#biff gets an ask

[long-lost-mcguffin]

biff its still june trust what flavour of lgbt sandwich do each of the ninja eat

my joke answers

zane: it’s/it nonbinary

jay: he/him cishet

kai: she/her cishet

nya: she/they bisexual

cole: he/him cis gay

lloyd: they/them ace and cishet

pixal: they/she nonbinary

srs answer under cut i go into way more detail LOL

zane

-he/him

-androgynous with a slight masc lean. he doesn’t go for very femme/masc outfits unless the situation calls for it. that’s not to say he dislikes that sort of fashion, it’s just not his thing. he prefers simple clothes with simple designs and fits. he LOVES suits though, they make him feel mature.

-demiromantic heterosexual. very monogamous, politely shuts down all fan attempts to flirt with him. he gushes about pixal every chance he gets in interviews.

jay

-they/he

-non-binary with heavy masc presentation. realized they weren’t as cishet as they thought they were when he started dating nya. they felt like masculinity was an act they had to put up out of insecurity. over time he got more comfortable with masculinity(with nya’s help). he likes flamboyant clothing and gets a lot of fashion inspiration from vintage magazines.

-bisexual. with the support of nya(before and after their s3 breakup) he started experimenting romantically and sexually. when he started getting semi-famous for tv stuff, they definitely used it to his advantage to get hookups and paid it off with hush money. it fueled their ego in a very hollow way.

kai

-preference for he/him but it’s not that important to him

-is also very nonchalant about his gender, but his fashion style is function over literally everything else. his bright yellow skirt has deeper pockets than his cargo pants? he’ll wear it.

-questioning. considered himself hetero comfortably for a very long time, then after meeting skylor started to think about experimentation. he’s a flirt for the show of it, but actual romance and intimacy makes him VERY shy. dude is hella suppressed.

nya

-she/he

-always considered herself a very masc tomboy, she looked up to kai a lot during their childhood and sorta subconsciously modeled himself presentation-wise after her older brother. sooner or later he identified as trans-masc and started using t-gel around s7. she’s also very function-oriented in her clothing but the aesthetics are a little higher on the list compared to his brother.

-also considered herself heterosexual for a very long time, but it wasn’t until after zane’s death in s3 that she really questioned his own sexuality. she did car odd-jobs around ninjago city for money and met all varieties of people doing it. eventually settled on pansexual with a preference for masc people.

cole

-he/him

-trans man. loves his masculinity and being a teddy bear. started crying when he grew in a patchy beard because it was so euphoric. started doing testosterone in secret pre-s1 and got bottom surgery during s7. there was a lot of cake when he got home from the hospital.

-knew from a very young age that he was not straight. wanting to rebel, he started sneaking out with the boys/girls from his dance classes during recital rehearsals. after zane’s death in s3 when he moved to the forest, he started to realize how gay he was being around all the shirtless men.

lloyd

-all pronouns, no preference.

-intersex, didn’t really give his gender much thought until after s5 when she began feeling SEVERE impostor syndrome and dysphoria after morro’s possession. began a process of “reclaiming” her body by binding her chest for a while(with cole’s help), which then lead to t-shots and top surgery. now identifies as non-binary with a masc lean.

-bisexual with a heavy preference for women. she definitely wrote a few fritz donnegan x reader in their Darkely’s note books. Had a few crushes on some of their fellow students, but never really pursued them for fear of being not evil enough. becoming the green ninja and getting super famous overnight means he got a LOT of fans asking him on dates. after the first 8 failed dates, they stopped being interested in romance until harumi.

pixal

-she/he

-demiromantic pansexual. like his partner, very monogamous and is not interested in anybody else. she experiences aesthetic attraction often and loves fashion as gender expression. gives compliments on outfits as often as he can.

-genderfluid. designed herself a bunch of different outfits while in zane’s mind when she had the time. he wanted to try masculine clothes for a very long time, but was worried zane wouldn’t be attracted/supportive. being samurai x was her avenue to discovering gender fluidity, and after revealing himself as samurai x, came out to zane in private. he supported them full-heartedly and lent her some of his clothes.

[cheriboms]

what if i told you that i had a 500+ page google doc chronicling my efforts to transcribe the bttf telltale game into a full script line by line

[scribefindegil]

Lorraine Baines McFly and Female Autonomy

Hello. I have spent the past month slowly losing my mind about Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty's mom in Back to the Future, so I am finally trying to articulate some of the reasons I'm so feral about her.

There's a quote from Lea Thompson, the actress who played Lorraine, that goes, "The three parts that women usually get to play are virgins, whores, and mothers, and in Back to the Future Part II, I got to play all three." While this is commentary on Hollywood and the limited roles that fictional women get forced into, I think it's also interesting to think about it in terms of how these roles are reflected onto actual women and used to limit their personhood and confine them to a very narrow range of acceptable behaviors . . . and then in turn to think about how the character interacts with these roles on a Watsonian level. They're affecting not just Lorraine the character as she was written, but Lorraine from an in-universe perspective trying to navigate life as a woman in a patriarchal world. Some of the sexism she faces is a deliberate narrative choice and some of it is a result of the writers' blind spots, but for the purpose of this essay I'm less interested in teasing out which threads are which and more in looking at it holistically.

Because the thing about Lorraine is that she's aware of what the acceptable roles and behaviors for women are, and the versions that we see of her across the various timelines alternately fight against and capitulate to these constraints. What is a woman allowed to be? How much is Lorraine willing to break from those restrictions? How much does she allow other women to break from them? Does she resent her role or embrace it? I have a lot of thoughts specifically about how the different iterations of her interact with concepts of female agency and autonomy.

(Putting this under a cut because it is. Long.)

I started thinking about this when I was talking with my partner about 50's Lorraine. She's extremely active and driven and planning to Get What She Wants (in a way that is very scary, if you are Marty) . . . but at the same time she's clearly aware that she isn't supposed to be. A Good Fifties Girl is demure and passive. Lorraine isn't--but she's still trying to toe the line. I think constantly about the scene where she shows up at Doc's garage to be like "I followed you home . . . so that I can ask you to ask me to the dance." The girl can embrace borderline stalking but she draws the line at directly asking a boy out! She's exercising a lot of agency but views doing so as rebellious and subversive--and risky.

And I also want to talk about the whole "boy crazy" thing because like . . . society (especially in the fifties) tells women that the most important thing they can possibly do is find a good man and become wives and mothers, that this will define the success or failure of their entire lives (and given how many things were unavailable to single women at the time this is in many ways true) . . . and then relentlessly mocks and punishes anyone who actually takes an interest in pursuing this instead of just sitting back passively and waiting. She is trying to do what society says will make her happy! And even her desire for a white knight is very much based in the reality of her situation! She's getting sexually harassed at school and around town and she's doing exactly what she's supposed to and standing up for herself and saying no and fighting back--and this is not enough. She does need backup! Biff harasses her in the middle of a crowded cafeteria and Marty is the ONLY person who does anything! No fucking wonder she latches onto him as hard as she does! (There's. I promise this is related but there's a BttF parody musical on YouTube where when Strickland comes to break up the lunchroom fight he says, "Now, I can excuse sexual harassment, but LIGHT SHOVING?" and like it's a haha funny joke but also?? Yeah?? That IS how it works. The way Lorraine's being treated is so overlooked and normalized that the authority figure isn't going to step up the way he will when it's a physical altercation between two guys. Screams.) I wonder if part of the reason she stuck with George in the original timeline even though they didn't have a lot in common is that "I have a boyfriend" is a boundary that some people might actually take seriously whereas "I'm not interested" is not.

But. In general 50's Lorraine is very much about grabbing as much agency as she feels she's allowed to . . . and then Twin Pines Lorraine is what happens when she regrets the result of those choices (because while we don't see it, it's pretty obvious that in the original timeline she pursued George as aggressively as she pursues Marty in the new one), and so she decides to deny, not just her own agency, but female agency as a general concept. She leans so heavily on the idea that her relationship was "meant to be" because it absolves her of any culpability in creating a life she's unhappy with. She's rewritten her own past to view herself as a passive participant in something inevitable. (Exactly the view of womanhood that she was fighting so hard against in the 50's!) And she extends this idea of female passivity to the women around her: telling Linda that she should sit back and wait and a relationship will "just happen," actively resenting Jennifer for doing something as simple as calling Marty on the phone. It's a really interesting form of internalized misogyny, perpetuating these sexist ideas as almost a misguided form of self-defense.

And then for Lone Pine Lorraine this is completely flipped! She loves Jennifer for the same reason she disliked her in Twin Pines: because she reminds Lorraine of her younger self. And like . . . this is something of an extrapolation, but while obviously her husband and kids are still very important to her, it also feels like she has interests and friends and other things going on in her life, whereas part of the isolation of Twin Pines is that her life has shrunk down to the point where she's ONLY a wife and mother with nothing else to define herself by. And it also matters that in this timeline she has a partner that supports her, not just in the big dramatic moments (although also that), but you can easily see the dance as a catalyst for George actually learning to listen to her and stand up for her about smaller things as well. George McFly feminism arc. (I'm being slightly facetious but like. George starts off kind of shitty. The spying is actively Bad and I hope Marty chewed him out for it offscreen, but also his reaction to the harassment scene being "I think there's someone else she'd rather go with," implying that he sees what Biff is doing as like. Normal flirting that he expects to work. He doesn't GET it. Unsurprising because he is. A teenage boy in the fifties. But I do believe that saving Lorraine was something of a wakeup call and after that he listened to her about things that make her uncomfortable and gave her the support that she needed. Which would also give her a lot more freedom in this timeline because she has someone with more societal power who has her back!)

And then. Hell Valley.

If Lone Pine is the version of Lorraine who has the most freedom, the most opportunities to make decisions based on what she wants instead of What Is Expected Of A Woman, Hell Valley is the opposite. The things denying her agency in Twin Pines is largely societal forces (and herself); in Hell Valley she is actively being denied autonomy by her evil husband who functions as the personification of a bunch of sexist ideas.

She's been objectified to the point that she doesn't maintain control over her own body; Biff pressures her to get cosmetic surgeries so she can continue to look attractive to him because that's the only value he sees in her. Her physical appearance is entirely tailored to his preferences.

Biff's view of Lorraine is wife-as-possession. He treats her like a prize he's won and her kids like parasites. And he is NOT subtle about this. But Lorraine is still desperately clinging to the idea that she's wife-as-family. She calls Biff "your father" to Marty when he arrives, and talks about "our children" because she wants so so badly for this to be something different than what it is. It's especially terrible because this is a timeline where she got seventeen years of being happy with George, she knows what she's missing, and she keeps trying to force this new relationship into a similar mold even though Biff is openly contemptuous of her and especially her kids. It's been twelve years and she's still trying to pretend. To call back to that Lea Thompson quote: it's obvious where Biff thinks Lorraine fits on the virgin-mother-whore axis, while Lorraine is actively trying to centralize her motherhood partially because the kids really are that important to her and partially as a defense mechanism.

