a-place-to-come-back-to - Tumblr blog

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Just like to say that you have restarted the angst match :)

BRING IT ON

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For the goodbye prompts! Either 6 for the dad trio or 10 for ratty and mole (whichever one takes your fancy!)

I went with 10 “I’ll see you when I get back”

—

“Alright, I think that’s the last of it,” Mole said after double checking his bag for the umpteenth time. Ratty stood off to the side, looking slightly forlorn. He’d been acting strangely for the past few days and Mole was hesitant to leave when his friend was in such a mood, but his mothers had been fussing at him to visit for weeks, and there were a few forgotten knick-knacks that he’d left in his burrow that he wished to retrieve. He even (albeit, quite begrudgingly) planned to tidy the place up a bit—not finishing the spring cleaning he started a year ago, but simply making the place more welcoming for guests. The visit in the winter had reminded him of too many cleaning supplies strewn about the place in a way that made him a bit embarrassed for Ratty to see where he had lived.

“I guess this is goodbye, then,” Ratty said. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and there was a defined slump in his shoulders.

“I’ll see you when I get back,” Mole offered. Ratty blinked a few times.

“When you get back?”

A huff of a laugh escaped Mole. “What, you didn’t think I was leaving forever, did you?”

Ratty laughed in a forced, sheepish way that showed exactly what he had been thinking.

“No, of course not,” he said, rubbing behind his ear self-consciously. “I didn’t—no, of course I didn’t think that. Have fun.”

Mole hesitated only a moment before he stepped forward and gave Ratty a hug that was readily returned.

“You silly animal,” he scolded, unable to keep a laugh out of his voice. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me, for a good long while.”

“I don’t think I’d mind that,” Ratty said, so quietly that Mole wasn’t sure if he was supposed to have heard it. He gave his friend a squeeze and pulled back to grab his bag.

“I’ll be back in a few weeks,” he said firmly. Ratty nodded, finally looking at ease for the first time in almost a week. 

“Yeah. See you when you get back.”

“I’ll see you then.”

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FOR THE WRITING PROMPTS CAN YOU DO NUMBER 3 "JUST DON'T GO TOO FAR" WITH MRS OTTER AND PORTIA PLEASE

YOUR WISH IS MY COMMAND

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It hardly seemed reasonable that it had only been a month since Mrs. Otter received the terrible news of her husband’s death. It seemed a lifetime ago, and yet at the same time, only yesterday that she had woken up next to him and kissed him goodbye. At least she had that much. She knew of too many wives who’d shared harsh words with their husbands before they left, unknowing that they would never return. At the very least, she could live with the knowledge that she had told him she loved him. 

It was a massively difficult task to wrangle their pups without his help, but despite her grief slowing her down, she was grateful for the constant work. It kept her from wondering if he’d suffered too much. 

Portia assisted her in the first few weeks, greatly subdued by their loss. Mrs. Otter was grateful for that, too, in a strange way. She couldn’t even bear to think about worrying about what her daughter was getting into at such a difficult time. 

It didn’t take long for Portia to become restless again, whining about wanting to go exploring and pouting when she didn’t get her way. Mrs. Otter held out until the day Portia sulkily said:

“Dad always let me.”

Mrs. Otter turned her back to hide the way the wind had been knocked out of her lungs. After composing herself, she turned back with a sigh.

“Fine, alright. Go off, then.”

Portia perked up and was out the door before Mrs. Otter had time to blink, and a sharp panic clawed at her chest.

“Portia!” 

Portia paused and turned to look back impatiently

I love you. Be safe. I love you. Don’t leave me.

Mrs. Otter swallowed heavily and tried to smile.

“Never mind, dear.”

Portia hesitated for a moment out of confusion, and that was all it took to break Mrs. Otter’s resolve again.

“Just don’t go too far,” she begged. Portia all but rolled her eyes and scampered off without an answer. Mrs. Otter sighed, and something in her broke with it. 

“She’s too much like you,” she murmured, her eyes flicking upwards. The hole in her heart gaped wider. “Never listens.”

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★ goodbye prompts ★

[feel free to use & reblog]

★ “remember to call”

★ “I love you, be safe”

★ “just don’t go too far”

★ “I’m gonna miss you”

★ “you’ll be back, right?”

★ “don’t forget about me”

★ “one more hug goodbye?”

★ “hey, I’ll be back, it’s okay”

★ “see you on the other side”

★ “I’ll see you when I get back”

★ “don’t ever come back here”

★ “here, it’s a going away gift”

★ “all packed and ready to go?”

★ “I don’t want to say goodbye”

★ “you better come back to visit”

★ “go live your life and be happy”

★ “better hurry, you’ll miss your bus”

★ “best of luck, we both know you need it”

★ “just go before I tie you down and make you stay”

★ “remember you’ll always be able to come back here”

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hug prompts ˗ˏˋ꒰ 🐚 ꒱

— “you give the best hugs.”

— “can’t we stay like this forever?”

— “you’re so warm, i never want to let go of you.”

— “you’re not okay, you’re shaking.”

— “you make me feel so safe.”

— “i’ve been looking forward to this all day.”

— “come here.”

— “have i ever told you how much i love your arms?”

— “this might be a weird time to mention it, but you smell really great.”

— “that feels really nice.”

— “i’ve got you, i swear. nothing’s going to happen to you when i’m here.”

— “can you just hold me? please?”

— “i love you. so, so much.”

— “please don’t let go.”

— “your hugs always cheer me up.”

