#c. mickey

[iridcscentt]

Observar o sorriso retornar aos lábios de Mickey — de onde nunca deveria ter saído — acalentou o remorso que nascia em seu peito. O reconhecia como uma pessoa bem intencionada, por isso não queria ser a responsável por o aborrecer. Evitar que isso acontecesse no futuro, porém, seria um desafio árduo, já que manter um segredo como o seu de alguém tão observador como o rapaz, seria extremamente desgastante. Mas Eleanor se esforçaria, por consideração a ele. A forma como o infectologista se expressava a divertia, eliminando parte do peso que carregava sobre os ombros cansados. Talvez estivesse relutante em admitir, mas apreciava sua companhia. “Está insinuando que eu não sei organizar meus horários?” Arqueando uma das sobrancelhas, lançou a ele um olhar zangado, que logo se desfez com o sorriso que nascia em seus lábios. De maneira automática, suas passadas a guiavam em direção ao estacionamento. “E pare de ficar se gabando de suas necessidades fisiológicas reguladas! Vai acabar ofendendo alguém por aqui e criando inimizades por inveja.” Ainda em tom de brincadeira, o provocava um pouco mais, o empurrando levemente com o ombro. Refletindo sobre a conduta profissional de Mickey, se colocava no lugar daqueles que estavam sob seu comando. “Seus residentes vão ficar mal acostumados com sua gentileza. Quando encontrarem um tirano pelo caminho, e você sabe que temos muitos deles por aí, vão sofrer com o choque de realidade.” Não o repreendia, pois admirava o respeito que demonstrava por outros profissionais, mas também considerava outros pontos de vista.

Sabia que poderia ser uma pessoa difícil. Hábitos e rotinas que por vezes, faziam sentido apenas cabeça a dentro. Perder-se em palavras e por vezes, mencionar informações que ele havia descoberto da maneira mais neurótica possível. E, a necessidade de que as coisas sejam conferidas mais de uma vez. Dessa forma, as vezes ele se policiava para tentar simplesmente “calar” a boca numa hora prudente. Poderia ter continuado os questionamentos, tinha outros mas, ele havia combinado, certo? — Combinado! — Um sorriso simpático acabou abrindo ao perceber que, apesar da inconveniência minutos antes, a cirurgiã não estava irritada. — Eu normalmente consigo fazer meus horários direito, apesar das adaptações que se fazem necessárias então, diria que estou com minhas necessidades fisiológicas mais reguladas do que a maioria de vocês. E, acabei comendo algo com Sutherland na cafeteria mais cedo. Eu espero que as coisas sejam um pouco mais tranquilas amanhã, detesto determinar um desvio de função. — Talvez Mickey fosse um dos poucos atendentes preocupado em ter sobrecarregado seus residentes, entendia a necessidade mas, preferia quando os tinha em atividades adequadas e bom gasto de tempo. Não, ele não era um “molenga” com seus subordinados, cobrava responsabilidade, disciplina e dedicação. Mas, estava longe de ser um dos carrasco ou de empurrar partes menos gostosas do trabalho gratuitamente para eles.

[batboyblog]

Copy Right and Public Domain in 2024

Happy 2024 all! its also Public Domain Day! a magical holiday here in America where things enter the public domain. Works published in the year 1928 (or 95 years ago!) have entered the public domain, which means they belong to us, all of us, the public!

Mickey's Back!

Yes! I'm sure you've heard, but Mickey Mouse (and Minnie Mouse too) is entering the Public Domain today. This has been news for a few years and indeed Disney's lobbying in the late 1990s is why our copy right term is SO long. So what exactly is now public domain?

Most people know about Mickey's first appearance Steamboat Willie, but a second short film, Plane Crazy was also released in 1928 so will also be public domain. So what's public? well these two films first of all, you're allowed to play them, upload them to YouTube or whatever without paying Disney. In theory you'll be allowed to cut and sample them, have them playing in the background of your movie etc. Likewise in theory the image of Mickey and Minnie as they appear (thats important) in these films will be free to use as well as Mickey's character as he appears in these works will be free to use. Now Mickey's later and more famous appearance

will still be protected. Famously the Conan Doyle Estate claimed that Sherlock Holmes couldn't be nice, smile, or not hate women in works because they still held the copyright on the short stories where he first did those things even though 90% of Sherlock Holmes stories were public domain. It's very likely Disney will assert similar claims over Mickey, claiming much of his personality first appeared in works still copyrighted.

