#tommy is made to be a lot more incompetent and in need of help while wilbur is made a lot more competent and in control | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stellocchia · 3 years

Note

I think it's been more than two months since I pushed my "Wilbur is remembered far more competent than he is" agenda in your asks.

So let's rectify that, shall we?

Wilbur is pretty fucking incompetent. He's never been that amazing charismatic smooth talker we characterize him as (not that I'm not absolutely behind that too)

Like. Who did he ever successfully smoothtalk? The Lmanbergians? None of them were ever hesitant to join from the very beginning and Eret betrayed them pretty easily when Dream manipulated them.

Techno? Techno wanted to join them, he was the one who reached out to them. There was no convincing needed and Wilbur never convinces Techno of anything Techno wasn't already willing to do by himself.

Dream? Definitely not during the revolution and Dream's support during Pogtopia was Dream following his own agenda, not being influenced by Wilbur in any way.

He couldn't even get Quackity to let him into Las Nevadas.

Nah, the only person Wilbur ever smooth talked is TommyInnit. The fucking powerhouse of this cell. And even that's not completely true. Tommy hasn't been convinced by Wilbur of anything since the very beginning of the Lmanberg revolution. Not during Pogtopia. And not even now (it's not smooth talking if it's just exploiting mental exhaustion and trauma and all that. Tommy isn't convinced of what they're doing.)

Really. Not even Tommy, per se.

He just got Tommy extremely loyal and attached to him.

And honestly, that's all he needs.

You don't need to have influence over everyone, you just need to have strong influence over the right person.

And that's what Wilbur had and has.

Wilbur's accomplishments are just pretty much him having a vision and Tommy throwing himself at it to make it come true.

Wilbur had the idea for L'manberg but Tommy was the one leading the troops. Tommy was the one who negotiated for their independence and got it when Wilbur was negotiating their surrender. Tommy was the one who FOR NO REASON built the escape tunnel they escaped through when Dream blew up L'manberg and he was the one who built the lil panic room at the end. Tommy was the one who's home became the embassy to L'manberg (something Wilbur very much pressured and kinda manipulated him into btw. I'm never not gonna mention that lil detail when the embassy comes up)

Wilbur had the idea and stood around looking pretty. My guy literally stood around looking pretty, without armor, during battles. Just. I love him.

And let's not forget that Tommy was fckin great at being the general. The SMP was so much better equipped and still, L'manberg was kinda winning. To the extend that Dream saw the need for TnT (which was hidden) and the betrayal through Eret (which was hidden)

Dream felt the need to pull two deceitful moves to keep if not even gain the upper hand.

If I'm not mixing stuff up here, correct me if I'm wrong.

And stuff like the tunnel weren't even expected of Tommy. My boy just thought of that on his own and did it on his own. Noone knew it existed. Noone expected it to exist.

After independence Wilbur is implied to have been leading but he generally wasn't around too much. Tommy was keeping order in the more face to face kinda way. He tried to navigate people's personal conflicts and make sure things didn't escalate and just. He did so well.

And Pogtopia? Oh, Pogtopia.

It's a bit more difficult here, since they were no longer on exactly the same side and goals are more muddled but still.

(and I want to make it clear that I'm in no way trying to shame Wilbur for mental health issues or anything. This isn't about that. I'd never fucking even imply that)

Tommy kept morale high. He made sure that other people were fine, when there was a chance. He tried to reassure Wilbur when Wilbur was spiraling, he asked Tubbo if he was happier, he told Tubbo to be safe, he recruited Quackity when he saw the chance while making sure that Quackity's intentions were sincere enough (he didn't just naively offer Quackity a place in Pogtopia and risk it being a trap).

He avoided any kind of destruction to L'manberg as much as possible.

He rallied people.

Really, his one actual flaw was not "turning" on Wilbur. His unwillingness to give up on him or even just incapacitate him or limiting his ability to act as he wanted was what ended up costing him everything. His unwillingness to interfere with Wilburs plans beyond talking to him and threatening him with a crossbow that one time ended up making the 16th possible. And he can hardly be blamed for that.

And Wilbur, during Pogtopia... Well... Nobody liked him, he made everyone uncomfortable and most people just kinda tolerated him because... Yeah...

Without Tommy troop morale would have been abysmal thanks to Wilbur. He constantly put himself and his side down, labeling them as villains and thus morally inferior. He pitted his own people against each other, spread paranoia between his people. No communication or actually planning involving other people. Still refused to wear armor.

And don't get me wrong, that's the point. He wasn't on their side. Obviously Tommy added more to their victory, Wilbur didn't want their victory. But still I just wanna praise my boy Tommy, he was. So amazing. Boy fucking peaked.

He's so good in tactical warfare or whatever you call it.

And I wanna just make it clear that this isn't criticism of Wilbur. Not at all. This isn't criticism at all. This is just about the big fanon perception of Wilbur as this great and mature leader.

Tbh this is actually more about showing people how amazing Tommy was and PLEASE I WANT FICS TO HAVE TOMMY BE MORE OF AN EFFECTIVE POWERHOUSE

Regarding my former ask I just wanted to clarify again that I'm not trying to critique Wilbur or anything.

It's really just that I think it's hilarious how people remember him as way more put together and competent than he really was.

Yeah, honestly one of the biggest disservice people have done to c!Tommy in this fandom is fail to portray him as the badass general that he actually was. Like, sure, Wilbur's title was as "general", but he never did anything for it. He gave a few speeches, but then the work was left up to Tommy. Like, genuinely, rewatch the Eret betrayal vod, Wilbur says it openly that he's leaving it in Tommy's hands. And Tommy does manage to lead his troops into an advantageous position! They get their enemies to retire at one point during the very first battle!

Then, of course, there is the betrayal, but, once again, Tommy didn't give up. He built the tunnel for their scuffed escape beforehand and, when everyone was just about ready to give up, he went against Dream in a duel and then traded the discs for their independence without loosing a beat.

Tommy was a BIG asset during that war!

Wilbur mostly was and still is kind of a wreak. And it's not his fault, 'cause mental health is an absolute bitch and he wasn't doing too hot after the war, then it got worse with Pogtopia and even worse during the 13 years in Limbo. And now we are where we are now with Wilbur being... not a great individual.

But still! In Pogtopia Tommy was the de-facto leader. And yeah, that was because Wilbur wasn't on their side anymore, but they didn't entirely know that. Or didn't wanna see that.

Tommy himself was hoping that Wilbur would "come back around" if he managed to get back their country. That was a big motivator for him. And he did everything that was in his power to do to not lose either Wilbur or L'Manburg. He tried talking to Wilbur multiple times, tried persuading him that there was another way, he never bought into Wilbur's ideals, he recruited people and he lead the troops once again. It wasn't Techno that lead the troops (despite him being a much better fighter) it was Tommy. And once everything was exploded and Techno and Wilbur betrayed them? Well he kept encouraging people. Literally I'm begging everyone to watch that vod! Tommy was there at every step of the way, telling Niki that it wasn't over, telling Quackity to keep fighting and, after that, you know who was there to validate Tubbo's presidency? To rally people behind him? It wasn't Tubbo. Tommy gathered everyone by the L'Mantree and got their spirits high once again.

He is just genuinely amazing.

And, like, yeah now Wilbur managed to manipulate Tommy to an extent to be by his side. But that's not that much of an accomplishment anymore because Tommy has just been through so much that he's exhausted now, as you said. Like, remember when Tommy said he wanted to be on Wilbur's side because "he gets things done"? Well, I'm still waiting to see that one honestly...

#ladycatland ask #dream smp #tommyinnit #c!tommy #c!wilbur critical #<< just in case #long post #character analysis #tl:dr #the fanon interpretations for tommy and wilbur are often a reverse of canon #tommy is made to be a lot more incompetent and in need of help while wilbur is made a lot more competent and in control #I wonder why that became the case?

722 notes · View notes

yandere-ac · 4 years

Note

Can I request parental Yandere! Tom with a young Y / N? Y/N has been on the island for a long time, and Tom is like their father figure. I'd like to see a scenario where Y / N meets Redd and due to their innocent and naive nature, wants to befriend him, meeting at night time just because Redd says it's better this way, probably not to alert Tom that he is there.I love how you write! Sorry for my bad English.

Yandere Parental Tom Nook X Child Reader

Little one

Tom had always considered himself good with children. It might have been because of all the late nights he spent up with Sable, taking care of Mable back when she was still very small. Even as a child, Tom swore to protect and help the ones who could not defend them self’s. It was a trait that, even though as he grew up became less and less prominent, was still a core instinct that he had. Sure, he’s the first to admit that he wasn’t exactly the most charming guy back in the day. Many seeing him as intimidating and mean. And yeah, Tom could see how people could have gotten that impression. Back then, he’d been so angry and lost. He was angry at the world. Angry at himself. Angry at...him...those where the days when he was hellbent on not letting anyone ever take advantage of him ever again. He’d locked up his heart and pushed everyone he loved away. But then...something quite peculiar happened.

It had been late at night. Tom was walking alone on the sidewalk, only the dim light of the tall streetlights illuminating his path. With hands in his pockets he picked up his pace. He wanted to get out of the city as quickly as possible. He had been spending some time with family and was currently going home. But to get to his flight he had to walk through the big city. Tom didn’t like the city, it brought back bad memories. He was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the sounds of a loud crash coming from one of the alleyways nearby. What was that? Was someone hurt? Tom knew he shouldn’t...it would be dangerous and stupid. But he had to check to make sure nothing sketchy was going on. Looking back at it now. Tom was so happy, overjoyed that he decided to investigate. Approaching the alleyway he could see the silhouettes of two small creatures. And as he got closer he realised what the silhouettes were. They were two children, tanukis, looking no older than five cowering together, clutching onto each other like there was no tomorrow. They looked up at him, shaking from either the cold weather or because they were scared. Probably a mixture of the two. Tom made sure to stay completely still as he tried not to scare the two boys.

"Hello? Are you okay? Why on earth are you two out here alone?" He asked as he slowly crouched down so that he would be on the same level as the kids, still keeping his distance. Tom however did not get a response. Letting out a small sigh he tried to continue. "Can I at least get your names?" He said, making sure to keep his voice gentle. "We’re not supposed to talk to strangers mister..." one of the two said, clinging onto the other tighter. "Okay then. Hello there. My name is Tom Nook. Who are you?" Tom tried again. At this point the other one has stopped shaking and looked at Tom with more curiosity than fear. "We don’t have names mister." Tom felt his eyebrows furrow. These poor kids. "Why don’t you two come with me? It’s about to start raining and I don’t want you catching a cold." As he said this he extended his hand to the two. And carefully, the first one reached out his tiny paw to grab it. The other one was much more hesitant about the whole thing but after a quick glance at the first, he soon grabbed Toms hand. Tom led the two away to a hotel nearby where he bought a room.

That was the first significant change that led Tom to the road to redemption and recovery. After calling the police and telling them about the situation they had come to investigate with a social worker. After they had intervened and the social worker talked to the two and did confirm that the two children had no home or guardians. And even though it had only been maybe two days with the boys, Tom had grown very attached to them. And so, he offered to adopt the two. And after settling the whole thing in court, Tom was able to happily bring two small tanukis home. Of course the final decision was left up to the kids. But lucky for Tom, they too had grown attached to him and agreed to the adoption. Tom gave them the names Timothy and Thomas, Timmy and Tommy for short. And rest assured, the boys were gonna have a good life, Tom swore of it. But that, like stated before, was only the beginning.

A year later, was the second significant change that Tom went through. That year, a new villager moved in to his town. A boy with Brown hair and a red shirt. And what a mess he was. After having bought a house from Tom, he didn’t have close to the amount of bells that he needed to pay off the house loan. In fact, he only had 1000 bells in his pockets. Seeing this was almost humorous to Tom. How can you move into a new home WITHOUT bringing more than at least 30 000 bells. And yet. Something about the boy. It almost reminded him of how he used to be back when he first moved to the city. Now, he had enough common sense to bring with him more than just a few bells. But he’d still make PLENTY of screw ups and stupid decisions. And in a way, he’d wished that he had a person to help him during that time. Someone to be kind enough to extend their hand and give him assistance. Maybe if someone had, things would have turned out differently. Who know what could happen to this villager, if he’s stupid enough to not bring enough currency, then he’d sure be stupid enough to be tricked or manipulated. Tom couldn’t knowingly let that happen, especially if he could prevent it.

And so. Tom offered him a job at Nooks cranny. Just to teach him some responsibility and give him a chance to pay off his loans. But even after he paid them off, he still took some time to visit Tom every once and again. He brought a sort of warmth and life to the town. He interacted with all the other villagers and made sure to fix it up a little as well. Although very silent and kind of strange, Tom grew a certain fondness of the boy. But ultimately, it didn’t matter what he though of him. Because one day, he never showed up. Tom just assumed that he had been sick or just tired. But after a week and not a sound from him, people started to get worried. They searched his house but he wasn’t there. And that weeks turned into months, which turned into years. Tom still worried what had happened to him. But he tried not to think about it. The thought unnerved him. He couldn’t have moved out because his house still remained in the village. But, ultimately. It really didn’t matter. He was gone, and Tom had to move on.

That was years ago. During that time, human after human moved into the town. And they were all just as incompetent. Tom had started to wonder if it was a human thing. But Isabelle had been quick to insist that he help them. And he did. He always tried to teach them how to survive and make money. All while giving them a roof over their heads. He couldn’t just let them wander around without a home, they had to live somewhere. He didn’t set any dates as to when their debts had to be paid either. They could pay him off whenever they wanted. He didn’t want to cause them any stress. And just like always, he got attached to the humans, and just like always, they all eventually left him with no explanation. He didn’t understand why or how. But it was simply just how it went. But no matter how many times it happened, he never got used to it. It was always so hard to accept the fact that the human that was usually eagerly running around had left them. Had left HIM. He felt oddly protective over them all, they were like his children, his small, gullible, human children. So when he met you, that was when his instincts really went into overdrive.

He remembered it clear as day. Timmy and Tommy had ran up to him with the three residents behind him. Immediately he noticed something was odd about one of them. One of them was a human, more than that, the human looked much shorter than any other human he’d ever met. And he’s met a lot of humans in his life, a privilege which very few get. At first he thought the human, you, was just short. But as soon as he heard you speak it became clear to him. You weren’t just short, you were much younger than any of the humans he’d ever seen before. You were a child. Tom started to wonder why someone as young as you was all the way out here. Were your parents gonna come on a later plane? No, no that couldn’t be it. There where no other planes booked to the island. Maybe you were a child to one of the other residents? Interspecies adoption has recently been legalised so that could be it. Yes. That’s probably it. But that theory popped once he gave out the tents and you asked for your very own. Wouldn’t you be sleeping with your guardian? For a moment Tom panicked. What if you were just a very small human and he has misunderstood your age. So he asked you. And to his relief and confusion you answered with "ten". Didn’t you have parents? Why were you out here alone, he needed to know if he should contact somebody. So while everyone else went about looking for a place to put their tents, Tom took you aside to ask you a couple of questions.

As it turns out, you had come here completely alone. Without parents or anything. You had handed him a letter from your mother, she was the one that sent you here with the little bells she had left, because she couldn’t take care of you and hoped that an adult on the island could handle you. When Tom read the letter he felt conflicted, he felt bad for you and your mother but he also thought the action of sending away your child to a deserted island was pretty irresponsible. But whatever he thought of the situation didn’t matter, because you were here and he couldn’t exactly kick you off or anything. He was sure that you would manage life here on the island, there was lots of things to do and food was also easy to come by. So, he’d have to make sure you were comfortable here on the island. He had given you your own tent and even payed the loans that came with it.

And you were the tipping point, you were the thing that turned his redemption into something much, much more twisted.

It had started small, with him feeling a kind of protectiveness over you. He figured it was since you were both a human and a kid. This feeling, it was much stronger than any of the instincts he felt about his previous humans, it was about as strong as how he felt for Timmy and Tommy. He just wanted to scoop you up and carry you away from all your troubles. He helped you fix up your tent and when you asked if you could upgrade it, he’d offer to pay for those house depts as well. But you had refused, saying that you wanted to pay for it yourself. It seems your mother had taught you plenty about responsibility and how to take care of yourself, which came a bit as a shock for Tom. Most of not all of his previous humans had been pretty clueless about things like this, so to see a child being more mature than them was almost a bit funny. But he knew deep down that your maturity probably stemmed from having to take care of yourself without any help. And there was nothing funny about that. Surprisingly, you handled your situation very well, you picked up weeds, planted trees, fished and caught bugs which you sold to Timmy and Tommy. All to pay for said loans. And when Tom told you about his plan to get K.K. Slider to perform at the island, you put your incredible work ethic to the max. Everyday, he could see you running around the island, planting flowers and placing furniture. It came out very good considering your age and soon enough the island got a three star rating. It baffled Tom beyond belief that you were able to do all of this. Especially at your young age. He made sure to give you credit for all the good you contributed and even made sure you got the front seat when the concert began.

And that brings us to today. You had been running around the island, collecting sea shells and fruit. Anytime you ran past one of your fellow villagers you made sure to greet them and talk with them for a while. And when you did so, one of them told you about seeing a shady boat by the hidden beach. The hidden beach. You liked going there, it was a nice place where you could just relax, far away from everyone else. So hearing that there was some boat there, it’s sparked your curiosity to say the least. Where did it come from? Who was at the boat? Why were they here? You just had to go see!

