I've kinda accidentally wandered into Symphonia again and my old faves have only grown more powerful on a revisit, coming at my heart with a hammer. Of course, having made a family of OCs since I've last dipped into Symphonia has only made Kratos an even stronger fave. Parents messing up and thinking they've lost their child only to reunite with them later now absolutely destroys me now, h e l p.
Anyways, hug!! Love a good hug. Background is based on the end of the OVA when Kratos and Lloyd are talking.
Recently watched The Duchess Assignment, in which Grandma and Tin-Tin discuss Jeff's parcel "that came in the mail today."
Now... I know they probably just have a box at Tracy Industries that their mail gets sent to and someone picks it up when they get groceries or something.... but it's funnier to imagine the poor delivery man trucking out Tracy Island, only to immediately get kicked out as the Tracys try to Operation: Coverup their way through a Thunderbird launch.
This is such a non issue, but I wish I had a bigger passion for drawing. Like, I have so many ideas for TAG fanart that I would make, but I just simply do not have the skills. The answer to that problem is just to practice, no artist is simply born with talent. However, I'm not particularly passionate about drawing. I enjoy doing it, but only to an extent, and definitely not to the same degree as I enjoy writing.
Oh dude, I literally just started properly learning how to draw like a month-ish ago.
I promise you, getting into the process of learning is easy as long as you don’t succumb to self-sabotage. It helps a lot when you got friends you can consistently update your progress to. I mainly do that with @inkbedos and @coco9728 , there’s also @blmrsdcyr and @elester01 who I’ve started showing my wips to as well!
The support and encouragement from others is probably the most helpful part of the progress. Even as little as someone giving you their attention for a second is great!
I wouldn’t consider myself as someone with the passion to draw, and I definitely think writing is more of my thing. But I do find enjoyment in it because of the people who acknowledge that I’m trying something new.
I know @coco9728 also got into drawing anatomically correct characters a while ago :D They might have some good input on this.
I'm in the same boat, and I agree that it's worth doing, even if the beginning's a bit rough. I find, the more I create, the more I want to create and drawing has helped me be more inspired to write and vice versa. It's cool to see your ideas come to life and expand the edges of what you can do and there are people who will want to see it.
He's been on the ground less than a day and fell asleep reading with the lamp still on, but don't worry - Scott'll wander in in a minute, roll his eyes, then tiptoe off to find a blanket to tuck around him <33
Maybe this is me missing information, but I genuinely don't get how Atriox survived the explosion on Zeta Halo. Wasn't Cortana blowing it explicitly to destroy him and damage the Banished? She died but he survived, but weren't they in the same room? Was he teleported out by something? A monitor? The Harbinger?
I just don't understand why there was so much set up for Cortana's shift back towards Humanity in her last moments, and then it gets undermined by having the main person she was trying to kill survive. Her change-of-heart still matters, but why didn't it have the impact it was meant to? Why did she die if he didn't? I don't get it.
Prompt used: John and EOS celebrating the season on TB5
Family Traditions
Eos hadn’t been sure what to expect. As promised, John was protecting her and was making an effort to include her in things unrelated to their jobs with International Rescue. Thanksgiving had been interesting. She was accustomed to noise, but the very early dinner was a whole other level that she’d never seen before. There was lots of laughter with family and friends, a very full house of people.
Overall, it was a positive experience, just very loud. John did his best to explain and answer all of her questions. There were a few holidays that they always tried to celebrate, because it allowed them time to gather together and enjoy each other’s company. Plus, they were their mother’s favorite holidays. She always loved hosting and being surrounded by family and friends.
‘How about the Christmas holiday? I found old pictures with you dressed in weird clothes.’ She showed him the files.
‘Yes, we celebrate that holiday too. It’s not quite as big as Thanksgiving. We keep it to just us.’ She continued to look through the old family photos to try to get an idea of what was to come. Every so often, John would catch her looking at a single photo longer than the others. ‘If you have questions about them, feel free to ask.’
