#tomminowrites

[batnsons]

it is I, your local pink pixie 🧚‍♀️

[batnsonswrites]

I just told @tomminowrites I use my phone to write and she told me she was gonna throw her keyboard out the window.... rip tommi’s keyboard

[the-wandering-whumper]

TAT Banner Submissions

I seem to have deleted my post listing all the TAT banner submissions, so pardon the repeat post :)

@tomminowrites

@whumpprompts

@alipeeps

@beautifullywhumped

@shadow-warren-whump

[batnsons]

How I would Describe You as a Character: She brings sunlight into the room, spring trailing at her heels as she bounces directly into conversation. Rey slides into the seat beside me, pushing round glasses up her nose and snagging a chip from my plate. "I was up til 4am last night, but you will not BELIEVE the story I wrote." The messenger bag on her shoulder hits the table with a thud, and curly hair is swept behind one ear as she digs past pens and books and candy bars. (1/2)

(2/2) She extracts a notebook with a triumphant trill. "How are you even awake right now?" I ask, trading the rest of my lunch for the proferred story. Rey winks and clicks finger guns in my direction. "Pure caffeine baby!!" Her laugh is contagious, and her handwriting spills across the pages in loops and swirls.

OH MY GOSH???! AHSJSJSJ I FEEL SO CALLED OUT BUT SO FLATTERED AT THE SAME TIME??! TOMMI WHAT EVEN. the only thing I would say is that. I simply stay awake out of pure obnoxious energy. Caffeine does literally nothing for me. (Also I was up till 8am last night...) BUT OH MY GOSH I LOVE THIS AND YOU AHSJSJJS

[batnsonswrites]

TOMMI IS BAAACK

[batnsonswrites]

Character Analysis: Angus Macgyver

@tomminowrites asked if I and a couple other writers would consider using this list of questions to do a character analysis for Mac in our own ways. This ended up being a hell of a lot longer than I was planning, but honestly everything I write ends up that way so at this point I don’t know why I’m even surprised. Most of this is just what I’ve seen from the show itself plus some headcanons for things we haven’t seen. There’s one section in which I do not agree with the show at all, but you’ll see that when you get to it. Anyways, enjoy!! (@thethistlegirl sorry if anything is really similar to yours lol)

What would completely break your character?

Mac already feels a lot of weight and responsibility when it comes to protecting people, and any time he feels like he could’ve done more to save someone it destroys a little part of him. If he were ever to lose someone he truly cared about, like Jack or Riley or Bozer, or now even Matty, and he felt like he could’ve done more, there’d be no coming back from that. Mac would sink so far into himself, throw himself into the most self-destructive habits he has until he’s nothing but a broken shell of the man he used to be. (By that same token, if any of them were ever to abandon or betray him, well... let’s just say I honestly believe Mac would end up suicidal.)

What was the best thing in your character’s life?

There are two best things in Mac’s life, and those two things are Wilt Bozer and Jack Dalton. Those two were there at his two most trying moments in his life, and he met them exactly when he needed them and they helped him through situations he never would’ve survived (at least not in one piece) on his own.

What was the worst thing in your character’s life?

There’ve been some pretty crappy things in his life, but finding out his dad wasn’t  coming home ever again on his tenth birthday was probably the crappiest. Losing Peña comes in at a pretty close second, but nothing has ever been as bad as that day. Mac remembers feeling numb, asking himself over and over again why his dad would leave him, and over and over again the answer his brain would tell him was “because you weren’t smart enough, Angus.” For Mac, there’s nothing worse than that day.

What seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character?

Mac remembers the smell that used to fill the kitchen when his mom made her favorite apple pie (warm apples and sweet cinnamon sugar). He remembers the shirt he was wearing the day his dad left (blue and white short-sleeve polo with the buttons done all the way up. he did them himself). He remembers the conversation the lady in the grocery store was having with her daughter, the first time he went shopping for himself (No, Sammy, you cannot have an entire bag of marshmallows all for yourself!). He remembers the song Jack sang the first time they rode in a Humvee together (a really horribly off-key rendition of Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again).

Does your character work so that they can support their hobbies or use their hobbies as a way of filling up the time they aren’t working?

