Fred, as an Engineer of over forty years, considered himself a sensible man. Anyone sensible would of course have survival instincts. Mr. Mann had not reactivated respawn, they’d need Team Fortress present to disconnect them.
He knew how insane his son’s team was… hadn’t even needed to meet Mr. Ludwig-Humboldt. Mr. He wasn’t even a doctor which told Fred enough. He clutched his rifle.
His head snapped up as he heard something click that wasn’t his legs. He ducked down biting his tongue as his hard hat was knocked off his head with a clunk. His mechanical hip swerved and he stepped back picking up his hardhat. “Now now good sir. You don’t have to harm little ole’ me.” Fred removed his hand from the trigger and raised it in a placating gesture.
“Why should I?” Fred watched in mild awe as a taller man in a fine suit simply materialized from the air. “You are armed.”
Fred onced over his gun. “This is an active battle zone. This is self defense.” Fred answered, gesturing a bit with the gun. “I am actively trying to flee.”
“A coward then?” The Frenchman asked. Fred nodded.
“I prefer the term sensible.” He lightly defended himself. There was a bark of laughter from the taller.
“Sensible?” He asked with a smile.
“I know my son's team. I know I ain’t getting paid. And the boss went batshit insane. My only chance is to run.” Fred explained.
The Spy nodded. “You are very good at analyzing situations.”
“Yep. Got to be in this line of work, even more so when you raised four geniuses who had teamwork down by the time the youngest was two.” Fred shuddered at the memories. The Goldberg machines were impressive but still.
“Are you Dell’s father?” The Spy asked. Fred nodded. He was certain that the Frenchman knew who he was. The Spy tilted his head with a small smile on his lips.
“An honest one eh?”
“Course. Honesty gets you out of torture, keeps you folk happy and I want to get out of here.” Fred explained.
“My folk?” The spy asked.
“Spies. Ghost once said honesty didn’t work with him.” Fred explained. Spy nodded accepting it as Fred looked away. If Fred’s mechanical joints were quieter than he’d have been inching towards the door.
“Mind if I walk you to the docks?” Spy practically purred. Fred looked back at him. He didn’t have much of a choice. He’d have to play nice.
“Course.”
Three minutes later they were at the docks. Looking over his shoulder he shuffled to a boat eagerly. It was the Silver sea, Gray Mann’s boat so no one would miss it and it was maintained. It was a somewhat smaller but fast boat. He looked down by the wheel. The key was in the lock. He’d never driven a boat, but he had driven a submarine. And watched the hired boat driver steer the boat when he’d ridden it. He wouldn’t admit to stealing the manual out of boredom and reading it. He looked up at Spy. He waved goodbye.
The Spy waved back.
Fred turned the key. The boat roared to life. The Spy was still there. He somewhat clumsily pulled out. The Spy disappeared. Finally.
Fred knew he should have enough gas to head up north to a city. He’d ditch the boat when he could.
He’d have to call one of his boys or Daisy at the nearest airport to pick him up at the airport in Austin. Virgil as well, he couldn’t get Virgil out with him due to Spy. Hopefully Virgil would notice his absence and realize that he’d fled and follow. Either way he’d be home within two days. Hopefully Virgil would be fine.
Did you invent the sentry gun, dispenser or teleporter or did you build them based on your family’s blueprints?
"Well, as they are, now, the current designs are all mine. The concepts, them were put together by my father. He was the one what come up wit' 'em all."
He smiles.
"I got a bunch of pictures he took while he was out in Dustbowl way back when. I wanted t'see his buildings, so he did a whole photo shoot, wrote li'l notes about 'em an' whatnot for me."
He gets up, grabbing and setting the pictures down on the workbench.
"Ain't they the coolest li'l buildings? He was a damn smart man."
Since it's official there is no canon explanation for why TFC did not have their old Medic, I wanna hear what people think happened to him to leave an opening on the team!
What happened to TFC Medic?
Died in battle
Died of old age/disease/natural reasons
Retired and is chilling
Retired and has since passed away
Quit for very dramatic reasons (fuck you Cheavy!)
Quit for mundane reasons (this job kinda sucks)
A secret 7th thing (tell me in tags!)
Ran away with The Civilian in a whirlwind gay romance
This option is for Lightspeed to see results because he's impatient
OP, maybe it's the fact that this painting is so peak, or maybe it's cause I've been spending way too long writing an analytical essay and fanfiction (both. probably both), but I DO actually have Thoughts on this painting that require analysis and ramblings (under the cut).
I apologize in advance.
Okay. There is a lot I can yap about. Might as well start.
So, contrast is like the biggest thing I love about this painting. There's just so many??
