#chase beckley

[cheesecakemermaid1048]

Please tell me I am not too late make this meme-

#cheese talks #bryce stryker #elevator hitch bryce #elevator hitch chase #elevator hitch #elevator hitch game #chase beckley #try guys #try guys meme #lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship #they lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship #ned fulmer #fuck ned #Idk who try guys are but I hate cheaters #p.s. seriously go check out this game #it's awesome

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Group B Round 1

[image ID: the first image is of Chris Wise, a man with short black hair. he has a small cut on his neck and blood is staining his face and collar. the second image is of Chase Beckley, a man with short brown hair. he's wearing a suit and tie. end ID]

Chris Wise

Okay, this is split between the novel and the film, so might seem off: • Loves zombie movies. Is in a zombie movie. • First major concern is what celebrities are dead. • Nearly dies right off the bat because he asks a zombie what its fave bond actor is to prove it's not human. • Has all the self-preservation skills of a rock. • Does not know the difference between Canada and America except that Wolverine is from Canada. That's all his knowledge. • Dances like one of those giant inflatable wavy things. • Should be tested for autism probably. • Once filmed a dog wandering about for two hours then had to wait another two hours for somebody to find him because he got lost. • Is so in love with his girlfriend it's adorable. • Dies saving the life of his lesbian best friend.

Chase Beckley

Office worker going through The Horrors He dies a lot and has a terrible time, once he finally escapes The Horrors, guess what! They Do Not end! Its a fun game you should check it out if you havent before 

#obscurecharactershowdown #group b round 1 #obscure poll #chris wise #anna and the apocalypse #chase beckley #elevator hitch

[coworkers-office]

"Well, hello there! You new? Haven't seen your face around before."

#clayton cox elevator hitch #bryce striker elevator hitch #chase beckley elevator hitch #coworker elehitch #coworker elevator hitch #elehitch #elevator hitch #rp blog #ask blog #coworker #studio investigrave #racheldrawsthis

[beckleysbooks]

A Day Dedicated to Gratitude & Giving

That's the title I chose for my one-page intro to Chapter 13 in my historical fiction, "Oh! Susannah". Chapter 13 covers the time period of November 1859 in the life of my 3rd great grandmother, Susannah Reigle Beckley. By 1859, the State of Ohio was only 56 years old and "The Harvest Festival", which is what we know as Thanksgiving, had only begun 14 years previously to Ohio being distinguished from the Northwest Territory. What I'm getting at is I remember 56 years ago, November 1967, and that Thanksgiving family feast being one of the first I recall, but then again, I have vague memories of JFK's assassination on my 4th birthday in 1963.

Ohio's Governor Samuel Chase on November 24, 1859 sent a message to the citizens of his State, encouraging all to set aside the day for "thanksgiving and prayer". It seems that over the years, since its inception, Thanksgiving had only been intermittently observed. It was President Abraham Lincoln who actually made our annual November festival a permanent and established national observance.

The Carroll Free Press Standard published the Governor's remarks. Here is an excerpt:

"The Governor urges all good citizens to lay aside their business on that day, and repair to their respective places of worship." (This probably ruled out any other activity, such as sport and things akin to our modern day binge watching of American Grid Iron.) The Governor's address continued, "That this special day be distinguished by works of benevolence and charity towards men, in confirming friendships, in the rescinding of anomies, in the sending of portions to the needy, and in the promoting, so far as practicable, of the welfare and happiness of all ..."

Sounds a bit quaint, doesn't it? Nostalgic even, as in, "what a nice idea". Perhaps Gov. Chase felt the need to prick the conscious of his fellow Ohioans during this time of the year? It is good to remember to be grateful, and even enjoy a festival, recognizing the harvest of all your hard work.

Should an American from 1859 be suddenly transported to Thanksgiving 2023, what would he/she think of the movement of purportedly 55 million people across this country this weekend? And for some, it is a 1- day trek, as they're back at work come Friday. My guess is they would be perplexed by this human migration and perhaps, even amused at the folly. You might find some scratching their head, "But, the Governor has just told us to lay aside our business on this day and repair to our respective places of worship."

I guess the theme here transcending generations and hundreds of years is, take a moment to give thanks and gratitude for all that Providence has provided us and commit to pay forward from the depths of abundance of which we've been so blessed.

#beckleysbooks #historical fiction #ohio history #women's rights

[drwhotht]

60 for 60 The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History (127)

60 for 60 — The Greatest Stories in Doctor Who History — (12→7) Sixty for Sixty enters its top ten phase, if you just happen to  have a couple extra digits lying around… #12 — The Girl in the Fireplace — Steven Moffat’s first real experiment in timey-wimey storytelling told the segmented life story of Madame de Pompadour, whose unusual insight into the Doctor made her a singular character to encounter the Doctor.  Did it make a difference that Tennant’s girlfriend at the time. Sophia Myles, added an extra spark to their interplay?.  Of course it did. #11 — The Seeds of Doom — This just might be the grimmest and most violent story that Tom Baker ever had.  But with that said, the very, very, last gasp of the extended UNIT era is just compelling, and made all the more so with the weird and quietly unhinged performance of Tony Beckley as Harrison Chase. #10 — The Eleventh Hour — There’s never been a better first foot forward for a Doctor than Matt Smith got here in this inaugural outing.  While the show got an effective reset as the Moffat era dawned, the story used Smith to full effect by showcasing him in full as an overgrown Ivy League wunderkid.  Charming with kids, and possessing his own kid-like sense of wonder.  It was a bravura introduction. #9 — The Day of the Doctor — That Doctor Who never had a higher profile than in the lead-up to the 50th Anniversary shouldn’t be a surprise.  That Moffat, Smtih, Hurt, Tennant, et. al. delivered on that legacy is something of a minor miracle, and that it played to, and celebrated that legacy is what we remember even 10 years later. #8 — Genesis of the Daleks —  A consequential story from 1975 that has always been very well regarded by fans.  And the shadow it cast which has run all the way up to the Peter Capaldi story The Witch’s Familiar in 2015.  That’s a 40-year legacy and for one very simple reason, Davros.  While the Daleks were of course very well established before Davros was a glint (albeit a desperate glint) in Terry Nation’s eye, the ‘ret-conning’ of Davros into Dalek lore, and the ‘human’ face he put onto the Daleks, not to mention the superlative performance of Michael Wisher, gave the Daleks a more relatable form for prospective Doctor Who writers to plot against.  In fact it would be until Dalek in 2005 that the Dalek(s) would prominently feature in a story without the pull of Davros as an anchor. #7 — Utopia —  There are precious few ‘punch-the-air’ moments in Doctor Who, but the revelation that the Master had been surpressed in Derek Jacobi as Professor Yana and his subsquent unleashing brought all of the threads in nu-Who’s best series–3–into sharp relief.  Even as part one of a three part story (which most would agree are a letdown after this start), it stands, and shines  alone enough for us to rate it very highly. One more push and then 60 for 60 will be done and dusted. Tags and categories: 60 for 60, Matt Smith, David Tennant, Tom Baker, Peter Capaldi, The Day of the Doctor, Utopia, John Hurt, The Girl in the Fireplace, Steven Moffat, The Witch's Familiar, Genesis of the Daleks, The Seeds of Doom, The Eleventh Hour via WordPress https://ift.tt/xVrReA0 November 17, 2023 at 12:00PM

[artisttonki]

