#my actual ray of sunshine

[my-darling-boy]

(TW injury description)

I am SO glad you asked I lose my mind over this man. Sidney Beldam! He’s most known for his miraculous recovery from a major facial injury sustained while he served as a young sergeant in the First World War. If you’ve read the Facemaker by Lindsay Fitzharris you might recognise him! Sources differ slightly about his story, so I’ve pieced it together as best I could. The photos below were from about February 1919!

Born in 1897, Sidney was about 17 living with his mother in Cambridge, England when the Great War commenced. While he didn’t enlist initially, he was soon conscripted when it came about in 1916 though thankfully he was in a non-combatant role driving lorries transporting soldiers to boats headed for France. It’s where he learned he enjoyed driving! However in April 1917, Sidney was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and eventually rose to the rank of sergeant where only 7 months later, his life would change forever.

During the battle of Passchendaele, one of the muddiest most gruelling segments of the war, Sidney was on the frontlines when a shell burst, sending a shrapnel fragment tearing diagonally through his nose and the right side of his face. The young soldier collapsed face first into the mud which ended up saving his life as falling backwards would have caused him to choke on his own blood. For three days Sidney laid in a mangled heap floating in and out of consciousness while vermin scurried about his body and the other dead and wounded around him. No one would ever know the details of those agonising three days, but the trauma he experienced there left him with a lifelong phobia of rats and cockroaches. After the initial wounded had been cleared out, a wandering band of stretcher bearers discovered Sidney alive after one man touched him with his boot fully expecting him to be dead. Miraculously, he was still clinging to life.

The 19 year old sergeant was rushed down the line and then transferred to two different military hospitals where his wounds were hastily stitched in an effort to save his life before infection could spread. Unfortunately, closing the gap where he was missing flesh in his cheek caused his upper lip to be pulled into a sneer and a sunken depression formed where most of his nose was missing around the bridge. Still, he was lucky to be alive, which he later used to remark. Well he was luckier still as he would be transferred to Sidcup military hospital in Kent where he would become a patient under Sir Harold Gillies, the man often considered the pioneer of modern plastic surgery. When he arrived at hospital in 1918, his wounds were healed but his face still bore the heavy trauma of his experience. If you want to see his photographs upon arrival, I won’t post them here but if you search his name, the photos are everywhere. IMO they’re not graphic but I know it can upset some people.

Gillies went to work trying to restore Sidney’s face. This required him to reopen the wound in his cheek where a skin flap was grafted to allow his upper lip to return to normal. He also folded down a skin flap from his forehead in order to create a new nose. Behind his facade, a series of tubes and canals had to be inserted for proper sinus drainage and other unnamed functions. While his initial handful of surgeries did most of the work to reconstruct his face, Sidney underwent over 40 surgeries between 1918 and the 1930s, some reconstructive and some to evacuate the tubes behind the flesh, meaning the common cold was a routinely painful affliction for him. Gillies understood operations were traumatic for the men at Sidcup, especially since most required more than one, and so made a point about creating a lighthearted ward environment, one Sidney says was quite jolly with the staff doing everything they could to make them feel comfortable and dignified as possible. And while I thought the topmost photos were the most updated case study photos for his recovery, I stumbled upon another set from 1920 in the Faces of War by Andrew Bamji I have not seen posted anywhere!

And lads listen. In such a sweet little twist, while Sidney was still recovering from the bulk of his major surgeries, a local pianist by the name of Winifred volunteered to play for the resting servicemen, all of whom had some form of disfigurment or amputation. Carrying in her sheet music, she and Sidney laid eyes on each other for the first time and she later remarked how his smile instantly lit up the whole room! For them, it was love at first sight. The two were soon married, and although it was in the 1920s, I don’t have an exact year for this. This most likely came after Sidney was finally discharged from service in 1921. There is a photo of their wedding and y’all look how SWEET!!

