#anyways what I’m saying is Jimmy is the canary but he’s the canary that’s like ‘SURELY I can sing for the miners the whole way THIS time’ | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thetomorrowshow · 21 days

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apologies

empires superpowers au masterlist (currently out of date)

a story that takes place during chapter 10 of ‘poisoned rats’.

cw: past abuse, anxiety, food

“Hi, Major!”

Jimmy starts, looks behind them.

Blossom is standing on the curb across the road, opening up a mailbox to remove the contents.

Scott waves back cheerily, one hand still unlocking the front door. “Hey, Blossom! Your garden looks so cute today!”

“Scott,” Jimmy mutters, tugging anxiously on the hem of his own hoodie. “Scott. Can we please go in?”

“Aw, thanks! Hi, Major’s roommate! How are you doing?”

That’s Blossom. He can’t—he looks over at Scott, silently begging him to unlock the door and let him in so he doesn’t have to answer.

“We’re both doing wonderful,” Scott replies, in lieu of Jimmy saying anything. Blossom smiles widely, and Jimmy’s close to actually tapping Scott on the shoulder because they’ve been standing there with the keys in the lock for what feels like hours and he really doesn’t feel comfortable making small talk with Blossom, of all people.

“Scott, please,” he whispers, and Scott finally notices his distress and pushes the door open, stepping aside to let Jimmy in.

Jimmy pushes past him, uncaring of how rude it probably seems, as Scott calls another pleasantry across the road.

It wasn’t his first venture out of the house, but only his third, and he’d been on edge the entire time at the hardware store, had barely been able to give his opinion on the paint swatches he was supposed to be looking at.

They’re painting his room, as much as he insists he’s fine with the white walls. He’d decided on a pale green eventually, and now he sets the two cans of paint down on the dining room table and puts his hands beside them and just tries to breathe.

He’s fine. It’s fine. He lives in a neighborhood of superheros, of course he’s going to run into them at some point. It’s unreasonable to think that he can live in total isolation and still get better.

He’d just prefer they were strangers.

The front door closes. “Jimmy?”

Jimmy doesn’t look up, just presses his hands harder into the table. “I’m fine,” he lies, voice shaking.

Scott sounds unsure when he next speaks. “Was it—was it just someone talking to you? Or was there something else?”

There are some things that Scott will just let go. Things that he clearly doesn’t know how to handle, so he doesn’t push and accepts that it’s something Jimmy isn’t capable of and they leave it at that.

This is clearly not one of those things.

“I’ve hurt her,” he manages, swallowing past the lump in his throat. “Both recently, and . . . before. I’ve—I’ve hurt all of them, Scott, I’ve hurt Pearl and Gem and the Mad King and—”

“Do you want to sit down?” interrupts Scott, and Jimmy nods gratefully and lets Scott take him by the arm and lead him to the living room sofa.

“Jimmy,” Scott starts, glancing uncertainly at him, “they don’t . . . Blossom doesn’t know, you know? Most of them don’t know who you are.”

Most implies that some of them do, and that does little to calm Jimmy’s nerves anyway. The facts of the matter are that Jimmy’s hurt a lot of people whether he meant to or not, and some of those people just happened to be well-loved and extremely powerful superheroes, and if he tries to apologize and explain to any of them, he’s more likely to be killed or jailed than forgiven.

“Who does know?”

Scott bites his lip. “Gem, for sure. She knows just about everything, actually, and she’s a very forgiving person and is fine with it.”

Gem is one of the people he’s hurt the worst—he remembers hurting her so badly back when she first became a hero that she was out of commission for weeks.

He needs to apologize in person.

“And because Gem knows, fWhip knows, and maybe Mythics and Pearl, considering whatever weird friendship they all have.”

Great. That doesn’t make him panic any less. He knew that Mythics knew the connection between Solidarity and the Canary due to less than fortunate circumstances, and he’d had a hand in kidnapping Gem so that makes sense anyways. fWhip doesn’t particularly like him, but if he hasn’t said anything then hopefully he doesn’t have to reach out. Pearl is an unknown.

“Oh, and Joel, of course,” Scott waves off, and Jimmy frowns.

“Joel?”

Scott blinks, his face falling. “Forget I said anything?” he tries half-heartedly. Then he shrugs, grins at Jimmy. “Eh, you would’ve learned it eventually. That’s the Mad King, he helped a lot in getting you and Gem out of there.”

Okay, that’s not . . . that’s not too bad. His memory is, admittedly, blurry, but he can vaguely recall the Mad King turning up at the end of . . . that day.

At least it’s not the entire city. Jimmy knows that Scott had had to pull some pretty powerful strings to arrange for his identity to be kept a secret, which he’s forever grateful for. It’s just utterly terrifying, knowing that there are so many people who do know who he is, and those people just so happen to be those wronged by him.

He clenches his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. “I need—I need to apologize to them. If I can.”

Scott doesn’t answer at first, just surveys him with an unreadable expression. “You sure?”

Jimmy nods. It’s absolutely terrifying, but he has to do it—just like how he still has to apologize to Lizzie.

Maybe apologizing with other people, for less important transgressions, will make the eventual confrontation with his estranged sister easier.

“Well, there’s actually a neighborhood barbeque this weekend,” Scott offers, and there’s something—there’s something sly in his voice, something suspicious, but Scott’s face is open and innocent when Jimmy meets his eyes. “Masked, of course. We could go to that, and you could see those people in person.”

Already, a pit in his stomach opens, dread spilling out of it. It’s Tuesday. That only gives him a couple of days before he has to see these people. Barely any time to plan anything, barely any time to try to find the words that he’s been searching for for the past five weeks while he postpones Lizzie’s visits.

Scott’s been talking a lot lately about spontaneity.

Jimmy used to live his life based around spontaneity.

Maybe he can just . . . be spontaneous again. It’s been so long since he didn’t have a schedule (even if it wasn’t one that he planned out), so long since he just rolled with the punches.

Maybe this will be good for him.

Jimmy’s precisely thirty seconds into the barbeque and he knows it will not be good for him.

It’s being hosted in the Mad King’s backyard, just down the street, and he and Scott are early enough that they’re the second to arrive, just after Blossom.

“She’s usually on time to stuff,” Scott whispers to Jimmy as they help the Mad King—or, Joel—lug coolers out onto the patio. “Gem is too, but if she’s bringing fWhip along she’ll be late.”

Gem doesn’t arrive at six on the dot, so Jimmy assumes fWhip is coming along. Joy.

It’s not a large group that’s gathered in Joel’s backyard by the time a half hour has passed, but there are several unfamiliar faces—or, masks, rather. Scott mentions that they don’t necessarily all live here, but there are many upstart heroes in the city and inviting them to neighborhood events is a way to show that the city-sponsored ones recognize the good they do.

He mostly sticks to Scott’s side, fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie, tugging at his mask every so often. It feels like everyone at the party is watching him, knows who he is. There’s no way they don’t recognize him. There’s no way they don’t see his hair combined with his frame and mask and see the Canary or Solidarity.

“Hi, Major’s roommate,” Blossom greets him cheerfully when he and Scott make their way to the drinks table. She’s getting herself some lemonade; Jimmy fills a red solo cup with water and holds onto it to try and stop his hands from shaking so much.

“Hey, Blossom,” Scott says for him, picking up a cherry tomato from the vegetable spread someone had brought and popping it into his mouth. “I’m not sure I ever thanked you for catching my shift last week. Did anyone give you any trouble?”

“Not at all! I think they knew that I was around, and I wasn’t playing games, Major,” Blossom teases. Scott scoffs.

“Yeah, right. More like they decided to go easy on you.”

“Hey, TJ, right?” someone says loudly from behind him. Jimmy jumps, spins around to be face-to-face with the Mad King, a mask crooked over his eyes and a plain apron thrown over his jeans and t-shirt.

“I—uh—”

The Mad King jerks his head toward the grill. “Don’t freak out or anything, just wanted to ask for some help.”

Jimmy glances at Scott, who gives him an encouraging nod, then follows, feeling almost as though the Mad King is leading him to the gallows.

Which is entirely overdramatic, especially since the man helped rescue him in the first place.

The Mad King hands Jimmy a pair of tongs and a plate of hot dogs, explains the segment of the grill he ought to put them on, and tells him when to rotate them, even as he seasons burgers already on the grill and flips them around. Jimmy’s not quite sure what’s happening—he’s never used a grill before, so he isn’t sure if Joel’s cooking is anything particularly talented, but he’s impressed at least.

“How’ve you been holding up?” The Mad King asks after a moment, voice low. Jimmy blinks.

“Um. I’m—well, I’m here?”

Joel snorts. “Yeah, I thought that was kind of weird, really. What’d Major have to do to convince you to come to the superhero barbecue?”

At some point while crossing the yard, Jimmy had set down his cup. He wishes that he still had it, so that both his hands could be occupied. Instead, he stuffs one in his hoodie pocket, and very carefully turns a hot dog with the other.

“I want to apologize,” he says eventually. “I—to the people who know who I am. S—Major said, like—like, Gem, and fWhip know? And maybe Pearl? But I don’t know . . . I don’t. . . .”

“Know how to, like, start a conversation like that?” Joel suggests, and Jimmy nods. Joel clicks his tongue. “Go for it blunt. ‘Hi, my name’s TJ, I beat you up a couple times. How ‘bout we let bygones be bygones, yeah?’ Like that.”

“Absolutely not,” Jimmy says instantly, horrified by the idea. “I can’t just—I need to do it right—”

“‘Hi, Gem, remember when I kidnapped you and submitted you to torture? That’s my bad. Want to play pin the tail on the donkey?’”

“Oh my gosh—”

“‘Oh, fWhip! Yeah, I’m the guy who broke your back. Good times. How’re the kids?’”

“You are something else,” Jimmy manages faintly, setting the tongs down to bury his face in his hands. “Does he really have kids? Did he really break his back?”

“Pretty sure he didn’t break his back, you know, but yeah, his back got broken. Not sure about the kids.”

“I’m never going to get through this,” Jimmy mutters, slightly hysterical. “I’m going to die here. I’m going to panic and break something and then Scott will send me away and—”

“Hey, hey, secret identities,” the Mad King chides. Jimmy presses his fingers into his eyes, trying to regulate his breathing. After a moment, there’s a heavy pat-pat on his shoulder that he just barely doesn’t flinch away from.

“There, there,” Joel says awkwardly. It’s out-of-place enough that Jimmy laughs a bit, sucking in a long breath.

When he can, he lifts his face, picks the tongs back up, returns to watching the hot dogs cook. He glances around, checking to see if anyone’s watching. Everything’s going as normal, nobody seems to have noticed—even Scott, across the yard and lightyears away, is just laughing at some joke Pearl made.

“Sorry,” Jimmy says. Joel chuckles.

“How about you just start with apologizing to me?”

Well, the Mad King is on his apology list. But though he’d just been talking with him, though the conversation even seems almost friendly, Jimmy’s suddenly sweating from everywhere, heart jumping into his throat.

He has to do this.

“I’m—sorry,” he ekes out. He sets the tongs down, then doesn’t know what to do with his hands, and picks them back up. He avoids making eye contact with the Mad King. “For—for all the times I hurt you as the Canary. Or as Solidarity. I wasn’t—things weren’t going great. And also that time I hit you with a trash can.”

“Twice,” Joel points out.

Jimmy swallows. “Yeah. Twice.”

“Those are probably done, by the way,” Joel says, holding out the plate. Mechanically, Jimmy layers the hot dogs onto it.

“Honestly, TJ?” says Joel, flipping a burger and setting another one on the plate. “I’m really surprised you’re even here. It’s been, what—five weeks? Six? Since you got here?”

Jimmy nods.

“Right. Well, if I were you, I’d—I’d be bloomin’ terrified. I wouldn’t have even left my room. You just being here—even if you don’t talk to anyone else—that’s huge, in my opinion.”

Jimmy nods again, glances over to Scott, who is now alone. He starts to sidle away—he isn’t sure how to end conversations, really, he hasn’t had much practice and Scott never minds it when he just heads out to avoid the ending part, but Joel holds a hand out, offers him a small grin.

“And thanks. I accept your apology,” he says, before waving Jimmy on. “Go on, have a good time. Or don’t, more likely. At least eat something, yeah? Lizzie would kill me if she knew you weren’t eating.”

Jimmy doesn’t process that until he’s halfway across the yard, but when he does, he freezes in his tracks.

And it kind of makes sense, when he thinks about it. He’d witnessed the Mad King in battles teamed up with his sister, and they’d both gone with Scott to rescue him.

He tables that for a later date. Maybe Scott knows something about it. He doesn’t really want to strike up another conversation with the Mad King just to ask about it—as nice as he is, he is a little disconcerting.

Jimmy continues toward Scott, only to freeze again when someone taps him on the shoulder.

He spins around, and—fWhip.

fWhip offers him a toothy grin. “Hey, Major’s roommate, yeah? How long have you guys . . . you know. . . ?”

Jimmy stares back, mouth slightly agape. One of the people he definitely has to talk to, and the anxiety in his chest is bubbling up past boiling point.

fWhip’s grin fades. “Right. Um. Anyway, my sister and I—that is, Gem—we were wondering if we could chat with you for a quick minute? I promise we won’t keep you from Scott for very long.”

Which is an odd thing to say, but not exactly wrong. Jimmy thinks for a moment longer—for all he knows, they’ll lead him to a back alley somewhere and beat him up—but he’d deserve it, really, so he decides to go along.

Gem is waiting just inside the house, leaning against the kitchen counter. She smiles wryly, waves a little bit.

“Hi,” she greets him. “Are you still the Canary, or just Solidarity?”

Jimmy winces. “Er, neither,” he says stiltedly. “Just—just TJ. If that’s okay.”

“You weren’t mind-controlled, were you?” fWhip says bluntly. “The Mad King always said you weren’t. And—”

“TJ,” Gem interrupts. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. Mythics told us how badly you were hurting, and we never even noticed anything was wrong. It’s made me rethink my approach to being a hero. I want to help people, but I think I made things worse for you, and I’m sorry.”

Jimmy blinks. Tries to process that.

She’s apologizing to him? But—he doesn’t deserve that, he doesn’t deserve it when he’s the one who hurt her over and over before he was even Xornoth’s, then kidnapped her and subjected her to torture.

His head feels a bit like it’s spinning.

“I mean, I’m not gonna apologize,” fWhip says, shrugging. “But no hard feelings, yeah? I think we’ve both been in some pretty bad situations recently. So yeah.”

Jimmy swallows a few times. At least fWhip hadn’t apologized, he’s not sure what he would’ve done if he had.

“I’m sorry, too,” he forces out. “I shouldn’t have—I hurt you, both of you, a lot. You didn’t do anything.”

“It’s fine,” Gem says at the same time that fWhip says, “Thanks for apologizing.” They exchange a look, then both turn back to Jimmy.

“I know Major pretty well,” Gem says. “I trust him to be a good judge of character. I look forward to getting to know you, TJ.” She smiles warmly, then slides past him and out the backdoor.

