#Jack was her uncle

[laur-rants]

A Starry-Eyed boy, who now lives amongst the stars...

First Pet Commission done: Jack, aka Starswift Unfinished Business.

This boy was a very special dog, and it was a very special privilege to get to draw him. An inspiring story, he was diagnosed with a liver shunt around a month old, and given a low prognosis for continued existence. But with a special diet and a lot of determination, that tiny puppy grew and grew and beat the odds multiple times, eventually becoming 90 lbs of lovely, happy, sweet puppy. An absolute joy to everyone who knew him, he had an instagram account and many followers rooting for his success. He was a fighter and even his registered name reflected this: Unfinished Business, because he was too young to go just yet. So full of life and vibrancy, he had one crucial message to give to the world: no matter how disabled you are, no matter your lot in life, never give up and live every day to its fullest. Jack unfortunately passed away in October, just a few months shy of two years old. He fought until the end, but his owners knew it was better to see him off, than to let him suffer. I'll spare the sad details here, but it was a hard blow on everyone who knew him. It's up to us to carry on his unfinished business, and to make the world a kinder, happier, and perhaps even a little bit of a bouncier place, than when we entered it. @starswift-borzoi

[faeriekit]

The Foster Mother

Now on ao3 and VHS release

There was, supposedly, someone waiting for him in the green sitting room.

“…Why?” Tim asked. Most of the usual suspects had already come by to give their “condolences”—former Drakes Industries investors, curious about the newly orphaned heir; fellow socialites, once again flocking in to give and receive sympathies for their “close friends, the Drakes”; gawkers come to see what they could scavenge off of a dead family’s home, never mind that their child was alive.

“She claims to know you, Master Tim,” Alfred offered, kettle in his hand. He spent a moment deciding between different two canisters of tea; a sign of possibly difficult future conversation. “Her interest in your father's estate seemed quite…minimal.”

…Alright.

Tim was still in his formalwear. Dissolving Drake Industries would take at least another year, and plenty of future hours cementing the future home of certain resources in their dissolution, but the outfit probably was more appropriate for whatever oncoming conversation that was about to ensue than his planned change into Dick’s old hoodie and board shorts.

Okay. Tim steeled himself. The self-determination…mostly worked. Whatever. He trudged up into the green sitting room from the kitchen with his usual introduction ready on his tongue.

And then Tim walked into the room.

And then Jazzy was there.

*

Tim had been three, and Miss Jasmine had been his had been his third nanny. He’d outgrown the wetnurse early on, and his second nanny had been dismissed, so although Miss Jasmine was the third nanny, she was first nanny Tim could consciously remember.

She’d had red hair. She’d been very gentle with him.

She got him up in the morning and put him to bed at night; for the first time, there had been someone who sat with him until he was asleep, reading all sorts of books his parents had left to engage him with as an early genius. Then, when those were over and done as promised to his parents, they got unauthorized books from the library: silly books with made-up words, dinosaur books, books about teddy bears and adventures around the world.

Tim hadn’t been allowed to travel the world. Tim hadn’t been allowed a teddy bear. His parents had thought it would encourage undue attachment.

(It had been the same reason he’d never been given a pacifier.)

Miss Jazz had given him a knitted bunny. She’d said her dad had made it especially for him.

The toy’s name was Bunny and Tim remembered him being very soft.

She didn’t smile all the time, but smiles were rewards that were easy to earn. He finished his meal and she smiled. He finished an educational puzzle and she smiled. He was quiet all through her phone call and she smiled, and answered all his questions once she was done.

Jazzy had been the first person in his life who was there all the time. She’d kissed his forehead after the bath and kissed his scraped knees; she’d carried him in his arms when he was tired and sometimes even when he wasn’t. His parents had wanted him to be independent, proactive, and not clingy, but Jazzy had been someone who he could run to from his bed when he’d had nightmares and someone he could cuddle on her lap with when he’d cried.

She was gone when he was seven. He didn’t remember why. His parents had probably never told him, but still; he'd assumed he'd have found out why eventually.

Jazzy looked the same right now as she looked in Tim’s memories, although she was likely no longer a college student at a nannying gig. Her red hair was pulled into a high bun, her dress modest and conservative from her neck to her ankles. There was a backpack beside her foot. She was sitting, one leg crossed over the other, on the high-backed loveseat in the green sitting room.

She looked up when he came in.