Between his initial surgeries and army discharge, Gillies asked if Sidney would be his personal chauffeur, an offer he took up quickly as he loved driving from his time with lorries during the war. One somewhat humorous account tells of Gillies—who was a bit scattered at times—asking Sidney to renew his driver’s license as the surgeon left it until the last day to take care of; Sidney in a rush waited in a long line at the county hall before jumping the queue and begging the administrator to expedite his employer’s license as it was needed to drive him to the hospital the next day. The man refused, even for a surgeon to get him to his patients. Sidney went to another staff member who was friends with Gillies and begged him the same. The man cheerily agreed but was still in need of a signature from the stubborn administrator who again refused... at least until he found out Harold Gillies nearly won a golfing championship, at which point he took Sidney to his personal office to expedite the license as he was happy to do business for a skilled golfer (apparently saving people’s lives doesn’t matter as much??). A no doubt perplexed Sidney was finally able to get back to the hospital on time!

After his army discharge and most likely about the time of his marriage, Sidney moved back to Cambridge where he worked for the council as a rent collector. He was so well liked, apparently even from the people he collected from, that he soon worked his way to Housing Manager for Cambridge. About this time, he had a daughter, Pam. Every account I read of him, people gush about how sweet he was. His wife recalls how Sidney was always adored by all his family and friends. His granddaughter Marilyn McInnes in an interview said, “He was the most warm and optimistic and loving man. I adored my grandfather, I was constantly on his lap as a small child. I never noticed anything funny about his face, I guess I thought all grandads looked like mine.”

Sadly, Sidney Beldam passed away from cancer at about 80 years old in 1978. But considering the man was given 6 months to live and ended up living for 60 years more surrounded by a large and loving family, I’d say he certainly had a full life. There is a picture of him and his wife in the 60s and they are absolutely charming!!

But anyway that’s me done rambling I’ve a massive crush on him. His story makes me genuinely happy to tell and I’m so glad you asked!

[snapbackslide]

happy october 🎃🏒 | 24.10.01

[myimaginationplain]

I've come to the conclusion that being assigned the fandom-mandated "sunshine character" is the worst possible fate a character could face

[loveydoveylex]

raylex tbh

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

Miles Kane with Hayden Cassidy @ Croi London 🐝

[lovesickshanties]

OFMD Ficlet - XIV

Birds of a feather Stede

Da bambino trascorreva in acqua interi pomeriggi.

Sua madre ne era terrorizzata. Se ne stava ad aspettarlo sotto il sole, sudando nei propri incongrui abiti di nobildonna; un parasole di merletto in una mano e l'altra a schermarsi gli occhi dalla luce bianca. Rimaneva per ore sulla riva a guardarlo nuotare, colma di ansia, finch�� il naso non le si colorava di rosa, finché Stede non usciva dall'acqua ridendo, con i polpastrelli delle dita increspati e una stanchezza beata nelle ossa.

Quando era bambino, il mare era suo amico.

Forse per questo, quando dopo molti anni trascorsi senza nuotare era finito fuori bordo, aveva vissuto come un tradimento il risucchio delle profondità salate, il proprio respiro troppo breve, il proprio corpo pesante e goffo.

Il mare di cui un tempo si fidava non lo sorreggeva più.

Fu una sensazione simile, quella che gli serrò la gola quando rimise piede sulla Revenge.

///

Che fosse accaduto qualcosa di terribile, non era difficile da immaginare.

E forse una parte di lui l'aveva saputo subito, dal sospiro del vento fra le vele lacere, dai cocci taglienti dei vetri e dalle lame dei coltelli, dagli sguardi dell'equipaggio feroci e vuoti.

Ma Stede Bonnet era, al fondo di tutto, un ottimista.

Nulla di meno di un ottimismo sconfinante nell'idiozia sarebbe bastato a portarlo dove si trovava adesso; così, anche di fronte a tutti i sintomi della catastrofe, in fondo al petto di Stede aveva continuato ad ardere la fiammella della speranza.

Il primo, vero colpo lo aveva ricevuto dagli occhi smarriti di Israel Hands.

Un quieto colore grigioverde, freddo come un'alba di pioggia, in cui non sopravviveva nulla dell'energia nervosa che Stede ricordava.

Ma l'intera ciurma della Revenge appariva stravolta; e Izzy, a quanto pareva, aveva pagato un prezzo ancor più alto degli altri. Ripetendoselo, Stede era riuscito a proteggere ancora per un poco la fiammella che si faceva sempre più fioca.

Poi era sceso nella stiva.

