#you'd absolutely combust if you knew the truth

[ladykyriaa]

Something something about doofenshmirthz and nickel collecting

[jerzwriter]

Sunday Six 3.26.2023

Haven't done one of these in a while. Below is a sneak peek of several projects I'm working on. Hope you enjoy them.

Reset | OH | Ethan Ramsey x F!OC, Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Past)

What Happened in Vegas | OH | Ethan Ramsey x F!MC

Crash | OH | Tobias Carrick x F!MC

What's Forever For? AU - Miranda | OH | Tobias Carrick, F!MC

A Mother's Journal: Part 4 | WTD | Eli Sipes, F!OC (Florence Sipes, Mother)

Reset | Ethan Ramsey x F!OC, Ethan Ramsey x MC (past) This scene is Tobias, Kaycee (MC)

Tobias slunk back in his chair, slowly swiveling to the side. He studied her resume with such intensity she'd never had a clue that the decision to accept her had been made long before she entered his door. But this was a golden opportunity to learn more, and Dr. Carrick never passed up an opportunity.

"I'm still not understanding this," he practically scowled, tossing the paper back onto his desk. "I'm not here to belittle my program. It's top-ranked, but... it's not Edenbrook. So why are you here?"

Kaycee did her best not to squirm, but something inside her knew the steely eyes fixed on her could see right through her, and that almost made her want to tell the truth... almost.

"I, uh, didn't seek you out. I was recruited."

He nonchalantly shrugged with an air of annoyance. "I'm recruited by places that are beneath me on a daily basis. But I know my worth enough to not give them the time of day. Now, I'm not suggesting Kenmore is beneath you. It's not. In fact, you have yet to convince me that you'd survive the program. But before I render my decision... I'm going to need some more honesty from you. Otherwise, we're both wasting our time."

What Happened in Vegas, Part 6 | Ethan Ramsey x MC

Ethan placed two cups of coffee on the desk, one for him and one for Naveen, who was uncharacteristically late. He checked anxiously checked his watch. He was almost as eager to catch his mentor and friend up on his Vegas happenings as Naveen was to hear them, but he had been away for days, and he had work to do. He pulled out his phone to text him when he heard the door open.

"It's about time. I was getting ready to inform you that I was leaving your office," Ethan chided, but his face turned ashen when he spun around and found who was standing before him.

"Casey? What are you doing here... I... I thought you were on rounds?"

"I was," she shrugged. "But I got a text from Naveen saying I needed to come to see him right away. Do you think this could be about... about us?"

"That's impossible... I mean, I think it is. How would he know?"

Crash | Tobias Carrick x F!MC

The lab had grown eerily quiet, everyone hyperfocused on their task at hand, speaking only when absolutely necessary, and the lingering silence only meant one thing. They weren't making progress.

Tobias was overheating, feeling like he would combust, but he had to play it cool... he had to do it for Casey. She couldn't die. Especially since Farrugia wouldn't even be here if not... His head jerked toward the door as Baz and June rushed inside.

"Any good news?" Sienna asked nervously.

Baz shook his head with a sigh. "No. We had to remove Raf from the room. He's failing quickly... "

"And Casey?" Tobias injected without a single thought.

June turned to him, her face a mix of emotions.

"And Casey?" He asked, louder and more directed this time.

"There's no... no change. Nothing's better, but it's not getting worse." June answered.

"That's not entirely true," Baz faltered. "Her oxygen levels are down a bit, and it Raf's turn is any indication, that means she has...."

Tobias was halfway to the door. "I'm going to see her...."

June reached for his arm. "You can't just go up there, Tobias. It's on an approved basis, and..."

"Try to stop me."

What's Forever For? AU: Miranda | Tobias Carrick, F!MC This scene is between Vivian Carrick and Dr. Miranda Covington

She knew there was no reason that she couldn't stay. She was perfectly free to be there. Nevertheless, Miranda felt it was best to let them work this out without her there. She didn't even stop for her coat before stepping out into the frigid Boston night; fortunately, Tobias's heavy sweatshirt would be enough to hold her over until her Uber arrived.

She sprung out of the front door and let out a cleansing breath. She'd have to deal with the aftermath at a later time, but for now... she was free.

"And what exactly is that sigh of relief for, my dear?"

Miranda's face fell, and she stood frozen in place as an elegantly dressed woman approached her. She had only met Vivian Carrick a few times before, in large groups, where she was one of many of Tobias's friends. She knew his mother was a formidable force and vowed to never get on her wrong side, and now, she prayed that wasn't where she had found herself.

A Mother's Journal: Part 4 | Eli Sipes, Florence Sipes, etc.

... and that's the thing about the world ending. We talked about it before it happened... 'It's not the end of the world?', we'd say. But maybe it was. Not for everyone but for the person in pain, it very well may have been. Now, we all know the day the world ended. Those of us who lived through it have it permanently etched in our minds. Those who have come since have been taught about it as lore. But they cannot be spared. Their worlds will end, too. It happens when we lose the thing most dear to us. When we lose the one thing that makes our world whole...

