#my project thingy's dragons are a little smaller than this

[papermonkeyism]

Can't remember if I reblogged this before, but pterosaurs were RIDICULOUS and I love everything about them.

It’s a shame the National Geographic folks couldn’t have shot this thing when it was painted–but here’s the finished standing Quetzalcoatlus. He’s taller than a modern giraffe!

[psychoseal]

TAG Minibang 2021

for @tagminibang​ I got together with the awesomely talented @scattergraph​ to create a little fluff piece exploring the relationship between Gordon and Virgil and how they always have each others backs. Gordon is not known as Virgil’s wingman for no reason. I did the words, and @scattergraph​ did the most adorable illustrations! so without any further delays I present to you: Wingman. 

Gordon is bored. It has done nothing but rain all morning, and he has taken to sitting on the windowsill watching the constant pounding of the drops on the pane. The sky is bleak and grey, the clouds looking as though they will never empty.

Alan is sleeping in Scott’s arms oblivious to his big brothers discontent as he snoozes happily and Scott is watching some documentary about some project he has no interest in. If it isn’t water related, Gordon does not care!  

John is out doing a grocery shop with their mom while their dad has been left to hold down the fort, and he escaped to his office to catch up on some work before Lucy’s car had even left the driveway, because he would rather do anything than play with Gordon. Gordon knows this.

Sighing dramatically he jumps from his spot and goes to find Virgil. Skipping up the soft carpeted stairs, before crashing in through his elder brother’s bedroom door, slightly breathless and runs into the room before diving onto the bed.

“For crying out loud Gordon! Knock” Virgil tells him from his desk, rolling his eyes.

Gordon’s heart sinks. Even Virgil doesn’t want to play with him.

Seeing the devastation on his little brother’s face, Virgil’s own heart melts with compassion.

“Sorry Squiddie, what do you want?” Virgil asks kindly.

“I’m bored Virgy. I want to go swimming but daddy said I can’t because it is raining. I said that it doesn’t matter because the pool is wet already and he shouted at me to leave him alone so I tried to play with Scott and he was too busy being boring and old.” Gordon tells him almost in tears.

Virgil gets up from the desk, where he has been working on a sketch from a photograph of their trip to the beach the previous summer, planning on giving it to his mom for her birthday in a few weeks time, and joins Gordon on the bed.

“Dad is busy with work and you know the pool rules, they’re there for your safety Fish” Virgil tells him gently, wiping away a stray tear from Gordon’s cheek with his sleeve.

“But the rules are so boring Virgy” Gordon replies in disgust. “All I get all day is “no Gordon you can’t play in the rain, you’ll get sick” “no Gordon you can’t jump off the piano, you’ll hurt yourself” it’s so unfair!” He is whining, and he knows it. But he doesn’t care. Nothing in his day is going the way he planned.

Virgil nods along with him, knowing that it is easier to agree rather than argue. “What do you want to do?” He asks, thinking that if he keeps him quiet and entertained then his father will be happy.

“I want to fly” Gordon replies with a grin.

“Pardon?” Virgil replies trying not to laugh.

“I saw it on tv. We can make a plane out of cardboard and fly it down the stairs” Gordon insists getting up and dragging a box full of art supplies out from under the bed and dumping the contents on the floor. “See we can decorate the box and we will both sit inside and fly down the stairs”

Virgil just stares at his brother, making a mental note to stop him watching tv!

But his little brother’s enthusiasm is contagious and he finds himself joining in decorating their plane. He even finds some additional cardboard so that they can make wings.

Gordon writes their names on the wings in big loopy handwriting with a thick black permanent marker; “GRODON” is on the right-hand wing and “VIRGILE” is on the left.

“Virgy can we paint it now?” Gordon asks delighted with their box plane.

Virgil nods happily, caught up on their project now. “Hang on I will go and get the paints, what colours are we painting it?”

“Yellow and green!” Gordon replies automatically. Combining both of their favourite colours. “Can you get the stripy paint?”

Virgil laughs at their old joke. A hand me down joke from their grandfather who tells a story about sending an apprentice carpenter on a mission for stripy paint as a joke. “Always”

Working together the painting of the plane does not take the two brothers long, and neither of them realise that they are getting paint everywhere, it is all over their clothes. And there are great splotches on Virgil’s bedroom carpet and he knows that his parent’s won’t be happy but that is the last thing on his mind. Gordon even has a streak of yellow paint on his face, under his left eye, across his nose and running down to his chin.