(And it's also such a bleak cautionary tale about how fragile women's stability can be when they're dependent on their husbands; Lorraine was happy with George and had a fair amount of freedom, but he was the only one with an income so when he died she was suddenly forced into a truly horrific situation because she had no other means to support herself and her three young children. Especially given that the Hell Valley universe is also worse in some broader political ways that mean there were probably even fewer social supports available than in real life 1973)

And god. It kills me the way that we see her lash out, the way she's clawing for autonomy when she threatens to leave . . . and then exactly how Biff levels all his axes of control against her. It's very interesting that his first tactic is consumerist (Who will pay for all your things? Who will take care of you?) and that doesn't work even though not being able to support herself is a very real concern. It's only when he threatens her kids that she folds. And then she immediately crumples and pivots to rationalizing Biff's behavior and blaming herself for her own abuse (in a way that is both HEARTBREAKING and also? surprisingly sympathetic and realistic for an 80's movie?). It's similar to the passivity we see in Twin Pines, but here we see exactly where it comes from. She doesn't have any way out so she has to pretend. It's the only way she can keep going. She has these flashes of rage but they're immediately snuffed out by despair and denial.

There's not a lot of talk about Lorraine and what there is tends to reduce her to "well she's Marty's mom" as if she's a boring character who doesn't have a lot going on. But even though most of her role in the movies has to do with her relationships with the various men in her life, those relationships are really interesting if you actually pay attention to them! She's not just (in the 80's) a wife and mother--she's someone who has a complex relationship with marriage and motherhood and the societal expectations surrounding them. She's not just (in the 50's) a vapid boy-crazy girl--she's doing her best to go after what she wants in a world that doesn't want her to (the fact that one of the things she wants turns out to be her time-traveling son from the future is unfortunate but not something she has any way of knowing!). She's stuck in a society that doesn't want women to be people, and she knows this, and because we see her across two different time periods and three different timelines you can watch how sometimes society grinds her down until she gives in and tries not to be a person. And also how, sometimes, she fights back.

[raining-anonymously]

rewatching pnf season 1 & 2 and here are some of the neurodivergent highlights!

“obsession rocks!!!” said at a moment when candace and stacy were gleefully bonding over their love of the bettys. the joy of new hyperfixation!!!!

“fossils! dun dun dun…” my man lawrence vocal and audio stimming let’s go!

perry crashes in, heinz doesn’t react, perry goes over to heinz and pokes him in the nose, revealing heinz is an inflatable decoy. perry immediately pokes the inflatable nose several more times! autism is stored in the platypus

jeremy tells candace he’ll call her soon, so cancace goes into waiting mode the next morning and tries to find the exact meaning of “soon.”

candace (scared of heights) on a ferris wheel. jeremy asks her what’s wrong and candace wordlessly indicates the drop. she contonues not to speak after jeremy comforts her. loss of speech!

phineas usually displays empathy, but when buford loses biff, phineas shows annoyance and doesn’t seem to empathize. nevertheless, he helps buford both with emotional support and by working to solve the problem. this is because i’m projecting fluctuating empathy onto him and also because empathy ≠ kindness.

baljeet owns a lot of books on a seemingly uninteresting topic (shoelaces). conclusion- he fixated on the topic in the past and got all the information he could find at once!

one of dr. d’s schemes is entirely because he considers the noise outside his building to be too loud and he can’t concentrate. he gets off-topic in conversation and apologizes, blaming his lack of focus on the noise. it’s harder to act neurotypical when you’re sensory overloaded, ok?

at one point heinz tells perry that there’s a tin cup inside his cage for him to play with, specifically because of the sound it makes. perry proceeds to move this tin cup around for a while.

vanessa sensory overloaded by the sound of heinz building vs heinz making incoherent sounds while he builds (vocal stimming!). in a different episode vanessa uses earbuds to deal with her dad making noise.

honorable mention: stacy and candace reading all of sherlock holmes in one night / dressing as the characters the next day

[bts-trans]

241008 RM's Instagram Stories

와주신 모든 분들 감사합니다 #TEAMRM🥰 @/busanfilmfest https://www.instagram.com/stories/rkive/3474197427164840973

Thank you to everyone who came #TEAMRM🥰 @/busanfilmfest

Trans cr; Aditi @ bts-trans © TAKE OUT WITH FULL CREDITS

RM’s Repost of Abyss’ Instagram Story

Video Translation: Lee Seokjun: Thank you so much for coming all the way to Busan. All the people here have indirectly had such a huge impact on my life. Thank you so much. Thanks to you, I was able to make this film. Thank you to all the people who were part of the movie, and to those who watched it today. This film was made by you. Thank you! 👦: I love you! 👤: You're such a good speaker. San Yawn: He's so fucking good! 👤: And he was talking about eating some delicious music SY: Yeah, right! We'll get the delicious music- LS: I'm sorry but, I knew that San Yawn might ask me to make a toast, so I had one prepared. LS: Wait, San should say something too!

Trans cr; Aditi

12월에 개봉합니다🥰 https://www.instagram.com/stories/rkive/3474274455826427494

It'll be released in December🥰

Picture Translation: [29th BIFF] RM Documentary, the reason CJ 4Dplex is taking on global distribution

Trans cr; Aditi

[marymary-diva17]

Girl at this point giving you requests is my hobby.

New idea: how about instead of a hated sully!reader, we could have a favorite child reader.

Like, eywa decided that she'll be the strongest and most skilled future Ole'eykatei, so all of the attention is towards her, overlooking the rest of her siblings.

She's Lo'ak's younger twin sister, but she's made the future clan leader because she's special.

She doesn't mind her role or destiny, but she's also kind and wise and calm every time, helping her siblings whenever they need her.

She has scars from defending the clans but also from fighting the sky people, making Jake and Neytiri more attentive of her instead of her siblings.

Ps: she's very tall and biff for na'vi, like 9'11 with big fangs and a lot of admires.

I don't mind if you can't do it, just wanted to give you a new idea.

Sully family x reader

Jake and neytiri had started a family after the war and the rebuild of the clans as well, what they didn't know was that they were going to be blessed big family. A wonderful family indeed but it was hard for them at times to see that they had favor their kids and left some in the shadows. You are one of their favorites kids and you have seen the effect of favoritism your parents have done, on your family and hated it even the clan did the same thing as well.

Y/n " hey I'm going out scouting and maybe some hunting" you had entered the common area of your family home, as you soon came across your twin brother neteyam, your dad and your uncle Tsu'tey.

Jake " that good always doing the best for my clan, it good that you are your brother as taking your roles seriously"

neteyam " we are planing a bit more attack plans wish to stay and help us"

y/n " I will love to big brother but that your specialty remember you are always good that planning them out, I'm mostly good with the escape plans for the family and clan"

Tsu'tey " your sister is very honorable neteyam giving your credit for you work and role in the clan"

neteyam " yes she is"

y/n " oh yes dad kiri and tuk had went off with grandmother to help her today, as I had helped her yesterday"

Jake " you know you always amazing me sharing responsibility and titles with your siblings, most kids wouldn't do that"

y/n " I love and care about my family hey why don't you ask lo'ak to help he at age to start helping dad, he will become a warrior when he older"

Jake " I think lo'ak is better suit for something else then is" you hated it when you father shot down your ideas of letting lo'ak help, when it came to battle plans. Your mother and father always favored you and your siblings more, and it always left lo'ak in the shadows at times.

y/n " yes sir" you had soon grabbed your arrow and blade and soon left home, you had become a skilled warrior, hunter, healer, and spiritual guide so a young age. Your body had become strong over the years of training and you are tall for your age as well, but not as tall are the other warrior women of the clan.

y/n " hey lo'ak spider" you had been walking when you came across lo'ak and spider.

lo'ak " hey sis"

spider " hey y/n"

y/n " hey I was going hunting and scouting maybe mixed with explore and some fun, and I was wondering if my boys will love to come verse staying here all day"

lo'ak " are you sure"

y/n " yes I love spending time with you two"

spider " yes we will come we have out stuff anyways"

y/n " good now come with me and let have some fun" spider and lo'ak soon had walked away from home with you, as the tiro was walking it was easy to tell something was the matter.

y/n " what the matter and don't lie I know something the matter with you two"

lo'ak " once again it feels like we are being left out of stuff, dad lets neteyam in during his meetings and our sisters get time with mom and grandmother ... and you get to do both"

y/n " ......"

spider " no matter what we do we will see be seen as outsiders, to all the grown ups"

y/n " I can see where you guys are coming from"

lo'ak " we know you do your best to make sure we get involved but, it seems to fall on deaf ears"

y/n " yes I have tried my best like I have done with all our siblings and I will not stop trying, and I hate the favoritism that is played it makes me sick"

spider " thanks y/n"

y/n " anytime"

lo'ak " now come on let get some hunting down or anything else done" you had soon laugh and soon the boys had followed in laughter, after everyone was done laughing the group soon went back to their mission of the day.

y/n " this will be good place there always something good here to hunt"

spider " got it we will look out for anything"

y/n " good"

lo'ak " let see what we can caught today" the tiro was looking around trying to find anything.

spider " hey over here" everyone soon raced to where spider was at and soon saw some animal tracks.

lo'ak " It not that far from here we can track it down and it seems like it with a herd, so we might caught one or more"

y/n " then lets get going" The tiro soon followed the tracks and soon found the massive herd by the water. The three of them were looking at the herd and soon each other.

lo'ak " there are some big one there"

y/n " yes it will be good for the clan so boys which one"

spider " you are letting us pick"

y/n " yes so which one"

spider and lo'ak " that one over there" you and seen the on they had pointed out, you had nodded at them and soon everyone got ready for the hunt. The herd had started moving making the hunt even more challenging but the tiro was not giving up, as the ran after the herd as the animals were speeding up.

y/n " I will fire the first shot and then you two can follow after"

lo'ak and spider " yes" you had fired the shot hitting the beast but it was not going down yet. Lo'ak and spider had fired arrows at the same time soon bring down the beast.

y/n " you guys did it that amazing"

spider " but you could of shot it down you are good hunter" spider was not wrong your strength could of help you make the hunt, over right there but you didn't.

y/n " I could but I knew you two could do it as well"

lo'ak " thank sis"

y/n " now you two can do the honorary rights of the hunters, now come" lo'ak and spider came with you and had the rights and ways of the clan.

y/n " I'm proud of you both now we have to call and get this home"

spider " thank you"

lo'ak " yes thank you"

y/n " anytime" you had made the call to your dad who came with neteyam and tsu'tey along with your and lo'ak banshees to help bring the hunt back home.

Jake " good hunt my daughter"

y/n " dad yes I fired the first shot but it was lo'ak and spider had brought down the kill"

tsu'tey " they did"

y/n " yes they are good hunters and my future hunts I hope they will come with me and anyone else who wishes to come, as my brother and spider are good hunters"

Jake " you make me proud son"

tsutey " you make me happy and proud spider my son"

lo'ak and spider " thank you"

neteyam " you did a good job today"

y/n " thank you I will do anything for our family"

neteyam " I know you will and that will make you a great leader with me"

y/n " yes but only the future will tell" neteyam had smiled at you, lo'ak and spider did get praise for their hunting skills. It seems like after all you had been able to help lo'ak and spider find some position in the clan after all. You had made a promise to do anything for your family, and make sure they are given all the love and support from the family and clan no matter what happens.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Notes on Nowhere Boy

Finally posting the long version of the close-watch I did for @sleeper9's Fete zine. The bad thing about me is I hate spending money and love pirating shitty quality versions of movies. The good thing about the Beatles fandom is we're used to dealing with grainy pics. Anyways, here goes!