///

Stede Bonnet coltivava la propria capacità di credere nell'impossibile come un'abilità pratica, da tenere costantemente in esercizio.

Nessuno credeva che sarebbe davvero salpato con una nave piena di libri e di trabocchetti e di vasi di marmellata d'arance; nessuno credeva che sarebbe sopravvissuto in mare aperto, nessuno credeva che sarebbe tornato a casa e poi ripartito di nuovo.

Nessuno credeva che sarebbe più riuscito a lasciare Nassau, o che avrebbe mai rintracciato la Revenge.

Nessuno credeva che avrebbe più avuto indietro Ed.

E invece ora Stede sorride stupidamente fra sé, a dispetto del proprio zigomo dolorante, mentre come un drago acciambellato sul proprio tesoro custodisce gelosamente il sonno di Edward.

Vivo.

Stede sorride.

Fra poco risalirà in coperta. Fra poco uscirà dalla stiva e lo annuncerà all'equipaggio (lo annuncerà a Israel Hands).

Ma per adesso rimane qui ancora per un po'; si trattiene dentro questa realtà così impossibile che quasi non osa lacerarne l'involucro. Resta nel ventre della Revenge come nell'uovo di un mondo ancora inesplorato e fragile.

Resta a covare con gli occhi il volto di Edward addormentato, a guardare il colore tornare sulle sue guance; resta ad ascoltare il suo respiro profondo e regolare, a stringere la sua mano e a baciarne una ad una le nocche sbucciate.

Tutte le cose che vorrebbe dirgli, tutte quelle che spera di raccontare e progettare e vivere insieme a Ed gli salgono intorno come l'alta marea; su tutte, in questo momento domina il bisogno di sentirlo vicino, di stringerlo a sé, di addormentarglisi accanto.

Ma non ancora. Stede dovrà aspettare che Ed si svegli; dovranno parlare, dovranno chiarire tante cose; ricostruire così tanto, fare così tanta strada.

Ma Stede Bonnet è, prima di tutto, un ottimista.

Quindi, per ora rimarrà a vegliare; aspetterà che Ed riemerga, pazientemente in attesa sulla riva del suo sonno. ///

OFMD Ficlet - XIII

Birds of a feather Edward

Anche se le notti di Edward Teach cominciavano tutte in modo diverso, quando il sonno finalmente lo prendeva finivano tutte per assomigliarsi.

Tutte erano fatte di risvegli improvvisi e di strani sogni dalle lunghe spire, di sudori freddi e angosce piene di schegge che gli blindavano il respiro in scatole sempre più piccole, finché stanco di dibattersi non si rialzava in cerca di qualcosa da fare, di qualcosa da mordere, di un modo qualsiasi per zittire il lamentarsi delle ossa il contrarsi dei muscoli e l'infiammarsi del cervello.

///

Edward non era stato un bambino difficile.

Solo un po' piagnucoloso, quando era davvero molto piccolo; solo un po' pauroso, un po' irrigidito dal freddo della casa dove non c'era mai un fuoco, dove ogni passo doveva essere in punta di piedi e dove era meglio non parlare troppo forte, non occupare troppo spazio.

Una volta sola sua madre l'aveva picchiato; ma doveva essere proprio piccolo, perché lo ricordava appena.

Ricordava il pavimento umido, il muro gelido contro le vertebre, la fronte premuta sulle ginocchia mentre urlava che voleva lo lasciassero solo; e poi, non appena otteneva che la porta si chiudesse sulla stanza vuota, ricordava le urla che gli laceravano la gola per la paura di rimanere solo. Ricordava il buio, gli occhi di sua madre quando alla fine, esasperata, gli aveva dato il ceffone che l'aveva poi zittito.

Ma dopo quella volta, tutto era andato liscio come l'olio; Edward aveva smesso di urlare e scalciare e di volere cose opposte contemporaneamente, suo padre era morto, lui era fuggito sulla prima nave che lasciava il porto. Solo molto tempo dopo aveva saputo che era morta anche sua madre.

Tutto liscio come l'olio.

///

Una! Cosa! Sola!

Una sola rotta! Una e precisa!

Una linea dritta, pulita come una lama di coltello!

Guarda! Come tutto diventa chiaro! Quando vuoi! Una! Cosa! SOLA.