The babysitter horror movie

#The babysitter horror movie movie

Later that night, Jill hears Duncan's voice as the closet door appears to open. Clifford tries to call Jill, but finds that the line is dead in an eerie parallel to Jill's original stalking. Upon hearing about the incident, Garber alerts Clifford. While at the restaurant, Jill gets a telephone call and hears Duncan's voice asking again: "Have you checked the children?" The police escort Jill back home to discover that everything there is fine. One night, she and her husband Stephen (Steven Anderson) go to dinner to celebrate his promotion while their children are babysat by Sharon (Lenora May). Jill is now married with two young children. Tracy screams for help and Clifford returns, chasing Duncan from the scene but losing his trail in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. After Clifford leaves, however, Duncan comes out of hiding from inside Tracy’s closet. He tells Tracy that Duncan literally tore the Mandrakis children apart with his bare hands and Tracy reluctantly agrees to act as bait at the bar that evening in an effort to draw Duncan out. Clifford tracks Duncan to Tracy's residence. Garber, who was also present at the Mandrakis crime scene, agrees to collaborate. Meanwhile, an increasingly obsessed Clifford confides to his friend Lieutenant Garber ( Ron O'Neal) his intention to kill Duncan rather than have him recommitted. She tries to be nice to him while getting him to leave, hoping this will be the last she sees of him. Duncan follows Tracy to her apartment and she takes pity on him. Not knowing Clifford is after him, the homeless Duncan is beaten after harassing a woman, Tracy ( Colleen Dewhurst), in a downtown bar. Mandrakis hires John Clifford ( Charles Durning), who investigated the earlier murders but is now a private detective, to find Duncan. Seven years later, Duncan escapes from the psychiatric facility. He leaves Jill unharmed and, after his trial, is sent to a psychiatric facility. Unbeknownst to her, an English merchant seaman named Curt Duncan ( Tony Beckley) killed the children shortly after Jill arrived. Immediately after the conversation, the police phone to inform her that the calls are coming from a line located somewhere inside the house. Jill receives one final call from her harasser. She calls the police, who tell her to keep the perpetrator on the line long enough for them to trace the call. However, he calls again and again, the calls increasing in frequency and threat level, and Jill becomes frightened. Jill initially dismisses the call as a practical joke. When the children are asleep, Jill receives a telephone call from a man who asks her if she has checked the children. Mandrakis ( Carmen Argenziano) at his home. Jill Johnson ( Carol Kane) is babysitting the children of Dr. It was followed by the 1993 made-for-cable sequel When a Stranger Calls Back and a remake in 2006. It received a mixed critical reception, with many praising the opening scene and performances, but criticism for its writing and lack of scares. It was commercially successful, grossing $20 million at the box office. The film was released in the United States on September 28, 1979, by Columbia Pictures. The first 12 minutes of Wes Craven's Scream (1996) is an homage to the opening of When a Stranger Calls.

#The babysitter horror movie movie

The film has developed a large cult following over time because of the first 20 minutes, now consistently regarded as one of the scariest openings in movie history. The film derives its story from the classic folk legend of " the babysitter and the man upstairs". It stars Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst, Tony Beckley and Charles Durning. When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 American psychological horror film written and directed by Fred Walton and co-written by Steve Feke.

#The babysitter horror movie

[robeight]

Teen Who Learned To Read At 10 Beats Odds To Become Valedictorian

Despite not learning to read until he was ten-years-old, a Milwaukee teen graduates at the top of his class. Jaden Bandy got a bit of a late start on his education and didn’t even learn to read until he was ten-years-old, but that didn’t stop him from catching up with his classmates and eventually becoming the valedictorian of his high school.

At the graduation ceremony for Milwaukee Marshall High School, the star student had a message for his classmates about rising to the occasion. "No matter the circumstances that you face and the challenges, because we all go through challenges, I still want people to look up and see the light and see that they can chase their dreams and desires," he says.

Jaden credits his teachers at Marshall with his success, but his career counselor Patrice Beckley says that Jaden is amazing and just knowing him has been “an honor and a privilege.” Since he was 12, he’s wanted to be a robotics engineer and now he’s getting closer to that dream by attending Milwaukee School of Engineering in the fall on a full scholarship. He’ll also be be the first person in his family to go to college. 

Source: TMJ4

photo credit: pixabay royalty free images

#good news #goodnews

[type40capsule]

The Seeds of Doom by Ben Willsher

From DWM 428

#Doctor Who #Tom Baker #Harrison Chase #Tony Beckley #Krynoid #plants #The Seeds of Doom #Doctor Who Magazine #Ben Willsher #DW art

[spiltcandycoatedpunkblood]

It's a treasure now being able to recognise Tony Beckley after watching the re-release of the Italian Job having seen what I wonderfully consider one of my favourite classic Doctor Who stories. I knew he looked familiar.

And so he was robbing gold with Michael Caine before he became a millionaire and went mad about plants. Still got that style, though, I see.

#tony beckley #the seeds of doom #the italian job #he also had the same name as my sister does in the film too #neat coincidences there then #doctor who #classic who #i'm in love with the pink suit #i picked it out above all the other outfits he wears #camp freddie #harrison chase

[cleowho]

“Have you met Miss Smith?”

The Seeds of Doom - season 13 - 1976

#doctor who #classic doctor who #classic who #fourth doctor #tom baker #the seeds of doom #harrison chase #tony beckley #sarah jane smith #elisabeth sladen #scorby #john challis

[cheesecakemermaid1048]

#cheese talks #elevator hitch #elevator hitch game #chase beckley #elevator hitch chase #EH game #bryce stryker #elevator hitch bryce #meme

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Group B Round 2

[image ID: the first image is of Hikaru, a boy with white hair, wearing a short sleeve button up shirt, tucked into dark pants, and carrying a backpack. he's holding up 2 fingers in a peace sign. the second image is of Coworker, a man with short brown hair. he's wearing a suit and tie. end ID]

Hikaru

technically he isnt the real hikaru, hes a strange melty fractal creature that cant be fully perceived that took over the original hikaru's body after he died in the mountains [additional propaganda 1]

Chase Beckley/Coworker

[mod note: I've been informed that this character's name changes very often in the game, and the creator refers to him just as 'Coworker.' Chase Beckley is one of the names this character uses] Office worker going through The Horrors He dies a lot and has a terrible time, once he finally escapes The Horrors, guess what! They Do Not end! Its a fun game you should check it out if you havent before 

#obscurecharactershowdown #group b round 2 #obscure poll #hikaru ga shinda natsu #chase beckley #elevator hitch

[thealmightyemprex]

Horrortober :When A Stranger Calls

In this 1979 film.....I cant describe the plot cause the film is divided into three sections:A woman (Caroll Kane) getting mysterious phone calls,then a detective(Charles Durning ) chasing a lunatic (Tony Beckley ) and finallly a sequel to the first segment .Right off the bat,the first 20 minutes of the movie....Is pure unfiltered horror ,it is horrifying and perfect .I will also say the ending is really scary and very solid (With an awesome trope subversion where the loved one DOES NOT DISMISS THE TRAUMA OF THE PROTAGONIST AND ACTIVELY REASSURES THEM AND TRIES TO HELP.DEAR GOD THATS REFRESHING)The Cast is all good ,Charles Durning is a cool detective character ,Carol Kane is fantastic as a tormented young woman and Tony Beckley is phenominal as the villain.....But the big problem is how he is handled in the middle section.....Now the middle isnt bad ,but it stops being a horror movie,it gives us too much time with the villain ,it feels like an entirely diffrent film ,and honestly its just filler .I like the idea of making the killer somewhat pathetic but it doesnt gel with how he behaves the rest of the film .I love aspects of the film but the whole doesnt quite come together ,so overall I am a little disappointed ,cause the first 20 minutes are so excellent the film doenst live up to them

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @lord-antihero @princesssarisa @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @filmcityworld1 @marquisedemasque

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

O Tannenbaum

Hi everyone!!! I have a Christmas DuckTales fic for everybody. My OC Sabrina Duck has been one of my favorite original characters that I have come up with. I have been a fan of Ludwig Von Drake since I was really little. He’s always been my favorite member of the Duck family other than Donald. I love kooky Ludwig Von Drake and this has been one of my favorite fluff fics. I wish all of you a happy, healthy and safe Christmas!! 

I put the last bow on the present that I had gotten for Louie yesterday with Mrs. Beckley, the new gaming system that he had wanted. I had spent months working hard in order to be able to afford it and I knew that my brother was just going to love it. Christmastime was a rare occasion for my family. It was the one time that we ever got spoiled. Uncle Donald spent most of the year other than our birthdays saving up for it. As I tied the green ribbon around the green paper I wrote Louie’s name across it.

“Lass? What are you still doing up?” I heard my uncle’s voice coming from the front of the room and he sat down on the couch.

“I’m wrapping Louie’s present. You might have noticed that he’s a bit of a present hound. If I get anything for him every year he finds it.” I joked and my uncle just chuckled at me as I pushed the present underneath the tree.

“Figured that you’d be fast asleep by now. You have to make another trip tomorrow don’t you?” I nodded my head watching the snow outside with a small smile. Another great thing about the holidays was spending them with uncle Ludwig. I had been doing it since I was really little. I would open presents on the boat and then go off to his mansion.

“It’s one of my favorite parts of the holidays. I always spend New Years Eve with him as well but that was before…” I felt the carpet beneath my fingers smiling softly looking outside. I still had two more of Louie’s presents that I wanted to wrap before I eventually went to bed and now I had company.

“Before what lass?” I laughed at him grabbing the green wrapping paper. We always had color coordinated our wrapping paper so that we would know who had what.

“Well before we moved here with you Uncle Scrooge. I might not do it this year.” I carefully measured out the wrapping paper so that I could make it perfect. Uncle Ludwig had helped teach me how to do it to look more professional last year.

“I don’t want you to go changing your schedule around for me Brina. That’s not what the holidays are for. I know that you’ve been spending less time with Ludwig since you moved in here with me. You really only see him for school now and that isn’t how it used to be right?” I nodded my head faintly, my headband slipping a little bit. 