So that’s what you did. As you made your way to the beach you were stopped by none other than Tom Nook himself. He was outside of the plaza with Timmy and Tommy when the boys had their break. He gave you a smile as you stopped and turned to him. "Ah if it isn’t Y/N! Why don’t you come and join me, Timmy and Tommy to our picnic. We were just about to head there." He asked, Timmy and Tommy looking at you with hopeful eyes. "Yeah Y/N! Will you? Will you?" You had to stop to think before making your decision. "Sorry but I can’t. I’ve gotta go do something!" You said. "Alright then, but if you change your mind you know where to find us." Tom said as he walked away with the two boys. You ran all the way to the secret beach and sure enough, there was a boat stationed right there on the beach. As you made your way to it, you started to feel a little hesitant about going in. What if this person was dangerous? But you’ve already come this far, so you might as well try. And so, you took a deep breath, and opened the curtains to go inside.

Dark, that was the main word that popped into your mind as you walked down the metal stairs that descended into the boats cabin. As you reached the bottom and looked around the room a strange sort of dread filled your stomach. The room was darkly lit, only a select few lights illuminating what seemed to be paintings and statues that stood on small wooden podiums. Your curiosity started bubbling as you approached the paintings. You silently admired the art, but your moment of calm was soon ended when you heard a loud creak come from the far right side of the boat. Turning around swiftly you saw the source of sound. It was a big metal door, there was an orange fox exiting the door when he suddenly froze up. His eyes met yours, and for a moment the two of you just stared at each other. As he eyes you up and down you could only look at him with big wondering eyes. You’ve never met a fox in real life before, so this was certainly an experience. The silence finally broke when he spoke up.

"Umm...Hello and welcome aboard Jolly Redds treasure trawler!" There was a bit of uncertainty in his voice, like he wasn’t sure if what he was seeing was real. "Hello mister! I’m Y/N, what’s your name?" You asked him, a smile making its way onto your face. "The names Jolly Redd, as the name of my boat would imply." As he introduced himself to you he gave you a mischievous smirk. He seemed to drop any uncertainty and suspicion as he looked at you. "Say, were you checking out my paintings just now?" He asked you while walking closer. "Oh yes! I think they look really beautiful!" You answered enthusiastically, bouncing up and down slightly as you clasped your small hands together. "Ohoho, why thank you. I made them myself you see." Once Redd told you this, you let out a gasp of both surprise and delight. "Wow! For real? I have to tell Mr. Nook and aunt Isabelle about this!" All of the previous pride and confidence that Redd felt disappeared the moment you mentioned "Mr. Nook". He couldn’t let Tom find out he was here. Especially when he’s talking to a human child. Redd knows about Toms protective nature when it comes to humans and children, so the thought of what he might do if he found him near a HUMAN CHILD, it’s scared him. "A-ah! Let’s NOT tell Mr. Nook or Aunt Isabelle. I’m actually a uhh..." think Redd, think! "...secret artist! Yeah! A secret artist! We don’t like to be seen or talked about. So could you do me a favour and not tell anyone about me kid?" Redd said. You however, not knowing he was bluffing, let out yet another gasp and nodded your head vigorously. "Of course mister! I’ll never tell anyone I promise!" Redd let out a laugh as he saw your enthusiasm. He liked you, he wasn’t usually fond of children. But you, something about you was different. You were cute but not to the point of being annoying. Maybe he’d stay here for a little while.

"I like you kid, you’ve got good taste. Us art lovers gotta stick together ya’know. So how about this, can you meet me here again tomorrow at night? It’s a lot easier for me that time." The question made you unsure. You’ve been told not to trust strangers, but he seemed so nice. He seemed trustworthy enough. You didn’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to trust him. "Okay, I’ll do it."

And that was that. Every night you would sneak out of your house and visit Redd. He would show you his paintings and such, he’d even let you paint on a separate paper while he was doing his work on his forgeries. The only drawback of this was just how tired you got later during the day. It was starting to get more and more apparent to everyone else on the island, especially to Tom. He had asked you time and time again if you had trouble sleeping, but every time he’d bring it up you would get really quiet and assure him it was nothing. One time when he was out for a stroll he found you, sleeping on a bed of flowers. He picked you up and carried you to your house to put you to bed. As he tucked you into bed he let out a worried sigh, what was going on with you? But right as he walked out he caught a glimpse of something that made him stop dead in his tracks. He quickly rushed to the little desk you had in your room and looked at what laid upon it, it was a drawing. A drawing of you and an orange fox. The drawing was labelled "Me and Redd!" with green crayon. He knew something was up. But he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

It was late at night and you were on your way to Redds boat. Unbeknownst to you, you had someone following you. As you skipped down to the secret beach you called out for Redd. And a few seconds later, Redd came out of the boat and greeted you with a hug. "Hello there my little artist. Are you ready to have some fun?" He asked as he grabbed your hand and pulled you inside. "Yes! I’m ready!" You two sat down and started to paint. You told him about everything that was happening on the island, letting out a tired yawn every once in a while. As you blabbered away Redd was in deep thought, he knew he couldn’t stay here for much longer. Every day that he was here was another day that Tom could find him, and he sure as hell didn’t want that to happen. But he didn’t want to leave you, your kindness and excitement brought him some kind of joy when he would usually be completely alone. He needed a distraction other than painting and sculpturing, something that would drown out all of the persistent thoughts of hate that he felt each day. But he couldn’t just take you...could he?

"Hey, cousin? Do you like your life here?" He said out of nowhere, interrupting your ramblings. "Huh? Yeah of course. I’ve got friends and family that cares for me. I love it here." Damn it. How would he convince you if you had that attitude. "Aha...but doesn’t it get boring? You know, doing the same thing every day? When was the last time you had some excitement in your life!" Redd put down his brush and turned to you, facing you completely. "I...well..." you truly didn’t have an answer to that, sure island living wasn’t exactly the most heart pounding life but it wasn’t really supposed to be. It was supposed to be a relaxing life, without any stress or worries. "Wouldn’t you rather just get out there on the sea? With me! We could be a team! A crew! I could be the captain and you could be my second mate. Think about it Y/N!" Redd got more and more intense as he tried to convince you, but your face was far from happy or excited. It was filled with uncertainty and discomfort. "N-No I think I’ll pass. I would much rather just stay here." The fox’s expression turned from a smile into an annoyed frown. "If you don’t come with me you’ll never see me again! Do you want that Y/N?! Do you want to learn how to paint on your own? Do you want to loose out on the best teacher and friend you could’ve ever gotten?!" You didn’t give him a response, slowly backing away from him, trying to get to the stairs. But Redd saw what you were doing. "Oh no you don’t!" He rushed towards you and picked you up rather violently, you started to thrash and scream in his grasp, trying everything to get out. But suddenly you were dropped onto the floor. As you looked up in horror you saw Tom Nook hunching over you. He had his claws out and were growling at Redd. As he looked down at you his eyes softened and he motioned for you to run out, you got the message clear and ran. You ran out, sprinting for dear life in order to get to a hiding spot. Your house!

It had been about 10 minutes since you ran from the boat. You were hiding under your bed, trying to calm yourself down as the tears dropped down your face. You could feel your heart stop as you heard the door to your house opening. But you felt a huge wave of relief wash over you when you heard Toms voice call out for you. "Y/N? Where are you? It’s okay. He’s gone." You rushed out from your bed and ran downstairs to the living room. As you saw Tom stand by the end of the stairs you practically threw yourself onto him. "TOM!" Wrapping your arms around him, you started sobbing. You thought something had happened to him. You could barely form any words as tears got caught in your throat, this has been a stressful night to say the least.

"Shh shh...it’s okay...I’ve got you. I’ve got you. He can’t hurt you now, I promise." You cried onto his shoulder while he comforted you. "Do you feel comfortable sleeping alone or would you like to sleep with me, Timmy and Tommy?" You nodded your head as you climbed onto him. He only let out a small sigh as he carried you away to his house. What a mess. He wished he’d have known sooner, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But no matter, what was done was done. He could only focus on the future.

And he swore to protect you, no matter what he had to do.

#acnh #animal crossing #yandere #yandere animal crossing #yandere acnh #animal crossing x reader #ac x reader #tom nook acnh #yandere tom nook #tom nook is a dad #tom nook x reader #child reader #x reader #yandere x reader

415 notes · View notes

almondmilks-posts · 3 years

Text

C!schlatt- executed

I got lots of DMs asking for more angst so here

* You and schlatt get into an argument about him being president and executing tubbo ect, in a drunken rage he stabs you.

*Woah this is the longest thing I've ever written.

It all started when Fundy tipped you off about schlatts plans of executing tubbo for helping Wilbur and Tommy out,which you knew about ofc. You treated tubbo like one of your own and even sometimes helped him sneak out the Whitehouse without schlatt knowing; but killing tubbo over that broke you. You had to say something to hopefully put a stop to your husband's madness and his drinking. God did you hate how much he drunk, it drove you nuts.

You- he's just a boy. (Get the reference...)

Schlatt- I. Don't.give a fuck. He's. Traitor

You- do you blame him schlatt? Him and Tommy are close brothers even he probably felt terrible about what happend you know when you-

Schlatt- oh well should of thought I'd that before helping that that CHILD. HE'S MY RIGHT HAND MAN HE HAD ALL THE POWER AMD NOW and now he's going to pay the price and it's an expensive price to pay.

You walked over to the window and stood looking out into manburg. Just thinking about how you can save the poor boys life. How could warn him without schlatt finding out? you came to nothing. You and schlatt were married you were first lady, wherever you went he went. You were in a deep thought about tubbo and what his death would mean to the server when quackity quietly Knocked on the dark oak door.

Quackity- uh boss I hate to interrupt but you have a meeting in 20 minutes down at the twitch prime church.

Schlatt sighed. Stood up off his chair and walked over to you, but not before grabbing the bottle. Schlatt got super close to your face, so close you could see the little wrinkles that had developed around his eyes and forehead since becoming president, your nose scrunched under the smell of alcohol from his breath or from his clothes you honestly couldn't tell anymore.

Schlatt- we will no longer speak on the matter. I AM THE PRESIDENT FOR MANBURG WHAT I SAY GOES.

He slaunted away from you pushing past quackity. Quackity gave you a sad smile as you both knew how mean schlatt could get when he drank, and recently he had been drinking alot. Quackity turned towards the open door to make sure schlatt was outta ear distance.

Quackity- go.

You- huh?

Quackity- I told Phill that you would be seeing him thecno Wilbur and Tubbo in the bunker. Go warn them.

You- i- hhhh thank you quackity I love you so much man.

Quackity- I know I know. Hurry because it looks like we are going to be in for along night if schlatt messes up this meeting

You- he's so drunk he can't even walk straight of course he's going to ok I'll run along I'll take the horse to speed things up.

Quackity quickly shut the door before running to where schlatt would be waiting downstairs for the meeting while you grabbed your axe and saddle. You made your way out the escape hatch in your office and found your horse (name your horse here pls comment the names I wanna see what y'all name your animals)

Horse- neyyyy

You- heyyyy boy shhh it's just me ok ok steady ok I'm getting on 3...2...1... And uppp fewww ok not so bad is it (horse name) ok off to warn Tubbo.

Your horse stamped it's hooves and took off for the bunker. You had ridden this path hundreds of time so it was easy for you and the horse to get to, quackity said he already told Phill about your arrival do he should be waiting for you to turn up. You were right because Wilbur was waiting outside for you to arrive. His usual green jacket and black Beanie on his head.

Wilbur- hey y/n in here look you can rest (horse name) in here Niki built it.

You- Niki joined? Awesome o haven't seen her in so long, well since she messed up the soup and schlatt fired her

Wilbur- how is he by the way y/n? Come inside and we can talk about him later or should I say rant

You- true true.

You walked through the entrance carefully, you had fallen down the rails the first few times Wilbur took you here. Over his presidential campaign you and wilbur had actually been pretty close and luckily kept in contact even though schlatt won. SBI was a group you practically grew up with just not enough for Phill to adopt you, but you don't blame him, you wouldn't fit the dynamic plus your parents didn't really like the idea but they never really liked anything you did.

Phill- oh hey y/n were all down here what do you want to talk about quackity said it was urgent so I called a meeting.

You got to the bottom of the steps to find everyone waiting on the floor for you to arrive. By everyone I mean: Phill, Tubbo, Tommy, Niki, thecno. You waved at Niki who had changed her hair colour since you saw her last she waved back with a huge smile on her face but a hint of sadness in your eyes. You had changed so much, you just look exhausted which was not wrong.

You- oh um yes hi everyone, sorry to be so blunt but uhhh there is no better way to say this. Tubbo is in grave danger. Schlatt is planning to...

Your hands started to shake vigorously, you felt dizzy, you wanted to throw up. Almost as if your body is warning you about doing this right now it's screaming at you to not betray your husband of four years like this but you have to.

Tommy- planning what y/n spit it out?

Niki- hey, y/n it's ok shhh Tommy what schlatt planning in doing to Tubbo?

You- he's PLANNING TO EXECUTE you tubbo. He knows, I don't know why or how but he knows about all of this and your his right hand man he's going to kill you tubbo, hang you for tertiary. I'm so sorry I-

Tommy- Tubbo? No? You can't die not now

Thecno- all our plans. Just gone.

Phill- he can't hang tubbo he's just a boy.

At this point you were sobbing now. Full on ugly crying. Your heart physically hurt from all the angst and the possibility of Tubbo dying. Your knees gave out on the floor as you wept for the young boy and he was still alive. The others argued in the back as to what to do. Tommy grabbed Tubbo and hugged him, Wilbur was crying over the threat of danger even thecno was a little on edge.

You- I'm sorry. But I must go I can't I can't stay im sorry.

Phill- it's ok. Thank you for warning us sport.

With that you climbed the stairs thinking about nothing honestly. You were numb. Your husband was going to murder someone you looked as your brother for years what did this mean for you? You were also helping them did he know about that? How did he know about tubbo's tretariy? You got on the back of your horse and rode back to manburg.

Climbing up the shoot to your office was miserable. You felt miserable, confused and alone. You had no idea how long you were sat in your chair looking at the chipped desk until the door was slammed open hitting the wall with a lud bang. You didn't need to look up to know it was your husband. Even before marriage he always slammed doors open like they were nothing.

Schlatt- what's got you all down in the dumps? HM sweetheart?

You- you know what and don't call me that.

You crossed your arms still refusing to make eye contact with the ram hybrid. This really pissed him off. He however pissed you off more by calling you sweetheart which to some would seem sweet but you knew schlatt better. This time was dripping in sarcasm because he was mind fucked drunk by now not caring about anyone or anything. Schlatt waddled up to your desk and stood right on front of you, still not looking up at him you pulled out some paperwork and started to mindlessly sign it.

Schlatt- me YOUR PRESIDENT just signed a huge deal with badboyhalo.what is wrong with you recently huh? Cats got your tounge ok what about pig hybrid got your tounge? Or angel of death got your tounge or exhild child got your tounge?

You froze. He did know.

Schlatt- AHH struck a nerve, don't stop signing MY papers dear you are my wife after all.

You- no. Fuck you schlatt you can't hang the poor boy he's so young and innocent what was he supposed to do? You know I have to sign paperwork before you do anything and I won't sign off on it.

You threw your pen at schlatt in a rage. You didn't see if it hit him to enraged to care, papers were ripped, you there everything off your desk onto the floor. Schlatt just stood there blank expression not saying anything to you.

You- fuck you schlatt you don't control me.

You picked up the photo of you and schlatt on your wedding day. You ponderd on it for a second before stomping up to schlatt and shoving the picture on his face.

You- look at it. LOOK AT US LOOK HOW HAPPY I WAS NOW LOOK AT ME? DO I LOOK HAPPY TO YOU? OR DO I LOOK EXHAUSTED? STRESSED? because I am all of them things being married to you schlatt you are a terrible president and you have no power you're a pussy and won't face your problems like a real man.

Schlatt picked up the bottle of vodka and downed the whole lot you just stood there absolutely raging over this man's attitude and willingness to just disregard everyone in his life.

Schlatt- I DONT CARE HOW YOI FEEL I DONT CARW ABOUT ANYONE NOT EVEN QUACKITY OR MY WIFE. I AM THE BEST PRESIDENT MANBURG HAD EVER SEEN AND YOU WILL OBAY THE RULE OF SCHLATT. I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN HELPING THE FUCKERS AND YOU WILL SUFFER JUST LIKE TUBBO, JUST LIKE TOMMY, JUST LIKE DREAM YOU WILL PAY THE PRICE FOR YOUR CRIMES. AGAINST. YOUR COUNTRY. AGAINST. YOUR PRESIDENT.

With every word schlatt got closer and closer to you. Terrified of schlatt, becoming increasingly more angry to the point his horns have grown pitch black out of pure hatred. You moved back as far as you could against the glass in your office. Schlatt pressing you up against it with his body but this time shoving a finger in your face and still yelling about how incompetent you are as a wife and as a person.

Suddenly you felt a stabbing pain just above your heart. You look down to see a black colour sword through your chest and red blood gushing out onto your clothes and floor ( ok the sword is still in so in irl not a lot of blood would actually escape unless the object was removed top tip but for theatrics blood eveywhere) you weakly reach up to grasp the blood covers wrist of schlatt to pull the sword out but to no avail as you suddenly feel super dizzy and everything goes black.

Quackity- she's.... She's.....y/n's dead

Quackity heard you and schlatt yelling in his office when silence happend. He knew this was a bad sign and anxiously walked to schlatts office with shaky hand. He got close enough to hear a loud thud and XP drop on the ground. He ran back to his office to think when schlatt walked by ( in this his office is made.of glass) staring at his hands, suit all covered in blood. His heart dropped and ran back to the office to collect your stuff, running on adrenaline he ran all the way the he bunker to tell the others. No time for him to cry yet he was still in shock over what just happened.

Niki- no no no no pls say your lying pleas no no not y/n

Niki dropped to her knees sobbing and rocking backwads and forwards much like you did less than three hours ago when you came to warn the crew. You were her friend and was the only person who helped her when she was working for schlatt at the white house.

