colors across Eddie’s face. Jiffy Pop was popping on the stove, the one with extra butter just like Billy liked. Billy who was late.

”I’m glad to see you back and you’re glad to see my front. Welcome back to Elvira's Movie Macabre it’s your mistress Elvira..”

Eddie groaned, uncrossing his legs and standing up. The popcorn was done and Elvira was damn near finished with her monologue. He rushed over to the kitchen and grabbed the old metal bowl, the one every midwest family had that was used for everything from puke, to punch, to popcorn. The Camaro roared down the street, the sound of tires squealing in the water, swaths of mud splashing from a puddle as the car jolted into a stop.

The car door slammed and with heavy stomps, a pounding knock banged on his door. “Let me in freak! It’s pouring!” Billy shouted through the old cracked door. Eddie was half tempted to leave him out there, he was late for the second week in a row. Eddie didn’t want to admit it, but he looked forward to these nights and- “Let me in!” Billy shouted louder. Eddie snorted and shook his head, opening the door to his trailer.

“You look like a wet rat.” Eddie teased, watching the blonde whose hair was flat to his head with water take off his muddy boots. He couldn’t help but laugh, Billy looked like a cat who had gotten a bath. “I got the popcorn ready c’mon their showing The Horrible Two Headed Transplant tonight!” Eddie sat down firmly on the thin carpet of his living room, popcorn bowl firmly in place in front of him.

Billy let out a heavy sigh, shrugging off his wet jacket. He took his time, just letting his body relax. Eddie’s trailer was a haven whether Eddie knew it or not. Billy ran his fingers through his rain soaked hair and shook his head like a dog, sending droplets of rain water across the trailer.

“Billy!” Eddie threw a kernel of popcorn at him and shook his head, laughing big and wide. Eddie’s laughter, his smile, it was contagious and Billy found himself smirking. Eddie’s big smile made his heart flutter, made his stomach flutter with anxious butterflies.

He liked to say he didn’t know why he loved coming to Eddie’s to watch the one and only Elvira, liked to pretend it was cause Neil didn’t let him watch that kinda crap at home, but it wasn’t the B movies that kept Billy coming and he knew it deep down. It was Eddie Munson and the way he made his heart race more than Grave Of The Vampire ever could.

He sat himself down beside Eddie, “Sorry for being late dude. Neil was up my ass about going out in the rain and..” Well a lot more than that, but he didn’t want to tell Eddie, even if he was pretty sure Eddie had an idea of his homelife. The other man just patted his back and leaned his back against the couch.

“It’s no big deal man. I get it.” Eddie didn’t elaborate on what he got and maybe Billy was glad he didn’t. He tried to focus on Elvira, on the shitty B-rated film before him, but Eddie was so warm in the cold fall night and he couldn’t stop smiling no matter how hard he tried at how Eddie was shoveling popcorn into his face.

“Dude! You’re gonna make yourself sick!” Billy punched him in the shoulder, stealing the bowl away from him. Eddie lunged over, tackling Billy, the popcorn bowl spilling all over the floor. “Shit!” Eddie yelled, “Damn it Hargrove!” The two boys wrestled on the ground, amidst crackling popcorn, their laughter drowning out the screams from the movie.

It finally with Eddie on top, his face scrunched up, tongue between his teeth in a look of snotty victory. “Now what Hargrove? You gonna keep talkin’ shit about my popcorn eatin’ habits? I got the higher ground!” Billy was bright red, it felt as if the air had been sucked out of his lungs. Here was Eddie Munson, straddled on his hips, holding his arms down above him, just inches from his face. His breath smelled of weed and popcorn and this close Billy could count every freckle like they were stars.

“If this makes anyone in the audience feel sick, put your head between your knees and enjoy yourselves.”

“Billy? Dude you okay?” Eddie’s eyes scrunched in concern, his friend was practically frozen on the ground, bright red, eyes all big and wide. Had he done something wrong? Did he hurt him? He made to let go of the blonde beneath him but Billy pulled away from his grip with ease and pulled the metalhead into a kiss.