The opening ten seconds really do set the tone for the film, and here's why. It's the opening of A Hard Day’s Night where the boys are running from a hoard of screaming fans and George biffs it. John sees him go down, laughs, and keeps running. Only here, it's just John. George’s fall has been erased, making John into a cocky, if slightly insane, little lone hero. 

Mimi: do I ignore you? No. So please don't ignore me. Me: ummm, yeah you do ignore him, Mimi. Enough to leave deep psychological scars. But it's fine. Moving on.

Ugh, Uncle George is so sweet! I wonder how much of John's sweetness he learned from him. I wish we knew more about him.

Actually that was Jim that set up a cord running into Paul's room from the radio downstairs. But it fits Uncle George's character, so it works. 

Why did they make Mendips look a lot more working class than it actually was? No fancy iron fence, no pretty hexagonal outcropping, no stained glass veranda? 

Aaron Taylor Johnson is nailing it though. The laugh sounds very John, and this posture? Perfect. 

Okay but if that doesn't heartbreakingly encapsulate John and Mimi I don't know what does. Uncle George has just died. John goes to Mimi, wraps her from behind in a tight embrace and lets out a sob. Her response is to push him away. “Please, let's not be silly. If you want to do that, go to your room.” Alright, it's making me feel things, it's winning me over. 

John making his cousin Stan go and ask Mimi where Julia is is also extremely accurate. Always had someone to do the dirty work for them, all of them. 

Mimi's concern as John's going to visit his mother in the “bad” part of town is very good to have in too. “And you will be careful, hmm? Careful who you talk to.” And John's response, “it's only Blackpool, Mimi.” It's true. It could've been Speke, or the Dingle. Which Quarryman did I read saying Mimi didn't like John even leaving Woolton?

John's hurt little face when he finds out his mum, all this time, has been less than a bus ride away is a very clever way to show us his painful confusion about the whole situation. 

Trying to remind myself that this is a very anti-Julia pro-Mimi movie that will try to make me think she's crazy. But it sure is doing a hell of a good job. She hasn't seen him in years and suddenly she's hand feeding him desserts, kissing him every chance she's got, flirting all over the place. “Do you know what it means? Rock and Roll? Sex.” “Don't tell Mimi, alright? This is our little secret. Promise me.” And to a poor affection-starved boy, that's going to feel good. That's going to put thoughts in his head like “this is how it should be”. I mean I know she was wild and fun and sexy and irresponsible. And I know John did have weird thoughts about her. But I hope she wasn't actually this crazy. 

But the weird Freudian thing aside, he's got to be so terribly confused hearing the woman who effectively abandoned him declaring her love for him. Between Mimi and Julia, John would've had such a messed up idea of what that word meant. 

The Daily Howl, my absolute beloved!!

Nowhere Boy John watching Elvis: damn I've gotta get the girls screaming for me like that! Actual John watching Elvis: he's so beautiful! He's perfect! I'm in love!

Also I do not think sixteen year old John was that good at fingering. Just saying. 

This part always drops my heart cold into my stomach. Poor John. Poor poor baby. You can hear his little boy voice calling, “mum? It's me.” And she mutters, very annoyed, “go away.” Again. I have to remind myself that this is a purposely negative portrait of Julia. But then. It is true that she was a mostly absent and wholly undependable figure in John's life. 

Sometimes dialogue is absolutely perfect. Like this – “Aw, why couldn't God make me Elvis Presley?” “Cause he was saving you for John Lennon.” “Aw I'll get you back for that, God!” And this – “you haven't told Mimi, have you?” “No point going through her bullocks if I don't have to.” “Why? She has to go through yours.” “Yeah well I never asked her to, did I?”

Ugh this whole movie just hurts so bad! How he looks to Julia as Mimi is ordering him out of her house, just begging her to claim him this time. And she doesn't until he makes a stand for himself. And then, later. “How long can I stay?” Is met with nothing. Not even a fake “long as you want, love.” It really plays into the title of the film. This boy's got nowhere to call home. And then, the final straw. Look at his face as he hears Julia agree that he does in fact need to go back to Mimi's. If I did that kind of thing, I'd actually be crying right now. Fuck, why was I knit-picking, this movie is working so well. 

 As he's announcing he's leaving Julia's, John wants her to tell him to stay. To at least pretend it's not what she wants. And she doesn't even look at him. Imagine if they did something like this in the John biopic mirrored with a scene with Paul in the breakup?

He's just so adorable looking at that guitar like he can't believe it's real.

John's gathered the og Quarrymen in the bathroom and Pete goes “I take it we're not here for a communal crap.” Idk Pete, wouldn't put it past him. It's not far off what you all do already.

It's making the Quarrymen look kinda cool here, and I really want them all to be shit except John, just because that's what I get from Paul's description. Not that he's biased or anything. He could've been watching John play with Elton John and David Bowie and he'd still say everyone faded into the background. 

Also Mimi would Not have been there. Not on her life. 

Okay now we're sort of seeing them from Paul's perspective. Bunch of losers surrounding this inimitable shining star. 

Accurate that the first thing John says to Paul is about jerking off. 

The dynamic in general is just so well-done in this first scene. John instantly testing Paul. How much shit will he put up with? And Paul instantly having none of it, showing off, and winning John over. 

All the other Quarrymen just know it's time to dust off the ole resume. 

But! Paul's fete “audition” is so toned down for this film. Although of course, accounts vary. He did 20 flight rock, yeah. But he also did it on someone's borrowed right hand guitar turned upside down. And he did little Richard and played the piano, and tuned John's guitar for him. In one telling of it, John says he asked him to be in the group right there on the spot. So. Yeah. 

But either way, watching John watch Paul is just gorgeously gay. It's giving extreme “Oooooh, he likes hiiiiiim!” It's actually illegal not to queerbate using Lennon/McCartney and I'm glad all moviemakers seem to understand the law.

Cut to “John, your little friend's here!” Can you imagine if they'd showed the “chalk and cheese” whirling dervish moment? Or Mimi making Paul use the back door? Those might change some thoughts and feelings in this movie. 

And then we get the reciprocated “Oooooh, he likes hiiiiiim!” Moment as Paul's too busy checking out John’s buddy Holly Look to remember where he is, let alone what cord they're on. And it's so sweet because Paul's the first person who gives John the idea that his real self is actually cooler than his tough-guy act. 

The little matching feet tapping?? Eee it's so cute! 

But why miss the opportunity for them to sing in harmony here?

Sometimes the dialogue is extremely inaccurate. “So mummy’s cool about baby Paul wanting to be Elvis?” “Oh she would've loved it.” Like hell she would've. She would've been as disapproving as Mimi. Then again, maybe it is accurate for Paul to be lying about that.

“Well she – she sort of – died. You know, em. If we're gonna do this we should write our own stuff.” Okay yep there he is. That's Paul. 

Also love how John gets his first calluses after Paul the bossy taskmaster comes into his life. (You know. And the reason to push himself and a person who cares enough to take the time to show him things and it makes John all dreamy staring at the stars that night etc) Anyway. It's perfect. 

And the first gig we see after Paul joins is in a venue on a real stage with a much bigger audience, and the matching suits of course. 

Mimi selling John's guitar because of a bad report card is like the lighter, kinder translation of what happened in reality when she had his dog put down while he was staying at Julia's. 

So they kinda make up for not letting Paul sing etc by having him nail the guitar instead of screw up at this gig like he did irl. 

And he's stealing Julia's attention, which is clearly Not okay with John. Reminds me of that quote of Paul's about how they were both in love with John's mum. 

George is appropriately infantile. Good. Cutie. 

The Quarrymen playing “That's Alright, Mama” as John's making up with Julia since she bought his guitar back for him. Okay. Very clever. 

Paul does Not like John disrespecting his mother after the show for obvious reasons. (“I said something wrong now I long for yesterday.”) But clearly he doesn't have the full picture here. I wonder at what point irl Paul got a full run-down from John on his messed-up family life. Or did he just have to pull it together piece by piece over the years?

And of course he jumps to light Julia's cigarette. Boy was patting his pocket for a lighter like it was the race of his life. Mister steal your mum.

Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, Paul McCartney’s number two complaint about this movie: John was Not taller than him. How dare they? Slander.  

That's one hell of a jacket.

At the party, John's of course pissed to find Paul serenading Julia in the kitchen. But Paul just wants a mommy so bad, John. Why can't you just let him have yours since you clearly don't want her? Right, because you really, really do. More than anyone can understand. But when you showed her that – how bad you wanted her to be your mum, not just a friend – she hurt you. Forced you to go through your abandonment all over again. So now you can't show that anymore. 

The washboard over Pete's head is almost exactly accurate, isn't it? John does not handle people leaving him well. 

Ugh his little voice cracking on the word “mum.” John Lennon is a poor poor baby and I will die on that hill.

I wonder how John did find out about Victoria and the real story of why he was with Mimi. No matter how, though, that's certainly a lot of mess for a young man to be carrying around with him all the time in his head. 

“When your father came back from the merchant Navy, he wanted to try and save the marriage, but your mother would have none of it.” I do feel like we're going with Alf’s version of events here, the one he sold John in order to get into his good graces after he was famous. Which is, again, not fair to Julia. I wonder how little Julia feels about this movie. 

In fact, I think this part –  “who do you wanna be with, John? Do you wanna be with me or do you wanna be with your mum?” – has been categorically disproven. But it certainly does make for some high drama. And John himself did believe his father's story, so there has to be at least some emotional truth there.��

Nowhere Boy John: There's no point in hating someone you love. I mean really love. IRL John: How do you sleep, you cunt?!

There he is. Art School John. Though he fell in love with every iteration of John, I think this one never left his head because he was one of the earliest Johns, and he was a John Paul had to fight for, you know, with all the Stu business and dead mother anger.

He really does an excellent job of playing John, though, when he's written right. “Woman took her kit off and we painted her breasts. Not actually physically. I got my eye on you two.” Ridiculous. Charming. Off- putting. Adorable. 

Ignoring the fact that I prefer to think of “Hello, Little Girl” as being about Paul (“you never seem to see me standing there”) and they're making it about Julia, this is a lovely scene. With John somewhat unsure still of his songwriting abilities and Paul looking up at him from the floor full of admiration. 

Oh he's gonna murder someone. To be fair, I think playing Julia's banjo at her funeral is exactly the type of insensitive thing Paul would do, because he just thinks and feels in music and it makes Sense to him even though of course it's going to piss John off. 

Hilarious, and probably accurate tbh, that Paul's pissed John off so he gives Pete a bloody nose.

But here we go, the number one complaint about this movie from Paul, which I think is actually valid. John never hit him and that was important to both of them and it's disrespectful to portray it and play into the myth of their rocky, angry relationship. 

But maybe in 2009 that's what it took for them to be able to show John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a genuine, loving embrace, crying into each other's necks about mothers. It has to be preceded by John punching Paul in the mouth. 

If I was John's writing partner, my biggest beef with this movie would actually be the scene where they're recording ISOATD and making it look like John wrote it and played the guitar solo. But Paul's never even mentioned it. Which I guess really shows he cares far more about the legacy of his relationship with John than his career legacy. Which. If you mean more to Paul McCartney than his fucking music? Well then you must be just about important enough to have your own movie. 