Wilbur- no no why how? Pls no?

Wilbur and you were probably the closest, he found you in the forest over 12 years ago chasing after foxes and collecting berries Wilbur always wanted a younger sibling as this point Phill only had thecno and Wilbur.

Phill- oh no poor y/n.

Tommy- what the fuck how?

Phill when he first saw you recognised you emidiatly looking much like your father. However he knew the man and knew what he was like so he had no problems when you visited them for tea many nights a week. He did think about adopting you right after Tommy arrived as you looked after him so well. Crafting him many clothes and many pumpkin pies. So so so many he always asked Phil if he had the recipe as he knew you couldn't make them as frequently as you used to.

Everyone was going to miss you greatly they just didn't expect to see you at the festival but now as ghosty/n. All your tries and efforts were in vain. Manburg still got blown up. But you did make good friends with Ghostbur. Glatt knew off you but was too embarrassed to see you.

Ugh ok this took me over two hours to write non stop. I just got this idea and ran with it omg I got so carried away. As of now probably my fav story.

#jschlatt #dream smp #Tubbo #villain wilbur #wilbursoot #mcytumblr #mcyt #dsmp glatt #mcyt x reader #tommyinnt #philza #manberg vs pogtopia

107 notes · View notes

burritodetodo · 4 years

Text

Burrito’s Guide To Survive Coronavirus Quarantine

We got to keep social distance (1 or 2 meters each other) or stay home during coronavirus outbreak so I thought I can share with y’all some things I’m gonna watch or do doing quarantine (this is a very long post, REBLOGS ARE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!).

BUT FIRST SOME RULES:

Wash your hands: do it for 20 seconds or a while, but ALWAYS do it. It prevents the virus from spreading. If you don’t have sanitizer, water and soap! The cheapest and best ally against the disease.

Buy everything you need: if you can, try to buy stuff so you can stay some days at home. If the place is crowded, go back home and come later when it’s more empty. Same as medicine.

You can go for a walk: stay at home all day can be overwhelming for your mental health, but unless the goverment puts a curfew or gets strict about it you can go walk outside for a while always respecting the 1 or 2 meters from other people and without making contact (chatting) with other people. This ain’t my rule, a CDC professional says. DON’T go visit your friends or to crowded places such as bars, restaurants, shoppings, etc. If you want to buy something, ask for delivery or take away.

If you have coronavirus sympthoms (high fever, diarrhea, cough, feeling tired, breath difficulties) DON’T GO TO THE HOSPITAL YET, CALL TO YOUR PUBLIC HEALTH ORGANISATION OR WHATEVER YOU GOT AND THEY’LL TREAT YOU.

(credits to whoever made this meme)

SO YOUR LIFE IS ON QUARANTINE

Let’s say your boss or your school told you can stay at home. Okay then, you gotta prepare for some days inside *Isolation by John Lennon plays in the distance*. The first thing you think is you have to prepare a batch of series and movies to watch in order to kill some time. I’m gonna recommend you some you can find on VOD or cable, if you don’t have it don’t worry because I got you covered!

Infinity Train: a yet two seasons saga about people who got to face their problems aboard an endless train. The protagonists are joined by creatures who have different nature and help them, or not, to acknowledge their issues and leave the train. It’s on CN, it will continue on HBO Max.

The Owl House: a teen girl who daydream a lot was going to be sent to a down-to-earth camp but then she crosses a portal to the Boiling Isles, a magical world where she is taken care by a powerful Owl witch/saleswoman and her adorable demon. Lots of fantasy, some action scenes and many many puns. It’s on Disney Channel, it’ll be on Disney+ in some weeks.

Primal: Genndy Tartakovsky delighted us with the alliance of a caveman and a dinosaur, two rivals in a wild world who ally after facing a devastating event. It IS brutal and beatiful, has no dialogue and keeps you watching closely. Five final episodes are set to premiere this year. It’s on Adult Swim, maybe on HBO Max.

Tuca and Bertie: for the critics, one of 2019 best shows. For Netflix, a show that had to be cut off because the studio unionized. Two friends in their late 20s face changes in their lives: from living with a boyfriend and plan a life to look a way to stay sober and get a job. Deals with trauma, ptsd, anxiety and more harsh moments very well. In fact, the creator is a vital part of Bojack Horseman! It’s on Netflix.

Aggretsuko: red pandas are cute eh? But what about a antopomorphic red panda who releases her anger and frustrations by singing at a karaoke? This awesome comedy by Sanrio & Netflix is one of anime’s big hits lately. Like T&B, has a good handle of adult problems but not going too deep just to not break the comedy. You can watch it on Netflix.

Regular Show: yeah-uuuuhhhh! Eight seasons, a movie, five Halloween specials and some others. The adventures of a racoon and a blue jay with their co-workers/friends that relies on psychadellia and 80s and 90s nostalgia. It begins good, gets better, then lowers the quality (they were producing the movie at the same time tho, give some credit) and with and after the movie ends awesome. It’s on CN web, dunno if on Hulu (US only) and proably on HBO Max.

Evangelion: it’s a classic at this point, but addictive to me because I end rewatching the series or the final movie many times. A post apocalyptic future where the world has to deal with strange creatures known as the Angels and a boy with lots of traumas has to get on a mecha to save the humankind. All the characters have traumas and issues, the interaction between them or the action makes it worth. The End of Evangelion is a movie that ends the unfinished series. Warning: at some point it becomes very twisted and there are scenes which are too much violent. Viewer disclosure etc. It’s on Netflix worldwide.

Steven Universe & SU Future: this is the tale of the gem boy who ends a galactical tyranny and brings democracy to the universe. A acclaimed show that broke through many topics like gender, identity, ptsd, relationships and many more. Besides it’s got the best scores of the Milky Way and beyond thanks to the talent of Rebecca Sugar, Aivi Tran and Surasshu. And the actors and acrtresses! I don’t forget the movie, a musical that is an introduction to the epilogue: Shippuden Future. The show is available on CN and will be on HBO Max. Worldwide? No news.

Adventure Time: something that began as an innocent boy and a magical dog having adventures in a post apocalyptic world turns into the journey of Finn Metens from childhood to almost adulthood. There is a lot of fantasy and comedy you enjoy, but there are dark moments and serious ones through S6 that find a balance with early seasons form S7 to the finale. It also has great music, memorable moments and colaborations. And guess what? There is going to be a special set to premiere on HBO Max in some weeks! You got plenty of time to catch up or rewatch before that on CN or only (!!) S5 on Netflix.

Final Space: a dude tries to save the universe with their friends, where we can find his love interest, a cat-man and his kitten son, a intersexual alien, an AI then robot that is the best of them, two particular siblings and an annoying bot that prevents insanity that makes you insane. Crazy adventures in space, lots of situations, sadness, an evil smol bean who is a space emperor, a dude who looks for revenge, space deities that can destroy the universe. Is this a lot or info? It is not, because there is more and you can watch it on TBS, Adult Swim and Netflix (the world except US).

Rick and Morty: the most powerful, smartest human in the universe has adventures with his grandson. It’s awesome, but has a very toxic fanbase. Anyway, you can enjoy it on Adult Swim or Netflix (which is up to date!) and the rest of S4 is set someday.

Bojack Horseman: a Hollywood satire about human relationships, fame, traumas with a pour of comedy. Alongside the previous series, the best adult animation of the decade. Sadly cut by Netflix because the studio unionized (see T&B), said by both the creator and Aaron Paul. You can watch the six amazing seasons on that platform.

I’m not an animated movies guy, but here are three I really like and you can watch:

Porco Rosso: a handsome Italian combat aviator turned magically to a pig has a face off with an American pilot hired by pirates to get rid of him before WWII in Fascist Italy. It’s entertaining and, like every Ghibli movie, nice to watch. It’s on Netflix and will be on HBO Max for US.

Lego Batman Movie: Batman is depressed and has to get over it. It’s wacky and has lots of comedy. Plus Will Arnett is top 3 Batman. On Netflix (Latinamerica).

Spiderverse: Oscar winner movie about your friendly neighbour Peter Parker Miles Morales. Miles sees Spiderman die and feels bad after being transfered to a private school. Then a radioactive spider from a Fisk compound bites Miles and he’s Spiderman... among other dimensions’ Spiderpeople: Gwen, Peni, Peter Parker, Noir and Peter Porker. It’s visually amazing. On US it’s on Netflix (I guess), on Latinamerica on HBO.

Some interesting live actions I watched lately

Atlanta: Donald Glover is Earn, a dude who struggles to find a job for her baby girld and sees an opportunity when his cousin, Paper Boi, has a hit and uses him to make his cos famous. Sometimes a comedy, sometimes a social satire with touches of drama. And all protagonists are now big shots, like Zazie Beetz, Brian Tyree Henry or Lakeith Stanfield. There are two seasons and two seasons set for 2021 (2022 possible beacuse of coronavirus). It’s on FX, Hulu (US) and Netflix (world)

Avenue 5: this is brand new. On 2060 space cruises are a thing, and one cruise (the Avenue 5) has an accident that leaves the crew and passangers stranded for years. The captain (Hugh Laurie) has to solve this shit with a bunch of incompetent crew, bosses like Judd (Josh Gad), except one female engeneer who is very smart. Lots of crazy things happen in this series from the creator behind Veep. It’s on HBO (it’s free in the US!).

Peaky Blinders: it has some years but damn it’s epic. A gang from Birmingham makes their way to the top during the late 1910s after the Great War and extends through the 1920s. S5 is right in the ascension of fascism in Britain. ALL THE CAST acts spectacular, names like Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Anna Taylor-Joy and a long etc. But my fave is Paul Anderson, that ultra violent junkie Arthur Shelby is splendid, then is Tommy and aunt Pol, the baddest badass woman in Britain. Blinders is going to have seven seasons, there are two left. You can watch it on BBC or Netflix.

Sex Education: speaking of Britain, excellent teen comedy. Horny, doubtful teenagers going through those hard years. Stories of sex (duh!), abuse situations, abortion, there are gay relationships either, Gillian Anderson! It’s on Netflix, go go go!

Watchmen: despite not having Alan Moore on board, Damien Lindeloff did a tremendous job with the comic. Way better and less misleading than Zack Snyder’s 2009 film, Watchmen is again at the gates of the world’s end (like today) and handles the problem of racism and white supremacy quite well. Just 9 episodes, but worth to watch. On HBO.

CAOS: Sabrina the Teenage Witch is over. Warner and Netflix made a revival of the Archie Comics character and brought her to XXI Century. But gorier, hornier, dark and magical than the nice 90s sitcom. Sabrina Spellman goes from a doubtful teen who has to decide if she has to be a witch or a powerless woman to rule Hell. How she does it? Find out on Netflix! Note: S1 and 2 take some episodes to start properly. Don’t get bored too easy.

There are A LOT MORE to recommend and I make a list: Harley Quinn (DC Universe), OK KO (Hulu -US only-), House MD, Young Justice (DC Universe/Netflix), Ken Burns’ documentaries (Netflix), Titans (DCU), Over The Garden Wall (CN), Seis Manos (Netflix), Thundercats Roar (CN), Easy (Netflix), GLOW (Netflix), Star Trek Discovery (CBS, Netflix) and Picard (CBS, Amazon Prime), etc.

- You named cool shows, but I’m not from the United States or I don’t have a subscription to (insert VOD here) because I can’t afford it

- Glad you asked, I have the answer here

Introducing Stremio. It’s an open source platform where you can watch shows, movies or even live TV on Windows, Linux, Apple or Android. You create an account, install some addons and start looking for what you want to watch.

Stremio is based on torrents, you should install addons from many known torrent sites. So maybe you find an old show, but there aren’t many seeds to watch. And it could be frustraiting, so make sure there are people sharing so you can watch it.

You can download Stremio here and check the FAQs which is very clear.

NOTE: Stremio is note quite “clean” way to watch, but if you do please support the shows you watch by posting, commenting about them, making memes, thanking the creators and crew for their work, buying merchandise if you can. They put a lot to make the shows we love, let’s give ‘em back that love and effort.

You’re tired of the same music, the same movies or need to leave something to make company? There is Vaughn Live, a streaming page where are lots of channels with movies and series on strem (not VOD). For example, there is a channel that streams Adventure Time, other Regular Show, other Sci-Fi shows, another with DBZ and so on. Take in count that if the channel has +70 viewers, the free access is cut and if you want to watch it you have to pay.

En Vaughn también hay canales en español, como Simpsonmanía, Dragon Ball, Futurama, dibujos viejos y muchísimo más. Anyway, go to https://vaughn.live/ and enjoy yourselves!

Y hablando de canales en español, pueden ir a SeriesLan donde está el mayor reservorio conocido de series animadas de entre 1960 a 2010 en español latino. Pueden encontrar tesoros desde Don Gato, los Halcones Galácticos o Street Sharks a Flapjack y Mechas XLR. Otra alternativa para que pasen el rato.

Some interesting facts:

Epic Games releases a free game per week in their store. This week will be two games. You can check in https://www.epicgames.com

Steam has good prices on games and some free ones. There even is the latest Football Manager for free until March 25th. Check on https://store.steampowered.com/

If you’re interested,

I got this playlist I made on Spotify

with songs I liked in more than one year. More than 1200 songs.

And that’s pretty much it! You got resources for a lot of days, 14 initially since that’s the quarantine time in my country. Remember: obey the indications of the Health authorities, this is no time to play the “fuck the goverment” game. We will overcome this pandemy together, helping and caring for each other. That’s why I did this guide, to keep your minds busy in these tough times! Wash your hands, keep social distance, stay at home, go outside if necessary and have some patience please. This has been a PSA.

Stay strong!

Burrito

20 notes · View notes

whentommymetalfie · 4 years

Text

Breathe Again -Chapter eight

-Be where you are-

prologue//one//two//three//four//five//six//seven

The story has some art now!

Chapter summary: Alfie makes a call and shares some of his findings with Tommy afterwards. He probably should’ve chosen his words more carefully.

Pairing: Alfie/Tommy

Warnings: hallucinations, disordered eating, mentions of attempted suicide

Wordcount: 4100

“-And Michael Gray is apparently head of the company. Seems like Shelby has stepped down from that position. Though word is he’ll still be involved in some capacity once he gets back,” Ollie finishes off the rather lengthy and somehow still useless status report from Birmingham. Well, mostly useless.

“From his, what was the word, extended leave of absence?” Alfie grunts.

Ollie’s hums and then goes quiet.

Alfie waits.

“So, is that all, then?” he finally asks.

Silence. He can almost hear Ollie’s confused frown.

“Is there… supposed to be something else, Mister Solomons?”

“No, there’s- just keep your ear to the ground, alright?”

Thankfully Ollie has learned not to question him by now. Well, mostly. So he promises to do that, without asking about the sudden interest in the Shelby family’s every move.

When Alfie hangs up, he has to just sit there in the study for a moment to let all of it sink in. Figure out what to do with this information. But when he eventually goes to search out Tommy, he still hasn’t quite decided what to do.

….

Knowing Esther is in the kitchen, he follows his gut and finds them both there: Esther doing the dishes and Tommy sitting by the table with his blanket in his lap and a mug of tea in front of him. No food, of-fucking-course. But he leaves that business up to Esther now -anything to save himself from repeating yesterday’s display, really. And yeah arguably he didn’t handle it in the best possible way but what can really be expected of him? To stand there and hold Tommy’s fucking hair while he throws up whatever meagre portion he’s managed to eat? That’s where he draws the line. And really Esther seems to be far more capable in this department so it’s probably for the best to leave the food issue up to her. And it must be Esther who’s placed the teaspoon of honey next to the tea mug. He’s got no idea what that is supposed accomplish, but again, not his problem anymore.

Instead he gets in Tommy’s line of sight to catch his attention.

“So, you fancy a walk then, eh? About time for one of those before we lose the last bit of daylight, if you can call it that, what with there being a distinct lack of sun today.”

Tommy nods and Alfie raises both eyebrows, making him clear his throat and muster a quiet, “Yes.”

Alfie nods his approval and gestures towards the spoon.

“Go on then, try to swallow that down and come along.”

What happened to staying out of anything food related?

Tommy just eyes the spoon suspiciously.

Thankfully Esther steps in.

“It’d be good for you, Tommy,” she says and glances over her shoulder from the sink, smiling encouragingly. She treats him as if he is made out of glass. And maybe he is. “It’ll just melt in your mouth, you’ll barely feel it.”

Tommy picks up the spoon, and someone up there must really have it out for Alfie because he sticks his tongue out andlicksit hesitantly, before apparently deciding it’s acceptable and putting the whole thing into his mouth. And how is Alfie supposed to look at those lips and not be overcome by confusing feelings and have his belly coil tightly and fill with heat?

And then Tommy takes the spoon out and his tongue darts out and swipes over his bottom lip.

Alfie turns around and leaves, barking some order for Tommy to hurry the fuck up.

…

Once they’re outside, he does his level best to focus on absolutely everything except Tommy for a while, making observations about the trees and the weather and telling him an entirely made up story about how a large enough group of crows could technically carry a live dear through the air.

Tommy smokes and seems uncharacteristically focused, eyes fastened on Alfie and listening with what could almost be something akin to actual interest. Which makes Alfie deem this an appropriate time to bring up the phone call. He’s not entirely sure what the purpose is. Or rather, he’d rather not admit said purpose to himself; it’s some impulse that’s lodged inside of him that just can’t help poking and prodding at Tommy’s fragile psyche and see what will happen…

“So, I had an interesting phone conversation earlier,” he says once Tommy has finished his first cigarette. “Had a word with a reliable source about the situation in Birmingham. And it would seem that you, mate, would you fucking believe, are on an extended leave of absence.” He looks over to Tommy to gauge the reaction. Tommy’s eyes shift to the ground as he shoves one of his hands into his pocket and starts picking at the buttons on the coat with the other.

