#matters of the hart

[stymshots]

They’re landing right behind me, aren’t they?

[therealgchu]

Snippet Sunday - Sneak Preview for To The Shore

thanks @fangbangerghoul for the reminder! it's snippet sunday, everyone! for all other fic writers, post up your snippets! my chores are done for the day, so i want to read <3

for today, as your snippet, you're going to get a peek ahead to a new chapter cos i'm still stuck on the current one. this takes place during the Matters of the Hart quest.

if you want to read my fic from the beginning, here's the ao3 link.

sneak peek INCOMING!

“That was way too easy. And, how convenient that the slate with the coordinates survived the explosion,” Hwa said from the captain’s chair. “And, did you take note of the name of the ship?

Sam looked at Hwa, getting the gist of what she was saying, as he was feeling it himself. “It was a setup, wasn’t it?” he asked. Hwa nodded. He could see anger beginning to percolate beneath her surface. She stood up and left the cockpit, and watched the emotionless mask fall again. Remind me never to play poker with her, he thought.

Hwa confronted Lillian in the galley. “This is a trap, Lillian. Cora could have seen through the plan. They want to take you out, and make the Rangers look bad, and you fell for it,” Hwa said. “The ship was named the Dumas. As in the Count of Monte Cristo. As in the book you’re reading with Cora. Is any of this getting through to you?”

“That means there’s a mole in the Rangers,” Sam added.

Hwa nodded, then turned back to Lillian. “Going forward, this is my op. You follow my commands to the letter, are we clear?” Every word she said was clearly enunciated, but with no emotion.

Lillian was bristling and already had her hackles up, “You don’t get to tell me…” she started. 

Hwa cut her off, “I do get to tell you. You are on my ship. You are putting Cora into danger. You are forcing my hand by playing into this trap that a child could have seen. You could have sent a small wet-works team to take Valerie out instead of this nonsense.”

Sam coughed, “That’s not really how it’s done in law enforcement, Hwa, but, oh nevermind…” he said half under his breath.

“Now, you listen here,” Lillian shouted, sputtering into Hwa’s face.

Hwa looked implacably back, showing little emotion, unlike Lillian who was getting angrier and redder in the face. “No. I’m done. You want my help, you play by my book.” She turned to Sam, “And, no wet-works team,” she said, “though it would have saved a lot of trouble,” she mumbled under her breath, betraying her frustration for the first time.

[heartandterror]

Edited from this lolll

[milksetters]

still on my wizard yuri stuff hi guys

[puretopia]

managed to get them into their new apartment for the holidays

[msharkness]

Imagine being so lucky to have Kathryn force you into taking a selfie with her

[shortnotsweet]

APPLES IN THE SKY (excerpt from THE THRILLING AND NOT AT ALL REPETITIVE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MAN AND KID DANGER: “A CHRONOLOGY OF ENTIRELY TRUE AND HEROIC EVENTS COINCIDING WITH THE END OF HISTORY”) [1] [2] [3] [4]

[ Henry’s face is unreadable. In the background, desert mountains and vegetation rush past. Smoke rises in the distance, backlighting ambiguous red shapes that could be plant life, flaming crosses, or even ominous figures. The camera cuts to the back of the car with the invalid license plate reading “HERO”, speeding towards a red horizon. Ray twists back in his seat with a smile, reflected in the lens of Henry’s sunglasses. In the review mirror, Henry’s expression is contemplative. The shot pans to a bird’s eye view of the car eating up highway miles. ]

Charli XCX’s “Apple” from BRAT (2024): “I guess the apple could turn yellow or green. I know there's lots of different nuances to you and to me—I wanna grow the apple, keep all the seeds, but I can't help but get so angry you don't listen to me. To the airport—the airport.”

PANEL NOTES:

The smoke is an implication of wildfires in the surrounding area, which Henry and Ray simply drive past because there’s nothing else to do. Maybe those days are behind them. Maybe they’re just not adept in the art of firefighting, and the bigness of a wildfire is too rural or too raw for them to even adress. I think there’s a sort of irony to it, and it’s either heroes ignoring a disaster past their prime or simple not caring; they’re speeding off into an undefined future and therefore no longer grappling with apathy, but sliding into it. Thus, the road is interpreted as a junction between natural conflict running its course and urban obligation.