“I don’t really trust you,” fWhip says. “Or Major, really. But I trust Gem. So, just . . . glad you’re reforming and all that. See ya.”

And then Jimmy’s alone in the kitchen, and that hadn’t exactly gone as anticipated. It hadn’t gone at all like anticipated, actually.

He’s going to need a couple of days to come to terms with that.

Jimmy heads back out, making a beeline for Scott. This time, nobody pulls him aside, and he can get all the way to him with no issue. Scott raises an eyebrow, but Jimmy shakes his head, so Scott just points him to the grill.

“Go get something to eat, yeah? We can leave after that if you aren’t comfortable.”

Joel shoots him a grin when he takes a hot dog, and Gem passes him the mayo at the condiments table, and Blossom corners him by the chips to ask him if he and Scott have seen the latest episodes of some unknowable TV show (and when he says they haven’t, she gushes about it for a good ten minutes while he tries to eat, frequently giving him strange looks whenever she brings up the main character’s romance).

It’s a lot. It’s inevitable that something goes wrong—and it does, but nothing big, just Jimmy trips over a small crack in the patio that quickly becomes a very large crack as the corner of the paving splits off.

He looks over at Joel, who shrugs, then back to Scott, who calls out an apology to Joel. And that’s it. Joel turns back to his conversation with Pearl and that’s it.

For the first time that evening, the knot in Jimmy’s chest loosens a little bit.

And if he can handle this, then talking to Lizzie will be a piece of cake.

#empires smp #empires smp fanfic #jimmy solidarity #scott smajor #empires superpowers au #esh au #040924 #mas writes #hskjdhj this one was lowkey so ufn #*fun #jimmy hanging out with the heroes is just a lil fluffy!#still away of course #so not much to say here!#hope yall enjoyed this one #love you guys

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itsame-ariana · 2 months

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(kinda sorta)

Life SMP Hadestown AU

//Life SMP Hadestown AU//

Master post for something no one may see.

Idk if this is anything but enjoy

I dunno- this and into the woods is my favorite musicals and I’ve had traffic brain rot for AGESSS and I was finally re-listening to Hadestown and this absolute fever dream of an idea dawned on me during hey little song bird

So yeah. Enjoy?

Here’s the original post when I got this idea

And obvious disclaimer this are all the character versions of these people not the actual people thank you very much for you patience.

ANYWAY

//Life series Hadestown AU//

Eurydice- Jimmy Solidarity ✨the canary✨ you see the vision. This (joke?) is what started this whole thing so.

Orpheus- Still deciding between Scott and Tango

Tango pros:

- They are soulmates

- the goat horns are kinda vaguely like music/an instrument 👀

- ranchers duo is SO SWEET always

- their lives are tethered which in a way fits the story of the show and the myth.

- idk i just like this idea

- why are you still here? It’s over. Go home.

- c!jimmy seems to be on better terms with c!tango than c!scott soooo

Scott pros:

- they were husbands, Jimmy died first tragically (very accurate to original myth)

- THE FLOWER MOTIF- specifically a red flower. It’s just so perfect

- they saw each other in the afterlife

- Scott is always attached to flower husbands which seems fitting

- he likes to sing? Empires musical? I don’t know but it seems like it works

-flower husbands and desert duo have connections (you will see why this is important)

So yeah leaning towards tango for the vibes but leaning towards Scott for actual similarities in plot and such.

(If someone wants to say Joel or someone I will happily hear you out lol)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hades and Persephone- c!Grian and c!Scar/desert duo. The characters were once in love and then it grew into a a more bitter relationship. There are lots of potential parallels with Hadestown older lovers and desert duo. Grian and scar also have flower/plant motifs.

Grian as hades- He is a watcher, which seems fitting. Creator of the games seems fitting for god of death and also the industrial foreman Hadestown has. Original winner.

Scar as Persephone- Now that he is a winner, I personally love the idea of him being the earth, which is perfect for the god(dess) of spring. I also think his secret life skins going from green to black is an accidental parallel.

The only real issue with this is I want to incorporate Grian being the sun but that’s contradictory;-;

Hermes- My main idea atm is Martyn. This is mostly because storytelling and lore is very connected to him and his character. Who doesn’t love some eyes and ears AU/lore

I am also considering pearl just because I like that idea, her being the moon and being connected to g and s, etc

And Ren because he is such a storyteller/theater kid

The Fates- I have several ideas for this

-the watchers(and secret keeper.) Obvious reasons

- the other winners

-clethubs because they are a fun/good trio lol

- ren, pearl, Scott (in case I don’t have them as Hermes/orpheus)

- the remaining Evo members: bigb (also he was so creechur in third life ), pearl, and if he’s not Hermes, Martyn (also good since pearl and martyn have won)

__________________________________________

Based on a lot of the plant motifs imagine if instead of a carnation it was a poppy.

I’m very slow with drawing and have never written any kind of fic before but if people like this idea I’d love suggestions for the AU and I’ll definitely make some character designs :)

Character designs/descriptions:

Jimmy coming soon to a theater near you

Other posts for the AU:

Full circle lol

Potential name

How to include both Scott and Tango

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yacinthemorning · 2 months

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Tailored to Your Liking

Chapter 7

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Summary: Tumble Town attracts all sorts of misfits looking for a fresh start on the frontier, but everyone still needs clothes. Be it extra limbs or high temperatures, Jimmy caters to every hybrid's needs.

Ships: Jimmy/Tango (slow burn romantic), Grian/Mumbo/Scar (romantic), Joel/Lizzie (romantic)

Warnings: Implied traumatic events, awkward flirting, verbal fight, anxiety attack

Jimmy tapped at his desk, staring down at the skeins before him. A weepweave was laid out across the table behind him, waiting to be drawn into shapes. He’d worked out the patterns weeks ago. And adjusted for the weight Tango had gained since. If he could just get himself to work it could be done in no time.

But there in lied the problem.

He pulled from his breast pocket the little brass bird. A canary, like the ones they’d used in the mines Tango worked much of his life in since coming to this continent. The ornament was truly lovely, something Jimmy would cherish, but he knew the poor thing carried much more weight than that. It carried a culture Jimmy wasn’t especially familiar with. The weight of its material and its palm sized stature. Tango had given it to him, but he’d avoided looking at it since.

It hurt, just a bit. Irrationally. If it was a symbol of his intentions then what did it say to be so ashamed of it? Jimmy knew better than that, of course, but it didn’t help emotions. Especially not when Tango had begun to treat Jimmy much the same.

A glance informed him it was nearly five o’clock. Ten hours since he last saw Tango. Where was he? What job had he found that took up so much of his time? They better be paying him more than a few copper if they’re going to-

Jimmy took a deep breath. He pushed out of his seat, grabbed his hat, and abandoned his shop for the day. There was no point in driving himself mad indoors if he wasn’t going to be productive for it. There was something else he ought to do anyways.

He made it to the end of Main Street, where a large, white building lay quiet. Few people approached the town hall most days, not unless there was a holiday. Besides Lizzie’s family, in fact, only its two employees could be found in its vicinity. Their presence was part of the reason it remained so silent.

Taking unsure hops, it seems he was ever so lucky enough to catch them both reclining at the front desk. Two sets of glowing, cyan eyes immediately snapped to Jimmy the moment his talons brushed the wood floor. Cub was the first to offer a welcoming smile, though Jimmy always found it rather unnerving. Not so much due to the skulk that draped him, but the knowledge that Scar thought quite highly of him. A “retired” doctor beloved by a snake oil salesman was no one Jimmy had a desire to trust.

Luckily Pixl was the one to motion for Jimmy, greeting him with a silent nod. “Welcome, Mister Solidarity. How may we be of service?” He voice was soft, not even an echo forming in the grand hall.

“I was actually interested in accessing the library, though I don’t imagine I’ll find what I’m searching for.” Jimmy admitted.

Curiosity raised Pixl’s eyebrow. He nodded to Cub, their teal antlers vibrating. Nothing Jimmy could understand, but he was sure others felt similarly to how the avians in town flared and flattened their feathers. “Of course, follow me. Perhaps I can help in your search.” Pixl suggested as they made their way down the hall, leaving Cub behind. “If it’s a matter of history, I could be of great service.”

The pickings were slim. What wasn’t bookkeeping or dictionaries were the few documents and books brought in with arriving citizens. The worldliness of the collection could be attributed to the variety of folks that wandered their way into Tumble Town more than interest in the topics. It made the collection particularly eclectic despite its size, everything from children’s books to family trees and obscure novels in languages Jimmy had never seen before.

An album of miscellaneous photographs found its way in front of him. Some were from events, others collected upon deaths, many donated by Mumbo. Jimmy was nearly through the entire album before he spotted it. The photos were in horrid condition, even a bit burnt at the edges. Each portrayed one of two women, one elderly and the other a bit older than Jimmy’s age, both alike to one another. Their hair flowed like fire and their sharp ears were adorned with jewellery. Though the young woman wore a skirt similar in style to what Jimmy often made, the elderly woman dressed entirely differently. Thin layers of cloth draped her body, with some sort of shaping going on underneath. The shoulders sat loose under the clutches of gold ornaments, with a particularly intricate necklace. A favour. Jimmy absentmindedly rested his hand over his pocket.

There were a few others, including a photo of the younger in a similar garb, though the decor seemed to be of a different material and less intricate. It seemed to be some sort of celebration. There were short notes on the backs but they were all written in Pigling. Even in the black and white photos the gowns were gorgeous. He continued to flip through the dozen photos, trying to figure out their make. The waist pulled in but there was no seams visible anywhere on the outer layer. Not at the visible angles. Their trousers, too, were tailored into anklets. There was no embroidery or decorative stitchwork in the cloth itself, and no patterns. Were the layers different colours? Knowing the material they were likely made of they were most certainly vibrant...

So entranced was Jimmy that he didn’t notice Pixl approaching until a loud thud made him jump up out of his seat. A stack of three books had been placed on the table. Pixl shrugged in apology. “These are all we have that mention in any capacity the Nether or Netherborn, I’m afraid.”

“Thank you.” Jimmy muttered in a daze. As he flipped open the first few pages, it occurred that he had never told the sculkling what he was looking for. He whipped his head up to give some type of indignant remark he had yet to think of, but Pixl was already gone. In a huff, he gathered up the books. It was getting late, and whether Tango came home or not, Jimmy needed to make dinner for at least himself.

To his surprise when he reached home, Tango’s shoes and jacket were there at the entrance. More surprisingly, there was a smell wafting out from the kitchen. Jimmy poked his head past the door. Seeing Tango at the stove momentarily brought out a moment of panic, but there were thankfully no metallic smells, only the scent of spices and chicken.

A curious tweet slipped out of the avian. Tango jumped so high Jimmy worried he might hit his head on the ceiling. He spun around, spilling whatever had been in the ladle in his hand across the floor. And his foot. He jumped a second time, curses spilling out of his mouth, until his knee hit the back of a chair and they both went down. In a panicked flurry Jimmy went to the poor man’s aid, himself almost slipping on the spilled substance in the process.

“My goodness, are you alright?” Jimmy squeaked.

Tango was still dazed, though his face had contorted in guilt or pain, likely both. “Just peachy. Ah!” His neck cracked as he rolled it. It seemed unsatisfying, but he left it to return tending the large pot on the stove. “At least I didn’t knock anything important over.”

“What are you doing?”

Instantly Tango shrunk in on himself, held himself like a scolded dog. Was Jimmy’s tone so accusatory? He couldn’t deny being more than a bit frustrated with the man’s indecisiveness. “Well, I’m making dinner.”

“Yes, I can see that. But why?” Though Tango often helped in the kitchen he’d never taken the initiative to cook himself. It was never clear whether it was out of the delusion that what he chose to make would be poorly received, the nonsense idea he had no right to use the ingredients Jimmy bought, or the only reasonable explanation that he simply didn’t enjoy cooking.

Tango didn’t look up from the pot. “You weren’t here when I got back, so I thought I should.”

Jimmy hadn’t been there because Tango hadn’t either. There was nothing stewing because Jimmy had been too distracted thinking of the party. Tango always picked up more chores when he was feeling useless. There were many things Jimmy could say, but, perhaps for the best, they were all stuck on one another in his throat. “What are you making?” He asked instead, approaching the pot.

“You like curry? It’s sort of like curried chicken. Except not. They call it Nether peppered chicken here I think, but there’s no Nether peppers in it. It’s...”

“Tasty?” Jimmy offered an out, which Tango graciously took with a nod. “I’m guessing a Nether dish?”

The tuft of Tango’s tail swept against jimmy’s leg in absentminded agitation. “Sorta. It’s actually something I learned from a workmate after I first arrived here. It’s...” He tilted his head back, brows knit. “Like, it’s hard to get certain spices and vegetables here, so people make due, and it sorta turned into its own thing. I guess I did, too. I had this friend for a while, Brody, he couldn’t handle the spiciness, so I started making it differently, less spicy more bitter.” He paused to pour a mixture of ground spices and greens into the pot. “It’s why I like making it, probably.”

Because you can’t say you made it wrong, Jimmy managed to not say aloud. Was it reasonable to be envious of a man’s relationship to his dinner? Most likely not, but that was the only way Jimmy could describe the melancholic lump in his chest as he watched Tango stir the pot without tension in his shoulders.

“It looks delicious.” He murmured. Tango hummed in reply. While he continued to stir Jimmy placed the cutlery and plates and sat down. Something dropped into the pot with a pop. “... You know, you can make it as spicy as you please.” Jimmy’s voice pitched up, “I don’t mind, it doesn’t bother avians.”

“The peppers in the market aren’t very spicy, it’s better this way with what w-you have.”

“Oh, okay.” Jimmy adjusted his wings around the back of his chair. Feather wrapped over his arms. The ladle scraped against the side of the pot. “How was work?”

Tango paused for a moment, tail twitching with anxious energy. “Fine. Just helped Etho and Pause with some barn repairs at Beef’s ranch. Was done by noon so I helped Impulse with bottling his beer. Then Chef let me help load the coal wagons going to the station for a couple gold.”

“That’s nice of him...”

“It is. Way more than I ever got paid as one of Fwhip’s guys for the same job. Funny that.”

“Funny that.” Jimmy repeated mindlessly, talon tracing the pattern of the table cloth. Why did it always have to go back to money lately? He knew why. “Have you made anything recently?” He asked, hoping there was some odd little redstone scheme boiling in Tango’s mind ready to spill out into hours long explanations Jimmy could barely wrap his head around.

But there was none. “Not really. Been busy.” Tango shrugged.

“The shop’s closed tomorrow, we could go down to Joe’s and see what he’s selling?”

“I don’t wanna waste money-”

Both jumped as the silverware crashed down against plates. It took Jimmy a heartbeat to realize it was his own fist against the table that had caused it. He mumbled out an apology, not daring to return the blazeborn’s gaze.

“Jim-”

“It’s nothing. I’m sorry.”