“At least that’s the official story. Nothing wrong at all, you’re just having some well earned time off. Meanwhile that cousin of yours is in charge.”

Tommy fishes out another cigarette and the lighter.

“Yeah, they seem to be doing just fine, from what I’ve heard,” Alfie says. Tommy’s hand trembles ever so slightly as he lights the cigarette. “And alright, to be honest I find it a bit strange, don’t I? I can understand the need to keep up appearances, but… I feel like they’d have better luck actually finding you if more people knew, you know? If the police was involved, for example. Incompetent as they are you’d think they’d want to use every available resource.”

The smoke itself seems to tremble in the air as Tommy exhales another lungful. And for some reason it feels like a victory, finally seeing him react to something, anything besides his own thoughts and stuffed crows and invisible fucking voices.

“And I mean, they don’t know, right?” Alfie goes on. “They have no clue you’re here with me, out of harm’s way, mostly. No, as far as they know you could’ve been… kidnapped. Or lie dead in a ditch somewhere. So, really, I reckon that their first priority would be to find you, rather than, yeah, keeping up appearances. But clearly, our views differ there,” he has to pause to breathe, can feel himself getting riled up. “Because really, from the outside, it looks like they’re not looking for you at all.” He pokes and prods, can’t help himself for some reason- “Really must’ve done something to piss them off because, if you look at it from this angle, right, it’s as if you never even existed.”

-Pokes and tears at the remnants of Tommy’s mind, as if he’s looking through the pieces to find something, anything of the old him hidden in there somewhere, something that will make him protest. Always used to bite where his family was concerned.

Used to.

Now he just keeps his gaze firmly fixed on the ground and pulls in more smoke that he exhales in that same, shaky breath. Timid and meek and won’t even look him in the fucking eye- And it’s that, innit? That fragile, confusion, as if he’s made of thin, thin glass that could shatter at any moment, that evokes strange feelings he didn’t ask for… And how, how is it that no one in that fucking family is out there looking for him? That he’s got fucking no-one, that it’s all suddenly resting on Alfie’s fucking shoulders?

“Go on, Tommy? What’s changed?” he spits, harsher than he intended. “Always been like… rabid fucking dogs, your family, whenever one of you lot is threatened. But here you are, miles and miles away from home, meanwhile they’re living on as if nothing’s happened. Can’t tell me it doesn’t hurt a little.”

Tommy shakes his head. Of course it fucking hurts. ¨And he should be angry… fucking livid.

He trails his fingers over the scar but Alfie leaves him be. Can’t be fucking bothered to take his hand away. And maybe he’ll grab onto him too hard and Tommy will shatter under his touch.

“Though I suppose you’re not of much use to them anymore,” he says. “I mean you’re hardly in any shape to be fuckin’ running that bloody empire of yours.”

Tommy shakes his head and takes the cigarette from his lips, his hand is shaking so hard that it falls onto the damp ground. His fingers are still trailing along the scar.

“I know,” he says quietly. And it’s not the fucking answer Alfie wants. His pulse is quickening, he can feel it throb against his temple and he huffs out a laugh that comes out as mocking even to his own ears.

“Is that how you people operate, eh? You outlive your usefulness and then you’re discarded? Like some racehorse that’s broken its fuckin leg…”

Tommy stops in his tracks and ducks his head, scratching lightly against the scar. Alfie stops too.

“Nothing works anymore,” he whispers and seems to shrink before his eyes. Alfie wants to shake him, wind a hand into his hair and fucking force him to look up, twist so hard that it hurts and that bleak sadness will crack up into pain instead, force him to fucking feel something. Do something- maybe struggle, fight back. He doesn’t grab Tommy. But what he does do is almost worse…

“Yeah that’s an understatement,” he snorts. “You’re properly fucking cracked in the head. Which is saying a lot considering the state it was in before. Maybe they felt like it wasn’t that much of a loss, eh?”

Tommy flinches as if he’s been hit. Curls inwards on himself.

“I know,” he says. “I know, I know-“ his voice turns into these quiet little whimpers and he squeezes his eyes shut as he begins scratching against the scar feverishly- Alfie pitches forward and grabs his wrist, tugs it away from his head.

“Alright, fuckin’ell, Tommy-“ he says, the guilt welling up so quickly that it smothers the anger. “Fuck, calm down-“

Fuck, you fucking fucking idiot-

“I can fix it,” Tommy gasps, staring at him with wide eyes. “I can- I promise, please, I’ll fix it- I just have to- have to get it out and- and-”

He swipes for Alfie like an alley cat and Alfie grabs onto his other wrist and tugs them both against his chest. A knee comes up and narrowly misses his crotch and he has to fight the instinct to put his fist into Tommy’s face for that. Instead he takes both of the bony wrists into one hand, pins them against his chest and wraps the other arm around his back, tugging him close enough to remove his leverage. Tommy squirms and makes those awful, half choked noises that sound less like a human and more like an injured animal, but Alfie just holds onto him.

“Fuck ‘em,” he says. “Don’t have to fucking fix anything. They’re not worth all of this.”

There’s another moment of frantic struggle before Tommy suddenly stops, pushing his forehead against Alfie’s chest instead and pulling air frantically in through his nose. His whole body is shaking.

“Fuck ‘em,” Alfie repeats, trying to soften his voice. “Alright? You hear that?”

Tommy says nothing, but stays right where he is. His breaths come out in hot little bursts against Alfie’s chest and his pulse is racing underneath his fingers but he’s finally still. Alfie keeps holding the arm around his back but loosens the grip around his wrists. Cold fingers wind themselves into his coat as Tommy pushes himself closer, face still buried in his chest. Right then it feels like the only thing holding him together is the arm Alfie holds stiffly around him.

He leans in just a little bit. Tommy smells like soap and smoke and something innately… Tommy that he can’t quiet put his finger on.

“What the hell have you done to yourself, eh, Tommy? What’s so awful about all of this that you can’t even thinkabout it?”

Tommy just shakes his head, but he’s still now. And the urgency of the position has faded, he becomes painfully aware that it’s far too close. He clears his throat and gives Tommy a shove, making him stumble backwards on unsteady feet, blinking and looking dazed.

“Right. We should… probably be heading back to the house,” he says and starts walking back along the path, thankfully hearing a pair of footsteps behind him.

Tommy is painfully quiet the entire walk home. Alfie’s gotten used to the silence by now, but this is different. Wrong.

“I’m sure they’re looking, alright,” he says once it finally gets to be too much. The silence, or the guilt. “Might not… Well, your family have a way of doing things without anyone noticing, don’t they? Probably worried sick about you- I mean, you’ve got- those kids, right? And that wife of yours. Yeah. I’m sure they’re looking.” His throat is all dry so he has to pause and clear it before continuing, “But it’s not like you actually want to be fucking found, from what I understand, so I don’t see why you have to get all upset about it.”

Fuck, that sounds fucking stupid even to his own ears.

Tommy says nothing.

Alfie gives up on talking for the rest of the walk, and doesn’t open his mouth until they’re finally inside again.

“Right, I’ll ask Esther to make some tea,” he says as he shrugs out of his coat. “And then we’ll see if pompous man number five will finally propose to that lady who complains a lot in the next chapter-“

He heads for the living room and only discover once he’s halfway there that Tommy hasn’t followed, but is instead veering off towards the guest room. Which he hasn’t entered willingly since Alfie dragged him out of bed four days ago.

“Oi, where are you going?”

“I’m tired,” Tommy says quietly without looking up, fingers clenched around the edge of the door. “I should sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah sure, but you can do that just fine in the armchair.”

“I shouldn’t be out of bed. The doctor says I have to rest.“

He’s got that glazed look in his eye, Alfie just barely catches it before he slinks into the bedroom, leaving him standing there in the hallway with an alarming tightness in his chest.

He goes to pace in the living room, shoving tobacco into his pipe and lighting it. Tommy’s blanket is still in the armchair.

The footsteps approaching are too determined to belong to Tommy, who pads around the house like a kitten, and he barely has time to reflect on the fact that he does indeed recognize his footsteps by now, before Esther’s voice interrupts that thought.

“So, would you like some-“ She pauses. “Sir, where’s Tommy?”

Fuck. Just what he needed.

“He’s sleeping. Or, yeah, he’s in bed, alright?” He chooses not to turn around for no particular reason. It’s definitely not just to avoid seeing Esther’s disapproving look.

“He’s in bed?”

Alfie hums. “Yeah, so if you could just make some tea a that would be-“

Esther’s footsteps are disappearing down the hallway. Yeah. Fucking of course. He huffs out a puff of smoke and finds a cloud outside to fasten his gaze on, and vainly hopes that it’ll somehow distract him from the feeling currently settling like a heavy stone in the pit of his stomach.

When Esther returns, he’s come up with no good excuses and done nothing except stare very intently at the same cloud.

“Did something happen while you were out?” she asks.

Alfie clears his throat and scratches his beard, watching the cloud be swept away by a gust of wind. “No, nothing that comes to mind, no.”

The silence is getting to him so he turns around. Esther is frowning. Doesn’t look angry, just worried, which makes the whole thing worse.

“Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Nothing about this is fucking ordinary,” Alfie grunts, wishing she’d launch into a lecture instead of looking so bloody worried. “What? He’s always acting fucking irrationally. Who knows what’s upset him this time. Maybe he just saw an… imaginary bird that made him sad for some goddamn reason.”

Esther nods thoughtfully, the frown deepening. “I’m going to make him some tea, but perhaps you could go and sit with him? I don’t think he should be alone.”

She leaves

Fuck all of this.

Alfie finds himself in his study again, staring at the phone.

One call.

The thing is he does actually believe Tommy’s family is worried. Who fucking wouldn’t be? It’d be fucking cruel not to be. Heartless. And heartless is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when he thinks of the Shelbys. Ruthless perhaps. Arrogant and fucking cocky. But not heartless.

But despite the call to Ollie, he’s no closer to piecing together the gap between the failed assassination attempt and Tommy showing up at his doorstep. The only pieces he’s actually got is Tommy’s wrecked mental state and the scar. Clear enough that he’s tried to hurt himself, yeah, and done quite a good job of it too. Even after the phone call, there are too many pieces missing. But if that family of his was actually capable of even somewhat looking out for Tommy, he wouldn’t be in such a shit state.

Then again, Alfie is clearly failing spectacularly at that himself, looking after him.

Ollie could come pick him up. They could pay someone else to drive the last bit, someone the Shelbys have no knowledge of, and deliver Tommy at the doorstep of that big mansion of his. Tommy is hardly in any shape to resist. Could even be a gentleman about it and make sure someone opens the door too, see to that Tommy is taken care of.

And he’d be rid of this problem. Maybe avoid doing more damage. Logically speaking, it’s the right fucking thing to do.

Alfie picks up the phone, puts a finger to the dial and stares at it.

Three digits in, he puts the phone back and leaves the study.

And soon he finds himself standing outside the guestroom instead, with Tommy’s blanket in one hand and the book in the other. He opens the door without knocking.

The small lump on the middle of the bed remains motionless as he crosses the floor

“Scoot over will you?” he says and plops down onto the mattress, narrowly avoiding just sitting down on top of said lump. Folding down the blanket, Tommy blinks up at him. Alfie tries to not linger on the red-rimmed eyes and the wet lashes because he doesn’t care for the implications. He gestures for him to move.

“Go on, give us some space here, eh?”

Tommy sits up, still looking almost comically surprised and moves over to the farthest edge of the bed. Alfie rolls his eyes as he starts building up a sufficient mountain of pillows against the headboard.

“Don’t have to fuckin’… sit on the floor now, do you? Some space I said. Which, given the usual standards would be somewhere around here. You know? That’s your half.” He gestures from the middle and out to the edge. Tommy still chooses to settle at the very edge, watching him with big, wary eyes.

Alfie tosses the blanket at him and leans back against the pillows, flicking the lightswitch on the lamp on the nightstand before perching his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

“Now, where were we? Somewhere around page… ninety I think.” He flips through the pages and watches out of the corner of his eye as Tommy wraps the blankets around his shoulders and settles back against the pillows, a tiny bit closer. “Hm, yes, yes there we go. They’ve just arrived home after this whole… carriage debacle, yeah? Remember that? Very traumatizing event probably- Let’s see how they’ll possibly move on from that.”

He’s got Tommy’s full attention when he starts reading.

After three pages, Esther comes through the door. Alfie can see her eyes light up all the way from the bed, but she wisely forgoes commenting.

“Here’s some tea for you,” she says, addressing Tommy. “And a bit of soup. I thought you might be getting tired of the same old thing, so this one is potato and leek. But it’s nothing too different.” She sets the tray down on the nightstand on Tommy’s side of the bed. “Sometimes that can be difficult, new flavours and textures and all that.” She hands Tommy the mug, nodding towards the tray. “And there’s bit of that honey that seemed to go down alright earlier.”

Alfie doesn’t particularly care for the smile Esther shoots him as she leaves the room. As if she knows, or perhaps sees something he doesn’t…. On account of there being nothing to see or know, of course, so what business does she have, looking that way?

Going back to the book seems to be the safest bet to postpone all of those thoughts, and as he reads, Tommy obediently finishes almost all of the soup and then promptly occupies himself with the teaspoon full of honey, leaving it lingering between his lips for longer than what would be necessary.

“Can’t believe you can stomach that,” Alfie says and tries to not look to closely at his lips. “But who would’ve thought, eh? Tommy Shelby has a bit of a sweet tooth. Like a hummingbird.”

Tommy actually huffs at the comment, looking almost indignant.

“Yeah, yeah exactly like a hummingbird, in fact,” Alfie goes on. “See, they only eat nectar, don’t they, so they’re quite particular about their food. Tiny little things, too. Always moving about.” The imagery makes him chuckle. Tommy sucks on the spoon and he looks back down into the book. “There’s this myth, right, that if a hummingbird stops flying its heart will stop, but that’s of course bullshit, because no animal could function like that.”

Tommy narrows his eyes a little, giving the spoon one last lick before putting it back on the tray. He settles his head back against the pillow and turns onto his side, watching Alfie expectantly.

“I take it this conversation is over and you’d like to go back to the riveting story of… lawn discussions?” Alfie taps the cover of the book, but goes back to reading without expecting an answer.

One chapter later, Tommy’s head tips against his shoulder and it’s just pure luck that Alfie manages not to jolt in surprise. Tommy’s eyes are closed, long lashes resting lightly against his pale cheeks, lips parted ever so slightly and without a single one of all those sad, pained lines etched on his face.

Whenever Alfie sees him like this, he feels like maybe he’s not a complete disaster at this after all. If only for short moments at a time.

As carefully as he possibly can, he closes the book and slides off the bed. But he leaves the bedside light on as he leaves the room.

It feels strange to have a moment to himself, so he uses it wisely by smoking and listening to the radio for a bit, watching the sunset outside. There’s been no sun to speak of today, but a sliver of orange is visible right where the sky meets the sea.

Knowing Tommy is finally sound asleep in a proper bed does make him more relieved than it has any business to, because maybe this will mean he sleeps the entire night through? One can always hope.

But he’s barely finished that thought before quiet footsteps creak over the floor and he tries to not sigh audibly.

Tommy has brought his blanket and looks wary, eyes oddly wide and fingers wound tightly into the material. Alfie’s learned to notice that look by now. He reaches over and pats the armchair next to him.

Without a word, Tommy pads over and curls up in it, eyes still darting around the room.

“It’s just the radio, innit,” Alfie says. “That’s all.”

Because he knows.

The explanation seems to relax Tommy a fraction, but he still finds himself getting out of his chair and going to turn the radio off.

As if it’s a perfectly normal and reasonable thing to do.

Then he picks up the book and settles into his armchair.

“Chapter twelve, I believe?”

And then he starts reading. Again.

When he feels the familiar tug at his shirtsleeve, he moves his arm a bit closer. As if that’s a completely normal and reasonably thing too.

Tommy has closed his eyes again, his breathing already evening out.

Yeah. He might be shit at this, but he has his moments.

#alfie x tommy #Alfie/Tommy #Tommy Shelby #Alfie Solomons #peaky blinders fanfiction #peaky blinders season 5 #TW: suicidal ideation #TW: disordered eating

50 notes · View notes

larriefails · 5 years

Note

Amy 28nachos know claims they don’t know who’s behind babygate. They literally get more deluded by the day and they don’t even realise it.