This was vaguely inspired, albeit not lifted directly, from my millionth or so reread of “Cuticle Tear” by atbash on AO3. Granted, it takes place in a broken-down truck and is not needlessly melodramatic, but AO3 user atbash does more with obligatory dialogue and omitted assumptions than I could do in 20 panels or so.

Specifically, the lyric “‘cause I’ve been looking at you so long now I only see me. I wanna throw the apple into the sky, feels like you never understand me, so I just wanna drive…” struck me as somewhat in line with the feeling—and example—I got from the fic.

Of course, neither yellow or green are used in the actual color palette, but the song carries themes of intertwined identity and generational effects passed down. I think Ray has imparted a lot of the best and worst things about himself to Henry, through the means of their friendship, professional, and mentor relationship. He’s not his dad. It’s worse, almost, that he’s not, because then it would at least be hereditary.

“Apple” is my favorite BRAT (2024) song right now, so of course it’s stuck in my head; I think there’s a flippant, escapist quality to it and can imagine two friends listening to it on the highway, checking out, but also—there’s not quite a realization, more like an unspoken feeling that what you are is a product. And it’s someone else’s fault. And when you look at each other, you’re seeing something else, or maybe you’re trying to. There’s something distantly escapist and obviously upbeat about the song, but there’s a disdain there, too.

It’s hardly visible, but the license plate on the car reads “HERO” singular, which is invalid but implies they have either a fake plate or Swellview is just so strange that their town itself has exceptions as to how they’re issued, again violating the laws and conventional physics of surrounding territory. They’re a weird exception, as always, and they’re getting away with it.

Their identities are so intertwined at this point that theyre conflated, so there’s an obligatory ego flattening going on as well as an erasure of both or one of them—most likely Henry’s—to accommodate. You might call it being a teammate, although how Henry feels about it after all this time is unsure.

Ray did this to him, the good and the bad doesn’t matter; it’s the fact that he did it.

[3416]

the way auston's head turns as soon as mitch points is so funny to me

[uncanny-tranny]

For TST

I just finished listening to Elliot Page's book and I have to say it was an interesting piece of literature. I highly highly recommend it.

I have never read a book that is so closely aligned with myself as a trans man and my upbringing. I never thought I would read book that defines what it means to be a trans man in the public eye. I do not want to be as famous as him but I would like to make a change to the world as he has.

I am comfortable in who I am and who I love and how I choose to express my gender. Things really can and often do get better with time. And I hope that any person that sees this knows that they are not trapped in the shoes that society has put them in and they can actively choose a different pair.

I would love to read Pageboy soon; these memoirs and other art and literature are our history, part of our lifeblood as a community, and it's vital that we read each other's lives and understand that we truly are here in this world💛

It's great to read such a glowing review from you, and I'm so happy that his words lit your soul like it has

[late2000shistoricalreenactment]

I can see why Stephen would use Valerie's death as a reason to tell everyone about the anomalys but to be honest I think no matter what she would have died. Not in a 'doomed by the narrative' way, I just think she's so stupid that she would've found a way to get herself killed no matter what.

People know about the anomalys: "oooh you're not going to look after him right, I'm the only one who knows what he likes, your going to do experiments on him to figure out more about the anomalys"

Just a regular tiger,not even a prehistoric animal: "he must've escaped from a zoo that was mistreating him, he loves me If he wanted to go back he would never have escaped in the first place."

Not even a big cat, just a very aggressive dog: "it's not his fault and I can't give him up to the authorities, they'd kill him" (because most animals that have killed at least three people get put down)

Anyway my point is Valerie would find a stupid way to justify her nonsense in every universe.

The main difference between Abby and Valerie isn't that rex is a lot safer than the sabertooth, it's that Abby knows what she's fucking doing.