Tango had abandoned dinner, now leaning against the chair beside Jimmy. “Jimmy.”

Why did talking have to be so difficult all of a sudden? “You don’t have to take so many jobs in one day.” He managed to choke out.

“Well... I had the energy, I guess.”

“You didn’t want to come back.”

Tango’s tail wrapped around his leg, frown twisting with guilt as he was now the one who couldn’t look at the other.

Jimmy felt his stomach sink. “I’m not... I understand, but I don’t get it.”

“Why I work?”

“Why you won’t let yourself be good enough.” Jimmy reached out, hesitating when Tango leaned away. “And I don’t know what you need to help you.”

“Then I got bad news for what it’s like being stuck with me.”

“Tango...” He was right. Jimmy couldn’t do anything to help Tango if Tango wasn’t willing to be helped. Perhaps he couldn’t help even if he wanted to. This wasn’t something Jimmy could bull-headedly push through like usual.

Tango approached the table, plating their food. As he placed the ladle back down, Jimmy reached out for his hands. He stared at the avian. Surprise, confusion, then concern. “You know you’re a wonderful man, right?” Jimmy asked. It was returned with a dumbfounded shake of Tango’s head. Jimmy almost laughed. Almost. He clutched Tango’s hand closer. “You’re the most intelligent person I’ve ever met, with your strange machines and inventions. And you’re too kind. You’re always helping other folks, I swear there isn’t a single person in this town that hasn’t something sweet to say about you-”

“What are you doing?” Tango asked, tugging weakly against Jimmy’s hold.

Jimmy gave him a sad smile. “You need to know, even if you don’t listen to me right now.”

Quiet fell over them, Tango not replying. Trapped somewhere between peace and tension, they ate dinner in silence.

Weepweave splayed out across Jimmy’s work station, its natural matte crimson colour darkened ever so slightly. It would suit Tango, easy to see long before Jimmy carved it into clothing. There were a few other materials, hoglin leather and twist, but the dark crimson weepweave was what he had the most to work with.

Tango hesitated at first, but his hand ran with fascination over the material. “This is nice.” He said with genuine surprise.

Jimmy shrugged, “Well, when it take this long to import we can’t have it falling apart on you after a few weeks. Otherwise you’ll be right back where you started!” He adjusted the fabric, giving one more once over. “There’s more than enough for three outfits. Four if we pushed our luck but I think it’s best to save some for future repairs.”

A gesture was enough for Tango to fetch the chalk while Jimmy turned the fabric over. Slowly the shapes of an outfit began to appear across the various pieces. Tango remained to help where he could while Jimmy worked.

It continued on through the morning, until the afternoon sun beat down through the windows. Jimmy could feel himself beginning to overheat. In a brief lull, he began to remove his vest, piling the tools that had begun to accumulate in its pocket down beside the cloth. By the time he’d placed the vest aside Tango had also frozen up, staring at the ground. Among the piled treasures was the metal bird.

Jimmy bit his tongue, picking it back up carefully while he sat down in his stool. Silence stretched out. “You know,” Jimmy tentatively broke it. “Avians are also known for their favours.”

“Oh?” Tango murmured back.

“Yes, a feather.”

This captured his attention. “A feather?”

Jimmy nodded, thumb rubbing over the canary’s wings. “Our own. Usually from along the spine, those aren’t quite as large.” He looked up to his companion, who was staring with knit brows at Jimmy’s yellow wings, befuddlement clear. “False will tell you there’s ceremonies and words to go with it but Grian simply handed them over one day to Scar and Mumbo. I suppose it’s one of those flock to flock things. Still, feathers are special to an avian. There’s many traditions involving our feathers, but I suppose you could call it the biggest one.”

“But…” Tango stumbled, seemingly unsure of his next words.

“It’s important it’s your own feather, that it’s a lovely one any damage to can be seen. I think it’s quite lovely, trusting a part of yourself to someone, and being trusted the same.”

“… I suppose.”

He was once more turned away. Jimmy worried his bottom lip. Had he come across as condescending? It was not his intention.

A great sigh escaped the blazeborn as he reclined onto the bench. “Not everyone has feathers to give, though.”

Jimmy’s heart sank. “No, I suppose they don’t. But the purpose is-”

“Gold’s quite common in the Nether, you know.” He continued, as if Jimmy hadn’t spoken. ��In very small bits, but it’s everywhere. It’s more of a time investment. If you spend the time, you’ll have enough, eventually.” His gaze downcast. “But time is money, as they say.”

The little metal bird thunked against the table, muffled by the weepweave between them. Tango’s chest heaved as he tried to keep himself calm, and Jimmy wanted nothing more than to get up and go to his side to comfort him.

When Tango’s breath had evened out again he continued. “There was a moment, back with Brody, when we went out to the market together. We’d had nothing but stale bread and stolen eggs for a whole week. But we finally had thirty-four copper between us. That was the first time I was able to purchase everything on my own without messing up my words. At least, not bad enough that I was looked at funny or told to repeat myself. I thought, ‘This is it. I worked hard, I can speak the language, I can finally get a real job here.’ I was a real stupid kid.” His face twisted as his fists clenched the hem of his shirt, tail waving wildly beside him. “Guess I’m still stupid, cause I kept telling myself that until there was nowhere else to go. Doesn’t matter what words I say, or what continent I’m on, I’m still just some netherborn in rags. I can’t find a way to be more than that.”

Tango threw his hands out wide. “This is literally the peak of my life. I can’t-”

The blazeborn choked. Jimmy jumped out of his chair to Tango’s side in an instant, tucking the bird back into his breast pocket to free his hands to hold his companion. “Oh, Tango.” He tried desperately to soothe.

“I could see it, y’know. Last time you opened that vault, it looked like less.” Smoke billowed out like breath on a cold day, small sparks living for a fraction of a second within them. “And you’re here, working with the nicest material I’ve ever owned, and I shouldn’t own it. You shouldn’t have bought it. You shouldn’t be working on this instead of Katherine’s tea dress, or Mumbo’s coat. And I-” His hand shot out with desperation, ripping the bird out of Jimmy’s pocket and shoving it in both their faces. “-I shouldn’t be making prototypes for something I’m. Never. Going to get to make! I let myself get stupid ideas again, and dragged you down with me.”

Blazeborn couldn’t cry. Perhaps that was why they produced smoke, so that those around them could cry for them. Jimmy certainly was, clutching tightly to Tango for dear life as he tried to put together anything he could say. Minutes past, however long Tango needed to pull himself back together.

“Sorry.” He sniffled, to which Jimmy shook his head. Because he understood. Everyone in Tumble Town did. Not for taking the same road, but for winding up in the same place. Somewhere where problems didn’t go away, but they didn’t seem as big.

Jimmy glanced back over at the fabrics, all the shapes perfectly traced out for another well-fitted suit. He buried his cheek into Tango’s warmed hair, cooing comfortingly. Whatever bit of help Tango was willing to take, he’d make the most of it.

“How does it feel?”

Tango stepped back, turning in the mirror as he examined the vest. The last piece of his first outfit. He did a spin, tail training after him hotter than usual. No cloth caught aflame. He smiled bashfully over to Jimmy. “Feels good. Feels fancy. I’m scared people might start mistaking me for Scar’s assistant.”

Jimmy muffled his laugh against his sleeve, though the bell drowned it out for him in the end. “Why, what would scare you about that! It’d be a great compliment to be my assistant!” The man of the hour declared, clacking his cane against the floor for emphasis. A strange little noise escaped Tango in response.

“Good afternoon, Scar.” Jimmy greeted, unable to hide his amusement. “We were just finishing up, doesn’t Tango look handsome?”

Scar hummed and pulled his top hat down to his chest. “Why I’d say he is absolutely dashing! You’ll have every little canary in town swooning.”

Both men turned pink. Jimmy took advantage of his closer proximity to their menace to smack him across the shoulder. “Hush!”

“I’m terribly sorry, Timothy, but I’m afraid I cannot!” Scar announced dramatically, producing papers from within his coat. There was a paused in his theatrics, during which he sent Jimmy a wink that straightened the avian’s spine. “I, in fact, came to speak to you Tango. There’s a job I need your assistance with.”

Tango’s tail twitched, “Oh yeah? What’s the job?”

“A bit of work we’re doing with the Luxo Company. Fwhip informs me you were quite the handyman in the mines, and there are some drafts for the new rail line and station that need an extra hand in drawing up.”

“Uh, sure, but,” Tango glanced awkwardly between Jimmy and Scar. “I mean I’ll be glad to help but I would have thought you’d ask Mumbo.”

Scar waved dismissively. “Oh, Mumbo is off on one of his cycling trips right now, he won’t be back for a few months at least! And this needs to be done now. It’ll be a couple weeks’ work once the materials are delivered.”

Anxiousness vibrated through Tango’s tail, “No offense Scar, but it is you. What’s the catch?”

“No catch! Just some honest work that needs doing, and not a lot of qualified individuals in this one-horse town. Good pay, too.”

Tango finally threw his hands up in surrender. “I mean if you’re okay with it. I’m not exactly qualificated myself, I learned this stuff hands on, on the job.”

“That just means you have experience!”

“Alright, Scar. You got a deal.”

“Great, great!” The papers were placed down on Jimmy’s desk. “I’ll come by and grab you in a few days if Jimmy’ll be willing to let go.”

Jimmy scoffed. “Excuse you.”

“Excusing myself!” He agreed, rushing out the door. “Have a good day, fellas!”

“That man, honestly.” Huffed Jimmy, shaking his feathers flat. Tango didn’t reply, scanning the papers with his nose scrunched up. He peered over the shorter man’s shoulder. “Do you need help?”

Tango jumped. “Huh? Oh, no, it’s just. My name’s on here?”

“Pardon?”

“My name’s in the contract.” He repeated, holding up the page. Indeed, among the many printed letters instead of something neutral it specified ‘Mr. Tek’.

It took everything Jimmy had not to audibly groan. “I suppose he had faith in you.”

“Yeah…” Muttered Tango distractedly. He shrugged and put down the papers.

Tango spent much of the next two weeks off somewhere with Scar for most of the afternoon. Scar couldn’t work very long but they did the best they could with what time they had. Before and afterwards Tango would take other jobs, no matter how much Jimmy told him he didn’t have to. Catalogues were easy to find and he’d calculated what he owed Jimmy on his own. Some questionably true assurances convinced him to lower it at least a bit, to about half of what Jimmy might normally price his work at. Still, he was determined to pay.

At least Scar’s job took a good bit of the burden off. It was paid for by the Luxo Company who’d trusted Scar’s scouting. They didn’t need to be informed the details of the individual he scouted, so long as the plans were good. And Jimmy had all the trust in the world that Tango would make good plans.

More importantly, when he returned home in the evening he didn’t look like walking misery. Dead on his feet, sure, falling asleep in his dinner, but not defeated like he had the previous few weeks, which a horrified Jimmy had only realized after how familiar he’d become with it.

He was nearly done paying for the second set of clothes when they were done. The silhouette was looser, perhaps not as fashionable, but Jimmy could tell Tango was more comfortable. It was more like what he enjoyed wearing.

Tango had his hands shoved into the pockets, swaying back and forth in the mirror with a wide grin. “My gods, he’s done it again.” He declared, tilting his head to look at Jimmy.

“Stop it.” murmured the avian, swatting at the man with his wing. A raspy giggle was his response.

“Have you ever made this many clothes for one person in such a short time?”

Jimmy smiled, reaching out to adjust Tango’s skewed collar. “Can’t say I have… Tango?”

“Hm?”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask about your last outfit.”

This got a curious glance. Flexing his wings nervously, Jimmy ushered them over to his desk. Ensuring Tango was paying attention first he pulled out a pattern, one he’d only finished piecing together the night before. He rolled it out. Tango’s eyes went wide. “This…”

“I wanted- is it too much?” He worried. “Or, wrong, maybe. I had to make some choices. I can use another pattern if you’d prefer. I’d understand.”

Tango’s hand was pressed the pattern. He looked back up to Jimmy, eyes round and disbelieving, before they softened. “No, this is good.” He said, almost too quiet for Jimmy to hear. “Jim… This is good.”

Warmth fluttered in Jimmy’s chest as relief washed over him. “I’m glad.”

But Tango sighed. “Jimmy, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

Jimmy knew. It was something he was waiting to happen for the last few days. So, he sat down at his desk, took a deep breath, and said, “Okay. What is it?”

“Scar’s job will be done this week. I’ll get my last pay the day after.”

“Yes.”

Tango looked away. “It’ll be more than enough with my other jobs to finish paying for this before it’s done.”

“And you’ve been saving some for yourself?” Jimmy asked, though he already knew. Some part of him wanted Tango to say it just so he was sure.

Tango did just that. “Yeah, just a bit. Enough.”

Enough. “For what?”

A bristled tuft wrapped around Jimmy’s leg. Jimmy reached out to lay his hand over Tango’s, nudging him to continue. “Scar says they’re looking to build some new infrastructure for the railway. New engines, new machines to build those engines. That sorta thing. They got a lot of new jobs opening up ‘cause of it. He thinks with my work for them so far I got a shot above the rest. At the very least they can put in a good word for me somewhere else. But-”

“But none of that work is here.” Jimmy concluded, willing his heart not to give. He tried to smile.

Tango winced back, “Yeah.”

He took a deep breath. “I understand.” His voice cracked anyways.

Arms wrapped around his shoulders, and as he choked back the first sob, he couldn’t help think about how ridiculous this all was. It’d not even been four months since they first met, not five before they would part ways. He’d patently refused Tango at several points just to avoid being like his thoughtless brother, yet here he was anyways. There was a blooming of relief through his chest that contradicted everything else, from the thought that this could possibly be it for Tango. Jimmy couldn’t help him, but someone else could, and more importantly would.

He’d only received news he already knew was coming, yet it all seemed too much.

“Sorry.” He hiccuped, wiping his wrist over his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m happy for you, I promise.”

Tango’s arms tightened around his shoulders, a soft hum vibrating through Jimmy as his head rested into Tango’s throat. Somewhere he’d heard that cats purred when they were hurt as well as happy, to do with comfort instead of contentment, and he wondered in that moment if blazeborn were the same. “I know.” Tango said, his own voice breaking. “I know.”

The last outfit took Jimmy the longest, long enough for confirmations to happen and Tango to finish preparations to leave. It wasn’t that Jimmy was putting it off, if anything he’d worked so diligently. Others in town were accommodating, happy to accept that their orders would be put off for a while. The pattern and even some techniques were completely new to Jimmy, things he’d never tried. He was no grand artist making the next biggest trend or a high end dressmaker creating something everyone would talk about for weeks to come. He was a simple tailor for a small town in the middle of the frontier, who specialized in accommodating those that did not fit the mould. Maybe, by that description, there was something he could have been doing that he completely overlooked.

A very particular feeling overwhelmed the avian as Tango stepped out of the changing curtain. Like seeing the world’s most beautiful painting jump to life, filled with colours and textures and shadows that seemed too rich for reality. In a sense that was exactly what happened. Loose crimsons and warm grays draped down the man’s form, shaped as Jimmy had only seen in photos until now, no need for modifications for any part of the man.