“What are we going to do while it dries?” Virgil asks. This is Gordon’s project and he doesn’t want to take over.

Gordon sits back against the bed and thinks. Waving the brush still in his hand causing even more paint to fly across the room splattering the walls. “Build a fort”

Virgil grabs the blanket off his bed and climbs up on his desk and throws it over the door and propping it up with two chairs. One from his desk and the other from Scott’s room to create an opening. Gordon grabs the pillows from Virgil’s bed and places them in their fort and they get settled on the floor.

“Can you read me a story?” Gordon asks resting his head on Virgil’s shoulder.

“How about I tell you a story?” Virgil replies. Not really wanting to move now he is comfortable.

“Okay” Gordon agrees. “But I want it to have dragons and monsters who want to eat Scotty and Johnny and Allie and you and I want to be the hero who saves the dragons and the monsters from being poisoned because I bet you all taste yucky”

Virgil stretches his arm and wraps it about Gordon’s shoulders.

“What should the dragons look like?” Virgil asks.

“Big and mean and green and they can breathe fire and the monsters are bright orange with tentycall thingies sticking up out their giant heads”

“Why don’t we draw them?” Virgil asks. “We can illustrate the story”

Gordon nods happily. The plane forgotten momentarily as they draw big colourful monsters eating their siblings and tearing apart their school, only for Gordon to save the day when he takes the monsters and moves them into the barn so he can have them for pets.

“You’re so good at drawing Virgy” Gordon tells him appreciatively. “Can we go and fly now?”

Virgil crawls out of their fort and checks the plane. It is still sticky but it will do. “Sure come on” he tells Gordon, holding open the door to the fort for his brother to join him.

Together they carefully carry the plane out of the room and across the hallway to the top of the stairs.

“You get in first Virgy then I can sit on your lap and we can push from the walls” Gordon demands.

Virgil obeys his brothers commands and sits back in the box, but he can feel a knot twist in his stomach as he looks down the steep stairs. A sudden nervousness, maybe this isn’t such a great idea! “Gordon? I don’t think we should do this”

“Why? It is fun” Gordon replies.

Virgil sighs before trying to explain. “What happens if he fall out, we could get hurt Gords”

This hasn’t occurred to Gordon and he turns around in the plane to look at his big brother. Reaching out for his hand and enveloping it with his much smaller one and smiling reassuringly. “Trust me Virgy. You won’t get hurt; I would never let you get hurt”

His eyes are so wide and so trusting. Eyes so close to Virgil’s own deep amber ones that he just can’t help but believe him. “Okay my little wingman, let’s do this thing” he finally speaks up his eyebrows lowering over his face deep in concentration as he pulls his hand free from Gordon’s and grabs hold of the top of the banister to “start the engine”.

Gordon squeals in delight as the box flies down the stairs, leaving more paint on the walls and carpet as the wings brush against the wall and bannister. He can feel the friction burning his backside and legs as they shoot downwards. This is even better than the pool!

To Virgil’s surprise they make it to the bottom in one piece and Gordon jumps up laughing so hard he can’t even stand still, his legs wobbling slightly before he gets his earth legs back.

Turning back to Virgil he is delighted to see an equally large grin on his face. “Again?” He asks hopefully.

Virgil doesn’t hesitate this time. “Yes!” He replies happily jumping up from the plane and helping Gordon drag it back up the stairs for its second flight.

They are halfway down the stairs when the front door opens and their mom comes marching into the house, her arms laden with paper bags packed with groceries and followed by John who can’t even see over the top of the bag, his bright red hair is the only thing that makes him look like a human and not a grocery bag with legs!

“LOOK OUT!” Gordon’s now panicked cry causes John to startle, and he stumbles, falling over his feet.

The bag goes flying, a graceful arc over to the stairs towards the plane. A bag of flour explodes all over Gordon and Virgil and a dozen eggs shatter mixing with the flour in their hair and all over their clothes. Gordon starts to giggle. This was even better than the flight! Getting filthy if one of his most beloved hobbies.

Lucy hearing Gordon’s cry comes running from the kitchen. John is crying, tears streaming down his face from the fall and the embarrassment of dropping the groceries. And he is her priority as she carefully kneels down to his level and helps him up into a sitting position and wrapping him up in her arms for a cuddle. Gently wiping away his tears in a similar way to Virgil did for Gordon just a few hours before.

