Thomas Jude Bell

Lotf oc ask blog ASKS:OPEN All asks will be answered with a drawing 🫶

[boatsrbetter]

During the original vote for who is chief, it’s 100% between Jack and Ralph and when they start to vote despite Tommy wanting to be chief to, tommy raises his hand to vote for jack because Jack is ginger. Tommy realises nobody else is voting for Jack and very slowly puts his hand down again. 😭

[boatsrbetter]

“Hi,”

The boy with spotted skin and a moonlight streak in his hair- Ezekiel greets randomly after appearing out of nowhere as he continues

“I’m Ezekiel! Most people call me Zekie- well actually no one does other then my mum…” he mutters the last part before blurting out

“Uhm- how are you?” @ask-ezekielknight

“Ayeaye, Zeekie, names Thomas but everybody calls me Tommy. Don’t call me Thomas that’s too smart. I’m alright, really. Av decided to start writing my thoughts down in the sand again y’know. Makes me feel calmer. If you need out you can come to me, yeah? This place is going to hell a little more every second and you seem alright to me.”

[boatsrbetter]

Piggy walked up to Thomas, readjusting his specs, which he always does before talking about important things.

"Thomas, is it?"

Piggy waits for a nod before continuing.

"Anyway, what were you doing with the conch?

'Cause to me, it looked like you were trying to call a meetin. If you want to, you just blow it. Thas all."

He looks back at you, encouragingly, before dropping the smile because he can’t quite figure out if his words were as helpful as he thought them to be.

“Since I’m fram one a them la’al seaside towns, I tend to find myself quite fascinated by seashells. My ganga’s a fisherman so I’m pretty sure it’s like…in my blood or something. Don’t think too much about it, Kay?” He stated, clasping his hands behind his back like he’d just been caught red handed. “Also don’t call me Thomas that’s wayyy too serious for me. It makes me sound like…some kind of fancy, expensive business man.”

“When it comes to callin’ a meetin a that, I reckon I’ll just leave that to ‘Ralph’, if that is even his real name. You don’t want me callin a meeting we’ll be there all day.”

[boatsrbetter]

The bushes rustled as the conch glinted in the light of the sun, a glimmering pearl amongst the dull tree branches surrounding it. Tommy winced slightly as a twig scratched at his skin. Oh well. As long as he was able to grab the shell the scratches on his pale skin would matter no more for he would claim his rightful place as chief!

After all, the person with the conch was chief, right?

Ralph rambled nonsense about all the other boys being useless fuck ups (well he didn’t exactly say that but that’s clearly what he meant) much too close to the conch for comfort whilst Piggy agreed, nodding his head in that arrogant sort of way that grated on Tommy’s nerves sometimes.

They all thought they were soooo much better than him! Well, when he was chief he’d make them all regret their words by making them work 5 minutes longer than the other boys! That would surely show them!

In a universe where Tommy was chief, none of the boys would get away with sneaking away like this! For some reason, when he started off on one of his little rambles, they had a tendency to listen (even if it did annoy them greatly).

He figured it had something to do with that la’alun calling him ‘mummy’ but he tended not to dwell on that since it was basically the most embarrassing 3 minutes of his life.

Stealing the conch was not easy an easy feat. Piggy and Ralph circulated the damn thing like vultures but now, with vines and sticks tangled in their hands, Tommy was certain that he would succeed! They couldn’t stop him now!

He jumped out of the bushes, rushing forward to grab the shiny shell before promptly tripping in the sand and landing flat on his face. Piggy, Ralph and Simon directed their attention towards him for a split second as he tried his bestest not to cry for his da to pick him up and get him a plaster. He wasn’t 4 anymore and Ambrose was not on the island (though Tommy secretly hoped he somehow made it here before Ralph’s da did).

“That didn’t hurt!” He yelled, trying to convince himself more than he was them.

Piggy sighed, grabbing the conch and was about to begin to speak before the hunters returned from their hunt. Ralph sprung forward and began arguing with Jack in the way a mammy would maybe argue with a da (his parents and grandparents never argued so he wasn’t so sure but from what Corny said it sounded just like this.)

Of course, batty Simon grabbed Tommy’s hand, helping him up off the floor with that ditzy, freaky little smile of his. Tommy flinched backwards, backing away as to not get weirdo freak germs on him. He then proceeded to run before he got as much of a bolloking as Jack was (fuck that).

Plan foiled but he’d get it one day! As for now, he needed to run. Not because he was scared but because he had totally scraped his knee and his clothes were covered in sand and in desperate need of a wash.

When Tommy was chief, no boys would walk round the island covered in sand and clay and god knows what else, that was for sure.

[boatsrbetter]

Messy redraw of this drawing (colours will undoubtedly be a bit weird bcs as we know my iPad screen is broken and makes colours look weird)

I changed how I drew Roger. I hc him as having pretty fast growing hair plus looking sorta very tired and gaunt.