“I would spend every other weekend with him just for fun. That was when he taught me how to play violin and piano. Back when we lived on the boat things were really cramped and that was my time to get away. Now that I live here it’s a lot less crowded so I’m able to be alone a lot more.” I mentioned to my uncle and he just smiled softly at me as I put a little ribbon across one of Louie’s games.

“He can take this counsel on adventures with us; it's one of the reasons why he wanted it so badly.” Uncle Scrooge just smiled softly at me and patted the seat next to him on the couch where he was sitting.

“I know that this year has been… challenging for you. You got your mom back and I know how happy that made you but at the same time you haven’t seen one of your favorite people as much as you used to. It’s been an adjustment having people living in my mansion that weren’t me. I never thought that Donald would actually come back, nor that he would bring you four rascals with him.” I smiled softly at my uncle taking the wrapping paper and carefully wrapping the last of my brother’s presents.

“At first it was… really hard for me. I spent most of my life not having a mom and uncle Donald never talked about her. I figured that it would be too difficult for him to. I’m the only one of the four of us that was the general translator. Louie joked for years that I should write them a dictionary so that they would understand him too. Having a mom now it’s great. It took me probably the longest to get used to it. But then again I’m me and a bit of an oddball.” My uncle chuckled at me adjusting my headband.

“That’s Dewey talking not you lass, I thought that you two were getting along better?” I sighed running a hand through my fur with a small smile.

“We are, thanks to you mostly. To him I’ll probably always be the kooky sister he just doesn’t call me that much around other people. I don’t really mind that nickname so much because it reminds me of uncle Ludwig.” Uncle Scrooge just sighed a little bit and I could tell that what I was saying did hurt him in some way.

“Sometimes the kookiest people are the best people like you and your uncle. There’s a difference between that and being actually crazy. I mean remember your cousin's Fethery?” I shuddered at the memory violently. That had not been a fun adventure; it had been a lot of me and Dewey bickering.

“Don’t remind me of that please, that was not a fun time for me. I missed out a school session that day because of that wild goose chase. Uncle Donald was right, he's kind of coo coo bananas.” I joked and we shared a good laugh about the antics of our wacky family. It didn’t mean that I loved them any less.

“I’m still sorry that you missed your schooling for that day. Not like you need it though you are a little genius.” I rolled my eyes with a small smile tucking my webbed feet into my body with a small smile.

“I am not a genius, just somebody that was taught really well. I didn’t do well in regular school. It was too crowded and I couldn’t think straight during classes. It wasn’t until I was sat down and taught by uncle Ludwig that I became actually intelligent. I think I just needed to be taught in a different way from most people.” Uncle Scrooge smiled softly at me putting his arm around my shoulders.

“I’ve got something for you lass…” He handed me a wrapped package and I was about to protest.

“But uncle Scrooge-” He shook his head at me with a mischievous smile on his face before he handed me the package.

“I think you’re really going to like it. I wanted to get you something special that I knew you would enjoy. I also wanted to give you it before your pesky brother’s got up.” I unwrapped it carefully and saw that he had gotten me a new violin. My old one was on the boat and that had wound up being very bad for me. When the boat blew up due to Magica De Spell uncle Ludwig had promised that he would buy me another one but I kept it at his house.

“You didn’t need to get me a new violin…” I protested and my uncle just laughed at me heartily shaking his head.

“Yes I did. I know that your other uncle already got you one but you don’t have it here. I’ve never even heard you play in front of me. Ludwig has sent me videos of you playing once I told the old loon you were officially staying here with me he just wouldn’t stop.” I laughed a little bit at the fact that my teacher and mentor had been sending videos of my performances.

“I’m sorry about him, we’re just really super close that’s all.” I apologized and uncle Scrooge just laughed a little bit as I got a better look at my new instrument.

“It’s beautiful… thank you so much for this uncle Scrooge!!” I thanked him, scrambling to give him a hug and he just smiled softly at me. 

“It’s no trouble lass, I wanted to find ye something that you would love. And don’t apologize for the antics of my brother in-law. I’ve been related to him for far too long so I’m used to it.” I smiled softly at my uncle looking down at my violin and seeing that it was one in the morning.

“I should really be getting to bed. It’s late or rather early in the morning. Sometimes it’s like I’m the parent. I’m used to staying up past an ungodly hour to wrap Louie’s presents on Christmas Eve.” I told him as I yawned and sat down for a second just looking at the beautiful tree in front of me.

“Go and get a few hours of sleep lass you look like you are just about dead on your feet right now.”  I nodded my head rubbing my eyes and I went back upstairs and curled up in a little ball against my sheets grabbing my favorite stuffed octopus.

“Did you just come to bed sis?” I heard Huey ask me from the bunk below mine and I looked down leaning my head into his bunk.

“Yes and if you were a good twin you would go right to sleep yourself Huebert.” I threatened lovingly and he just rolled his eyes at me.

“Look who's talking, it's one in the morning Brina. Then again I’m too excited to sleep.” I laughed a little bit at my brother’s surprisingly childish nature.

“Just close your eyes and try to get some sleep Huey. I know that we’ve got a lot of presents out there but that’s no reason to not sleep. Uncle Scrooge got me a home violin. He just gave it to me.” I told him taking off my holly headband with a small smile on my face. I leaned my head back against my pillows and instantly fell asleep. Despite everything when I heard Dewey singing about Christmas only six hours later I still felt well rested.

“It’s Christmas, gotta open up some presents, it’s Christmas gonna spend some time with my family, it’s Christmaaaasss!!” I sighed holding back the urge to jokingly throw my pillow at my younger brother.

“Dewey I love you, I really do but please put a sock in it…” Huey muttered from underneath my bed and I laughed genuinely at him. I put back on my headband from yesterday grabbing my Christmas clothes that I would wear over to uncle Ludwig’s after breakfast and presents. It had Nutcrackers on it and I had gotten it last year on Christmas Eve from uncle Donald.

“Alright I’m coming, Louie get up it’s Christmas that means… present time!!” I waved my hands around animatedly and he shot up out of bed trying to race us to the tree. 

“Oh no you don’t, come on Huey we can’t let the greedy Gus get to our presents first we have to beat him.” I told my brother as he put on his shirt and cap and ran after me for the presents. I skidded to a halt seeing Webby looking around our tree. I looked around the tree for the purple wrapped paper that I had put there a few days ago.

“Merry Christmas Webby!! I hope you like it, I wasn’t really sure what to do for you but you’re one of my best friends.” I gave her the sweater that I had made for her that I hoped that she would like. 

“This is beautiful… You didn’t need to do this for me Sabrina.” I shook my head with a small smile gesturing to my dress.

“Obviously I’m a huge fan of the holidays. I have always been since I was small so everybody gets a present from me that’s how the holiday works.” I reminded her and she held up her purple let it snow sweater that I made for her.

“But you hand knitted this didn’t you? I didn’t even know that you could do that!!” I rubbed the back of my neck a little bit.

“Another teaching of uncle Ludwig’s and it’s one of my favorite hobbies. I made my ugly sweater that I was wearing yesterday. It’s just a little hobby that I have I knit usually before bed. It calms down my anxiety putting on soft music and just feeling the tension of the day go away.” My mom came into the room and I ran to give her a hug. She easily hugged me back, tying the bow a little bit better in the back of my dress. 

“Merry Christmas baby.” I smiled softly at her as she pushed my headband back just a little bit. I showed her the violin case that uncle Scrooge had given to me yesterday.

“Oh wow, this is beautiful!! Did you get this for her uncle Scrooge?” He nodded his head, still looking half asleep but happy.

“I did the lass was out here until one in the morning wrapping presents for her brothers.” My mom turned to me with a quirked up eyebrow.

“In my defense Louie is the literal present hound. He always tries to open his presents before Christmas so I have to wrap his the night before.” My mom looked over at Louie who was shaking one of the green presents and I gestured with my hand in a see motion. 

“Alright sweetheart I see your point. Why don’t you give him a present then.” I nodded my head, grabbing one of Uncle Donald’s presents for him.

“Merry Christmas everyone!!” Uncle Donald came through the room and I took one of the mugs of hot chocolate that he was carrying. 

“Merry Christmas uncle Donald!!” I gave my uncle a tight hug with a bright smile on my face. Webby came back wearing her new sweater over her usual colored shirt.

“Merry Christmas Sabrina, which of the boys wants to go first?” I gestured to Louie who had already started to open his already.

“Ugh clothes!!” He made an exaggerated face and I laughed a little bit and I sat down next to him on the floor.

“Come on Lou at least be nice.” I told him and he smiled softly at me handing me his present for me and I shook it gently.

“Don’t turn into me Brina just open your presents.” He said jokingly and I laughed a little bit at him opening the present and finding that he had gotten me the illustrated version of my favorite book series.