“Are you hurt Johnny?” She asks concerned.

“MY KNEE HURTS!” He wails burying his face into her shoulder while she rubs his back with small comforting circles.

“Let’s have a look” Lucy replies. Lifting up the leg of his jeans to reveal a slight scrape, with small splatters of blood oozing through the cracked skin. “Oh Johnny that does look really sore. Come with me into the kitchen and I will get you sorted out. Would you like a plaster with planets on?”

John looks up from her shoulder and nods, allowing her to pick him up and carry him away.

“You two stay where you are” Lucy tells Gordon and Virgil, not even bothering to turn around. Her mom sense kicking in that the two culprits were about to run away!

“Think we have time for one more flight?” Gordon asks.

“Mom said we have to stay here” Virgil reminds him.

“Spoil sport” Gordon replies pouting.

“Okay fine but if I get grounded it’s your fault!” Virgil replies as they both clamber up out of the plane to their feet.  

They don’t even get halfway back up the stairs before their mom comes back, and she is uncharacteristically furious. Her usually sunny features are incandescent with rage as she approaches the two boys.

Even Gordon cowers at the sight. Brave and fearless Gordon, cowers under the angry glare of his mother.

“WHATON EARTH WERE THE PAIR OF YOU THINKING?!” She thunders, her voice rattling the walls and causing both Scott and their father to come running.

“What is going on out here?” Jeff asks.

Lucy turns her fiery amber eyes on him, “YOU SHOULD KNOW. I ONLY LEFT YOU IN CHARGE FOR A FEW HOURS AND THIS IS WHAT I COME HOM TOO! VIRGIL, GORDON UPSTAIRS NOW AND START RUNNING A BATH, THE PAIR OF YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY FILTHY”

Virgil grabs Gordon’s hand and the pair race up the stairs to the safety of Virgil’s room before collapsing onto the bed laughing until tears are streaming down their cheeks.

“Come on, I think we ought to do as we are told and have that bath” Virgil tells Gordon once he has his breath back.  

Gordon loves the bath and happily agrees, following his elder brother down the hallway and into the bathroom he shares with his brothers.

The original tub has been ripped out and replaced with on twice the size of a standard tub, mainly for Gordon to play in!

“Can we have bubbles?” he asks hopefully.

“Sure” Virgil replies, as Gordon pours in the whole bottle of the strawberry bubble bath he found on the side of the tub. Virgil bites his lip, as he knows that was not a very good idea but he has had so much fun this afternoon, that his momentary moment of conscience is quickly buried.

Gordon strips off his clothes and dives into the warm bubbly water, grabbing his toy submarine so he can take it for a voyage. He is almost buried in bubbles, which are steadily rising higher as the tub continues to fill up.

“This has been the best day Virgy” Gordon tells him happily as he splashes him with water.

“Yeah it has Fish, we should do it more often!” Virgil replies with a grin, before sticking his hands in the water, and dumping bubbly water over Gordon’s head.

“VIRGY!” Gordon squeals, before pulling his brother into the tub. Virgil hits the water, which splashes over the side of the tub and hits the floor. “Oops” Gordon says giggling.

“You’re going down Squiddie!” Virgil replies laughing and splashing more water onto his brother’s face and not bothering to get out the tub. His clothes are soaking but he is having too good a time to care, and he cares even less about the water spreading its way across the floor.

Their play fight is interrupted when their parent’s barge into the room, having heard the commotion.

“WHAT ON EARTH?” Jeff roars, causing the two boys to jump in surprise.

“Hi Daddy” Gordon replies flashing his father his most charming smile.

“DON’T hi Daddy me young man, I asked you a question” Jeff’s voice is just above a whisper, a low almost menacing growl, which Gordon doesn’t back away from.

“We are having a bath Daddy, just like you and Mommy said” Gordon replies with an unrepentant shrug.

Jeff reaches across the boys and pulls the plug on their bath. Causing Gordon to squeak with indignation as they weren’t doing anything wrong. Jeff ignores his protests and lifts him out of the tub, wrapping him up in a warm, dry fluffy towel and walking him from the room, while Virgil sighs in resignation and follows Gordon and their parents from the room.

