#harriet put up with him the longest

[icarrymany]

headcanon time confucious is NOT allowed to drive. he would get a texting ticket or worse every day. nobody likes giving him rides either bc he is an aux hog with an awful music taste. the newly unfrozen clones learn real quick to just LET HIM WALK HOME.

[bethanydelleman]

Asks about my OTPs

Pick your top 10 OTPs without reading the questions, then answer the questions after you've made your list (I will do my top 10 Austen OTPs)

Catherine Morland & Henry Tilney

Fanny Price & Henry Crawford

Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy

Harriet Smith & Robert Martin

Caroline Bingley & Sir Walter Elliot

Elinor Dashwood & Edward Ferrars

Marianne Dashwood & Colonel Brandon

Emma Woodhouse & Jane Fairfax

Eleanor Tilney & her laundry Viscount

Sir Walter & Himself

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6? – When Edward comes to Barton and makes fun of Marianne's love of dead trees.

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2? – Yes, my favourite is Fanny: A Mansfield Park Story by Amelia Marie Logan, and I've written severa, including one full length novel.

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver? – Nope! Always my kids these days.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be? – This actually happens in FF quite a lot, people are always killing off Brandon early into the marriage and leaving Marianne with a baby. It makes me sad, let Brandon be happy! He's only 37 when they marry he probably has another 20 years at least! (Honestly, since Brandon has survived to his age, Marianne actually has a higher chance of passing away since she's the one making babies).

5. Why is 1 so important? – Because they are so uncomplicated and happy. Just two very cute people making a cute marriage and I would defend their ship to the ends of the earth.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship? – Um, it's a whole joke that Austen didn't reveal a new character because the new viscount made a laundry list that Catherine found. But I love Eleanor so much that I do seriously want her to be happy.

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry? – Henry & Catherine, Harriet & Robert I think? I may be a bad judge of "chemistry".

8. Out of all your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond? – Elinor & Edward, I'm always surprised how sure they are of the other's love in spite of of all the obstacles.

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom? - I honestly don't know at this point, I read Persuasion once as a teenager and I didn't like it but I LOVED Sir Walter. I've watched all the adaptations (including 1971) and I've read/listened to the book multiple times now.

10. Which ship has lasted the longest? – Sir Walter & himself obviously, that's been going strong for 54 years. I hope it continues until his death at 93. All the others are new pairings.

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up? – The only Austen couple to break up and get back together is Anne & Wentworth, so zero for Elinor & Edward.

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8? – Huh, Fanny & Henry or Emma & Jane? They both have a sickly member, which is not great for their odds... Emma is smart but often distracted which would be really bad but Jane is a devoted learner.... Henry would "improve" his estate with zombie moats... I'm voting for both Fanny and Emma don't make it and Henry Crawford & Jane Fairfax find their second true pairing together.

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason? – Colonel Brandon is attempting to hide his regard out of respect for Marianne and that's why I love him so much.

14. Is 4 still together? – Yes, eating walnuts and petting "her" little cow. Man they are cute!

15. Is 10 canon? – Yep! Though a bunch of the others aren't

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win? – I'm going to put my money on Colonel Brandon, who will do anything to save Marianne. He would be the Katniss and she is the Peeta.

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship? – Yes, Mr. Elliot has been trying to prevent Sir Walter from marrying again so he can inherit the baronetcy. He almost succeeds!

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond? –  Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney, they are the only couple I can't bring myself to break up in fan fiction.

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page? – Um, none? I end up seeing Elizabeth & Darcy stuff no matter what, I have tags on the lesser known Austen characters.

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink? – That is hard because these are my favourite, but I guess Emma can marry boring Knightley instead of having a torrid enemies-to-lovers affair with Jane Fairfax...

I'm not big on chain letters. Thank you @firawren for the tag, if anyone wants to try go ahead!

[beachy--head]

I posted 759 times in 2022

That's 759 more posts than 2021!

243 posts created (32%)

516 posts reblogged (68%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lonelypagess

@jenniferiawrence

@rose-marie-rose

@benwvatt

@thecountessofkilmartin

I tagged 703 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#japril - 267 posts

#ask - 186 posts

#april kepner - 152 posts

#jackson avery - 133 posts

#drabble - 101 posts

#grey's anatomy - 19 posts

#sarah drew - 19 posts

#b99 - 17 posts

#jesse williams - 16 posts

#japril ff - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#also if you're a slow watcher like me and don't want spoiler from the new season tell me and i'll stop reblogging tua stuff for a few weeks

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I know we're supposed to believe that once a character is off Grey's Anatomy, he stops interacting with the other characters, but you can't convince me that April Kepner doesn't regularly talk to Arizona and that they don't do girls weekends in NY or Boston. Or that she doesn't follow Cristina's career and doesn't send her flowers to congratulate her for her professional achievements. And you know she definitely managed to get Alex's address in Kansas and sends him Christmas cards every year. In return, Izzie has added the Averys to her Christmas cards list, and April can gush over how Eli looks just like Alex.

48 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

#4

Some Japril headcanons I have

– April's middle name is Elizabeth.

– When they were married, Jackson brought April to a Harper Avery gala, and April impressed Harper, though he never said it.

– When she was back in Moline, April named that pig Jax both because she missed her best friend AND because she was mad at him for not calling.

– Back at Mercy West, it was April who sneaked Catherine Avery in the gallery so she'd be able to watch Jackson's first surgery when they were interns. It was then that their friendship started. She never mentioned it to Jackson.

– April still corresponds with Reed's and Charles' parents and sends them a Christmas card every year, with a quick note. They are not ready to receive the next Christmas card, which features April, Jackson and Harriet in matching pyjamas and equally matching grins.

– Harriet can get almost anything she wants from her dad, because he's a big softie when it comes to her, something that April brings up all the time but not so secretely loves.

54 notes - Posted May 7, 2022

#3

"So this picture is Hattie, and this one is April, and this one is April and Hattie, and this one is April and Hattie and me, and this–"

54 notes - Posted October 26, 2022

#2

Jackson Avery's office pictures 🥹

55 notes - Posted November 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Random thoughts about Grey's 18x20

– Catherine making people eulogize her when she's still alive is such a Catherine move. Kinda wish we could have seen April's speech though, I bet it would have been amazing. Also, Harriet on her grandma's lap, looking at her dad is so precious.

– That scene between Amelia and April was so sweet. Sometimes love comes back around <3 I knew it from that line everything was fine.

– From Sarah's interviews I thought we were going to see April in the ER way more. What a shame to put her in charge of the pit only to close the hospital to trauma right away. Liked her scenes with Ben though.

– I knew we weren't going to have lots of japril scenes, but I wish they spent those scenes delving a bit more into what their life in Boston looks like. Let's say they kept that for the spinoff.

– Harriet on a sugar coma in her stroller is a mood. SO PRECIOUS.

– That elevator scene is everything I wanted and more. The fact that as soon as they stepped into the elevator he looked at her and his eyes never left her <3 Man is still whipped. Now let's release the whole scene!

– I'm a little underwhelmed tbh, even though that's mainly because I didn't lower my expectations, but the episode just left me wanting way, way more. The whole damn thing.

78 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mazegays]

I posted 445 times in 2022

That's 42 more posts than 2021!

21 posts created (5%)

424 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@its-tea-time-darling

@thominho-incorrectquotes

@highgaydrama

@un-ah

@thomallyweek

I tagged 422 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#remember that i love queue - 135 posts

#thominho - 78 posts

#thomas - 49 posts

#tea - 37 posts

#minho - 36 posts

#thomally - 29 posts

#thomallyweek2022 - 18 posts

#nalby - 18 posts

#newt - 17 posts

#gifs - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#while it's evolved over the years the basis of the theory still comes from 14yo me there is definitely room for improvement discussion etc

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

BTW if anyone has questions about my wips (the whumpy slowburn Thominally fic and the empath Thomas fic... that's what's actually typed up. for now) or questions about like. most other things too feel free to send them! I love getting asks and talking about fics lol

9 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

#4

@its-tea-time-darling

List five things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last ten people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity ✨💛🌻

okay like I have way more than five things so I'm going fandom-specific here lol

--writing collective headcanons/bouncing around ideas with my moots

--adding onto @thominho-incorrectquotes posts either in the tags or on the post itself

--literally anything that portrays Thomas as the 'gifted kid' he is: smart as all get-out with no social skills (also. adhd Thomas. bc I am adhd and so are all my fav characters. minho? gally? sonya? harriet? you bet!)

--the people on ao3 who pop up every once in a while as having kudos all of my tmr fics (even if they don't leave comments it's appreciated)

--when people come yell at me about my fics, whether here or ao3 idc just!! yell ur appreciation at me it is appreciated

10 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

@its-tea-time-darling

because this 40k fic isn't getting any shorter and it's looking less and less like slowburn with each section

wtf you have a thominally wip what the fuckwhatthefuckwhathesjxbhshdsjxbdbbsdbbd

yep! it started as a way to hit as many thomally week prompts as I could in one fic, and has expanded greatly since, leading into thominally. no idea when it'll be anywhere near done, because it's not now!

11 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

#2

@its-tea-time-darling

i may or may not have started on thominho week writing

yes!!! this is great news!!! i have not started on this year's yet but i literally just finished 2020's like 10 minutes ago so that counts for something right?

13 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

@monkey-d-momo

I wanted to know what you liked so much about my empath Thomas headcanon and if you're gonna publish your fic soon (no pressure or course, but like you, I really like this headcanon and I need more of it haha) Love you!

-thominho-incorrectquotes

okay, so you know when you read a prompt or smth and immediately have Ideas™️? That's what happened. I read your headcanons and was like: I need 500 fics about this immediately, and I have Ideas for one so I will write it myself.

Also, it's a different take on Thomas’s character, especially because we all see him as oblivious to, well, everything. Empath Thomas can be oblivious, but it has to be done differently, because he knows what people are feeling--he feels it himself. So maybe he doesn't trust his own emotions now, because while sometimes it's easy to tell that it's not his, he can’t always do that. Especially when they're very similar to what he's feeling. Hence Thomas sticking with logic and objectivity when he can, when he has time to think things through. He ignores everything he feels because he doesn't know what's his.

(This is not a good idea, Thomas.) He also doesn't talk to anyone about this in true Thomas fashion of questioning everything that's not personal, so as far as he knows, it's normal.

Minho eventually figures out that Thomas never seems to respond emotionally to anything, and they're a bunch of teenage boys stuck in a Maze. Like, emotional outbursts aren't super common but he’s never met someone who just... doesn't respond to anything. Ben's attack? Yeah, Thomas was scared, but then Ben was probably scared too (Thomas knows the anger didn't come from him.) So he hides his reactions as best he can and pretends they don't exist.

Minho figures out that Thomas can feel everything, and has no defense against it, when something happens to Thomas and Thomas, mostly out of it, tells Minho to stop worrying because it hurts.

(Thomas does not remember this, but part of the reason he sticks to the Deadheads to sleep here is because some of the Gladers have nightmares, which equals strong emotion, which overwhelms him and causes him physical pain.)

And so Minho starts trying to figure out how Thomas can block or mute others' emotions and help him trust his own again, but it’s a slow process, and then the Scorch happens and Denver happens and they don’t have time, and it turns out that Thomas has just been shoving everything behind mental shields and it's too much one day and well... that's definitely not a good thing.

This got a little long! I kind of focused on the whumpier side here but there is fluff that goes with it (and a definite happy ending).

As for the fic, the above is kind of where I'm planning on taking the longer version. The shorter verison, which will only be Fever Code Era, involves Minho figuring it out on his own and working to help Thomas. Then he gets sent to the Maze, and of course later Thomas does as well, which means all progress is reset re: managing empathic abilities. That will hopefully be done sometime next week, but my work schedule is still up in the air so no promises.

Thanks so much for the ask, Momo! 💜 Really hope I do this justice.

19 notes - Posted May 11, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[stillwnder]

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode

@ncvusaquila ASKED: Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

Yes! She has a gaggle of children that she looks after. She is a quintessential mother figure to the children of the jolly roger ( and some rogue kids from the docks), which is not saying much as she really doesn't know what she's doing.

The closest of these to her are her two half siblings: Harry and Calista Jane "CJ".

Harriet's relationship with CJ:

This is Harriet's baby. Not literally, but she did raise her from an infant as CJ was quite literally placed in her arms when Harriet was seven. Harriet dotes on her, but also is pretty brutal towards her. Harriet's perception of the Isle and the world around her is based off of the men around her as she has little access to meaningful relationships with other women. Harriet is hard on CJ simply because she doesn't want her sister to be hurt in any fashion. She has stepped in on multiple occasions and even hidden her sister to avoid as much pain for her as she can. It doesn't matter how old CJ gets, she's still 'Little 'Lista" to Harriet. CJ is also one of the only people who can be in Harriet's personal space without getting hit or without causing Harriet increased anxiety. Often times Harriet will fix CJ's hair, tying it back so no one can grab onto it or make sure she's eaten. I do think that Harriet's babying and hyper-protection of CJ has fed into CJ's loud and confident personality. Harriet made sure CJ was untouchable and has suffered greatly for it, but at the same time instilled a confidence and pride in her little sister. There is a potential for CJ to be embarrassed of Harriet's 'failure to thrive' stoicism and melancholy as Harriet is very old world and beaten down by her upbringing. This isn't to say that Harriet hasn't the capability to put the fear of god into her sister. She has on multiple occasions and even shot at CJ once with a rifle intentionally in the back of her shoulder. She sent Harry to fetch her back to the ship. They still have an active and friendly relationship into CJ's adulthood.

Harriet's relationship with Harry:

While not the first child in Harriet's care, outside of CJ, Harry has been with Harriet the longest. She may not remember her own mother, but she does remember Harry's. She has some very distinct opinions on that woman, but has yet to talk about her to Harry and wouldn't breach the topic unless he asked. Harry didn't get as much attention from Harriet as the other children did and it certainly shows. Their relationship begins to develop better when Harry turned six/seven and was being beaten by another member of the crew, with Harriet stepping up and taking the beating for him simply by getting involved. Much of their relationship from then on is Harriet forcibly removing Harry from dangerous situations, often getting hurt or assaulted in the process. Much of her time spent with Harry is spent stitching him back together or holding onto the back of his neck to keep him out of trouble. She does bolster his interests and 'healthier' outlets, her favorite is being the first person he tattooed. She has bird wings with the stick and poke method on her pointer finger and thumb. the tattoo is unfinished simply because of his beginner skill, but Harriet can still make the bird fly by opening and closing her finger and thumb. Their relationship is exceedingly close yet extensively strained. As harry gets older, Harriet does use him as more of a feral dog to sic on those she feels threatened by. Often times she doesn't even have to tell him. She's also always there to listen to him, and aboard the Jolly Roger has the upper hand in the power dynamic between them. The problem is that Harry grows up. He gets smart and does what Harriet can and could never do: he leaves. He joins Uma's crew and his loyalties are obviously shifted. The other thing Harriet notices now that he doesn't live on the Jolly Roger is how much like Hook he is. She's seen what Harry is capable of and feels very responsible for his anger and cruelty. He's a mirror of their father she's very scared of him because of this. They've both grown up in a very toxic and masculine environment. Of the two of them, Harriet is at a greater risk of coming to harm without him there for her. Under the right circumstances she's afraid he would hurt her. The power dynamic between them has shifted. If he came home to her and asked for her help or for whatever peace she used to give when they were kids she would provide for him, but the reality is that he's simply 'sir' like every other man in her life. The probability of a quiet familial moment for him to just be Harry again is very unlikely.

[truckreincarnation]

Minus World | Manami | 5.3

“S, so it’s not my usual MO…. big deal!!”