(He doesn’t gaf what Tommy is saying he’s just learned to tune him out 🙏🙏)

BOOK SPOILERS BELOW!!!!

I haven’t read the book in a long time but I do remember this part 😭🙏. (Tommy is not a hunter but it’s he basically gets away with just sticking by himself because he’s a huge nag that can’t kill a pig and not above just a smidge of violence. Jack basically assumes he’s on their side even though he’s not bcs the hunters are too stinky and dirty for him/hj.)

If you can’t read my handwriting (I got told I had 1800’s handwriting once but I don’t think it’s that bad..)

Roger:I just tied up a boy want to beat him with me? (Covered in war paint and blood)

Tommy:Absolutely but please take a bath…

They’re friends because they’re both dickhead kids/j

But also they very much barely put up with eachother. Especially since Tommy forces him to take a bath..

[boatsrbetter]

Silly Tommy fun fact otd:

He gets very easily scared of anything horror. People lying about ghosts and monsters scare the shit out of him. Ghost stories give him nightmares. He particularly HATES vampires and does not understand the appeal.

When everyone starts chatting about a beast he always says it’s not real and everyone’s gone loony but he is secretly very scared and has a lot of nightmares.

He always brings at least one littlun out to the forest when he visits his washing line and general just to grabs twigs and vines but that’s because if the beast really does come he’ll have a sacrifice 😭🙏. (He wouldn’t actually be able to sacrifice a littlun to a monster yk..considering but he has thought about it)

This fear does not extend to animals though. He loves all animals of any kind including insects, snakes, dogs, pigs etc etc. part of the reason as to why he doesn’t become a hunter is because he could not so much as think about killing an ant Nevermind a pig. He likes to think the beast is just a really cool looking snake or wolf that everyone’s being dramatic over instead of an actual monster when he gets really scared. That being said, he is not as brave as Simon and is NOT climbing that mountain to check it out. (The only animal he would kill is a fish and worms because…he literally goes fishing with his granda and down the line when it gets a bit harder to find fruit and he can’t crack open coconuts and the hunters are going a bit mental he starts making his own fishing rod :).)

[boatsrbetter]

How are you liking the island Tommy? And hobbies?

(Note:the colours are probs dead janky bcs my iPad screen is broken and shows all the colours with a way higher contrast than what they have)

“The island? What sorta lunatic is glad to get trapped on some random desert island a way a way from yam with nobody what’s like them? I mean..Everyone here has their head screwed on backwards, only people who I really even talk to are them laa’luns and they’re…well..too laal to have a conversation with. To be fair, I talk to that Peter fella sometimes. He can be pretty annoying, though. I think I just like to talk to him on account of the fact that he’s the only one without a super posh accent. Rogers alright to, I guess. Other than that, everyone’s pretty awful and annoying. I think it would maybe be more fun if I was here with my mates stead of these randoms. Yeah..that’d be pretty fun I reckon. As for hobbies..well..I mean I like to cook and bake with my Nana. We pick stuff from the gardens to make food so like!! Some of the stuff that we make are so random! Like..did you know you can make nettle soup? When Nana first told me I swear I thought my mouth would sting when we ate it but it was actually dead nice! My ganga’s a fisherman and I like garn on his boat and helping him fish in the docks. I don’t often catch a lotta stuff mind. Ganga says it’s because I get to chatty and impatient. He always says I can never just sit in silence and wait for the fish to come. I guess he’s right but I don’t think there’s out wrong with wanting to talk, right? I mean what’s the point in sitting in silence all the time? That’s dead boring. Well that’s what I used to like to do before I was forced to go in southern land and put up with posh bastards. Nowadays I just wander about all bored and that…..Don’t tell anyone I said bastard. Da says it all the time but mammy says you’re not supposed to say it on account of it being a bad word.”

[boatsrbetter]

Small doodle I did

Cw:themes of war, plus brief mentions of politics in reference to what Ambrose believes.

For context:Tommy canonically dies in the fire after not retreating from the forest knowing that some of the littluns were still inside the forest and would not be able to free themselves from the fire. The man Tommy is stood in front of is his father who dies on the front lines of WW2

I like to imagine that they’re reunited in death.

This can also be interpreted not as them being reunited in death but as Ambrose hoping his son was alive and well during his final moments.

The poses are a bit janky but that’s bcs it’s a doodle I swear…

If it was fully coloured there would be flames behind Tommy that sort of merge into the smoke from the gunfire on the battle field behind Ambrose. Hence the scribbles behind them..