“Lou why did you get this for me? You always make fun of me for reading them…” He gently nudged my shoulder with a laugh.

“I make fun of you because you are my big sister and that’s my job.You’re my best friend in the entire world and I love you that’s why I tease you.” I rolled my eyes at my “younger” brother for his gentle teasing and I flipped through the book seeing the beautiful drawings of dragons.

“Hey!! I loved that book when I was your age!!” My mom encouraged me and I looked up at her with a small sad smile on my face.

“Uncle Scrooge already told me about that. Do you want to look at it mom?” I asked her and she nodded her head enthusiastically. 

“Look at this one Sabrina!!” My mom enthusiastically showed me and I took the book from her looking at the sketch that she was showing to me.

“That’s so awesome wow!!” I looked at the beauty of this book and hugged my younger brother tightly.

“Thank you Lou…” I thanked my little brother and he hugged me tightly back with a small smile before lightly pushing me away.

“Alright that’s enough of the snuggles, get away from me clingy.” I rolled my eyes at him and I went against the other side of the couch.

“Fine, you don’t want my love, that's fine with me…” I protested and I took my book from my mom as she handed it back to me.

“Hey Hue I got something for you!!” Our mom got up and handed my brother his wrapped red present. My brother opened it passionately and found that it was a Sr Woodchuck Guidebook for his new set of badges he was going to earn. He had graduated back in June of this year and I knew that he was excited about the new year for that. 

“This one is yours from me Sabrina!!” My mom told me handing me a book wrapped up in pink paper and I took off the corner of it.

“Learning German, a workbook. Thank you mom… this.. This means a lot to me. I’ve wanted to learn the language for so long but have been too scared to ask uncle Ludwig. I want to surprise him.” I teared up looking at my mom. This present was more than just a workbook. It felt like she was accepting that part of my life. I hugged her tightly and she dried my tears with a small smile on her face.

“Don’t cry sweetie. I know what he means to you and I know that you are going to change the world due to his influence on your life.” I nodded my head with a bright smile on my face finding my present for Dewey.

“Merry Christmas Turbo.” I joked and he just laughed at me while muttering still bitter about that. He opened his present and saw that I had drawn a framed sketch of Darkwing Duck and had Drake sign it the last time that we were in St. Canard.

“Thanks Brina this is… beautiful.” He hugged me tightly and I just smiled softly at my younger brother. We really had come a long way since we had moved here earlier this year. 

“You’re welcome Dew. I know that we haven’t always gotten along and that I can be a bit of an oddball.” He gently shoved at my shoulder showing the rest of the family what I had made for him. 

“I know that I’ve been a jerk to you and I’m sorry for that. You’re not a kook in training and I’m sorry that I made you feel that way sis.” I smiled softly at him lightly kicking his foot with mine. I went through the pile finding a box for Uncle Donald and I gave it to my ultimate favorite uncle.

“You didn’t need to get me anything Brina…” I shook my head with a small smile bouncing on the heels of my webbed feet.

“I knew that but it’s Christmas so just take your present. I have one for Launchpad too but he’s not here…” Our local pilot had gone to St. Conard to help Drake officially adopt one of my newer friends Gosalyn.

“He’ll get your present tomorrow when he comes back. Do you have anything for me?” My mom asked me jokingly and I nodded my head with a small smile going underneath the tree and found the spaceship wrapping paper that I had used. 

“It might be a bit cheesy…” I played with my fingers a little bit and she opened the present showing off a blue sweater that said World’s Number One Adventurer\Mom.

“Oh sweetheart, I just love it. This is the best gift that I could have ever gotten and you know why?” I shook my head and she hugged me tightly to her. I hugged her back. It had taken me so long to become adjusted to having a mom in my life. 

“Because it came from you and from your beautiful heart. You have the heart of an adventurer and the stubbornness of one. You got that from me sorry about that.” I smiled softly at her adjusting the skirt of my dress.

“Huey, I’ve got your present right here!!” I handed my brother the wrapped gift that I hoped that he would like. Out of my brothers he was the hardest one to either shop or make things for. Until I got this idea this year, an organized planner using the Junior Woodchuck sash.

“You… when did you do this?” I laughed a little bit, putting up a finger to my lips and sitting down next to my brother.

“A gift giver never tells her secrets.” I teased and he hugged me tightly. I was just happy that he liked his present. I had finally gotten him to genuinely like something that I had made for him.

“Thanks Brina this is amazing!! I can plan accordingly now!!” He cheered and I couldn’t help but smile softly at him as I waved for uncle Donald to open his.

“To my favorite uncle, wishing you another year filled with adventure and stories to tell.” He read the card that I had put on the present. I always left my biggest ones for last. Those all had cards with meaningful words that I typed out.

“Oh Sabrina this is beautiful…” He held up the sweater that I had knitted from last year’s family Christmas photo. I knew that to my uncle nothing was more important than the happiness of my brothers and I.

“You’re not out of the woods yet uncle Scrooge!! This one is yours.” I found his maroon colored wrapping paper that I had put underneath the tree. 

“To the duck who brought our family together and helped me come out of my shyness.” I smiled softly at the tears in his eyes as he opened his present and saw the gold sweater that I had made for him with silver number one dimes on it. “Thank you lass this the sweetest thing that anybody has ever done for me.” He thanked me and I grinned over at the man that had helped me out so much.

“Alright, I think that the gift giver now needs to open one of her presents again before we all start crying.” Louie snarked from over at his spot and I found one of the magenta colored ones testing the weight of it.

“That one is from me.” Uncle Donald told me and I saw the card on the side of the wrapped up box.

“To Sabrina, my niece who collectively is the most stubborn and independent young duck that I have ever met aside from her own mother. You have grown so much out of your shell this last year able to make friends of your own aside from Louie and Huey. Hoping that this new year brings you all the joy and near heart attacks that it has given me.” I opened the present seeing that it was a picture of me when I was a little duckling. I was in the arms of my uncle Ludwig and he was showing me a map that had all the colors of the rainbow.

“I kept that photograph on the boat in a secret spot knowing that one day I would give it to you. You have always been so captivated by the world around you. It’s something that made you unique Sabrina. I am so proud of everything that you have become during these last few months.” I felt tears fall down my cheeks as I took a picture of it and sent it to my uncle. He instantly got back to me.

“What did he say?” Dewey asked me and I let out a watery laugh drying my tears as I smiled down at the picture. 

“He said that I was always his most captive audience. I love that so much oh my god thank you uncle Donald this is so special to me.” I thanked him and he opened his arms to me while I put the picture next to me.

“Don’t thank me my darling, you’ve always been the best of my children.” I stuck my tongue out at my brothers. I got down and found my other present, this one from Dewey. It had a card on it that just said from Dewey on it but it was a new stuffed animal. My favorite sweet treat had been strawberry milkshakes for as long as I could remember. He had gotten me a stuffed strawberry milkshake.

“Aww it’s adorable thank you Dewey!!” I thanked him smiling softly when he just gave me a thumbs up. He also pushed me a French fry set as well.

“No problem alright, alright who’s the big green one for…” He hummed jokingly as he pushed the gaming console and games towards my green brother.

“It’s for me but this wasn’t here yesterday so it must be from Brina…” He trailed off finding the card and smiling softly.

“To the best friend and brother that a duck could have ever wished for. I hope that this brings you as much joy as you bring me everyday.” I smiled softly at my brother as he opened the gift and gaped at me.

“You didn’t?!” I nodded my head as he tore off the wrapping paper finding that I had indeed gotten him just what he wanted.

“You really are the best sibling in the entire world!!” He cheered and I pushed the two video games toward him that he tore open already booting up his new console. 

“Well we won’t hear anymore out of him today.” I joked and he just lightly kicked his webbed foot in my general direction. Huey handed me a neatly wrapped up pink box. 

“It’s not as heartfelt as you gave me but this is for you Brina.” I smiled softly at my brother as I unwrapped his present seeing that it was a scrapbook from over the years.

“I got most of them from the house, read the inscription.” He told me and I flipped to the front page.

“To Sabrina, a sister that taught me that being brave doesn’t always mean that you go looking for trouble but that you know just the right way to get out of it properly. You are the bravest person I know who is always ten steps ahead of whatever enemy she’s facing. Through learning with uncle Ludwig he has taught you to solve problems not just by looking at things straight but also sideways and backwards. Your brother, Huey.” I teared up reading the emotional inscription that he had obviously put a lot of time and effort into. When I flipped through the pages and saw all the different pictures that he had put in there including a replica in the frame that he must have copied. 

“Thank you Huebert this is everything that I could have ever wanted.” I thanked my brother and he just hugged me tightly to him.

“Don’t thank me sis you’ve worked hard enough. Not just on this Christmas but every single one of them before. Even when we were scraping for cash you still made the right gifts that would make everybody have a happy holiday.” I smiled brightly at my brother seeing one last present under the tree with magenta paper. I picked it up and saw that it was from Gosalyn.