Thankfully, there’s something more dire that will demand everyone’s attention. A formal accusation, levied against someone she was already rather unhappy with for poking holes in her version of events. Harriet leaps in to deny it, and the heartache the gesture causes is nothing short of agony. But this act isn’t yet over. She still has a part to play.

“... Tear into me, as i have forced you to tear into each other time and time again. Find me, before I’m lost. This is my plea, my challenge.”

“That’s a deliciously dramatic invitation! Ocelottie’s got a really good sense for the flow of these things. We wouldn’t be here if they didn’t want to get caught… they could have simply sent everyone on their way, none the wiser to the truth. And while Calum was alive, he wouldn’t have let his precious pin die and progress or else it’d risk screwing up the whole operation, sooo… that kinda narrows down the possibilities, right?”

Manami takes a long, deep breath.

“Could it be Bian? I have to doubt it. That doesn’t really make sense to me. Nao neither. This isn’t the sort of thing I see either of them getting involved in. Totally would have told Calum to get bent way sooner. I think they'd probably be running the country by now if it WAS either of them.”

She fires off a pair of finger guns in their honour. She loves those weird goths! They’re so cool.

“What about Esmée? Hmm, how DOES she feel about trusting people? And, and! She would look super hot with a gun! Not to mention she went to all that trouble to uproot that damn tree… who can say! I feel… I really do feel bad for you, being used like that by Calamity and all its associates.”

She wants to take that offer. She wants to be friends again. She wants to close this out, once and for all, before they can even consider that. She needs to be the bad guy here. When that show is over and the curtain falls, maybe they can go back.

“Germain does seem like a good fit too, but then again, I’m sure half of you thought Theophania was the spy or something with how loud she was about hating this place. Just because a puzzle piece is a close shape, doesn’t mean you can cram it into any old gap! Since when do we all take the first suggestion and run with it like that...?

She winks at Germain with a big sharp toothy grin. She’s got your back, friendstie!

“And Avery… well, the Lynchpin was open-minded about working with me! Who’s to say that isn’t exactly what happened? Maybe the moniker was a more ironic sort of thing…? Maybe meeting friends like the people here was the last push into standing up to centuries of torment.”

She shrugs. Her expression reads ‘pressing X to doubt’ but she finds it only fair to put it forward and be open-minded about this.

“Shin, you’re… a weird case. A lot of what’s being suggested applies very much to you too. The Lynchpin is hiding their true shape. Who knows what kind of claws you might be hiding under there? I mean, I kind of feel like… you’d have just taken the L after you saw basically everyone here was like, half your physical age, but, well. They do clearly feel pretty guilty, and 200 years changes people”

Her stare at him is incredibly pointed. It’s a very similar sort of wide-eyed attentiveness, with maybe 25% less ogling.

“Vee… well. I believed it probably was her for the longest time, but even Ocelottie isn’t as pro-Calamity as she… um, pretended to be? So I really don’t know. I feel like she’s self-sacrificial enough to have not done this to us in the first place, but maybe her arm was twisted into having no choice…? And, possibly, may have even thought it was better than the alternative?”

She offers her a nervous grin(?) of apology(?) It’s a strange expression.

“And then there’s Yuliya. I’ve known for a while that she wants nothing to do with any of this, and I’d be surprised if that was an act. We still can’t rule her out entirely, but… I’d rather not drag her into this any more than absolutely need be, honestly. I gave my word on that a while ago, sooo..."

She claps all four of her hands together and inhales. It very much feels like she didn't stop to breathe for most of that.

“So! Tell me this, friends. Who, out of all of those people, strikes you most strongly as the sort of person who wants to be caught? Who wants to be punished? To be crucified, as it were!”

[isagrimorie]

[initial reactions] Doctor Who - Revolution of the Daleks

TLDR: I liked it! But I do have some nitpicks. But bottom line, I liked it! Especially the exit! 

Apologies going in, if it’s rambling and incoherent.

First off, I’m going to get my criticisms out of the way:

- They really need to hire these two people:

a) Sensitivity readers

b) They need to have people of color in charge of casting. Andy Pryor has done a great job casting people but. Since they opened up casting more actors of color to be more diverse... most people in guest roles die. So it ends up being Not A Great Look.

It’s the kind of breezy: We’re hiring more actors of color without really considering the optics of it. Colorblind casting in this way shouldn’t be colorblind. More diversity behind the scenes is needed, especially in casting.

Colorblind casting isn’t representation. Execs have to consider how it looks that a black man is helping create ‘Security Drones’ for the government.

c) I get why Jack Robertson lived, and I’m actually okay with it because I know Chibbs is going somewhere and he’s interconnecting Specials to be their own kind of continuity, so next Special or series we will have Robertson appearing. But I can’t believe the Doctor believed Robertson. Unless she’s really learned from not interfering with politics, but man I wish there’s more vindication to that. I do have a sense of where this is going though, more on that later.  

d) I wish they’d gone harder with the Dalek = Police thing.

e) I really kind of wish the Doctor escaped on her own.

And now for my thoughts and the happy!

RYAN! I LOVE RYAN. I LOVE RYAN BEING EMOTIONALLY MATURE AND PUSHING BACK ON THE DOCTOR. It felt... earned that they do and, Ryan’s always been the more hesitant of the three and the more grounded. I love that it’s Ryan that the Doctor confided in, I’ve always felt like Ryan was the one Thirteen connected to the most after Grace died. And I love his development, ever since Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos Ryan is the first to quote the Doctor back to herself from the guns rule and now here to ‘New can be scary’, reminding the Doctor of her own words.

But also, I love that Ryan felt more connected to Earth, with his friends. Yaz was always the one who looks to the horizon. I like that Ryan pushed back on the smokescreen the Doctor tried to put up. Ryan was tired of the smokescreen. He had 10 months to work on his feelings about it and realized... he liked being home.

I wish we saw more what they were doing at home, like what Chibnall wrote for the Ponds in Power of Three. I did see this was his arc he was building to.

I liked that Graham was torn but eventually his loyalties are with Ryan.

I honestly think the fam thought the Doctor was just gone for a week, her time.

Also: FINALLY A COMPANION EXIT WHERE THEY’RE THE ONES WHO WALK AWAY. And because it’s time.

NO MORE TRAPPED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE OR DYING OR BEING CONVERTED PLEASE. Anyway, that is why I was vindicated because I was getting pretty antsy at all the twitter posts almost gleeful at the thought of companion death.

Nope. No more please. No more world ending, universe ending, heartbreaking ends. I want a Jo Grant walk away, and that is what happened. (Er, I hope we don’t get a Tegan leaving from Yaz, though. Sad and disillusioned walk away).

Yaz. Oh, dear, Yaz, who seems to have tossed her career away running after the Doctor’s shining star. I loved her conversation with Jack, he was a nice contrast and sounding board. Also, Jack was much kinder to the Doctor because they didn’t miss each other, the Doctor (according to RTD’s retcon) deliberately left Jack on Satellite Five.

Yaz is willing to run and jump without looking because of the Doctor and I love that we got her feelings about this.

And, of course, the Doctor. The moment Ryan said she missed 10 months, I felt she knew the clock was ticking on her ‘fam’. She’s trying to be good to them and do right by them.

(The Doctor knows Ryan’s ready to leave, she knew it. She’s trying to be in denial about it. But she knows).

It’s a small detail but when she processed the ‘ten months’ bit, she quickly looked to Ryan. Because if it’s one of the subtext things around is that she wanted to be a better father to Ryan than his real dad. But she still skipped out on him unknowingly.

The way he just brushed it off, because the worst part is. Ryan is used to it.

It’s sad that the Doctor opening up to the fam was brought on after a decades’ long solitary, and probably a promise to be better. But, she calculated wrong, or the TARDIS deliberately chose to go to that time. Whatever the case, just when she’s opening up to them is when Ryan decided his time with the Doctor was at an end.

God, the moment when Thirteen said: “Mostly... angry.”

I felt this. hard.

I think it was @ssaalexblake​ who mentioned that Thirteen acknowledging she’s angry might help with all of Thirteen’s repressed anger issues. And I think these are baby steps towards that.

She’s actually been so angry for so long, but she kept pushing it down. Like I said, Thirteen, in a way, reminds me of Raylan Givens of Justified. People think he’s mild mannered, but as his ex-wife amicably opined, Raylan was the angriest man she knew.

And I feel this for this Doctor but at least, now she’s addressing it. The first step in fixing a problem, is identifying the problem.

This was made in 2019. Thirteen being in a repeating lockdown felt very 2020 to me. The things that made me go: Oof, was the Harry Potter thing, the Doctor’s always loved HP. Unfortunately it’s post-2020 hindsight where we go: whoof.

I love Thirteen still mouthing off and being obnoxious towards other Doctor Who baddies. The Weeping Angel thing is cool and so are the Silents. BUT ALSO THE DOCTOR CALLED THE P’TING TINY! AND SHE TRIED TO EAT THE PRISON BARS. 

And then, of course, being more obnoxious with the Daleks. It’s pretty clear the difference in rawness of the Doctor’s feelings for the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Daleks’s an old ember. Her feelings for them are ice cold. A purity of feeling. The Daleks are evil and she has no compunction on killing them, the Cybermen? More personal and a raw nerve.

She’s willing to be cold towards the Daleks. 

I really like that Yaz has more skin in the game, and she knows what she can lose now. And after her talking with Jack, after seeing his perspective on it, and from his words knows that sometimes the Doctor just disappears from people’s lives.

And I love the pushback:

Skewered.

But true because she is trying to stay still and be with the fam and not leave them. But the unfortunate truth is, the Doctor does run away, and the Doctor does leave people behind and a lot of the times, the Doctor doesn’t come back because they’re an emotional coward.

The thing about Thirteen is she’s probably the longest of the Doctors to not disappoint her companions. She’s always managed to stop bad guys and always been there for them.  It’s an impressive track record for the Doctor. She’s built herself up in their eyes as someone they can rely on, and then she failed them by not getting back to them in time.

It’s not her fault, and none of them know how long it’s been for the Doctor, by the way she’s asked them I feel like they think she’s only been gone for a week.

Honestly, I’m impressed how the Doctor didn’t make it about her -- being in prison for longer than they thought. She’s looking at it from their point of view, because she already knows what big leaps in time would affect her friends.

TBH Revolution of the Daleks felt like shades of Last Christmas in that the Doctor regretted missing out time with her companion/s. In Last Christmas, the Doctor got his time back with Clara, in RotD, time passed.

Back to the Doctor and the Daleks tho.

This reminded of Twelve’s: “You are monsters. That is the role you seem determined to play. So it seems I must play mine. The Man that stops the Monsters.”

(Look, Chibnall’s Moffat references aren’t as sledgehammer, but he does reference a lot of Moffat’s things.).

Except with Thirteen, I’m actually more terrified. Jodie does this thing where her eyes goes black and she kind of disappears into herself, this is what happened here. This promise isn’t actually good IMO.

This is not a comforting face. This is a ‘I’m gonna kill a whole boatload of Daleks face and I’m not sorry, in fact I might enjoy doing that’ face.

(And, a brief aside to Robertson, I feel like the Specials have their own kind of special ‘movie’ continuity and more of his story will play out in the Specials, where hopefully he will get his comeuppance because, to me, I feel that’s where it’s going. This is more groundwork laying.

I don’t like it when the Doctor interferes with Human affairs, especially government -- because look what happened with Harriet Jones and how the Doctor broke the Golden Age. Also, I don’t want real world leaders to exist in the Whoverse because I want them to have a completely different track from us. So. Yeah, New Year’s Specials have their ongoing storyline. I’m actually not mad about it, and I enjoy Mr. Big’s performance. He’s a sleezeball. A sleezeball that knows more now. (He isn’t T rump but he isn’t better either). At least I find him enjoyable and not outright offensive. I’m okay seeing him again for the next Specials. I hope next time he does get his comeuppance.)

Now, the goodbyes:

 The HUG.

We’ve been waiting for the Doctor to be more physically affectionate with the fam, and it took the Doctor being locked down for decades (maybe?), and Ryan and Graham leaving for her to hug them. And we’re all right, Thirteen gives great hugs.

The feeling Thirteen’s been running away from is here, sadness. It’s good that Yaz decided to stay other wise... she’s just going to run headlong into forgetting her problems, Doctor Style.

And again, learning and re-learning things: ‘It’s okay to be sad.’

Oh, Thirteen.

(Before Twelve, I don’t think I was this sympathetic to the Doctor -- no wait, I was with Nine. Ten and Eleven tested my patience but it’s with Twelve and Thirteen where I’m 100% invested in the Doctor.

I also love that they’re kind of soft touching the Timeless Child thing, and as someone on twitter mentioned, this feels like an examination of an adoption story. The Doctor is going to search for their identity, their home).

I honestly wish Jack stayed in the TARDIS with Thirteen and Yaz. Jack’s a great balance, especially pushing back at the Doctor and her tactics. Her NUCLEAR tactics. I am glad that the Doctor’s still a dick to Jack, not much of an asshole as they were when the Doctor was Ten but still a dick.

Also, one thing I really love about Barrowman is that when he’s in Doctor Who, he knows it’s not his show and he doesn’t showboat, and the man can showboat. 

I’d rather Jack than random guy that I didn’t even know was gonna happen until very late.

Anyway, TLDR to all this: I enjoyed this very much! Still a lot to be parsed through in things that needs to be parsed through as I mentioned, but on the whole? I loved it.

[geekkatsblog]

Reviewing Grey's Anatomy Episodes but this time its Season 17

(To those people on my page who don't watch Grey's Anatomy but are being subjected to this I'm so sorry but I really just like to vent about this show.)

Its season 17 now Yay.

They're dealing with the covid 19 pandemic and I'm sure the writers probably did lots of research to make sure that they had the most accurate representation of the situation in the hospitals and otherwise.

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First we're going to start with the love triangle that is Teddy, Tom and Owen.

Owen

Now this is in no way excusing what he's done in the past for the longest while I've loathed Owen Hunt but..... now I feel sorry for him. He saw he had a problem he went to therapy to get himself right, he was actually a good partner for once and communicated in his relationship, he took his time and didn't jump into marriage spontaneously and then Teddy cheated on him over but dial to be heard by everyone in the operating theater with Owen on their wedding day. (I don't want to sound bad but this might also be karma coming to but him in the ass.) I felt so much 2nd hand embarrassment for him and the pain he had in his face the whole time he pretended not to know about her cheating was just oof. I loved though the end where he drove away for the mean time I really do agree with him taking some time and space before he makes a decision. Most of the times he made a lot of sudden decisions that later came back to bite him.

Teddy

Oh Teddy, she used to be one of my favorite characters from a little after she came to the time she left but now they just carried her character so far down hill that it's hard to keep the same energy I had before, now. Everyone at Grey Sloan is on Owen's side and giving her the cold shoulder and she really wants everyone to mind their own business (I honestly agree though, you're in the middle of a pandemic mind your business and do your job now isn't the time to be shunning coworkers because they cheated.) However when she did explain her side I kinda understood it a bit better. It's still an awful thing to do but I know plenty of people who sabotage their own happiness because they aren't used to it. Hell I do it myself sometimes. But then I was also pissed when she just pretended she did nothing wrong at first. First thing first she acted kinda offended when Owen explained why he hadn't called to cancel the wedding to her. Was it kinda sus? The answer is yes but you literally cheated on him that same day, you needed the extra time sis. Not to mention the several time he hinted to her that he knew and gave her the chance to confess yet she lied through her teeth whenever he hinted at it and flat out lied again when he asked if she had anything to confess. I get the whole sabotage route but God was I happy when Owen got in his truck, drove off and left her.