I mean, let’s break this down

When Larries started with their conspiracy theory, their initial target was Modest Management. I think it was mostly because they thouht they’d identified one of Modest’s employees in the background of some pictures of Louis and Eleanor and she was like a “beard handler”, you guessed it, they harassed her to hell and back

They also believed Harry was crying here

Because Marco Gastel, another Modest Management employee asked to take Louis and Eleanor’s picture

Truth is Harry went outside without his sunglasses and the glare of the sun was hurting his eyes. He wasn’t crying. I don’t even know if that’s actually Marco taking their picture, not that it’d be in any way suspicious for Louis and Eleanor to ask someone to take their picture if it were

They spent all of 2012, 2013, and most of 2014 yelling Modest was closeting them against their will, they called them “management”

This one is long but boy it was funny to read

In late 2014 this wack ass theory started to crop up, I believe mostly from lapelosa, worshippedlove, stagtatto/handslows, and verily (all of them are either not Larries anymore or have abandoned their blogs), the theory was that Sony was on the Larry side and Modest was against them. Which is… incredibly amusing

When Harry started being spotted with Jeff and his family more and more, certain blogs started pretending to have insider knowledge about how Irving was actually going to sign the whole band and save Larry. These blogs were diggingandfluff, srslycris, lapelosa, larryappreciation, and some others that escape me now. They were 100% sure and even kept at it all the way into March of 2017, just five days before Harry announced his solo debut

Obviously Irving and Jeff didn’t sign the band. Jeff signed HARRY, which was something the “antis and hets” Larries love to disparage predicted all the way back to 2014/2015

So Larries now hate Jeff, they think he’s incompetent and the product of nepotism. They don’t admit to having been wrong for over three years, to have lied about having insider knowledge. Cris and Kati have justified Angela (lapelosa) by saying that she trusted sources when she shouldn’t have.. and you know what? I could excuse a naive Larrie trusting a “receipt” because it plays into what they want to believe and it doesn’t really have a big impact anyway, but Angela spent literal years saying over and over and over again that she knew for a FACT that Irving would sign 1D, that Harry wouldn’t go solo, that Louis and Harry were engaged, and Kati and Cris can play it off like “well we didn’t trust those things, she did” but they reblogged the posts and never raised their voices to say that they didn’t necessarily agree

The result of this is an endless wave of hate towards Jeff, who’s one of Harry’s best friends and welcomed him to his family, and also a lot of hate towards Harry from rads. Rads believe Jeff/Irving are actively working against Louis, that they’re the ones that designed “babygate” that it’s all to “lift Harry up”, that it’s putting the “burden of the closet” on Louis so Harry can be his “true self” and how incredibly unfair that is

But we’ll go back to this, first we have to establish who Larries blamed when the Modest vs Sony theory became visibly absurd and while Azoff was still seen as a good guy. Well, it was Simon Cowell

Simon became the root of all evil. Now, I don’t particularly like the guy, he’s shady and greedy, but he’s a music executive, they all are shady and greedy. That’s how they get to the top

For a long time the Larrie theory was that Syco was behind all of it, that they knew they were gonna lose the band because the original contract was ending and there was no way they were signing a new one. That Louis was the mastermind behind the band breaking away from Syco so Simon was punishing him with all the events of 2015. Then they found out that as they were cooking up those theories, Simon Cowell had sold part of his shares in Syco to Sony and now Sony was in charge. For a while, Larries continued to believe that Simon was punishing Louis, this time because he’d “cost him his empire” (Syco). Then they realized that made no sense, because Louis was still a dad and now Simon wasn’t even in charge, at least not completely, so though at that point they had already started hating on Sony, they laser focused their attention on them

That was the new evil that needed defeating. Sony, in general. But Simon/Syco aren’t good guys either and they also have a hand in this. But also Modest facilitated Sony/Syco’s plans, so they’re still evil. And throw Simon Jones PR there too, while you’re at it

To Rads, it’s mostly a combination of Rob Stringer (Sony’s current CEO) and Irving Azoff, with Simon Cowell as an evil puppet, and the reason for babygate is boosting Harry’s career. They say that Irving astroturfed (sent anons) to tumblrs to convince these blogs that he was their savior and he gaslighted the Larries into liking him only to BAM stab them in the back (instead of just admitting they were wrong and bought a bunch of bullshit from fake insiders and random anons on tumblr). This is really funny because there’s been a bunch of CEOs in Sony (like, three?) between 2012 and now, hell, Stringer wasn’t even CEO when “babygate” started

To Larries, it’s more unclear. It’s Simon Cowell but actually Sony? But Irving isn’t helping Louis either but Rusty and JGG were also evil and it’s just a giant salad. The reason behind it at this point is a big fat shrug. Punishing him because…? Some might spew a bit about Savan Kotecha and how Louis was a “thorn in their side” (so powerful yet so helpless) Some others will say closeting but in the same breath that babygate is still a thing even without Larry (which is all sorts of confusing)

In other words: their theories have never made sense, they’ve never stood the test of time. Time and again they’ve been proven wrong and at this point they don’t even know what they believe anymore. I fact, Twitter and Instagram will still have you believe the evil is Modest Management

—–

A small glossary of people and terms:

Syco was 1D’s original label. Simon Cowell owned it 50/50 with Sony Music. The band also had a deal with Columbia Records (a Sony subsidiary) in the US. In 2015, Sony bought a majority of Syco’s shares off Simon and they’re now the major owners of the company (which includes the music label and the TV production company behind America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent and the X Factor)

Irving Azoff is a very important music mogul who managed some of the biggest bands in the world (still does, actually). His son, Jeff, is Harry’s BFF and manager. Irving and Jeff merged their respective management companies (Jeff’s Full Stop and Irving’s Azoff Management) along with Brandon Creed’s management company and Tommy Bruce (Tommy Bruce was Jeff’s colleague at Creative Artists Agency, the world’s largest touring agency, they both left to form Full Stop in 2016)

Harry is currently signed to Columbia Records (both US and UK). He has a three album contract that he signed around June 2016

Louis is currently signed to Syco in the UK and Arista in the US. He was previously signed to Epic records. We don’t know any more details of this contract

22 notes · View notes

yesterdanereviews · 5 years

Photo

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997)

Film review #346

SYNOPSIS: The evil space pirate Divatox is planning to capture the wizard Lerigot in order to use his golden key to release and marry Maligore, whose powers she believes will make her unstoppable. Lerigot escapes to earth to enlist the help of Zordon, but ends up in Africa. Zordon sends Tommy and Kat to find Lerigot before Divatox, but she has kidnapped Lerigot’s family, and he surrenders to her. Zordon gives the power rangers new powers in order to follow Divatox through the nemesis triangle to the island where Maligore is sealed, and to stop her before it is too late...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie is a 1997 film that is a sequel to the 1995 film and a precursor to the Power Rangers Turbo TV series. The film opens with scrolling text that is very reminiscent of Star Wars, which describes how the wizard Lerigot possesses a golden key which is able to unseal the monster Maligore, whose evil powers would ravage the galaxy. The space pirate Divatox plans to release Maligore and marry him so their combined powers would let her plunder the galaxy. Meanwhile in Angel Grove, the male power rangers are entering a kickboxing tournament in order to win the prize money to save a local youth shelter from closing. One of the children who uses the shelter, Justin, comes to see them training just as Rocky, one of the power rangers, has an accident and hurts his back. The rest of the team go to visit him in the hospital, when Zordon calls them back to find Lerigot, who has arrived on Earth. Justin also overhears their conversation and finds out that they are the power rangers. Two of the rangers, Tommy and Kat, are teleported to Africa to find Lerigot before he is weakened too much by the sun’s rays, which are harmful to him. The plot of the film feels more like a fantasy than a sci-fi, with all this talk of wizards, magic, and fantasy-sounding names and locations. One of the problems I highlighted in my review of the previous film is that it didn’t really expand on the Power Rangers experience or offer anything more than a longer episode of the TV series, and thus struggled with filling the film with content. Turbo seems to have gone the other way: it fills the film with all these different concepts, settings and characters so that there is a new experience for the viewer, but it does so much of it that it stops feeling like a Power Rangers film, and the things you want to see are relegated to short and scattered scenes. In fact, we don’t even see the power rangers in their suits until nearly half way through, making the opening really feel like a slow crawl before anything of significance or what you would come to see starts happening on screen.

The Power Rangers themselves are the same ones from the TV series at that point in time, and aren’t particularly developed as individual characters. two of the original rangers, Jason and Kimberley, also make an appearance, as well as the ever-present Bulk and Skull, and so if you’ve followed the series at any point, you’ll recognise these characters fairly easily. The performances, while not amazing, aren’t too bad, and convey a decent amount of emotion and expression; and you don’t need too much more in a film aimed at children. Divatox and her minions are also full of energy, and give off that evil vibe quite well, alongside a little incompetence that makes them not too threatening or scary. There’s also a cool little cameo featuring original villains Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, which will no doubt make fans smile.

One of the big issues of this film is that the kid Justin ends up being the blue ranger, and accompanying the rest of the group to stop Divatox. I can’t fault the kids acting, but everything about the character makes no sense and ruins the image of the Power Rangers: the description of them being “teenagers with attitude” just doesn’t work when one of them is a kid, and when the Power Rangers do something cool, he still just acts like a kid, which takes some energy out of the scenes. No explanation is given of why he suddenly becomes the blue ranger; he literally just shows up and says “I’m the blue ranger now”. I think it’s implied that because he worked out that Tommy and the rest were Power Rangers, then he would have to join them, but it’s also established that Power Rangers are chosen because of their heroic qualities or attitudes, and it’s not really mentioned or established which of these qualities Justin has. I get that his character is meant to be one that kids can relate to, and gives them the impression that they could be a Power Ranger too, especially given that he is a troubled kid who is sad and outcast and has issues with his Dad, and can still be a Power Ranger (his background isn’t explored in any huge detail), but this is one of these storytelling devices that I would have hated as a kid, as it broke with what made the Power Rangers who they were: that they were special, and their heroic qualities meant they could do great things, and become Power Rangers. If any kid could do it, then that inspiring sense of justice and heroism just gets diluted and makes it less special. That’s how I would have seen it as a kid anyway. There’s also the issue of Justin growing about two foot taller when he morphs into the blue ranger, which is never acknowledged, referenced or explained, and just breaks a sense of immersion because it raises so many questions. The Power Rangers series uses footage from the Super Sentai TV series in Japan for the segments in costume and the robot zords, with the American actors providing the voiceover, and since in the original show the blue ranger wasn’t a little kid, the Power Rangers series just avoids referencing it.

The Power Rangers travel on board a “Ghost Galleon”, which looks like an old wooden sailing ship, in order to pass through the inter-dimensional “nemesis triangle” to the island where Maligore is imprisoned. Again, there’s a decent amount of content in the story, but the fantasy tone doesn’t really fit with the Power Rangers theme, which is more science-fiction. Eventually, near the end of the film, it gets back to the traditional Power Rangers formula of martial arts action, then giant robot vs monster action, but by that point I just felt exhausted by the long-winded way in which it got there that it was difficult to care anymore. The robots or Zords that the rangers pilot this time around are different types of vehicles. One of the big criticisms of the previous film I had was that the Zords were rendered in CGI, and looked pretty bad, as well as looking a lot different than the TV series, which used models and actors in costumes. Turbo instead keeps things consistent, and uses the model and costume footage from the TV series, as well as creating new models for the Zords, which are all vehicles of some form. This consistency is very welcome, and while the cars do look like they’ve just been made by recolouring some original vehicles with matte paint and sticking a few bits on top, they still fit in with the rest of the effects. The effects on the whole are okay: nothing special, but again it keeps them consistent with the feel of the film and series, which are never high budget extravaganzas. The film ends as you would expect with the Rangers Zords combining to defeat a giant Maligore, and saving the world as always, and it does it in exactly the way you would expect, with the extended transformation sequence, the theme music pumping in the background, and seeing both of them show off their moves. It definitely feels like a Power Rangers movie at the end. Oh yeah and they also win that kickboxing tournament that was mentioned at the start of the film, just in case you were wondering even though it was not mentioned at any other point.

Overall, Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie seems to take the contrary approach than its predecessor, by creating a stronger narrative and quest that gives the Power Rangers purpose and motivation. However, this often has a detriment effect, as all of the extra characters, locations and plot devices can distract from what you want to see in a Power Rangers film. The previous film added as little as possible and suffered for it as well, and it seems Turbo just jumped to the other extreme without finding the middle-ground. However, on the whole it does keep itself in line with the franchise, and delivers everything you would expect it to, along with familiar use of effects, music and styles that make it feel like a Power Rangers movie. The characters, while still underdeveloped, turn in a decent performance; even the kid Justin does a good job, in spite of finding his character unpalatable and an overall distraction. Some throwbacks to older characters and the typical fight scenes make it a good watch for Power Rangers fans, and even though it doesn’t offer anything new or exciting, underneath all the superfluous fantasy stuff there seems to be a good understanding of what makes Power Rangers work, and how to pull it off. There won’t be much substance in here for non-Power Rangers fans, and it’s not amazing for a standalone film, but for the fans there’s plenty of what fans would want.

Oh, and I now have the “Power Rangers Turbo” theme stuck in my head. Forever probably.

#movie #movie review #turbo: a power rangers movie #sci-fi #power rangers #film #film review #1997 film

1 note · View note

wdwqrfawes · 3 years

Text

They come at dusk and roost all night

It was a huge mistake to make on your part because up until that point I was exercising reasonable doubt. The blood would start and eventually stop with each cut. In Sydney Mike Baird went from politician of the year to lemon of the decade while Dan Andrews stumbles around Melbourne in bifocals attempting to unionize everything, including volunteers. Varamyr woke suddenly, violently, his whole body shaking. Before llantas 4x4 online last week Mead Beer School at Alewife, I had a great summer beer from Golden Road Brewing called Tart Mango Cart ABV 3.2 percent. We'll have a good amount of clouds early in the day Sunday but as the day wears on expect more sunshine to dominate our skies.But the American (GFS) and European (ECMWF) forecast models are not showing an impressive amount of rain across north Alabama with this front. WHAT MEASURE 88 SAYS: The measure asks voters to accept or reject a state law signed by Gov. Whilst others hungered, she was fed. Links as big as a man’s fist bound his feet to the floor. Don’t let us ever quarrel! It always hurts me so. So are Robert Baratheon, Amory Lorch, and now Gregor Clegane, all those who had a hand in murdering Elia and her children. I had warned him of it myself at our last meeting, and I remembered it distinctly. But ordering these shoes requires patience and a desire to become involved in all aspects of the design and construction. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. “They come at dusk and roost all night. Yet Nikolay Sergeyitch was not only now, but had, even in former days, in their happiest times, always been rather reserved with his Anna Andreyevna, sometimes even surly, especially before other people. Beneath her hood her eyes shone big and white in the light of the nightfire. After the life saving AIDS medications became available in 1996, they transitioned the house into a sober living facility.. Soon they began to take their meals together. As gaunt and starved as the elk had been, the steaks the ranger carved from him had sustained them for seven days, until they finished the last of them huddled over a fire in the ruins of an old hillfort.. She looked cizme din denimdown and suddenly, to my intense astonishment, she put down her cup, and, apparently calm and composed, she picked up a breadth of the muslin skirt in both hands and with one rip tore it from top to bottom. Sizobryuhov was evidently brought here, and the fat man brought

cazadora vaquera tommy hilfiger

him, and as I know what the fat man’s special trade is, I conclude . I’ll tell you how to manage, Natasha. To this man, superiority to his brother is a thing which he can never boldly and nakedly assert 36without a secret pain. From the essay, it says (reading) how many other women that look like Kellye Nakahara can you name in any television series, let

diadora focicipő

alone one from the '70s and '80s who's always there and is always shown as smart, competent, compassionate and professional? How many chubby women of color characters can you name that aren't the butt of a joke or portrayed as klutzy or incompetent or oversexed or silly?. Castleman were indicted jointly for the murder of negro Lewis, property of the latter. Those too weak to march must fend for themselves. There were islands in the Worm where lovers kissed, but in the Plaza of Punishment they peeled the skin off men in strips and left them hanging naked for the flies. “We have built a beacon atop the pyramid where once the Harpy stood. Patent and Trademark Office website, which means a car and a computer drive can have the same name because they're different products. The problem was when the local microwave was installed we could not get a signal from Chocowinity.. The side panel is removed by two thumbscrews at зимни обувки adidas 2016the back of

calça kickboxing

the case, and then it swings out for easy removal. “Have they made you a captain, Flowers?” Griff said. The whole point of the thermal compound is to fill the gaps, right? Perhaps this is something a modder could take up and polish this thing to a mirror finish.. Old lady shoes. “I have brought another gift for the queen of my heart,” Xaro announced. In a war that has featured total dominance of the skies by America's intrepid aviators and robotic drones, the loss of two

brassiere garcon

finely tuned fighter jets was a remarkable occurrence.. After securing the car bonnet with the vertical bar, locate the engine's water expansion tank (usually located drivers side). They took the other crown away from me, and now they are stealing this one as well. Look at Poltergeist, a remake of the 1982 ghost story. Code ?17200 (West 1999)), first, because a violation of federal antitrust law is also a violation of section 17200, Podolsky v. I walked away that I might not worry her.. Men who want to add a bit of height have to do so with inserts on the DL, and any non cowboys wandering around with heels visibly higher than normal might get a few judgy looks. And so don’t believe your suspicions, but come to Masloboev and have it out with him like a friend. Some people have deceased parents or estranged siblings, or they're simply adults without baggage or burdening relatives. Since then your activities have made trouble for us. “She kept talking to me about grandfather,” answered Nellie; and when she was ill she kept talking about him, and as soon as she began to get better she used to tell me how she used to live . But that was before Republicans here even dreamed of or had nightmares about __ businessman biciclete pret and reality TV biciclete pretstar Donald Trump possibly winning the state. When I was quite a child, I recollect it grieved me very much to see one tied up to be whipped, and I used to intercede with tears in their behalf, and mingle my cries with theirs, and feel almost willing to take part of the punishment; I have been severely rebuked by my father for this kind of sympathy. As terrible as the thought is, it just makes sense. ‘My marriage need not be the end of all your hopes,’ she said. PC enthusiasts and hardcore gamers are passionate about

pantaloni elisabetta franchi saldi

their hardware. After insisting for months that it was leaning toward replacing the 737 with a new airplane, Boeing decided in 2011 to outfit the 737 with new, more efficient CFM International LEAP 1B engines. There are two things that are everyones business , child molestation and very public Suicides. It is possible to embrace summer while also keeping your business running. Let not the apologists for slavery bring up the isolated cases of leniency, giving instruction, and affectionate attachment, that are found among some masters, as specimens of slavery! It is unfair! They form exceptions, and much do I respect them; but they are not the rules of slavery. AW:Yes, but I also had a lot of good people that helped me out. Store your leather jackets either flat or perhaps on admits afford the real thing fresh off the racks.. "We could start working with 12 year olds today. We decided that next day she should speak to him openly, without any hints or beating about the bush.