It looked good on Tango. It looked really good. It was perfect for him, more than just the right colours could ever be. He’d never worn clothes so comfortably before or seemed so assured that he was wearing something unquestionably his. There were alterations, from where Jimmy could not figure out the way to recreate certain things, or where decorations had to be compromised for material’s sake, or where Tango had given input for his own preferences and insights. In front of Jimmy was a netherborn, and the most beautiful man Jimmy had the pleasure to meet.

“How’s it look?” Tango asked, though Jimmy didn’t think he needed to say anything from the smug grin on his face.

Jimmy was still too stunned to come up with something clever. “You’re perfect.” He said a bit breathlessly.

That seemed to knock the man out of his element a bit, smirk shrinking to something a bit shy that matched his reddening cheeks. His tail curled around his ankle before twisting back out. “Then, maybe I should wear it out today.”

“I thought you’d already planned your outfit for today?” Jimmy laughed while Tango bounced up to his side.

“I’ll wear it tomorrow.” He snickered, running a hand over the weepweave. “Can’t not show off my little birdy’s gorgeous work, now, can I?”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Tango, all your clothes are my work.”

“True. Maybe I should wear them all every day.”

“You’re going to have to do a lot more laundry if you try.”

“True, true.” He sighed, but continued to smile.

Jimmy smiled right back. “Oh,” He suddenly realized, looking around his workshop. “There was, um, there’s one more thing.”

Tango watched him curiously as he ran over to one of his drawers, one he knew Tango never used himself. There it was. Nervous energy ran through his wings. He approached Tango slowly, hands behind his back. “If you would, I was hoping I could trust you with this.” Gathering his nerves, he held out his hands, delicately folded fingers unwrapping from around a bright yellow feather, as perfectly preened as he could manage. Wrapped around the base was nothing as nice as the bird Tango had made, a simple gold chain attached to a series of metal beads which held the feather in place. Tango stared down in wonder, carefully accepting the feather into his own hands while anxiety prickled down Jimmy’s wings.

Clawed finger rose up to Jimmy’s cheek. He leaned into it as they ran themselves through the feathers around his ear. For a moment Jimmy closed his eyes and basked in the warmth radiating from the man. “You’ll come visit now and then, won’t you?” He asked. Pleaded.

When he opened his eyes Tango eyes were warmer than he’d ever seen. “I’ll come back.” He promised instead, far more than Jimmy cared hope for in the days leading up to his departure. Tango’s hand fell away, instead resting over Jimmy’s breast pocket, the metal bird tucked within pressing into his palm and Jimmy’s heart. “Could you… Would you hold onto that? Until I do? Until I come back with a proper one?”

“This is the proper one.” He chuckled, placing his own hand over Tango’s. “But, if you insist, then of course.”

“Then I’ll take good care of your feather, and the clothes you made me.” Tango said, a determined spark flying from his tail. Jimmy grinned.

“Please do.”

#team rancher #solidaritek #rancher duo #trafficshipping #hermitshipping #tangotek #jimmy solidarity #goodtimeswithscar #traffic series #mcyt #fanfiction #fanfic #western fantasy #alternate universe #hurt/comfort #sharing a slice of cake

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chirimichi · 2 years

Text

canaries

“People say I’m a bad omen.” Jimmy whispers to Tango, as they lay side by side on their bed, and there was a pause. It was small and nervous, almost sounding like Jimmy didn’t want him to hear it.

“Why?”

Beside him, he can feel Jimmy tense, wings flaring up slightly.

“I have canary wings and well…” He answers after a long pause. At this point, Tango had sat up on the bed, looking down at Jimmy. “Y’know, canary in the coal mine and all that. I bring death wherever I go.”

Jimmy avoids his gaze like he was expecting him to get mad, to stand up and leave him alone in the dust. Jimmy is scared. Tango can feel a dull ache in his chest.

“Well, I think I’m the canary in our situation.” He says casually, watching Jimmy’s eyes widen. Tango laughs. Jimmy is sputtering incoherent words now, confusion and surprise evident in his face. Tango laughs harder.

“W-why? How?” Jimmy asks eventually, sitting up to face Tango. He looks so disbelieving that it’s almost sad. Tango leans his head against the wall.

“I was the one who got you killed.”

“But you died because you were paired with me!”

“I died because I went mining unprepared. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I’ve done nothing but be unlucky.” Jimmy murmurs.

“That’s not true.” Tango says softly. “You’ve been so helpful, Jimmy. You brought home multiple cows, brought home lots of good stuff, and you have good strategies. Meanwhile, I just found a few chickens.”

Jimmy shakes his head with a snort. “I wouldn’t say begging is a ‘good’ strategy. Also, you built us a house, Mr-Not-a-Builder.”

Tango grins at him. “Yeah yeah. Anyway, see? You’re no bad omen.”

“Mhm…” Jimmy hums, still unsure. “But, what if you go to red quickly because of me?”

“But,” Tango holds Jimmy’s hand, rubbing small circles on the back of his hand. “What if I was the one who made you go red? Nobody said there can’t be two bad omens. We can be canaries together!‘

“I-‘ Jimmy lets out a surprised laugh, lightly punching Tango on his shoulder. “Tango!”

The blaze hybrid grins, pulling Jimmy to his chest so he can rest his head on his soulmate’s curls. Jimmy huffs and rests his head on Tango’s chest. The silence is comfortable, Tango thinks, with Jimmy resting on his chest, both of them focusing on their shared pulse until they fall asleep.

#the ending is lacking because my brain is lackign rn #double life smp spoilers #double life smp #dlsmp #dlsmp spoilers #jimmy solidarity #solidarity gaming #tango tek #trafficshipping #dlshipping #chiri writes

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mossfeathers · 1 month

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Thanks again for responding and sharing. I'm glad these asks make you happy ^^

(You don't have to look further into Harvest Moon but If you do look for a lets play of sorts or something Harvest Moon DS/DS Cute & Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town (Gameboy) are the ones that from my knowledge look the most visually similar to Stardew Valley. But Harvest Moon Animal Parade takes place in a coastal/island-like town.)

The dynamics seem like they'll be really fun! It was also nice to hear the reasoning behind it all. You've put a lot of thought into how they interact. I'm excited for future scenarios ^^ I really enjoyed reading all of it. Also thanks for talking about them as siblings. You don't have to apologize for not answering tho, you can always not answer, I'll understand.

Addionally, I think it's really cool how the lionfish worked out ^^

Okay so for BigB's tail, I wanted to give proper ideas, I only came up with three sorta suggestions so I’ll also share my thought process a bit so that maybe that instead will help you further decide what you do or don’t want. So my first thought was a shark. I’m not entirely sure that’s, like, equivalent to Scar being a lionfish but I think that the reason I considered the idea is that sharks can be dangerous but, like, also they’re not as dangerous to humans as they're portrayed? Ya know what I mean, like I think it’s gotten better but like they were more feared than need be. Like I’m struggling with the words but do you get what I’m saying and the correlation? Idk. If not that's okay. I wasn’t really sure about sharks anyway. Next,

I searched for fish that burrowed. And I did this because I was thinking about why canary!BigB and rabbit!BigB exist and if I recall correctly him being in the mines/underground alot were overlapping points. (I woulda considered satyr!BigB but I know nothing about that. And thinking about it now dogs like to dig too and sometimes he’s got dog ears because double life so I think this is an okay hole I went down). I’m too indecisive and picky and wasn't sure what kind of fish you'd like though so I only have three fish to present to you as options so hopefully if none of these strike a chord with you. This whole thing helps somehow:

1, The Bonnethead Shark. Yea I found a shark that burrows. So even though I wasn’t entirely sure about sharks and I gave up on finding small sharks, I thought I’d share this one. Besides sharks are cool even if many fear them & Jimmy & Grian come to think BigB's cool right? So maybe that lines up?

(Also did you know that sharks used to be called "sea dogs" and that there is a Dogfish Shark, I didn't do much research so I can't give it as a suggestion but I just looked it up while typing this so I thought I'd mention it.)

2, The Yellow Headed Jawfish, this fish was honestly just too pretty for me not to recommend. It’s got a bit of blue in its fins (and that’s really all I can give you on blue fish). Plus on a site that sells fish they were described as “playful and like to people watch” so I thought it might be fitting. Note though, if you look up this fish, you might come across images of it carrying lots of eggs in its mouth. That’s something they do, carry their eggs in their mouth. I did see a term for it but I forgot what it was. But if that’s gonna be too disturbing you might wanna be cautious(wasn't the first few images when I looked it up) or maybe not look it up just in case. But it is really pretty in my opinion if you do.

And lastly there's the Southern Stargazer. I guess it is considered an ugly fish so heads up on that? Personally, I do think looking at a close up of it's face while it's buried can be a bit spooky but also I think otherwise it's a bit fun to look at & its tail is neat. And it turns out they're also venomous, not enough to kill, but it's still painful, can cause swelling and induce shock. ("also" because Scar's a lionfish)

Speaking of, this fish is the closest one I found in terms of size to Lionfish not sure that matters to you but yea

I did attempt looking for, like, actually blue fish but like the Cichlid is a freshwater fish and Idk if it's a funny or cruel irony to suggest a damselfish when they are actually seen as food to lionfish if in a tank together. Especially when I don't know if it's true for all damselfish or just the yellow tailed ones. (Plus they don't do great in solitude which kept being a thing for blue fish but I think I mainly found, like, river fish.) But I guess this difficulty is probably part of the reason you said it didn't have to be a blue fish lol

Thanks for sharing what you do have so far for the side characters :3 Question: For the pub, does it include the arcade area and/or would the stage be in that general area?

Also it seems like a cool idea to include more creatures. Besides the spirits are there any you're thinking of but haven't decided who it could be? Or alternatively, any others you think you'd want to be something supernatural but haven't decided what yet?

And if it's not too much to ask, do you think that on an events timeline the potential Pearl arc would be closer to the beginning or further down the line.

And yea it's totally fine for you to leave it in the ask box, I'm glad you find it's something you'd want to look back at at all ^^ Thank you for your time and thanks again for sharing your thoughts/ideas.

anon i love you so much. genuinely you are the BEST. im so sorry for letting this rot in the inbox for so long, i both forgot about it and just didn't even know how to respond since this is so good (and also wanted to get some more polished drawings of all 3 possible fish, but my motivation just wasn't having it so just a couple doodles im sorry). genuinely so sorry about how long this took, time just got away from me.

I absolutely LOVE your idea for bigb as a shark, when I first read that I think I genuinely yelled out in excitement. You're a GENIUS. That's such a good idea, I really enjoy it and you got your point across well! I love canary/rabbit!bigb (my design for him is a bunny so this is RIGHT up my alley) and I love the idea of a burrowing fish and bonnethead shark is absolutely GENIUS. He was really fun to draw too!! Thank you SO much for the suggestion! I think I want a scaled fish design, though, but I still appreciate this one so much since it was SUCH an interesting idea. Sharks are sea puppies, dogs dig, rabbits also dig, so burrowing. Very logical line of thought from me.

Oh this guy is GORGEOUS!!!!! So pretty and so lovely. I think fish and the ocean is so cool so I thought the egg carrying is actually so fascinating so don't worry, both of the little warnings you gave about weird fish weren't necessary fish are awesome and cool forever. I don't know what to say, just a very pretty fish and fun to draw!!

The stargazer is SO HANDSOME!!! I can't believe its considered ugly :( I love that little connection to Scar's lionfish-ness, this is such a cool fish (the fins are gorgeous)

Thank you SO much for the fish suggestions! I really liked the yellow headed jawfish, the colors were just so gorgeous, so I think i'm gonna go with that one! Genuinely can't thank you enough for this, I was losing my mind over that.

Answering questions time! Here's a little doodle of what the saloon looks like! (names still pending but probably something moon or dogwarts related) Theres a kitchen and backstage area somewhere but that doesnt matter right now :)

Man, I had one draft of this response where I had everything written out for other creatures but my computer restarted and didn't save it but I will try my best to write it out again!

I like the idea of fae or some kind of land-based creature, but I feel like fae are a really complex species and just in general such a large world to also incorporate if I do go for any land-based creatures, so I don't think I will sadly. Trying to think about this in terms of how I would tell the story in an actual piece of writing instead of these posts of loads of exposition, yknow? So, final verdict, no cool land creatures (except maybe werewolf because i am a sucker for some rendog werewolf fun) . I love avian stuff though so a very high likelihood of birds coming into play in at least some form? Birds are just so cool to me. Also, there are probably gonna be a decent variety in sea creature species! Like there are sirens, standard merfolk, and selkies so far but if I can think of another type of sea creature then i'll probably add them in. On the topic of sea creatures, an updated list on all the merfolk! (also if you want to see some other hermit mermaids, or mermits, check out jalo-parker's art from the past few weeks! we thought up some fish designs just for his own use and they're really cute, and if some of the humans were mermaids they would 100% be those) Scar lionfish, Bigb yellowheaded jawfish, Bub whale shark, Cleo sea nettle jellyfish, Etho AND Bdubs selkies, Joe Hills leaf sheep nudibranch, and even though Martyn is a human if he was a mermaid he would be a mimic octopus! These aren't all of the merfolk, they're just the ones i've decided on and assigned a fish (or selkie) to :)

Also don't worry! I actually already have a barebones timeline for what I think is going to happen with the plot points I know so far! Jimmy and Grian move, hang out for like 4 days, then the whole siren plotline starts and ends, since everyone is now happy they have a good few months of just bonding with the merfolk and the townsfolk which I can't wait to think about more, then Pearl's whole arc starts! I think that's the natural progression of the plot as the stakes in Pearl's arc is the actual apocalypse bringing the end of the universe which is just a little bit more intense. I don't know a whole lot of the details about that quite yet though.

Thank you so much for the ask again! I genuinely can't apologize enough for how long this took to answer, and I hope it doesn't discourage you from sending another one in. I absolutely love seeing your opinions and ideas :) Thanks for listening to my rambling about my ideas again :D

#moss ask answers #sweethearts siren au #might change that tag eventually but I would need a cool name #bigb #gtws #grian #solidaritygaming #bigb fanart

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silksong-when · 9 months

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Hey, I saw your tags on my post. If you don’t want to talk about it/share it, you can ignore this, I won’t mind! But if you’re willing, I’d like to hear about that ZITS and Team Rancher modern vampire AU. It’s sounds very interesting!

The AU I’m making is actually also a tiny au, sort of. I have Jimmy as a little canary hybrid and him meeting some nice humans (ZITS) and then falling in love with Tango. It’s angsty in the beginning but soon it gets very fluffy and cute. idk if you’d be interested in that, but maybe.

I posted some art of it once, and I’m planning on posting more and writing for it, so if you’re interested I could keep you updated!

Anyway, I hope you’re having a good day and if you’re willing, I’d really like to hear about your au idea. Have a good day!!