Jeff takes Gordon into his own bedroom to help him get dressed, while Lucy follows Virgil into his. Stopping in shock when she finally sets eyes on the destruction. “VIRGIL GRISSOM TRACY!”

Virgil finally stops to look at the chaos unleashed by his brother in boredom and flinches at the sight of the paint splattered walls, carpet and bedding. They have even somehow managed to get paint on the ceiling. The floor is littered with coloured pens without lids where the ink is staining the already ruined carpet, the bed sheet Virgil supplied for the fort somehow has a large tear in the side and his heart sinks because he just knows that he is in the biggest trouble ever!

“Get this cleaned up now and then get to bed” Lucy demands before storming from the room, the door slamming loudly behind her like a prison cell.

Virgil starts to clear away the fallen pens, slamming them putting back into his art supplies box with fury and returns it to its spot under the bed, when Gordon joins him, now fully dressed in his pyjamas and a dressing gown, dragging his cuddly squid behind him. Even Squid looks upset at the turn of events. This wasn’t what he wanted.  

“Virgy?” He asks tentatively.

“Get lost Gordon, I am in so much trouble because of you” Virgil replies, throwing a pillow at his brother’s head.

Gordon gets the message and flees the room, running back down the hallway to his own room and bursting into tears. He never meant for anything bad to happen and now Virgil hates him. He cries until he falls asleep, buried into a nest of blankets.

*TB*

Virgil is starving. He hates being punished but being sent to bed without any supper is the worst. This is all Gordon’s fault. He should never have listened to him, never have let him talk him into this.

It is just after midnight and the house is silent and still. The rain from earlier turned into a storm, which has finally abated leaving the night sky cloudless and clear. Stars can be seen for miles from his window, which he has opened up to tempt in some fresh air while he sits up on the windowsill gazing out at his freedom.

His reverie is broken when his doorknob slowly starts to turn and the door creaks open almost silently before someone quietly pads across the room to his bed. “Virgy?” the voice whispers. “Where are you?”

“Over here Fish” Virgil replies.

“I brung you a snack” he tells him smiling and holding out a pilfered bag of crisps.

Virgil jumps down from the windowsill and joins Gordon on the bed, helping himself to a few crisps, shovelling them into his mouth and savouring the salty flavour before swallowing.

“I’m so sorry Virgy, I never wanted to get you into trouble” Gordon tells him, his voice breaking with threatened tears.

Virgil abandons the crisps and embracing his younger brother with both arms, pulling him onto his lap. “It’s okay Fish really. I would never have tried it if you hadn’t of suggested it. It was fun. Right up until we got caught!”

“Really? You’re not mad?” Gordon asks hopefully.

“Not anymore Fish, it was partly my fault too” Virgil insists. “Come on let’s get some sleep”

The pair cuddle up in Virgil’s bed and both fall asleep quickly. Gordon trusts Virgil to always keep him safe, and for the first time since he gained a Fish brother, Virgil knows that he can always put his full trust in his little wingman.

*TB*

“And as the years go by, our friendship will never die” Gordon sings from his spot, on Virgil’s back.

Virgil rolls his eyes. He is sure that the ankle Gordon claims he has sprained is just an excuse for a lift back to Thunderbird 2 following a difficult rescue in the desert. The sun is beating down on their heads, and Virgil is exhausted.

“Come on Virg! SING VIRG!” Gordon encourages him, waving his arms around.

“Hold on properly, or I will make you get down and walk!” Virgil admonishes him with mock severity.

“You wound me big brother” Gordon replies “what was wrong with my singing?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Virgil replies with a grin as he continues to trudge towards the giant green ship which is mercifully fitted with air conditioning!

Finally they make it to the safety of Thunderbird 2, and Virgil unceremoniously deposits his brother into the passenger seat, before he starts to make the flight home.

Gordon yawns dramatically from his seat, having pulled one of the spare blankets up to his chin. “Hey Virg?” he calls sleepily.

“Yeah Gords?” Virgil replies glancing over his shoulder.

“Sing with me?”

Virgil sighs, it has always been this way. He can’t resist those puppy dog eyes!

“When the road looks rough ahead

And you're miles and miles

From your nice warm bed

You just remember what your old pal said…

YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME”

Gordon is fast asleep by the end of the song, which is how Virgil likes him! He may be his wingman, but there are just sometimes when he needs a break!