0 notes

popculturebuffet · 6 years

Text

Changing the Channel: My History as A Channel Awesome Fan and Why I Unsubscribed

I thank anyone who reads this. As the #changethechannel movement takes the internet by storm and slowly but surely destroys Channel Awesome, I felt I needed to let out some emotions regarding the skeletons tapdancing out of channel awesome’s closet following the revelations in the Google Doc.

A long time ago in a High School Video Media Classroom far away, 8 years ago to be exact, I was a fresh faced young man living the dream of helping produce the school news show Wham TV, a dream I’d had. But as I was just the lowly credits guy, I had a lot of free time on my hands and during one of these down periods I noticed a bunch of the guys watching something on my friends computer. And that is how a young me found the Nostalgia Critic. I was a huge fan, binging every episode I could find at home since the entire series was on YouTube. And if that wasn’t enough, as school ended I soon found out there was an entire SITE full of other people like him, riffing on bad films, comics and just about anything thanks to the crossover film Kickassia. I loved it at the time, and it opened my eyes to all these other people floating around. I watched the crossovers that came out and once I got a computer at home fast enough to actually watch blip without it taking two hours to load, I dove right in.

For the next few years I slowly found my faviorites: Lupa, Linkara, Todd, Spoony, The Nostalgia Chick… I devoured their videos along side Doug’s at rapid pace. And as my first year of Community College went on, I found myself more and more isolated: I was an awkward young man ape, unable to talk to women at all, barely relating to my fellow guys, and finding myself in a very unhealthy online friendship with an asshole that constantly made me feel like crap and insulted me at every turn that I was desperate to impress and was close to my best friend. And in those dark uncertain times.. Channel Awesome was my light in the darkness. A beacon that provided weekly mounds of entertainment to binge at school after class, people like me who were nerdy but had fun making hilarious videos and clearly had a tight knit surrogate family to back them up. I aspired to be one of them, to make my own reviews. I wasn’t great and bottomed out, but I still wanted to be one of the shiny happy people walking by, the nerds who had friends and relationships and were loved by many.

I never made it, a combination of having no camera, little skill, and a huge amount of homework squashed that dream… and in hindsight.. that was a good thing considering just how bad that dream went for the people who did make it. What I never realized is that while Channel Awesome really was a family to some people.. it was also a nightmare of mismanagement, misogyny, and neglect as time went on.

When I saw Suburban Knights I saw a stellar sequel to a movie I loved.. not poor Iron Liz getting starved and being treated like a pack mule, several people being injured, and Doug being Tommy Wiseau levels of dangerously incompetent.

When I saw to Boldly Flee I saw a deep exploration of the fear they all faced in the wake of SOPA and a touching sendoff to the critic. I didn’t know that Doug just outright refused to listen to ANYONE about the script even with it involved characters they made, terribly sexist jokes, horrendous rape scenes, and script bloat, not to mention giant amounts of cast abuse.

When I saw Demo Reel while I gave it a chance, feeling that Doug was finally living his dream I didn’t realize that he was tanking the site and didn’t give one shit what happened to anyone else. And when I heard Allison Pregler, one of my favorite reviewers on the site was being harassed I just naturally assumed that Doug, like just about everyone else, had come to her aid… instead of ignoring said harassment even when it got to the point there were threats on her life. When Fool Fantastic was fired, I assumed he was just some lazy kid, never realizing that instead he was basically forced into video reviewing due to a format change, then went through several months of upheaval dealing with high school graduation and coming out to less than accepting parents.. and then finding himself removed from the site despite having told a staff member about it, and given no sympathy by Rob and Michaud despite having gone through hell. And that, in this inferno of horrible facts coming to light that’s been #changethechannel, what’s gotten me the most. People suffered. People struggled. And I saw none of it. Wether it was due to pressure to keep things under wraps to keep their jobs, as Channel Awesome, or just plain feeling like no one would care due to not having many friends on the site, I was blind. Even when Allison and Phelan came out post firing about their mistreatment, I saw it as just Rob and Mike’s fault. Doug had to be innocent right? He had to be a good person? I can’t have been following a giant sack of dicks for years at this point? But I was so wrong. While Doug wasn’t nearly as bad as these two.. he still didn’t seem to give two shits about anyone outside a select few he’d bonded with. It was all about the Nostalgia Critic to him, it was all about the critic to rob and it was all Michaud said.

The rest of Channel Awesome were just window dressing, minions to be used and discarded whenever they decided they weren’t needed anymore. To be fired for missing ONE video after years of service, to be fired for missing a goddamn Skype call or just for no damn reason. While Doug wasn’t’ nearly as abusive as Michaud he still did jack all to change things at the site or actually talk to anyone. He just let his brother and actual animate sack of dicks CEO do whatever and slowly run the site into the ground. And amazingly despite having the management skills of a flamingo that’s on fire and had it’s brain surgically removed and replaced with a can of tuna with the word “BRAIN” sloppily written on the side that the site still stands today. And it’s amazing that even as quality dipped and it became clearer and clearer just what a waste of space Doug Walker’s work was… I stayed by anyway. Because he was a nice guy and surely it’d turn around. But it didn’t and he sure as shit hasn’t, letting the company twitter send out half assed apologizes and according to one report DEFENDING that heartless mass of diseased rats and spittle. And if he won’t just man up and get his show back, fire this asshole and firmly apologize for EVERYTHING, then why do I need him. After MONTHS of finding out people I liked in movies and such were the worst humanity had to offer... why should I give him ANY sort of chance. And with that I unfollowed channel awesome and spent the next few days beating myself up about watching Doug for so long. I felt terrible, like by supporting the site and him I’d hurt so many people... for ignoring the signs... and so... that’s why I’m here today. Because I felt like I had to get my feelings out and in doing so I realized that while I was a dum dum for giving Doug the benefit of a doubt… I’m not dumb for just HOPING beyond hope someone was a good person. It’s not bad to have faith, but you can’t let it blind you. And you can’t beat yourself up for hoping he’d get better or that things would change… al you can do is walk away, leave Doug to let Rome burn and hope beyond hope that the people still on the site don’t go down with him.

And even with all Michaud has done and the walkers let him do… Channel Awesome WAS still a family. For many of it’s former contributors it was home and they found best friends, spouses and comrades.. .. and if anything all this coming to light has only strengthen those bonds, and shown that no matter WHAT mike did, no matter what he tried to take.. he couldn’t take away their friendship, their audiences or their basic dignity. And he certainly isn’t taking my peace of mind anymore.

#changethechannel #channel awesome #doug walker #rob walker #michael michaud #allison pregler #lindsay ellis #lewis lovhog #that guy with the glasses #phelan porteous #editorials

10 notes · View notes

stellocchia · 3 years

Note

I think what bothers me most about this whole "bee duo isn't responsible for Tommy, they have their own lifes"

Well... Yeah. That's how it works, smartass.

That's why friends are important. We're all individuals who owe it to ourselves to make sure we are ok. That is the one responsibility we truly have. Like. Even when someone is in mortal danger you aren't required to help them if you feel like that would endanger you, too.

We are all individuals living our own lifes.

However. We choose to share our life with other people. We choose to have other people be part of our life and be part of theirs. Those are friends and family but ESPECIALLY friends.

You never owe your friends anything other than not to harm them for no reason.

But you still do more than that because you are friends. What more do you do? Who fucking knows. That's the great thing about friendship. There's no set minimum. There are no duties. Everything you do you do because you WANT to because you LOVE your friend and CARE.

Beeduo aren't bad people for doing their own thing and not getting involved with Tommy's stuff. They're just kind of shitty friends or apparently not even really friends at all anymore from their perspective.

And they disappoint me. Just how Tommy disappoints me right now. Just like Tommy isn't being a good person because he's doing shit mentally bee duo is doing the same. I'm not going to judge them. I understand them. But that doesn't mean I enjoy it or like it.

And it's a shitty situation because it's been well established that bee duo is 99% of his support net (listen I love therapy but therapy should never be the only support you are getting that can't work)

And they also know that Tommy made it clear

And again. They are not obligated to prioritise Tommy over themselves.

But it's still a shitty situation that, once again, when Tommy really needs that support net, that's when it's not there. That when his situation is getting worse that's when Tubbo and ranboo have their own stuff to deal with.

And just. I don't understand why they can't do both. Because they don't need to have an intervention with Tommy, surround him 24/7 and personally bring an end to his situation. They just need to be his friends.

And hey, maybe we are missing some information. God, I really hope we are missing some fucking context because I'd rather have incompetent storytelling than just. What we all fear is going on.

And especially with Ranboo who gave a whole ass speech about how nobody is ever there for Tommy when he actually needs someone. It's fucking frustrating.

And just. They aren't even honest with him? Because Tommy doesn't seem to know that they're no longer very obviously friends. And that's. That's just fucking shitty. Because having someone believe they have a safety net when they don't is fucking dangerous for that person.

And again, I'm assuming some vague things here because we have shit for information on the situation but I'm not going to bottle this shit up till they address it in the next lore stream in like probably a fucking month.

But no, really it just. It feels like they are distancing themselves from him because being his friends right now would be a liability to their whole... Thing...

And quite frankly, if that is the case? Then holy fuck.

Like. That would be shittier on Tubbos part than the whole exile thing, because there he was actually playing defense and specifically pressured and like. Didn't actually know how fucked exile was for Tommy. But here he knows. Tommy has told him about his fears with Wilbur and. Just yknow.

And Ranboo with all his "choosing people not sides". Ranboo who has spoken a lot of big words about Tommy's treatment and very much placed Tommy in the category of "under his protection"

Just.

Seriously. If not talking for a few weeks while Tommy is in a situation they KNOW is bad is what it takes for them to move on then.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Like seriously. We have to be missing something here. Maybe Wilbur has been sabotaging shit behind Tommy's back?? I DONT EVEN KNOW.

All I know is that growing apart is not a fucking justification for whatever the fuck is going on right now

And holy fuck I went off topic.

Anyways. I wasn't just ok with what Tommy did during his Team up with technoblade or during the last stream so I'm not reducing Tubbos and Ranboo to just being Tommy's friends when I'm not ok with what they are doing right now.

Tommy had every right to do what he did back with Technoblade but it still was shitty and bad and he realized that and pulled himself out of it and that better be the case with beeduo right now because I'm sick of Tommy being the only one holding himself to a moral Standart.

^^^

Nothing else to add except that I feel the same way...

#ladycatland ask #dream smp #c!tubbo critical #c!ranboo critical #long post

76 notes · View notes

canaryatlaw · 6 years

Text

Alright, I should get this written so I can actually go to sleep. Today was alright, not the best but not bad. I woke up to my alarm at 10:55 (again, setting up my schedule so I could sleep in multiple days a week was SUCH a good decision) then got ready and made my way down to the DV courthouse for my last shift for the time being, I’m hoping to get back there at some point depending on how the next few months play out. There was an amusing interaction with the sheriffs at the metal detector by the front where one of them was like ‘you work here?” and looking kinda doubtful and the other one was just like “oh yeah, she works here, she’s good” and the first one was like “well if you’re gonna vouch for her she must be good” 😂 it makes life much easier when you can get on the sheriff’s good side, so I try my best to stay there. Got to the clinic, ended up waiting almost an hour for a case, which I spent looking at the secured transactions flashcards I have written up so far. There’s no wifi at the courthouse (grr cook county why) so I just had it pulled up in a tab and was looking at them. I’m definitely going to need to listen to some lectures on the subjects, because there’s only so much I can take in from reading words without an actual explanation of how these things work. But around 1:30 I got pulled in for a case, I was the first one of the volunteers (there were probably like 4 or 5 of us) to get a case, so that made me happy lol I know they give me the more difficult ones because they know I know what I’m doing and they very much appreciate that, lol. It was a fairly typical case, woman filing against the father of her children (they had six kids together) because he wouldn’t stop showing up at her house like every single day, banging on the door and demanding to see her, so obviously that’s not great. He was also like, regularly climbing into her house through a window he had broken, like she’d come home and he’d just be in her house waiting for her, I was a little worried about whether it would be granted or not at first because harassment cases tend to be kind of a toss up, but as we got further into it and there were some physically violent incidents along with threats like “I’m going to do to you what your sister’s husband did to her” because her sister was killed by her husband. so yeah, not great stuff lol. What was really frustrating was when we looked her up in the system, this was like, the 6th year in a row she’s come to file for an order, and each time the case just kinda fell through the cracks, she’d miss a court date and it’d be dismissed, or they couldn’t serve him, just procedural errors that reflect the incompetence of the system. But we got everything printed and filed, then had to wait quite a while because there was a backlog, which then of course meant once we got to the courtroom there were a ton of people ahead of us, because we were one of the last ones to file since we started an hour late. As soon as we walked into the courtroom and I saw the judge I was like 😑😑😑😑😑😑 she’s probably my least favorite judge currently at the courthouse, I know I’ve talked about her on here before because I’ve had past cases go bad in front of her. She’s young, really young, like she looks like she couldn’t be more than 30 but I know if she’s a judge she’s gotta be at least like, 35, all of which I bring up because younger judges often feel insecure in their positions and then end up overcompensating by lashing out at people. This judge was just extremely condescending and rude, treating the victims like idiots and insisting she take control of the entire process, instead of allowing them to speak she has to control the narrative and if it didn’t fall into her already decided model, then well that sucks for you. I started getting a little more worried at this point because I know the way the affidavit was written could be misleading if they didn’t read it properly (and by properly I mean reading the whole damn affidavit, which seems to be too difficult for some judges 😑), and if she wouldn’t let my client explain it could look like the situation was a lot less extreme than it actually was. So we finally get called, one of the last, it’s at least 5 pm at this point. so my client goes up, and the judge starts being super obnoxious and just snaps at her over literally nothing (she was mad the client would say “yes” before she finished her question???? like that’s not something to get bent out of shape over) and ended up passing the case and said she’d recall it in a minute, which was just like ??? really?? was that necessary?? So my client comes back and she’s like truly bewildered as to what had just happened and what she’d done wrong, and she started crying because she was tired and stressed and just wanted to get through this, and I got really mad because she had been doing so well the entire day, it’s a fairly regular occurrence for people to break down while telling us their story, but she had been doing really well, so seeing this happen when we were so close to the end was really fucking frustrating. but one of the female sheriffs I’m friendly with and I were able to get her to calm down a bit until the case got called again, and I was basically like I know she’s crazy but just humor her for now. So she goes up and I’m really having my fingers crossed this doesn’t blow up in our faces. They get through the introductory questions okay, then she looks at the affidavit and starts questioning why it had taken her a week to come in from the last incident, but she at least allowed my client to explain that him showing up has been a daily occurrence for months now, and that he’d regularly come inside her house without permission, and that seemed to be enough to sway the judge, so she granted the order and I really just had a big sigh of relief, that at least it was over and we got a positive outcome, even if I was still hopping mad about how my client was treated. like seriously, you’re in a courthouse that’s specifically dedicated to domestic violence, you’re dealing with victims here, not criminals, and there is absolutely no excuse for losing your temper on someone who has been brave enough to come here and try to protect themselves when that is really a huge feat. There’s just no fucking excuse. I noted it on my court report I filled out afterwards, but I kinda doubt that is ever going to be taken into consideration because sadly judges are largely untouchable, even when they act inappropriately. sigh. at least we won in the end, and hopefully this one will stick, she seemed very determined that she was going to handle this and I believed her. So we went back downstairs and I tried to control myself but basically exploded at my supervisor about the judge, which she fully understood lol so that helped a bit. But I headed out, it was like 5:45 at this point and The Flash came on at 7, so I was in a bit of a rush. But I walk down to the train station and while waiting for the train I ran into a friend from church who happens to be a lawyer as well, both him and his wife are and they work in public interest law, and they’re just super cool people, so I talked to him for a few minutes about how mad I was mostly haha before the trains showed up and we went in different directions. Train to the bus, bus is slow, so by the time I got home it was like 6:52, so I ran inside and turned on the tv, and was just able to heat up some food and sit down to watch the episode. I was of course excited for this episode because it had Leo in it, even if he’s not *my* Snart, he’s still a great character and I adore Wentworth Miller and his acting. There’s also the fact that we were getting Earth-X Black Siren, which I had mixed feelings about, partially because after the crossover I got really mad that they hadn’t written earth-x Laurel as part of the rebellion, and right after Sara had the confrontation with evil Lance they end up at the rebel HQ and both of them are faced with the sister they had lost and like, tell me that’s not an absolutely brilliant plan for a scene. So knowing they didn’t do that ticked me off, though I guess it makes sense that if Tommy and Oliver were evil Laurel might be too, but I thought her sister being murdered by Nazis would be enough to make her part of the rebellion, but oh well. As far as the actual episode goes, I enjoyed it for the most part, Leo was well used, his lines were always very fitting and witty, and I liked how he just completely saw through Barry in like two seconds. I kinda had to laugh at little at them trying soooooo hard to convince us that the entire team was so broken up about losing Ralph when like, nobody in the audience fucking cares about him and most are glad he’s “dead” (I’m pretty certain they’re gonna bring him back). Siren-X’s powers were pretty cool, the superhearing thing was awesome, and she seemed to be very power as far as her canary cry (siren cry?) goes. I really did like the climax moment when both Leo and Barry are down and Leo just cuts through the crap and gets to Barry, getting him to save the day, I liked it a lot. I feel like Siren-X could’ve been used more, though tbh I really didn’t need a Nazi version of Laurel Lance when we already have an evil version of her. Is there an earth out there where Laurel has powers and is a good person? Because that I’d like to see. Anyway. As soon as that was over I switched to Rise since Black Lightning is over now I can watch that live. It was an okay episode, didn’t really do anything for me, kinda felt like more of a filler than anything else. I laughed when there were like “it’s tech week!” and they hadn’t done a full run through of the show yet because on the one hand I’ve legit opened shows without having done a full run through, but on the other the idea of a school musical with that big of a cast to have not done a full run through until tech is fucking nuts. I also kept laughing at how much the principal was concerned about ticket sales, because ticket sales to the school musical are *obviously* such a huge source of income to the school that he should be this concerned about it (most schools would be lucky if they break even on the money put into the show by ticket sales). So yeah, not my favorite episode, but not bad. After that I was out of current shows to watch so I went back to Game of Thrones which I haven’t watched in a while, and ended watching 2x02. Pretty good episode, I continue to love Arya and just how kick ass she is with everyone, and I’m curious to know how this all plays out. I will say I was kinda confused by the last scene, because I admittedly had not been paying all that much attention, but it looked like Jon Snow was getting chased by a crying baby ?? Lol, that was an amusing thought. I had been slightly distracted because I was officially switching over my twitter account, which meant I was soft blocking all the IRL people to move them to my other account so my old one will just be for internet peeps. So I got that done and ended up being down like 120 followers 😂 but since I unfollowed a bunch of people that count had gone down as well so the disparity isn’t that big. I also changed my handle to match my URL here, so if you want to look me up my @ADACanary there. I have my account temporarily on private just so IRL people don’t get confused, but if you request me and you’re not an IRL person and like, don’t look like a super creeper (lol) I’ll approve you. But yeah, after that I basically started getting ready for bed and here we are. I have a 9:30 am PT appointment tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll at least have more time to study than I would’ve if I had slept in till like, noon lol. And yeah, we’ll go from there. I’m way tired now so I’m gonna head to bed. Goodnight my loves. Sweet dreams.