[mistytpednaem]

man. yes my face scrunched up the first time I laid eyes on the name "eddie fender" after years of "ray shields" (which is a pretty damn good name imho) but I can't help but feel for the localisation team, being pelted with tomatoes and rotten fruit for doing more or less what they've always done

[machetesquirrel]

Johnto v. Janto discourse in 2024 is crazzzzy. I think we need t-shirts made or something.

[discocandles]

Charlotte, Henry, and Jasper hcs:

-Jasper gives the best cuddles in swellview, it's unreal. Piper has agreed, and she can barely stand physical contact with other people outside of a firm handshake or the contact needed to maim someone; a fist bump if you're lucky. it's also most common that Jasper is the first to ask about cuddles, especially if he notices Henry or Charlotte might want that.

It's not uncommon to see Charlotte doing homework in junk n' stuff laying against Jasper while he scrolls on his phone. Honestly, it's bad for her productivity(not as bad as the man cave but still). She wants to get her shit done, but that requires grabbing her backpack, and it's comfy where she's at right there. After like a minute of mentally being at war with herself she'll be like "Is it ok if I go to the man cave to grab my backpack? I'll be right back." and Jasper's like "yeah, no problem." and Charlotte's like "ok thanks".

-They have a 1 spotify account between the 3 of them. How they manage to share a singular account is beyond me, and the laws of reason, but they do it. It's technically Henry's account, given he pays for the premium subscription, but it wasn't just his for more than like a week. Their spotify wrapped playlist is disjointed to a comedic degree. Don't even try to get through their liked songs.

They have separate personal playlists for their personal favorites. but the playlist names are indecipherable if you are not them. and they will judge each other's music tastes in the playlist description.

-This might be canon, but Charlote can read Henry like a book. Henry's eyebrows move a centimeter, and Charlotte is getting a burrito bc she sees that he's craving one. She knows the degree of "Is Ray shitting me?" that Henry is feeling the second he comes out the tube, the mask affects nothing. Everyone kinda writes it off like "It's a bit creepy, but it's also Charlotte" & "that's a normal smart person thing to do." which no, it isn't.

Charlotte is most accurate with Henry, but Henry can read Jasper better than Charlotte can, and Jasper can read Charlotte better than Henry. It moves in a triangle of sorts. They also read each other's emotions in different ways. Charlotte goes off of facial expressions, Henry by the tone of their voice, and Jasper by general body language.

-Henry is probably the best cook out of the 3 of them. None of them are particularly bad at cooking per say, but Henry is the best at it. He tries to play it off at times and suggest that they get take-out on his nights to make dinner, but that's almost always a no from Charlotte and Jasper unless he's exhausted. Also the take-out in dystopia is terrible, even by shitty take-out standards. Like you do not get take-out in dystopia unless you *have* to.

Henry's weak link? Grilling/Barbeque. The guy won't turn hamburgers into hockey pucks, but he hates working a grill, and the grill hates him back. But that's fine, as Charlotte was taught by the Lord of Barbeque, her uncle Rosco. And in terms of baking, Henry and Charlotte love Jasper's baking too much to try and replicate it. It works out well for them in the kitchen.

-Henry and Charlotte were in competition for best driver sophomore year. It started as a joke of who would chauffer and who would pay for gas. But then they were in the same car for driver's ed and shit got intense. They would point out if the other was one mile over the speed limit, roasting the other's parking, grilling each other on the exact meaning of signs.

They got their driver's test scores and it turns out Jasper is the best/safest driver. Henry and Charlotte tied at the decent score of 79, but Jasper got a 96. He jokes its his way of recovering after experiencing Piper drive in the graveyard, which she scoffed at. So Jasper is the chauffer while Henry and Charlotte pay for his gas.

-honestly it's a good rule of thumb that if two of them are competing, the other person will win. Jasper and Henry racing to the swellview pool in the summer? Charlotte's already there. Jasper and Charlotte at each other's throats over who gets the last slice of pie? They turn around and Henry's watching them while eating the piece in question. Henry and Charlotte are spending all day trying to beat a high score in a video game? Jasper takes a turn and his score is undefeated for a week.