It’s a little bit of both and neither, really. Mac’s work pretty much consists of all his hobbies, but there are certain projects he takes on when he’s home just for fun. Sometimes a mission will give him an idea, and he’ll test that idea at home, or in the Phoenix labs. He learned very early on that some things were better done in a safer environment than your kitchen. (The last time he tried to experiment in the kitchen, he melted half the countertop and exploded a soap dispenser.)

What is your character reluctant to tell people?

Mac is always reluctant to tell people just how much they mean to him. In his mind, admitting you need someone just makes the abandonment that much worse when they eventually walk away. He’s also always reluctant to tell people that he doesn’t know something. James instilled in him the need to always know the answer, and even now, 17 years on his own, he still feels like he’s going to be yelled at for now knowing something. (Jack has helped, a lot. Bozer too. But having someone in a position of authority and seniority be amazed at even the simplest things you know really helps alleviate the feeling that you need to know everything in order to be treated right.)

How does your character feel about sex?

now this is where I really disagree with the show Mac doesn’t view sex casually. As someone who doesn’t let people in easily, intimacy for him is reserved for people he really, truly, connects with. Nikki was one of the few girlfriends in his life he felt comfortable enough with to have that type of relationship with, but he always knew she was much more focused on that part of their relationship than he was. Mac isn’t someone who just throws that around with people for kicks, he feels it’s something almost sacred between two people who love each other. (fyi yes I was very upset with the way they portrayed nikki’s and his relationship in the first ep, and very very upset with the implications of his relationship with Aly in s2)

How many friends does your character have?

Mac’s the type of person who would be friends with the barista who makes his coffee every morning. He knows the name of every tech worker he’s ever crossed paths with at the Phoenix. On the surface meaning of the word, Mac has an endless amount of friends. In a deeper sense of the word, there’s Frankie, and Penny, and Carlos, and Charlie, and Sam, too. But actual friends, true friends that know almost everything there is to know about him? There’s just Jack, Bozer, and Riley. (Matty is slowly inching her way into that circle, and if Jill was still alive, she would’ve been on that list too.)

How many friends does your character want?

Mac isn’t the type to let a lot of people into his life, and for the longest time his only close friend was Bozer. He’s never been one to want more than that, Bozer and Penny were always enough. He’s always happy to add more friends to his little circle of family, but he’s content with however many he has. (If he never makes another friend in his life, he’s perfectly happy with that.)

What would your character make a scene in public about?

If it’s for his own sake, Mac would hardly make a scene for any reason. But when it comes to his friends or some innocent party, Mac won’t hesitate to make a scene if he thinks he can help in some way. If he thinks someone is in danger, he’ll make a scene in any way he can to bring the attention to himself, anything to take the focus off someone else. And he’s never really thought about why, but he’s been known to make a scene when a child is being unfairly yelled at by their parents, or an authority figure. (Jack always has a sad, soft smile on his face whenever Mac looks at him after, and he never really understands why.)

What would your character give their life for?

Mac has several self-destructive qualities, and he had a penchant for often thinking of himself as the expendable one. Because of that, Mac is always willing to give his life for almost anyone, even the guys he usually tries to stop. He hates the thought of anyone getting hurt unnecessarily, and he’d almost always rather it be him than them. (It’s given Jack quite a few headaches over the years. He tries to think of himself as irreplaceable, but he can’t help it when he sees someone else in danger. It’s like a default setting in his brain.)

What are your character’s major flaws?

Mac has a tendency to come across a bit arrogant without meaning to. He can go off on his scientific rants and correct people without thinking and it doesn’t always work out well. He also has a tendency to assume that he’s the smartest person in the room, and again that doesn’t always work out so well for him. But one of his biggest flaws is his inability to trust people. Because of this, he often thinks that his way is best, that he’s better off if he does it himself, and sometimes that can be deadly for people. He has problems letting other people help, even when he knows deep down that he can’t do it on his own.

What does your character pretend or try to care about?