#daily journal #April 2018 #Rachel watches The Flash

1 note · View note

brido · 6 years

Text

Your Opening Week Baseball Guide

Well, March Madness is over. Your bracket probably sucked anyway. So you probably need to get caught up on the first week of baseball. I’m here to help you. And while it’s probably way too early to draw any real conclusions from the first week, I don’t want you wandering around looking as clueless as Gabe Kapler. EARLY SEASON BURN. It’s okay if you don’t get that joke yet. You will. Let’s start...

AL East

Current Playoff Team: Red Sox

Projected Playoff Teams: Yankees, Red Sox

See, what did I tell you last week? Winky smile. After the Red Sox blew a comfortable lead on Opening Day, I’m guessing that every psychotic Boston fan wanted Alex Cora run out of town. Now they’ve rattled off 5 wins in a row and we’re contemplating whether or not the Red Sox might have the best rotation in baseball. I mean, probz not. But a week in they sure do.

You think Giancarlo Stanton is under a microscope in New York? Dude already got booed. It’s all fun and games in New York when you’re crushing two home runs on Opening Day, and it’s a lot harder four games later when you’re 0-for-5 with 5 K’s in football weather in the Bronx. I think he’ll be fine. Maybe Yankees fans should worry more about Dellin Betances.

AL Cy Young: Dylan Bundy, Orioles.

For all the deserved accolades of Boston’s starting pitching, the best in the AL so far as been Bundy, whose WAR leads the league, accompanied with a 1.35 FIP and a 0.69 ERA. That being said, the rest of the conversations surrounding division are a guessing game about where the Blue Jays will be before the trade deadline and whether or not they should trade Josh Donaldson. Right now, FanGraphs has them a game off the second wild card spot and FiveThirtyEight has them at 26% to make the playoffs. That’s a tough call if that happens. It’ll probably be a much easier decision for the Orioles, so we’ll see who gets to slobber all over the chance to land Manny Machado for the postseason.

AL Central

Current Playoff Teams: White Sox, Twins

Projected Playoff Teams: Indians, Twins (FiveThirtyEight only)

If you’re a Twins fan, you’ve got to be loving this early start from Brian Dozier. And Jose Berrios. And Eduardo Escobar. Right now I’m feeling confident in their chances. I’m probably even more excited if I’m a White Sox fan, since projections have them around 68-73 wins and they’re currently on pace to crush that. Yeah, they’re only 5 games in. I don’t want to get too excited. But the Sox have homered in every game. Matt Davidson’s 3 home runs on Opening Day were just a blip on the radar compared to the attention Stanton got. And this is a young team already headed in the right direction. The national sports media is still waiting around for the Indians to get hot before they care about any of this.

AL West

Current Playoff Teams: Astros, Angels

Projected Playoff Teams: Astros, Angels (FanGraphs only)

Did you see all the fancy Astros ring and banner celebrations? It’s looking like that’s gonna happen a lot down in Houston. George Springer led off the season with a home run for the second year in a row. They’re widely considered to have the best staff in the Majors (sorry Boston... and I guess everyone else). They’ve got four guys playing the outfield. And if the Division wasn’t looking so tough, we might be able to project the Astros at a billion wins this year. Speaking of which...

AL MVP: Carlos Correa, Astros.

This Opening Week shit can probably get eye rolls for most things, but Correa wouldn’t be a bad pick to be MVP, anyway. Right now, Correa leads the League in WAR and he’s been the second-best hitter, so I’m giving him the early lead over Mitch Haniger of the Mariners and Didi Gregorius of the Yankees.

AL Rookie of the Year: Shohei Ohtani, Angels.

Remember when this guy fucking sucked in Spring Training? That was kind of fun. Now the Babe Ruth comparisons aren’t actually that insane. Ohtani might be the hardest-throwing starter in baseball. His hitting is starting to resemble the power exhibition he puts on in batting practice. And maybe we don’t need BREAKING NEWS every time this guy gets a hit, but this is one of the only over-hyped stories of the young season that actually has my full attention. Oh yeah, and he’s only 22.

NL East

Current Playoff Teams: Mets, Braves, Nationals

Projected Playoff Teams: Nationals, Mets (FanGraphs only)

I think there might be an East Coast bias when Derek Jeter sitting in the stands in Miami gets more attention than actual games in the Midwest. But a lot of the attention is actually warranted so far. The Mets are going to be interesting this year. They only won 70 games last year, which made me skeptical of picking them for a Wild Card. Right now, they’re projected anywhere from 81-88 wins. Maybe Mickey Callaway is changing the culture there. I don’t know. But after the first week, I’m actually going to say...

NL Cy Young: Matt Harvey, Mets.

He’s back, baby! Or not. Like I said, nobody knows. But I’ll take that 0.00 ERA and 1.56 FIP as a good sign. Plus, it’s not like he has to be ‘the man’ in Queens anymore.

NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Braves.

He’s been the best hitter in the League so far. And he’s probably the best player in baseball that America and your girlfriend have never heard of. The Braves have had the best offense in baseball early on. Freeman is a big reason why. Because he always is.

The Nationals always seem to have fifteen different compelling storylines over the course of a season. There’s the lingering fact that they’ve never advanced in the playoffs. They have the impending free agency of Bryce Harper to talk about over and over and over again. I’m sure Nats fans love that shit. And since Harper always seems to be amazing in April, it’s not going to slow anything of those talks down. How anticlimactic will it be when he re-signs with Washington? Anyway, Adam Eaton has also made a big splash in his return from injury. So there hasn’t even really been much attention on their non-Dusty-Baker manager just yet. It’s just a matter of time to see who they’re gonna lose to in the first round. HUGE BURN to their zero fans that I know of.

You know which new manager is getting scrutiny? Gabe Kapler of the Phillies. It seems like every team has a new manager, but only one pulled their starter when he was dealing on Opening Day and then blew a 5-run lead. And only one called to the pen with nobody warming up. And only one looks like he’s not gonna be done reigning down destruction on Philadelphia until every one of their relievers have Tommy John surgery. That’s probably harsh. But it’s also probably funnier to me because he also looks incompetent anywhere outside of a cross fit box or a gym that only plays butt rock. I’m guessing he figures it out eventually.

Hey, look! Derek Jeter is sitting in the stands with Papi and Posada!

NL Central

Current Playoff Teams: Pirates, Brewers

Projected Playoff Teams: Cubs, Cardinals.

Is it ever too early to start freaking out about the Cubs? I mean, Ian Happ was great in Spring Training. Then he homered on the first pitch of the season and after that, it’s basically been suck city. The Cubs offense is setting all-time records for striking out. They’re 2-3 after playing the Marlins and Reds, who are projected to win a combined ZERO games this year. Maybe we can blame the 17-inning game against the Marlins on Day 2. Maybe it’s way too early to be worried about anything. Maybe I should take solace in the fact that their bullpen has looked dope AF and that was a huge problem last year. They’re fine, right?

As far as the rest of the division goes, you’ve got a fast start from the Pirates, who have only played in frigid weather. The Cardinals picked up Greg Holland, which could be huge for their chances at the Wild Card... or the Division, I guess. The Cardinals and Brewers played in a game that started and ended with back-to-back home runs. And Paul DeJong has probably been the most interesting story for STL. He’d be my second pick for MVP, after Freeman. He also hit .257 last year so whatever.

NL West

Current Playoff Team: Diamondbacks

Projected Playoff Teams: Dodgers, Diamondbacks (FiveThirtyEight only)

If you’re a Dodgers fan, what’s freaking you out more; bad outings and decreased velocity from Clayton Kershaw or bad outings and decreased velocity from Kenley Jansen? Because both things are happening. Kershaw is 0-2 and you can hear the whispers about whether or not he’s past his prime, even though everyone was blowing him in Spring Training. Jansen has an 18.00 ERA. Is this the dreaded World Series hangover that is obviously not happening in Houston? I’m looking at the rest of that staff and thinking they’re probably going to be fine. The moral of this post is that everything is fine. Probably because as a Cubs fan, I’m trying to convince myself that everything is fine.

As far as the rest of the Division goes, Nick Ahmed has had a hot start in Arizona. Joe Panik’s solo home runs in the first two games led to two 1-0 games for the Giants, which was super fucking weird. And Charlie Blackmon actually hit on the road for the Rockies... where he’s staying put. And just for fun...

NL Rookie of the Year: Christian Villanueva, Padres.

Maybe the Phillies should call up Hunter Greene to make anyone give a shit about NL rookies this year. But Villanueva is tied for the NL rookie lead in WAR and he’s mashing for the shitty Padres. The Cubs actually got Villanueva with Kyle Hendricks in the Ryan Dempster trade. But they decided they probably didn’t have room for him in the infield, since he doesn't strike out every time at bat. Oh man. SELF BURN.

So this is a good place to start. Everything will look completely different in a week. But that’s part of the fun. Baseball is fucking awesome.

1 note · View note

qqueenofhades · 7 years

Text

i know you [i walked with you once upon a dream]: five

Post-1x16 canon divergence. When Lucy Preston, a history professor at Stanford University, is visited by a strange man who tells her that her entire world is a lie, she is drawn into a mystery more dangerous than she could have dreamed, and a hunt for a past she can’t remember. But who, or what, is she going to find – or lose – along the way?

chapter four/AO3

Wyatt Logan’s first impression of the place is that it looks like a huge blue aquarium with the water drained out, walls of glass for the crowds to press in and gawk, the trained whales doing tricks for their captors and everyone hoping you don’t spend too long thinking about whether this is, strictly speaking, entirely ethical. He’s been rousted out of bed (well, the couch, with the TV still on and droning SportsCenter) and driven here, while the person on the other end of the phone had that harried sound to their voice that usually means a VIP was shot or a building blown up. They said they needed him, and they said they needed him ASAP. He might be on leave, but he’s still Delta Force. No choice but to pull on his pants, grab a Red Bull, and go.

Now, as Wyatt’s shown into the conference room and shakes hands with a lot of identity-badged government types, surreptitiously checking his breath to make sure it doesn’t smell too much like alcohol and biting his tongue on the questions that he knows won’t get an answer. Yet, at any rate. This has all the hallmarks of a rapid-response mission debrief, and while it might be good to get his head back in the game, Wyatt can’t help but wonder why they picked him. His last review with the Pendleton brass ended with the gentle but pointed recommendation that he could use some time away from the service. They know the thing with Jessica has been hard. (Hah. They know it’s been hard.) So he’s been doing – not a whole hell of a lot. Sports talk shows. Cheap beer. Sitting on the couch. Staring at the wall. Maybe a mission is just what he needs.

The rest of the government types make their entrance, along with Connor Mason, the smarmy British CEO of the company whose premises Homeland Security seems to have swiped. Wyatt’s heard of these guys. They were just in the paper for some big cutting-edge engineering project. He glances at Mason’s assistant or techie or whatever he is, who he vaguely remembers in the haze of hurried introductions as Rufus, Rufus Carlin. Wyatt has a momentarily impulse to wave to him. He clenches his fist until it goes away.

The security shades are lowered, and the briefing starts. As Wyatt guessed, it’s indeed a mission, and moreover, they are quite insistent on it being him who does it. He charitably holds back from the obvious objections this raises, but when they get to the main problem, he can’t. “What? Are you serious? You’re trying to apprehend a terrorist suspect, and your big plan is to send an untrained woman, an unarmed civilian, in with just a GPS tracker by herself? No wonder she got kidnapped! I’m shocked she didn’t get killed!”

“Mr. Logan, given the intelligence available, and the particularity of the situation, we considered the options and decided it was the best available.”

Wyatt whistles. “Wow. I really don’t want to know what the others were then, do I? Chickens on fire? A big sign telling any terrorists to stand with their hands up until the cops got there?”

“We realize that on face value, this was a risk.” The agent looks cool, as if they’re not going to sit here and be questioned by him. “However – ”

“I’m not asking all of you to think like special ops – and for that matter, I would have been raked over the coals and booted out on the spot if I’d suggested that plan to a superior with a straight face. I am not even asking you to be highly trained risk managers. I’m asking whether it ever occurred to you for one fucking second that this was like giving an angry baboon a Tommy gun: that the outcome was both terrible and idiotically avoidable.”

“Mr. Logan, we made a decision – ”

“Stupid,” Wyatt says. “Let’s be clear. You made a stupid decision.”

Rufus Carlin coughs. It sounds as if it might be intended to conceal a laugh. Whatever, Wyatt didn’t come here to be the Jon Stewart of late-night security crises, but he’s really not in the mood for this. It almost sounds like a bad joke, since surely no credible intelligence agency would have made that decision with a straight face. It would only remotely have a chance of working if there was a personal connection of some sort between the suspect and the victim, if they could set it up as a sting. But if this woman knows terrorists on enough of a familiar basis to make her an option to catch one, why haven’t they –

“Do I even get to know who she is?” Wyatt asks. “This woman that you clowns decided to dangle out for bait?”

Glances are exchanged. They seem to be debating it. Then one says, “Her name is Dr. Lucy Preston. She’s a history professor at Stanford.”

Wyatt’s heart inexplicably skips a beat. They click a photo up onto the screen, and yes, it’s her, the brunette he met the other night, being hassled by more of these award-winning geniuses. Or at least, he thinks it might have been them, since all the sunglasses-and-suits types look alike. He did flash them his Army ID card, so that might be backfiring on him now, if they are having their revenge by making him clean up their messes. Damned if he knows how that works, but still. For some reason he wasn’t prepared for and doesn’t understand, this catches him off guard. If it’s Lucy – Dr. Preston – who’s been snatched by this weirdo, Wyatt isn’t quite as disinterested in the whole clusterfuck as he was a moment ago. Hell if he knows why.

“Ah,” he says, doing his best to sound neutral. “And who has her?”

“His name,” says the lead agent, the beefy, bearded one who Wyatt recalls as Neville, Jake Neville, “is Flynn.”

Wyatt, for an even more baffling instant, is convinced he knows exactly who that is. Has an odd memory of sitting in an apartment, talking to a woman, telling her that the man was a Russian spy – only for him to see Flynn (was it Flynn?) outside, jabbing something into a boy’s arm. He thought it was poison, some kind of drug or other malicious substance, but it turned out to be epinephrine. Saved the kid from dying of an allergic reaction to the bee sting, said something to the woman, and jumped off the balcony. Wyatt got a few shots off at him, but he managed to drive away. Car. Black car. Kind of vintage-looking. Why does this memory feel – not quite present? Aside from the fact that it’s not even a memory, seeing as it never happened, and it’s strong enough to make Wyatt rub his eyes and briefly wonder if he fell asleep, had some kind of intense and localized dream. What the hell.

“And,” he says after a moment, realizing they’re looking at him, “you want me to go after him. Again. By myself. Because either you don’t have enough of a budget to pay for more than one operative on your exfil missions, or there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Would you say you’re familiar with Mr. Flynn? Or Dr. Preston?”

Wyatt opens his mouth to say no, of course he isn’t, but something stops him. It’s at the least unfair to Lucy (Dr. Preston, he reminds himself again, he doesn’t know the woman) to let her suffer for the total incompetence of the feds, and he’d kind of like to have a clear shot at this jackoff himself, even if he doesn’t know why. And while they’d again be sending only one person to deal with a clearly dangerous man, a trained Delta Force operative is not the same as an unarmed academic when it comes to such things. Wyatt can’t believe he’s considering it, when thirty minutes ago this sounded like the worst idea he’d ever heard, but. . .

“So what?” he says abruptly. “I get on the plane to Paris, you drop me in, I find these two, I rescue her – what are my orders in regard to him?”

More glances. Then Agent Neville says, “Frankly, Mr. Logan, we would normally issue kill-on-sight instructions for this man. What he has done, and what he will do – there’s no room for any wishy-washy hand-wringing about it. He deserves to die. But as it happens, we need him alive.”

“Questioning?” That one’s pretty obvious. “You really think you’re gonna make him talk?”

Neville smiles, a bit unpleasantly. “Oh, I think we could, if we put our minds to it.”