Finally there's copyright vs trademark. Copyright is total ownership of a piece of media and all the ideas that appear in it, copyright has a limited set term and expires. Trademark is more limited and only applies to things used to market and sell a product. You can have a Coke branded vending machine in your movie if you want, but it couldn't appear anywhere in the trailer for your movie as thats you marketing your movie.

Where trademark ends and copyright begins and how trademarked something in the public domain is allowed to be are all unsettled areas of law and clearly Disney in the last few years as been aggressively pushing its trademark not just to Mickey in general but Steamboat Willie Mickey in particular

Ultimately the legal rights and wrongs of this might not matter so much since few people have the money and legal resources of the Walt Disney corporation so they might manage to maintain a de facto copyright on Mickey through legal intimidation, but maybe not?

And Tigger Too!

All the talk about Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Willie has sadly overshadowed other MAJOR things entering the public domain today. Most people are aware Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain in 2022, but they might not realize his beloved friend Tigger didn't. Thats because Tigger didn't appear till A. A. Milne's second (and last) book of Pooh short stories, The House at Pooh Corner in 1928.

Much like Mickey Mouse only what appears in The House at Pooh Corner is public domain so the orange bouncy boy from the 1960s Disney cartoon is still on lock down. But the A. A. Milne original as illustrated by E. H. Shepard is free for you to use in fiction or art. His friend Winnie the Pooh has made a number of appearances since being freed, most notably in a horror movie, but also a Mint Mobile commercial so maybe Tigger too will have a lot of luck in the public domain.

Other works:

Peter Pan; or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up

Peter Pan is a strange case, even though the play was first mounted in 1904, and the novelization (Peter and Wendy) was published in 1911, The script for the play was not published till 1928 (confusing!) meaning while the novel as been public domain for years the play (which came first) hasn't been, but now it is and people are welcome to mount productions of it.

Millions of Cats

The oldest picture book still in print, did you own a copy growing up? (I did)

Lady Chatterley's Lover

The iconic porn novel that was at the center of a number of groundbreaking obscenity cases in the 1960s and helped establish your right to free speech.

All Quiet on the Western Front and The Threepenny Opera in their original German (but you can translate them if you want), The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie, and Orlando by Virginia Woolf will also be joining us in the public domain along with any and all plays, novels, and books published in 1928

for Films we have The Man Who Laughs who's iconic image inspired the Joker

Charlie Chaplin's The Circus, Buster Keaton's The Cameraman, Should Married Men Go Home? the first Laurel and Hardy movie, Lights of New York the first "all talking" movie, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Wind, as well as The Last Command and Street Angel the first films to win Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively will all be entering public domain

For Musical Compositions (more on that in a moment) we've got

Mack the Knife by Bertolt Brecht, Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) by Cole Porter, Sonny Boy by George Gard DeSylva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson, Empty Bed Blues by J. C. Johnson, and Makin’ Whoopee! by Gus Khan are some of the notables but any piece of music published in 1928 is covered

Any art work published in 1928, which might include works by Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexej von Jawlensky, Edward Hopper, and André Kertész will enter the public domain, we are sure those that M. C. Escher's Tower of Babel will be in the public domain

Swan Song, Public Domain and recorded music

While most things are covered by the Copyright Act of 1976 as amended by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, none of the copyright acts covered recordings you see when American copyright law was first written recordings did not exist and so through its many amendings no one fixed this problem, movies were treated like plays and artwork, but recorded sound wasn't covered by any federal law. So all sound recordings from before 1972 were governed by a confusing mess of state level laws making it basically impossible to say what was public and what was under copyright. In 2017 Congress managed to do something right and passed the Music Modernization Act. Under the act all recordings from 1922 and before would enter the public domain in 2022. After taking a break for 2023, all sound recordings made in 1923 have entered the public domain today on January 1st 2024, these include.