This is really the Vote for Mimi Smith campaign, isn't it? Putting across the screen the fact that John called Mimi every week until he died as “Mother” plays in the background is brutal. Ouch. But it's true. “It's Mimi time.”

[teencopandthesourwolf]

yeah so my brother was over tonight and after we'd had a heart-to-heart and a gossip i stuck TEEN WOLF on—which he is aware of and knows it's one of my shows, but has never actually watched himself—just for a bit of background bc it was there in my 'continue watching' as i'm never really not watching it lol.

ANYWAYS we continued chattering through it for a while (the majority of eps 1&2) but then he started sporadically paying it more and more attention, till he was eventually commenting and asking me questions etc.

here are some of the veritable golden nuggets he dropped:

“well, that coach fella's my new bestie.”

“the hammy lad with the face (jackson) is giving me such biff from back to the future vibes.”

“why is clark kent (he knows hoech from superman & lois) being an autistic male model with serious pmt?”

(still taking about hoec) “oh, bloody hell, he's actually really good looking, isn't he?!”

"the sfx in this are so fuckin bad they actually double back to being terrific.”

“so, are we, like, supposed to not give a shit about the main guy then, or what?”

(more scott talk) “although i do actually kind of want to hug him—but i feel that's somehow unrelated to his character.”

“pretending to do back flips off a roof is cool af i don't care what anybody says.”

(about k*te argent) “hoho, she's gonna turn out to be a massive cunt, isn't she?”

“this is fucking brilliant, they (the wolf transformations) look like were!fonzies!”

“jesus, we're like, 3 eps in and there's already what looks to be the beginnings of quite intricate character arcs? this show should honestly not be this intriguing, wtf.”

(commentary on the acting chops) “oh, wow, so the one that's playing scott is pretending to be scott... while the one playing stiles just IS stiles!”

(scene at the start of magic bullet where stiles is talking to scott about derek):

stiles: okay, sorry, no more talk about alphas or derek; especially derek—who still scares me.

my brother: yeah, that's because he quite clearly makes your willy hard, mate.

also my brother: OH, SHIT! THAT'S STEREK, RIGHT?! well, it's no fucking wonder that that's a thing.

AND HE HAS NOT EVEN MET PETER YET

so yeah my hope is now obviously that he'll go home and get obsessed and spank the entire 6 seasons in 4 days and become one of our most prolific fanfic writers.

[knickynoo]

Do you think Marty would develop a fear/phobia of thunderstorms due to all of the trauma he goes through that are centred around a thunderstorm?

I think post-trilogy Marty ends up with a handful of new things that range from just making him uneasy to approaching phobia territory. These include

• thunderstorms

• the sound of gunshots/loud gunshot-like sounds in general (fireworks, cars backfiring, etc)

• train whistles (mostly due to the whole almost being pulverized into a million pieces by a train thing after he arrives back in 1985)

• oh, and you know how in pt iii when Marty goes to get his truck and Biff startles him, and Marty's instant reaction is to put up his fists and want to punch Biff? I think he remains very fearful of Biff for...well, probably forever if we're being honest. It doesn't matter that this "new" Biff is humbled and goofy and seems to have a decent relationship with the McFlys. Marty's seen firsthand what Biff is capable of when the right set of circumstances present themselves. He stood on a rooftop while a crazed Biff pointed a gun at him and made a joke about killing George.

I actually think Biff might prove to be Marty's biggest "trigger" once returning home. He can work on overcoming his fears relating to thunder and loud sounds and whistles, but he'll always know that the guy in the track suit out front waxing the cars once destroyed an entire timeline (destoyed his family) solely because he gained wealth and power.

I do think it's a little funny when you think about it from Biff's perspective (normal 1985 Biff), though. The guy must be baffled. Like, "Why does my little buddy Marty suddenly want to punch me every time he sees me???"

Sorry, you asked specifically about storms, and I went down a different route. Yes, I do think thunderstorms would make Marty jumpy for a good long while. I can see a storm rolling in—thunder booming and lightning flashing—and it makes George and Lorraine all lovey-dovey as they reminisce on the night at the dance, meanwhile, Marty's sitting there shaking like a nervous chihuahua.

Thanks for the ask!

[long-lost-mcguffin]

So I forgot my main fandom blog is a side one so this will have to do.

Can we go a bit in-depth with Morro's relationship with Kai, Nya and Lloyd in the Pirate AU?

-Pandemonium Kidz

YEEEEEEES THIS IS SUCH A GOOD QUESTION TY

like i said in my intro post to the au, Kai and Nya are like younger siblings to Morro because he found them without their parents and he was sympathetic. he also saw that instead running away like most children, they stood up to him and defended their home which was a good sign of maturity and bravery.

once they’re a bit older, Nya becomes Morro’s right hand because of her ability to control water which is INSANELY useful when encountering other ships. they steer the ship together using water and wind. her water powers are incredibly powerful but a lot less refined as result of her training, and she’s a lot scrappier with fighting. as a result, they’re very close combat-wise,

Kai is Morro’s lead strategist and cannon-master, but Morro’s ship, the Black Drake doesn’t have any cannons. instead, Kai uses his fire powers to burn enemy sails and ships, propelled further by Morro’s wind. Morro trusts him more with combat advice than Nya(no shade but she gets very excited about fighting people in this LOL). Kai doesn’t always agree with Morro’s choices or morals, but he’s captain.

Lloyd is…odd. Morro finds him hanging from that roof post from s1 and is like “how’s revenge sound? >:)” and then brings him back to the ship with food. Nya immediately loves Lloyd like they’ve been siblings forever and Kai is hesitant because. this is a child. why is a child playing with the swords. But Morro eventually realizes that this is in fact a child and the skill that comes with child wrangling. and then finds out about the green ninja prophecy……….. that’s gonna be messy

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

heyyy I absolutely adore your blog and I wanted to request some headcanons of jeff the kiler, masky and ticci toby with a jennifer check!reader from the movie jennifer’s body (if u don’t really know her character feel free to ignore this!) ty!<33

-🩰

𝕀 𝔻𝔼𝔸𝔻𝔸𝕊𝕊 𝕋ℍ𝕆𝕌𝔾ℍ𝕋 𝕋ℍ𝔸𝕋 𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔻 𝕁𝔼ℕℕ𝕀𝔽𝔼ℝ ℂ𝕆𝕆𝕃𝕀𝔻𝔾𝔼 𝔽𝕆ℝ 𝔸 𝕊𝔼ℂ𝕆ℕ𝔻 𝔸ℍ𝔼𝕀𝕌ℍ𝕎𝕀𝔼ℍ𝔽

ℂ𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕥𝕠 𝕕𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕘𝕠 𝕥𝕠 @𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕𝕘𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕤-𝕟-𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖!! 𝔾𝕠 𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕦𝕡𝕡𝕠𝕣𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜!

𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕤𝕠 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘!!

Jeff The Killer

Jeff loves having more feminine partners

He is into masc people too, don't get me wrong but fem people just hit different in his eyes

Especially fem partners that are bad bitches?? Hell yeah

He loves to just show you off as his, because he totally knows he has the hottest partner in the world

Whenever he's lounging around in the manor, he will have you either sit on his lap or lay on him in some way

But he just loves to have you sit on his lap

He'll be playing cards and be too absorbed in you to pay attention to the game

He'll either be whispering words of admiration into your ear or kissing you passionately when all of a sudden, he hears someone call his name

He looks around to see the rest of the players looking at him expectingly

"Hm? My turn? My bad"

It's really attractive to see you acting all high and mighty too

Someone will have cat-called you on the street, and before he even gets the chance to open his mouth, you're over there shit talking that person into their grave

"You wanna talk about how someone else looks? Let's talk about that musty ass haircut that you obviously got done with a blind, drunk barber. Baby, you look like a motherfucking nuke came through that shit."

And as you saunter back over, looking as unbothered as ever, you don't miss the fire in his eyes and the way he bites his lip

Masky

He finds your entitledness adorable

He loves to see you get all angry, with the way your bottom lip biffs out and your eyebrows flare

And then you start talking

And boy, do you talk

He can't help but giggle to himself every time something upsets you enough you decide to speak on it

And whenever you decide to come back to him he'll grab you by your waist and pull you against his chest, kissing the top of your head

"You sure showed them" he mumbles with a hearty chuckle

You roll your eyes and lean into him "Hell yeah I did"

In his mind, he pictures you as a Harley Quinn-esque motorcycle chick with two pistols

Honestly, you could totally tell him to start kissing the ground you walk on and he'd do it

Not that he'd tell you that

He has a reputation to upkeep after all

Ticci Toby

You scare him in a good way

He is your little dude that follows you around

"Excuse me he asked for no pickles"

Yeah, that's him

And lord help the poor people that try to start anything with him

You'll be pushing him behind you and telling off that person

After you're done he'll pull you into a loving hug and starts kissing your face tenderly

"You totally saved me, hun"

"Yeah, it's what I do"

He kind of acts as your voice of reason too

He'll see you side eyeing someone, and before you can get up and confront them, he'll squeeze your hand and press his forehead to yours

"Ease up, Batman, Gotham doesn't need your saving"

You'll smile and kiss his head, and he'll lay his head onto your shoulder, making you unable to move until he says you can

[starlightrosa]

LEE POMNI PLSS lers jax or ragatha or both maybe they had a sleepover in the circus or pillow fight turned tickle fight <33

Oh anon, that's such a wonderful prompt! I hope you enjoy, my dear :)

Giggly Jester

Summary: A simple pillow fight ends in a very ticklish way for a certain jester.

Word Count: 2.0k

Warning: slight intrusive thoughts for Pomni (in bold, there's only one though)

Enjoy! (First time writing TADC ever, hope u like it my dear :D)

Life in the Digital Circus was… interesting, to say the least. And very… unique characters too. A ringleader with a pair of teeth for a head, a doll who was probably the nicest of the lot, a sarcastic purple bunny, a chess piece who was slowly going insane, a sentient ribbon who cried when her mask was broken, whatever the hell “Zooble” was supposed to be… yes, that was what Pomni was given to work with when she had put on that fateful headset, and was transported to The Amazing Digital Circus.

The ringleader, a guy called Caine, had set up adventures with the whole crew on Pomni’s first day, which consisted of gathering up some creatures called “Gloinks.” Unsurprisingly, Caine’s latest “adventure” wasn’t very well received by any of the Digital Circus members, least of all Pomni. A new girl to the circus and its whimsy wonder, it was very easy for the poor dear to get a bit overwhelmed, and Pomni was trying her best to process in her very colourful room.

That was when Caine popped into existence in her room, scaring the poor jester so much that her jester hat fell off and hit the floor with a comical splat, her little musical bells jangling as they made contact with the ground of her room.

“Wake up, Pomni!”

“AAAH! Oh my God! Caine, don’t do that!” Pomni implored, the jester clutching at her digital chest, feeling her heart pumping beneath the pale skin. Caine tutted and waggled his gloved finger as Pomni picked her hat back up and jammed it back on her head.