Tim. Stopped in his tracks.

It didn’t matter. Jazzy—Miss Jasmine stood up as soon as she saw him, eyes alight with worry. Foggy memories were swimming to the forefront of Tim’s brain. He couldn’t move.

“Tim?” Ja—Miss Jasmine asked, teal eyes raking over his frame. Tim froze where he was. He didn’t move, wide-eyed and terrified for no reason at all when Miss Jasmine got closer to him, at a distance that was more appropriate for a conversation.

She stood there. Watching him. It felt like his mother had just come home from her trips with Dad, and a ghost of old terror wafted through him as he waited for her to decide he’d done something wrong. Her voice got softer. Her eyes got softer. Why was Tim feeling so wrong-footed?? It was only a former staff person!

“Tim?” her voice was so gentle. “I don’t know if you remember me. I’m—“

“M’s Jazz,” Tim croaked. Which. Wasn’t the level of formality he’d been going for, but better than Jazzy. He wasn’t a toddler anymore.

Miss Jasmine was so tall—honestly, was she taller than Bruce? She’d seemed insurmountable as a child; he hadn’t expected her height to truly be so statuesque as an adult.

(Or. Well. Almost an adult.)

She didn’t quite kneel down, but she did stoop lower, as if Tim was small and he needed to be on equal footing in order to have a serious conversation.

He could see all her freckles. Tim swallowed. It was too familiar. Everything about her was too familiar.

“You’re so big now,” Jazzy whispered, looking at his hair, his suit, his polished shoes. He didn’t feel it. “Oh, you’ve grown up so well.”

Thanks, Tim almost said. Something stopped him—something thick in his throat, to impassable to break through.

“I—“ he tried. He coughed. “Why…you… You’re here?”

Jazzy threw him an incredulous look, and then an incredibly wry one. “Well,” she drawled a little too primly, in the way that Alfred occasionally made obvious statements, “I’d think it obvious that when one’s parents have passed away, that those who care about you might come to check and see if you’re alright.”

Which. That didn’t make sense. Jazzy hadn’t come back for any other reason; she hadn’t come back for his mother’s funeral, nor when his father was injured publicly by a villain. Why start now?

“And,” Jazz added, seeing his visual confusion and distrust, “Your parents can’t exactly threaten me with a kidnapping charge for visiting you when they’re dead.” Pause. “Which I am sorry about. My condolences.”

Which. Whiplash. What a statement.

“Uh,” said Tim, who was rapidly losing control over the situation.

Jazzy stood again, and went back to her seat; she didn’t set herself down, though, as she only stooped to grab her backpack. “I am sorry for being unable to visit, although I really wanted to; you were at a very vulnerable age and had already moved into a class a year above you, and your parents should have been less hasty about replacing your main caretaker. The assassination attempts were unwarranted, but they did drive the point home that attempting contact was perhaps discouraged.”

“What,” said Tim. “Assassin what.”

“They were ninjas,” Jazzy offered, as if that was an answer. “Except the last one, which was a former marine. The point is that I do care about you, and wanted to ask if you had any idea where you’re going now that your parents are no longer…available guardians.”

Tim’s mouth opened. It closed.

Jazzy waited patiently.

“…How have you been?” Tim tried, resorting to a part of the script they hadn’t gone through yet.

Jazzy’s laugh was tired, but no less real. It was nothing like listening to his parents titter politely; he didn’t think Jazzy would even know how to fake a laugh. “Well, my brother told me that my former bosses had died, which was somewhat stressful. Otherwise, I’m pretty happy: I live with my brother and worked with him for the last few years. I was going to pursue medicine, but…well. The assassination attempts made it hard to interview for scholarships. I suppose that I could return to that now,” Jazzy mused, attention now elsewhere. She pulled the backpack off the floor and up into her grip. She opened it, and flipped through its contents. “How are you doing? I know that Wayne Manor fosters, but your parents were always rather…hands off. I thought the difference in levels of attention might be overwhelming.”

It was. Tim should be surprised how clearly she sees through him—

—But Jazzy used to watch him stim for almost a full hour after school, twisting Bunny’s arms back and forth until he could calm down. Seeing other people all day had been too much for him. Coming home from his parents’ parties had been similarly stressful.

She’d never been mad at him for it. She held him while he talked and stimmed and talked and talked and talked, and brushed his hair sometimes, or if it was very late and he was very young, helped him brush his teeth through all the medieval execution facts he could name.