“Oh from your girlfriend?” I shoved my Louie hard in the arm and he tilted but thankfully caught himself. 

“She is NOT my girlfriend.” I protested and he stuck his tongue out at me as I grabbed the card at the front of the package.

“Maybe not yet but she will be one of these days.” Dewey commented from the sidelines and Webby came back from the kitchen carrying waffles for everybody.

“Who’s who’s girlfriend?” Huey rolled his eyes coming to sit next to me and he grabbed the last of his presents from uncle Scrooge.

“On three…” I counted down with my brother keeping the card to read a bit later in the car on the way to uncle Ludwig’s. I opened the box to see another stuffed animal, a Build A Bear this time around this one a cute little reindeer that was white and sparkly.

“Ooo that’s really pretty!!” My mom exclaimed from over on the couch and I nodded my head hugging it tightly. 

“Watch her start sleeping with that instead of the jellyfish.” Louie shot back at me and I flushed a bright pink.

“You-why-you-” Dewey laughed heartily at my brother and I looked around for any other presents for somebody.

“Why lass, what’s there up in the tree?” Uncle Scrooge asked me and I looked around seeing that there was an envelope stuck in the tree.

“It’s tickets to St. Conard for New Years!!” I cheered and Dewey looked over my shoulder with a small smile.

“New Years was never really a huge deal for us anyways, we were way more Christmas fans.” I noticed that there was one more present with magenta paper and Gosalyn’s tag on it and I opened it seeing that it was a stuffed fox.

“She got you two?!” My mom asked me and I nodded my head with a bright smile on my face instantly becoming attached to the fox.

“They have those buy one get another for half off deals all the time if you get them without clothes. You’ve never really liked the clothes huh sis?” Louie asked me and I nodded my head standing up and hugging my uncle tightly.

“Thank you for the tickets to St. Conard uncle Scrooge.” I thanked him and he hugged me back with a small smile.

“No need to thank me lass. Why don’t you do me one favor though instead of a thank you?” I laughed a little bit grabbing my new violin and maneuvering my way around wrapping paper strewn across the floor that Huey was picking up. 

“Anybody have any specific request?” I asked and Dewey looked over at me with a small smile as he played with his new electric train that uncle Donald had gotten for him on the floor.

“What’s that Christmas song that uncle Ludwig really loves? O something?” I smiled softly putting the violin on my left shoulder. I gripped it with my left hand and started to play the beautiful Christmas song with my right hand. This had always been a favorite of mine to play. It just simply made me really happy.

“That was beautiful Sabrina sweetheart!!” My mom encouraged me and I did a mock bow in front of my family.

“That was the first time that she’s ever played for the rest of us…” Louie mentioned looking up at me in sheer awe.

“That’s true!! We used to have to sneak peeks of what she was playing because she was too shy to have an audience. You really have grown a lot this year sis.” Huey reminded me and I looked down at my tights.

“We should be getting you to uncle Ludwig’s, he’ll bring you back here. He’s coming to family dinner this year.” My mom told me and my eyes widened turning to my uncle Scrooge who sighed and adjusted his spectacles.

“I thought that it was high time that I stopped avoiding family. I always had a soft spot for my brother in-law anyways as kooky as he can be.” I cheered with a bright smile on my face. I grabbed my boots and coat, lacing them up.

“Are you ready to go Sabrina?” Uncle Donald asked me and I laughed a little bit at him as I turned around in a small circle.

“I’m ready uncle Donald!!” I cheered and he opened the front door for me and I got my new stuffed animal. I hugged my new fox and grabbed my reindeer as well to take them with me.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a little while family!!” He opened the front door for me and I sat down on my side of the front door. Uncle Donald drove me the short distance to my third uncle’s house and I instantly saw him get up excitedly and open the door for me.

“Mein starchen, happy Christmas!!” I hugged him tightly and he picked me up and hugged me back.

“Happy Christmas uncle Ludwig!!” Uncle Donald handed me the present that I had made for my teacher.

“I’ll see you in a few hours okay Sabrina?” I nodded my head while uncle Donald kissed my forehead driving away.

“Come along starchen it’s cold out here you’ll catch ze sick.” I laughed a little bit at my kooky uncle. I grabbed my stuffed animals and the sweater that I knitted for him.

“Did you get those stuffies for ze holiday?” I nodded my head and I softly felt the ear of my fox. He brought me into his study where I saw three carefully wrapped presents sitting on my work desk.

“My best friend sent them to me!! I told you about Gosalyn. She just got adopted by her foster dad a few days ago.” My uncle smiled softly at me as he scooted his chair over so that he could sit next to me.

“Well that was very sweet of her to do something like that. Did you send her something?” I nodded my head, getting out my phone and showing him the Darkwing Duck ugly sweater that I made for her.

“I knitted her this, I’ve gotten a lot better at knitting words over the last couple of Christmases.” My uncle looked at the picture in awe that I had made something of that caliber.

“Do you remember why I taught you knitting?” I shook my head and he just smiled at me taking one of my wings in his.

“When I was a little duckling much like you, I was an anxious little ball of trouble. My granny sat me down and taught me knitting. At ze time when I taught it to you I thought that it might help. I was never very good at it myself. I would always get too frustrated but I am so happy that you’ve stuck with it. Even though it was hard sometimes.” I smiled lovingly at my uncle who had taken me under his wing and made me his protege.

“I think of it as playing the violin. Yes it’s difficult and sometimes I want to throw the needle and thread across the room while telling it to simply do what I want it to. But then I just remember that you can’t rush knitting. It taught me to be more patient because sometimes even when you really want something done a specific way and it just won’t work you need to work through it.” I told him and I handed him his present that he ripped off like he was my age which caused me to laugh at him. He held it up with two wings and tears in his eyes. He had taught me about checklists when I was really little and I had combined that with my recent passion of knitting ugly sweaters.

“Starchen this is so sweet of you, I-I’m at a loss for words…” I laughed at my uncle unbuttoning my coat and draping it over the sides of my chair and taking off my boots.

“There’s a first time for everything.” I teased and he made the oh hush you motion with his hands. He turned the sweater around so that I could see the dark blue sweater that I made. It had a little checklist that I thought of for a design of four boxes, multiple PHD’s, incredible inventor, kooky uncle and best teacher. Every one of them I had double checked along with the percentages of 25. 

“I’m going to wear this, I’ll be right back. Don’t you dare open up those presents while I’m gone.” He told me and I put my hands up in complete surrender as my phone buzzed and I saw the familiar picture of my best friend. Gos: I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!! Thanks Brina it’s super cute and just my style. She thanked me and I smiled softly at the selfie that she had taken of her wearing the Darkwing Duck sweater that I had knitted for her using black fabric. 

Me: Hey no problem!! I had a great time making it besides it’s kind of something that I make all the time. I prefer giving presents to getting them during the holidays (thanks for the Fox by the way I am naming him Ferdinand and the reindeer is Rosanna.) I’m at my uncle Ludwig’s right now. Did your dad tell you that I was coming for New Years?? My uncle came back with a bright smile showing me that his sweater fit perfectly.

“I love this starchen. I’m not taking it off for the next twenty four hours.” He told me and I smiled softly at my educator.

“I’m just really happy that you love it so much. I wasn’t really sure if you would or not but knowing that you do it just… makes me really happy.” My uncle ruffled my hair softly and sat down next to me.

“Did you already name these new stuffies of yours?” I nodded my head gesturing with my wing to Ferdinand and Rosanna.

“This one is Ferdinand and this one is Rosanna. Gos sent me a selfie in her new ugly Christmas sweater that I made for her.” I showed him a picture of what my best friend looked like and she messaged me back.

Gos: He did tell me!! I’m really excited since you didn’t really stay long enough to do some of the touristy stuff with me. We’ll have to do that when you come up for New Years. I thought that you spent New Years with your uncle though? The one that is your teacher?

“You should spend some time with yer friend, we spent a lot of free time together this year too. I knew when Scrooge offered you to stay in his mansion that I would see you less. I expected it so it’s fine that you want to go to visit your friend for ze holiday.” I smiled softly at my uncle giving him a tight hug. His sweater was soft and I instantly melted into the hug.

“Are you sure uncle?” He nodded his head and dried the tears that were there while I smiled softly at him.

“Look at us eh, couple of crying fools.” I laughed at my uncle taking Ferdinand and looking at him. 

“Are you going to knit them some clothes Starchen?” I nodded my head with a small smile. I couldn’t stand the actual Build A Bear clothes; they were far too itchy and scratchy. 

“Probably knit them some ugly sweaters of their own!! I’ll think of something my hands are a little tired from all the knitting that I had to do these last four months.” I went back to my own chair and he just smiled softly at me.