When schwoz first pointed it out, it was kind of a point of contention. the 2 competing would glare at the 3rd person before snapping back to glaring at the other. But after the driver's license competition, it just became funny. Charlotte and Henry saw Jasper asking Piper and Ray their scores, laughing his ass off as grumbled about just barely passing his drivers test. And joined in laughing as Piper growled at him, but not quite ruing the fact the dmv fucked up about her license.

[stolligaseptember]

my favorite zade scene is honestly the pond scene in 4x10 and seeing yet another gif of it just made me think about them teaching jack how to swim there

[aro-pancake-writes]

I finished it!

(almost) everything I wanted to say to Lillian. It's finally done!

Happening during Matters of the Hart, so some mild spoilers for it.

Tw: violence, deadnaming, language.

Truths to the Heart

"We don't have time to ask for backup." Lillian says, and Charlie gets up from their seat in a rage.

From the first time Sam told them about her, Charlie knew they wouldn't like her, but they put up their good face and deflect the subject.

But this is the end of their patience for that woman.

Cora stands at the door to the bridge, ready to butt in on Sam and Lillian's argument. Charlie sees her, and goes straight to her.

"Here kiddo, take this, go to my quarters and close the doors." They give her a music player and send her off. There's no argument as she understands that things are about to get ugly here.

They wait for the door to the bridge to close before stepping between Sam and Lillian.

"Enough." Charlie says, pushing Lillian away from Sam. "You, shut your hypocrite hole." They point at Lillian, anger stewing in their voice. "Sam, darling," they turn to him, calm and with a gentle smile, "I love you, and please don't be mad at me."

He looks at them confused for a second, as Charlie turns back to Lillian.

"Lils, dearest," they make their best overly sweet voice and put on a large smile, "don't you fucking dare to say shit."

"What do you know?" She scowls at them, crossing her arms ready for a fight. "And you can't call me that."

"It's my ship. I'll call you whatever the fuck I want to call you." It's becoming harder to maintain the smile. "If you want to not call backup, as per your own sayings, we'll drop Cora by at New Atlantis."

"We don't have the time! The Syndicate will–" Charlie cuts her off by raising a finger, smile dying as they stand up taller.

"Then you won't ever again bother us for taking Cora along. You won't ever again say anything about her tagging along. Ever." Lillian opens and closes her mouth like a fish. "You'll shut up until I drop you off back on Neon, so you can try to gaslight and bullshit your way out of any future trouble you get yourself into, but not in my ship."

"Who are you to say anything about how I parent? Do you have any ideas of the sacrifices I've made for her?" Charlie laughs. A good hearty laugh, like Lillian just told them the funniest joke ever.

"Sacrifices? Parenting?" They manage to say between laughs. "You don't know the meaning of the words."

"I was called out for reading Dumas by my colleagues, for heaven's sake." She tries, and Charlie manages to stop laughing.

"A sacrifice is stopping my own deep cover work to get rid of the Crimson Fleet to come and save your ass from the small fry, because Cora asked me to." They say, taking a step towards her. "A sacrifice is having you here because Cora was worried about you. I've been with her for less than a month, and I've been her parent more than you ever bothered to be in twelve years." There's a snarl, and Lillian looks terrified.

"Charlie, please, that's enough." Sam places a hand on their shoulder, making them stop. "She heard enough."

"No." Lillian says, bearing that cocky smile that Charlie wants to punch out of her face. "Let's hear what your new sweetheart has to say, Sammy."

How much more shit can come out of one person's mouth?

"What about the fact that you claim to want a professional distance from your coworkers, to the point where Jaylen doesn't know your daughter's name, but he knows everything about me and my accomplishments, that were sent to you by Cora?" They remember the way Sam was treated at the Neon Ranger post.

"What are you talking about? I talk plenty about my kid!" She tries, but Charlie ain't buying. "And so what I mentioned the stranger my daughter seems to like more than me? It's embarrassing!"