“It is a lot to get used to,” Tim agreed quietly. He didn’t want to be ungrateful. He didn’t want to let on anyone about his plan to leave.

He had an out. The papers had already been filed; there was an actor waiting to play his uncle for a custody battle, ready for the fight.

Tim was ready to up and go. It was no hardship to leave all the good things here; anything beat making Bruce stick his fingers into Tim any deeper than they already were, compromising the dynamic they’d already established.

It was for the best.

“I can imagine,” Jazzy sympathized easily. “And I wanted to offer—well. I know there’s probably a lot of choices available to you, but my brother and I recently moved back to Gotham proper for the time being. He’s teaching astronomy courses at the university and I’m filing paperwork for Arkham patients. It’s not so privileged a home, but it’s quieter, and more central in town.”

…Tim’s heart skipped.

He. He couldn’t stop staring. Jazzy stared back at him, quiet and sure. Sure of what, Tim had no idea, but…

Why? Why would she want Tim? There was no way she would be able to get to his trust fund without his help, and he for sure knew better than to enable her ability to leech from him. The last time she’d known him, Tim had been a snot-nosed kid who cried all the time and couldn’t be normal for twenty consecutive minutes. His parents couldn’t even stand to be on the same hemisphere as him as a child. What appeal did this have for her?? What could having a teenager with severe baggage living in her house do for her?

And it’s not like there was any chance she knew he was Robin!

“Oh,” Jazzy suddenly interrupted. “I brought these for you, by the way. Your parents had tossed them out at various points; I’ve washed them since, of course.”

She handed him the backpack by the handle.

…Tim peeked inside.

On top was Bunny, still a washed-out faded sort of pink. He looked as fresh as he had the day when Tim’s parents had ”cleaned out” Tim’s nursery—in other words, a faded, a little gray, and slightly discolored from an old spaghetti stain. His button eyes were big and blue.

And beneath him were books that hadn’t passed his father’s muster as appropriately masculine reading material: The Velveteen Rabbit, with the cover a little scarred from a fierce attack of wet wipes. There’s A Monster at the End of This Book, with a goofy-looking Muppet on the cover, gold spine beat up beyond belief. Art Tim’s teacher at the time must have laminated and sent home; Tim’s dorky, crayon cat proved he would never make it as an artist, but attached to it was a photograph of a grinning boy with a bowl cut and a missing tooth.

Tim stared. There’d been purple marker on his hands and face. His grin looked…really bad, actually, like as if he was baring his teeth because he didn’t know how to smile. There was no formal grace there. Nothing to show the neighbors, nothing worth framing to put into the line of sight of the investors in the office.

Jazzy had kept it and brought it home with her. Jazzy had fished it out of the trash, and brought it with her to give back to him in Gotham.

It was crinkled like it’d been folded, over and over again. Further down in the bag was a crumpled certificate dedicated to “Timmy Drake, for: knowing a lot about octopi”, and a baby blanket Tim didn’t even remember. It had rocket ships on it. It looked as if someone had cut into it with scissors, although it had been obviously and brightly mended with red embroidery floss later on.

Jazzy had only been his nanny until Tim was seven. She had simply been gone one night, and Mom and Dad had been home for ten nights after without help before giving in and hiring Mrs. McIlvane and Mrs. Edith. Ms. Edith had never been so…permissive…with Tim as Jazzy had been.

Tim swallowed. He carefully put everything back into the backpack, unsure if he even wanted to keep it or not. It wasn’t like he could leave it here; he’d be gone, ideally, before the week was out. There was no point in taking it with him if he only planned to live with a stranger until he was eighteen.

“J…” Tim tried. He cut himself off before he could get too informal without prompting. “Miss Jasmine—“

“Just Jazz,” Jazzy corrected politely.

“—Why are you here?” Tim asked, ignoring how she’d technically already answered. He didn’t believe her. “What made my parents fire you?”

Jazzy’s expression turned…soft. Tim couldn’t look at her. Something horrible was welling with it, and he didn’t know how to cope.

“I’m here because I care about you,” Jazz repeated, and knelt beside him. She looked up into his face, and took his hand. Tim didn’t know why. He was practically an adult—he didn’t need this!

“And I was fired because your Mother overheard you calling me ‘Mommy�� on accident when you were tired. I suppose she was insulted, although I’d never know why; it’s not like she was ever home to bond with you in the first place.”