Tom

I was honestly rooting for Tom in the beginning, despite him being a douche I knew deep down he had a heart somewhere, but I actually started to feel less sorry for him last season when he continued to sleep with Teddy despite knowing her situation which he pointed out to her several times and she still ignored it. I know he loves her but let's be honest, she's going to pick Owen as long as he decides to actually take her back and Tom will be left alone and heart broken with his $100000 worth of boxes in booties and a golf club to measure 6 ft distance between him and everyone else. Honestly I kinda saw a panic attack coming, if they're treating Teddy bad then they're probably treating him even more like crap based on the fact that no one besides Teddy, Catherine and maybe Amelia liked him to begin with. This may also be an unpopular opinion but I actually agree with Catherine for making him resign of chief of all chiefs his head hasn't and probably won't be in the game for a while. At least he still gets to be head of neuro. He bought a whole $100000 dollars in booties alone by mistake during an already tough pandemic between that and everything else going on around him I'm not surprised he broke. What did surprise me was that no one even went near him to help even after the attack was finished. Dislike him or not at least ask him how he's doing geeze.

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Jo and Jackson (Never thought I'd have to put the two of them together in a title.)

Truly the biggest shock of the night besides the trailer for next week which I will freak out about later.

Jo

So Jo has decided that in order for her to feel herself again she has to do the devils tango with someone and because they're in a pandemic and she trusts him she chose Jackson. The night of the appointment to do the deed Jo ends up crying in his mouth. The way she treated him afterwards at first was a little uncalled for in my opinion, I mean she was the one who asked for the favor. But later they talked and it was all cool again. Jo didn't really have that big of a plot this episode so not too much to talk about.

Jackson

Agreed way to quickly to doing the devils tango with Jo if you ask me. Seems a little sus. I really hope they aren't rushing him and Jo into anything give the girl some room to breath and also give Jackson a proper plot he seems to be a plot filler for everyone right now like they have no real purpose for him on the show at the moment. I'm beginning to really think that he was the one who was supposed to die last season. I really do love his and Richard's relationship. Jackson never really had a good father and Webber seems to be filling that spot quite nicely. Him pushing Webber to fight to get better and convince him that his career can be saved was heartwarming. And can we take a moment to talk about Harriet finally appearing from the world of Narnia to bless us with her presence? And boy was she a blessing. That baby that plays Harriet was awesome from her repeating Vic saying she can't be a step mom all to her facial expressions. I hope to see baby Harriet again very soon. But speaking of Vic, did she not know that Jackson was a father? How the hell did she expect to never run into her at some point? Then there's the whole question of what did she even expect of the relationship with Jackson if she never intended to even try to accept being around his daughter? also if she really want to be Robbie Rotten from Lazy town and avoid being around kids, maybe she should call or text first instead of showing up in just a fluffy jacket and nothing else.

___________________________________________

Deluca

Glad to see he finally got the help he needed and is back put tho work. I felt so upset last season when everyone just treated him like crap without trying to help him, but they made up for it a little by trying to help him with the intervention. He was also right about the sex trafficking case and I was so glad to see that he was able to be there as her doctor. Plus he's now also finally in dark blue scrubs it has felt like forever before he got those but I digress. He is now on his way once again to be a kick ass surgeon with the awesome skills hes already showcasing. I just hope he continues to look after himself. Deluca shine like the star you are babe.

___________________________________________

Maggie

Has finally found a man who understands her, he is so nice and kind and caring the whole episode I was mentally yelling go get it hun to the screen. She deserves someone who can take her seriously and understand her awkwardness as well as her tendencies finally she has stepped out of the role of cheerleader and support character and is branching out to something else and I'm here for it. And her yelling at Catherine, to share her piece of mind. I was so proud. Go get it sis.

___________________________________________

Richard

Richard Webber is back in the building, finally the king has returned to himself and already solving problems in day one. At the beginning when he publicly called Catherine a pain in the ass I was so stoked I finally thought that he was done being pushed around by her but then he took her back in the end it also kinda felt like she bought him in order to get him back with the hiring him as the new chief of chiefs but I wish them the best of luck, Webber deserves to be happy. I was also happy to see him and Bailey interacting like friends again. For a while it was awkward between them but now it's like the balance has been restored. Side note, him laughing at Teddy and Owen made me laugh so loudly especially when he asked Teddy if her name was still Altman despite the fact he clearly knew about the phonecall drama, not gonna lie I'd do the same.

___________________________________________

Catherine

Not much there, just her being angry at the pandemic and loss of money, lack of power to save lives as well as trying to win Webber back which she successfully did after firing Koracick and giving Richard his job and finally giving him a heartfelt apology without being petty.

___________________________________________

Bailey

It might just be me but so far despite the fact that it's only been 2 episodes. Bailey seems somewhat better this season. Her guilt over Deluca was definitely warranted but at least she tried to make up for it (and just like Harriet her OCD has decided to rejoin us for a visit from Narnia.) For the past few seasons she's been a slight pain but now she seems more like herself.

Her and Ben are adorable as usual, coming every 12 hours to clap for the doctors just to see her then the cute hand signals they made for each other, between Ben, Link and recently added to the group of awesome partners Winston, I'm beginning to wonder where I can find me one of these super thoughtful understanding handsome men. The two guys that knocked her over as well spraining her ankle really should have to pay or something or at least apologize, they literally just knocked a doctor off her feet and made her wheel chair bound, the chief ro be exact. Her and Webber are on talking terms and well again but she really needs to know how to express concern better. She once told Ben that when she's scared she yells but a lot of things would have gone a lot more smoothly if she'd just reminded him he was a high risk for covid and state her concern for him to begin with instead of barking out orders.

I'm also wondering if shes going to be able to handle the whole Covid situation so well for the whole time, with all the chaos and disorganization with the whole ordeal not to mention the whole fit she had with the germs in the episode. I think it'll be a good storyline now that Grey's seems to be bringing mental awareness back up.

___________________________________________

Link and Amelia

They have now officially reached my list along with Ben and Bailey and a few others that are no longer on the show that have reached the stage of killing the couple goals on this show.

Despite the fact that they're not only raising their own baby but also Bailey, Ellis and Zola yet their relationship is still solid. I'm so proud of my baby Amelia she has come a long way from the woman who didn't even want kids to begin with.

I loved the fact that he wasn't upset over her forgetting his birthday and acted like nothing was wrong, just so she wouldn't feel bad about forgetting. I would have been livid set a reminder on your phone babes. Either way she definitely made up for it later with the whole redoing his birthday thing. Also welcome to the world Scout. Looking forward to seeing them more often.

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Levi

How did it all turn so bad, Nico has turned into such a jerk at this point I'm not even sure I'd be to upset if he left if it wasn't for the fact that I ship the person he was before and Levi so much I'm still hoping that they'll go back to how they were before Nico became a lying hypocrite. At the end I was practically begging Levi to push him away, Nico doesn't deserve it not after the way he treated him and he hasn't even shown a hint of remorse to this day.

___________________________________________

Meredith

The biggest shock of the whole episode. I honestly knew something was going to happen to her from the time she fell asleep and started the dream on the beach. Dreaming of beaches have never been a good sign on Grey's I just thought she was going to collapse from stress because she really had been pushing herself all episode. The thing with Meredith is that she cares so much for her patients and does anything she can to save them, but based on the preview of the next episode and the tests they showed it doesn't seem to be test. And let's just talk about that huge bombshell they dropped by bringing back Derek I never thought I'd see Patrick Dempsey on the show again. By the end of the episode I was already literally shaking in anticipation for the next episode. I know they can't kill Meredith, without her there literally is no Grey's Anatomy. That being said I really hope they don't give her cancer, (I know Patrick is involved with helping a charity for cancer.) And I also really hope she isn't getting alzheimers I just hope it's nothing serious in general. She's been through enough man. I just want this to be a really touching moment where I get to see Merder have some touching moments and it doesn't end up to be Izzie and Denny all over again. I don't think anyone is ready to handle that. I read in a spoiler that there's supposed to be some more visitors arriving on the beach and I'm stoked for it so I really hope it's a real spoiler I'm tired of rewatching the newer seasons to experience some of the old joy.

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Imma need them to give that intern Perez an official recurring contract for the show because he is currently one of the best things to come on that show in years. He's a breath of fresh air.

[peterspideyy]

chapter 13 | never look back

series masterlist 

previous chapter ~ next chapter  

————

your voice was raw, from the amount of screaming you’ve done. your wrists were fragile, from you banging the handcuffs against the chair, in hopes your friends could hear you.

“get the door open!”

“hurry!”

after being captured by wckd for six months (it felt more like six years), you could hardly remember your friends voices. your friends faces. thomas. newt. peter.

you could hardly remember, the rush of love you felt when peter looked at you, like you were the only thing in the world, worth looking at. you could hardly remember, the rush of warmth you felt when he kissed you. touched you. and you hate how wckd ripped you apart, from the love of your life.

the only thing you could remember though, was when you were taken. peter’s broken screams. his harsh tears. him trying to fight his way out of vince’s grasp, to get to the one thing that keeps him going. you.

but now, after six months, he’s right behind the door.

at the back on the carriage, with hundreds of children infront of you, with them being separated from their loved ones too, you felt your throat close up, in anticipation, as you saw the door open.

thomas walked in first. your own brother; you couldn’t help the tears starting to fall. newt followed in after, and you were about to shout their names, but froze once you saw peter, walk in.

you couldn’t explain the feeling you felt, when you saw him. you noticed how different he looked. his hair was a bit longer; it looked more softer and curlier, than last time. he looked a bit older, despite being apart for only a couple of months. his clothes were new. however, they were still worn down.

but, no matter what he looked like now, he was still your peter.

they walked up, looking at everyone’s faces, before stopping at aris and sonya who were a bit ahead of you. thomas hugged him slightly, checking if he was okay, before harriet came with bolt cutters, freeing them both, before they all hugged.

“it’s okay, you guys are okay-“

he stopped talking to the other children, once he met your eyes and he froze.

“y/n?” he croaked, and peter’s face lifted up from aris, at the sound of your name.

thomas rushed over, and all you could do was sob, as he wrapped his arms around you, “oh my god, y/n? thank god you’re okay.”

“get the bolt cutters!” newt ordered, making harriet run towards you, smiling slightly, before freeing you. standing up, you hugged your brother properly, as he stroked your back gently. pulling away, you looked at newt, before he pulled you into a tight hug.

“thought we would never bloody see you again.” he mumbled against your shoulder. he pulled back grinning, before moving to the side respectively to reveal, peter.

he was starring at you the whole time, unable to move as he felt different emotions rush into him at once. happiness. sadness. love. relief. he didn’t know, but he couldn’t breath at the sight of you. he thought you died. and he hated that, that thought even crossed his mind. but, it did.

“peter?” you whispered, and the sound of his name coming from you, snapped him out of his trance.

instantly, he placed his hands on your cheek, before leaning in to kiss you. you pulled his collar closer to you, deepening it, as you felt tears from both of you, land on each other’s clothes. but you both didn’t care. you only cared about each other.

“i-i thought i lost you.” he whispered, not once breaking away. seconds passed, and he pulled back, laughing, as he was overcome with so much love and adoration for you.

“i love you.” he croaked, kissing you again.

“i love you too.” you mumbled, against his lips.

he pulled back, stroking your cheek softly, before frowning, at the sight of your black-eye under your right eye.

“what happened, darling?”

you shook your head, “i’ll tell you later.”

you turned around, watching as thomas kept on looking for minho, and you felt your heart drop, and all the happiness you felt, be washed away.

“he’s not here.”

————

“took you guys long enough to rescue us.” aris said, while harriet gave you a cup of water. smiling at her, you took a gulp, sighing as you felt your throat relax, from the cold water. you were exhausted. mentally and physically. but, being here, with everyone, made you so estatic.

“good to see you too, buddy.” thomas replied, making aris chuckle.

“what happened?” he asked, looking at you and aris, gesturing to both of your eyes.

“fought back. tried to anyway.” aris mumbled, looking at sonya.

“what happened with you?” peter asked from beside you, with his arm wrapped around your waist.

“when aris fought back, i tried too as well. but, janson saw me, and punched me. think he’s been wanting to that for a while.” you laughed, as you felt peter’s grip on you tighten slightly, once he heard you say you were punched.

“you’re lucky you found us at all,” sonya started, “they got us to move a lot. feel like something big was happening.”

“any idea where they were heading?” newt questioned.

“all i know is, they kept talking about a city.” aris replied.

thomas looked at newt, eyes wide.

“i didn’t think there were any cities left.” harriet said, looking at you all.

“that’s because there aren’t. not still standing anyway.” brenda commented.

“wait,” thomas spoke, “what about minho? why wasn’t he on the train?”

you looked down, “i’m sorry thomas.”

he furrowed his brows, waiting for you to continue.

“he was.”

————

“there,” thomas spoke, pointing at a map, “that’s it. it’s a few hundred miles. based on the railways, aris told us, that’s gotta be where they’re heading. that’s were they’re taking minho. we take everyone who can fight. follow roads where we can. we can make it back within a week.”

vince looked at him, “a week? it took us six months to get here. we’ve got over a hundred kids here now. we can’t just hang out here forever, after what we just pulled. you wanna wander off to some random point on the map, you don’t know what’s there.”

“i do,” jorge inturrupted, making you all look at him, “it’s been a few years, but, i’ve been there. the last city. that’s what wckd calls it. it was our homebase of operations. if that city is still standing, that’s the last place you wanna go, hermano. that’s the lions den.”

thomas shook his head, “it’s nothing we haven’t done before.”

“yeah with months of planning,” vince added, “reliable information. the element of surprise. none of which we have now.”

“vince, i’ve thought this through-“

“-hey,” vince inturrupted, “last time we went off the rails, i lost everything! you remember that?”

thomas looked down, before looking at you.

“look,” vince carried on, “i know it’s minho, alright, but you can’t ask me to put those kids on the line, for one man. i won’t do it.”

you looked at peter. you could at least try. minho would do the same for any of you.

suddenly, the radio came on, causing voices to be heard, mumbling slightly. you furrowed your brows, looking at everyone. what was it? instantly, you heard the faint noise of a berg in the distance.

“shit.” you whispered.

“get the lights!” thomas shouted, as you all rushed off in different directions, to turn all the lights off.

you ran outside, watching as one by one each light came off in the main building, while children screamed. turning around, eyes wide, you saw two bergs, searching buildings, about a mile away.

“they’re getting close.” vince commented.

“your right. we can’t stay here.” thomas replied, looking at him, before turning back to watch the berg’s fly away. vince walked off, leaving you, peter, newt and thomas starring off in the distance.

————

“you’ve got to be kidding me, if you think i’m going to stay here.”

“you’ve got to be kidding me, if you think i’ll let you come!” peter argued back, closing the boot of the car.

“i’m not letting you go without me. it’ll be dangerous.” you replied, sighing heavily.

he looked at you, “which is why i don’t want you to come. y/n, i’ve just got you back. i don’t want to loose you again.”

“please, pete. i don’t want to stay here, with you not by my side.”

he walked towards you, placing his hands on your cheeks, starring at you deeply, “look, you’ll be safe here. i’ll only be a week. i don’t want to put you in danger’s way. you mean too much to me, for that to happen.”

“i don’t want you to be alone in this.”