- @cupcake-complains

oh dude!! i am so happy to get this ask <3

unfortunately all of the Thoughts i have about the college au are horrible, disorganized, and only in my brain so. here is my best attempt at writing them out :D

relationships: tango/zedaph/impulse, tango/jimmy, jimmy/Scott, queerplatonic Scott & tango. sorry i am a sucker for polyamory <3 (shoutout to my sibling, who called this “the au where tango has a harem” 😭😭)

Tango is a blaze hybrid and a vampire

impulse is [havent decided race, probably human] and vampire. tango’s childhood bestie. as in, since young vampires arent that common, their parents were like omg they have so much in common they should be besties

zedaph is a sheep hybrid bc of course he is <3

i have some uuuhhhh vampire worldbuilding that is integral to understanding the au so here is a discord screenshot where my long-suffering friends had to hear me go insane over this au (i cry because i am not on browser rn and cannot add images easily, will edit this later)

jimmy is a canary hybrid and has anemia, he got paired with tango as a blood buddy <3 He comes into the story a bit later, when tango & co are in college

Scott is jimmy’s boyfriend thumbs up emoji (i have nothing else to say hes not that important to the story KDJFJD)

yeah this au is mainly just the bros hanging out. plot what plot. i just rotate them in my head 24/7 and that is all <3

ANYWAYS i am super duper happy that you’re interested in my au!! I’d love to see some more of your au as well :D

i hope you have a good day as well (and I’d like you to know that your ask made my dad 100x better)!!

:]]]

#my stuff #hc tag #<- hermitcraf tag not headcanon tag just to be clear LMAO #honestly this blog is like 99.9% reblogs i have never used the “my stuff” tag Ever

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storytellerofuntoldlegends · 2 years

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when you break the surface: ch 2

A/N: so uh. this chapter is a lot, we go from 0 to 100 real quick in this au aksdfkl (oh also i figured i’d make this clear: the canary!jimmy concept was started by @vyeoh! no one has said anything thinking that the idea was mine, but i thought i should make that clarification just to be sure!)

Warnings: banter, canonical character death, mild violence

AO3 Link - Tumblr Masterpost

Having wings felt both like the most natural thing in the world and yet the oddest thing. Preening had to be adopted into Jimmy’s daily routine now, and that was getting irritating really quick. How could there be so much stuff in his feathers all the time?! However, flying was becoming something he was constantly yearning for, and something that just felt truly right. Well… it would be if he could ever get up off of the ground. He could glide with no problem when he jumped down from the edge of cliffs, mountains, and hills. But flying, actually flying? Jimmy could barely get up in the air for more than a moment. He hadn’t quite built up enough muscle strength in his wings yet for that. Grian said that would come eventually the more he glided, but Jimmy wasn’t exactly the most patient man in the world. And said lack of patience was causing Grian’s own patience to wear thin.

“Tim, how do you feel about a little adventure to stretch your wings?” Grian said suddenly, after watching Jimmy fail to get himself barely a foot off the ground for what was probably the millionth time.

“Wait, really?” Jimmy asked, unable to keep his wings from fluttering excitedly. That was another thing Jimmy had noticed about his wings- they seemed to respond to his emotions. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed it with Grian before, but the way someone held their wings said a lot about what they were feeling. And Jimmy’s wings seemed far more expressive than Grian’s- but maybe Grian was just better at keeping those instinctual movements at bay.

“Yeah, Joel and I have been meaning to loot a woodland mansion I found anyway. I guess you could tag along too,” Grian said with a shrug.

“I’d be happy to! I don’t really have the gear for mansion raiding though,” Jimmy replied with a frown.

“I’m sure I’ve got some spare stuff you can borrow, c’mon,” Grian said, gesturing for Jimmy to follow him back to his base. He did indeed have some gear for Jimmy to use, including a special made chestplate that would fit around his wings. Grian said he didn’t like wearing it because he felt like it weighed him down, but seeing as Jimmy wasn’t really getting off the ground anyway, it couldn’t hurt.

After gathering up all the tools and gear they needed, Jimmy and Grian made the journey over to Joel’s base. Fortunately it wasn’t too far, and soon enough they stood in the fields near Joel’s base, waiting for him to show up. Jimmy frowned. Grian told Joel that they were coming, right? But Jimmy didn’t see any sign of him, where was he?

“Nice wings Jim!” Joel’s voice shouted near his ear. Jimmy nearly jumped out of his skin, leaping into the air with a startled chirp. Jimmy’s hand slammed over his mouth as he gently descended to the ground again. He chirped. He honest to goodness chirped like a bird. Grian and Joel seemed just as surprised as Jimmy was, but something teasing was quickly creeping into Joel’s expression.

“Joel-” Jimmy started, but was quickly cut off.

“Jimmy, how long have you been a canary,” Joel crowed, breaking down into raucous laughter.

“I’m not a canary!” Jimmy protested, feathers fluffing up in irritation.

“Whatever you say, Tweety Bird,” Grian chimed in with a laugh.

“Stop iiiit,” Jimmy whined. Grian and Joel continued to laugh, and Jimmy felt his face burn in embarrassment. Thankfully, their laughter petered out soon enough.

“Seriously though Jim, how long have you had wings for? Don’t exactly remember that from worlds we’ve been on together,” Joel said after his laughter subsided.

“They just sorta grew a few days ago. Grian’s been teaching me how to fly,” Jimmy said, wings shifting a bit self-consciously.

“Oh? And how’s that been going?” Joel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It hasn’t,” Jimmy admitted. Joel let out a bark of laughter, and Jimmy couldn’t help but join in this time around. Grian shook his head fondly before turning to Joel with a more serious expression.

“To get to why we’re actually here, you remember that woodland mansion I told you about?” Grian asked. Joel blinked in apparent surprise.

“Oh! Yeah, are we doing that now? With Jimmy?” he asked, sounding a bit skeptical. A sharp, mischievous smile came to Grian’s face, and Jimmy didn’t like that one bit.

“Well of course we’ll bring Timmy- we need the extra hand without Scar here,” Grian said, clapping his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder with an expression directed at Joel that Jimmy couldn’t quite decipher. It was like Grian and Joel had some sort of unspoken communication between them, because understanding dawned on Joel’s face before his face broke into a cunning grin.

“Oh, of course! Yeah, I’m ready to go now,” Joel replied with a slight laugh.

“Good! I think it’d be a nice surprise if we got some totems for Scar, and it would be handy for us too if we’re in a pinch,” Grian said, all strange cunning and mischievousness gone from his tone, genuine kindness and thoughtfulness replacing it. Jimmy wasn’t quite sure what to make of that sudden shift, and he resisted the urge to sigh out loud. It looked like he would have to keep an eye out for any shenanigans from Grian and Joel.

The journey to the mansion was long and arduous, and filled with plenty of teasing and heckling from Grian and Joel. Including both of them at one point flying high above Jimmy, who was stuck on the ground. Which wasn’t fair at all- Joel was cheating, he had an elytra. But eventually they made it to the mansion, and then Grian and Joel insisted that Jimmy go in first. Jimmy got the distinct feeling he was being used as cannon fodder- that earlier unspoken conversation those two had was beginning to make a lot more sense. Which hurt, but not for the reason one might think. He wasn’t hurt that his friends seemingly cared so little for his safety, but rather that his friends didn’t see that he was perfectly willing to rush in first if that meant keeping them safe.

But then Jimmy couldn’t even do that. Grian got cocky on the final floor of the mansion and rushed ahead- and heck, Jimmy was feeling a bit cocky too. He didn’t really think anything of Grian rushing ahead… until he saw her at the end of the hallway. A woman cloaked in shadow with the void clinging to her robes, crows scattered around her. She wore a wide brimmed hat with a veil shielding her eyes, but Jimmy could still see the sad smile on her face- gentle, serene, and regretful.

Jimmy blinked and the woman was gone, and instead all he could see was a vindicator running at Grian’s turned back. There wasn’t time to shout out a warning- Joel only managed to scream Grian’s name before the vindicator’s axe hit home and Grian crumbled to ash. Jimmy bolted forward on instinct, cutting the vindicator down. But several more vindicators were waiting around the corner, and suddenly Joel’s hand was on his shoulder, steering him away.

“We have to run!” he said urgently, picking off a few vindicators with his bow before he and Jimmy scrambled down the stairs. Jimmy risked a glance behind him, noticing that the vindicators were very much still on their tail.

“They’re still there, they’re still coming!” Jimmy shouted, pushing Joel ahead of him more so he could shoot a few down as well. As soon as they got to a safer spot, Joel fell to his knees, trembling. Jimmy immediately knelt beside him, frantically checking for injuries- and was relieved to discover he was mostly unharmed, just a few scratches.

“Grian…” he got out shakily.

“How did that happen, they only hit him once- and there was that woman there…” Jimmy rambled, feeling strangely numb. Joel’s head shot up at the mention of the woman, looking at Jimmy with a perplexed expression.

“Woman? What woman?” Joel asked. Jimmy blinked at him incredulously.

“The shadowy lady, with all the crows. She showed up at the end of the hall, then vanished just before that vindicator showed up,” Jimmy said with disbelief. Joel blinked at him incomprehensibly, then reached out to gently grab Jimmy’s arms in an action that was probably meant to be comforting or grounding.

“Jimmy… the only ones that were there were me, you, Grian, and those vindicators,” Joel said slowly. Jimmy jerked out of Joel’s hold slightly.

“Joel, I know what I saw. She was all dressed in black, she had a veiled hat- and she was smiling. But it was sad though, like she knew what was going to happen,” Jimmy said, voice coming out desperate and pleading. Joel just looked at Jimmy sadly, brows furrowed as he shook his head.

“Look, I didn’t see anything. Maybe the stress got to you, or maybe the stress got to me. But the only thing on my mind right now is killing the rest of those vindicators, and burning this place to the ground,” Joel said firmly, anger setting his eyes aflame. And well? Disagreement on the shadowy woman aside, Jimmy could definitely get behind Joel’s plan.

The journey back to Joel’s base after burning the mansion was largely silent. Neither of them seemed to know what to say, any line of conversation felt like it would only lead to what happened, and the teasing banter didn’t feel quite right with someone missing. At least Joel let Jimmy stay at his base for the night, and didn’t make him walk home to his little shack in the daisy field.

Jimmy took off his loaned armor, heart clenching at the chestplate. If Grian had been wearing it instead of Jimmy, would he be alive right now? He shoved the armor into a chest with a heavy sigh before all but collapsing onto the edge of the spare bed Joel loaned him. His feathers were itching something awful, practically twitching with the need to be preened. He wasn’t feeling the energy to, but he should probably preen before he went to sleep. Otherwise he would just feel worse when he woke up. With another sigh, he began to pick through his feathers with slightly trembling hands, aligning barbules and getting rid of specks of dirt and ash from the burning mansion. He was vaguely aware of Joel watching him from across the room, as well as the sympathetic look Joel gave him when Jimmy struggled to reach some parts of his wings. Eventually Jimmy gave up on those parts, wings drooping with a sigh. Some preening was better than none at all, he guessed.

“Grian used to help me with those bits. Every time he did it, he said it would be the ‘last time’ he did that for me,” Jimmy said in response to Joel’s questioning stare. Joel slowly made his way over to Jimmy and carefully sat next to him, as if Jimmy was some wild creature that would bolt at the slightest movement.

“I could… help, if you wanted? It’s just aligning feathers, right?” Joel asked softly. Jimmy turned to finally meet Joel’s eyes with a surprised expression.

“I mean… it’s a little more than that, you gotta get out dirt and stuff too- there’s been a lot of ash from the fire in my wings… but I would appreciate the help,” Jimmy replied, shyly stretching out a wing so that Joel could reach it. Joel just hummed in response, and set to work on the parts that Jimmy couldn’t quite reach. His hands were clumsy, clumsier than Jimmy was at preening, but did the job alright. In fact, Jimmy had to stop himself from nodding off due to the soothing movements by the time Joel made it to his other wing. And sooner than Jimmy would’ve liked, Joel removed his hands from his feathers.

“There. It looks, uh, better?” Joel said uncertainly. A humorless laugh escaped Jimmy’s lips.

“Not exactly filling me with confidence there,” he said dryly.

“You’re right, I’ve got your feathers going all the wrong ways on purpose,” Joel joked, trying to make the tense air lighter but failing miserably. Jimmy laughed anyway, turning to Joel with a grateful smile.

“Seriously though, thank you. I’ll get the hang of preening them by myself eventually… but it’s nice to have the help,” Jimmy said softly. Joel gave a weak smile back, patting Jimmy on the shoulder before getting up.

“You’re welcome. Just… get some rest, okay?” Joel said with gentle insistence. Jimmy huffed out a laugh.

“You too. It’s… today’s been a lot,” he said with a sigh. Joel didn’t say anything, just nodded grimly before he headed to his bed. Jimmy got beneath the covers of his own bed, shifting a bit until he got comfortable, wings wrapping around himself slightly. He closed his eyes, and tried to get to sleep.

When the sun came up, neither Joel nor Jimmy had slept a wink.

general mcyt fic taglist: @corazon10000 @damiensaidno @franticfandomfanatic @gattonero17 @hetapeep41 @meowdy-pickles @space-ace123 @vyeoh

#mcyt #100hrs #jimmy solidarity #grian #joel smallishbeans #mumza #canary!jimmy au #sage writes

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tcm · 3 years

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Something New Has Been Added: Inside Tex Avery’s Madcap Animated Universe By Donald Liebenson

“The secret in animating is first to have an everlasting sense of humor, next to be able to see the commonplace in a funny way and most important of all, to be able to sketch your idea so that the other person will think it's funny."—Tex Avery, The Dallas Morning News, 1933

At the start of Fred “Tex” Avery’s RED HOT RIDING HOOD (‘43), the Wolf, Red Riding Hood and even Grandma rebel against a traditional rendering of the classic fairy tale and threaten to quit the cartoon right then and there. “Every cartoon studio in Hollywood has done it this way,” Red complains. “I’m pretty sick of it myself,” Grandma chimes in. And just like that, something new had been added, with a cat-calling, zoot-suit-bedecked Wolf cruising Hollywood Blvd.; Red Hot Riding Hood (aka that Sweetheart of Swing) knockin’ ‘em dead at a Hollywood night club; and a slang-slinging Grandma (“Hiya cousin, what’s buzzin?’”) waiting for a wolf of her own in her penthouse digs.

RED HOT RIDING HOOD kicks off TCM’s early morning tribute to Tex Avery, which will easily be the funniest thing you see all day. The cartoons will be preceded by John Needham’s British documentary TEX AVERY: KING OF CARTOONS (‘88). It is an ideal primer into the Avery-verse that charts his legendary career from high school cartoonist through his tenures with Walter Lantz Productions, Warner Bros. and MGM. Along with a generous sampling of clips from his Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, there are priceless interviews with equally legendary colleagues such as Chuck Jones, Heck Allen and Mike Lah, along with June Foray, the Queen of Cartoons and Joe Adamson, who wrote the essential book, also titled Tex Avery: King of Cartoons. (Coincidence, isn’t it?)