Tim’s throat closed. He missed his mom. He missed waiting up for his parents’ flight home, seeing their headlights outside the window, and knowing they’d bring home gifts from overseas. He missed using Mom’s perfume, and knowing he’d used more of the bottle sitting on her dressed than she ever had, but that it still smelled like her. He missed hearing his Dad telling all sorts of adventure stories and promises through the phone to be home for the holidays, even if Tim knew there was every chance he’d find some other way to spend the time back in Gotham.

And there was some small child in him who missed Jazzy, who hugged him and walked him to the library and made him soup from a can instead of fancy dinners and, who’d never needed to be waited for in the first place.

Tim looked at Jazzy’s round, freckled face.

He swallowed.

Tim moved out before the end of the week, as expected.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 251

Danny is tired and annoyed. On one hand, his parents took the whole ‘so I might be slightly dead’ pretty well! Which is good! On the other, they decided to send him and his sisters to their uncle while they take care of the Guys in White and refurbish the house to be, well, him safe. Which meant a ridiculously long flight all the way to New Jersey. 

A flight he was pretty sure happened to be illegal what with the fact that neither of them were asked for their IDs or anything despite having them with them. Hm. Y’know he’s not going to question it, he’s getting a nap the moment they get to Uncle Harvey’s. 

[pinkysberg]

i lie awake at night thinking about the marston daughter.

[doctorwhommm]

would you 🥺 please draw anwen (gwens daughter) as a teenager 🥺🥺 i love her to bits

*boomer voice* is this what kids look like these days?

her and her little brother hunt aliens and solve mysteries bc they look up to their mum and were raised on stories of uncle jack, uncle owen, uncle ianto and aunty tosh !! but since they don’t live in cardiff the most mysterious things they investigate are like ‘what happened to mrs smith’s missing cat’ (gwen is very glad of this)

[icedghostlatte-art]

Dragon Elf Hybrid Vlad! Goes with Elf Danny!

[bluegrasshellbard]

My design for The White Lord of Alagadda ft Dr.Willow (for a height comparison). They are quite small compared to the Lords, and Lord White likes to dress them up like a little doll.

[dylan-duke]

https://www.tumblr.com/dylan-duke/738172184183324672/nora-being-more-excited-to-see-nico-then-her-uncle

She is so cuddly to Everyone.

What would jacks reaction to this be?

"hi uncle jacky," nora says from quinns arms,

"hi nor," jack says smiling as he reaches to grab his niece,

"no," nora says leaning into quinn, "want nico," she looks back at the swiss captain as jacks face falls,

"norah eleanor," quinn hisses, "say hi to your uncle,"

"no." nora repeats. quinn looks at his middle brother,

"jack i-" but the devil center shakes his head,

"don't," he lets out a breath, "how about we go get lunch with nico and uncle lukey?" the middle hughes brother asks his niece, "how does that sound nor?" nora turns back to her uncle,

"good," jack smiles,

"amazing, how about luke comes with me, then you two go with nico?" nora frowns,

"no uncle jacky," she says, "you have carseat. nico doesn't," jack smiles looking behind his brother at nico who shakes his head in disbelief as nora reaches for her uncle,

"you're something else ms.hughes," nico says causing the little girl to giggle as she reaches up and pulls on her uncles hair,

"uncle jacky," she says continuing to giggle, as jacks face morphs into the biggest smile.

[f1zzlest1ckzz]

i will always cry over the unused version of jacks final broadcast. the way he talks about margaret :(

(i edited this down a little to just where hes talking about her)

[sadlynotthevoid]

Once, I had a dream where Og!Cale had been travelling back and forth between Rain City and Little Garden. Then he had to stay on his natal world for a few years, no world hopping for a while, only to come back at Azi Dahaka trying to squash his Kuro-noona's new friend.

He was pissed off.

Just to be clear, he didn't come back alone at that time. His previous travels had been just him teleporting from his room to Little Garden, and then back again, without anyone noticing. This one, however, was not his doing. Mostly.

It's just that he got bored easily and Little Garden's games were fun. It's just that he has always been good at riddles, so beginning with games based on intelligence and deduction skills was the logic thing to do. It was that he got luck and won useful gifts. And it was that winning other kind of games becomes easier the more gifts you have. And, maybe, it was that he didn't realize exactly how well-known was himself between the people there.