“he won’t be,” newt interrupted from the car, making you both look at him, “me and fry will be with him.”

you gave newt a harsh stare, silently asking him to shut up, before he put his hands up, mumbling a ‘sorry’, as he got back in the car.

you placed your hand on peter’s chest, stroking his top softly, looking up at him, “there were three things that kept me going when i was captured. you, everyone here and minho. making sure he’s safe and free, is something i want to be apart of. minho is one of my longest friends, okay? we ran the maze together, everyday. do you not think i should at least get the chance, to save him? something you know he would do, if it was one of us in his situation?”

peter looked down, frowning slightly, as he took in your words. he knew you were right. he wants to save minho too. but, he just can’t help be feel like he is placing unnecessary danger on you. danger which could be prevented, if you stay.

“please?” you pouted, giving him puppy eyes. he sighed, before nodding slightly, making you smile.

“but,” he started, leaning down to kiss your forehead, “you stay by my side, okay? promise me, you won’t leave me?”

“promise.” you smiled, pecking his cheek quickly, before turning around at the sight of your brother packing his bag, walking towards you all. well, unbeknownst to him.

“where do you think your going then?” newt asked, switching the lamp on.

thomas sighed, “newt i-“

“don’t be a twat about it,” he interrupted, walking towards him, “i’m already in. come on.”

thomas shook his head, “no. not this time. look, even if we find minho, it doesn’t guarantee we make it back from this.”

“you’ll need all the help you can get then won’t you.” newt smiled, before opening the door, making fry poke his head out, while you and peter opened the back door, looking at him.

thomas laughed, shaking his head, before stopping at the sight of you, “y/n? no. you’re definitely not coming.”

“please, don’t argue over her not coming or not. i’ve already had to listen to these two love birds argue over it.” fry complained, making you and peter roll your eyes.

“i’m already coming, thomas. you can’t change my mind. we started this together, may as well end it that way too.” you shrugged, smiling at him.

“okay. let’s go and get him back.”

————

“i don’t want to come across as too negative, but if i was a crank, that’s exactly where i would be.” peter spoke, making you nod in agreement.

looking at the tunnel in-front of you, you could hardly see the light from the other side, as well as what was in it. peter was right though. that tunnel is probably filled with cranks. and you’re not particularly fond with going in it

thomas looked at the map in his hands, before glancing up at the tunnel again, “the only way to the last city, is through the tunnel. there’s no way to get to it around it.”

glancing at peter, he squeezed your hand reassuringly still looking ahead, before you looked at the tunnel again.

“alright,” newt began, “i get shotgun.”

he walked off, getting into the car, before you all followed. fry turned around in the driver’s seat, looking at you all. you nodded, patting his shoulder, before you leant back in the back seat, with thomas and peter on either side of you. he started the car, mumbling an ‘here we go’, before driving slowly into the dark abyss. newt got his flashlight out, pointing it around the tunnel, looking for any signs of cranks.

“just take it nice and slow.” peter mumbled.

swerving in and out of run-down cars, you all looked out of the windows, for anything. the car stopped insantly, and you looked in-front to see one crank, standing in the middle of the road, screeching slightly.

“it’s okay, it’s just one,” thomas spoke, “take it slow. go around ‘em. we’ll be fine.”

fry turned around, “take it slow. alright.”

newt turned his flashlight off, rolling his window up.

suddenly, thomas jumped into you, and before you could ask what’s happened, a woman was banging on the window, “please. help me!”

peter then jumped into your side, turning to see another crank, trying to open the door.

“fry, we’ve gotta go.” thomas ordered.

before you knew it, you were surrounded by cranks, screeching and trying to open the car doors.

“floor it, fry!”

“come on!”

as he started the car again, zooming off, a crank jumped onto the front, punching the main window, causing it to crack slightly.

“come on, fry, shake him!” thomas shouted.

“hang on!” fry spoke, swerving the car over, and knocking the crank off with a parked truck. the crank fell off, as you all turned around, watching the crank fall on the floor. turning back around, your smile fell, as you saw an object in the middle of the road.

“fry! watch out!” you screamed, but it was too late. the car drove over the object, causing the car to flip upside down.

you coughed loudly, eyes still closed, as your head was pulsing in pain.

“everyone okay?” your brother asked beside you, making everyone hum.

peter turned to face you, “you okay?”

“my head hurts, a bit. but, i’m fine. are you?”

he nodded slightly, “yeah.”

“fry, cover your eyes.” thomas spoke, as he kicked the window off his door, while he climbed out. he tried to open fry’s door, but it was jammed.

“come out the other side.” he spoke, going around the car. newt fell out the door, coughing slightly, as thomas helped him up. as fry was climbing out, thomas helped you and peter out. you furrowed your brows, as you saw peter clutch onto his arm tightly, but you were interrupted by cranks screeching loudly at you.

wipping your head up, your eyes went wide at the sight of a crank, charging towards you all. peter moved his coat out of the way, looking down at his gun holster, before he mumbled a ‘shit’, once he realised it was still in the car. fry was still kneeling by the car, reaching into it as if he was trying to reach for something.

“fry, we’ve gotta move now!” newt shouted, as the crank was getting closer to you all.

“fry!” you urged.

“hold on!” he replied.

peter pushed you behind him, as the crank was a couple of feet away from you, before suddenly fry stood up, shooting in with his rifle.

“nice shot, fry.” thomas mumbled.

“thanks-“

he was interrupted by more screeching, and your heart dropped at the sight of at least 30 cranks running towards you. peter patted your shoulder quickly, signalling how you should run. turning around, while fry stayed shooting at the cranks, you started to run. but, you suddenly froze, at the sight of more cranks ahead of you. fry started shooting either side, with the help of thomas, ordering which direction he should go.

“i’m out!” he panicked, as he saw no more bullets in the gun.

the cranks were getting closer and closer to you, either side.

was this the end for you all, already?

————

a/n- thanks for reading the first chapter on the death cure! i can’t belive we’re on the last film/book already!

————

taglist-

@dreamofaprilsblog @parkersbliss @missmulti @rubberducky-jrr @serasara809 @parkersdarling @euphoniumpets @whatthefuckimbisexual @parkeret @juliebean247​ @used-avocado​ @justahockeylover @jjmaybankswif @annoylinglyaries @24kbucky @hufflepuff-always-and-forever @agent-curt-mega @5sosupernatural

[charmedglass]

{ Rwby spoilers ahead! I do work so I probably won’t be on much today, but I really wanted to lay out my thoughts before then.

                                    You know the drill! You hit the read more, then I’m not liable for your spoilers.

                          Sooo, overall, I can say I both liked and disliked bits and pieces of this episode. Let’s break it down. What I absolutely love, loved right off the bat no questions asked.

                             Starting off with Ambrosius. I’m loving that rwby is keeping true to the myths that Djinn and Genies were super dangerous, that even an expression, can be used against them. I love that we see that in Ambrosius, even after he compliments their wit regarding Penny, only to give them a super dangerous golden bridge that you can’t turn back from. 

                         It ties back to Jinn too, how she won’t tolerate being needlessly summoned, but rewards someone being clever. It gives us a neat idea of the different types of supernatural dangers. I want the other two Spirits to be the same way, to be dangerous in some way that ties not just to power, but to how you speak. 

                     Next up, Robyn and Qrow. Marrow throwing himself into the line of fire to prevent them from being hurt, my heart went out to him. The concern we see on both Robyn and Qrrow leads me to believe that his choice to take the hit won’t be forgotten either. I really hope he’s okay-

                          Following up, we have Robyn who absolutely did not waver in her choices, grabbed another airship and took off after Harriet and Vine.

       ( I know people will do backlash like, oh, Vine nearly convinced Harriet to not drop the big bomb! I see your point. But please think about this from both Robyn and Qrow’s perspective. They grabbed the airship with the bomb, and were fully prepared to wipe out hundreds of innocents, which now included Atlas, not just Mantle. These aren’t just Atlas Ace Ops anymore, these are people trying to place values into their leader, when their whole goal from the start has changed from protection, to annihilation. I truly believe Robyn and Qrow making that choice to go after them was a good call, because there’s always the chance that Vine wouldn’t have been able to convince Harriet. Which, pretty believable considering she launched him out of the ship. )

                           So, split second decisions? I’m living for them doing so. Side note, I know people find it hilarious that Qrow was a bird before goign feral through the airship windshield- but take a moment to think how absolutely terrifying that has to be. Like. Damn. 

                    Onwards to the Golden Roads, ah. Yeah. 

                    I honestly expect all of RWBY to be thrown into the Abyss, given the opening. If not, I will be genuinely surprised, since I don’t believe Yang is dead. ( I highly doubt any of Rwby will die, but if one of them does, I will actually be pleasantly surprised. Why? Because, when you have a group of protagonists, you never see a main casualty from said group. It would be interesting. I’m not saying I specifically want Yang dead, just, that if any of rwby died, it would be something I didn’t expect, and would be curious to see how the show took it from here. ) 

                  Penny is precious as always. I don’t agree with her turning back, but at the same time, if all of rwby goes into the Abyss, she may be the one in the lead to drive off Cinder and Neo, aided by Nora and Jaune, and whichever members of the Happy Huntresses haven’t crossed into Vacuo yet.

                  Vacuo? Sandstorm? More likely than you think. I have a few original characters I made to come from Vacuo, and this seems right up the ally for Vacuo. ( Even if the grimm hype is another point to tally for the suspense, it checks out actually. Vacuo’s motto has always been, if you can survive, you belong. This is a pretty good example of why that is. ) 

                            James. Whooooo boy. James. I know we all wanted his decisions to be hyper focused from Mettle, butttt, let me shed a little more light from my perspective. 

                                   I honestly flinched when he killed Jacques. We know he was killing people who opposed him, but this was another point. Even if Mettle isn’t active, James is now desperate. Mantle will never trust him, and Atlas has begun to flee with Mantle. His entire fortress is crashing down, that he has put so much time, dedication and effort into maintaining, even at the cost of his own health. Destruction in the name of protecting what is left ( even if what’s left isn’t anything at all. )

                    Who let Salem get access with mister Watts? That would be Jacques. ( Good example is people finding it funny how Robyn threw a chair and shouted only when he said he only wanted to win the election. Only? Only the election? By giving a weak spot to a supernatural Grimm goddess lady? To an entire city praised for it’s technological advances? Yeah, a hacker for Salem will only rig an election for you, sure buddy. Imagine how James felt. He’s known about her for far longer, and knows the damage Salem can inflict. )

                               I think James possibly knows he is going down. Having tunnel vision, hyper focusing to get the job done. It doesn’t end just because you fail, and I really do feel badly. I wanted to see how he could recover from this, if he could at all, to get back up again and realize even if your heart was in the right place, you didn’t quite execute it proper. But it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get that far. 

                              ( Don’t misunderstand me. I do want him to pay for what he’s done, because for the longest time, he really did want to keep people safe. He just, went way too far. But I don’t want the easy way out of just death. )

                    Best of wishes to Winter, because this won’t be an easy fight. 

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes pt 20: Choice Words

“All right everybody, I wanna see some hustle!” Harriet shouted at her students playing basketball. She blew her whistle loudly to get them going for the fourth time. Veronica had learned after the first blow to really dial back her senses if she wanted to avoid ringing in her ears. “Your coach really loves that thing.” Veronica looked down from the bleachers to see Summer stretching on the floor. To no surprise, the girl was pretty flexible, able to get her chest to the floor with her legs spread out into a v-shape. “Make sure to really get around your hips, knees, and lower back. I could tell your body was tight the day I took your measurements.”

Summer looked at the girl annoyed. “I don’t need a peanut gallery. I know how to stretch.” She stood and bent over backwards slowly. The sight of Veronica glaring at her made Summer turn the other way. She wasn’t expecting Valerie to be checking her out. “What the- how long have you been here!?” Valerie started stretching out both arms and wrists. “Well I would’ve been here sooner if I wasn’t waiting for you outside the locker room. You hate going in by your…” Valerie’s attention shifted up towards the bleachers where Veronica sat. “Self… What the hell are you doing here? Come to start trouble?” Valerie cracked her knuckle.

Veronica gave the longest eye roll of her life. “Please don’t make me embarrass you in front of a crowd.” A threat that prompted Summer to point at her while nudging Valerie away in vain. It had been two seconds and Summer was already playing babysitter. She was gonna nip this in the bud right now to avoid an oncoming headache. “No, stop talking to each other. Just shut up. Veronica you’re already on thin ice so don’t antagonize people unless you want actual problems to occur that will involve you being kicked out” Veronica’s attitude got a bit more bored and vexed. “Yeah yeah….” She groaned, annoyed by her situation. “Hard to stay quiet when a loud mouth is just begging to be put in their place.” Summer closed her eyes. Why’d she have to say something like? Valerie moves right past Summer. She wasn’t gonna let that slide. “By all means, what am I asking for?” Her tone was ripe with anger.

Veronica stood up and walked down to get right in the taller girl’s face. “Valerie, you are absolutely stupid. Childish in its purest form; a girl so self absorbed in the opinions of others yet utterly blind to that fact to the point it’s crippling. And for what? Ego? Some distorted sense of pride? It’s pathetic and insulting. I don’t understand why Nicholas is in love with a person like you.” Valerie’s hand swiftly rose half way up to Veronica’s face before Veronica grabbed her wrist. “Don’t ask for something then get made when you can’t handle it. Don’t get triggered by my mention of him if he’s nothing more than a friend. I would think you’d be desperate for him to look at someone that isn’t you.”

“I’d never want that person to be as cold and cruel as you.” Valerie bit back, harshly. “You’re the definition of self absorbed and ego. I can’t even name one time you’ve considered other’s feelings when it didn’t benefit you; besides Nick obviously. You treat Summer like shit.” Summer scrunched her face up as if she had just been called to the front of the class. Why did she have to be the example? Yes, Veronica walked all over and nothing about it ever felt nice, but she didn’t want to be a point of tension. Not right now at least. Veronica burrowed her eyes into her very soul, expecting an answer. “Well? Just gonna let this copper top speak for you?”

Copper top, now Summer knew Veronica was pissed. She wasn’t the person to insult appearance. “I mean you are pretty terrible. That’s putting it mildly. It’s like you always have a thorn stuck in your side, or itching to fight.” Valerie crossed her arms. “Behind that pretty face isn’t anything to brag about. Not even a brain from what I can tell; don’t act like you know. If someone has to watch you so badly then go hassle Nick instead of us. He has patience for it.” Veronica was at a loss for words. She couldn’t help but let out the tiniest chuckle. “Do you not know? Nick didn’t tell you?” Valerie looked at Summer puzzled. “Nick isn’t here Valerie. He’s been sick in bed since the fight yesterday.” Valerie’s face only got more shocked. “Wait, did you know about the fight?” Valerie shook her head. “Nick was in a fight yesterday!? I saw him right before I had to change. We-” Valerie’s words got stuck in her throat. She told Nick that she wanted space, to leave her alone. Did that upset him? No, he’s not the type to lash out. Nick didn’t tell her to honor her request. That idiot! Valerie bit her lip in frustration. She looked at the two girls in front of her. Summer looked concerned while Veronica was enjoying Valerie’s shocked expression. “Gee, it’s shocking Nick didn’t tell you. Can’t imagine why. Well, no I can. What was I saying about pride and being childish? Not sure of what you did but I bet it involves those two things.” Valerie had finally reached her limit with Veronica.”Fuck-”

“Well well well, look what the cat dragged in.”Jordan called out, annoyed by the sight of all three girls. She walked past them with disgust in her eyes and a group of girls in cheerleading uniforms behind her. Suddenly the argument taking place seemed secondary. “Was that attempt at being funny, or racist?” Veronica had to know.”Whatever one you want, fleabag.” That one was easier to figure out. Unlike with Valerie, Veronica did nothing but take a deep breath. Summer had other ideas. “Wanna try saying that for the whole class to hear!?” She shouted with ease. Harriet immediately caught wind of the forming chaos and blew her whistle. “Jordan, hurry up and get your butt over here before I make the cheer team do drills until you can backflip in their sleep!” Jordan picked up the pace.”Fine, nothing of value over here anyways..” she mumbled.