“Well starchen pick a present any present.” He told me like it was a gameshow and I went for the smallest one first. I unwrapped it seeing that it was a new necklace. I opened it and saw that it was a family portrait with my brothers and I last Christmas.

“Oh this is super cute!! Look at Louie’s little hat!!” I laughed a little bit at the memory remembering how much he hated wearing it. We had all worn Santa hats last year in our colors for Christmas photos. This year would have everybody there including Miss Daisy.

“So my nephew is bringing his girlfriend?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face. I was just happy that uncle Donald had found somebody who would love him for who he was. 

“He is actually!! It’s the first Christmas that he is bringing Miss Daisy with him. I just hope that everything goes alright between them. I love uncle Donald but sometimes things just don’t go his way. Daisy is really nice though she liked my knitting the last time that I saw her I was wearing my GIR sweater.” My uncle laughed softly at my interactions as I tried to tie my necklace around my neck.

“Let me help you with that starchen  before you hurt yourself.” He warned half heartedly and I saw the snow start outside. It was beautiful and I always loved watching the snow. It was something that I had treasured ever since I was really little.

“I was really surprised when Scrooge invited me over for Christmas dinner. It has been a long time since we’ve last truly talked.” I smiled sympathetically at the man that had taught me everything I knew.

“I think I’ve helped him just as much as he has helped me. He got me a new violin for home even though you already replaced my old one and kept it here. I performed in front of my brothers…” My uncle gazed at me a little bit surprised since I had always been terrified of performing in front of somebody that wasn’t him.

“And how did that go?” He asked me carefully and I smiled softly nodding my head looking down at my dress. 

“It went really well surprisingly. I didn’t get nervous really at all. It’s not that I don’t love playing, it's that I get performance anxiety when everybody is looking at me expectantly. Like they expect me to do something and when I don’t… I fear that I’ll get rejected.” My uncle put his arm around my shoulders with a small smile on his face.

“But that won’t happen. They are your family and whether or not you get along with all of your brothers is up for debate. You are working hard to repair your relationship with Dewbert and I know that has been hard for you at times. But you’ve always worked through it and I am so proud of you for that. What did you play for them?” I smiled softly looking down at my necklace and seeing the goofy photo that we had all taken together.

“O Tannenbaum at Dewey's request. I was surprised when that was the song that he told me he wanted to hear. He didn’t know the full name but the point was that he remembered that I would always play it this time of year on the boat because it’s your favorite.” My uncle smiled softly at me adjusting my headband.

“Your siblings love you, I know that especially Louie does. Without you he wouldn’t ever do anything most likely but ze fact that you are there he does everything for you.” I smiled a little bit thinking about my younger quadruplet.

“I got him the gaming system that he really wanted. The cool thing is that it’s portable so he can take it on adventures!! He always whines about having nothing to do during the actual adventuring and getting to the place. So I thought that he would appreciate that. He got me the illustrated version of Earthsea. I’ll show it to you when you come back to the mansion.” I told him and he leaned his head on top of mine.

“I look forward to it starchen. How was Christmas with your mother? Was it everything that you wanted it to be?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face thinking about the German workbook that she had gotten for me. 

“It really was!! I made her a sweater that said number one adventurer\mom on it.” He smiled softly at me and I reached for the medium sized present seeing that it was a chemistry set of my very own. I had only ever used his before during school sessions but I loved science and especially chemistry because that was the kind of thing that you could catalogue. He had taught me all the names for the elements through song.

“Thank you uncle Ludwig!! I love it so much!!” I thanked him and he just chuckled a little bit at me as I started to take it out of the box. I looked at all the different mechanics and put them together to make the full set. 

“That’s my niece, using that big brain of hers to put that together in… three minutes flat!!” He encouraged me and I laughed a little bit at him as I looked at all the different elements that were in front of me.

“Well I had a pretty fantastic teacher!!” I reminded him and he just laughed a little bit at me that typical ho, ho, ho laugh that I had grown up loving.

“You were an even better student, you just needed to be taught in an unconventional way. It makes sense since I am a highly unconventional type of person.” He reasoned and I smiled softly at him looking at all the chemicals that I had. I couldn’t wait to start experimenting with this once I got back home.

“I just needed a song about all the chemicals on the table set to a song. I love music and you used that to your advantage.” I added onto that and put all the items back into the box looking at the last one.

“What could it possibly be, I don’t really know…” I gently nudged him while laughing at his typical antics. I took off the wrapping paper and saw that he had gotten me another box. I opened it hearing a soft meow.

“You didn’t….” He nodded his head and I took out the cat carefully seeing that it was this tiny ball of fur.

“I already cleared it with Scrooge and you can keep ze little guy. What do you want to name him?” I hummed in thought before an idea occurred to me while petting his soft little head.

“Jiji? Do you like that name?” The kitten meowed in affirmation and approval and my heart simply melted at the cuteness.

“I say that he does like it quite a lot!! That’s all the presents that I have for you this year. I wanted to get you another stuffed animal but figured that you had plenty of those from the others. So I wanted to get you a real life friend.” I smiled softly at my caring uncle giving him a tight hug. 

“Thank you uncle Ludwig this is the best thing that could have ever given to me.” I thanked him and he just shot me back his signature kooky smile. “There is no need to thank me starchen. Simply seeing you happy is the thing that I wish for every year.” He reminded me and I smiled softly at my new kitten that I had just gotten as I petted his head and scratched behind his ears and he purred back at me.

“Well that’s funny because every year I wish you the exact same thing so it must come true.” I joked and he just smiled at me. Jiji came to sit in my lap and I felt him paw around until he found a comfortable spot.

“How is he already so attached to me?” I asked him and he gestured to the box which I sniffed and smelt the lemon and citrus shampoo that I used.

“I made it into a perfume if you want the rest of it, it's right here. I wanted him to get adjusted to the way that you smelled. I thought that if I made a perfume with that scent it would work and it would be a success!!” He cheered and I laughed a little bit at him hearing the soft purrs of Jiji against my lap.

“I love him uncle Ludwig thank you so much, he’s so cute…” I thanked him again, kissing his forehead and he pressed closer to me.

“There is no need to thank me Sabrina. I knew that he would make you happy. If he gets unattached maybe we could build a snowman in ze front yard?” I nodded my head enthusiastically since that was one of my favorite yearly traditions. 

“Yes!! Of course we’re doing that again, I love building the yearly snowman.” I cheered and I smiled softly taking a picture of Jiji and sending it to the family group chat.

Me: Uncle Ludwig got me a kitten!! Welcome to the family Jiji!! I got a series of gasping emojis from Huey along with a response that he would go out and get a cat tree for him to put in our room. I saw Jiji get up off of my lap and go wander around the mansion for a little while.

“Come on starchen it’ll get dark before you know it and I promised Scrooge that we would be back by four.” My uncle reminded me offering a wing up and I buttoned up my coat and put my shoes back on.

“Here take this scarf and hat. I don’t want you to get sick out there.” He reminded me lovingly and I took the items from him that were magenta colored. I tied up my snow boots and looked out at all the snow.

“Alright time to ze best snowman on ze block!!” He encouraged me and I nodded my head helping him to roll out the base. I got a really mischievous idea when I rolled up a ball of snow and launched it at him. I couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on my uncle’s face. He just looked so dejected and almost hurt for a moment before I saw the determination.

“Oh so it’s going to be like that is it young lady?” He asked with his hands on his hips arming himself with another snowball as I sprinted around his front yard.

“Gotta find a place to hide…” I muttered to myself and I found the big tree on his side yard running over there dodging snowballs.

“So that’s your strategy, you strike first and zen you run away?” I snickered to myself finding another snowball and gagging where his voice was coming from before throwing it.

“Oof!!!” I heard a sputter and a fall over and I couldn’t help but cackle with laughter at the fact that I had made a perfect bullseye shot.

“I grew up with three brothers, uncle Ludwig, in snowball your best bet is to find a place to hide and then build your ammunition. I’m sorry if I hurt you.” I apologized and offered him a hand up only for him to find the first pile of snow and lightly shove me into it. 

“Hey!!” I laughed a little bit when I hit the ground since the snow was not that deep and watched as his eyes widened. 

“Are you okay starchen?! Oh noes what was I thinking, I should have checked that snow pile.” He quickly offered me a hand up and I dusted off the back of my dress a little bit. I was fine. It did hurt a little bit but I was tougher than I looked.

“I’m fine uncle Ludwig, it did hurt but I’ll survive. It was more of a surprised hey than anything else.” I hugged him tightly and I felt him hug me back tentatively. I sighed a little bit since I knew that I had worried my teacher.

“Why don’t we go and finish the snowman? I promise no more snowball fights.” I held my hands up in surrender and he just smiled softly at me.