Okay, so maybe not having to act the same trash role as always has taken quite a big weight of his shoulders. He felt so free that he forgot to pay attention to his reputation. Running here and there, doing whatever he wants.

(Now that was a luxury he would never indulge in his homeland. Cale could buy almost anything in Rain City, but being himself was not one of them. That was the choice he made, because the price would had been too high.)

Then, one of the residents of Little Garden had heard about him and decided to challenge him. Cale had been at the Henituse County at that time, pondering the pros and cons of healing himself. The child and the foreign god had surprised him a bit, but it was a pleasant surprise. It has been a while since he had been challenged by a kid like this.

The god, some guy that got dragged as the responsible adult— a plant-based deity, if he had to guess—, is designated as the impartial third part. They're not in Little Garden right now, so an extra pair of eyes to act as a judge is necessary. And he won't lie. "Even if I wanted, I wouldn't be able to, since I'm currently under punishment from a previous game", is what he says.

The kid— a redhead with reptilian pupils (was she a dragon?)— also offers a nice deal. Most likely because she doesn't owns a Host Master Authority, she prepared a tempting price for him: salvation from an uncoming danger.

The [salvation] she means is, in simple terms, a massive transmigration to Little Garden. Of course, it doesn't apply just to him, but to anyone of his world according Cale's conditions. (If his conditions include almost everyone who isn't responsible of the threat, and maybe some more that are, that's between him and his guests). Is not Cale's ideal method to keep his family safe, but is the avaible one. Which is good enough for him.

The punishment for Cale if he loses would be just his strongest gift. A bargain, if he says so.

Sure, he likes that gift, is one of his favorites, even. But its worth is not remotely close to his family's lives. Besides, she's not asking his whole deck of cards. 'She would have to wait too much to play with him again if he did so', is what the kid said.

Naturally, Cale accepted.

He also won, but because they were too into the game, they ended up landing on the capital. Inside giant bubbles and with blindfolds covering their eyes. And just in the middle of the Plaza. He's going to have to explain a thing or two to his family, isn't him?

It was good then, that Little Garden wasn't ruled by a noble society.— Noble what? We have demon lords and host masters. Even deities don't get a pass.— Because there's no way his trash persona survives the inquire.

Anyway, the kid kept her word and fulfilled her part of the deal right there. In a matter of seconds, the stone floor under them became grass and their surround changed.

"Space control, my element", she cleared out. Definitely a dragon, then. And one of his world, it seems.

She looked so proud that Cale didn't have the heart to tell her she has just let out two big hints about herself. She's still young, isn't her?

But it was an impressive power. The thousands of people (and maybe even more) hadn't have time to panic before being teleported to a completely different world. Although it seemed like there were some people already grasping into the situation.

However, before they could start asking questions, a little black blurr flew right into the red haired girl.

"Noona! That old white lizard is back! The Rabbit-noona and her friends are fighting him!"

...What.

"Kuro-noona!"

The red dragon stayed still, blinking at the space where his new friend had been just a moment ago.

"Wow, Noona, that red human is really fast!"

Yes, he is. After all, a great dragon like her had almost not being able to see him leave.

Bonus

Bassen, after he met with most of his family: Where is hyung-nim?

Violan: I think I saw him over the front.

Lily: *sees a bright red blurr* He left!

Deruth: What?!

Lily, wide eyed: *raises her voice* That he left!

Bassen, still looking right and left for him: when?

Lily: Just now! He was like "fwoshh". Like a lightning :D

Bonus II

Izayoi: *about to be impaled by a bastard*

Azi Dahaka, the bastard: *about to open a new hole through this brat*

Cale, falling from the sky in pure rage: —your ugly-ass paws away from my friends, scaly-branded cerberus, discount hydra fucker!

Azi Dahaka: *freezes* what?

Izayoi: *snorts*

————

So, a few things more about this dream/AU:

•Cale's deck of cards is like it sounds: a deck of [gift] cards. Bro seriously did not intended to collect so many, but he was having fun.

•If you're wondering why or how can Cale travel to Little Garden and back to home, I think it was a present a sort of big deity gave to him. I have this vague memory of twelve-ish year old Cale sitting on a bed in a milky way-looking room, a giant pink lady standing besides him. She was really cheerful.