“That takes care of her!” Summer slouched. That plan actually worked! She raised her voice to someone and they didn’t get the chance to do the same. It would’ve been a proud moment if Veronica wasn’t looking at her like she had been the racist. “What? I’m paying you back for yesterday is all. Why are you upset!?” Veronica flicked Summer in the forehead. “Stop assuming. You caught me off guard is all. That bitch is a cheerleader? She definitely has the attitude.” Valerie did her best to hold her tongue on that statement. “Jordan is the leader of the team. Nobody performs as good as her,unfortunately. That alone inflates her ego.” Veronica carefully watched the group of girls get in formation and start doing their routine; specifically watching the way Jordan jumped into a split after doing a handspring. Was that really it? Her posture was good but that landing was far too heavy. She was gonna injure her ankle if she wasn’t careful. Veronica could do way better. In fact….”Hey?” She called out to Summer and Valerie with petty intent. “Want me to deflate her a little?”

xxxx

“Jordan hurt her ankle?” Nick said, clearing space in the messy guest room. “And now you’re taking her spot for the tournament?” Veronica snickered freely. I told her not to attempt an aerial after a back handspring that followed a cartwheel, but she had to prove she was better. Too bad she didn’t have anything to help with balance.” The happy wave of her tail picked up a deck of cards. Veronica opened the box and started shuffling just for the hell of it. This always calmed her mind for some reason. It was a perfect eye graber, displaying how nimble her fingers were and skill in sleight of hand. “So yeah, productive day. Valerie and argued for a moment. Sorry.” Nick nodded, “Nobody threw a punch. I’ll take what I can get.’ He reached for a single card and pulled a joker. The trickster looked like a hysterical skeleton with a sword through him. Nick failed to see what was so amusing. He gave the card back and focused on Veronica’s shuffling. It would be his job to find that card again. “How’d the office conversation go? Must’ve been fine if you’re embarrassing students.”

“Yeah. Your principal is a good man. All I have to do is have a council member by me at all times. Between you and Eliza, it’s basically a slap on the wrist.” Veronica cut the deck in half and started shuffling them separate. The chance of Nick finding that joker was nonexistent unless he caught on to her trick. Every third card her finger grazed was turned intangible and went through five cards before she stopped using her semblance. Finally she held twenty six cards in each hand. “If you can’t find the joker then you go back to bed when I’m done with your measurements.” Those were high stakes. Why couldn’t somebody let him do work!? “And if I find the joker?” Veronica smiled, “I’m at your mercy. You can decide whatever you want me to do.” He didn’t know why but that made him blush. He’d never abuse such power, yet it almost seemed like she expected him to say something outlandish. Veronica waved her hands. “Eliminate half of the deck. You’ll either increase your odds, or make them zero.” Now the pressure was really on. He eliminated the left deck and Veronica fanned out the right. So far so good. The joker was in the spot she always put it, thirteenth card out of the twenty six. She was corny like that. Only her parents and Ruby had ever found the joker when it was the target. All the cards had a reason for their placement. Most people just don’t pay attention through various rounds. Nick finally reached out and picked the tenth card unfortunately, grabbing the ace. “Awww, oh well.” Nick said. “I thought I had this in the bag.”

Veronica picked up all the cards and started grabbing measuring tape. Next was putting her hair in a ponytail and putting on glasses. She barely wore them around others. Being a faunus that couldn’t see in the dark was lame enough. Needing glasses to sew just felt like an extra blow to her fragile faunus pride. “Better luck next time. Anyways, let’s get down to business. Take your jacket off plea-” she had forgotten Nicholas was only wearing a tank top underneath. An audible gulp came from her as she stood in front of him with her tools. Nick spread his arms out for her to start measuring. “Ready.” He said, not realizing Veronica was gawking a little. Her hands studied his shoulders and chest. They had gotten broader. She could tell he’s been putting his all into his training, yet nobody would guess that with the typical close he wore. Slight tension around his right torso intrigued her. Veronica pressed her hands against it to find out that it was actually a little tender. If she remembered correctly, the Paladin had struck this side. Both hands felt their way done to his waistline. It was hard to ignore that his tank top stopped a little about it, revealing a little skin. Veronica’s mind was on autopilot. Half was expecting him to provide helpful advice and get an idea of what to add to his garb. The other half was turned off, logically that is. It was too busy admiring his body. Any designs for him were usually done with previous numbers. Veronica usually doesn’t get the chance to be this close; this intimacy with her clients was always the best way to make something. That’s why she always asks permission to touch them beforehand. Nick realized she had forgotten that rule this time around, but didn’t think he should bring it up. A blush cams across his face. Being looked at like this was a little...intense. Then, Veronica started purring lightly.

Nicholas wasn’t made for this kind of pressure. It was too much! Recent confessions only added to it. Veronica wasn’t looking at him. Veronica was looking at him. “Ummm, Vee?” He said nervously, hoping it was loud enough. Thankfully it was. She snapped out of her daze to meet a blushing boy looking right into her eyes. The overwhelming feeling of insecurity and anxiety was crystal clear in his eyes. Veronica’s face began turning red as her hands left the warmth of his body. She had gotten swept in the moment, choosing to break their gaze by looking away. “Sorry…” her voice now meek, losing any of the commanding confidence it once had.

“It’s okay…” he muttered, unsure of this situation. “I was a caught off guard is all. That kind of attention is pretty new to me.” Veronica went back to taking his measurements appropriately. “New? Girls throw themselves at you all the time. Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed?” Nick shook his head. “It’s not the same. They throw themselves at me because of what they can get. Status, money, fame; another guy can have those and they’ll move on. Not like I’m bringing anything else to the table.” His voice trailed off. “Physically, what’s to be desired?” It wasn’t meant to be so somber but it was. To Nick, he was nothing more than a runt. An average looking one at that. If a guy had half the money he had and bulky or tall then they were way better off. It’s only natural to want the best choice. “It’s rude to talk about yourself like that.” Veronica said, her tone a bit more stern and upset than before. “Especially in front of someone who thinks you’re handsome and doesn’t care about what’s in your wallet.” She picked up a pen and paper to write down measurements. Nick assumed he could relax his body for the time being. “Thanks. Telling Summer something like that might boost her spirit.”

Veronica chuckled to herself. “Isn’t that her therapist’s job? Not much of a good one if he’s not doing that.” She put the pen down, annoyed by the thought of him. “Yet my parents keep bringing up the magic man himself. Says he’s a good listener if I need anything.” Nick was sorely confused by her attitude. Oscar is great! “What’s wrong with Dr.Os?” He couldn’t fathom anybody not liking a guy like him. Oscar was such a good man! Veronica didn’t seem to share that opinion however. “I just don’t believe listening to a person’s problems for an hour or two for a week does much. Therapy sounds like a big ploy and his smile is a bait.”

“Huh, well that’s an interesting viewpoint to say the least.” Nick wasn’t aware she had such strong feelings about it. “Well it’s a ploy with some benefits. He’s definitely helped me a bunch.” Veronica looked at Nicholas smile softly as he started running his hand through his hair. “Wait, you’ve gone to therapy?” She asked. He’s never mentioned such a thing. “Of course, when I was younger that is. I had a whole schedule along with Summer. Still check in from time to time.” He sounded embarrassed about that last part. “Seeing your family hospitalized for an incident you caused us heavy stuff, especially when you’re a kid. The only thing more daunting is seeing that person’s face become twisted as they try to kill you. Don’t tell Summer, but Shiva has done more than a little to unnerve me.” He laughed, playing off the severity of it to ease himself. It was clear by the frown Veronica wore that she felt sad for him. “What’s with the face? I’m fine, talking about it isn’t a problem for-” Nick was interrupted as two hands were raised in front of his face. “Ten minutes.” Veronica said with a commanding presence. Nick split her hands apart to see her absolute confidence stare at him. “If you ever feel like you need to decompress or rant like there’s no tomorrow, then come to me. Speak your truth unapologetically for ten minutes and I won’t hold or mention any of it. Deal?”

This was surely a change in attitude. The girl was just talking about how a couple of hours isn’t enough time and here she is offering ten minutes. It was so strange. So spontaneous, yet generous. It was so….Veronica. Nick couldn’t help but appreciate the gesture. He clicked his teeth, “only if you do the same with me. I think you’ll find having someone listen to your problems is precious no matter the length of time.” The offer was expected. “Typical Nicholas, taking an act of kindness to help someone else. Learn to be greedy once and a while. Deal.” She removed her hands until Nick held onto them. Veronica’s brain started frying. He was getting closer, leaning closer. “Nick?” She said quickly. His face seemed so calm as he got close enough for Veronica to feel the warmth of his body and breath invade her space. Her own face became hot. She didn’t know what to do! Nick had completely caught her off guard. Was this a dream? Veronica hoped not or else that meant she still might be in school, or worse, that day hadn’t started. “Calm yourself Veronica! You wanted this for years! Just calm yourself and-” Nick’s head suddenly fell down and rested around her shoulder and chest gently. Veronica looked down at him. “Huh…?” She brought her hand to his face to look at him. Not only was it flushed but it was burning hot! His fever went back up! “Nick! Your fever!” He only grumbled, tired and willing to comply with what came next. “Maybe I overdid it a little. Help me back to my bed?” He might’ve asked but it was more of an obligation. His eyes closed seconds later as he drifted off to sleep. Veronica could only remain still, overwhelmed by her own assumptions. A few seconds later and she would’ve stolen a kiss by mistake. Life truly was cruel for teasing her like that. The girl stood up to support his body and started walking. At least he was light. “Can’t believe this. Why is life like this!?” She cried out internally.

xxxx

Long hallways were a dumb idea. Putting Nick to bed would’ve been done sooner if his family didn’t live in a modern day castle. Walking back to her room was worse, now she was alone with nothing to think about but him. She was glad he passed out after all the measuring was finished though. Proper progress could finally start with his outfit. Hopefully he won’t be too sick. Adding a dust of some kind to energize his body or keep him comfortable might be a good idea. Speaking of dust, Veronica knew it was a must for Summer. The way Nick talked about Shiva made Veronica’s skin tense up. Her single encounter with the woman, if you could call her that, was actually unnerving. “It might be best to tell Summer about that after all. Along with asking questions about Shiva in general. My design won’t be any good if it unleashes a frozen hell. Then I’ll really deserve some nasty looks.”

To think time away from Menagerie would be more complex than staying. The only difference was Veronica was now dealing with other people’s problems. A welcome change in her opinion. She kept walking and came across Summer, who was just about to enter her room again. A white guitar with a paw print on it was in the girl’s hand. “Oh yeah, you did have a dog.” Veronica said aloud. Summer finally noticed her. “Huh? Oh this? Yeah, named this beauty Dolt. Just like him.” She strummed a few cords to give a beautiful sound that filled the hall. How such talent could exist within a person like Summer was beyond Veronica’s comprehension.

“So, you tell Nick about my little water works moment?” Veronica looked at the girl as if she had just spoken gibberish. “I don’t care what you do in the privacy of your own room. That is, unless it deals with that strange dust you’re hiding behind your mirror.” Summer’s heart immediately stops. Veronica points to her own nose and crinkles it. “It was only for an instant but I definitely smelled a painfully potent dust when I entered your room. Actually… it was the same sent as Shiva’s” Veronica admitted, watching Summer get even paler. “Y-You saw- when could you have possibly-” Summer couldn’t keep her head in order. Her body began to shake as her mouth became dry. The beating in her heart began to sound like thunder in her eardrums while her chest felt tight. “I was asleep wasn’t I? What did she do!? Who did she- is she why you want me drinking milk!?” Summer shouted, tears welling up and freezing the moment they ran down her cheeks. “What stunt are you trying to pull!? Don’t listen to her! I shouldn’t have listened to you! All you-”

Veronica pressed her hands hard against Summer’s face. The stinging sensation reddened the twin's face and brought attention to the composed look of acquaintance. “ You need to calm yourself.” Veronica said sternly. She inhaled then exhaled repeatedly for Summer to imitate. The shear cold of Summer’s own skin made Veronica’s hands feel numb. Along with the unpleasant smell of peppermint, it was clear to tell that Summer had been losing herself in the panic. Forget musical talent, Veronica couldn’t figure out how a person like her was still alive. That panic attack looked like it was gonna be the final nail in a coffin. Veronica took Summer’s hand and pulled her inside of her questionably hot room. “Summer, relax…”

Summer tried her best. She bit her bottom lip and took one deep inhale through her nose then out of her mouth. “Okay, okay…” her voice trembled, regaining composure. “I’m alright. Just give me a second.” Summer walks to her bed and lays flat on her back. A light layer of sweat ran down her forehead. Things will be okay. Answers, calming down, and a plan. Then she’ll be okay. “When did you see her?”

“The night I got here. Apparently you passed out without turning on your heater or anything. I bumped into her in the kitchen trying to eat, mainly dairy.” That last part didn’t sit well with Summer. Her eyes narrowed from Veronica’s words. “Don’t look at me like that. I was gonna force dairy into your diet anyways because of our arrangement. If anybody seems to be dancing with danger then it’s you.” Veronica took a good whiff of her surroundings. The scent led her to Summer’s vanity mirror. She reached behind it carefully until her fingers ran across two small vials and grabbed them. The dust glowed a beautiful light cyan color. A few seconds into holding them and Veronica started feeling the cold go through her, making her put it down. She had Never felt dust that was constantly active in any form. “Where the heck did you get this?”

“Penny’s lab. I, I stole it…” Summer mumbled. Guilt didn’t begin to describe how she felt about going through with it. “That stuff made Shiva appear so maybe it can unmake her. Nick and I secretly go out sometimes for me to practice controlling her. Not alone typically. If I learn to use her powers-”

“You’re gonna kill yourselves…” Veronica interjected, her voice colder than the dust. “Give me a break. You’d drag your brother into a situation like that? And I do mean drag, because the only reason he’s going alone with it is because you’re his precious little sister. Ugh, it makes me sick; do you ever get tired of being a burden?” Those words cut a little too close to the heart. Of course she was. All Summer ever thinks about is being on her own. The girl rose up to retaliate in anger, only to be shoved back down with ease. Her entire body was trembling again. “What? More water-”

“Fuck off Veronica.” Summer said through clenched teeth. Her forearm covered her weeping eyes. “What makes you think you can just say whatever the hell you want; of course you wouldn’t understand.” Summer refused to lay down and got up again right in front of Veronica. “It must be nice to be so perfect and unbothered by everything. Do me a favor and stay out of my business.” Blue clashed with lilac silently. How many times have they been at odds like this? More than Veronica cared to count. She could remember how many times Summer looked this angry. Everything about her was shaky, including her clenched fist.

“Relieving tension or contemplating swinging hitting me?” Summer didn’t answer. Not even she could trust her response. As angry as she was, Veronica wasn’t the one she wanted to let it out on. “Can’t decide? Guess I’ll choose for you.” Veronica walked away, opening the door to leave. “Tomorrow, seven o’clock, the both of us are going down to Mantle’s forest. Bring one of those stupid viles with you.” Summer finally stopped tensing up. “What…?”

