I’m so proud of him, he’s growing into a wonderful young man. Although, sometimes when he’s in one of his hyper moods it’s difficult not see the little boy that used to speed around the house, the one who would come and crawl in my bed for cuddles after a nightmare, or during a bad storm. I used to refer to him as my blonde-haired munchkin. If I called him that now he would probably try to tickle me, although he would have to catch me first.
Gordon: My light in the dark.
Watching Gordon win an Olympic Gold Medal was one of the best things I’ve ever experienced. Nearly losing him after his hydrofoil accident was one of the worst. We should have realised though that our squid wouldn’t give up that easy. He’s a fighter, the one who will never give up despite the odds. He’s the joker of the family and our bringer of joy and fun. Penelope is one lucky lady to be dating him!
Virgil: My gentle giant.
He’s big, broad and his outer exterior presents him as the tough sporty guy who you wouldn’t want to cross. However, he’s really the complete opposite. One of the kindest guy you could ever wish to meet and will always there to pick you up when you fall. I know his brothers refer to him as their Switzerland. To me, he’s the one who calms me at the end of a long day, either through a song he plays on the piano, his warm voice, or via one of his famous bear hugs.
John: My kindred spirit!
We have a weird ‘twin’ connection, though in terms of blood we are not actually related. Seriously, he’s always catching me out on stuff and I’m always catching him. If one of us is down, then the other knows. I broke my wrist once and his wrist swelled up! If I believed in reincarnation, I would have said we were twins in a previous life.
Scott: My everything!
I don’t refer to Scott as my brother anymore. That would make what we are weird, but I know what we have isn’t wrong. He’s able to make my legs turn to jelly with a single look followed by one of his dimpled smiles. What we have is special, it’s magic and I really don’t know what I would do without him.
Busy day at work today and very little sleep, so I forgot that it was the first of the month and therefore time for this month’s birthday girl, my very own Queen.
I prefer to draw the body rather than the face. But I know, no matter what we say, the most important thing in drawing a character is the face, so I’ve been practicing drawing faces a lot lately. I want to draw a body soon, John’s butt and so.
（後日追記） play to win = 直訳は「勝つためにプレイする」ですが、ここから考えて「何としてでも成し遂げる、成功させる」派生して「遊びではない」という意味にもなるかものことです。な～るほど！ つまりアランは、ミッションに出たからには絶対成功させる、とか、遊びでやってるわけじゃないというのがわかるでしょう。という訳ですね。ご指南ありがとうございます！！
and just for posterity, here’s everybody together!
I did this using a site called artbreeder, mostly just on a whim after I used it to make my current DND character. I’ve always had a hard time visualizing the cast with the same degree of realism that I treat them in most of my writing, but I’d say this is right about spot on. If anyone else is further interested, I might tool around with some of the extended-extended cast, and make Casey and Jeff and Lee Taylor and etc.
“Good luck ladies” Parker nodded to kayo and lady Penelope who were readying themselves for a potentially challenging interview. “he looks set to be a bit of a hard nut,”
Lady Penelope straightened her skirt and squared her shoulders “we have nothing to be concerned about. After all, as they saying goes - all men are -”
“- cremated equally.” kayo cut in, her expression deadly serious.
“well, I was going to say ‘created equally’, but I suppose the sentiment stands.”
As one, the two women turned and walked through the double doors to meet the waiting individual. Parker was very pleased he got to stay this side of the door.
Only within the dark night of the soul, can you see the parts of yourself that are true.
…
The massive tumble of stones looked like they had been left there by a glacier, all rounded grey and scarred. Kayo didn’t even what to think about what could have caused this to happen here. She was fairly certain that glaciers had never roamed the Dark, and if they had - she didn’t want to think about that possibility. She pointed to the right. “You go that way. I’ll go left.”
“What are we looking for?”
One of the many reasons working with John was so easy. He didn’t question the need for something, just the what. “A place to put our backs against. If we’re really lucky, a protected area that we can rest in.”
“That would be a good thing. Or haven’t you noticed it’s getting darker?”
Kayo opened her mouth, then wrenched the words back before she could utter them. “No, I hadn’t. We need shelter, now.”
“See you on the other side.” John started around the rock pile.
She shivered a little at that, and her hand traced a symbol in the air that she hadn’t made since she was very young. Then she started to circle the stones. They were large, some the size of cars. Whatever had pushed them here had to have been huge.
“Kayo!”