•When he is in Little Garden, he spends a lot of time at the No Name community. So much to the point he has his own room there. The only reason he hasn't joined the community is because he still wasn't a full-time resident of that world, an therefore he has some restrictions.

•Due to those restrictions, he can't use all his acquired gifts back outside what counts like Little Garden's world. Most of them get blocked or restrained when he goes back home. The ones who doesn't are the one who lets him jump between worlds, a healing gift and one that basically works like a library. The reason of this is to avoid a big disbalance in his and other worlds.

•Before this, Cale had been on a break from world hopping. He wanted to get officially out of the heir position before going back. With his 18 birthday coming soon, he had to do it soon before someone realizes that he's tecnically still the heir. (Then Choi Han happened). He hasn't seen his friends for almost a year.

•He usually gets into games/fights alone, but he's strong point are group fights where he can help them and use the battlefield like his own scenery.

•He had a gift even since before putting a step into Little Garden, but he wasn't aware. Is not something useful for most games, specially not friendly ones. Deathly fights, however... Let's say he can touch souls, and pulling one out of its body, hence separating them, is not something you can survive. He either fails and his enemy lives, or he succeeds and his enemy dies. He only has used it to pull a soul all the way once before, and it was a possession. The owner of the body was already dead by then, sadly.

•One of his gifts can be used like a warrior legion. It looks like ghostly samurais: glowing, translucid japanese warriors with an ominous aura. He got it from a war deity. (In my dream, he used it to fight Azi Dahaka)

•The gift he used to get to Izayoi and Kuro Usagi so fast was actually an object. A magic hooverboard, basically. Though he is fast, just thought saving energy would be better.

•He and Jack-o-lantern are close buddies. They met when he was thirteen, still so young and naive, travelling around Little Garden for the best sweets. Jack managed to trick him and then teased him about it (not to be mean, he was just to easy to annoy and his face went red really fast, looking like a red panda). In reprisal, Cale kept showing up near him, eating pumpkin desserts for a whole month. Somehow, they grew found of each other in a uncle-nephew relationship. Cale calls him uncle Jack.

•After the fight with Azi Dahaka, Jin presented Cale to the newest members. He and Asuka have a weird rich-kids conversation that no one else understands where they only spoke one or two words per turn (they were comparing life experiences).

•Yo, in all of her cat learned manners, measured him, determined he was not going to harm them, and blinked twice to show approval. For everyone else it looked like she stared at him for a long minute before blinking again. For some reason, Cale feels like Hans would be found of her.

•Izayoi and him get along like a house on fire. Izayoi likes to cause chaos and Cale likes to watch the chaos. Instant friendship. Although Asuka is absolutely sure that Izayoi has a puppy crush on Cale. (Idk if he has, dream asuka was always like "I know what you're" to Izayoi. Most likely not going to happen tho. Cale sees anyone younger than him like "little sibling aged")

•Cale finally joins No Name and some people of his previous world decides to follow as well.

•Lily and Lily bounding.

•Not really important but quite funny: in my dream, because Cale kept running here and there, kicking ass and being a decent person, but forgetting to properly introduce himself, he got an embarrasing nickname. "The Crimson Knight", they say. Cale was so ashamed when he found out. It took years for him to get used to it. Lily was thrilled once she heard about it.

[azrael08]

Random Take or whatever. But I’m re-watching some supernatural episodes and I was so interested in Magda from S12E4 becoming a reoccurring character??? Like the connection she and Sam have in that episode, the fatherly & daughter bond they share about their psychic powers, that little moment she and Sam have in the ambulance where he says that she can call him for anything at anytime???? Please, it’s giving Sabriel love-child. So sad she got killed by an evil Brit in the end :(

[rottnstrwberriez]

i was talking about how horny the whf fandom is abt uncle jack to my gf, she asked for a pic and as soon as i sent her she just went ‘HE UGLY’

[margle]

BONNIE DOWN. I REPEAT. BONNIE DOWN. I spot blood on that knife and table cloth. Mrs Mac stabbed her? She killed Uncle Jack? I'm going to investigate every goddamn pixel.

[p1nkm1lkslug]

Frankie and Amy dressed as Beetlejuice and Lydia from the cartoon for Halloween😭😭

[novelmonger]

Back at the beginning of this year, I made a silly New Year's resolution to watch a movie made in the year I was born. I had a few possibilities in mind, but just the other day, I happened across a movie I saw when I was a kid and mostly forgot about, but it's been on my mind lately as I've been thinking about one of my original stories. Then what do you know? I discover that it came out the year I was born! At least according to IMdB, which only has release dates for Australia and the Netherlands, which is a different year than what it says on YouTube, where I'm watching it, but whatever, we're counting it!