“You’re brother is still sick and won’t be getting better dealing with you pulling stunts like this. Since you clearly aren’t going to change your mind I guess I’ll fill in. Don’t oversleep, and for your sake, bring your sword. Punches aren’t your style.” Veronica left on that note. She immediately went through the ground and went searching for her. Perfect and unbothered? Yeah right. That couldn’t be further from the truth. She found her mother watching a movie in what was probably a theater room. Yang heard the girl barge in. “Hey sweetie. Wanna w-”

“Get your boxing gloves.” Veronica said quickly. She barely understood what she said herself. “I need to vent, badly.” Yang could see the girl’s eyes burn with emotion. The movie was out on pause and Yang stood up. “Okay. Give me your best shot and let’s mix things up too. I’ll meet you in the garden in five minutes.” Veronica nods and walks off. Yang didn’t know what put her daughter in such a foul mood but Yang was determined to find out. But before any of that she needed to call Blake. A lot has happened the last couple of days that she would no doubt want to know. “Hey Bl-”

“VERONICA STARTED A FIGHT!?” Yang went pale. Looks like Blake already knew about a few things. This would definitely take more than ten minutes.

Part 19

[notsosilentsister]

I had a lovely winter break, sleeping well again for the first time in months, and doing nothing much all day. I certainly didn't do any getting-ahead-on-lesson-planning, and was in fact barely prepared for this week, had to cancel some appointments, didn't take as many walks as I had been looking forward too, didn't go swimming and didn't even read one novel, but I've spent the last quarter starting every week feeling neither well prepared nor well rested, and this Monday, I felt well rested at least. Worth it.

Had a lot of long conversations with my brother, who's had a rough time of it lately and was in bit of a contemplative mood. We traditionally do Hugh-Grant-Advent, where we watch at least one Hugh Grant movie around Christmas and this year I suggested extending the concept to British period drama in general. So we watched Jane Eyre (the 2006 miniseries with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens), and Wuthering Heights (Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche - not a super convincing adaptation, but I suppose the novel is hard to adapt) and Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy, Romula Garai). My brother is now in love with Romula Garai, so maybe we'll be doing Romula-Garai-Mai next.

The fun thing is that my brother really doesn't know any of the stories, so he's always genuinely shocked by the twists. Daniel Deronda especially - my brother positively gasped when Daniel made his choice. This is is what I love about George Eliot - it's really not a shocking twist in any sense, it's the choice that clearly makes the most sense in retrospect (to the point I suddenly feel silly about thinking he might ever have chosen differently) but somehow Eliot sets up narratives that could really go either way for the longest time. I rarely read stories I find so unpredictable, and she never needs to sell out her characters to achieve this. But maybe I just love how Eliot fucks with the sort of shipper whose approach to shipping I find most wrongheaded, although that shipper might be sometimes myself (see - unpredictable). Henry James ships the wrong people in Middlemarch, and now I can't take him seriously any more. Anyways, I've put Middlemarch next on our to-do-list, let's see if little brother passes that test.

So I didn't read a single novel, but I got my brother to read Emma; alas, that was the one that couldn't surprise him. After a couple of pages he looked up from the book and said "It's Clueless, isn't it?". (He said he had started picturing Harriet Smith as Brittany Murphy even before he caught on to it.) He finished it anyway and asked for the next recommendation. Victory!

[letterboxd]

Screen Time.

Can the data about actors’ time on screen help bust open Oscars category fraud? Jack Moulton talks to stopwatch-wielding Academy Awards fan Matthew Stewart about his hours (and hours, and hours) of timing Academy-nominated performances down to the second. Pictured above are the longest on-screen appearances for winning lead and supporting performances: Charlton Heston, Vivien Leigh, Tatum O’Neal and Mahershala Ali.

“It’s a shameful practice and in order to argue against it, there has to be evidence.” —Matthew Stewart

The Oscar categories for Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor were introduced at the 9th Academy Awards in 1937 to recognize those who excelled in roles that were less-than-leading, but no less important to the story. It’s a category in which emerging actors, fantastic character performers and non-famous industry veterans have found their way to Oscar glory.

Except that in recent decades, there’s so much more to an Oscar-winning performance than what we see on screen. It’s often a deliberate campaign, using every publicity trick in the book: red carpet walks, ‘surprise’ Q&A appearances, press coverage about the sacrifices involved in playing the part, narratives about previous ‘awards snubs’.

And then there’s category fraud—a strategy where studios split two stars across two categories, in order to nudge both towards the Academy’s podium. Example: for their equally leading roles in Carol, Cate Blanchett won the leading actress nomination, while Rooney Mara was nominated for supporting actress.

The problem, as Anne Thompson writes in her recent Thompson on Hollywood column assessing this year’s likely category-shifts, is “when lead actors (or actresses) decide they have a better chance in supporting, they take a slot away from another deserving performer”.

As history moves on and the politics fade away, measuring screen time is perhaps one of the few objective, quantifiable and finite pieces of information the director passes along to the audience and Oscar voters about an actor’s contribution to a film.

Enter Matthew Stewart: a 28-year-old Oscar buff and Letterboxd member from North Carolina who’s been following the Academy Awards for fourteen years. Curious as to why Frances McDormand and William H. Macy were nominated for Lead Actress and Supporting Actor respectively for Fargo, he set out to investigate how egregious their category placements were, by comparing their time on screen. Turns out Macy is on screen for 38 seconds longer than McDormand.

Matthew is our type of completist. Over the past twelve years, he has made it his mission to time all of the Academy Award nominated performances; tracking actors’ seconds on screen (whether seen or heard), keeping track of the time in his notepad, and then summing it all up. He certainly knows more than the Academy, who broadcasted incorrect trivia on last year’s Oscar game that Matthew was quick to put right.

His motivation is largely to debunk myths, such as the commonly repeated ‘fun fact’ of Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs having the shortest Best Actor Oscar-winning performance. The shortest, in fact, is David Niven’s appearance in Separate Tables, which is exactly one minute and thirteen seconds shorter than Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter.

Of course, screen time does not reflect quality by any means. Having a character on screen for longer does not mean the role is better acted or more well-written. In many ways, it can be more impressive when an iconic or powerful character is technically on screen for half an hour or less.

We spoke to Matthew about his hobby, his opinions on category fraud, and the data he has on this year’s nominees. He shares his results on Twitter, his Letterboxd profile and his website, Screentime Central.

Vivien Leigh in ‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939).

Let’s get to those stats. In Academy Award history, what is the longest performance to be nominated for an Oscar? Matthew Stewart: By length, 1940 Best Actress winner Vivien Leigh is seen on screen in Gone with the Wind for two hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds. By percentage, 1976 Best Actor nominee James Whitmore is on screen in Give ’em Hell, Harry! for 96.52 percent of the film’s runtime.

And the shortest? Both by length and percentage, 1960 Best Supporting Actress nominee Hermione Baddeley is on screen in Room at the Top for only two minutes and 19 seconds, which is just 1.98 percent of the film’s runtime.

You’ve done the math: what was the most egregious category fraud of all-time? And also—the worst failed attempt at category fraud? The most egregious case of category fraud is Richard Burton’s supporting nomination for My Cousin Rachel. Others come close, but that is the worst. He’s the main focus of the film and is in 85 percent of it, making it one of the 25 longest performances nominated in any category. And his co-star, Olivia de Havilland, is only in 44 percent of the film, so there’s no explaining it.

One of the most serious cases of fraud I can think of that didn’t result in a nomination is Jacob Tremblay being campaigned as supporting for Room. It’s a shame that that kind of bias against child actors still exists. And then there are cases where a definitive decision on placement wasn’t made, resulting in no nomination at all, like Lesley Manville in Another Year.

How does your husband feel about your time-consuming hobby? I actually didn’t tell anyone about my hobby for the first four years or so. I wanted to avoid the judgment of people thinking it was odd.

My husband was interested as soon as I told him and showed him my work up to that point. He’s always been willing to listen to my Oscar-related ramblings, so I shouldn’t have been worried!

Why do you think it’s important to keep such scientific track of category fraud? I think it’s important to because it’s a shameful practice and in order to argue against it, there has to be evidence. And the evidence is stacking up just about every year. I want to provide as much screen-time data as possible as a way to support correct category placements, and of course I hope that someday the Academy will catch on.

Now we have the data, has category fraud gotten worse over the years? Can you tell if the recent absence of Weinstein has helped ease fraud? Category fraud seems to have gotten worse in recent years, with cases like Rooney Mara [in Carol] and Alicia Vikander [winner of Best Supporting Actress for The Danish Girl] in 2016 and the cast of The Favourite last year. But really, it’s not any worse now than it’s been since the introduction of the supporting categories.

The worst thing about it now is how blatantly greedy some studios are in terms of winning as many Oscars as possible. It’s sad that we’ll never again see two leading actors or actresses nominated for the same film out of fear of them cancelling each other out and neither winning. Campaigning one of them as supporting makes for two potential wins.

I think Weinstein intensified the trend so long ago that his absence doesn’t change much. Some studios have campaigned that way for so long that I don’t think it will get better any time soon.

Which is the most significant difference between a nominated lead and supporting performance in the same film? [See Matthew’s list: Who’s Supporting Who?] The worst case is Timothy Hutton [supporting] over Mary Tyler Moore [leading] in Ordinary People. Hutton is onscreen for 32 minutes and eighteen seconds more than Moore! I would personally classify both of those performances as leading, as well as Donald Sutherland’s performance in the same film.

Meryl Streep in ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’, the first—and longest—of her three Oscar-winning roles, from a record 21 nominations.

Have you timed which actor or actress has the most Oscar nominated minutes ever? Or, let me rephrase: how many minutes do Meryl Streep’s 21 Oscar nominated performances add up to? Meryl Streep’s Oscar-nominated performances add up to 21 hours, 19 minutes, and 39 seconds, which gives her an average of about 61 minutes per performance.

And the runners up? After Streep, it’s Katharine Hepburn (12:45:10), Jack Nicholson (12:32:27), Bette Davis (12:09:13), and Laurence Olivier (10:54:22).

Which were the hardest and easiest films to time? Naturally, the harder it is to see the actor on screen, the harder it is to time them. So I really despise drawn-out battle scenes or scenes with huge crowds. Timing Charlton Heston’s performance in Ben-Hur during the chariot racing scene wasn’t that hard, because you know where he is, but timing Hugh Griffith’s performance in the same scene was much harder because he’s part of that enormous crowd.

The easiest one I’ve ever done is James Whitmore in Give ’em Hell, Harry!, since it’s a filmed one-man stage show. Sleuth and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? were easy too, because there are so few actors in the cast.

What results surprised you the most? I remember being shocked to find out that Robert Strauss’s supporting performance in Stalag 17 is nineteen minutes longer than William Holden’s leading one. But still, in that case, I don’t have a problem with the category placement. More recently, I was surprised by the shortness of Sam Elliott’s performance in A Star Is Born [eight minutes, 45 seconds!], and the fact that Scarlett Johansson’s performance in Marriage Story is 20 minutes shorter than Adam Driver’s.

Of those you’ve timed so far, what are the screen times for this year’s nominees? [Actors are ranked below by screen time as a percentage of each film’s total runtime.]

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) – 1:43:44 / 85.3% Adam Driver (Marriage Story) – 1:25:03 / 62.1% Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) – 1:12:42 / 57.7% Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) – 59:31 / 52.5% Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) – 1:01:12 / 37.9%

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Renee Zellweger (Judy) – 1:27:29 / 74.0% Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) – 1:25:12 / 68.2% Saoirse Ronan (Little Women) – 1:15:01 / 47.7% Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story) – 1:05:19 / 47.7% Charlize Theron (Bombshell) – 37:16 / 34.3%

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes) – 55:14 / 43.9% Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) – 55:12 / 34.2% Al Pacino (The Irishman) – 53:58 / 25.8% Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) – 44:56 / 41.4% Joe Pesci (The Irishman) – 43:22 / 20.7%

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Florence Pugh (Little Women) – 42:06 / 31.2% Margot Robbie (Bombshell) – 26:16 / 24.2% Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell) – 25:06 / 19.2% Laura Dern (Marriage Story) – 18:36 / 13.6% Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit) – 15:36 / 14.4%

It looks like the more time on screen, the better the chances of a win, judging by some of the frontrunners this year. Is that an identifiable trend in your data? Looking at the data from the last ten years, Oscar wins do tend to favor longer performances across all categories. The shortest Best Actor or Actress nominee of the year has only won once since 2010—Olivia Colman last year for The Favourite.

The average winning leading performance since 2010 is 75 minutes long (63 percent of screen time), with none under 50 minutes (when the previous decade had eight under 50, and five under 40 percent). The average winning supporting performance since 2010 is 36 minutes long (28 percent of screen time), with only one under 20 minutes (which was Allison Janney in I, Tonya).

Have you noticed any fun stats for this year’s nominees? The only screen-time-related stat I’ve noticed is that this year’s Supporting Actor nominees have either the highest or second-highest average length of all time in the category. I can’t say for sure until after I time Tom Hanks, nominated for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

With an average age of 71.6, this year’s Supporting Actor Oscar nominees are the oldest group ever nominated in any acting category. This is the fourth time this decade that the Supporting Actors have broken the long-standing record of 61.3 held by the 1965 Supporting Actress group.

Also, all of this year’s acting nominees make up the second-oldest group ever nominated, with an average age of 51.8. The record is still 53.1 for 2017—the third time the record was broken this decade after previously being held by (again) the 1965 group (49.3).

So far, this year’s nominees haven’t broken any records. Phoenix’s performance could be the overall longest Oscar-winning performance of the decade, but that’s about it.

Mahershala Ali as Don Shirley in ‘Green Book’ (2018).

What nominees in the past decade broke records? I think one thing worth mentioning is that Mahershala Ali just broke the record for longest Supporting Actor winning performance last year [for Green Book], previously held by Christoph Waltz in 2013 [for Django Unchained], who took the record from Timothy Hutton.

And the female percentage record was broken twice this decade after being held since 1991 by Meryl Streep [for Postcards from the Edge]; by Marion Cotillard in 2015 [for Two Days, One Night] and then by Charlotte Rampling in 2016 [for 45 Years].

Three of the ten longest Best Supporting Actress-nominated performances of all time (by minutes) are from 2016 (Mara, Vikander, Leigh). Mara and Vikander also make the percentage top ten, along with Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Emma Stone (The Favourite) and Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)—so exactly half of that top ten are from this decade alone.

2019 was the first time ever that two performances under ten minutes were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the same year—Sam Elliott, and Sam Rockwell in Vice.

And what about performances you timed from 2019 that were snubbed? (More from other years are here.)

Awkwafina (The Farewell) – 1:00:19 / 60.4% Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell) – 37:33 / 37.6% Constance Wu (Hustlers) – 1:02:31/ 56.8% Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) – 53:09 / 48.3% Robert De Niro (The Irishman) – 2:14:19 / 64.1% Lupita Nyong’o (Us) – 57:21 / 49.3% Robert Pattinson (The Lighthouse) – 1:23:18 / 76.4% Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse) – 56:02 / 51.4% Margot Robbie (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) – 17:00 / 10.5%

You’ve watched more nominees than most people (let’s face it, maybe all people). Forgetting screen time, what are the most underrated nominated performances you think people should check out? Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in The Guardsman (I can’t separate them, sorry!), Mickey Rooney in The Bold and the Brave, and Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette.

How about greatest snubs. Who are you dying to see get nominated for an Oscar? When I think of who the Academy has snubbed the most, I immediately think of John Goodman. He’s everyone’s go-to answer, but it’s true. After him, I’d say Emily Blunt, Steve Buscemi and Alfred Molina.

What Oscar win are you rooting for the most on Sunday? My favorite Oscar-nominated performance of the year is Joaquin Phoenix in Joker. I know the film is polarizing, but he’s undeniable, and I hope he wins. As for upsets in below-the-line categories, I’d love it if The Lighthouse won Best Cinematography, and it’d be so cool if Parasite won Best Film Editing.