Needham told TCM he was encouraged to make the documentary by Chuck Jones, whom Needham had profiled for the BBC arts series, Omnibus. “He simply said, ‘We should make a film about Tex,” he said. As an Avery fan himself, Needham was all in. “I think it’s his ability to take a gag to the extremes and then take it further and then take it even further,” he said. “Chuck said that he could never copy Tex because he didn’t have a clue what Tex was doing, he just knew that he was a genius. I’m sure I don’t know either, but what he did was incredibly funny.”

The seven cartoons included in the TCM tribute meet the “incredibly funny” standard. They were produced for MGM. These are not as well known or as widely seen as his cartoons for Warner Bros., where, most notably, Avery directed A WILD HARE (’40), the cartoon that established Bugs Bunny’s brash personality. Avery was an outlier at the tony studio that boasted “more stars than there are in the heavens.” MGM did make sparkling and sophisticated romantic comedies directed by the likes of George Cukor and Ernst Lubitsch, but MGM was where clowns went to die.

Buster Keaton wrote in his memoir that signing with MGM was “the worst mistake” of his career. THE CAMERMAN (’28) was an auspicious beginning, but gradually, Keaton lost the lion’s share of his creative control, suffered studio interference and was partnered with Jimmy Durante. The Marx Brothers’ association with the studio likewise began promisingly with A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (‘35), but soon the iconoclastic highs of the brothers’ Paramount films were but a dim memory and the brothers were relegated to playing second fiddle to insipid romantic leads like Kenny Baker and Florence Rice in AT THE CIRCUS (‘39).

But MGM could not tame Tex Avery. Or perhaps studio execs didn’t think animation was worth the time and trouble to meddle with, allowing him to work unimpeded. The best of the cartoons he made for the studio between 1942-55 put the “mad” in madcap, if that’s your idea of a good time. In his book, Adamson observes: “No artist, in any century, on any continent, in any medium, has ever succeeded in creating his own universe as thoroughly and overwhelmingly as Tex Avery.”

You might say that a Tex Avery cartoon is like that proverbial box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get. “Say, what kind of a cartoon is this gonna be, anyway?” asks the title character in SCREWBALL SQUIRREL (‘44), another of the Avery 7 to be featured in TCM’s mini-Avery-palooza. Well, it’s NOT going to be a charming Disney-esque romp with adorable forest creatures. Screwball Squirrel sees to that when he takes one of them behind a tree and violently disposes of him, assuring the audience, “The funny stuff will start as soon as the phone rings.”

BAD LUCK BLACKIE and KING-SIZE CANARY, two masterpieces that are highlights of TCM’s Avery cartoon block, break all rules of the physical world and nature. In the former, a black cat brings instant bad karma each time he crosses the path of a bullying bulldog. At one point, the unfortunate pooch must dodge a succession of falling objects that escalate from a sink to a battleship. In the latter, a chase between a cat, mouse and dog escalates to gigantic proportions thanks to a bottle of Jumbo Gro.

What critic James Agee wrote about the Marx Brothers also applies to Avery in that even lesser Tex is better worth seeing than most other things I can think of. SYMPHONY IN SLANG (’51) is a succession of silly sight gags inspired by a hipster’s arrival at the Pearly Gates. He tells his life story to a befuddled Noah Webster, who pictures literal translations to such phrases as, “I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth,” “It was raining cats and dogs” and “I died laughing.”

SCREWBALL SQUIRREL features some great self-referential gags, such as the title character peeking ahead to the next scene to figure out what to do next. But the character was so obnoxious that he was actually killed off at the end of his fifth, and final, cartoon.

Avery’s influence is vast. When in THE LITTLE MERMAID (‘89), Sebastian’s jaw drops like an anvil when he spies Ariel nursing an injured Prince Eric, that’s a classic Tex Avery take. THE MASK (‘94) pays direct homage to RED HOT RIDING HOOD when Jim Carrey’s Mask man is undone by nightclub chanteuse Cameron Diaz. And the Tex Avery force is strong in Animaniacs’ helter-skelter pacing and fourth-wall breaking.

But there is nothing like the real thing. No one made cartoons that were loonier. The secret? As Avery told Joe Adamson, he didn’t think in terms of the age of his audience: “I tried to do something I thought I would laugh at if I were to see it on the screen.”

#Tex Avery #cartoons #classic #Little Mermaid #Animaniacs #TCM #TCMFF #Turner Classic Movies #Donald Liebenson #TCM Classic Film Festival #animation

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fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues · 2 years

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This is my master post for my writing stuff, it’ll be updated as there’s more, and I’m going to tag everyone who wants to be tagged, please tell me if you don’t want to be tagged in my future writing, this is equally true if you aren’t on the tag list and want to be.

This is my first writing piece, it doesn’t have a name as of yet, but here’s the basic premise (from the first post) and what is up so far:

the villain and hero are tied together with a prophecy, if one died the other did too, so the villain attempts to control (mind control Etc) the hero, but discovers that they have been abused by the other heroes and their parents growing up so the villain decides to help them while the hero deals with underlying feelings brought to the surface and the villain slowly falls for them.

https://fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues.tumblr.com/post/682527645350641664/this-is-just-some-of-my-writing-the-first-post

Posted on AO3:

https://fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues.tumblr.com/post/682607326733221888/this-is-part-2-of-a-piece-im-beginning-to-post-on

https://fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues.tumblr.com/post/682948395216879616/heres-part-three-everyone-not-much-to-say-at-the

https://www.tumblr.com/fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues/730880846901460992/alone-not-anymore-fantomz-sanders-sides-web

https://www.tumblr.com/fandoms-bandoms-andmentalissues/730881252370038784/elias-elias-bouchard-fantomz-the-magnus

Tag list: @the-sympathetic-villain @1-800-crystalball @dragonfander101 @just-bored-okay @bimbrain @stephlibelle @throneofhavoc-blog @dwbh888 @astrocallings @zloymandarin @youbil @princedoppio @acidique13 @snowshower @tinynaturesworld @to-sneak-away-and-hide @anxiety-slayer7 @why-am-i-on-this-website-anyway @kittyw0rm

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jadekitty777 · 5 years

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Across the Distance

Unofficial Taiqrowweek: Day 7 Bonus entry!

As promised, today is a double hitter. I wasn’t sure how to end this barrage of Taiqrow goodness - but some of my most well-liked stories tend to be my domestic fluff stories... so, you better believe we got some of that in here.

Rating: K

Word Count: 2,400

Ao3 Link: Across the Distance

Summary: Upon entering Atlas, Qrow immediately jumps on the chance to use all the kingdom’s fancy technology by to call Taiyang. After all, there was something really important he needed to tell him.

Qrow stuffed his hands in his pockets, following James down the hallway, eyeing yet another troop of heavily armed soldiers as they walked by. Atlas really was on high alert these days. He looked towards the general, seeing how tense he seemed to be as he walked tall among his subordinates. Normally, he’d poke fun at him about it; irritating Jimmy was one of his favorite past times after all.

But it was an important day and he didn’t want to risk souring the other’s generosity just because he felt a little out of place.

“Here it is.” James announced, punching in the access code into the keypad. There was a ding and the door slid open.

As they stepped inside, Qrow peered around the room. The space was small and square, with desks pushed against the walls that were laden with ancient looking computer equipment. There were also several rectangular boxes with blinking lights that he couldn’t even begin to guess at their function. “And you sure this’ll work?”

“I’ve been using it myself to keep in contact. As long as he’s there, you’ll get through.” He looked at him, frowning sternly, “But I can only afford you a few minutes. And you can’t-”

He placed a hand on the general’s shoulder before he could prattle on about all his ‘stipulations’ again. Most of it went over his head anyways, especially the stuff on how improper decoding made for easier line tapping. All he really got was this was a risk and whatever he said had to be brief and non-incriminating. “I got it Jimmy. I promise I’ll play by your rules – just this once.” He grinned cheekily.

He studied him skeptically, finally sighing. “Alright.”

Qrow watched as James took a seat at the console, turning on the box-shaped monitor. The machine started to whir as it booted up, the screen turning from black to a deep blue. He pulled up a program on it that started running rapid lines of text. A few switches were flipped on another device next to it and he adjusted a little stand microphone, buzzing soon being heard. A few more keystrokes and a dialing started to emit from the speakers.

He lent against the desk beside the other, rather impressed. It really was ringing!

A click and then a voice spoke through: “General?”

“Hello Iseria. I apologize for calling so suddenly. I didn’t interrupt anything did I?”

“Not at all! Is something wrong?” Though it’d been years, Qrow could still detect that singsong quality in his old boss’ voice. It was the only hint the world had to know the headmaster of Signal was actually a canary Faunus.

“Everything’s as fine as they can be. Actually, this is more of a,” James glanced towards him, “Social call.”

Taking that as his cue, Qrow cut in, “Hey Izzy!”

There was a long pause, then Iseria shrilled, “Qrow?! Is that you?”

“The one and only.” He took the seat as James vacated it, nodding in understanding when the other tapped at his wrist as if a watch were there counting down the minutes. “And as much as I would like to catch up, I don’t have a lot of time. I was, uh, hoping you could get Tai?”

“Oh.” She said, all too knowingly, “It’s that kind of social call.”

He flushed a bit. “No! I mean, sort of but – I just, wanted to check up on him and-”

Iseria’s laughter interrupted him. “Yes, I’ll call him in.”

There was a bit of rattling and some feedback from the intercom system, the headmaster’s voice echoing across campus. He’d timed it to make sure it was lunch time, so Tai didn’t have to worry about leaving his class. He only had to hope he hadn’t left school grounds for some reason. As they waited, Qrow chatted it up with his former employer, simple things like how classes were going or if there were any promising students this year. But, he wasn’t really paying all that much attention to what was being said, just let her drone on while he tapped his foot along the floor.

“So, we started to tell the students that they couldn’t – oh! Tai, there you are.”

He sat up attentively, a smile spreading the moment he heard Tai speak. “Oh uh, sorry. Should I-?”

“No, no! Come in. The call’s for you.” Iseria insisted, her voice growing faint and he could only guess she had stood up.

“Oh um, okay?” He sounded so confused, he had to wonder what the set up on their side looked like. There was a bit of shuffling as they traded spots, and then Tai’s voice was coming through crystal clear, “Hello?”

Qrow could have melted. “Hey sunshine.”

Tai sucked in a sharp breath. “Qrow?! How in the world-? Wait, are you in Atlas?”

“Yeah. I managed to get that stick out of Jimmy’s ass long enough that he actually considered doing me a favor.” He grinned when that one actually earned him a chuckle.

From the other side of the room, James grunted, looking mildly insulted. “Five minutes Qrow.”

“Got it.” He replied, shifting the chair a little closer to the desk.

“Only five, huh?” Tai echoed softly.

“Yeah, guess this thing uses up a lot of power. And,” He hesitantly added, “I probably won’t be able to call again.”

There was a resigned sigh. He could almost picture Tai’s sad smile. “Well then. We’d better not waste it. How are you doing? How are the girls doing?”

“Just fine.” He said, though it felt like a bit of a lie. There was so much he needed to tell him… but not here. Not like this. “Met up with the pipsqueak and her ragtag friends halfway through Mistral. You shoulda seen her. She’s really getting good maneuvering with her semblance now. And when she’s leading her team, she’s-” He trailed off, folding his hands over the desk, idly fiddling with one of his rings.

“Like a carbon copy of Summer?” Tai filled in. “Yeah. I saw that too, especially during the tournament.”

“It kinda freaks me out.” Qrow admitted.

He chuckled. “And Yang?”

“Found us after we got to Mistral. Actually, the ice princess and faunus gal did too. Oh!” He lent forward, smirking, “You were totally right about cat girl by the way. Yang’s so into her.”

Now Tai was full on laughing. “I told you! Dad’s intuition. They getting along well?”

“Yes, professor. They’re playing nice.” Qrow teased, before tacking on more seriously, “They got some issues still, but they’ll work it out.”

“Good. And… What about Raven? Did Yang find her too?”

He sighed. He was waiting for that one. “Ooooh yeah.”

“Didn’t go well?”

“Not even a little bit.”

Tai huffed, unable to hide his slight irritation. “How she holding up?”

“Eh, honestly? Better than expected.” In fact, had she not literally walked out of one of her portals, he may not have guessed Yang had ever even had a run in with his sister at all. “She’s got your strength, that’s for sure.”

“Mmm, I think she’s got something stronger than that.” He argued fondly. “And, you? You handling that okay?”

If he had more time, he may have tried to find a way out of answering that. He could still remember that evening, just a few days after Beacon’s fall when he admitted to Tai what he’d told Yang shortly after her disqualification – about where she could go looking if she really wanted to find Raven. The fight that resulted because Tai knew why he’d really done it. His partner had been so furious, he stopped talking to him for the next two days entirely – had Ruby not awakened when she had, who knew how long he could have kept it up.

“I just, I thought she’d… I dunno.” Qrow struggled, unsure how to put his feelings into words. All this time he’d tried to solve Raven like a lock that was missing the right key – if it wasn’t him, or Tai, or Summer then surely Yang had to be it. To find out it wasn’t was more a blow than he cared to admit. “I just wanted her to come back.”

“I know you did. And I’m sorry she didn’t.”

He knew Tai well enough to recognize when he was being completely sincere. His eyes flickered towards the blue screen, wishing he could see his face. He could really use one of his softhearted little smiles right about now. “You forgiving me that easy?”

“Oh no, I still want to kick your head in.” He said, chipper as ever. “But, I get it too. She was practically all you had for years; that’s not a bond easy to forget. I’m sorry if my anger made you feel like I was insulting that.”

Warmth beat in his breast. How did Tai always do that? Sometimes he wondered if he pre-wrote all the sappy lines he would say, because he always seemed to know just what he needed to hear at any given moment. Conversely, Qrow was never quite as eloquent in return – if he could find the words at all.

“H-Hey, shouldn’t I be the one apologizing here?” Qrow chortled nervously. “Which I am. Sorry. For – I’m just sorry, okay?”

“Okay.” He repeated, mostly amused at his awful attempt.

He cleared his throat, glancing towards James. The man rose two fingers. He nodded, exhaling slowly, “Hey, Tai? I’ve only got a bit left here so… there’s something I really need to tell you.”

“Uh-oh, that sounds ominous.”

“Hey now! It’s not bad!”

Tai hummed doubtfully. “I dunno, usually when you start off like that, it’s to tell me you broke something.”

“Well-!” Damn, he was right. “It’s not like that this time.”

“Alright then, what is it?”

He took another deep breath, smiled at the screen, and said, “Happy birthday.”

In his surprise, Tai stumbled over his words, “You-You remembered?”

“Of course.” Qrow reassured, “How could I ever forget about you?”