It's a TV movie (I assume?) called On Our Own, about four siblings who have recently been orphaned and run away because they're afraid of being split up if they're sent to foster homes. I know it's been at least a small unconscious inspiration for my superpowered siblings story (though a much bigger inspiration for that story was Escape to Witch Mountain, since that's about orphans who have supernatural powers), so I was curious to watch it again with an adult's eyes.

So without further ado, here are some thoughts I had while watching:

How is it that this movie, which I must have seen on TV one time when I was 6 or 8 or something, maybe at my grandparents' house (or it might have been from the library or something), still feels so familiar, like a movie I grew up watching over and over again? Like, if you'd asked me before I started watching how the movie begins, I probably couldn't have told you, but as soon as the first shot of an ambulance driving through the streets came on, I was like, "YES! OF COURSE! I REMEMBER THIS!"

Wow, the acting is terrible in this XD Not just the kids, who can be somewhat excused for lack of experience, but none of the adults are that great either ^^'

Even though these siblings are two boys and two girls, while my story is about one brother and three sisters, I can definitely see an influence on my characters and how they interact. Particularly in the older two siblings, who end up kind of having to be de facto parents to their much younger siblings.

I get that this is a movie intended for kids to watch and understand, so the writing is pretty blunt, but yikes, the adults have no tact when discussing the kids' future and how they'll have to be split up, never see their dog again, etc.

When escaping the orphanage, Kate hands Mitch the suitcase, and he accidentally drops it to the ground several stories below. Then he immediately turns and says, "Okay, hand me Lori." I snorted XD

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about the way they filmed the scenery shots of city streets and highways that just feels very low-budget. Even though they probably had to use a helicopter for some of them.

Uh...is every song on this soundtrack with vocals from Kidz Bop or something? <_<

The most unrealistic thing in this whole movie may be that Mitch can drive a stick-shift Volkswagen beetle across two states with only the very occasional issue when he's only driven in the parking lot one time before -_- (Not to mention that that tiny car has enough gas to get them as far as they go before having to get more.)

Okay, wait wait wait. They only have $9 to get them where they need to go, and Mitch comes out of the gas station with this big brown paper bag full of food that cost $8? Like...yeah, he said he didn't get Twinkies or plastic cups, but...wait, how much is that in today-dollars? *calculates* $19.32 Okaaaayyy....

Yay, obviously over-dubbed little girl who sounds completely out of place and not like it's actually Lori at all.

"Of all the turkeys in the world, how'd I get hung up with this hamster going all the way to Arizona?" - What kind of line is that??? XD

Also, like...these are police chasing the kids, right? Yet they're like, "Oh no, we only have a ZIP Code from a torn envelope [at least, that's where I'm assuming they got it from], and all we know is that there's someone they call "Uncle Jack." But we don't know what his last name is! There is absolutely no way that the police could look up public records and find out what their mother's maiden name was and see if there's somebody at that ZIP Code named Jack who also has that last name!"

Random non-sequitur moment #125: "Hey, look at this old old bottle!" *no one responds and it never goes anywhere*

Okay, like the one thing I remember from this movie is Mitch falling asleep at the wheel. Guess that made a huge impression on me, like a cautionary tale. But why did he keep driving so far until he hit a cactus??? Ever heard of brakes, kid?!

Wow, watching this as an adult really drives home how completely helpless these kids are. I'm sure when I watched this movie as a kid, Mitch and Kate seemed so old and responsible and capable. But now, watching Kate break down because they have no money and no food, and with the car crashed and not starting, all I can think is how young they all look.

This framing story with the grandma making a cake or whatever and getting the whole story told to her on the phone is completely unnecessary, but funny in a very stereotypical sort of way XD (But yikes, I don't wanna see her phone bill at the end of this!) And lol, she doesn't even take her burning cake out of the oven, just turns it down and leaves it in there!

This movie feels like its message is "As long as you're desperate, anything is excusable." Just judging from the triumphant "we're gonna make it!" music that plays every time they steal a vehicle -_- Aaaand not thirty seconds later, he runs into a conveniently placed...stick? that conveniently stabs the car and makes in unusable. Because that's a thing that often happens.