The 92nd Academy Awards take place on Sunday, February 9, at 5:00pm PST. See also: The Best Best Picture Lineups and All the 2020 Oscar Nominees.

[newtedison]

all we do is drive -- preview

hi all! so here is the first chapter (plus the beginning of the second) of my current WIP. the basic premise is that thomas is scared of newt moving back to england after graduation, so he takes him on an impulsive weekend road trip in California. i have the outline of the rest of the fic set up but i am VERY open to any feedback, opinions, reactions, or suggestions! thanks for reading!

all we do is drive.

What was it about the open road that was so appealing to Thomas? He was never quite sure, but it called to him. It whispered his name in the passing breeze, tugged eagerly at his hand, talked dirty in his ear at night while the cars crunched their wheels on the gravel. Whenever he was stuck, or unsure, or just plain bored, he took to the road. The second he had that itch, he was behind the wheel before he knew it. 

Of course, he was almost never alone on these impulsive getaways. There was always at least one other person there with him, and that honor typically went to his former roommate Newt, accompanied by a playlist recently made and a camera dangling from the strap around his neck. The other usual suspects include Brenda getting high in the backseat, Teresa pretending that she doesn’t want to get high in the backseat, Minho shoving some sort of food into his mouth, Alby playing backseat driver to Thomas, or Harriet silently resting her chin against the open window. Any combination of these things was a given but three things were absolutely certain;

Thomas was the driver.

They did not have a destination.

Newt gets shotgun.

When these things became established patterns, Thomas wasn’t sure. He vaguely remembers Newt calling shotgun sometime freshmen year on their first group outing, and it was never questioned since. The few times Newt isn’t on one of their trips, Thomas’ friends just leave shotgun empty and take their positions in the backseat, as if it would be sacrilegious to take his spot. They always seem to have more fun teasing Thomas from the back, anyway. He doesn’t mind.

Speaking of, Thomas suddenly feels a sharp kick through the seat.

“I want Wendy’s,” Brenda whines. “I’m fucking starving.”

Thomas eyes the receipt lying in his cup holder from, oh, ten minutes ago.

“Really?” Thomas asks, shooting Brenda a quick glance in the rearview mirror. “You’re starving?”

“Yes,” Brenda says at the same time Teresa says “No.”

“Oh, come on,” Brenda grunts, nudging Teresa with her shoulder. “Side with your girlfriend, please.”

“Brenda, as your girlfriend, I’m telling you that if you eat any more fast food you’re going to vomit,” Teresa calmly explains, a hint of softness in her voice. “You just have the munchies.”

“Do not,” Brenda retorts.

“Oh?” Newt pipes in, slowly reaching towards the steering wheel. He rests his hand on it without moving it, and Thomas doesn’t object. “So if I rock this wheel back and forth right now, you’re not gonna feel sick?”

“...no,” Brenda answers unconvincingly. 

“You sure?” Newt continues. “Because I’m tempted. I’m really tempted.”

“Be my guest,” Thomas invites, taking his right hand off the wheel. “There’s no one around. We can totally do it.”

“Do NOT swerve the car,” Alby chimes in. “I may not be high but I’m not crashing into a tree just to make Brenda vomit.”

“Pfft, whatever,” Brenda mumbles. “Can’t prove nothin’.”

Thomas laughs and places his hand down on the steering wheel a second before Newt pulls his away. Their hands brush for just a second and somehow, amazingly, it sends a small zip through Thomas’ fingers. Four years and every accidental touch feels like a small lightning strike. You’d think he would have adjusted by now.

***

Brenda flips Thomas the finger as she shuts the back door and walks with Teresa to her apartment. Thomas feels a slight sense of relief followed by an immediate pang of guilt at the now empty backseat. As much as he loved his friends, having to handle them and drive at the same time was a bit exhausting sometimes.

Newt, somehow reading Thomas’ mind as always, chimes in from the right. “Four years and they haven’t lost their energy yet,” he chuckles. 

“Yeah,” Thomas manages, the words four years replaying in his mind. Somehow it feels like it went by in a flash and also the longest period of his life all rolled into one. How the hell was he supposed to graduate when he couldn’t even get his bearings on the concept of time?

“Hey, speak of the devil,” Newt continues, looking down at his phone. Thomas intrinsically looks down at the screen and sees a text from Gally. He ignores the sinking feeling it gives his stomach.

“Jesus, him?” Thomas groans before he can stop himself. “How long has it been?”

“Two years, I think?” Newt mumbles, reading the message with furrowed brows. “I don’t know what it is with the guys on this campus being so clingy.”

“You hooked up with him, what? One time?” 

“Uh, twice? Maybe? Can’t say I remember.”

“So what the hell does he want?”

“What do you think, Tommy?” Newt laughs. It’s not meant in a mocking way, but it makes Thomas feel very small. “It’s the last time he’ll get a night with me before we graduate. Guess it’s a now or never sort of thing, right.”

Thomas gives a half-chuckle and looks away. “I guess so.” 

“Maybe I’ll give him one more night,” Newt murmurs. “Who knows.”

Thomas stays silent and backs out of the parking lot as an excuse. He doesn’t know why he indulged Newt. He doesn’t like talking about Newt’s many, many, experiences with guys in their four years at college. Newt talks about them so easily, so effortlessly, as if him leaving these guys on read and ghosting them after one or two hookups was something that came naturally to him. 

(Thomas definitely doesn’t like thinking about his own experiences with men at college. And he certainly couldn’t talk about them as casually as Newt does, if he ever could at all.) 

He wonders how, or why, Newt has decided not to commit to any of them. Curiosity sizzles in his gut, burning like stomach acid.

“Why didn’t you ever, like...I don’t know...actually give one of them a shot?” He asks. “You know. Like, date one of them.”

He cheats a glance over at Newt and sees his features fall, ever so slightly, before quickly being placed back in position. 

Newt shrugs. “What’s the point? I would just be putting a time bomb on it anyway. No use getting attached to someone just to hurt them.”

Thomas holds back a sigh. “You’re really set on staying in England, huh?”

A ghost of a laugh escapes Newt’s mouth, more a breath than anything. “I came to California cause I got a scholarship. That’s it.” There’s a moment of silence before he adds “This isn’t my home. No use making them think that it is.”

A mix of emotions stir in Thomas at that statement. These are all things he already knew, but for a moment, he feels a profound, inexplicable sadness. It consumes him, darkening his vision and gripping his throat, but only for a moment. Quickly, he brings his attention back to the road.

“Besides,” Newt pipes up, his tone happier. “If I had a boyfriend I wouldn’t have all this free time to drive around with you, right?”

“Right,” Thomas answers, offering Newt half a smile. He hides the thought of Well, if I was your boyfriend, you wouldn’t have that problem.

So here’s Thomas’ problem. He knows.

Thomas knows it so deeply in his bones he does not remember a time where he did not know. Even his memories from before are tainted with thoughts of what that experience would have been like if he had known then. What he would have avoided doing if he had known who was coming into his life. He has hidden it every day and known every day and he has never known anything else. 

He remembers the first day moving into his dorm, of opening the door and immediately seeing a skinny blonde boy hanging a rainbow flag on the wall next to his bed. 

“Oh, hi,” the boy said once he finally turned around. “I’m your roommate, Sam? From the email?”

Thomas was immediately floored by his British accent but was too overwhelmed by, well, everything to process that.

“Hi Sam,” Thomas greeted, his eyes glued to the rainbow flag. “I’m Thomas.”

“Thomas. Nice name. How about you call me Newt, and I’ll call you Tommy, yeah?”

Thomas couldn’t help but laugh. “Newt?”

“Yeah. That’s my name. I only said Sam so you would know some weirdo hadn’t broken into your room. But I go by Newt.”

“Cool, man. You do you.”

Newt followed Thomas’ gaze to the rainbow flag on the wall. “Like that? My sister Sonya just got it for me as a moving-in gift.”

“It’s nice,” Thomas answered, not sure what else to say. He knew what it meant; he had spent enough time staring at the pink, purple, and blue flag and feeling the rightness of it seep into his bones that he knew the power of those colors. He just didn’t have one of his own to hang, nor would he likely ever.

“Don’t worry, Tommy, I’m not gonna flirt with you or anything,” Newt assured him. “Unless you want me to.” He ended it with a wink, and then another laugh. “I’m kidding.”

Thomas laughed but was overcome by an itching in his fingers, and suddenly felt the familiar, comforting heaviness of his keys in his left pocket.

“Hey…” He started, putting down his suitcase. “Do you wanna go for a drive?”

Surprisingly, Newt would go with him on that drive, even though they hadn’t finished unpacking yet and most of Thomas’ stuff was still in his car. In fact, Newt had barely questioned it at all, just started following Thomas as if it was the most natural thing he’d ever done. Soon the two were spending more time in the car then they did in their dorm, doing everything from late-night fast food runs to playing video games projected onto blank walls. Thomas barely remembers the time before Newt molded his body to the shotgun of his car.

Thomas knows. It’s all he knows, it’s all he’s ever known, and when they graduate in a few weeks and Newt moves back to England, he will not know anything at all.

***

Thomas can’t sleep that night. The open road is talking to him again, whispering him sweet nothings and teasing him mercilessly. He can feel the aura of his car in the parking lot, haunting him from a distance. His hands are magnetized to his car keys, and he’s using all the strength he has to pull them away. He shakes like a leaf in his bed, suppressing a scream with a pillow.

He wishes he knew a better solution to his problems than running. Ever since he was a kid, the second something was wrong, he took off running. It scared the shit out of his parents. Honestly, he’s surprised he never got kidnapped. But old habits are hard to break, and his instinct to drive away is only growing louder the longer he lays in bed.

He sits there in the silence, thinking about all the feelings that he’s hidden (and run away from, literally or figuratively) for the last four years. He remembers when Newt first hooked up with Gally back in sophomore year, which he found out when Newt came stumbling back into the room at 4 A.M. with noticeably disheveled hair.

“You’re not gonna like who it was,” Newt chuckled as he kicked off his shoes.

“Don’t tell it me was that Gally prick.”

Newt snorted. “Yeah.”

“Oh, gross, dude. That guy’s a total asshole.”

“You don’t want to KNOW about his ass, Tommy,” Newt slurred as he collapsed face-first onto his bed.

“You’re right,” Thomas agreed, shoving his headphones back in his ears. “I really don’t.”

The next day, he told Newt he wanted to live in a single the next year, and pretended not to see the knowing and hurt look in Newt’s eyes when he did. 

(He also pretended not to see the look in Gally’s eyes a few months later, filled with a different kind of knowing that spread a sick burning of shame through Thomas’ blood.)

He thinks about when Brenda and Teresa first started dating, how their eyes were wide and electric, the way their hands slid into each other like silk, how the simple act of them being together caused goosebumps to rise on the back of Thomas’ neck. He’s happy for them, extremely happy, but he’s also poisoningly jealous.

“You don’t know yet?” The boy said, looking down for just a moment.

“N-no,” Thomas lied. “Not really.”

“Huh. Alright then,” the boy exhaled, moving on.

Thomas thinks about everything. He thinks about finals, and parties, and drinking, and smoking, and girls, and England, and cars, and boys, and Sonya, and papers, and keys, and Minho, and June, and fast food, and laughing, and Teresa, and knowing, and wanting, and Newt, and driving, and running, and Newt, and Newt, and Newt.

A strange paradox builds in Thomas, two opposing ropes tearing at his lungs. Part of him feels what he can only describe as “pre-missing,” longing for things that hadn’t even left yet. He is still in his bed, in his dorm, in his college, and yet he feels like he is not there at all. He feels very far away, and he suddenly misses his friends and his classes terribly. He’s almost heartbroken over the thought of it.

The other part of him, the insane, stubborn, and immature part of him, wants to get as absolutely far away from this college as possible. Within a few weeks, he would be gone from this place forever. And the longer he lays in bed, feeling both here and not here, the harder it will be to leave.

So why not leave now? He finds himself thinking. The less time I spend on campus, the easier it will be when I actually go. Maybe I should just sleep in my car.

(But then he goes back to Newt, because that boy has a rope tied around Thomas’ neck that he lazily tugs on whenever Thomas hasn’t thought about him for more than 10 seconds.)

I can’t leave campus. I’ve only got a couple more weeks before he leaves. At least all my other friends will still be in California. I can’t fly to England. And I know he isn’t coming back here.

Thomas suddenly finds himself with his keys in his hand. He doesn’t remember getting out of bed, and he certainly doesn’t remember how he got outside Newt’s apartment complex.

“Guess it’s a now or never sort of thing, right?” Thomas hears Newt’s voice ring in his ears, vibrating against his skull like church bells.

Sorry, Gally, Thomas thinks, a sick sort of smile spreading on his face.

He locks his car and marches up to the familiar brown door of Newt’s apartment. He knocks on it so loudly that he startles himself by his aggressiveness. Newt will probably think he’s the campus police. Thomas is almost embarrassed but feels too much of a confidence and familiar stubbornness trembling in his fingers that he can’t be bothered with that right now.

A couple rounds of knocks later, Newt finally opens the door, his hair matted on one side and fluffed up on the other. Thomas is grateful that Newt answered instead of one of his roommates, who he’s convinced hate him. He decides to speak before Newt can start asking questions.

“Road trip.” 

Newt blinks. “What?”

“Road trip. Right now. Let’s go.”

“Wait wait wait, hold on a minute,” Newt starts, dragging his hand across his eyes. “Slow down. What time is it?”

“Um,” Thomas stutters, unsure. He clicks his phone and sees the bright white numbers 4:37 stare back at him. “Like 4:30 ish.”

“Four thir-...are you trying to fall asleep at the wheel?”

Thomas deflates slightly, realizing the romanticized version of this in his head where he and Newt drive off into the sunrise never to return was probably not going to happen. 

“I’m-I’m awake,” Thomas insists. “I can drive.”

“Have you slept at all?” Newt crosses his arms and leans against the door in what Thomas suspects is mock irritation.

“Yes. Maybe. Well, no, but who cares! Let’s just...drive somewhere. Fuck it.”

Newt’s features soften as he sighs, lowering slightly. “Look, Tommy, you know that normally I would love to meet you and the gang for a fun trip to the town or something. But I’m bloody exhausted and I’m not about to have you pass out at the wheel.”

“Okay,” Thomas compromises, wheels turning. (Pun intended.) “Then we’ll leave later. I’ll get some sleep and come back.”

“Well, I’ve got a final due on Monday. That mean anything to ya?”

“I’ve got finals due, too. That’s never stopped us before.”

There’s a moment of silence as Newt stares at Thomas, eyes lasering in on him with emotions that Thomas can never read. If he could have one wish, it would be to have the ability to know what Newt is feeling, and not just on a surface level, or the vague answers Newt gives. But he’s convinced no one could do that.

Newt gives another sigh. “Okay. How long will we be gone?”

Forever? That work for you? “Two days?”

Newt blinks back. “One day.”

Thomas doesn’t even flinch, long used to compromising with Newt when dealing with his impulsive ideas. “Done.”

“You tell the others yet, or am I the first door you’ve knocked on?”

The others. Oh. Newt thought this was a group trip. 

Thomas briefly considers lying, claiming that all of the others couldn’t make it. Normally he couldn’t lie to Newt, but he’s got too much pride in him, too much sick and stubborn pride, to admit the true reason. So he tries a neutral approach.

“You remember how we took that drive together the first day of school? How we kind of just drove around, not knowing where anything was?”

Newt gives a soft, yet confused, smile in return. “Yeah. What about that?”

Thomas clenches his fists so he stops shaking. “Well, it’s kind of like that. First I was scared about school starting, and now I’m scared about it ending. So I wanna drive. You know how I get.”