“Now, now, Pomni. Don’t be such a jumpy Josie! I just wanted to make sure you’d hear me. Jax and Ragatha would like to meet you at the main stage. They have an idea to help you get acquainted with your new life here in the Digital Circus. And we all know that I, as the ringleader, fully endorse any idea to make you comfortable here.”

“Ragatha and Jax? Oh no…” Pomni muttered. Ragatha was nice, sure… but Jax? That sarcastic lilac rabbit only ever liked to see funny things happen to people, regardless of intentions. Pomni was sure nothing good could come from being with Jax.

“Come along, Pomni! Let us not dilly dally, or dally dilly for that matter!” Caine urged, grabbing Pomni by the waist. With a snap of his gloved fingers, Pomni was transported to the main stage. She felt really dizzy after the fact, her colourful irises whirling about in her head briefly before her vision managed to correct.

She turned around to scold Caine for doing that, but the AI had vanished. Pomni sighed and looked around.

“Ragatha? J-Jax?” Pomni called, walking forward in the dark. Why were the lights off?

“Heads up!” came the only warning call before Pomni’s face met something soft, startling her. BIFF!

The lights clicked on and Pomni looked down to see… a pillow? Just a regular pillow that had been thrown at her. She looked back up to see Ragatha making her way towards her.

“Jax, you didn’t need to do that! You could have hurt her!” the doll scolded.

“Calm your stitches, Ragdoll. It’s only a pillow. Couldn’t hurt the new sucker with one of these if I tried.” Jax muttered, the rabbit’s ear twitching a bit in slight annoyance. He couldn’t do anything fun here, geez.

“You aren’t hurt, are you Pomni?” Ragatha asked, gently searching her face for injury. Pomni shook her head, her nerves hitting her again.

“Why are we here? Why do you have pillows?” Pomni asked, noting that Ragatha was holding one too.

“Hey, Kinger wasn’t using ‘em for once. He’s enjoying his little bug buddies, so me and Ragdoll decided to come up with a plan to make ya relax more.” Jax responded.

“Are you familiar with the concept of a pillow fight, Pomni?” Ragatha gently asked, smiling softly at the jumpy joker with her pinwheel eyes.

Pomni racked her brains. She used to have pillow fights with friends back when she was little. But trying to remember her life in the real, human world was becoming more difficult by the day. Pomni didn’t want to forget, but it seemed like that was an eventuality. She couldn’t even remember her human name.

I don’t wanna forget. But I can’t remember.

“Hey, shortstack. You still in there?” Jax asked, getting bored at Pomni’s long silence. “Don’t tell me we gotta teach her what a pillow fight is.”

“Shut up, Jax. Pomni? You in there?” Ragatha asked, keeping her voice calm. “Pomni, come on out of there. Don’t fall down the rabbit hole again.”

“S-Sorry…” Pomni stammered, coming back to reality again. She already had blushing makeup on her avatar, but Pomni still felt a slight red rush claim her pale face.

“Don’t apologise, Pom. You’re gonna be okay. Promise.” Ragatha smiled, and Pomni felt her shoulders gently untense the tiniest bit. Ragatha was very comforting in this strange world of whimsical wonder.

“This is all so adorable, but can we get this goin’ already?” Jax asked, holding a pillow in his arms.

“Oh yeah. So Pomni, basically this is just a way of goofing off, having fun, y’know? We’re gonna have a pillow fight. Pick up that pillow over there and when I say go, we begin. Okay?”

“Alright, sure…” Pomni said, going to where Ragatha instructed and scooping her feathery weapon off the ground. The pillow felt weirdly comforting in her arms. Maybe she could keep it.

“Alright. And… go!” Ragatha called, the three of them immediately whirling their pillows around. Pomni got a good few shots on Jax because of her smaller height, only for Ragatha to even the score. Feathers were comically flying everywhere, showering the trio in a fluffy rain. Ragatha was giggling, Jax was snickering, and Pomni slowly joined this melody of laughter as they whacked each other with pillows. This was actually… fun!

But feathers tend to stick, my friends. Specifically, tend to stick on clothes. And the first one to feel this was Pomni. She began to feel something lightly brushing at her collarbones and neck. She stopped and put her pillow down to try and pull these feathers from her clothes. Which meant she was no longer on guard.

And Jax hit her with a pillow. But he had sneakily opened his pillowcase and upended the feathers inside Pomni’s clothes. Pomni squeaked and started to wriggle immediately, the feathers brushing and reaching to more places the longer she wriggled.

“Ha! You look like a moulting chicken, shortstack!” Jax teased. Pomni’s laughter grew louder as she could no longer remain standing, the jumpy jester now lying on the floor and giggling to herself as these feathers were stuck deep in her clothes.

Jax chuckled at Pomni’s little predicament. “Welp. Guess that’s feathers one, Pomni zero.”

“Jahahahax! It’s tickling! The f-feheheheathers! They’re tickling mehehe!” Pomni answered back. Ragatha chuckled and put her pillow down, approaching Pomni with Jax in tow.

“C’mere, Pomni. Try to hold still, and we’ll see if we can get these feathers out of your clothes.”

“Ah, c’mon. Can’t we just leave her like this, Ragdoll? It’s much funnier seeing her laugh, you know~” Jax protested, a particularly shrill squeal from Pomni cutting off the next thing he was going to say.

Ragatha wasn’t listening. She gently sat on the left side of Pomni, as Jax took the right side. The two flashed a cheeky smile down at Pomni, as Ragatha saw the amount of feathers stuck in Pomni’s clothes. In her collar, her shirt, her sleeves too. And all the while, Pomni was lost in a world of tickle-induced giggles.

“Hehehelp mehehe!” Pomni begged, causing Ragatha to chuckle as she held Pomni in her arms, while Jax reached for the feathers. He snuck his gloved hands up her shirt and grabbed some of the feathers. He began to slowly drag them down her stomach as he worked to pull them out, taking his sweet time just so he could hear more of Pomni’s laughter.

“Nohohoho, Jahahax! D-Don’t dohohoho thahahat!” Pomni squealed, trying her best to squirm, but Ragatha held her still. Pomni’s legs kicked in an effort to release some of that ticklish energy. Jax just laughed.

“We’re tryin’ to help ya, kid. And you just keep laughin’! What’s so funny, Pomni? Are these feathers t-t-tickling? Are they, Pomni?”

Pomni felt herself blush even more at Jax’s words.

“No teheheheasing!” Pomni squeaked, trying to cover her face. But then Ragatha simply held Pomni’s hands in hers, preventing her from shielding any tickle spots.

“Your smile is adorable, Pom-Pom. Tickle, tickle, giggly jester~” Ragatha cooed, smirking mischievously as Pomni’s laughter increased on hearing the nickname.

Pomni could barely fight back. These feathers tickled like anything, and Jax removing them so slowly was not helping. Pomni was lost in a world of tickly feathers, and she just couldn’t do anything but laugh and half-heartedly squirm in Ragatha’s arms.

Yet somewhere in the back of Pomni’s mind, she supposed this wasn’t the worst thing to happen to her in the circus. Not by a long shot. Compared to everything else that had happened, this was actually… nice.

“Enjoying yourself, Pomni?” Ragatha asked, gently smiling down at her. Pomni nodded, and relaxed in Ragatha’s arms as Jax removed the feathers, pulling the softest, most honey-sweet giggles out of Pomni’s mouth.

“Y-Yeaheheh. It tickles…” Pomni murmured, giggling up a storm. Ragatha smiled.

“I know, Pom-Pom. I know.”

“Got to admit, kid. This is kinda adorable.” Jax continued. “Alright. Flip her over for me, Ragdoll.”

“Not my name, but whatever.” Ragatha muttered, flipping Pomni so the jester now laid on her stomach. The movement made the feathers on Pomni’s back move. Pomni was pretty ticklish on her back, so the jester’s laughter spiked. “AH! They’re ohohon my bahahahack! Ah, gehehet them ohohohout, Jahahax! Please!”

“Goin’ as fast as I can, kid. Just don’t move~” Jax challenged, even as he grabbed one of them, lodged at the top of Pomni’s spine. He gripped the feather and slid it slowly down her spine, enjoying Pomni’s reaction. The jester was absolutely shaking with laughter!

“JAHAHAHAX! STOHOHOP IHIHIHIT!” Pomni shrieked.

“Ha! Are you kidding, I’m not stopping for anything, kid! You’re so ticklish, it’s hilarious!” Jax fired back, but he still removed the feather. Once that one was out of the way, there was only a few left. But they’d formed a clump. A very ticklish clump, if Pomni’s choked back laughter was anything to go by.

“Ooh, Pomni. Hold on to Ragdoll, this clump is right on your ticklish little back. I’m gonna have to get them all at once. Ready~?” Jax teased, making a show of cracking his knuckles dramatically as he leaned over Pomni’s back, his fingers wiggling in preparation.

Ragatha held Pomni’s sides as Jax dived in, grabbing the ball of feathers and slowly sliding them down Pomni’s back in an effort to pull them out. Pomni pounded her fists on the ground, tears in her eyes from how much it tickled. She squealed and laughed like never before.

Eventually Jax pulled out the clump of feathers, finally giving Pomni some relief from those maddeningly soft tickles. She relaxed and sighed as Ragatha softly ran her hands over Pomni’s back, getting rid of the ghost tickles as she helped the giggly jester up.

“You sure are ticklish, Pomni.” Ragatha chuckled. Jax nodded.

“All that yelling, though. Think I’m deaf.” Jax joked. Pomni rolled her eyes.

Yes, life in the Digital Circus was strange, random, and confusing. But honestly, it felt good for Pomni to laugh and forget her problems for a little, even if that meant being at the mercy of a bunch of feathers in the aftermath of a ferocious pillow fight.

“We gotta do this again. What do you say, shortstack?” Jax asked, smirking. Pomni chuckled and made a non-committal noise as she walked back to her room. When she reached it, she opened her door and laid on her bed, staring back up at the ceiling with a soft smile on her face.

Maybe they could do this again, indeed.

The End! Hope you enjoyed!

[ochrearia]

Emptiness of Dreams

Dear god okay there's like a billion bitches in here. No one talks and it's YS POV but there's. A billion

I don't know how to explain this any clearer. Read between the lines. This will make sense for the people that need to I promise. Just things I want to say but can't say directly.

BFs in this one-shot: PoPr!BF (Biff, mine), cs!BF (Beefer, mine), wyd!BF (Beef, Karl's), fc!BF (Boyf, Gold's), Cyborg!BF (Cyber, Gold's), sfa!BF (Peacock, Shed's), S2!BF (Bee, Isaac's), ourple!BF (Brooke, Isaac/VS Ourple Guy), idu!BF (BJ, Storm's), mixtape!BF (Bash, Kry's), fightin!BF (Mic, Lunar's), lca!BF (Bunny, Damien's), Yourself (YS)

Blue, Bastion, Baker, and Blake are mentioned but not physically present

He knew he had a problem. Well, that was quite the understatement really. He had a lot of problems. So many to the point where YS really couldn’t understand why any of them were still here. Broken people attracted more broken people, sure. Fine. But even other broken people still had enough logic to understand when someone was too broken, right? When there were things beyond anyone’s help. Tiring aspects that were just too much to keep thinking about. It was easy for others to stop thinking about it when it wasn’t them experiencing it. YS couldn’t stop thinking. Probably never would. Every time something slipped a little bit under the surface of the water he drowned so fast. And it was so shameful that everyone got to witness it. Felt inclined to help when really, at this point, maybe it was just better to let him drown proper.