And then Travis puts a quarter in a slot machine and wins the jackpot??? What are you trying to convey to impressionable kids, movie?!

HOLEY SLICES OF BREAD, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY! Two bullies come after the kids, trying to steal their winnings, Mitch threatens to throw a rock at them with the most unconvincing threat in the world, then they're scuffling around like these two guys couldn't take all four of them with their hands behind their backs, it's intercut jarringly with Peggy driving up in a truck full of sheep...and then out of nowhere, she pulls out a gun?!?!?

*pointing gun* "I know how to use this!" Uh...yeah, real convincing. Still, can't blame those guys for backing away slowly from the crazy lady with the wild eyes.

Oh, okay, it wasn't a real gun. I was about to get upset about gun safety when she just tossed it onto the ground at a kid's feet.

And...the car is magically fixed now? They just drive off no problem? Okay, who cares about continuity anyway?

OH MY GOODNESS LORI IS ADORABLE :3

Oh, okay, the car is not perfectly fine. But it sure took a long time for the smoking engine to become a problem again.

What a cascade of revelations one after another. Jack isn't really their uncle (so I guess it wouldn't have worked for the police to look up their mother's maiden name after all), he's got a...girlfriend? with a son, and their father is in prison. I wonder what for? Will we ever find out?

That was the most awkward little fist-fight ever. It was like...sluggish? No tension, no sense of danger. Like...oh noooo, he grabbed the carrot. Oh nooooo, he splashed some water on him. And then Travis has to be super gross and grab horse manure and throw it at him. Just...why?

"If I wasn't bleeding all over the place, I'd clean your plow!" Is that a thing people say??? XD

"Tell you the truth, it's something I've been wanting to do for quite some time." Okay, I had to play it back like three times, but I finally realized that Jack is saying he wanted to bust his girlfriend's kid's nose and throw manure at him. Uh...okay then ._.

Aha, the bus! This is the other part of the movie I actually remember, where Mitch somehow knows how to drive a whole freaking bus when he's supposedly never driven before.

Why is the guy selling bus tickets giving me such creepy vibes??? <_<

*Four children drive off in a bus* Peggy: "Oh no." Super convincing, lady.

Really? The police are too slow to catch them, even when they stop the bus so Travis can hop out and get their dog, because the policeman accidentally got into the back seat instead of the driver's seat? Literally when would that ever happen??? And then they just drive right through a stack of...banana crates? I don't even know what those were. And then he doesn't even notice there's a one-lane bridge ahead and ends up in the creek. The kid is better at this than you, Mr. Detective!

Police cars swiftly gaining on them from behind, a roadblock ahead, a freaking prop plane touches down right in front of them, and what is Mitch's response? An eyeroll.

Oh, okay, now he's crying. Poor kid has had a rough day or two.

Whoa, attack of the over-dubbed Mitch whose voice suddenly got a lot deeper!

"I'm a real strong worker, you'll see!" *Uncle Jack gives him a blank stare* A+ acting all around, fellas.

Wow. The police explain how, legally, they can't just let the kids stay with someone who's not a relative in a completely different state, but then he says, "Come to my house and have some barbecue and we'll work this out." AND THEY GO FOR IT. Did the people who wrote this script know the first thing about how laws work?

Oh, okay. They did have to go back to LA and get it worked out in the court. And Mitch and Kate had to do community service to make up for all the laws they broke.

"They must have had a pretty bad example from their alcoholic father." Okay, movie, sheesh, you don't have to yell in our ears that alcoholism is bad. We get the picture.

Why on earth did I remember the last scene so clearly? As soon as the grandma starts putting the little decorations on the cake, it was like I remembered every single word everyone said. "Because I'm a grandma!"

Huh. A weirdly long stretch of black screen after the credits are done, but the music isn't quite finished. Usually you just fade out at that point, you know.... (I'm not exaggerating when I say there's like a whole verse and chorus left after the credits where you're just staring at nothing.)

Well, all in all, this was a fun trip down memory lane. I'm glad I managed to track it down again, and see some of the ingredients in the idea soup for my own story of four siblings running away. But...it's not a very good movie, all things considered XD

[hoodiedcrows]

Just-

if Hoy ends up with Nang, he'll be Aran's uncle.

He was just established as their kid! Growing up so fast :v