Even with his bandit days far behind him, he was still pretty awful at remembering precise calendar dates. So, for what it was worth, Tai didn’t immediately list off every example of him doing exactly that.

What he said instead was worlds better:

“I love you.”

The same feeling seemed to fill every inch of him until it was spilling off his lips, “I love you too. And I miss you like crazy.” That was when he realized he’d gotten so caught up, he hadn’t even asked how Tai was doing. “Are you holding up well?”

“It’s… really lonely without you guys at home. And since I can’t call and check in, I’m just worrying all the time.” He admitted, unable to keep the melancholy from his tone. “But, I can’t tell you how much this call helps. Just hearing your voice and knowing you and the girls are safe… heh, it’s the perfect birthday gift.”

Qrow placed his chin in his hand, unable to stop smiling. “Oh, it’s that easy? Then next August, I’ll plan a month-long trip to Vacuo with the girls’. We’ll send you postcards.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He laughed at the way the other hissed that; sometimes he could really sound like the little dragon he was named for. His gaze flicked up as James walked over. Five minutes had never seemed so short. “Looks like my time’s up. We’ll be home soon. I’m not too sure exactly when right now, but – soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He could hear the mirror of Tai’s own smile in his voice. “Be safe and watch after our girls.”

“Always do.” Qrow promised, leaning back. “See you; love you.”

“Love you too; and thank you, for everything.”

“Yeah. Bye Tai.” It felt like the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, giving Jimmy the nod to disconnect them.

“Bye.” Was the last thing he heard before the speakers were nothing but static. He stomped down on the loneliness that immediately crept into his heart, knowing it had to be ten times worse for his partner.

“I’m sorry it couldn’t be longer.” It was odd, hearing the normally stoic and firm general be so gentle.

Qrow shook his head, getting up from the chair. “Nah, you did plenty. I really appreciate it.”

He waited for James to shut down his equipment before following him out the door and back out of the high security facility. They mostly walked in silence, leaving himself with thoughts that swarmed him with all the things still left unsaid. All the troubles weighing him down and all the unearthed lies that had shaken his trust. He wished he could just go back to that room and be on that call the rest of forever, where it felt like those problems could be left behind.

And it was in that thought that he realized something in himself he’d never really perceived before: How he’d been on a path of self-redemption for so long, he had missed something important along the way.

It was hard to deny how good it felt to be a huntsman; to go out into the world and earn the praise of those he saved. To obtain that elite status he’d worked so hard for that made him both revered and feared. To be apart of something he once thought so large and important that even if he died doing his mission, he was paving a way for a better future.

Those things, those feelings, they were so large that they quickly overshadowed the simpler life with Tai he rarely slowed down long enough to enjoy. Waking up to the smell of coffee in the morning and eating toast with jam spread into sappy heart patterns. Picnics in the park or walks through the forest under a warm afternoon sun. An evening of late-night programs and movie marathons. Nights spent wrapped up in one another.

The more he debated it over in his head, the more he moved towards a conclusion that he’d never once considered in his entire life, never thought he ever could consider. But yet here he was, not only considering it, but determined to make it a reality.

After all, his own birthday was coming up soon too - and there was only one gift he could think of that he wanted. Now, he just needed to figure out how to tell Tai. Maybe the girls would have some ideas.

After all, retiring at forty-three was certainly something to celebrate.

A/N: Prompt used was 66: “How could I ever forget about you?”

#qrow branwen #taiyang xiao long #Taiqrow #rwby #fanfiction #100 Days of Taiqrow #Chase Firekitten's Tale

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thetomorrowshow · 3 months

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scars

empires superpowers au masterlist (not up to date)

i have no clue where this idea came from but here *hands you a tattooed jimmy*

this takes place about 8 months after then end of ‘poisoned rats’.

cw: past abuse, mentions of needles, scars

“Look at that one,” Jimmy points at the screen; Scott pauses in his scrolling. “It’s a poppy. You love poppies.”

“. . . I do,” Scott says, glancing at Jimmy quickly before resuming the scroll.

“That one’s a flag, but it could be a pride flag. That’s why I saved it. The birds are a bit cheesy, but I thought I’d include them anyway.”

Scott doesn’t say anything, just keeps scrolling through the document. He knew Jimmy had been researching something, but . . . he hadn’t been expecting this.

Before him, on Jimmy’s laptop, is a three-page document that is a collage of tattoos.

Some are better than others—there’s a celtic knot that looks pretty bad, and Jimmy’s right about the birds being cheesy, but the poppy is understated and delicate, and a cute cartoon cat makes him smile.

That’s all well and good, but the problem is: Scott has no clue why Jimmy is showing him tattoos.

Jimmy points at a bundle of stars, saying something about how it reminded him of Scott, then at a feather, then a ladder, which he explains could be combined with the stars. He quickly passes over an abstract canary, hands twitching and tripping over his words, to point out an intricate subway car, then a tiny soccer ball.

Scott interrupts right as Jimmy starts to explain an iceberg tattoo.

“Jimmy, I—this is great, but I don’t think I understand. Are you wanting me to get a tattoo?”

Jimmy blinks, laughs nervously. “I—Scott, these are—these are cover-ups. For scars.”

Oh.

Suddenly, there’s a lump in Scott’s throat.

“I—a tattoo is a big decision,” Scott manages to say around the lump, his eyes catching on a long scar down Jimmy’s left bicep. “It’s something you can’t change. Are you sure?”

Jimmy levels an exasperated look at him. “For one thing, I’m an adult. I know it’s a big decision, you don’t have to remind me. And I promise I’ve thought about this. I shouldn’t have to tell you that I have.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Scott starts to amend, but Jimmy forges on.

“It’s my body,” he says. “It’s mine, and I can have the freedom to do what I want with it, because I’m an adult and it belongs to me. And when you—when you asked if I was sure, it felt like you were treating me like a kid, or like I don’t own my body. And it felt bad.”

Shame curls in his stomach. Jimmy’s right, he shouldn’t have responded like that. It’s perfectly normal for people to get tattoos, and for their partners to support them in it. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes again. “I didn’t think before speaking. I said something my parents would’ve said, and I should have considered what you just told me.”

Jimmy smiles, leans his head against Scott’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I was showing you because I wanted your opinion, and it’s all right if you don’t like the idea of a tattoo. But I would’ve liked for you to say that outright if that’s true, instead of telling me things I already knew.”

“No, I think it’s a great idea,” Scott hurries to amend. He pauses, taking a moment to get his thoughts in order. They’re working on having more open conversations, so that they don’t have repeat events of Scott’s Nightmare Situation of Last Month, as they’ve dubbed it. “I think a lot of tattoos are good,” he says eventually, “but some suck. So I’m happy you’re asking my opinion, because I don’t know if I’d be able to look my boyfriend in the eyes if he got a skull surrounded in roses on his bicep.”

That gets a laugh out of Jimmy. “Don’t think yours is the only opinion I’m getting,” he teases. “I know better than to trust a man who dyed his hair red all through college.”

“It looked good!”

They look at tattoos for a little while, Scott immediately vetoing the trio of birds and a guitar. Together, they separate the pages into ‘no’ ‘maybe’ and ‘yes’ images, dragging the little Darth Vader holding a lightsaber (a scar being the lightsaber) into ‘maybe’ and the celtic knot into ‘no’ and so on, until about half of the tattoos have been sorted.

And if they get distracted halfway through and end up making out right there on the couch? Well, they can always finish it later.

Three weeks later, Jimmy exits the tattoo parlor with the long, thin scar on his left bicep covered by a poppy, red and irritated from the procedure. Scott had been with him the whole time, holding his hand. They’d had to call for a break halfway through, but it had overall gone very well, and Jimmy had gotten into the passenger seat with a huge grin on his face.

“I thought I would be scared of the needle, but it wasn’t even that bad!” Jimmy says excitedly, twisting his arm around to check out the plastic-wrapped tattoo. “Did you hear when she said I was really good at staying still, especially for my first time? I’m going to get a good grade in tattoos, which is both normal to want and possible to achieve.”

Scott laughs out loud at the meme reference, resolving not to think about why it is that Jimmy’s so good at not moving while needles are stuck into him.

“Do you like it?” Scott asks instead, adjusting the rearview mirror before shifting the car into gear.

Jimmy doesn’t answer for a long moment. When Scott glances over at him, he’s let his arm fall, staring straight ahead, chewing thoughtfully on his lip.

“Yeah,” he decides eventually. “I really do. Now when I look at it in the mirror, I can be reminded of you instead of them. And . . . I can make choices with my body. That feels really good.”

“I can imagine.”

Jimmy twists his arm around again, peering at what little of the tattoo can be seen through the plastic. “I like it,” he says, quieter. “Do you like it?”

“It was my top choice, Jimmy,” Scott reminds him. “And it looks cute on you. Much better than that fish would.”

Jimmy snorts. “You know what, since it was Lizzie’s idea, I’ll tell her I’ll only get it if she gets it too.”

“Please—if you get fish, get a different one,” begs Scott. “It was huge, it had that horrible ‘gone fishing’ sign—get something cute, not something that screams fifty-year-old midlife crisis.”

That gets a laugh out of his boyfriend, and a little tension that had been in Scott’s body since before the appointment finally dissipates, allowing his shoulders to ease and his fingers to loosen their grip on the wheel.

“I’ve been watching videos on word cover-ups, so I think I might get one of those,” Jimmy says when they’re almost home. “I’m . . . I think it would help, even though I can still trace the letters. But I’d like to try scar treatment first, so I don’t think I’m gonna get another tattoo any time soon.”

“And here I was thinking my boyfriend was about to get all inked up and awesome,” Scott teases.

“And something for words would have to be really big, and there’s not much I want that’s good for that,” Jimmy continues. He glances at Scott quickly, then turns his gaze out the window. “That’s life, I guess.”

Scott thinks that’s the end of the conversation. He’s happy leaving it there, with vague plans and ideas in mind to experiment with.

But later that evening, at home, as Jimmy washes dishes and Scott dries them, Jimmy blurts out, “Would I be wrong for wanting a canary tattoo?”

Scott pauses. “Um. No?”

Jimmy sighs. “See, it’s the only one that I think I would want that’s big enough and colorful enough to cover any words. But I don’t know that I could be okay with having it cover up one of those words, because of . . . connotations. But also. . . .” he sighs again, sets down his dishcloth.

“Scott, being the Canary was the only freedom I had, as awful as it was,” Jimmy explains, and it’s a credit to how far he’s come that Jimmy’s voice doesn’t even shake. “I didn’t love it, but I could go outside. I could literally fly. And I looked pretty cool, honestly. So if I got another tattoo, I think it would be a canary, but . . . I’m afraid that’ll cause more harm than good, with my mental health and all.”

“I . . . don’t know,” Scott says honestly, sliding a plate into place in the cupboard. “I’m not in your head. And it’s not my body. But you don’t have to decide today. You don’t have to decide any time soon. You can talk about it with other people, and with Nora. And we can start looking into scar treatment, if you think you’re ready for that.”

Jimmy picks up the cloth again, runs it under the water. “I don’t know,” he says eventually, voice unreadable. His face has set back into that guarded look, the one that Scott is now so familiar with. “Maybe.”

Whatever Jimmy’s unspoken other concerns are (and Scott knows that they exist, he can tell in the tenseness of his stance), Jimmy abandons that topic of conversation. He doesn’t bring up tattoos again for weeks.

But every so often, Scott catches him admiring the poppy, and he can’t help but feel a bubble of happiness.

Jimmy finally has a good reason to look in a mirror.

#empires smp #empires smp fanfic #flower husbands #jimmy solidarity #scott smajor #021324 #yep you guessed it! im still away #if im back i'll announce it/delete these tags etc #knowing my life schedule and all that i think i'll finally feel up to coming back soon-ish #but like. as of writing these tags it is december of 22 #so take everything i say with a grain of salt #how do we feel about tattooed jimmy?#i legitimately have no idea where this came from. just all of the sudden i was researching cover-ups #and here we are #i found such pretty canary tattoos #and i think it's accurate of jimmy to be conflicted about a tattoo of a canary #bc again: canary meant freedom for him limited as it was #and that was a big part of his life that he kind of wants to commemorate #it changed everything some good some bad. jimmy's going through a part of his healing where he kind of wishes it was still happening #just bc like. a. it was easier to understand and b. now that it's this far away he feels sometimes like he's faking #like it wasn't that bad. and he wants to know that it was bad. he's trying to heal but doesnt want to let go of the hurt #bc if he covers up all the scars or they all heal then where's the proof that he went through anything at all?#somebody tell me to stop projecting #lmk what you think!#love you guys

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pinkiepowered · 5 years

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worlds collide – jimmy/montana

A/N: A friend suggested that I post my fanfiction here. So, here you go!

A series of crossovers in the American Horror Story universe. It’s honestly a sin that some of these characters have never met, and so I decided to fix that, with the first part ft. Jimmy Darling (Freak Show) and Montana Duke (1984).

Kudos and comments can be left here. Let me know any requests there, too, this might be 1/2 if inspiration arises again!

AO3 Tags: Crossover Pairings, Smut, Montana is softer than she is in canon, blame Jimmy’s influence.

Sliding into a seat in some shitty diner in Nowhere, Florida, Montana couldn’t quite believe the turn her life had taken. Just weeks prior she’d been dancing on a Hollywood stage, but then she’d made the mistake of resisting the owner’s gaze and then his hands and now she was fresh off a bus that reeked of disappointment, having been laughed out of every audition that followed.

Apparently her boss had a tiny dick but a huge list of connections, who’d have thought?

Now, she was due to meet some German chick at some circus thing that a girlfriend had told her about, with nothing more than her own talent and her own word to back her up. She sighed, staring at the menu and trying to decide what meal would mean the least calories before winding up with a lukewarm cup of coffee in her hand. At least it would keep her awake until she was back at the motel and could paint her face back on.

She yawned in spite of the hit of caffeine, turning to examine the rest of the measly diner’s occupants before realizing she was being watched, stared at, by some pretty boy with a curl in his hair and motorcycle gloves still on his hands, grasped around a glass of what looked to be homemade lemonade. He smirked at Montana, looking less the cat that ate the canary and more like he was just relieved she’d finally noticed.

“If you keep up that dumb look on your face, it’ll stick that way,” Montana called across the distance between them, hiding her own smile. He was cute, handsome, but she wasn’t one to make things easy on the other sex. Or the same sex, come to think of it, though she didn’t like her chances of getting pussy in this part of the country.

Fuck, she missed LA.

“You’re not from around here,” he said, and without any invitation he crossed the diner and sat one seat down from her, still nursing his lemonade between his gloved hands.

“What, the accent?”

He shook his head. “Nah, nothin’ that obvious. It’s the look. Like you’re…”

“Crawling out of my skin to get away from here?”

At that his smirk turned into a grin, and Montana thought to herself that to be deprived that smile must surely be a sin. “Exactly,” he said. “Eyein’ all the exits like you’re preparing for a fire only you know’s coming. You not eating, huh?” He asked, then. “The Salisbury’s to die for. That, and everything else on the menu might kill you.”