Billy sat up, kissing Eddie’s greasy lips, tasting the popcorn they had fought over and it felt as if the kiss lasted forever but it was only a few seconds before Eddie ripped away out of shock. “Shit- shit I’m sorry!” Billy was frantic, shaking, his eyes once big and dazed were now wide with fear. “Fuck! Fuck! I don’t know why I did that!” He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his jacket and failing to put it on properly in his panicked haste.

“Woah woah! Billy! Billy stop!” Eddie yelled, thunder crashing outside, the rain had only gotten heavier as the night had progressed. “Stop!” He grabbed Billy firmly by the wrist, eyes narrowed in concern. “Number one you’re an idiot if you think I’m going to let you drive home in this weather cause well not even the most expert paladin could let alone you.” Billy almost had to stop himself from rolling his eyes dramatically, if it wasn’t for the sheer panic coursing through his veins, he would’ve thunked him on the head.

“Two, I..well I didn’t mind the kiss.” Now Eddie was flustered, all blushing and nervous, averting his eyes to the carpet littered with popcorn. “I mean like I wouldn’t mind doing it again but yannow..without the suddenness. I was just surprised.” He pulled Billy closer, his hand still on his wrist, burning Billy with its warmth. Eddie leaned down ever so slightly and tipped Billy’s chin up, pressing his lips to Billy.

They stayed that way for a moment, the thunder and the rain, Elvira and the terrible movie the only noise in the background. It was Billy who finally pulled away, slowly, savoring the moments, the warmth of the kiss. His heart fluttered and he swallowed down his anxiety. They sank back to the floor without another word, but they were closer, hands loosely clasping together. Eddie rested his head against Billy’s broad shoulders. No words were spoken, they didn’t need to be. At least not yet. For now they could enjoy the moment and figure what this meant later.

“Unpleasant dreams..”

#mungrove #eddie munson #billy hargrove #ficlet

[dragonflylady77]

tag game: stranger things (again)

I was tagged by the lovely @callieb and I decided to do it again after some hard thinking.

1.ride or die ship (your otp): Harringrove

2. most annoying ship: any ship that has Mike Wheeler in it, he annoys the hell out of me.

3. second favourite ship: I don't really read anything that's not Harringrove but when I do it's a tie between Hellcheer and Munver (extra points if background Harringrove).

4. favourite platonic relationship: Robin and Steve definitely. Special mention to Max and El as well.

5. underrated ship: Billy and Heather friendship

6. overrated ship: I wanna say Steddie because the push from the rabid fans has been scary. Non rabid fans welcome to it, though

7. one thing i would change in canon: Apart from Billy's demise? The Stancy revival in ST4. Or like, season 4 as a whole...

8. something canon did right: Max, Steve and Robin friendship, Max and El friendship

9. a thing i'm proud of creating for the fandom PLEASE BRAG ABOUT YOURSELF I WANT TO SEE/READ YOUR ART: My July 4 fic, definitely better than being dead. It went really angsty on me but it's sweet with a happy ending, because I'm all about the happy ending. Also my Harringrove Micro Poems!! I love them so much.

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldn't change a thing): Joyce.

11. the character i relate to the most and why: Joyce (tired mums unite), Robin (I talk too much and tend to overshare), Max (sarcasm)

12. character(-s) i hate the most and why: Neil, for obvious reasons. Karen, for not putting a stop to the thing with Billy. I have kids the age Billy was and ew ew ew no way.

13. something i've learned from the fandom: Use the block button freely, it will make your experience so much better. The ST fandom seems very toxic but the Billy fandom is a haven of lovely people and full of friends I love.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: I don't really, because when I look for a tag, I end up making a list of fics and post that list on tumblr. I do like College AU fics and soulmates AU fics.

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: Right now, Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) by the Buzzcocks is helping me work on my Harringrove Big Bang fic. You Got It also helped me write a fic (one you'll have to wait to read). Separate Ways by Journey is a very harringrove coded song. Oh and 5SoS songs.

No pressure tagging: @destroya2005 @peanut-booi @whataboutthefish @memes-saved-me @deedoop @lemongizumo @iloveyoubillyhargrove @pleasdonttalktome @starkstruck27 @a-redharlequin

#tag game #dragonflylady77 #dfl answers