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Tagging others separately.

[nothingunrealistic]

naturally was going "hmm what kind of fins (fish) would young taylor in the bathtub wish for. how would we know what they think would be the best fish tail to have" & then was just thinking of Younger Taylor Hcs just in general. got any you'd wanna share, or like, any faves from what's been provided either as unofficial ideas or via those glimpses of info in the show's text. Fave can be in a "truly enjoy this" way & or simply more of a "truly Thinking About This An Extra Lot" sense lol. They

Boy Do I… first, a listing of everything we Know from canon about their childhood / early life / family:

taylor grew up in “a place like” connerty’s small apartment where “the heat pipes bang practically all night” in the winter [2x11]

taylor’s mom would deem the apartment they rented for her & douglas too expensive, and if she & douglas were shopping for furniture, they’d argue about how much things cost [4x07]

taylor never thought they’d be thinking about living a life where they book private jets [2x09]

the masons’ home is hundreds of miles from any body of water (as shown here) and douglas had to fly to nyc to see taylor [4x03]

douglas figures taylor’s mom won’t miss him getting in her way back home [4x03]

taylor has a sister; when she gets married, in michigan, taylor is part of the wedding party [2x09]

at a young age, taylor was always measuring information around them, and sweet / affectionate, especially toward douglas [4x03]

taylor’s favorite cereal as a kid was frosted flakes [4x09]

taylor was never really douglas’s “little girl” like he claims [4x03]

the first time douglas brought taylor to his lab, it meant a lot to them, and the next day they gave him designs to remake it [4x06]

douglas taught taylor: “don’t just have an idea, build the model that proves it” [4x07]

according to douglas, taylor gets the “unyielding compulsion to get it right” from him, and their relationship was best when they “kept things mathematical” [4x03]

douglas wishes he could have built real wealth / success and given it all to taylor [4x03]

wendy mentions to taylor that douglas has “exploited your need for his approval,” and taylor agrees that douglas only cares about his own advancement rather than being a father first [4x07]

douglas dislikes the military / the government [4x06]

taylor is surprised by douglas quoting a pop song [4x07]

when taylor was younger, the bathtub was the only place they could go to be alone and think, and they’d press their legs against the sides hard enough to make them go numb [3x11]

taylor started playing online poker at age 12 under the screen name ZackCody892 and played up to 16 tables at a time (and for thousands of hours) [2x03]

douglas was fired from his job at an aerospace firm when taylor was in 7th grade. this firing damaged their relationship with him and “affected the home life.” for years, taylor thought douglas had been fired so that the firm could steal his invention, and only found out the truth from his personnel file [2x11, 4x05, 4x06]

taylor has had 927 hours of therapy prior to their session with dr. gus, and that number hasn’t changed at their first session with wendy [2x03, 2x08]

douglas, in bringing taylor food and coffee, claims they rarely take the time to look after themself [4x04]

taylor used to lie to themself and others but is now past that, and knows “how hard it is to have things inside you that you can’t communicate” and “what it’s like to face public scrutiny over who you are” [2x08, 3x02, 4x04]

when taylor reminds douglas about their pronouns, he says “this talk again?”, implying it’s a discussion they’ve had before [4x03]

taylor once got into a bar fight with a high school classmate (it’s unclear whether they were still in high school at the time) after seeing y tu mamá también in a theater [5x07]

taylor was active in occupy wall street in college [2x10]

taylor played poker in college against classmates, grad students, & professors, but their opponents kicked them out for winning too much; additionally, the competitive aspect made them sick (described as “malaise” or “vertigo-like symptoms”) [2x03, 4x12]

taylor planned to go to chicago for grad school and study with eugene fama [2x02]

mafee picked taylor as his intern because they were the only applicant who wasn’t boring / didn’t care about the same bullshit that everyone from wharton or harvard did [5x04]

douglas initiated the visit to taylor, claiming it was because he’d missed them, after not being ready to see them even though taylor’s mother wanted to visit countless times [4x03, 4x07]

taylor is trying to be “everything to their father” in funding his company, and neither of them will be able to come back from taylor being forced to betray him [4x06, 4x07]

wow that’s a long list. and now, my own thoughts and extrapolations:

taylor grew up somewhere in the west / midwest with their parents and sister, who’s a few years older than them, in a house small enough that they had to share a bedroom with her. hence, needing to hide out in the bathtub to get any space & time alone.

from very early on, taylor was douglas’s favorite child and he was their favorite parent — douglas saw taylor’s intelligence & insight (and saw himself in them) and chose to put time & effort into teaching / guiding / molding them, hoping they’d one day follow in his footsteps / support his ambitions, and taylor liked that attention & recognition. (douglas’s attitude toward taylor’s sister is essentially “well she’s here too i guess.”)