The space in between dreams was usually empty. The more people tumbling into the space meant more things would pop up, stemming from the day’s thoughts and wishes. It was always nothing but empty whenever YS was here on his own. Nothing but cold fog. Nothing friendly, nothing warm, nothing all that safe. What did that say about his thoughts and wishes, huh?

But the usual emptiness of dreams wasn’t here this time. Not that this wasn’t meant to happen, it just hadn’t happened when YS was around. Mainly because he never really slept at the same time as anyone else aside from… an exception. He’d been going on for a few days without any real, proper sleep, and while he was an Angel, a supernatural being, there was still only so much he could take before his body completely crashed on him. Which was what happened here and now, a lucky outcome that it happened to be at a time where he should’ve been asleep anyway.

So many of his brothers were here. Half of them he suspected didn’t even realize where they were. And with so many selves came a blooming of the space in between dreams. Things, thoughts, safeties and wishes. Taking form as soft wisps of smoke, alien-like grass and flowers, lavender light coming from no visible source at all. The space here never had to make any sense to begin with. It was all just dreams, mashed together in a magic link across realities that wasn’t really supposed to exist. But it did. Might as well make something out of it.

Biff, of course. Biff was almost always here when YS was, and probably the most aware of what this place even was. Not like anyone truly knew its rules. But the longer you visit, the more you get in-tune with how some things work. YS knew some of his brothers had felt him arrive here and changed their paths entirely to cross with his. The others most likely didn’t know what was really happening and were just automatically drawn to a sense of familiarity. All leading back to him. What a nice thought.

Beef and Biff were wordlessly fighting with each other for who got the space in his arms. Idiots. No damn concept of sharing. If they wanted hugs all they ever had to do was ask. They would wake themselves up with this ridiculous tussle if they weren’t careful, but YS could see the playfulness of it in each of their faces. Silent brotherly fighting. Little bastards who cared a lot about each other but refused to admit it.

Boyf and Cyber were here too. Boyf had a secured spot on his left while Cyber lay sprawled rather unceremoniously across his legs. Something akin to the indignancy pile that YS had endured back when his reach only yielded him five brothers. Now, it was so much more. He wasn’t sure if Cyber really knew where he was, but it didn’t seem to matter. There were quiet purrs coming from him anyway. If YS was there, then nothing else mattered. A bit of a terrifying thought for YS- god, when would his brain just pick one? A constant tug-of-war between reveling in the fact he was that much of a safety to someone, and fearing being so damn important.

YS wasn’t really sure where he stood with a lot of his brothers. Which was so… stupid, wasn’t it? Why didn’t he know? They all had expressed some form of deep care for him thus far, from directly saying it to just small but meaningful actions. Choosing to let him stick around in their lives. A stray passing thought. Not looking at him like he was some sort of disgusting freak. Maybe that last one was the bare minimum but it didn’t matter to him. That was still the world in his eyes after everything.

Bash was behind him, asleep. Balancing him while they leaned back to back against each other. Now, YS loved all his brothers. That was true and it would stay true. And it was painfully obvious that he trusted some of them with different things. Was that shitty of him? Maybe. Certainly felt that way to him when he wanted everyone to feel equally important. But there were so many of them now. That wish might be an impossible task now. But maybe YS would burn himself out still trying to reach it. He never wanted to leave anyone on a metaphorical level of less importance somehow.

To his brothers, he felt love and that was clear. And he should stop worrying so much about the differences in each relationship. They were all the same person but they weren’t carbon copies of each other. It would be stupid to try to condense them all down to that. And where other brothers filled holes he desperately needed fixed, Bash sort of… balanced him. He shared similarities with many of them. There was something about his one older brother that was special. YS just wasn’t sure how to convey that. Or really… fairly approach Bash like he deserved for that matter. But for now in between dreams the connection helped dampen his worries. He hoped he could believe he mattered the way he was told he does soon with him.

Peacock was on YS’s right. He was dozing too, but even in that state YS could feel an insistence to stay as close as possible. Two angels taking comfort in each other. It was funny, being a Guardian Angel and having another angel seemingly be guarding him. Beefer was somewhere nearby too. In his dinosaur form, for some reason, but maybe it was because he had no idea what this place was. Walking around. Guarding. Not just him, but everyone here. Even Boyf, despite them never getting along. Truce in the dream space. BJ kept an eye on the dinosaur lumbering around in circles. He seemed very curious about the other versions that obviously weren’t human. That, and well, it didn’t seem like any of them had seen a living dinosaur before who’s also an alien at the same time. Despite the curiosity BJ kept close to YS as much as he could, when everyone else was already crowding him.

Bee and Brooke were here as well. Lying content in the alien-like grass of the dream plains they were all sitting in together. Brooke didn’t seem very content though. Worried, hesitant. YS hadn’t gotten to talk to him a lot, and the first encounter had gone just about as wrong as it possibly could. YS didn’t think Brooke liked him at all. He’d probably prefer to be somewhere else, and that was fair. He was going through a lot as far as the angel could tell. But despite the dislike he was sticking around. Not for his peace of mind, obviously. Probably just because Bash, Bee, and Beef were clearly happy to stay here. It was enough to let Brooke take a hesitant chance.

Mic and Bunny were very new to YS, but they had made it here too. Playing chase for the sake of playing. Joy in a space they didn’t know, but it was okay, nothing could really hurt them here except their own fears. But it was clear no one truly feared where they were. It was funny, Mic was very much a little brother to YS despite him being five years older than him. Somehow. 

Yeah, no. Bash was the only one who was getting away with any semblance of taking care of YS in an older-brother kind of way. And even then YS felt some sort of guilt he was letting anyone be responsible for him.

It was weird. All of them kind of took care of him in their own ways. Just something unique and different about each one. Balance with Bash. Loyalty with Beef. Understanding with Biff. Warmth with Peacock. The list could go on, really. Though in the end they all seemingly wanted him here. Here, amongst people. Wasn’t that weird? Why did they want him here, anyway? YS still couldn’t find an understanding of that. ‘Because they wanted to’? Why? Why choose that with no real benefit?

People were so confusing.

Most of them managed to end up here tonight. That’s never really happened before. YS wondered what was different about this night. Wondered if the ones missing were awake, or just in their own dreams instead of the space in between. Blake, Blue, Baker. Good lord, if Baker was awake he swore to god he better not be creating a kitchen disaster right now. YS wondered how long it would take to get properly through to Bastion as well. Everyone, always on his mind. So many to keep track of, sometimes it made his head spin. But he’d still find room to fit in more. He had a feeling he was going to meet more brothers in the near future anyway.

People, here. With him. For him, some of them might try to say. That couldn’t be true. People shouldn’t be here for him, not when everyone else was around. Felt weird to think he was some sort of priority. But he supposed he was a massive hypocrite too. Prioritizing everyone else as much as he could, trying his hardest to treat everyone equally, make them feel special because they were. But then flinched away if anyone tried to mirror his actions.

How dumb. YS wanted someone to do for him everything he did for others, but couldn’t even be thankful to accept that if someone tried. Nothing was ever good enough, huh? Ridiculous…

Beefer turned suddenly, red eyes boring directly into the angel. Knowing. Right… emotional walls didn’t work on that one. He could tell right away. He’d made a promise to try and think like that less. He was trying. It was just harder on some days than others.

People… here. Could he indulge in saying for him? Did he deserve that, though? Unsure on that part. Whether he said it or not wouldn’t change if it was true or not. A concept there, to sit in the back of his mind, surrounded by all these people. Did he have to keep himself so lonely? YS was so afraid to somehow hurt anyone here, everyone. But would keeping himself lonely make them happy? That might just hurt them too.

He knew one of them was terrified of him leaving. Just from one old conversation. That never really left his head. But there was still a little guilt there, making him even worry so clearly about that. YS was doing his best to keep to his word- that he wouldn’t leave. Even though things kept sliding downhill so fast some days.

Maybe none of them wanted him to leave. It’s not like he wanted to leave either. Sometimes his mind was cruel, though. It was hard to tell properly if anyone cared enough for him to stay some days. Like all the progress went back to zero. Wasn’t that so exhausting? To deal with someone who needed reassurance so often?

YS wouldn’t leave. For as long as they wanted him at all, he would stay.

He had a lot of problems. Maybe he himself was a problem and it might be time to admit that. Needing so much direct reassurance almost every day. That was a problem. And he should try harder to stop doing that because he clearly wasn’t trying hard enough. He would change completely for them, because he loved them.

Maybe that was another problem.

He was just a problem, wasn’t he?

But all of these brothers were here. Loving him. Him and his problems. And YS swore to spend the rest of his time here making up for it all. However short or long that time was allowed to be.

He loved his brothers. Maybe he shouldn’t love them this much when not much time has really passed. But he did anyway. YS loved his brothers. Maybe in another reality entirely, they were all friends. A reality YS could never find, but existed anyway. He hoped so.

Friends… he hoped so. 

[steam-beasts]

E2 Escapades - A short TAB rewrite

It was February 9th, 1924 on the Northwestern Railway, on the Island of Sodor; a little island just off of Barrow where railways thrived.

Down at Knapford, the railway's director, Richard Topham Hatt stood at the shunting yards. He had been standing there for about 35 minutes, occasionally checking his pocket watch. He let out a sigh, tapping his foot as his patience began to wear thin, but he tried not to show it. He looked at his pocket watch again – it was nearly 8 o'clock. They said on the phone that it would be here by now.

He then heard a whistle and looked around, only to be slightly disappointed when he saw Edward puffing along the track, shunting a particularly cheeky truck. "Teapot! Teapot!" It chanted before Edward gave it a biff "That's enough" he replied firmly, eliciting a yelp from the truck, which ceased the cheeky backtalk.

As Edward was about to see to the next truck, he noticed the Fat Director standing near the track. Curious, he took a moment to reverse and switch on to the track closest to the man.

"Good morning, Sir!" Edward whistled cheerfully. The Fat Director gazed up at him with a small smile "Ah, good morning to you too, Edward. Keeping the trucks in line as usual, I see" he replied observantly. The Larger Seagull chuckled "Yes, Sir. All the usual..."

A moment of silence passed before Edward spoke up again "Erm... pardon me for seeming intrusive here, Sir. But why are you standing here in the yard?" He asked. The director let out a sigh "No, no... it's quite alright, Edward. I'm simply just waiting for the new engine to arrive" he said. Edward's eyes widened at the words "new engine".

"The new engine, Sir?" Edward repeated, raising his eyebrow "Are you referring to the one that...well...was supposed to be here last year in November?"

"Indeed...Edward, you're a hardworking engine, and I appreciate you taking time out your schedule to shunt the coaches and trucks. But i have to acquire a new shunter at some point, you know" the stout gentleman said. Edward hummed in acknowledgement "I know, Sir. It hasn't been easy around here... especially since...Glynn went missing" he said, his tone more solemn.

The Fat Director grimaced at the mention of his first engine. Glynn was an engine the Fat Director made with his own bare hands back when he was a boy. Glynn was the original No.1 of the NWR, but just after No.5 was bought, he went missing one morning. They searched and searched, but eventually had to move on. The Fat Director soon had to begin a search for a new shunter, much to Edward's disappointment.