Charleston by James P. Johnson

Yes! We Have No Bananas (recorded by a lot artists that year)

Who’s Sorry Now by Lewis James

Down Hearted Blues by Bessie Smith

Lawdy, Lawdy Blues by Ida Cox

Southern Blues and Moonshine Blues by Ma Rainey

That American Boy of Mine and Parade of the Wooden Soldiers by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra

Dipper Mouth Blues and Froggie More by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong

Bambalina by Ray Miller Orchestra

Swingin’ Down the Lane by Isham Jones Orchestra

Enjoy your public domain works!

[cpg123-rewritten]

Epic Mickey Fans: We're so glad Epic Mickey is returning!

D!sney: And you have us to thank, right?

Epic Mickey fans:

[thegallavault]

NEW to The Gallavault 🔒📚✨

ENEMY LINES by J_Q and STARS_FALL_ON ↳ ↳ with cover art by C-NORD

Multi-Chapter | Rated: E | Word Count: 311K | Completed in: 2021

Enemy lines (idiom): the territory controlled by the enemy In this slow burn, enemies to lovers story, a social justice warrior and a lawyer go head to head and learn that sometimes your worst enemy is your past and the control it has over your heart. According to Mickey Milkovich, the last thing he ever wanted to become was a goddamn social justice warrior, but life had other plans for him. When the authors asked what he thought about this fic, Mickey replied: Who the fuck are you callin’ a social justice warrior? Imma protest the shit outta this story. #ProtestMyAss #FightFor15 #DefundThePigs #FuckULookingAt #🖕 According to Ian Gallagher, the only thing he ever wanted to become was a social justice warrior, but life had other plans for him as well. When Ian was asked about the fic, he said: Holy fuck, is Mickey here? You tell him that I’m gonna sue his ass in every court in the land, including but not limited to, the Supreme fucking Court!

[ download from The Gallavault | leave love on AO3 | reblog the art on tumblr | follow the creators @jackieq @stars-fall-on & @c-nord ]

[gallavichthings]

Gallavich Week 2024 - bingo edition

Hello, lovelies! It's time for another Gallavich Week. This time: bingo edition!

The 2024 Gallavich Week will be held between June 24th and June 30th. As this time it's a bingo, there will be no assigned theme for each day, meaning you can post your works on any day during that week.

Guidelines and cards after the read more because this post ended up way too long. ^_^

Some general rules:

There are four cards (at the end of this post): one/two-word prompts, dialogue prompts, tropes, and art and other medias. You can post something from just one or all of them. You can also use more than one prompt in the same work. There's no minimum or limit to the number of works you can post.

All kinds of fanworks are accepted (fic, art, videos, gifs, analysis, crafts... anything), as long as they're original. (Unless they're a re-imagining of another work, in which case please also mention it when you post and get authorization first if the original isn't yours.)

AI is not accepted!

No sign-ups required. Just post and tag me. :)

Here is the AO3 community, for those who wish to use it.

Don't forget to tag me using @ at the body of the post so that I can see it and reblog it (you can do it after a read more or by reblogging if you wish to "hide" it). Also, please indicate clearly which prompt(s) was/were used.

Some suggestions, which are not rules but do help with posting:

If you're posting a long fic in its entirety here on Tumblr, please use a read more and/or tag it "long post".

If you're posting nsfw art here, please use the community guidelines to inform so.

If you post more than one work on AO3, I suggest making different works, and not just different chapters of one single work. This helps with tagging, both for those who want to find your work and for those who might want to avoid something. It also helps when people don't have to comb through several chapters to find what they're looking for. If you want to connect your works, you can put them all under a series. And yes, this is also valid for drabbles and art.

There are no prizes for this bingo, but those who make a bingo get bragging rights (and a special shout out - just let me know you've done it because I'm likely to miss it).

BINGO: 3 cells in a row (vertically, horizontally, or diagonally).

SUPER BINGO: 3 cells in a row in two cards.

ULTRA BINGO: 3 cells in a row in three or four cards (are you ok?).

UBER BINGO: All the 9 cells of the same card.

SUPREME BINGO: All 9 cells of the same card in two different cards (good luck with that).

EXTREME BINGO: All 9 cells of the same card in three different cards (seriously, are you ok? Is this worth it?).