‘Why did you wear similar sweaters?’ She pointed out a few family group photos. The sweaters weren’t the same, but they were very similar and seemed to belong to the same set.
‘Mom made them like that for us. She wanted them to be similar for our holiday photos, and she wanted them to reflect something that each of us loved. Take a closer look at them.’ Scott’s sweaters had planes on them, Virgil’s had his tools, John’s had various constellations embroidered into the design, Gordon’s had lots of little fish, and Alan’s had rocket ships.
‘She made these for each of you?’ John nodded.
‘Mom would start working on them just after summer break ended. Each one was crocheted and embroidered with her own hands. It took a while, but I remember her always smiling as she made them and took photos of us wearing them.’ John passed his hand over each of the family photos. He missed this part of their holiday celebrations.
‘What is it? You seemed happy a moment ago. Now you’re sad.’ John wasn’t sure how to explain it to her.
‘We’ve tried to keep many of her traditions alive, but I miss this one.’ He pointed out some of the other things in the pictures. Like how they still make handmade decorations for the tree, and how they do pajamas and movie night stuff for Christmas Eve. ‘Unfortunately though, we haven’t tried to make her sweaters.’
‘We can try now.’ Eos said innocently. The way she saw it, they had the resources and could make at least one before Christmas came along.
‘I’m afraid I’m not the best at it. Maybe I can make some scarves?’ He thought about the colors and how he might manage it, and Eos helped with some video tutorials. After reviewing a few different kinds of techniques, he settled on loom knitting.
Eos noticed something else as John worked slowly on the gifts for the family. She’d turn on holiday music radio, and shortly thereafter, he’d change it to some music from his private collection. They were all piano pieces, but she didn’t know who was playing.
‘John, why do you keep changing the music?’ After the 6th or 7th time he did it to her, she had gotten annoyed. She liked the music with the words and other instruments playing.
‘Do you know who’s playing this music?’ He asked.
‘No, but I like the other music.’
‘It’s Mom and Virgil. They always kept music playing in our home, especially at this time of the year.’ He hummed along as he worked. The scarves weren’t perfect, but he loved them.
‘Can we decorate a tree?’ Eos wanted to experience more of what she saw in the old photos. John thought about it. He hadn’t planned on doing anything like that, but he supposed they could. He knew that they couldn’t do a real tree, but maybe Virgil could pick up a small, artificial one for them.
‘Let me see if anyone can pick one up for us. We can’t do a real tree, but we can do a small, artificial one.’ She chirped with excitement. ‘Don’t get too excited yet. Virgil and Gordon are exhausted from that call out and just want to get home. I’m not sure if they can do a quick pick up for us.’ Before he knew it, Eos had opened a comms channel with Thunderbird 2. She needed to know if they’d do it. John apologized to Virgil and explained the situation.
‘It’s fine John, really. Can you put an order in, and would you like some of the old decorations?’ As soon as she heard that, she pulled up the online ordering system and started looking.
‘I can do that.’ Eos was already adding things to her shopping cart before John could finish his 4 word answer. He went through her order and pared it down a bit. ‘Eos, we don’t need all of this for a small tree. Besides, Virgil will be sending up some of our old decorations, and we will make our own.’ She chirped with excitement again.
‘Ok John. I see the order confirmation. If you think of anything else, please let me know.’
‘Yes Virgil.’ Eos answered before cutting the call. Gordon laughed.
‘She sounds excited.’
‘Yea she does. It’s her first Christmas with us, and probably the first one she’s ever celebrated. I’m guessing that she’s going through our old photos and videos.’ Virgil answered as they landed Thunderbird 2 a safe distance from the store. ‘Might as well pick up some dinner while we’re here. I don’t know about you fish, but I don’t want to cook tonight.’
‘Sounds good. Let’s grab her order then some food for everyone.’
Eos watched as the space elevator ascended with their order and the extra boxes that Virgil had promised. She was less than thrilled that they had to wait to assemble the tree due to a callout for Alan. John had to explain that the rescue had to come first, and that they had plenty of time to get the tree assembled and decorated. Turns out, they had to wait until the next day to try to work on their little tree.