The stout man sighed sadly "I...I know, Edward. But it's been months and we must move on. I can't always have you or James being the temporary station pilot"

"Of course, Sir, I–"

"Did you call me, Sir?" A new voice suddenly called. Just then, up along the track beside Edward came a rebuilt L&YR Class 28 tender engine

He had an extended running board, a pony truck and was painted in a sleek black with red stripes. As the tender engine came to a screeching halt beside Edward, sparks flew from his wheels causing him and the Fat Director to wince.

"Honestly, James! Stop braking so harshly!" Edward hissed, still wincing a little. James rolled his eyes "Nonsense, Edward. My brakes are as fit as a fiddle!" He proclaimed smugly.

"Edward is right, James. Your brakes may be fine, but your brake blocks are not"

James stammered "But Sir! It's not MY fault that me and my brothers were made with wooden brake blocks!" The Fat Director groaned at James's excuse. Was James wrong? No. But the director did want to make a point on replacing those wooden brake blocks with metal ones. The screeching they made was awful.

"Anyway, when will the new engine be here? I'm getting tired of shunting those coaches!" James asked, quickly changing the topic.

The Fat Director lightened up "Well, from what I've been told, the engine is on its way. That is why I am standing here, after all"

Another thought flew into Edward's funnel "What type of engine is it, Sir? You never said what is was"

The Fat Director proudly smiled "Well, I decided that this railway needs a tank engine for a change! So that's why I've ordered an E2" he explained. He once again checked his pocket watch and coughed "Ahem! I'll be back, my boys. I'm just going off to check if the E2 in question is on his way" and with that, he turned heel and walked off. It was just Edward and James now.

"Huh...an E2. Never heard of it, what about you?" Grunted James. Edward hummed thoughtfully "Hmm, I have heard of them, but I've never seen one myself. They're very big tank engines from what I've been told. A bit bigger than a Gresley locomotive"

James guffawed "Wha- bigger than Gordon?!"

"Again, from what I've been told, yes"

Edward's fireman chimed in "Don't know if getting an E2 is a good idea though. I've been at the L.B.S.C.R and E2s are pretty bad at braking and struggle at getting around corners and bends..." He said with uncertainty.

James groaned at this "Great! As if we need another engine as useless as Henry!"

Edward scowled "James, Henry's not..."

Edward quickly fell silent as a sudden shrill whistle echoed in the air. It was a whistle neither engines recognised. If Edward had a physical heart, it would've skipped a beat. Just then, around the corner came an engine that neither engines had seen before. It HAD to be the new engine.

"Hello! Is this Knapford?" The engine called. The engine was about a mile away, but the K2 couldn't help but notice how fairly young the engine sounded. The young engine was puffing towards them at a fast pace, a little too fast for his liking.

"Is that supposed to be the Fat Director's new tank engine? He's quite small if you ask me" James remarked. The tank engine was getting close, and didn't seem to be stopping. Edward's driver was observant of this "He's getting pretty close, shouldn't his driver be putting on the brakes?" He murmured. It was only when the tank engine was just metres away when panic began to arise.

"Woah, wait– why isn't he stopping?! Stop! STOP!!" James cried. Is it a good time to mention that the engine was on James's track?

"STOP!!" James yelled out, frantically trying to reverse. The tank engine finally noticed what was happening and yelped "Ah! Wait! Driver, help!" He cried to the driver, looking frantic. At this point, even Edward was backing up. The engine looked frantic, seeming to forget how his own body worked.

The Larger Seagull knew enough was enough "Oh for Lady's sake, PUT ON YOUR BRAKES, BOY!!" He shouted sharply. The young tank engine quickly did as told and the sounds of his brakes screeching pierced the air. His brakes only slowed him down by a bit, he was still going at a fast pace "I can't stop!" The engine groaned.

That was it. In that moment, Edward decided to take matters into his own wheels. Coming up behind him were switch points. He looked over at the signalman and whistled "POINTS!"

The points were swiftly changed, which resulted in Edward reversing on to the same track as James and the engine.

Edward stopped, then began going forward, towards the engine. Within moments, he and the tank engine's buffers collided. At the same time, Edward put on his brakes, and that definitely seemed like a good move. In minutes, he managed to slow the new engine to a stop.

The tank engine and Edward took a moment to gather their breath, just gazing at each other. Their respective crews climbed out their cabs to catch their own breathes, giving Edward a moment to exams the new engine's appearance.

the tank engine was unexpectedly smaller than Edward thought he'd be, even smaller than him. The tank engine had six small wheels, a short, stumpy funnel, a short, stumpy boiler and a short, stumpy dome. He was painted in a dark teal livery, with white lining and his railway's initials on his side tank, along with his number on his bunker. The tank engine gave Edward a nervous smile "Um...hello!" he said sheepishly. Edward gave him a kind smile in return "Well...hullo' to you too"

The tank engine kept his nervous smile as he backed up a little to give him space "Sorry about that, i–"

"What was THAT about? You could've crashed into me!" James suddenly yelled, switching on to the next track. The engine was taken back, guilt in his eyes "I-I'm sorry! It's just that my brakes don't work well when I go fast, and–"

"Ahem!" Someone coughed. Everyone snapped their gazes and froze when they saw the Fat Director approaching them with his two assistants "What was all the noise about? I couldn't hear the stationmaster over all the screeching!" He boomed. The three gulped anxiously. But when the Fat Director's turned his attention to the new tank engine, he immediately forgot what he was mad about "Ah, my new tank engine! I see you've finally arrived!" He said, walking over to the tank engine.

The teal tank engine put on a smile "Hello...um...Sir" he greeted the director as he looked him up and down. However, the Fat Director's happy look soon turned into a confused one "Hmm..."

James raised an eyebrow "What's happening?"

"I don't know...something must be wrong" Edward whispered, glancing at the director's puzzled look. The tank engine became worried "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"To put it bluntly, yes... i ordered an L.B.S.C.R E2 tank engine. I didn't order any modified Jintys" he said, scratching his chin. The tank engine's eyes widened "What..? But I am an E2" The engine proclaimed, becoming confused.

"Well, I can't exactly agree with you until I know that there wasn't a mix up" The Fat Director then approached the crew "Now, you two. Is he lying?"

The driver shook his head "No, Sir. He's being truthful" the Fat Director's eyes narrowed as he glanced back at the supposed E2. He still wasn't fully convinced "Does he have his blueprints with him?"

"Yes, Sir. They're in the cab"

"Go get them"

The fireman nodded and dashed towards the engine's cab. A few minutes later, he climbed back down from the cab and handed the blueprints to the director. As soon as the Fat Director got to look at the blueprints, an awkward silence fell over them all. The director's eyes narrowed, then slowly widened.

"Well, I'll be damned. You ARE the E2 I ordered..." He said incredulously "You were designed by Lawson Billinton, correct?"

"Yes, Sir! Though, I've never seen him myself" the E2 replied earnestly

Edward and James gasped softly "Oh dear...i think Sir might've been tricked again.." the K2 thought dreadfully. Edward's fireman soon jogged over to get a look himself.

"Do you mind if I take a look, Sir?" The stout gentleman grunted and gave him the paper. After a moment of looking, the fireman looked as confused as the Fat Director "That can't be right... I've seen an E2 before, this blueprint design isn't even accurate... it all looks rushed"

The Fat Director hummed thoughtfully and glanced at the E2's driver "Pardon me, but who gave you these blueprints?"

"One of the workers. They were one of the guys who built him" he replied "He was completed not too long ago. Only a few months" the driver explained. Edward and James were shocked "Goodness, he's incredibly young" Edward muttered.

"I see..." the director hummed. After a moment of thought, the Fat Director looked back up at the tank engine and smiled "I apologise for the misunderstanding, um....?" He gestured for the engine's name.

"No problem, Sir. I'm Thomas" Thomas smiled, trying to ignore what just happened. The Fat Director chuckled "Alright then, Thomas. My name is Richard Topham Hatt, but you, as you know already, are to address me as 'Sir'. Understood?" He said.

"Yes, Sir. I will"

"Very good, now...how well do you fare at shunting, Thomas?" The stout gentleman asked. Thomas beamed "I'm getting good at it, Sir"

"Alright then, sounds splendid! Now, i must get back to my office. I am a busy man, you know. I'll let Edward show you around" said the Fat Director as he wandered up to Edward "Edward, can you also teach him while you're showing him around? I think Thomas needs a bit more experience... especially around Gordon" he whispered. Edward quietly agreed "I will do my best, Sir"

Thomas watched quietly as the railway director finally disappeared from view before looking back at Edward and James, who were staring at him. He raised an eyebrow "What? Do I have soot on my face or something? Why are you two staring?"

Edward's face flushed with embarrassment as he averted his gaze "Oh, um– pardon me, Thomas. It's just that you're...well...not as big as we thought you'd be. You're small, smaller than any of us"

Thomas took offense to this and wheeshed "Puh! Sorry for not reaching your expectations. But believe it or not, I was big enough to do my job at Brighton!" He replied snarkily. He wasn't expecting to meet more arrogant big engines so soon. He switched to another track and puffed away, huffing.

Edward's eyes widened "No, wait! That's not what I meant!" Edward said as he reversed to catch up with Thomas "I just meant you're not as big as we were told you'd be. It's alright if you're small! Look at me, I'm the smallest tender engine on this railway!"

Thomas's expression softened "Well, I may be small, but I'm very hardworking!"

Edward smiled softly "I'm sure you are. My name's Edward, by the way. But the director already mentioned that, didn't he?" he chuckled. Thomas chuckled "Nice to meet you, Edward. You're a lot kinder than all the other tender engines I've met. They just boss me around as soon as they see me!"

"...and I'm James!" Greeted the other tender engine.

“It’s nice to meet you both…I was told that I was going to be a station pilot here?”

Those words made Edward recall the director’s words “Ah, yes. Thomas, come with me. I’ll show you around the yards and the station. I’ll even show you our roundhouse shed up at Tidmouth, I’m sure that’s where you’ll be sleeping” he promised. Thomas whistled eagerly to that and followed Edward as he went to get himself turned around. James watched as they did so.

From that day on, Thomas showed everyone that even the littlest engines can be Really Useful.

[djs-sideblog-for-pog-trains]

so. um. @mean-scarlet-deceiver's post about thomas and henry's relationship has been living in my brain rent free for the past month and i have been turning over a scene for just as long.

so. i tried to write it. i hope you don't mind, jobey. and also you're right. they are Hard to get right. if i had to put an era on this i'd call it BG (Before Gordon).

about 1.5k, full fic under the cut

--- --- ---

Thomas keeps shooting glances at the sheds as he bustles around the yard.

It… the hired help from the other railway, the engines who are slightly too full of themselves for Thomas’ liking (and he’s made sure to let them know as such) have been talking loudly all morning, as they were getting ready to take their trains, about… the new engine.

Henry. Even if he couldn’t have remembered Henry’s name, the other two have been saying it loudly enough to carry around the yard that Thomas certainly has the picture now. And… Thomas’ lip curls as he hears their newest comment as he goes past.