ULTIMATE BINGO: All 9 cells of the same card in ALL of the four different cards (you get ALL the bragging rights!!! But also, please rest).

And now, the cards:

EDIT: forgot to mention, by Taste of Chicago I mean this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste_of_Chicago

And Starry Night is, indeed Van Gogh's painting. And yes, Final Fantasy the video game.

I think the rest is quite obvious, but let me know if you have any questions.

[houseofmouselove100]

Goofy decides to ask if they have seen any costumed villains but to no avail.

Goofy didn't know

that the evil queen was dressed as an old woman

Ursula was Vanessa

Pain and panic being the children who deceived Hercules

Everyone was seen accusing and arguing so the best solution was to lock up all the villains but after a small blackout the villains were disappeared.

[eldritchx]

Finally drew something !!!! anyway enjoy some art

[descisco]

me soon as the shameless intro starts playing

[spacerangersam]

a happy pride to (most) of the living from where the lost souls meet. this was a nightmare, but very glad to have finally done it, and to have it finished before the end of june :)

[irlsunbeam]

Breaking the Ice || Mickey & Estella (flashback)

TIMING: December 2009 LOCATION: A pond, a car, and the Hartmann mansion PARTIES: Mickey ( @pagingdoctorhart) & Estella ( @irlsunbeam ) SUMMARY: Mickey and Estella meet. CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of parental death. Estella's dad is also a jerk (doesn't reach abuse levels but just to be safe!)

Mickey was in so much trouble. Despite knowing this, he wasn’t heading back to the group home. No, instead he was lacing up his skates and getting ready to hit the ice. Mickey could probably count on one hand the number of times that he had broken the rules in life. Or maybe two hands if staying up past curfew counted, but that definitely didn’t count right? There were strict rules about leaving the home, most of them involved approval and all of them involved a chaperone. He had only snuck out two other times, partially against his will and certainly because he was following his friend along like a lost puppy dog. He pretended to hate it both times, whining about getting caught and yelled at, while secretly trying to hide the thrill in his voice and smile slipping onto his face. 

Today wasn’t like that though. Instead, Mickey forced himself to sneak out alone. It started with the fight. Not exactly the first argument the two had had, but definitely the worst.The two had been practically inseparable for the two years Mickey had been there, which was probably more because Mickey stuck to the boy like glue and his friend tolerated Mickey’s presence. But their argument had stunned Mickey into a silence. One where he wanted nothing more than to disappear completely. He tried to disappear at the house, sneaking into the storage space under the staircase as he often did when he needed to be alone. But then there was the ghost. No, not a ghost, Mickey reminded himself. Just some manifestation of guilt. Whatever that meant. That’s what the counselor kept calling it. It wouldn’t leave him alone. Kept bugging him and pleading with him until Mickey had no choice but to find the only other place that felt somewhat like a home to him. That was how he ended up on this pond. The same one he’d drag his parents to each year and skate circles around them. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, he was too used to the cold for it to have been caused by that. He was purposefully trying not to think about things like that right now. He needed to get out on that ice.

-

Her dad was being stupid, again.

It wasn’t anything new, but it was equally frustrating every single time. She did get more frustrated during the wintertime (which it was) and she was seven, which was a perfectly reasonable age to be, she supposed. Though most other ages she had been were also reasonable. There had been something frustrating about being three, though. But Estella wasn’t focused on that right now. She’d have plenty of time to delve into all sorts of memories later on. Right now, she had to be extra focused. It may have been a bit sunny out, but it was still winter, which was a stupid season clearly prejudiced against the sun. It was always so cold, and she hated that.

But she was still determined to try and make the best of it. Giving in to the slowness that called to her during these months would just prove her father right. About… something. What exactly, she didn’t know, but it was always something with him. Always.

The area around the pond seemed mostly empty, save for a few other people, and she stomped through the snow, fancy Ugg boots on; before she knew it, she’d made it to the pond’s edge and she stepped onto it without much thought. She’d made her way nearly into the middle when she suddenly heard a crack and then she crashed through the ice. It must have had some sort of vendetta against her, and maybe she should’ve asked Henri to come along, but he was probably busy - off reading some serious academic book full of very human things.