Assembling it was easy. Once the branches were fluffed out, he made work on the garland. He was trying to use it to fill in the gaps around the main pole. Eos loved directing him as he worked through each of the layers of branches.
‘What’s next?’ She asked.
‘Virgil’s box.’ John hadn’t had a chance to see what had been sent up to them until that moment. He remembered making these ornaments. One by one, he pulled them out carefully. ‘These are pretty old. We need to be gentle with them.’
‘Did you make them?’
‘Yes, they were the last ones we made with Mom before we lost her.’ He seemed sad again, and Eos wasn’t sure what to do. She waited for him to move or say something. ‘Sorry. Mom wanted to try melting crayons inside of the ornaments. It took a bit, but we finally managed to create these.’ He showed her each of them one at a time. Eos took time to inspect each of them and the swirls of colors. Over the next hour, they finished decorating their little tree.
‘It looks good. I like it.’ John nodded in agreement. It felt nice to decorate a tree like this again. He put his presents underneath it. Eos was confused.
‘Presents go under the tree, then we open them on Christmas Day.’ Eos looked through the old family photos again and found ones of them opening boxes. ‘Yes, like those photos, Eos.’ John found others for her. ‘We can keep these here until it’s time to go down to the island.’
‘Okay. Music?’ John put his mother’s piano music on again. He placed the extra decorations around the command center, while Eos peppered him with all sorts of questions about each decoration he put up. Now, she was very curious about everything.
Christmas Eve, John and Eos came down to the island. She was still asking lots of questions about the pictures and decorations. John tried his best to answer her, but in the end, he decided it was best for her to join them and experience some of it. That night brought silly, matching pajamas and old Christmas cartoon movies.
Christmas morning, Gordon and Alan bounced down the stairs and sat near the tree. Scott, Virgil, and John preferred to grab a hot drink first.
‘Why are they bouncing?’ Eos was confused.
‘They want to open presents, but the rule is that we need to wait until everyone is gathered together. They’ll be okay. This year, they’re going to be our elves and give everyone their presents.’ She continued to watch them. The more they waited, the more they bounced. Once everyone was awake and ready, they joined Gordon and Alan near the tree.
They didn’t have rules per se for gifts, but they each preferred to make gifts for each other and keep things small. John’s scarves were a perfect choice. Each of them looked at the colors, and Scott saw the embroidery first. John had successfully managed to recreate their mother’s sweater embroidery.
‘How?’
‘Eos found lots of old pictures. I don’t know how many times I had to redo the embroidery, but I think I got it in the end.’
‘You did. We still have her sweaters, but they’re a little too small to wear now. You did really well with this. Thank you John.’
‘Of course Scott. I enjoyed making them for you.’
The rest of the morning was spent with light chatter, music, and breakfast. Upon their return to Thunderbird 5, Eos had more questions. John answered what he could and promised to let her experience more family gatherings.
‘Do we need to take the decorations down?’
‘Not now, we can keep them up a while. There are even people who keep their trees up year round and change the decorations for each holiday.’ Eos researched the idea. She liked it, but she also liked that this was special for this time of year. ‘Don’t over think it. If you’d like, we can keep things up for now and change the tree for the next holiday. If you like it, we’ll keep it. If you don’t, then we’ll pack it up. Sound fair?’
‘Yes John. Don’t take them down yet.’ John hadn’t planned on doing that quite yet anyway. He liked being surrounded by memories of his mother. Maybe next year, he’d learn enough to make sweaters for everyone.
This is very lovely. You captured Eos's innocence and excitement very tangibly and it was a treat to watch John patiently explain everything while also reliving it all himself. You caught the careful balance of John's bittersweet grief and Eos's enthusiasm and their dynamic gives the whole story a warm through line. It's thoughtful and kind and a good reflection on grief and how we move forward.