It’s a nothing answer, and Thomas knows that. But all he cares about is that he said the right words to get Newt to give in, which he does like clockwork.

“Alright. Fine. Let’s go on a road trip. That’s all we do, anyway.”

all we do is think about the feelings that we hide.

Thomas feels as giddy as a child going to Disney as he lovingly tosses his backpack into the backseat. His (unknown) destination was not nearly as exciting, but that wasn’t what mattered. He cared about the company quite a bit more.

“Coffee,” is all Newt says as he drags his hand down his face. Thomas looks over at his obviously tired eyes and feels a quick pang of guilt hit his chest. 

He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t want to be, Thomas tells himself. It works for now.

“Typical spot?” Thomas asks, even though he knows the answer.

“Sure, if we’re going that way,” Newt offers.

“We are now,” Thomas remarks before setting out of the parking lot. 

It is now 8:30 AM. Thomas knows that Newt only got in the car because he thinks Thomas got enough sleep to drive. Thomas knows he can drive; he’s certainly awake enough to do that. But sleeping...that wasn’t something he was able to do so well.

Part of it was because he still felt that itch to leave immediately. And it’s oh, so hard for Thomas not to impulsively act on all of his urges. But, for Newt, he shoved his car keys into his desk drawer where he couldn’t see them and attempted to get some semblance of sleep. Normally he wasn’t a fan of waking up early in the morning but again, for Newt, he was willing.

Thomas pulls into the parking spot next to the closest gas station to campus. It’s one of those fancy ones that’s connected to a coffee shop. 

“I’m gonna get myself a cup,” Newt says, one hand on the door handle. “You get us some snacks, yeah?”

“Easy,” Thomas dismisses as he exits the car. “My specialty.”

“Something with a hint of nutritional value would be nice.”

“It would be, wouldn’t it?” Thomas smirks as he closes the door.

Five minutes pass before Thomas plops his bundle of goodies onto the counter, relieved of the weight off his arms. The cashier looks down at his haul with a hint of a smirk on her face.

“Another trip, huh?” She remarks as she rings up the first bag of Hot Cheetos. 

“Probably the last,” Thomas simultaneously says and realizes. This must be the last gas station snack stop he’ll ever make, at least under these circumstances. He’s immediately filled with a whirlwind of other potential lasts; last time taking a test, last time going to their favorite bar, last time seeing the $2 movie on Tuesdays. He starts longing for the things he hasn’t lost yet, then remembers that he’s in a social situation and needs to not have a breakdown in front of his favorite cashier.

“Can I also get a pack of Marlboro’s?” he asks. “Almost forgot.”

“Almost reminded you,” the cashier quips back. She grabs them from somewhere where Thomas knows she had them ready as soon as he came in. “He’s gonna need them with all those finals coming up, I bet.”

“Hell, maybe I’ll even steal one,” Thomas jokes. The cashier laughs with him, but both of them know it’s not true.

The cashier finishes bagging all of Thomas’ items and hands him the receipt. He’s sure he’ll stop by here once more for gas or a quick drink before graduation, but something about this trip feels so final, so definitive. He’s not sure if that’s reality or if he’s just dramatizing everything again. He still decides to make his goodbye seem a little more personal. 

“Thanks a lot, Mary,” he settles on, knowing she isn’t wearing her nametag today or any day.

“Any time,” she responds with a kind smile.

Thomas walks outside to see Newt leaning against the wall, sipping his coffee out of his favorite, sticker-covered thermos. He turns to Thomas and eyes the bulky plastic bag in his hand.

“I’m afraid of what you’ve picked out,” he jokes. “It might kill me.”

“The only thing that’s killing you are these,” Thomas replies, tossing him the Marlboro’s. 

“Oh, thanks, mate,” Newt smiles as if surprised. Somehow he is every time. “I’ll square with you where we stop next.”

It’s so routine, so intrinsic, that it hurts. Is this the last pack of Marlboro’s he’ll toss Newt? And why should that even matter?

“Alright,” Thomas says, getting back into the car. “Let’s drive.”

[franklongbooty]

hi harriet again I swear this is it

hi hi here is my boy frank, his about is long, connections down the bottom!!

Statistics Page

Pinterest character basics

full name: Frank Joseph Longbottom

birth date: June 21st, 1957 (He’s a Gemini/Cancer cusp lmao)

blood status: Pureblood

3 key positive traits: Sincere, sentimental, attentive 

3 key negative traits: , impulsive, critical, single-minded

FC choice (2 or more, please!):  Matthew Daddy-ario 

academics

primary wizarding school & graduation year: London School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 1975

degree & cohort: Auror Academy 

house & year: Gryffindor, 1st Year Masters Student

rooming

Frank was very excited when the flat above Honeydukes Sweetshop suddenly became vacant at the start of this third year. He has a notorious sweet tooth (brought on by his mother not wanting them in the house when he was young), and went there enough during exam periods (and the rest of the year, let's be honest) that he knew the owners by name, and so they gave him a great offer on the place, despite being able to afford whatever rent he would’ve needed to pay without any discounts. He makes up for their generosity by buying way more sweets than he could ever get through. So come to his flat? You’ll be sure to have been offered pretty much anything that’s available in the shop below.

The space is quite big, due to the size of the shop below, but I picture it to be super airy and quite open plan (ie the only door is to the bathroom, everything else is arches and half walls, high ceilings). He’s not big on decorating, and he’s got his neatness that his mother has instilled in him from a young age, but he does have a wall completely covered in book shelves, and his dad's favourite armchair in one corner.

extracurricular activities

Former Head Boy, former member of the duelling club, former captain of the Wizards Chess Club, Warlocks of Great Britain 

all about your kiddo

Frank Joseph Longbottom was raised by a stern mother, and a loving father. A mother who had a place for everything, and a father who always seemed to forget where those places were. A mother who spent hours of each day making sure the house was perfect, and a father who would come home and forget to hang his coat up after a long day at the Department of Mysteries. A mother who couldn’t help but smile anyway when her husband cracked his jokes, forgetting the mess for a moment, and a father who tried his best to remember to wipe his shoes before stepping into the house. A mother who, when her husband didn’t come home, only got worse, and a father who was never seen again. Frank was only eight  years old when Joseph Longbottom disappeared. The day had started like any other, with a kiss to Augusta’s cheek and a ruffle of Frank’s hair. He’d left the house whistling his favourite tune, and that was the last anyone saw of him. He never showed up at work, and by the end of the day Auror’s were swarming the Longbottom house, looking for anything that could be amiss. The disappearance of his father has played on Franks mind ever since that day. What started as a child not quite understanding, turned into a burning desire to find out what happened. That burning desire is what first led Frank to consider the Auror Program at Hogwarts. Now through to the Auror Academy, Frank finally has the resources to start looking into his father’s case. He knew he had to be discreet. Until he knew what had actually happened - whether he had been taken, or, possibly worse, simply left them, Frank knew it was important to lay low and do this slowly, if he wanted any chance of finding answers. 

Without his father there to help, Augusta Longbottom’s perfections slowly turned into obsessions. Although they had a house elf, she spent much of her time reorganising the house, re-stacking bookshelves over and over again until they were exactly how she wanted it, and then once more for good measure. As Frank grew, her need for perfection turned on him. His clothes were always perfectly pressed, his bed had to be perfectly made every morning before his classes, and his hair was always cut to the same length without fail. But he took this in his stride. As a child, Frank had always strived for greatness, wanting to be the best out of all his peers. It started as a need to be able to run the fastest when playing with his friends and to read the longest books during primary, eventuating in the role of Head Boy in his final year at Hogwarts. This grew a deep confidence within himself, but it also caused him to be hypercritical of all the small things that he couldn’t control. And although his hair is now a little longer, he still has to make sure his quill and ink pot are perfectly straight on his desk, his parchment smooth, and his bed made every morning before he goes to class. 

Where his mother had instilled the hard side to Frank, the time he did have with his father nourished a soft side within him that continued to grow as Frank got older. A side that made bad jokes, that was sentimental, that loved sweet things, and that fiercely cared for those close to him. Perhaps contradictory, the confidence that grew from his mother pushing him only fueled his desire to help others in the only way he knew how. The growing war did nothing to quell Franks need to excel in the Academy. His strong convictions and the anger that was bubbling within him at the injustice of it all made him want to do something. Whispers around the castle and a cryptic conversation with Dumbledore has led Frank to believe something bigger is coming -- something to help put a stop to the war that is beginning to bubble around them. With half of him feeling a pull to follow Dumbledore into that unknown, and the other half increasingly focused on trying to find out what happened to his father, Frank is finding himself at a crossroads. 

The unexpected always threw Frank. Something about Alice Shafiq was completely unexpected, but it was an unexpectedness he welcomed with open arms as soon as he saw the way she smiled. She made him feel at ease, and as the years went on and friendly study sessions turned into stolen kisses, it was easy to understand why. The touch of her hand on his arm always helped ease him, and he suddenly didn’t mind spending his nights awake, as long as they were with her. Ask him, and Frank would tell you she’s a good friend. But ask anyone else, and they’d probably disagree. 

extra credit

Frank feels all his emotions with fierceness and certainty. If he disagrees with something his blood will boil and he won’t sit quietly - he’s got them strong convictions. Similar so, when something makes him happy it’ll be impossible for anyone not to notice. Think loud exclamations, lots of opinions, stubbornly standing up for whatever it is he is currently fighting for. He’s also quite impulsive, and these go hand in hand. He believes in his emotions to the fullest (maybe to the extent he acts like a bit of a know-it-all at times). Also has a bit of a saviour complex tbh, and doesn’t like asking for help. He can do it himself, thank you very much !!!

Frank has the fashion sense of a Grandpa. He loves his funky socks, and they’re all perfectly matching and rolled up (he has a whole drawer of them). He loves baggy jumpers over blue denim jeans (thanks 70’s). He loves his funky socks perfectly matching his baggy jumpers. He also wears glasses, but! They’re reading glasses, so during class/study only 

His patronus is a buzzard

Armortentia is oatmeal cookies, burning fireplace, lavender

Wand is Rowan, unicorn hair, 13 inches, rigid

Likes: funky socks, sweets, oatmeal cookies, mustard, earl grey tea, elaborate chocolates, muggle movies, the smell of lavender, bad jokes, satchels, his owl Whetherby 

Dislikes: quidditch (but no one knows this), ketchup, coffee (see elaborate hot chocolates), messiness, laziness, messiness caused by laziness, unpredictable change

Whilst Frank is nowhere near as bad as his mother, he’s definitely inherited some ticks. He keeps his sock drawer perfectly tidy. If he’s sitting, he bounces his leg whenever he’s anxious, or stressed, or worried; if he’s standing, he paces like a madman. Someone get a fitbit on this boy. He always feels like he needs to be in control, which leads him to be critical of things when it means he’s not going to be in control of them. And critical of himself when he lets things get out of his control. 

Possible connections

A good friend he’s had since childhood - maybe a family friend, maybe a neighbour, someone who was there through it all, his #rideordie. This person helps Frank fkn chill out

An ex-girlfriend, or fling, who ended up dumping him for being weirdly close with Alice, despite his insistence that they’re just friends

Fam bam  - some cousins would be lit

Frank is a competitive boy, something that comes from needing the be the best of the best, so someone who is his competitive rival would be fun!!

And also the good old enemies! Frank doesn’t think his fathers disappearance was a coincidence, and now all these things with Voldemort have come up he’s extremely suspicious of people

[sleepingdragon-rp]

☆ FRANK LONGBOTTOM  —

BASICS

★ BIRTH DATE / 21 June, 1957 ★ BLOOD STATUS / Pureblood ★ PRONOUNS & IDENTITY / he/him; cis male ★ FACECLAIM / Matthew Daddario

ACADEMICS & ROOMING

★ PRIMARY SCHOOL / London School of Witchcraft, class of 1975 ★ ORIGINAL DEGREE / Pre-Auror ★ ACADEMIC PURSUITS / Auror Academy ★ HOUSE & YEAR / Gryffindor, class of 1978

POINTS OF INTEREST

★ Frank Joseph Longbottom was raised by a stern mother, and a loving father. A mother who had a place for everything, and a father who always seemed to forget where those places were. A mother who spent hours of each day making sure the house was perfect, and a father who would come home and forget to hang his coat up after a long day at the Department of Mysteries. A mother who couldn’t help but smile anyway when her husband cracked his jokes, forgetting the mess for a moment, and a father who tried his best to remember to wipe his shoes before stepping into the house. A mother who, when her husband didn’t come home, only got worse, and a father who was never seen again. Frank was only eight  years old when Joseph Longbottom disappeared. The day had started like any other, with a kiss to Augusta’s cheek and a ruffle of Frank’s hair. He’d left the house whistling his favourite tune, and that was the last anyone saw of him. He never showed up at work, and by the end of the day Auror’s were swarming the Longbottom house, looking for anything that could be amiss. The disappearance of his father has played on Franks mind ever since that day. What started as a child not quite understanding, turned into a burning desire to find out what happened. That burning desire is what first led Frank to consider the Auror Program at Hogwarts. Now through to the Auror Academy, Frank finally has the resources to start looking into his father’s case. He knew he had to be discreet. Until he knew what had actually happened - whether he had been taken, or, possibly worse, simply left them, Frank knew it was important to lay low and do this slowly, if he wanted any chance of finding answers. 

★ Without his father there to help, Augusta Longbottom’s perfections slowly turned into obsessions. Although they had a house elf, she spent much of her time reorganising the house, re-stacking bookshelves over and over again until they were exactly how she wanted it, and then once more for good measure. As Frank grew, her need for perfection turned on him. His clothes were always perfectly pressed, his bed had to be perfectly made every morning before his classes, and his hair was always cut to the same length without fail. But he took this in his stride. As a child, Frank had always strived for greatness, wanting to be the best out of all his peers. It started as a need to be able to run the fastest when playing with his friends and to read the longest books during primary, eventuating in the role of Head Boy in his final year at Hogwarts. This grew a deep confidence within himself, but it also caused him to be hypercritical of all the small things that he couldn’t control. And although his hair is now a little longer, he still has to make sure his quill and ink pot are perfectly straight on his desk, his parchment smooth, and his bed made every morning before he goes to class. 

★ Where his mother had instilled the hard side to Frank, the time he did have with his father nourished a soft side within him that continued to grow as Frank got older. A side that made bad jokes, that was sentimental, that loved sweet things, and that fiercely cared for those close to him. Perhaps contradictory, the confidence that grew from his mother pushing him only fueled his desire to help others in the only way he knew how. The growing war did nothing to quell Franks need to excel in the Academy. His strong convictions and the anger that was bubbling within him at the injustice of it all made him want to do something. Whispers around the castle and a cryptic conversation with Dumbledore has led Frank to believe something bigger is coming – something to help put a stop to the war that is beginning to bubble around them. With half of him feeling a pull to follow Dumbledore into that unknown, and the other half increasingly focused on trying to find out what happened to his father, Frank is finding himself at a crossroads. 

★ The unexpected always threw Frank. Something about Alice Shafiq was completely unexpected, but it was an unexpectedness he welcomed with open arms as soon as he saw the way she smiled. She made him feel at ease, and as the years went on and friendly study sessions turned into stolen kisses, it was easy to understand why. The touch of her hand on his arm always helped ease him, and he suddenly didn’t mind spending his nights awake, as long as they were with her. Ask him, and Frank would tell you she’s a good friend. But ask anyone else, and they’d probably disagree.

TRAITS

✓ sincere; sentimental; attentive ✗ impulsive; critical; single-minded

☆ OOC — WRITTEN BY HARRIET, SHE/HER