‘To tinsel or not to tinsel, that is the question,’ Gordon mused as he observed the sprawled figures in the conversation pit, a bag of decorations by his feet and a coil of silver tinsel in his hand. ‘To sleep, perchance to dream, aye, there’s the rub.’ He ran the length of tinsel through his hands and considered his options. ‘Hm…’
Rest and sleep were sacrosanct for all of them. They probably didn’t get enough of either on the best of days, but at the same time, down time was a careful balancing act. Left without enough to do they’d all get so wound up they’d do the human version of feather plucking. ‘And us being us, our idea of ‘enough activity’ and ‘boredom’ is so skewed it’s laughable.’ There was only so much ‘other stuff’ they could do before they had to get back to what they were supposed to be doing, what they’d dedicated their lives to doing: rescuing people in places that only they could get to.
‘But am I bored enough to do this…?’ Gordon asked himself as he squatted on the edge of the conversation pit, head thoughtfully tilted to one side. ‘Hm…’
Right now, said conversation pit was holding two out of five Tracy brothers and one Kayo. John and Alan were somehow sleeping top to tail on the floor, each cuddling the other’s legs, and Kayo was sprawled like a cat across the launch chairs for Three, partly on her back and partly on her side.
Gordon winced as he looked at her, his own spine twinging in sympathy. How on, under, or above the earth that could be comfortable, he absolutely did not not know.
The tinsel in his hands rustled, reminding him of what he’d been up to when he’d first strode into the lounge and spotted part of Kayo’s foot sticking up above the level of the floor: Decorating. The silly season was upon them (and boy did he not miss the white Christmases he’d grown up with), he had an extended period of downtime while Brains installed some new upgrades on Four, and he had decided that it was imperative, nay, it was mandatory that their communal spaces be appropriately dressed for the occasion. He’d been about to festoon the balustrades with shining strands of red and silver when he’d spied his sleeping siblings and the present opportunity to get his prank on and festoon them instead.
‘Alan and John will be easy as pie.’ Gordon frowned as he considered their security chief. ‘Kayo’s gotta be pretty deeply out of it to sleep like that. I can probably take my life in my hands and try something with her, but what?’
If he was completely honest with himself, draping some tinsel over her back and running was the sane, safe option. It’d be mission accomplished on his end, she’d wake up bewildered, he’d keep his fingers, they’d all laugh about it later, and it’d be a grand old time.
‘But I’m Gordon Cooper Tracy, the one and only Thunderbird Four, since when have I ever taken the safe and/or sane option?’ He grinned to himself like the Cheshire Cat. ‘Forget ‘beware the Jabberwock’, beware the bored Gordon Tracy!’
0o0o0
‘....ow…’
Feeling like Thunderbird Two had done a roly poly down her back, Kayo woke up stiff, sore, and not a little disoriented, blinking muzzily at the orange-yellow sunset just outside and wondering when, exactly, that had happened. She’d only just closed her eyes… right?
Sitting up, Kayo went to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face… and stopped when her fingers encountered something not-hair. Something plastic-y, with long, trailing bits that clung to her skin. ‘...what?’ She pulled it off and was greeted with… tinsel. Silver-green and golden strands woven into… a wig? ‘...no…’ she looked at it again, ‘not a wig, a jellyfish! Oh, this has to be Gordon!’
A laugh bubbling up despite herself, Kayo sat up properly to examine Gordon’s handiwork, and that’s when she saw what happened to John and Alan.
Anyone else would have said they’d been blanketed in tinsel stars and strands, but she knew the family fish. What could only be silver, red, and gold starfish marched along their sides, a purple ‘sea urchin’ rested on top of John’s head, and a good third of Alan was draped in long fronds of green tinsel ‘kelp’.
‘Oh, we are all going to get him for this later,’ Kayo promised herself as she noiselessly climbed over the back of the launch chairs, ‘after I get some photos of those two first.’
For the 2023 In Review ask list : What's something that surprised you while you were working on a fic? Did it change the story?
The characters. They do not agree with the plot a lot of the time; and I’ve had to change said plot more times than I can count. Toxicity and Mariana Trench both have a ton of scenes that I’ve added because they felt like what the characters would do, and scenes that I scrapped for the opposite reason.
In the beginning, there were two flowers of grey and white of quiet harmony. As time flown, five more little sprouts blossomed brilliantly. Then came tragedy. The white flower wilted like dust - every petal fell from the rest, only one of each remaining. Then time flown once more. The sprouts grown into flowers, the flora of gray was weary, but striving with strength. The six stood in the rain, snow and darkness. They spread their seeds, further than they had ever imagined. Their seeds grew a barrage of blossoms; from violets to silvers - from bronzes to blacks. Every spectrum imaginable. Sunlight beamed from the heavens for the first time in centuries.