Firstly, there's the color contrast. The red and blue (TF2 reference?? /j) give the visuals a clear distinct meaning. The blue is abundant and monotonous, the red is sparse and more unique (in a sense), making up this pretty nifty juxtaposition. Considering the ground and sky is made up of shades of blue, it makes the world these Pyros are in blue-dominant, making it so that the viewer's first instinct is to look at the red Pyro. Because they're different, and that's how the path of the eye works.
Why? Second type of contrast: posture. All the blue Pyros look very similar, especially in their posture. Standing straight, arms by the body, completely in line with the perspective the painting is drawn at. The Red Pyro, positioned at the center of the canvas, has an unique posture, with both the top half and bottom half deviating from the norm (breaking the symmetry created by the blues). It's different, it's whimsical, it's... passionate. Like the title, mayhaps?
It isn't just the contrast, though. I could talk about the levels of detail given to the characters. Red Pyro is way more fleshed out: they actually have their gloves colored in! This, compared to the fact the other blue Pyros almost seem to blend into each other with the similar colors, makes the red Pyro way more memorable.
(also only kinda related but the sky? oh my god that sky? the clouds? those shades of green and blue are actually so good)
There's also a bunch of different elements beyond the whole contrast bit that catches my eye. There's the spiky box of blue around the red Pyro that both completely obscures some of the blue Pyros behind them and makes the red Pyro stand out in a way more intentional manner. (I could even argue that the spiky box (no idea what you even call it) almost makes it so that the red Pyro is a star themself, just like the lone star shining in the top right amongst the many primarily blue clouds, acting as some sort of symbolic replication of the scene in the foreground and the background, but that's probably a stretch. Then again, isn't analysis just that?)
Another cool bit I couldn't find a place for in the contrast bit is the blood. With every other Pyro, the blood is pooled at their legs, but not with our beloved red Pyro. The red Pyro doesn't have any blood by them, sort of defying this mindless killer role that Mann Co (and the audience) associate with this character. Maybe it means Pyro finds passion in things other than killing, or that killing being Pyro's passion makes it less of a burden/weight on them, but whatever interpretation you have, it shows that Pyro does not view bloodshed in the same way as the rest of the Pyros.
There's also the one blue Pyro with blood on their knees, hand, and mask. Tbh, I can't think of some elaborate reasoning for that (my analysis skills have failed me </3), but personally I think it reminds me of the fact that even though the blue Pyros aren't unique, they're still... unique, in a sense (most coherent sentence made by me). They each have their own expressions and structure, even though they follow this never-ending pattern all the way to the end of the frame. Is it a connection to the idea of respawning and clones in the TF2 fandom? Or maybe that Pyro, too, is living a life with passion, just in their own sense. Idk, I really would like to try and crack the puzzle that is the third blue Pyro, but I'm drawing blanks in terms of stringing together a plausible analytical theory. Whatever that goober "represents" or "is," they're pretty cool to look at visually, which sometimes is what counts at the end of the day.
Another bit I really like about this painting: the Situation. Sure, I can just look at this and go "woah Pyro conga line" and see it as just that, but the setting and atmosphere really make it so interesting to look at (and write god-knows-how-many-words about it). The sky gives of impressionism vibes, but the tiles and ground is oddly surrealist? It's the absurdity of the setting (me trying to find a forever extending ground of tiles above the beautiful night sky) that makes the painting actually FEEL like Pyro, even though it doesn't utilize any of the typical bright and cheery imagery Pyro is associated with.
AND THEN (I'm almost done I swear) there's how I as the audience am in this Situation. All the Pyros are watching You. Even the red Pyro, who is clearly established to be the one "deviating from the norm." You are being acknowledged in this world, even if it is indirectly, by having the gaze of all (or most, at least) of the Pyros on You. There's probably a row of Pyros to the left on the frame captured in the painting and there's sure of a hell lot more as the Pyros meet the horizon. But this particular moment is what's captured. This passion and whimsy in a blue sea of the cold and uncaring. The color association of warmth and emotion with the red Pyro. And in a world where we often forego our true passions, values, interests for money (maybe like the TF2 mercs?), sometimes it's important to stop and appreciate the rare few who truly live with passion.
It's seeing a life without passion (painting name ref :O) and living it with despite it all.
Or, I could probably sum it up like I normally tend to do on Tumblr dot com: PEAK ALERT!!!! HOLY SHIT PEAK ART!!! THIS IS SO GOOD!??!!! YOUR ARTSTYLE IS SO YUMMY :D
titsay
ellievsbear
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
snowghoul
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
gracieabrams