douglas taught taylor enough about aerospace engineering & mathematics for them to understand the value of his lattice fin concept, and to generally have a better grasp of engineering concepts than your average (even very well-read) business major / financier. (remember how rebecca knew a robot’s “proprietary” power source was a combustion engine because her father was a mechanic? same deal here. see also: the “smash electronics apart to find the microchips inside and figure out who makes them” strategy; taylor comparing losing grigor’s money to building a turbo engine and having the nitrous tank blow up in their face.) this manifested in both directly teaching them in his lab and in playing games like the silverware-stacking game we see in 4x03, or like douglas throwing out math problems for taylor to solve on the spot, or the two of them solving math problems together.

douglas also imparted his taste in music (which does not include anything new / popular) to taylor, though their taste as an adult (or even as, like, a teenager) isn’t identical to his. this is how they discovered rush in the first place and why they have such strong opinions about The Best Rush Albums. (if douglas had such a ranking, it’d be closer to axe’s than to taylor’s.)

listening to rush helped make taylor a libertarian 😔 that’s just life when you’re a neil peart stan, which of course they are. they admire his lyrics + his drumming talent + his absolute poker face in performances.

douglas also taught taylor to play blackjack, which inspired them to go and learn poker on their own and start playing online. they tried to keep it a secret, but it's hard to be secretive about spending hours a day playing online poker on the family computer. (this is 2006 or so, after all.)

taylor figured out that they were Not A Girl (or at least had thoughts of “hm i don’t enjoy being addressed / perceived as A Girl”) fairly young but didn’t acquire a concrete vocabulary for / specific understanding of that for some time. (if douglas is calling they/them pronouns “that woke stuff” in 2019, he sure wasn’t saying anything clear or favorable about trans people in 2009 or 1999. ditto for online poker sites.)

douglas’s firing exacerbated every negative aspect of the mason family dynamic. he doubled down on pushing taylor toward his field, urging them to succeed where he’d failed, and warning them against letting anyone Steal Their Value. money got tighter, taylor’s parents argued more, and any activities taylor was in (like, say, swimming at the ymca) that required payment got cut; they may have figured out how to make money (illegally!) from online poker at this point. the combined stress of financial instability, being torn between pursuing their own ambitions and fulfilling douglas’s expectations for them, and increasing Gendered Expectations in general — plus the whole “playing online poker for hours a day” thing — probably put taylor in therapy within a few months, if they weren’t in therapy already. (how did their parents pay for it? i don’t know either.)

stealing this from that interview asia & brian & david did in 2017: if taylor had not already taught themself to think and speak directly & incisively and look people in the eye when they talk, et cetera, it started here, whether in therapy or on their own time.

taylor went to college in new york city. douglas did not want them to do this, for a number of reasons, and would have preferred they stick closer to home (and study something other than finance), but doing so would have made them miserable.

by the time they finished high school (circa 2012), taylor had properly heard of trans people and figured that they were somehow One Of Them, but not until college did they hear of people being nonbinary and go “ohhhh yeah that’s me.” (they’d also gotten a Short Haircut in high school, but didn’t go full buzzcut until college. unsurprisingly, they got some shit in high school for being Visibly gnc.)

for some period of time while figuring out their gender situation, taylor went by the name neil as a nod to neil peart. (it’s fun to imagine that they still have a faceless twitter / tumblr account where they go by neil. doubles as a way to prevent anyone connecting it to their real life.)

taylor came out to their family while in college. their mom and sister had fairly similar reactions of “well i don’t Get this exactly, but i love you and want to support you and i’m sure you know what you're talking about better than i do and you did clearly hate it every time i urged you to conform to Standards Of Womanhood so sure i can call you Them and my [child / sibling] :)” given some time to think about it. douglas… well. if he’s starting from a place of “i don’t get this,” he’ll end up at “so it must be wrong and stupid, because i’m always right,” especially if This = his favorite child being different in some significant way from who / what he thought they were. obviously he doesn’t react well or supportively, and the strain in his relationship with taylor tips over into full-blown estrangement. bad times for everyone.

if taylor’s bar fight happened when they were old enough to legally enter a bar, it happened after coming out to their family (also after the live poker fiasco), and before making plans for grad school / internships. most likely it was on a summer break they were spending back in their hometown. (another fun thought: taylor seeing the video of axe punching a guy, just weeks after they punched a guy, and going “well maybe i should work for him.”)

if douglas was at taylor’s sister’s wedding (and maybe he wasn’t!), it was awkward for everyone when he and taylor crossed paths again. barest of pleasantries, passive-aggressive comments, et cetera. naturally, it took a few more years — and douglas realizing that taylor, now being fairly wealthy and successful, could probably fund his dream project if they didn’t hate him — for him to decide to visit them.