Le tempeste gli sono sempre piaciute, non è vero!? Perché devi fare UNA COSA SOLA ed è non scivolare, non finire in mare, perché è tutto così chiaro e netto, non è vero!?

E adesso che non c'è più NESSUNO - GUARDA - hai UNA! SOLA! COSA! - da fare, adesso, devi solo continuare sempre dritto come un colpo di pistola - sì, la senti ancora, nelle gengive dietro gli occhi l'esplosione breve enorme alle tue spalle ah, sei stato un figlio di puttana fino alla fine, a rendermi le cose più difficili proprio adesso, ma chissà, chissà se poi ci avessi provato, chissà adesso di chi sarebbe il cervello schizzato giù nel fondo della nave mmh? (Volevo che lo facessi oh no non volevo che lo facessi volevo fermarti volevo che mi fermassi volevo volevo volevo volevo -) AH, UN ULTIMO SFORZO, UNA! COSA! SOLA! - ed è smuovere questa fottuta bocca di cannone - perché figurarsi, se uno solo di questi idioti ha un briciolo del fegato di Izzy - ma la luce nera negli occhi di Jim sembra promettente ti sembra promettente ti ricorda qualcosa ti ricorda qualcuno e ti ricorda che quando hai una sola cosa da fare tutto diventa così fottutamente facile, tutto fottutamente liscio come l'olio, come il ponte di una nave nella burrasca, come il sangue del tuo secondo che dilaga a terra come la traiettoria di un proiettile -

*BLAM*

"HAH..! PICCOLO INDISTRUTTIBILE BASTARDO!"

E poi 

- ah, ecco che finalmente scivoli; perché non sei stato capace - non sei mai stato capace di fare una, sola, cosa; non sei capace di volere abbastanza una, sola, cosa, e alla fine tutto ti sfugge; tutto corre via come la pioggia che cade dritta e tu rimani lungo disteso a terra e forse era questa, fin dall'inizio, proprio questa quell'una, sola, cosa, e forse ci hai messo così tanto a capirlo perché non sei stato mai capace di guardarla in faccia; ma adesso eccoti, alla resa dei conti, eccoti scivolare via mentre la notte si disfa in rivoli lunghi d'acqua scura, e guarda un po', se alla fine non è proprio Jim.

"Finalmente."

///

[hulloitsdani]

What do u think Kiran is

How do u think the order sees kiran

*slowly sits up in my chair*

I think Kiran is a very normal person. This is someone you and I have met before. Be that from the other side of grocery store cashier, waiting in the same elevator, or walking by on a crosswalk. Kiran is a civilian from our world trying to roll with the punches of being warped somewhere completely alien. And you can see it in how they conduct themselves.

I always have a lot of fun writing Kiran’s dialogue because their casual modern speech almost feels like a dialect in comparison to the more formal fantasy tone everyone else speaks with. An “ain’t” will never exit Alfonse’s mouth, you know? And there’s a difference in “Do you have gold?” vs “You got gold?” To me, this gives Kiran an air of unfamiliarity to anyone they interact with. Let’s use Grima as an example, because it doesn’t sound like this grammatical change would make much of difference until Kiran has the audacity to hit Grima with a bro mid sentence. But that’s just how they talk. And as sweet and friendly as they are, there’s always moments like that to remind that no one has the cultural context to fully understand Kiran. Except for the audience, who can realize that Kiran let the customer service voice drop to talk to Grima like he’s an actual person.

And that’s just about how they talk! This view is only emphasized by every other thing about them! They’re a lovable goof, which is normal chill person behavior in the audience’s eyes but feels REALLY ODD to the characters of FE’s medieval fantasy war setting. There is this air of unknown about them that the more socially perceptive will pick up on and will try to come to a conclusion about. Example, I imagine Soren would interpret a lot of this as a dangerous and deeply annoying lack of intelligence from someone he has the displeasure of sharing a tactics table with. Or looping back to the Grima example, he would totally think Kiran has greedy ulterior motives behind that pleasant facade. It takes a lot of work for those types to realize that the discrepancy present isn’t really any of those things. But I also wouldn’t be too surprised if Kiran doesn’t try to directly prove any of those assumptions wrong unless they have to.