He shot the waitress a wink, then, so that she’d know he was kidding, before turning back to Montana and taking her in. It was possible, probable, that he ran through this routine with every woman that waltzed through this town, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t like it, that she couldn’t have fun with it. “I’m Montana,” she said, an olive branch, barely. “I just got here from Los Angeles.”

“Jimmy Darling,” he offered in turn, although not with a hand, and Montana thought to herself that had to be a fake name. “Los Angeles? City of Angels, and all of that? Why the hell would you choose to leave a place like that for a… well, it’s no Honolulu, or Paris, or even Orlando, let me tell you.”

It hadn’t been a choice, Montana was tempted to say, and part of her wanted to unleash a rant about the whole thing and how she’d maybe have made it to New York City if she’d just kept her damn mouth shut and let the guy do whatever he wanted to do to her, but something told her it wasn’t the time or the place. And, anyway, wasn’t she trying to play the long game? “I wanted… something different,” she decided on. “And I’d heard good things about the circus.”

Jimmy laughed, then, sliding one seat closer to Montana as if he had a secret to tell her. “Well, now I know you must be some sorta undercover cop, because nobody’s said nothing good about that circus for as long as I’ve been a part of it.”

“You’re in the circus?”

“I work in the freak show,” he answered, giving no indication as to what might make him freak-ish. She thought nothing of it, and he sipped his drink. “You’re here to audition, aren’t you? Well, I’m no psychic, but Elsa’s been talking about dancers for the new act for weeks. Thought she might have finally given up.”

“That’s - that’s what I’m here for,” she said, maybe a little hopeful. Maybe this guy was her way in if talent alone couldn’t impress the German woman. “I’m supposed to meet with her at four.”

“I’ll drive you over there. My bike’s just outside,” Jimmy said, gesturing with his gloves.

Montana started to interject, not wanting to seem more needy than she was: “Oh, I need to do my makeup…”

“I’ll drive you back to your place. Wherever you’re staying. Can’t be more than two motels within twenty miles, so it’s no pressure on me. Come on,” he threw down a few dollar bills, then, finished his drink. “Let’s get going now and I can tell you all about Elsa. Just know this, Montana from Los Angeles, she always has to be star of the show. Remember that, and you might have a chance.”

Then, before she had a chance to argue, Montana was being nudged out the door by an almost perfect stranger, climbing onto his bike and wrapping her arms around him for security. He turned around to see that she was comfortable, and she nodded, and off they went.

– – – – –

For reasons completely unbeknownst to Montana, Jimmy stuck around on his bike while she fiddled with her makeup and her hair and slipped into something more appropriate for showing off her dancing. She’d told him he could wait in the room but he’d insisted otherwise, like some kind of gentleman, and so she’d taken a little less time than she might to get ready. From what little Jimmy had told her about this whole circus, she didn’t need to put in as much attention to detail as she had with her LA callbacks, anyway.

That, and her confidence was a little high from the way that the boy had been looking at her even though she was fresh off several days on a bus and hadn’t put any work into her appearance when they met. She grabbed her purse and headed on down to his bike, and kept her face neutral as he made a face of awe at how she looked now that she was wearing powder on her cheeks and color on her lips. “You ready to go?” she asked, as if he had anything else to do than sit around and wait on a girl he’d just met.

“Yep, hop on, LA,” he said, smirking again, and it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before they were arriving at the ground, into a sea of trailers and tents and faces she didn’t recognize. Jimmy had reminded her that she’d be seeing things she wasn’t used to be seeing, and that was certainly the case as she watched a person walk on their hands, a woman with a beard, and what must surely be the world’s smallest person.

But that wasn’t the point of being here, and Montana was determined to focus on the task at hand as she was introduced to Elsa Mars, a woman who wore makeup that didn’t match her age and whose perfume was much too extravagant for a place like this. Before long, music was playing and Montana was showing off every move that she knew, stealing from dancing she’d done in routines on the other side of the country what already felt like a lifetime ago.

As she finished, Elsa clapped, and she took Montana’s face into her hands as if she were her granddaughter and not someone she’d just encountered. “Liebling,” she said, a tired smile stretched across her features. “I don’t think you belong here, but we are honored to have you. You can start tomorrow, if you like. Jimmy will show you somewhere to sleep. Go, go.”

Not quite sure whether to take the comment as a compliment, she went as she was told and found Jimmy, who practically bounced at the news that she was in. Just that alone was enough to untie the knot of uncertainty in her chest, because if there was one thing she lacked in LA it was people. She had friends, of course, but only on the most shallow level, and she was pretty sure that every single one of them would have fucked her over if given the chance to get an audition.

“Now I get to show you around,” Jimmy said, and Montana nodded, looking around and trying not to be overwhelmed as several people came over to approach her, a welcome wagon of sorts. It was moving, really, the rapport that Jimmy had built with them all, the fact that they were more family than just friends and she got the impression that there was little that they wouldn’t do for one another. “And over there, that’s you’ll be sharing with the other dancers. It sucks, I know, but a bed’s a bed, right?”

Montana nodded again, figuring she couldn’t really complain when she didn’t have money for a bed back in Los Angeles. “Where do you sleep?” she asked, then, not having noticed his trailer or tent on the tour of the grounds. She was curious, which didn’t make much sense to her. She’d never really been curious about or cared about anybody, not since she left her parents, not since she discovered that in her city there was only one person you could put first: yourself. This guy was having the strangest effect on her.

Jimmy offered his arm and she hooked hers through his, almost instinctively, and then she was being led to his place in this all. “It’s not much,” he shrugged, then sat on the bed. He was still wearing the gloves, and shifted from one foot to another, thinking.

“What are you doing here, Jimmy?” she asked, suddenly, before she could stop herself. Really, it was none of her business, and it wasn’t like she’d been totally forthcoming with her own reasoning, but she’d never been known for beating around the bush, for avoiding hurting feelings. Not that she was outwardly searching to hurt his, not today. “You don’t seem like… well, like Elsa said, like you belong here.”

“Trust me,” he said with a breath of a laugh, slumping back against his bed and staring at the ceiling. There was a hint of sadness that Montana might otherwise not have detected if she wasn’t so invested in this strange, kind boy. “I belong here.”

Sliding onto the edge of the bed to watch him as he stared at nothingness, Montana tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Well, you already said you’re not a psychic,” she pondered, and then her eyes landed on the gloves again. Either he was a germaphobe or he was really, really into leather. Or he was hiding something. “Are you super strong, or something?”

“Not especially,” he turned, then, to lean on his elbow and look up at her. “You really wanna know?”

Montana nodded.

Jimmy sighed, then, before sitting upright. “I’m a part of the freak show, like all those other people you met,” he started, before tugging on his gloves and removing the first, and then just as swiftly the second. Montana’s eyes widened at the sight, hands oversized, fingers seemingly fused together so that they looked… lobster-like. "Disgusting, right?“

Montana shook her head. "No, it’s - it’s not that. I don’t, it’s just that I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“That’s why they call it a freak show, LA.”

She rolled her eyes, then captured his gaze. It didn’t seem fair that someone as handsome as him be so down on himself, and in that moment she decided to do something about that, her hand reaching across to take one of his, lifting it up to hold it. “I bet you’re popular with all the girls,” she mused, confidence in this area coming easy. She’d been nervous, early, a little shell shocked by everything that she’d seen, but it was natural to fall back into this flirtatious, overly sure-of-herself manner.

Jimmy laughed softly. “The ones that aren’t horrified, sure.”

“I’m not horrified.”

“No?”

Montana shook her head, then, shifting so all of her body was on the bed, and then pulling his hand to rest over her chest, over her heartbeat.

“Well, hell,” Jimmy murmured.

She kissed him, then, the hand that wasn’t resting over his going to the side of his face to caress his cheek. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t used to random hookups, but there was something uniquely intimate about all of this, something that made her heart beat a little faster – and surely he could feel it – and it wasn’t long before she was shirtless and he was sliding his hands up her ballet skirt, testing, teasing, through the fabric of her underwear. “You sure?” he asked, and she had to fight the urge to laugh, kissing him quiet but nodding so that he’d know that, yes, she was. She was so fucking sure.

His fingers pushed the hem aside, then, and he slid two of his fused fingers into her, causing her to moan breathily. She was right, he had to be popular with women, because no man had ever managed to make her feel like this, and she arched her back against the bed as he kept up his motions, closing her eyes for a few moments before she opened them to take in Jimmy’s expression, his lip between his teeth and a grin across his features. God, if this was what it was like with a freak, she never wanted anybody normal again, and she was about to say such a thing when his palm grinded against her clit in just the right way, and she felt herself coming.

And then just as quickly she was coming again, determined to return the favor as her hands searched for his hardness through his pants and stroked at his impressive length. He helped her slide off his pants, a little frantically, and then him her skirt, and then he was guiding himself into her and pressing his forehead against hers as he started moving inside her, unable to resist the strangled cry he unleashed as he came inside her. “Jesus Christ, LA,” he panted, laying down next to her, lightly tracing circles on her arm with his fingernails. “I think Jupiter just became the new City of Angels.”

– – – – –

Curled against Jimmy’s side, listening to his faint snoring, something told Montana that Elsa was wrong: she did belong here, and she was determined to prove it.

#american horror story #ahs fanfiction #ahs fanfic #montana duke #jimmy darling

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canaryatlaw · 5 years

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alright, well today was okay. I woke up at like 12:30 I think and while on my phone I checked my email to see that my latest email was from the public guardian’s office requesting an interview. In case you’re just tuning in now, this is the office I interned in in law school and desperately want to work for, and was absolutely devastated a few weeks ago when they had denied me an interview. So this was a big deal. I pretty much started crying. The person who emailed me this time was not the same person as the one who had been handling hiring emails and had sent the email saying they wouldn’t interview me, this person I actually knew and have interacted with many times, though it’s been like 1 1/2 years since that happened. So I emailed them back my availability for the next few weeks, and then immediately afterwards excitedly sent an email to my former supervisor/mentor from this office who I had to thank for getting them to reconsider interviewing me. He’s really the best, he’s had faith in me from the beginning and let me work on the super high profile child death case that taught me so much. When I told him they’d said no to interviewing me he called the deputy public guardian (as in the 2nd in charge in the whole office) on my behalf and apparently it worked, so I’m incredibly grateful to him for that. I do have to wonder now though, idk who’s gonna end up interviewing me, but is there going to be any sort of animosity about the fact that I basically went above their heads to get what I wanted and get their decision reversed? I don’t think it would be taken that personally, or anyone who would be making the decision would be considering it, but I have to wonder if that would ever play into my relationships in the office should I get the job, but I guess we’ll just have to see what happens there. I just....I will be so happy if this works out. like all these months applying and getting rejected for jobs that I didn’t even want, and this was the opportunity I’ve been holding out for because it’s 100 times more preferable than any second option. so I will definitely be praying and doing anything I can to prepare for this. Anyway. I had some breakfast (leftover rice pudding from the other day) and then started tackling the challenge of washing the dishes, because I had done a significant amount of baking over the past week and letting them pile up so they was getting to be quite a pile at this point. So I turned on a podcast episode and got to work. It ended up taking about an hour to get through all of it, which isn’t bad because in the past when the pile has been really large it’s taken me up to 2 hours to get them all done. So once they were all washed and put away I started my new project for the day, which is the recipe for homemade twix bars that I’ve been eyeing for a few weeks now. it starts of course by making the cookie base which is basically just sheet of shortbread cookie that was easy enough to make, and then I had to let it cool before I could move on. So I went to the den and tried to use a link I’d gotten to watch the Michael Jackson documentary since we don’t have HBO but it didn’t end up working, but I already had my other laptop all plugged into the tv and set up and I figured I might as well use it, so I ended up watching the pilot for Doom Patrol on DC Universe. It was.....odd. I didn’t particularly enjoy it. I had heard some people compare it to Legends in that it’s more of a lighthearted and somewhat comedic take on superheroes, but I wasn’t really seeing some of the qualities I appreciate most in Legends that makes it work so well. So idk, I’m not terribly inclined to keep watching at this point but we’ll see, I may end up at least giving it a few more episodes to see if it gets good. Once I finished watching that the cookie base had sufficiently cooled, so I decided to get started on the caramel layer. Now, I’ve made a lot of caramel in the past, so I have a fairly good idea of what I’m doing. For some reason this recipe started with just putting sugar in a saucepan with nothing else in it and just let it melt, which I hadn’t really done before but whatever, so it says over medium high heat so I put it on, and before I knew it what had started melting at the edges had already burned, before even most of the sugar had melted, so that was unusable, so I had to toss it and try again, under lower heat, but the same thing happened. at this point I was getting irritated but I thought I’d give it one more shot, just over very low heat and watching it the whole time, and as soon as it started melting on the edges it was already burning, so it looked like this recipe was just gonna be a complete bust for whatever reason and I’d have to find another one to make it work. However at this point it was time for Arrow, so I would have to do that afterwards. Arrow was.....painful for me personally, lol. I thought Oliver was being incredibly arrogant and bullheaded trying to insist he knows better than the police when it comes to *actually following the law* when catching criminals. like there’s a reason vigilantism is generally outlawed, because it breaks the law and makes just about any evidence obtained inadmissible, but of course we can’t get into the actual realities of that on tv because it just wouldn’t work. so that was really quite annoying, but oh well. I was sad to see that apparently Dinah may have lost her canary cry, though I did suspect they were going to do this after her injury a few weeks back. So that was that. Black Lightning was on next, all around solid episode, no surprises there. I’m loving Jennifer’s arc so much, she’s such a badass (as Anissa is as well) and I know she is definitely going places. All of the family stuff was of course really well done and I always appreciate that. So yeah, good episode. While watching these shows I was going through my pinterest recipes trying to find a suitable caramel recipe. I wanted one with a solid amount of caramel since a lot of them just seemed to have a thin layer of caramel. I ended up going with one from a recipe for “caramallows” aka chocolate covered bites of marshmallow and caramel, it used the same dimensions pan wise and had a good amount, so I thought it’d work well. I got to work doing that, and it definitely required patience as these things do, and there was some close calls as the mixture bubbled up and I had to hastily switch it to a bigger saucepan, but we made it through and ended up with a solid batch of caramel, so I was pleased with that. Once that was finished I went back into the den and watched the news for a bit, then the beginning of Jimmy Kimmel before showering and starting to get ready for bed, and now I am here. So yeah, not a bad day. Tomorrow I have my interview with the public defender’s office, which should be interesting. I know I can sell myself as a solid choice for the position regardless of me not having that much experience with it in law school, but this is definitely not an ideal position for me and I would definitely have hesitations about some of it, but I mean I do need a job, but yet again now that OPG is back on the table, that changes everything. So I guess we’ll see what that goes. It’s just past 1 am now so I should really been getting to sleep now. Goodnight dears. Hope your Monday didn’t suck.

#daily journal #March 2019 #Rachel watches Arrow #Rachel watches Black Lightning

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