Full Ambrose bell story:Tommy’s father Ambrose was a coal miner working long hard hours in the mines for his family. Working in the mines made him sickly and exhausted over time but the Bell family had always been living in abject poverty. His wife Florence worked as a waitress to help make ends meet. Every day was particularly gruelling but Ambrose found that he loved his life. He had married his true love and soulmate and had a son he adored. He often found that that made everything worth it in the end.

When the war began, Ambrose was very opposed to it. He was a hardcore socialist that believed that those in power shouldn’t have control over whether the lower classes lived or died. However, Ambrose had no say in the political atmosphere of the country. He was a poor coal miner living in the north of England. When Ambrose received a letter noting that he had been drafted, he tried everything to get out of it, to avoid being a pawn for those above him. To avoid having his agency stolen from him and to avoid leaving those he loved for a conflict that had nothing to do with him. Though, he was unable. Not wanting to have his son see him being arrested, Ambrose entered the war and was killed on the front lines.

[boatsrbetter]

Sorry for not posting guys <\3

Said I was on a comeback then disappeared

I’ve lowkey been working so many shifts, then I’ve been to one festival, went on holiday and now I’m going to another festival tmrw…

I swear I’ll come back eventually..

[boatsrbetter]

All of these introductions are really going to drive me insane… I should probably just get on with it, yeah? I’m Taylor, by the way. Taylor Wyndham. I don’t think we’ve met properly, though I could say that for most of the people here. You’ve likely heard of me, though, in some way. My name likes to get thrown around in a myriad of ways.

Anyway, I don’t mean to take out my frustrations on you, I do apologize for that. Just seems that new people show up at a moments notice and I’m back at square one.

That’s it, really. I’ll see you around, maybe.

- Taylor

@meet-the-wyndhams

“I’ve definitely seen you around, I mean, it’s pretty hard to miss you. I reckon me and you could get along alright. I imagine my names been passed round to, though probably like a lot more better than your names been passed round. You seem proper moody about it. People say rude things to my face but I imagine they probably think a lot of nice things about me. Maybe they do to you to, guess you never know.” He shrugged, rolling his eyes a little. He was lying to himself to make him feel a bit better.

“On the whole dumping your feelings on me or whatever, marra, I wouldn’t’a noticed had you not said. I’ve seen angrier people than you. You’ll see angrier more ‘scream your emotions in your face’ people to. Don’t think much of it. I’ll see you around one way or another, you’re hard to miss, plus it’s a tiny island. You see everyone everywhere provided they aren’t hiding in the bushes or nothing.”

[boatsrbetter]

Ryder was picking at berry bushes, occasionally eating a few just to test them, when he noticed a presence near him. He put the berries he had in his pocket and gave the other boy a polite smile.

“Oh, hullo there! You look familiar…Uh, I’m Ryder, in case we actually HAVE met before and I just didn’t remember.”

“…Do you want a berry or two? What’s got you in the forest with that look on your face?”

-Ryder Emerson

“Oh uh..Hi!! Yeah I’m Tommy, you’ve probably seen us in one of them stupid meetings or something. I’m here because I’m sick of them all. The people and everything. Every one of them and everything. The last meeting was the worst of all. Just a bunch of annoying posh lads passing around the talking shell and arguing with each other. I’m not even allowed the stupid talking shell anymore either on account of the fact that I tried to keep it and run off with it last time I got the damn thing. Which, by the way, should mean absolutely nothing. Just because the shell makes a funny noise or whatever don’t mean it’s sacred. Ralph always acts like a saint all the time.” He coughed, raising his voice to a whiny high pitch clearly meant to be impersonating Ralph. “‘Nobody does nothing anymore!!!’ ‘Why didn’t you help me build my stupid little wood shacks that’ll get knocked down by a mild breeze!!!’ Gosh if someone only helped the poor bastard we’d have shacks that’d get knocked over by a strong breeze instead.” He rolled his eyes.

“He can’t even get a la’al’un to take a bath and that’s proper easy provided you talk to em in the right way. He’s cross at me to for not helping, even though I help more than anyone round ‘ere! I’m the only one who cares about the babies anymore and I made a washing line that nobody acknowledges. I’ve started picking up those posh little choir lads’ cloaks what they took off and washing them for them but they aren’t touching them anymore. Just as well, they look stupid with them on.”

He shook his head slightly in mild frustration.

“Anyways, give me the berries and get lost. I’m thinking. Coming up with new plans. Better ones. Then someone will actually listen to me for a change.”

[boatsrbetter]

OH MY DAYS HE'S BACK OH MY GODOHMY GOHMY HI HELLO — kuni

“HELLO!!“

[boatsrbetter]

[Thomas is standing in the woods, very irritated. In the distance, the footsteps of a pig can be heard amongst the leaves but he seems to be ignoring it, if not actively going out of his way to do so. He stops his angry mumbling to pace back and forth. He carefully avoids making any noise, stepping over branches and leaves, twirling a little to do so.]