Why? Well now it’s time for the implications! Oh how we love the implications.

Because the Summoner is a different story. No one has any fucking clue what that is.

I can tell you what Kiran has pieced together so far. Summoning people from across time and space is apparently not easy. It’s not some school of magical study that some mage could pull off with enough time and research. Trust, Eitri tried. It’s a lot of complex moving parts. For example, the contracts. The contracts Kiran automatically binds their summoned to don’t even compare to the ones Veronica used in book 1. They are far more intense and infinitely harder to break. The only way out of them is if Kiran wills it so. Not even death is an option, because Kiran can come in for the revive. If they had to guess, it’s an older, more completed version of the art. Something lost to time. But no matter the case, Kiran has the ability to take full control of whoever they manage to summon. From a lowly farmer to the divine. And their power only grows.

In a similar vein, if there was any character to canonically see the hud, I think it would be Kiran. It’s genuinely part of their power set. I have previously described Kiran as the party mage until Veronica shows up to be the actual mage, but it would be way more accurate to call them a mystic/seer. They see the map, everyone’s stats, and is doing a fast amount of math to give the combat forecast. Then, upon processing all this information their enemies couldn’t dream of having at their disposal, Kiran can telepathically communicate any change in plans to anyone under contract. Kiran is not inherently some great tactician the moment they touch ground in Askr; they simply can do things no one else can. They’re learning the actual tactics part on the fly. This makes them simultaneously the largest ace up the Order’s sleeve and potentially its biggest liability. If they fall, it could cause a whole system cascade. By that same token, some of the biggest threats the Order has faced are the ones who do their research and rightfully target Kiran.

Now. Thinking critically about all that. That’s downright terrifying. A ridiculous amount of power has been dropped callously into Kiran’s lap and they have to work extremely hard to be moral with it. It’s terrifyingly easy not to be. It would actively take less effort to ‘take the reins’ as it were. But in order to be able to sleep at night ever again, they go the extra mile to not invalidate the will of their summoned. To take over like that. To make a colony of worker bees out of people. Because oh dear god they just summoned a child and the fact that they could easily force them to fight and die for them, only to be revived and do it all over again, is HAUNTING. No. No the Order has an in house orphanage now. This kid is getting adopted and cared for god damnit or Kiran might just pop a blood vessel. And sure that child is going to be a child and there will never be a world where they get along with everyone else, but that’s just going to need be a problem they address when they get there and not an excuse to use Hubris; the power set. Now replace the word child with everyone they ever summoned and you have the wider philosophy they apply to the entire Order.

They’re hyper aware of the power imbalance. They hate it with every bone in their body. They work really hard to correct it in whatever way they can.

So Kiran might not jump on the opportunity to correct those who think lesser of them. It’s… oddly comforting to know someone is keeping a critical eye on them. Holding them accountable. Especially since so much of the order just thinks of them as this quirky yet well meaning host. And, really, what can they even do about that? They have gone over the contract with every hero they summon and despite that they still choose to stay. So, what, do they try to inspire more mistrust? The problem with that they would have to actually do acts that intentionally inspire mistrust. And even if that was successful they can’t just waste the extra man power because every other month there’s some new divine asshole who wants them all dead. And if they fail that means they have to start their life from square one and god they can’t do that again so—

Just breathe Kiran.

It’s fine. You’re fine. Just breathe.

You have work to do.

[wrestlezaynia]

"I've already asked everyone on the SmackDown roster." Did you really tho? I mean, I don't blame him for not asking, but still...

[knowthatiloveyou]

LOOK AT HER

[seumyo]

Happy Birthday to the woman, the myth, the legend—yours truly, me 🥳💗

[frnkiebby]

absolute BABIES~🎃

[sinnerista]

Dimidrey’s true love

[skygemspeaks]

I was going to apologize for all the posts of my cat recently, but then I remembered that I'm not actually sorry.

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

“it’s quite nice in here… i’m seeing art galleries in a different light now!”

(miles kane day in the life - tour zone part 3) ❣️

[doriansbutt]

local warden takes a stand against his dickhead boss, shows everyone his serious face

[s-k-y-w-a-l-k-e-r]

It’s okay though, because friendship is truth, and I believe in you all the way.