With every petal that falls...
A new one always blooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A gift (and my second ever attempt at a poem XD) for @mariashades! I used her pfp as inspiration and I couldn't stop myself. This was really fun to do, and I consider it as an early Thanksgiving gift too. I'm forever thankful for brilliant people like Maria and all of my followers, all the people who liked/reblog my content, and everyone that has supported and continue to support me.❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💖🖤🤎🤍🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🌟
Also tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality, @skymaiden32, @teapotteringabout, @godsliltippy, @willow-salix, @n-chu4ever, & @avengedbiologist💕💕💕
Oh, there's a few around, usually specific to fandoms but reoccurring enough to get my hackles up when I see them.
Bully!young Gordon in TAG - not that people ever outright claim that's what they're writing, but the sort of "pranks" I often see young Gordon being written as pulling off often aren't harmless at all - they're either outright bullying his schoolmates, or they're risking actual bodily harm to his family/teachers etc. and I hate it. I don't know where that came from but it irks me a lot.
Sunshine Therapist Healer!Will in Riordanverse - I have complained about this many, many times recently, because this is such a toxic relationship dynamic (and also not canon at all - read TOA people)
Although also just relationships where the onus is all on one person to be the emotional support and never gets any support themselves. I don't know where this romanisation of a lover who exists purely to be your personal therapist/cheerleader with no thoughts outside of your existence comes from but the more I see it the more it makes me cringe and wish people a very happy Healthy Relationship Dynamic. (Yes, I'm aware that some people want to explore this dynamic in the safety of fiction with no intent on replicating it irl and I'm not policing that, but this is getting so prevalent in fandoms that I find it hard to believe that everyone who writes it does so for that reason).
Coffee Shop AUs. If I wanted to read a slice of life chance encounter coffee shop plot, I'd go to a slice of life original series. Other AUs (royalty, magic, etc.) I'm less likely to not touch at all, but coffee shop AUs in particular really irritate me - I vastly prefer keeping the characters in their original universe, or at least not being entirely mundane and boring if I do get the very rare itch for an AU.
Reblog if you are a fanfiction author and would like your readers to put one of your fic titles in your ask + questions about it
hsavinienFollow
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
Can I ask this about Fixated?
You certainly can! Thank you for asking.
The short answer is because it was what my brain needed. I was going through a difficult time during Fixated where my work life balance was completely shot. The first chapters up to Scott collapsing and Virgil doing his parkour from the balcony level were during that time because it was the energy I felt. The get Scott a hobby chapters only were able to come when I was in a better headspace to do so. And once Hold Fast was complete.
I'm glad folks found joy from Fixated. I don't consider it my best by any means but it was heartfelt and honest I think because of how close it was. It went through just me editing, parts were written on my phone. I didnt focus on structure, just feelings. I let it bounce pov.
Hello, for Squiddo's ask game, what about #15, 2015 series?
To be honest, I'm not the type to turn the protags into villains, because even thinking about it makes me uncomfortable.😅 However, to just simply answer, I think would be John would turn into a villain.
*Then proceeds to force him back to be a good guy again...*
Hi Maira! Thanks again for another ask! I think this is my first Kayo related one. So this will be interesting🖤🖤🖤
☆Kayo sleeping alone is peaceful enough; albeit with the typical tossing and turning. But the moment someone decides to share a resting spot, all hell breaks loose.
☆Imagine yourself under the warm bliss of the soft, comfy blankets. Next thing you knew - you feel the rough jolt of something pulling the sheets straight off of you. Kayo, who's sound asleep, had hogged them all to herself; wrapped in a tight cocoon of covers.
☆Don't even attempt to pull an inch from her. Either of two things will happen:
°One: she'll bellow a warning growl, and you'll have to go without the warm paradise that was your quilt.
°Two: You'll find yourself sleeping on the floor tonight.
☆And that's assuming Kayo doesn't wrestle for dominance. Somehow she's still good a fighter while asleep, which you learned the hard way.
☆Eventually she wakes up, fresh as a daisy. And she wonders why you look like you've been wrestling with an animal in an elevator.
☆Kayo does care about her family (surprising to believe), but all those alliances fly out the window when someone decides to be her napping buddy.
As you can see, I definitely had fun with this one😂🖤🖤🖤