“You’re so strong starchen, I’m still so sorry that I did that. I wasn’t thinking.” I smiled softly at my uncle kissing his cheek gently.

“I’m okay uncle, come on this snowman isn’t going to build himself!! Ooo that would be a fun invention to try out an automatic snowman builder.” I thought to myself and my uncle did his bright laugh that I always moved hearing.

“It would save us ze trouble of having to freeze our tookies off every year!!” He added onto my thought and I laughed a little bit knowing that next year he just might have made the Von Drake automatic snowman builder. Whether or not invention would work was entirely up to chance. 

“Exactly!! But for now a snowman needs to be built. And a snow niece.” I reminded him helping him to build the perfect snowman while I got to work on my snow niece next to him. I went inside and grabbed the carrots and coal that we used every year and decorated them.

“Ze perfect snowmen!! Great job starchen we still have a while before we need to go. Come along let’s get you thawed out.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me back inside. He lit his fireplace and brought out his latest invention.

“I call it the Von Drake automatic homemade hot chocolate maker!! Have you ever wanted a cup of freshly made hot chocolate and not wanted to use ze sometimes nasty but all together fine instant things from the microwave but the homemade was too much of a hassle for you?” I nodded my head because he did have a good point.

“Well no longer because this will make you a cup of hot chocolate that is homemade faster than the ones from ze microwave!! All I have to do is press this button.” He showed me putting a mug under the machine as I watched it fill with homemade hot chocolate.

“Don’t forget ze marshmallows!!” He encouraged me and I took a handful taking a picture of the hot drink and sending it to Gosalyn. 

Me: My uncle made a machine that makes automatic hot chocolate that is homemade!! Let’s see how it tastes and I’ll give you the verdict. I took a gentle sip and my eyes widened. He was right!! This did taste like homemade hot chocolate and it was made with no fuss, no mess that usually went along with the dessert.

“And what is ze verdict?” I put my mug down and gave him two thumbs up with a bright smile on my face.

“It’s amazing!! It really is, it tastes just like homemade hot cocoa but it’s without having to dirty up the big pot in order to do so.” He cheered with his laugh and filled up a mug for himself grabbing the marshmallows.

“It does work!! This could be my next big project, it would definitely bring in ze big bucks.” He thought to himself and I laughed at him.

“You don’t have to in fact I’d prefer if you didn’t. Have it be our little thing.” I clinked my mug with his and I sent my best friend starry eyed thumbs up emojis.

“It also just makes warm milk for ze kitties…” I looked down and saw Jiji come into the room and uncle Ludwig got a small bowl.

“But uncle Ludwig most cats are lactose intolerant!!” I reminded him and he held up one finger before showing me that he had made it with a cat milk option.

“And only be given it in moderation. Don’t worry, starchen I did my research.” Jiji carefully lapped at the milk that was offered to him and my heart warmed.

“Thank you uncle Ludwig again for him, he's so beautiful.” I thanked my uncle and he just laughed at me sitting down next to me on the couch.

“Tis no problem I wanted to bring you ze happy feels this holiday.” I smiled softly at him and the warmth of the drink brought the cold out of my body.

“Just spending the holiday with you makes me happy uncle. You didn’t need to do anything in particular to make it that way. But building the snowman is always my favorite part of the holiday.” I mentioned to him and I snuggled into his side as Jiji hopped up next to me on the couch curling up behind me.

“It’s my favorite too starchen. It makes me so grateful that you are so kind hearted to your kooky uncle.” I rolled my eyes at my uncle settling against him. I had never liked when he called himself kooky since even though he never really cared about the insult it still made me want to yell at anybody who had ever called him that.

“I don’t think that it’s right that people make fun of you uncle Ludwig…” I trailed off and he just smiled softly at me.

“They just don’t really understand me, tis them that is kooky not me. Besides I’m sorry too. I think that from hanging around me so much you got the gene too.” He apologized and my heart broke for my teacher.

“That’s not true!! I mean it did make me a bit… odd but I love the way that I am. You taught me that there is no straight answer or right way to answer anything. That there is always another way to analyze a problem. That methodology helped me to become a better problem solving adventurer because I knew that whatever bind I got into that there was always another way. It also helps that I got my optimistic attitude from you.” I joked and my uncle laughed a little bit at me.

“You always know just what to say to make me feel better starchen. I was only happy to help you. I knew that your schooling wasn’t helping you and that you needed a more eccentric way of getting the message across.” I smiled softly at my uncle drinking from my cup of now cooling but still warm enough to soothe the coldness in body hot chocolate.

“I made another machine for you to keep at ze mansion so that you can have it whenever you want to.” I cheered since that would make the colder mornings a lot easier for me to handle. I preferred his more grounded in reality inventions. There was one time when I was younger that he made an apple chopper that went haywire that scared me from eating apples for a year.

“Thank you for that uncle Ludwig. Really this is one of the best inventions that you have ever thought up. What made you change from being overselies with them to being more grounded in reality?” He sighed adjusting his spectacles with a small remembering smile on his face. Jiji pressed his body a little bit closer to my leg.

“It was you Sabrina. You made me rethink the way that I was inventing things after the apple slicer incident. I was only trying to make you happy. In doing that you had your first ever sensory overload. It was my fault. I know that you told me it wasn’t but I often felt bad about it. That’s when I knew. I had to stop the crazy gizmos and gadgets and make things that were more practical for people. Things that would save people time or bring people together like this one.” He mentioned to me and I smiled softly at my favorite teacher. He had done so much for me and I wanted to bring just a little bit more happiness to him.

“I love you uncle Ludwig…” I didn’t really know what to say to that whole speech. It would probably take me a bit more time to process but when he kissed my forehead gently I knew that he knew what I was trying to say. “Finish your cocoa and then we should probably get on our way starchen.” He reminded me and I drank the last of my mug and he took it over to his sink to wash later.

“Did you get your stuffies?” I nodded my head gesturing to where they were in my arms and Jiji walked beside me.

“He’s an outdoor and indoor cat but I would keep him indoors if I was you. Don’t want him running away now.” I nodded my head as Jiji looked down at the snow and then up at me as if to ask me mommy what is this sorcery.

“I got you little one.” My uncle picked him up and Jiji looked around at the atmosphere around him curiously. He stuck his pink tongue out at the snowflakes and caught one on his tongue.

“Good boy Jiji, we’re almost in the car.” My uncle had made his first car into an electric one a few years ago to try and save the environment.

“Alright starchen off to Scroogie’s house!!” He cheered and I cheered along with him as Jiji climbed into my lap to watch the world go by out the window. It was a beautiful snowy Christmas night and I loved the look of everything right now. Before I knew it we were at the mansion and I found my brothers playing outside with new sleds.

“Hey!!” Dewey cheered and I rushed to hug my younger brother and Jiji looked around outside the car.

“Hey Dew, what’s going on?” I asked him and he smiled showing me the igloos that they had made while I was gone.

“We all got new wooden sleds and we were giving them a test run. Also you missed a snowball fight but we’ll make up for it tomorrow. Is that him?” I nodded my head with an apprehensive smile but Huey was already rushing towards our uncle.

“Hi I’m Huey, it’s great to finally meet her teacher.” My brother introduced himself to our inventing uncle who just gave his laugh.

“I already knew which one you were actually Huey. She described all three of you to me since she was very little. Where is Louie?” My brother gestured to the inside where I assumed my brother had been most of the day. 

“Playing his new system he got cold about an hour ago which makes sense. I’m Dewey. You probably hate me and I’m sorry for all the stuff that she probably has already told you. I can kinda be a jerk to her sometimes.” My blue brother apologized and our uncle got down on his level.

“I won’t say that your words didn’t hurt me because seeing starchen cry is like a dagger in me. I do however understand that siblings can’t always get along. I commend you for being honest and upfront about your flaws. That is a very hard thing to say. I think ze ego gets in ze way of that.” My uncle reasoned and he took my wing in his wrapping it around his. He looked at the igloos that my brothers had built in awe.

“We build them every year as our team's secret bases for snowball fights. It’s every man for himself so it usually results in all out warfare. Is Miss Daisy already here?” Huey nodded his head with a bright smile on his face.

“She got here just a little bit before you did!! Is this Jiji? I got a place for you to live little buddy.” My brother bent to pick him up and Jiji gently sniffed his hand before deeming Huey trustworthy.

“So he really does say the as ze?” I nodded my head with a laugh a little bit as Huey was already asking him how he came up with the chemistry song.

“I love his laugh too, when he does it you’ll know it’s the ho, ho, ho laugh.” I did a bastardized interpretation of it.

“You are also both hand talkers I see.” I nodded my head since I had inherited that from spending all that time around him.

“Oh yeah he taught me a lot with the hand movements. Starchen is German for star by the way.” I mentioned off handedly to my brother and he just listened to me while I talked about the person who meant more to me than anything else in the world.