"EMBARRASSING?" Charlie shouts, anger taking over their senses. "Embarrassing is claiming you put your neck out to save someone, but doing it for your own selfish purposes. Is bailing on your daughter every time she tries to see you and then complaining that she likes someone else, who is actually there for her, better than you."

Lillian jumps at Charlie, going for a hit on their stomach. They manage to dodge and she slips, but doesn't fall.

"You just got here, Charlotte!" She screams, turning to come back at Charlie and hitting a punch to their face. "You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"I know what is going on." They smile, ignoring the blatant use of their given name and cleaning out blood from their nose. "Your priorities are anywhere but where they actually should be." Lillian turns for another punch, and Charlie lets her hit. "You're scared of accepting that you fucked up, so you hide behind your work!"

The third punch has them falling on their butt. Lillian jumps at the opportunity to sit on their waist and hold them down.

Sam's frozen in the back, unsure if he should try to remove Lillian from Charlie and draw the fire to himself or let Charlie deal with the situation, as he's well aware that they can. No one calls them “Charlotte” and gets away unpunished. Be it ignoring Walter until he uses Charlie, or leaving a good bruise if the person still insists on the name. But Lillian using the name makes him worry. They're already throwing fists. And Lillian's use was deliberate. With the intent of insulting and hurting them.

Charlie lets Lillian punch them, barely defending themselves. It's almost like they want the punishment for everything they're saying.

"You know that you lost Sam the moment Cora was born." Charlie continues, despite Lillian's barrage at them. "You lost your hold on him. The idea of love that you gave him. And now, that he's moving on, that someone else wants what you didn't want, you're angry. Because if you can't have him, no one can." They had enough of her, so they activate their powers, canceling gravity where they stand.

They watch as Lillian floats helplessly, while they're still grounded.

"How in the blazes–" the effect ends before she can finish her question, and she falls flat on the floor.

"Lillian, leave. Go find something else to do." Sam says, helping Charlie to their chair. He's cold, holding his own anger back. Lillian may have been offended, but it still didn't justify her attack on Charlie.

"I'm not leaving until we get to the Syndicate hideout." Lillian gets up, cleaning her jacket and standing there as if she didn't just beat someone up.

"Leave us alone." He says again, and she finally gets the message, grumbling all the way out of the bridge.

"It looks worse than it is." Sam kneels before Charlie, picking up a first aid kit and making them look up so he can see the injuries. There'll be some light bruising, but nothing a medpack can't fix. "But you didn't have to push that much, Charlie. Not if it ends up with you getting hurt like this."

"I had to." They say, licking at where their lip broke and a drop of blood spills out. "I couldn't stand the way she talked to you. Or how she thinks that the minimum effort is a massive sacrifice. For you and Cora."

"And that last thing you said?" He offers them a light smile. "You want me?"

Charlie looks everywhere but at him. If their face wasn't hurting so much, they'd probably be all smiles and blushes.

"Only if you want to try." Too late to not tell the truth. "I've been interested since we got that Artifact."

"Charlie," he takes a deep breath, cleaning a bad wound on their temple and adding a bandage, "why didn't you say anything before?"

They can't hold back the tears, not anymore. It's been something that they kept bubbling up since Akila.

"Because you only ever talked about her." Charlie gathers the courage and looks at his eyes. "I was there, flirting, trying to hide away that it bothered me. And every other word you said was about her. Praising her at every turn. I said it the first time that I was jealous, and it was true." They take his hand, making him stop.

"She's a good–"

"A good ranger, I know." Charlie tries to remain calm. "But she's an awful person, Sam. I'm not changing my mind on that. You said it yourself that she dismissed you, your feelings. And now that we're getting close, that I'm close to Cora, she wants back in. Even if not… romantically, if you don't feel the same way I do." That last part hurts, but it has to be said.

"I'll put an end to it, for good." He leans closer to them, cupping their face with his calloused hands. Charlie wants to feel safe, confident in his promise. "No more talking of Lillian. We'll finish this, get rid of her, and we can talk, ok?"

They nod lightly, taking a medpack that he offers them to get rid of the worse of the bruising.