Mac only pretends to care about something if it’s not someone he particularly likes. He’ll fake a smile, nod a couple times, but usually, his mind’s a mile away working on some project he’s working on in the lab. But if it’s someone he cares about, he never pretends. He tries to care about things his friends do, even if they have no interest for him whatsoever. He doesn’t always have an interest in the music Jack likes, or the food Bozer cooks, or the computer code Riley’s writing. But he makes it a point to try, for their sake. (Jack knows he doesn’t care about classic rock that much, but he appreciates that he tries. Bozer knows he doesn’t care about the exact blend of spices he’s putting in their burgers, but he tries, and that’s all Bozer cares about. Riley knows that Mac can hardly follow the code she’s writing, but he still sits and listens and tries to ask questions he knows she wants to answer, and for her that’s enough.)

How does the image your character tries to project differ from the image they actually project?

Mac tries to project an air of toughness and un-attachment, afraid to let people know how much things hurt, or how much he actually cares. But the key world there is ‘tries’. Everyone who’s spent longer than two seconds with him knows that he’s nothing but a giant puppy. Sure, he’s tough, and he keeps his emotions in check, but he can’t help the way his eyes and body language speak volumes. Jack can take one look into his eyes and see just how much he’s hurting. Bozer can see the way he shifts his weight and knows he’s in pain. Riley can see his smile and read the depths of his affection for the people around him. To the world, Mac is gentle, kind, smart, and genuine.

What is your character afraid of?

He’s deathly afraid of heights, so much so that he sometimes loses every piece of useful information he’s ever known until he’s back at a reasonable height. There have only been a handful of times anyone’s ever seen him completely panic, and the majority of those times involve heights. He’s also afraid of abandonment, whether by choice or just by chance. He’s constantly terrified he’s going to lose anyone he’s ever close to. He knows Jack would never walk out on him, not for any reason he can help, yet he’s constantly terrified that one day he’s going to wake up and find out that Jack is gone. He’s terrified he’s going to come home one day and find every one of Bozer’s possessions absent from the house. And for the longest time, was scared he was never going to know why his dad actually left. (Until the day he did find out, and now he’s terrified that the man he spent most his life trying to find is now going to end up being a permanent resident in his life.)

What is something most people in your setting do that your character thinks is dumb?

Honestly, Mac thinks social media is dumb. Sure, he gets the appeal and idea of Facebook, of being able to keep up to date with certain friends you don’t see as often as you wish you could. But things like Twitter and Instagram? He doesn’t get it. Instagram to him is just a bunch of people trying to prove they have a better life than they do. Twitter is just people begging for attention, from anyone who’s willing to listen. He gets it a little on a casual level, but the fact that there are people who are actually famous on Instagram just makes zero sense to him. (He does enjoy reddit, though. He’s constantly getting into discussions about scientific formulas and ideas and better ways to do things, posting project successes and failures and advising other users on certain procedures. He’d never breath a word of it to anyone. He has no idea that Riley found it somehow, and spends some of her lazy nights laughing hysterically at his projects and discussions.)

Where would your character fall on a politeness/rudeness scale?

Fairly in the middle, leaning a bit more towards polite than rude. He never means it, but to people who don’t know him he can come across like an arrogant know-it-all. He also has a sarcastic streak bigger than Texas, and he’s hard-pressed to keep it at bay, especially when he’s around Jack. He sometimes has an issue with authority, as well, and it’s gotten him into quite a bit of trouble. But he’s unfailingly polite when he deems it necessary, and he’s always the first to offer a smile and kind word to people he passes in his daily life. But if he doesn’t like someone, he errs just a bit more on the rude side. (There’s was a fellow eod tech in the sandbox that Mac didn’t particularly like. He wasn’t exactly a jerk, but he was a tad pretentious and haughty and Mac didn’t even bother keeping his sarcasm in check when it came to him. Every other person in their unit thought Mac was an angel except for that tech. He didn’t understand how people thought Mac was nice.)

[batnsonswrites]

Bullet Holes + Broken Heart

missing scene to The Rising, because I desperately needed Jack’s reaction to finding Mac in the water, surrounded by an ocean of red. Plus some extra emotional angst.

[read on ao3]

[batnsonswrites]

*when you post a fic and people are reading it but the one person who’s been the most excited to finally read it hasn’t shown up yet and you’re just anxiously waiting for them to finally see it but still super excited about all the other comments*