“Louie loves his game by the way he was playing it for hours after you left. He didn’t even come outside at first when me and Huey were. Uncle Scrooge had to make me drag him.” I laughed a little bit at the idea of Huey kicking and screaming just wanting to play his game. Huey opened the heavy door to the mansion and I heard Louie in the living room with our mom.

“Die monsters!! Die!!” I cackled with laughter hearing my mom’s overly enthusiastic video gaming style. 

“Ludwig…” I heard uncle Scrooge from the front hall as he walked briskly down the hallway. I couldn’t help but smile since I could see how happy he was. 

“Scroogie…” My uncle’s hugged tightly and I couldn’t help but want to commit this moment to memory.

“I’ve missed you, you old mad scientist you.” I laughed at uncle Scrooge and I knew how important this reunion must have been for both of them.

“I missed you too, my brother in-law. Not really doing much of ze mad scientist thing these days. I’m more moved onto teacher and and mentor now. Look what mien starchen made me!!” He exclaimed, showing him the ugly sweater and I saw that Scrooge was wearing his as well. My family was really the best family in the whole wide world. It was at times like Christmas in particular that reminded me of that. 

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: What Makes a Great One-Off Character?

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Some Doctor Who characters are intended for greatness; some are intended to be killed off at the end of their first episode. Writers have a lot more control over the second than the first. What remains true for all characters, is the tension that exists between their function in the story and their potential to affect it. Even a guard who simply runs into a room to get shot could have dragged the story in another direction, should they be allowed (this stock background character was the inspiration for Terry Pratchett’s City Watch novels).

Successful one-off characters aren’t necessarily those who break away from their function, (or even those who aren’t strictly required, for example Binro the Heretic in ‘The Ribos Operation’), but those who make a story soar to another level entirely. More often, what makes them work is when their function in the story is disguised. There are plenty of ways to do this and most of them intersect: casting, costume, dialogue, performance…

Let’s first address the latter. Does the actor need to get under the skin of the character to create a nuanced and layered take that resonates utterly with the audience?

Nope. Doctor Who frequently embraces camp. Sometimes camp holds Doctor Who at gunpoint and sings piano ballads at it. The results vary. Richard Briers’ possessed Chief Caretaker in ‘Paradise Towers’ undermines the production (while not a production striving for kitchen sink realism, Briers’ parody-like performance still cuts against its Brechtian leanings) whereas Graham Crowden’s Soldeed is heightened and ridiculous among similar performances.

Other great examples of this stock character, which I am calling Ham-Err Horror without apology, include Professor Zaroff in ‘The Underwater Menace’ (intended to be driven mad by the death of his family, only for this to be cut from the script, rendering the character inexplicably inexplicable) and John Lumic from ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ (inspired to create the Cybermen by a fear of death, with actor Roger Lloyd-Pack citing Dick Cheney as an inspiration for the performance, but remembered mainly for the ripe delivery of lines such as ‘And how will you do that from beyond the grave?’).

Sometimes you don’t even need dialogue. Christopher Bowen, as Mordred in ‘Battlefield’, commits to a maniacal laugh so long that there’s a cut to another scene in the middle of it.

And yet there are places where camp or over-the-top villains work unironically, and some of the most hospitable are the Tom Baker stories of 1975-1977. Harrison Chase, Magnus Greel, Morbius, the Master… these characters fit into the Grand Guignol tradition of heightened and melodramatic performances (Just because something is dark and morbid doesn’t stop it being ludicrously tragic). As the tone of these stories is pitched at gothic melodrama though, the characters and setting cohere.

Returning to ‘Battlefield’, while there are some great individual performances from one-off characters, they’re not quite pulling in the same direction (Jean Marsh as Morgaine is playing an inter-dimensional sorceress as if it’s real, Marcus Gilbert as Ancelyn is saying ‘This is ridiculous, and that’s great’ and pulling along Angela Bruce’s Bambera in that direction too). ‘Battlefield’ is fun, but also disjointed.

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Some characters get by on the strength of costume or make-up, such as the Destroyer (also from ‘Battlefield’) or the Zygons. Broton, the latter’s leader, is a successful character who operates purely as a function rather than an individual. Played with haughty relish by John Woodnutt, Broton is a visual triumph, with the costume a collaboration between costume designer Jim Acheson, visual effects designer John Friedlander and director Douglas Camfield. At its best, ‘Terror of the Zygons’ oozes with tension and atmosphere, with some fantastic design work and enjoyable pulp runaround. This all distracts the viewer from Broton being a colossal idiot. Indulging in clichés such as explaining his entire plot, putting characters in easily escapable situations and assuming the Doctor is dead without proof, Broton has to do these for the story to unfold according to Doctor Who’s format. Fortunately few people watch ‘Terror of the Zygons’ for Broton’s unique take on planetary subjugation.

Some clichés exist specifically because that character has worked well in previous stories. Frequently in Doctor Who somebody would sacrifice themselves to save the day, someone else would comment on this, and everybody would look solemn for a few seconds before immediately moving on with their lives. ‘The Ark in Space’ features two people sacrificing themselves to save humanity, one with a quip about his union and the other fighting possession, and in 1975, a single line noting these acts was enough.

In 2005, TV had changed, and so Doctor Who threw more weight behind these deaths (boosted by Russell T. Davies’ seemingly effortless ability to generate a whole human life by adding three adjectives per character to the scripts). Jabe in ‘The End of the World’, Gwyneth in ‘An Unquiet Dead’, Pete Tyler in ‘Father’s Day’… these sacrifices were dwelt on, their weight became cumulative. From this, a subgenre of Almost Companions emerged with Lynda in ‘The Parting of the Ways’, Astrid in ‘Voyage of the Damned’ and Rita in ‘The God Complex’: all too doomed to step on board. Eventually the show acknowledged this with the Eleventh Doctor standing over the body of Lorna Bucket and observing “They’re always brave.”

Doctor Who was commentating on itself as early as its second series (in ‘The Rescue’ David Whittaker created Koquillion, a monster in a rubber suit that turned out to actually be a man in a rubber monster costume). In the 1980s, Doctor Who had become increasingly continuity-heavy, but what its final few series managed successfully was to comment on Doctor Who without making the stories’ success dependent on this. Characters such as Captain Cook offer up twisted reflections of the Doctor, with the Chief Clown, Josiah Samuel Smith and Commander Millington all tapping into the historical influences on the show, but crucially the stories still work if you’re not familiar with all this.

‘Ghostlight’, the most densely packed version of this approach,is still entertaining even if you don’t know what is going on. It’s played with such conviction and unity, with each character managing to feel both heavily symbolic but with a sense of inner-life. This is generally true of the Seventh Doctor’s era supporting characters, especially the guy who snaps “I can’t do anything without my list now can I?” in ‘The Happiness Patrol’.

But as we’ve seen, a standout character doesn’t have to be multi-faceted. Not every henchman can be Packer from ‘The Invasion’ (he’s not only sadistic and cruel, but Peter Halliday really commits to the undignified flapping when things go wrong), but most stock characters in Doctor Who work by being given ‘a bit’.

Usually this stems from their plot function. Harrison Chase, in ‘The Seeds of Doom’ is a plant collector and obsessive because the story is based around aggressive plant-creatures, and needs a simple way to bring the main human antagonist into the adventure. Here though it’s more than that. Lesser examples of this trick can be seen with Tarun Capel in ‘Robots of Death’, where his obsession with robots isn’t as unsettling as Chase’s obsession with plants (and then further down the line we have Magnus Greel in ‘Talons of Weng-Chieng’, who is evil because the story needs a bad guy). In ‘Seeds of Doom’, time is devoted to the idea of a man who considers plant life superior to humanity, and the script and actor Tony Beckley really commit to the comedy and horror of this idea. That’s his ‘bit’.

Perhaps the finest example of turning a character’s basic function into pure entertainment is Duggan in ‘City of Death’. Douglas Adams and Graham Williams, rewriting David Fisher’s scripts about aliens in Monte Carlo, took a Bulldog Drummond-inspired detective character and realised his primary function in the script was to be the muscle for the Doctor and Romana.

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There are other elements of of ‘City of Death’ that poke fun at television’s contrivances (The guard’s throwaway line saying Captain Tancredi will “be here instantly” just before the door opens, for example) and Duggan’s repeatedly punching people unconscious to move the plot along is not only revealed to be an example of Chekhov’s Gun, whereby it’s the solution to the whole story, but also the source of the best sight gag in Doctor Who when Duggan opens a wine bottle by simply smashing it open off the bar. Without providing him with much in the way of depth or backstory, by leaning into the character’s story function to almost absurd levels, ‘City of Death’ creates one of the most memorable supporting characters in Doctor Who history.

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