“Hey!” he calls, boiling over, and the two hired engines look at him. “It’s 9am already. Are you going to actually go take your trains, or are you just going to sit and preen all day?”

“What would you know, little Thomas?” one of them calls back, all smarmy and smug. Thomas’ lip curls even more into a full on frown. Eugh. Tender engines.

“About running a railway on time?” Thomas snaps back. “Clearly more than you! Are you waiting for Sir Topham Hatt to personally invite you, or?”

They huff and sneer and pout at him, but they do still steam off one by one. However, they each shoot Henry a knowing and cruel side-eye as they go that makes Thomas bristle, despite himself.

Henry is still in his berth in the sheds. Well, he’s half-in, half-out. He only seemed to have made it so far before he… stopped. And he’s been going all sorts of shades of red as the others’ gossip had gotten louder and louder as he waited for his driver to return with an engineer of some sort.

Henry isn’t looking at Thomas now, but his eyes had snapped to the tank engine when Thomas had spoken up. He’s instead closed his eyes, puffed out his cheeks, and seems to be trying – and trying hard – to… to what? To move?

Thomas tries not to stare, as he moves trucks into the siding they’re expected to be found in. Why is he trying so hard?

Eventually, Henry does actually move – but he… Thomas frowns again. Henry moves backwards, back into the shed. The wheesh Henry lets out as he comes to a halt is limp and weak.

Henry has been here, what, all of a month, maybe two at this point. Thomas hasn’t heard… many kind things, actually, so far, which is weird because look at him. Henry’s huge – Henry’s the biggest engine Thomas has ever seen, and he’s surely powerful to boot.

But Henry… Well, Edward said that Henry is sick, and sick often.

“Why?” Thomas had asked, as they had approached the shed. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Thomas,” Edward had reprimanded, and that’s when Thomas had realised Henry was in earshot, and clearly trying to pretend he wasn’t.

And that had been that.

Thomas had seen Sir Topham Hatt come out of his office at the station to watch Henry’s comings and goings, and more often than not with a stormy expression on his face. And Thomas didn’t get that either. Problems get the stormy expression. Troublemakers get the stormy expressions (Thomas would know). And Henry seems… too…

Thomas biffs his truck ahead of him as he turns his thoughts over.

Too… quiet? Too wallpaper? Too chameleon? Too…?

He snorts to himself. Whatever Henry is, he’s too much of it. And certainly too much of it to be a troublemaker, not like those mainline engines. It’s not like Thomas has gotten to know Henry yet, and it’s not like Henry has given him the opportunity to, either: but Thomas doesn’t get the impression Henry wants to be trouble. But he has to be… there has to be something wrong here, otherwise the Fat Controller wouldn’t be so upset.

Thomas hears a sniff from behind him as he backs down his stretch of track, and realises it’s come from the sheds.

And Thomas sighs quietly. …Then again, if nothing was wrong, Henry wouldn’t be so upset either.

“Those two,” Thomas says, before he can think, and Henry has gone absolutely silent, eyes flicking over to Thomas as Thomas pauses on a nearby siding for just a moment. “Bloody wankers, the pair of them.”

The silence holds for another second or two, before Thomas is rewarded with a shaky laugh.

“…I noticed,” says Henry.

“All those mainline tossers, really,” Thomas continues, and he keeps talking even as his work takes him all around the yard, speaking up so Henry can still hear him. “I almost wish the Fat Controller wouldn’t hire them. Sure, we need more wheels on rails, but they don’t seem to know a blazing thing about this railway.”

Henry – in the shadow of the shed – purses his lips, before he lets out another sigh, another limp wheesh of steam.

“I would hardly say I do, either,” he says miserably.

Thomas frowns, and comes to a halt a little too sharply with a big woosh of steam.

“Of course you do,” he replies, indignant. Henry’s a big engine, he should- why would he say that?  Sure, Henry hasn’t been here long, but he’s a big engine, he should know plenty. “More than them, anyway.”

Henry sighs. He doesn’t argue, but Thomas’ fire flickers in annoyance as he can read of Henry’s face that Henry doesn’t agree either.

“I mean, you wouldn’t have been bought if-”

“Don’t.”

Thomas’ mouth hangs open for a second, before he closes it, blinks, and glances at Henry.

Henry looks even more upset. Great job, Thomas.

“I’m just saying-”

“Well, don’t,” Henry cuts him off again, sounding grumpier. And he’s gone from miserable to grumpy – that’s a win in Thomas’ book. “I’m particularly not in the mood to hear how I’d be more useful as a tin can.”

“The only tin cans around here are those self-important mainland pricks,” Thomas shoots back, and Henry side-eyes him – suspicious. “I’m not convinced they know what a timetable is, let alone how to read one. What kind of engine hangs around in the sheds when there’s work to… be…?”

Thomas trails off, and Henry… actually laughs. It’s tired and it’s bitter, but it’s a real laugh and it’s better than miserable.

“…Well, I want to assume you’re going to go work. When you can.”

“Optimism,” Henry says dryly. “I admire that in an engine.”

Thomas scrunches up his face. “I don’t understand you,” he says bluntly, in a way he’s sure Edward would scold him for if he was with them. “You’re miserable in the sheds, you’re miserable out on the line, you’re miserable doing nothing and you’re miserable pulling trains.”

Henry stares at Thomas for a moment, before his eyes flick away.

“If I could get out of this yard and actually pull trains, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Thomas says, far more dreamily than he’ meant to, and he cringes a little, chuffing out of where he can see Henry’s face, because he doesn’t need to hear an earful about it from another big engine.

“…You’re small,” Henry says, slowly, not accusatorily nor really condescendingly. He sounds more …confused than anything. “…And you’re useful, here.”

“And?” Thomas snaps back, defensive. “I could be useful anywhere.”

Henry’s silent for another moment, like he’s really chewing that statement over.

Then, eventually, he surprises Thomas by saying, “…I suppose you would be better than those two.”

And Thomas lets out a sharp bark of laughter, shooting Henry a grin as he goes by, and punctuating it with a hoot and a whistle – delighted. The enthusiasm makes Henry blink, before slowly, a smile of his own spreads across his face; one that sharpens to match Thomas’.

“You’re most certainly right! And besides. You let them get to you, you let them win,” Thomas agrees. “And they’re far too useless for that.”

Henry laughs again. Thomas lets out another peep-peep and a woosh of steam of his own, pleased to have earnt it. Footsteps crunch over the gravel of the yard, and Thomas spots Henry’s driver returning with a couple of engineers in tow before Henry does, and replies to their hellos as he bustles past.

“Hello, lad,” Henry’s driver says to Henry, patting his side. “We’ll have you right as rain in no-time, alright?"

Henry sighs again, but does actually smile back at his driver.

His driver blinks in fond surprise as the engineers get to work finding the newest problem. “You’re in good spirits, all of a sudden.” Then, he glances at Thomas as the tank engine goes past. “Making friends?”

“More so finding the only engine in this yard with a thought in his smokebox, it seems,” Henry says dryly, loud enough for Thomas to hear, and that makes Thomas snort in amusement.

He does call back, “Hey, now, be nice to Edward!”

And the engineers and Henry’s driver alike seem relieved when the two engines laugh together.

Thomas watches them work to get Henry’s steam up, and Henry’s finally pulling out of the sheds a good half-hour later. Thomas whistles goodbye as Henry chuffs away.

He smiles with the satisfaction of a job well done when Henry, completely of his own volition, whistles a goodbye in return as he disappears off down the line.

Then, Thomas returns to his trucks, and gives them a good biff once more, ignoring how this time, they really shriek. He – and Henry, he imagines – can’t wait for those mainlanders’ contracts to run out.

[twstinginthewind]

"I usually stick to jazz piano, but I think I can handle playing synesthesia instead!"

Octavinelle's favorite musical himbo has rolled onstage for NRC Music Fest, almost as if by accident. Sometimes being in the wrong place at the right time can be pretty rewarding, after all!

"Go get changed, Ibsen-sempai," groaned Azul, shaking his head. He waved a gloved hand in the direction of his tall upperclassman. "I can't have you representing the Mostro Lounge looking like that."

That was, as Lorne would miserably and uncharacteristically accurately put it, completely coated in the sauce. The caramel sauce that the Mostro employees were using to top off the coffee drinks they were selling at the music festival, specifically. And his dorm uniform was sticky, sweet, and drenched with the stuff. "Understood, housewarden. I'll be back ay-sappy." He gave Azul a pathetic, thankful look, murmured his apologies, and went on his way, leaving little puddles of caramel behind him.

(Vignette continues below the cut! Along with the song he's playing!)

He ducked into a dressing room inside the stadium, not far from where they were set up. Fortunately, there was no one there, and even more fortunate for him, there was a shower in the room. Desperate to deglaze himself, Lorne stepped into the little stall fully-clothed and began to rinse the caramel sauce off of his clothes. It didn't take very long, but he knew that Azul would be upset if he returned sopping wet, too. He wasn't about to test the octopus's patience. But what to change into....?

Wrapped in a towel, he began to look around the room. There wasn't much to choose from, he thought. A rack of costumes left behind by the film studies club were all smaller than what he could wear, and he wasn't about to swipe anyone else's school uniform. But then, he spotted it. The Janitor's closet. He stepped inside, and came back out wearing one of the additional jumpsuits that always seemed to populate these supply areas. A quick materials spell to have the colors complement his dorm outfit, and it was ready to go.

And then the dressing room door slammed open, letting in a few panicking underclassmen that Lorne had never met. "Jimothy's sick?" whined one, flinging himself onto one of the chairs.

"Yup," groaned another, clutching his guitar case like a life raft. "And we go on in twenty minutes. How are we supposed to do this without our keyboard player?"

".... uh, guys? The room's occupied," said the third, wide-eyed and quiet.

Lorne smiled weakly. "Uh, hi. I'm not here to... um. I just needed the shower, and..."

The guitarist looked at him, recognition slowly dawning in his eyes. "Rog, Biff, I think we have a solution. This is that guy who plays piano at Mostro, remember?"

"Kinda." The whiner looked at Lorne skeptically. "So what, Freddy?"

"Yeah, I don't follow, either," Lorne admitted.

Freddy put his guitar case down, and put an overly familiar hand onto Lorne's shoulder. "You can improvise, right, buddy? We need someone on synthesizer, like, immediately, and you're technically trespassing right now, AND, in stolen threads, to boot."

Lorne looked down at the borrowed jumpsuit and rubber boots and swallowed hard. He wished Jade were there, he could be clever and talk him out of this. Or Floyd, who would send these guys flying. But alone, he crumpled like a house of cards, despite that metaphor's appropriation from a different dormitory. Maybe collapsing like a deflated pufferfish? Disappearing like seafoam? He shook his head. "I'm sorry. What are you asking?"

"Will you play with our act, please?" asked the quiet kid, less menacingly than Freddy. "You can even use Jimothy's keyboard. We're kinda desperate."

Lorne blinked. "Oh, you want me to play music? I can do that, easy." He took a look at the offered keytar and slipped the strap over his shoulders. "I usually stick to jazz piano, but I think I can handle playing synesthesia instead!"

"Bro, what?"

"Dude, he said yes. Don't jinx it."

"So!" Lorne tapped out a few chords, suddenly much more cheerful. "What songs are we doing?"