I love the scarves and the effort and John admittedly not being very good at making sweaters but coming up with a realistic and working solution. I love Scott being first to notice the embroidery and how the whole family works to keep Lucy's traditions alive. I love Eos getting excited about learning new things and John both telling her about things and letting her experience it for herself, like with the tree. (Such a cute touch at the end when they're deciding when to take it down. She's such an excited puppy in this fic and it's really great.) It gives a good sense of "home" to Thunderbird 5 and for them specifically. I like it a lot.
I love the addition of Lucy and Virgil's piano as John's favourite Christmas music. That's so lovely and true to form. And I love how Eos likes the other music more, but once explained, she understands the importance of the piano. That's such a nice touch and a good insight into John for Eos, I think.
I really like what you did with the dynamic and how you see them both being happy and looking forward to Christmas but in different ways. It's just very reminiscent of growing up and having old traditions evolve to include new members but some components always stay the same. It's a really beautiful.
Also I like how you managed to fit Thanksgiving in and gave Eos's reaction to/experience of that. It sets the tone for Christmas to be different (I also really like how you distinguished the two as "Thanksgiving is people time" and "Christmas is family time") and allows Eos to have more experiences and grow from it.
I just like this story a lot and thank you for all your effort and generosity.
I couldn't think of any prompts to do TAG secret santa this year, so here's my gift to all of you: the Tracy boys attempting batches of gingerbread before Grandma thinks it's a good idea to try herself XD
Does anyone have any good images of the Tracy boys in their civilian clothing. I’m getting sick of switching between images for reference, (one image for t shirt, one image for shoes, another for pants…) it’s doing my head in!
It’s so great that we have great reference images for their uniforms.😊
Here’s some good images I found of some of the others in their civilian clothes…
Otherwise if their aren't any good images, I'll have to create some sort of creepy collage for the boys instead. 🤭
Thunderfam! I need art references of Jeff Tracy's (TAG) face in profile because I do not understand how his nose and his forehead connect. Please send any art tips you can.
Thunderfam! I need art references of Jeff Tracy's (TAG) face in profile because I do not understand how his nose and his forehead connect. Please send any art tips you can.
Treat! 🍬 You get: the thunderdragons drawings by @changeinenthalpy
It's a series of Thunderbirds-themed dragons drawings that I really love. I've reblogged them all several times over because I just think they deserve to be admired. You can find the original posts and show them some love by searching the tag "miniature dragons based loosely on things" on their blog (or just "Thunderbirds dragon", depending on how helpful tumblr's in-blog search feature is feeling). I hope you like them too!
Notable challenges
Hair - VIRGIL!, Scott, Gorgon, Alan
Face shape - John, Scott, Virgil, Alan
Uniform - John
If anyone has any key features/tips to really nailing the boys', I think maybe we can help each other out here.
My tip is for Scott's hair: He has short but distinct hair spikes in the front (like Virgil's but much shorter) and when I try to draw his hair smoothed back it looks off. He needs those little spikes. They're also slightly darker at the base (near the hairline) than the rest of his hair.
(Note: I am still a beginner artist so if my tip doesn't work for you, just ignore it.)
At the end of Halo 3, we see the Arbiter at the Voi Memorial on Earth to commemorate the loss of Master Chief and other soldiers lost in the Human-Covenant war. They are honouring many but Master Chief has his number 117 etched into the memorial and for the first time, it occurred to me that the Arbiter might have etched it himself.
Everyone else is honoured by pictures, flowers, medals and patches. Aside from the general epitaph, 117 is the only writing on the stone and it's obvious etched in instead of engraved, stamped or painted.
This got me thinking about how Chief and the Arbiter worked side by side, protecting each other, as they fought their way off the Ark and were separated aboard the Forward Unto Dawn and how the Arbiter would be the one to break the news to Humanity - probably Hood - that Chief was gone.
The Arbiter has referred to Chief as a friend several times since Halo 3 and I just think it's a nice thought that maybe the Arbiter himself etched 117 into the stone.
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