Maybe, Charlie thinks, there's still hope for them to be together.

[shejustcalledmeafish]

Behold an extensive but not complete because he does it so much compilation of John Hart’s fourth wall breaks in The Sins of Captain John (made for @4thwallbreakersshowdown but also serves as general propaganda to give the boxset a listen for Torchwood fans)

Transcript below the cut, but first an important content warning that Scene Six (timestamps marked in the transcript) has background sex noises, so just be aware where you’re listening. There aren’t any major spoilers for the boxset, though.

Have fun and Vote John Hart for Ultimate Fourth Wall Breaker!

Scene One: The Restored (0:01-0:09)

John: Or maybe, if I’d known this was an audiobook, I’d’ve bought the complete Buffy on DVD! (Heavy sigh) Well, before you go asking for a refund, let’s set the scene.

(Five seconds of John’s theme song plays)

Scene Two: The Restored (0:14-0:28)

(Background space station falling apart noises)

John: I reckon I’ve got about four hours before I’m sent tumbling into the icy black void of space which is just long enough for me to tell you [sigh] how I got here. So, strap in, get comfy, and let’s give the fourth wall a bloody good seeing to.

(John’s theme) 

Scene Three: The Restored (0:33-0:46)

Sir Thomas, dying: I pray that I shall find the gates of paradise open, and that a choir of angels—

John: Yeah, yeah, yeah, very moving. But this scene has been going on for ages and we’ve a zombie apocalypse to avert, so maybe, we should get going.

(John’s theme) 

Scene Four: The Restored (0:51-1:11)

(Faint screams in background)

John: (giddy) Plus, if this was a film or a tv show, it would look so, so cool. Cue exciting music!

(Exciting music plays, accompanied by horse snorting and galloping. The music continues to climax)

John: Heeyaw! (Whip crack) Heeyaw!! (Whip crack)

Mohisha: Heeyaw! (Whip crack)

(Horses galloping intensifies)

John, yelling: This is probably the single most visually impressive thing I’ve ever done!

(John’s theme)

Scene Five: Peach Blossom Heights (1:16-1:43)

(Background space station falling apart noises)

John: (grimly) This is it, John. Beginning of the end. (Much less grim) Or, for you listeners at home, the halfway mark. (High-pitched voice) ‘Yay, Captain Jack is in it,” I hear you squeal. Except for you, over there, tweeting angrily around your cats(?) that (nerdy voice) “actually, I think you’ll find his name isn’t Captain Jack Harkness yet” yeah, I see you. While we’re at it, strictly speaking, mine isn’t Captain John Hart either. (dramatic mock gasp) I know! But listen, isn’t continuity boring?

(John’s theme) 

Scene Six: Peach Blossom Heights (1:48-2:28)

(Genial, generic, elevator-like music plays)

John: Basically, while many listeners were totally on board for all the gratuitous sex following my previous outing The Death of Captain Jack, we received some complaints (background sex noises begin) ranging from (gruff voice) ‘utter filth!’ to, uh, (higher-pitched voice) “you people should be locked up!” So, you’ll just have to picture the scene without any of the more explicit sound effects or dialogue. (sharp inhale, voice now giddy) I mean, in reality, this went on for hours, but, who wants to hear that?

(Notable pause)

John: (faux shock) You do? Shame. Take it up with the people who wrote all those strongly-worded emails. You have them to thank. Anyway, maybe they’ll release it as a bonus disk or something. Moving on.

(John’s theme) 

Scene Seven: Darker Purposes (2:33-3:01)

John: Suppose it was nice while it lasted. I hope you’ve all enjoyed yourselves. So, why don’t you get comfy, and we’ll see how this absolute clusterfuck comes to a conclusion. …where’s the theme tune? We’re meant to have a theme tune.

Scott Handcock, irl director of the boxset: (slightly muffled as if over an intercom) Uh, is it not playing?

John: No! Scott, it’s not playing, I can’t hear anything.

Scott: (inaudible), how ‘bout now?

John: Nope. (starts whistling)

Scott: How about… now!

(Torchwood theme starts playing)