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*strums ukulele dramatically* ELLO

I HAVE MORE RATTY ANGST FOR YOUR SUFFERING SOULS

You're all welcome

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It’s been… literally over a year since I last watched wind in the willows and I’m pleased to say that I still find it to be The Best Thing. Completely forgot about the line “I sometimes wonder if you know how much we love you” and it completely destroyed me. I once again thought that Badger was handing out guns during the Friend is Still a Friend reprise. Time for me to go barreling down into my bin of Angst in relation to this fandom once more. My abandoned WIPs cry for joy.

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I love this terrible cover artwork for The Wind in the Willows

Apparently Badger loves travelling by car, especially when it’s driven by Toad. Ratty, very literally a rat, looks like he’s just realised how poorly this cover artwork represents the book.

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all debates abt the artistic merits of fanfiction fail to recognize the purpose of fic. you don’t write fic to be published or to learn how to construct a narrative although you can use it to develop style. you write it so that your friends will message you “bestie you’re utterly deranged for this one im eating dirt” 

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ITS HIS SONG

Not my best edit but here you go anyway

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In a friend is still a friend badger says “you help him to pull through you know one thing is true he’d do the same for you” but would he. How much help would Toad really be if ratty developed a speed addiction.

I think there's a world of difference to this answer depending on whether the question is specifically about Toad trying to help vs Toad actually being a help in this situation.

Would Toad intervene if he felt his friend was doing something stupid? Probably! Would he be at all effective at helping? Probably not! Asking Toad to be the voice of reason is akin to trying to use a firelighter to put out a forest fire. It's really not in his wheelhouse.

That said, I read Badger's line as less of a straight swap of the situation, and more of a general "Toad would help Ratty if he thought Ratty needed it, because they're friends, and that's what friends do" which, yeah. I believe Toad would try to help. (Emphasis on the 'try')

(Even so, if Ratty developed a speed addiction, I imagine Toad would get that kind of particular petty glee when you call out your friend on something they once called you out on previously. (AKA affectionately, if not perhaps that effective.))

Toad is the kind of friend whose strengths in a friendship group lie more in the "get-up-and-go" energy. He's the kind of friend who gets the group trying something new or going someplace unexpected, the friend who adds that chaotic spark which helps bind the group together because it's those situations which lend themselves best to the "do you remember when [insert fun little story here]?" Different friends fill different roles.

Even if Toad isn't always very tactful about it, he does try to help in his own way – by dragging Rat into new things, because he knows Rat won't try otherwise. And, he's actually kinda proven correct? For all Rat's original complaining, he does genuinely seem to enjoy being out on the open road, something that wouldn't have happened had he stuck by his original reservations and stayed on the river. (At least until the motor car turns up. But that's not the point.)

So, uh, to answer your question? Toad would be terrible at helping with certain things, and great at others – but I guess that's how most of us are, huh?

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On love you can depend, a friend is still a friend <3

I'm just in a silly goofy mood

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ooo ur doing the sentence thing too may i present this for u to pspsps ur writing motivation with: A faint cry for help caught his attention first.

Badger didn’t recognise the voice until he rounded the turning and saw a familiar weasel, still wearing that ridiculous stained tie, but his usual flurry of energy had been halted by the fallen tree trapping his tail.

The weasel froze upon seeing just who his distress had summoned, clearly remembering — just as Badger was — how their last encounter, that of the retaking of Toad Hall, had fared. “I’m fine,” he said, changing his tune with impressive speed, “so get any closer and I’ll bite your whiskers off.”

Badger ignored the threat — there came perks with being the largest animal in the wood — and leant a paw against the trunk. “Now, I know you don’t like to be ordered about,” he said, “but I suggest you hold off on the biting until I’ve finished moving this — else your tail is going to be in an even worse shape than it already is.”

Send me an ask with the first sentence of a fanfic and I’ll write the next five.

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"I suppose I should have expected this," he said bitterly.

“I suppose I should have expected this,” he said bitterly.

Toad Hall was all askew: an ancient vase had taken a tumble and lay in shattered pieces, there was a bicycle in the drawing room, a guide to piloting dirigibles open on the table, and the abandoned remains of a half packed picnic hamper scattered across floor. Toad stood in the middle of it all, wearing his dressing gown and a straw boater hat, looking dazed and half confused as to how he had gotten there in the first place.

“Toad, the funeral is in two hours,” Ratty’s voice broke on the last word as he fixed his friend—were they friends anymore, or was he more of a nanny these days?—with an icy glare, “What would your dad think if he saw the place like this, on today of all days?”

Toad gave him a slow, half-vacant blink before his brow furrowed and he said, without a trace of vitriol, “I suppose we’ll never know now, will we?”

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omg youre alive i dont beleieve it

niether do i tbh

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what's the first movie you remember seeing in theaters? don't try and be all edgy and cool and say like tetsuo: the iron man. be honest.

Go!!

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So. So. I just realized. Toad was a tadpole. Instead of. Instead of just. A smaller toad. I don’t know why this is such a shock to me.

I’ve been aware of this for a while and I still have no idea what to do with this information so I mostly just never write Toad as that young XD (Thank you, Grahame, for making one of your protagonists a frikking amphibian so I have to consider metamorphosis into the equation.)

Although I do have the one very funny image of Ratty running with Toad as a tadpole in a fishbowl XD (Or a wheelbarrow as he gets older)

If I do have to admit that Toad was once a tadpole, I go with the headcanon it’s the equivalent of being a baby, with that weird tadpole-toad intermediate stage as toddler years, and then small toad to regular toad during childhood/adolescence. (During his younger childhood years though, he does still have a tail, just because that’s a cute image.)

Also hey hey hey do you want a very unnerving water rat diet fact? Apparently real water rats are almost entirely vegetarian, but they are known to eat one source of meat occasionally to boost their protein intake. And it’s tadpoles :D