Wyatt looks away. He has captured suspects before with the implicit knowledge that they’ll be submitted to “extraordinary rendition” or “enhanced interrogation” or whatever Orwellian gobbledygook they’re calling it these days, and he also knows that as a soldier, you don’t enlist because you think you’ll always have the luxury of accepting missions that you are personally morally comfortable with. Flynn is clearly dangerous, he’s on the run in Paris with Lucy (Wyatt gives up trying to call her Dr. Preston in his head) and frankly, right now, if the brass says jump, Wyatt has to ask how high. He can tell this is a test. They’re sending him, and only him, because if he fails, they’ll have all the excuse they need to chuck him out permanently. Dishonorable discharge, no pension. Good luck getting a civilian job after over fifteen years in the service, training for classified missions and serving in conflict zones. And something more. Something else. Whatever is happening when he had those bizarre flashes of non-memory, and his conviction that he knows these people – knows both of them – better than he understands.

Wyatt takes a moment to consider all this. He’s not in a huge rush to accept, but he also can tell that it’s going to get finicky for him, fast, if he refuses. What exactly does he have to go back to? A sagging sofa crumbled with corn chips and more bad dreams about Jessica? At least this way he’s doing something. At least this way he doesn’t feel completely and irredeemably useless.

They look at him. They seem to be waiting on his answer.

Wyatt blows out a breath. There are still any number of sardonic comments to be made about him saving their asses from their own breathtaking stupidity, but he also senses that they aren’t going to help him very much. Lucy is probably tied up in some squalid basement with a lunatic. He gets her safe. Then he worries about Flynn.

“Fine,” he says. Shrugs. “Bonjour, Paris.”

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

Lucy is, in fact, sitting on a narrow bed in a garret that looks like a poet or three definitely died of consumption here in the nineteenth century, waiting for Flynn to get back with dinner – she ordered him that if he was going to haul her off, he was at least going to feed her. He gave her a black look, but complied, and has been gone for the last thirty minutes in search of takeout. She wonders if he’s been captured; they have to have put out an alert for him across the city. She isn’t sure if she wants that to have happened or not.

She wanders to the grimy window, judging the possibility of opening it and escaping across the rooftops, but it’s three stories down to the alley below, she doesn’t want to take chances climbing out as she is known to not be the most graceful or coordinated person in the world, and she isn’t sure where she’d go even if she did. Besides, she hasn’t endured this much hassle, most of it caused by him, to just turn and leave when potential answers might finally be in her grasp. It’s possible he is in fact going to hurt her, but for better or worse, she doesn’t get that sense. Hurt everyone else, yes, and gladly. Not her. This doesn’t make him a good man, or a safe one. But at the moment, he is the best, and possibly the only, choice she has.

Just to be sure, she checks the door. It is assuredly still locked. She isn’t planning on hanging around if he turns rabid, but she’ll have to think of a good plan later. Instead she stands by the window, affecting casualness, as the city gets dark outside and the lights come on. It’d be beautiful, if she wasn’t, you know. Where she was.

At last, the key finally rattles, the door bumps and creaks open with a shower of dust, and Flynn ducks through, slamming it behind him. When he’s ensured it’s locked, he throws a bag at her, which Lucy just manages to catch. “There,” he says, sounding put-upon. “Dinner.”

“Can’t just kidnap a woman in peace, can you?” Lucy says coldly. It smells delicious, but she doesn’t want to tear into it too quickly, even though she’s starving. “This is such an inconvenience for you, isn’t it?”

He actually looks surprised, and for a moment, slightly ashamed. Then he shrugs. “You aren’t a prisoner, Lucy. As I told you ninety years ago in this same city. You’re welcome to leave if you want. But I don’t think you will.”

“Ninety years ago – ?”

He shrugs again, jimmying the ancient light switch until it pops on. “1927. We were here. You talked me into letting Charles Lindbergh live, see if he could change. He still ended up being a dick. So in case you were wondering, you were wrong about that.”

Lucy stares at him. Any possible response to this statement – well, there really isn’t any possible response to that statement. “Yeah,” she says at last. “I spent a lot of time wondering if I talked you out of murdering Charles Lindbergh in 1927.”

Flynn sits down on the creaky chair across from her. He’s so tall that they’re still almost eye to eye, and she folds her arms involuntarily, wanting some air of authority, however feigned. “You really didn’t read the file?”

“Was I supposed to have time while you were stealing a scooter, breaking into a bakery, and shooting at government agents?” Lucy finally sits as well, back on the bed, opening the bag and pulling out whatever savory-smelling item is inside. “Or didn’t that come until later?”

Flynn has the grace to look slightly chagrined, though that isn’t very much. “Have you figured it out?” he says instead. “Smart woman like you?”

“Maybe.” Lucy looks at him stonily. “You not only think we know each other, you think we’re some sort of – I don’t know what. A bit like. . . time travelers.”

“Actually,” Flynn says, with the air of someone commenting on the weather. “Exactly like time travelers.”

Lucy blinks. “And you just – what? Tell people that?”

“You’re the one interested in preserving your precious past, Lucy. Not me.”

“It’s not my precious past!” Good god, this man is the most confounding and frustrating person she has ever met, which she is swiftly remembering (and regretting) after her decision to try to get information out of him. “It’s just. . . history!”

“History,” Flynn says, “can be changed.”

“How?”

He eyes her, as if wondering how much trouble he is actually going to go to in order to explain this. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few folded sheets of paper – which, when Lucy opens it, proves to be a photocopy of some kind of handwritten book. Some kind of handwritten book that looks like. . . her handwriting.

“The journal itself doesn’t exist any more,” Flynn says, by way of apparent (non)-explanation. “You never had any reason to write it. But I copied some of it before I went, and. . . that’s the basic gist of it. Are you going to tell me that none of it is at all familiar?”

Lucy stares at it. She can’t deny that it does look like her handwriting, and he is watching her impatiently, as if they’ve done this already once before and he wants to just skip to the part where she believes him. Names leap out at her from the page. Mason Industries. Mothership. Lifeboat. Garcia Flynn. Wyatt Logan. Rufus Carlin.

Rittenhouse.

“So,” she says at last, when she’s reasonably confident her voice will be level. “That’s your big story. That Mason Industries invented a time machine – two time machines, actually. You stole one of them – why doesn’t that part surprise me? – and Wyatt Logan, Rufus Carlin, and I used the other one to try to stop you from taking down all of history.”

“Not history,” Flynn says flatly. “Rittenhouse.”

“Right. Creepy secret society. Your mortal enemy.” Lucy looks at him with that same flatness. “I’ll admit,” she says at last, “that if you were going to make up that story, you’d probably put a more favourable spin on it for yourself. But you have to know this sounds utterly deranged.”

“I’m not interested in arguing about whether it’s true, Lucy. It is. You know the part in the stories when magic starts happening, where the token rational character insists that there’s some normal explanation for what’s going on, that there’s nothing out of the ordinary? That everyone else is just making things up? You know how that character is always wrong?” His eyes are dark as two pits, depthless. “How about we just agree that you skip that part?”

“But – ”

“Let me guess,” Flynn says. “You’ve been having strange memories about Houston,1969. About thinking you were there, that you had something to do with the moon landing, even as that scholar’s brain of yours tells you that you hadn’t. And either 1754 or 1934. Maybe, at a stretch, 1972 or 1893.”

Lucy stares at him again. “How did you – ”

“Because that’s where it’s started to split.” He considers her, weighing his words. “In the middle. I destroyed the Mothership, as you said I could. It turns out that this was a bad idea on both our parts. It reset it to the timeline where none of this had technically happened, but it built in so much paradox that it’s starting to happen anyway. The changes we made are bursting back into existence randomly, like cluster bombs. We can’t be sure when or where they’ll hit – or who. And if you care about your sister, you’re going to help me find a way to stop it.”

Lucy’s spine stiffens. “If you’re threatening Amy – ”

“I’m not threatening her!” Flynn looks completely exasperated. “I’m warning you that in the new existence, the one that came about as the result of our meddling, she was gone! She was never born, and my wife and daughter were dead! You already said that Lorena vanished. It could be that she’s already just. . . gone, and there’s no getting her back.” A muscle works in his cheek. He does look genuinely frantic. “If the timeline remembered that she was supposed to be dead – don’t you see? Your sister could be the next to go! Just like that.”

Lucy is thoroughly rattled. She likewise should have a logical answer for this, but she doesn’t. “But my. . .” she says at last, faintly. “My sister exists. She’s a person, she’s real, she’s here. How can she just. . . not?”

“I don’t know.” Flynn stares at the ceiling, bleak and drained. “But it happened before. She was gone. And the only thing you wanted was to get her back, the same way I wanted nothing more than to save my wife and child. If you wait until she’s gone again this time, it’ll be too late.”

Lucy has absolutely nothing to say to that. So this is what he wants: for them to join forces to stop their respective loved ones from vanishing in a puff of unsustainable spatial-temporal paradox, thanks to changes to history that they themselves made with the aid of a time machine. Cracked, of course, does not begin to cover it. And it would be difficult enough if they were ordinary people. Wanted fugitives from God knows how many federal agencies, with the added complication of whoever he thinks these Rittenhouse people are. . . Lucy can’t think of any feasible way to pull it off. As well, she’s a historian, not a quantum physicist. She can advise on the general facts of the past, but for putting up the hood and tinkering with the engine. . . yeah, she’s lost on that. There’s still no scrap of proof for his story, either, and she represses the academic’s urge to ask for it, for a citation, for empirical, verifiable evidence. She’s scrawled it on her students’ papers all the time. Show me where the text supports this argument.

They remain staring at each other for an excruciating moment longer. She again has to concede that she doesn’t know why he would make this up. It does look like her handwriting in the photocopy, and everything he’s known about the unreality of her reality. . . that nagging feeling that something is out of place, that things are out of order and memories can’t be counted on. It does exactly match the version she got from Lorena, about what Flynn told her, so if he is a delusional liar, at least he’s a consistent one. Agent Christopher did use the word “unprecedented” when talking about whatever he wants to do.

What the hell.

Lucy remains irresolute a split second more. Then at last, she looks at him straight. “Fine,” she says quietly. “What do we do?”

Given Flynn’s apparent predilection for kidnapping and grand theft larceny, she shouldn’t be too surprised that the answer involves this, and it also doesn’t, to her ears, sound like much of a plan. He says that one of the rules of time travel (cool, Lucy thinks, good to know there are rules) is that you can’t travel on your own timeline, go back to anywhere you’ve already been, so you have to be indirect about changing things. Can’t just pop back five minutes before and get a do-over on that bad day or anything else. He’s confident, however, that a scientist of sufficient genius, if given a sufficient incentive, could create a one-time loophole to circumvent this. All he needs to do is reverse the decision to destroy the Mothership, so reality is allowed to proceed more or less as it was, with the possibility for the changes to exist harmoniously with the new timeline. That way, they still have their loved ones, but they don’t put so much stress on the space-time continuum that it threatens to snap at any moment and erase them. Everyone wins.

“Really?” Lucy repeats skeptically. “Which scientist?”

“Rufus.” Flynn looks at her as if it’s surprising she needs to ask.

“And what? How do we get him?”

“I grab him, of course!”

“What? No!” Lucy glares at him. “I did not agree to help you hurt people!”

“I wouldn’t hurt him. Just borrow him until he figures it out.”

“Your kind of borrowing is known as kidnapping!” Lucy puts her hands on her hips. “After you caused enough of a mess fiddling around with reality and the Mothership and putting strain on the timeline, as well as kidnapping people, your solution is to – put more strain on the timeline and kidnap more people? No!”

“You agreed to help me, Lucy.” His voice is low, almost a growl. “Help me.”

“Not like this.” Lucy regards him defiantly. “Think of a better plan.”

Flynn is inordinately frustrated by this principled stance, wheeling away with a curse. “It’s going to be dangerous enough if we bring the Mothership back. Or – ”

“Or what?” Lucy flashes back. “You’ll steal it again?”

Flynn looks as if he is very much regretting buying her dinner earlier. Good. She hopes he’s regretting a whole lot. “I am,” he says after a moment, clearly doing his best to keep his voice level, “trying to think of something that will do what we need to, as efficiently as possible. There’s still the Lifeboat, even if it doesn’t currently work. Get Rufus to create enough of a loophole for us to use it to reverse the decision to destroy the Mothership. This time we’ll just blow its controls and CPU, so it’s useless, rather than eradicate it entirely. Nobody even has to die this time. I thought you’d be pleased.”

“Nobody has to die this time?” Lucy repeats. “As opposed to what, all the other times?”

Flynn waves a hand impatiently. “Nobody anyone would miss.”

“I’m not sure you get to make that call.”

“What, and you do?” He paces to the window, peers out, and pulls his gun from his jacket, checking that it’s loaded, which is not the most comforting action for a still-probably-crazy man holding you technically captive to undertake. Even if Lucy doesn’t think he’ll use it on her, that doesn’t rule it out on anyone who might try to interrupt. Someone has to be looking for her. You’d hope so, at least. That after all the fuss and furor and the fact that Flynn snatched her when she was supposed to be the reason they snatched him, there has to be some beating of feet involved to get her back. The question, though, is whether she’s going to let them.

Lucy can’t believe she’s actually, genuinely thinking about helping Flynn, but it’s clear enough that something is going on, Lorena did vanish, and she’d rather not take chances. She thinks wryly that it might be far easier for her to suggest non-murdery alternatives if she knew for a fact that this was actually real and not just his extensive fantasy, but still.

“Tell me,” he says after a moment. “Aren’t you a little bit curious?”

“About what?”

“The past.” His teeth flash in a sardonic grin. “Being there. Seeing it.”

“By the sounds of things, I didn’t have much time to sightsee,” Lucy says coolly. “Not if you were acting like this.”

Flynn absorbs that with an obnoxiously unruffled shrug. It’s true that they seem to have fallen into a kind of familiarity, almost without meaning to, if she’s prodding him about things they’ve done which she can’t, strictly speaking, remember. She returns to the bed and finishes her dinner, which has been somewhat interrupted by all this revelation, and has a moment to wonder if they’re planning to stay here tonight. Flynn isn’t the sort of person who’s going to stay long in one place, with a mission in mind and a manhunt on his tail, and they’ll probably try to sneak out once he’s sure it’s full dark and they’re not being observed. Lucy should likely try to get a few winks while she can, as she hasn’t slept since the plane ride to Dubrovnik and she’s starting to see double with exhaustion. She crawls onto the bed, curling up on her side. World in danger of ending or not, she needs a damn nap.

As she closes her eyes, she catches the quickest glimpse of a strange expression on Flynn’s face, as if it’s caught him off guard that she trusts him at least enough to fall asleep in his presence, to think that he won’t hurt her or otherwise let her come to harm. If she’s wrong, she’s wrong, but so be it. Later.

Lucy must indeed sleep, because she’s jerked out of a strange dream some interminable time later. It’s very dark. Flynn is sitting on the floor next to the bed, which can’t be very comfortable, drowsing with a hand inside his jacket – or at least he was. Whatever has roused her has caught his attention as well, and he gets stealthily to his feet, pulling his gun. Crosses the floorboards without a creak, waiting by the door, as there is another faint thump on the stairs outside. A click, and a clunk. The handle moves quietly. Someone’s trying to get in.

Lucy goes tense, drawing her legs up and tempted to dive behind the bed in case gunfire breaks out, as the latch works and saws back and forth. Flynn remains tense as a diver on the edge of the high board, waiting, waiting. Then the lock gives, the door opens, and he pounces like a jaguar.

There’s a muffled yell, a crash, the sound of something – it doesn’t take an expert to guess that it’s a gun – flying out of someone’s hand, and the further sound of a silent and furious struggle, grunting and huffing and swearing, as Flynn tackles someone on the landing outside. There is the distinct noise of fists hitting flesh, struggling bodies, a thump, a bang, and general semi-silent pandemonium as they roll inside the room, still whaling on each other. Then Lucy jumps up, dives for the light switch, and lays hold of it just in time to discover Flynn busily engaging in beating the daylights out of someone. Someone who is, impossibly, familiar.

The name bursts to her lips before she can stop it.

“Wyatt?”

He twists his head sharply to stare at her, which isn’t a good idea, as Flynn promptly punches it while he’s distracted. He flails back, landing a glancing blow, as Lucy pulls Flynn off and there are several further moments of general confusion until the chaos subsides. Wyatt sits up spitting blood and swearing, seems inclined to reach for his gun, and in the interests of preventing a full-blown firefight from breaking out, Lucy jumps in the middle. “What are you – ” Yes, he was the one who rescued her from the goons the other night, but he’s also supposed to be the one – of two, at any rate – who was her time-traveling teammate. “What are you doing here?”

“Rescuing you.” Wyatt wipes his mouth and grimaces. “Though this wasn’t what I was expecting.”

“Yes,” Flynn growls. “I know what you were expecting.”

“You.” Wyatt regards him coldly. “They definitely got the dick part right.”

“Lucy’s fine. You can toddle along. Typical. Always interfering even when you can’t remember.” Flynn is no slacker in the baleful-stare department himself. “Or is it that you – ”

Wyatt completely ignores him. “You all right, ma’ – Lucy?”

She considers for a long moment. She’s not about to stay blindly beholden to Flynn on his insane crusade, but she isn’t going to abandon him flat-out either, and if the story’s true, Wyatt was her ally – her friend. Whatever both of them are supposed to remember, he doesn’t, and before any decisions are made in haste, he should at least be aware of what’s at stake.

She pauses, then reaches for the photocopied pages, ignoring Flynn’s hiss of disapproval. If these belong to some mythical journal she was supposed to have written once upon a time, she gets to decide who sees them, and this feels instinctively right in a way she can’t define or explain, to do this. With that, as Wyatt is still looking utterly baffled, she holds them out to him.

“Here,” she says quietly. “I think there’s something you should know.”

#timeless ff #lucy x flynn #garcy #garcy ff #once upon a dream

10 notes · View notes