She pulled her longest knife and started to run. Her heart dropped back down out of her throat when John came into view. He was not fighting God knew what, but grinning. “I think we’ve found our shelter.”
One stone was lying at an angle to its mate, forming a tall triangle. Kayo crouched down to look. There was space beyond the opening. “Hopefully, nobody is home.” She crab-walked into the passage and knelt down to look the space over. It was an irregular ovoid, and the ground was bare dirt. Reddish dirt, but dirt nonetheless. She eased her way into the area. There were some fallen bits of stone lying around, but that was it. No plants, no creatures, no anything.
It sounded exciting. A totally different excitement than what he had daily. So when Kayo had asked him to come along with her to find out who or what was leaking/stealing Tracy Industry secrets, he’d grabbed at it with both hands.
So, he found himself in Auckland, playing tourist with Kayo. Most employees of TI knew what he looked like, so his blond hair was now brown, which included his eyebrows. Add an All-Blacks team shirt, jeans, a backpack, and good walking shoes, and he looked like any of a hundred other people in the area.
Kayo was harder to hide. Not that most people knew what she looked like. But his not-sister was beautiful and just drew the eye. Not that he would know anything about that. Nope, not a damn thing about how the sun made her eyes glow, or the small quirk of the curled the right side of her mouth when she was amused. Nope, he knew nothing about that. He dodged around an older couple and plopped down next to Kayo on the bench in Albert Park.
I’ve had the most horrendous week at work. I started back after lockdown with a new regional and departmental manager, and both walked out without serving out their notice a few days ago. I am now the most senior person in my department and am basically propping everything up. I’m trying to juggle an insane amount of pressure while keeping the morale in what little remains of my team high, but got it all thrown back in my face earlier when I divulged to a colleague that the stress is getting to me, only to be harshly told, ‘if you think you’ve got it bad, imagine how I feel.’
Instant invalidation.
I also heard on the grapevine this evening that two more colleagues (from different departments) are also leaving, which will push my schedule to breaking point. My team is small by most business’s standards (18 at last count), and 4 have left in 3 weeks. It’s a train wreck complete with burning passengers.
I had a horrendous bout of anxiety that led to a mini breakdown in 2019, however have managed to get the worst of it under control since then. This last week has been the first time in nearly 2 years that some of the old symptoms have started returning. I’m not sleeping through the night, my pig-like appetite isn’t as pig-like as usual, and I’m constantly battling the urge to cry.
I also found out the other day that my godmother has Covid. She’s fully vaccinated and isn’t showing symptoms, but catastrophic thinking is making it hard for me to rationalise her situation.
I’m sorry to dump this here, but I’m starting to feel a bit directionless, and that in itself is scary. I know my situation isn’t that bad and I really shouldn’t complain, but it’s cathartic to type stuff out. I’m aiming to leave my current post within the next couple of months, but patience is something I don’t have much of right now. What’s most upsetting is the fact that the stress is preventing me from interacting with the fandom and the boy that literally keep me afloat some days
I also hate that I lack the brainpower to engage with all of the amazing content that’s been posted here recently I used to look so forward to coming on here of an evening, but now all I do is scroll without seeing stuff and I hate it
Last week at my brother’s dance show, a lady sitting behind me saw my Scayo watch and said the picture was pretty (she had no idea what Thunderbirds was), so why not reblog this for the occasion.
He couldn’t remember what his brothers had been like when they had lost Mom. Only two at the time, all Alan could really recall was a period of uncertainty and quiet sadness.
He did remember what everyone was like when their Dad died. Frenetic activity, lots of hugs and tears.
Gordon slipping into his military persona and struggling to drop that when he was home.
Virgil alternating between crushing bear hugs and bouts of Medic-ness.
John, never home but always calling to check he was alright.
And Scott.
His eldest brother had kept them all together. Organising search grids, making sure they all ate and rested. Just being there.
Scott was the one who dried his tears and hugged him until he slept. And not just Alan, either. He’d found Gordon and Virgil ensconced in the eldest’s arms more than once, found Scott’s arms wrapped around Kayo as she cried.
It had been Scott who went up to Five and brought John home.
It was Scott who pulled Alan out of boarding school and kept him home.
It was Scott who decided to stop concentrating on searching, leaving Five to run algorithms to find clues to their father’s whereabouts.
It was Scott who decided to restart International Rescue.
Alan looked up to Scott in a way he had never looked at his father, and he’d noticed his brothers all did the same.