Right now, she felt an awful lot like Amy from Little Women – she supposed that there were other parallels between the two but she didn’t have a lot of time to think about that as she slipped into the freezing water.

-

Mickey was still on the outskirts of the pond when he saw the girl fall through. It happened so quickly, one moment she was in the center of the pond and the next she had disappeared entirely. Mickey gasped, a reflex at knowing what it feels like once a body hits freezing water like that. The initial reflex was incredibly dangerous, and Mickey grasped at his chest just thinking about it. There were only a few people there and all seemed completely frozen as well. Fuck. He scolded himself as soon as his brain thought of the word. Clearly, his friend at the group home was rubbing off on him. His parents would have been so disappointed. Mickey glanced around to look for any sign of a parent or someone that seemed especially concerned about the little girl’s safety, but nobody stuck out as knowing who she was personally. 

“Someone call for help!” Mickey heard the voice call out, but didn’t quite register that it had been his own. He had never been assertive and the idea of a twelve year old shouting commands to a bunch of vaguely shocked looking adults would probably have been funnier in a different situation. But Mickey was already on the move, skating across the ice since nobody else seemed to be taking the initiative. He crouched as low as he could as he skated along, attempting to stay low to the ground and ignoring the pain in his leg from the unexpected squatting. The closer he got to the center he could finally see the hole in the ice where the girl had disappeared through. He could see the water rippling, but no sign of the girl below. The ice continued to crack around it, and it became clear that Mickey wouldn’t be able to safely skate up to the hole and try to fish her out. The ice would never support it. Mickey shut his eyes for a moment, trying to mentally prepare himself for the shock that his body was about to go through. The ice gave out from under Mickey a few moments later, and he shifted his weight to try to simulate more of a dive into the freezing water instead of falling straight through. 

The initial shock of falling into ice cold water was intense. There were a lot of instinctive things the body wanted to do. Take a breath, flail your arms, scream. Mickey’s coach and parents had always tried to train these instincts out of him. His parents had never been able to afford actual lessons or time on the ice outside of games, which meant that Mickey spent a lot of times on frozen ponds. After his own incident of falling through the ice, they had taken precautions to try to prepare him on how to deal with it. They knew they couldn’t keep him off the ice, so they need him to known what to do instead. He tried to remain calm, pushing his arms forward to push through through the water and towards the girl. The water felt like needles against his exposed skin and he had to force himself to keep his eyes open against the pain. Against the dark of the pond, Mickey could make out the brightly colored jacket the girl had been wearing and forced himself forward until he could grab onto her, trying to wrap his arms around her to keep her still. He began kicking his legs against the water rhythmically, ignoring the panic in his mind that told him to paddle frantically. His head pounded, yelling in warning that he needed to take a breath. Just ten more seconds. Anybody can do anything for ten seconds.

After what felt like forever, Mickey finally felt the top of the ice. It took some maneuvering, but he finally broke through the surface, gasping loudly for air once he finally got above the water. His arms hurt, tired from carrying the girl who weighed at least half of what he did. Both legs hurt from the kicking, but he was actually worried that he was causing more damage to his already injured left leg. But he kept kicking, keeping himself above the water while he tried to find solid ice to latch on to. He kept pressing down against his, feeling it crack and give way to his weight each time until he finally got some real leverage. By this point, he was so tired he didn’t think he had the strength to lift the girl above him and onto the ice. His head was falling back under the water as he tried to support the weight, and he had to give one final push with whatever strength he had left. 

Finally, the weight of the girl was lifted from Mickey. The relief was instant, but he still had to find the energy to get himself out. He kicked again, grabbing back for the ice and using it to pull himself out from under again, lifting himself as much as he could until he felt extra hands on him and suddenly he was being easily lifted up and out of the water. Someone had grabbed him, but he was adjusting to the sunlight and needed a second before he could manage to open his eyes.

-

She couldn’t breathe, and that was a very sucky sort of feeling to experience. It wasn’t something she was used to, either (though if anybody was, Estella felt very very sorry for them). She also wasn’t used to not getting her way. Even with her dad being who he was, she still usually got what she wanted. It might have mostly only been because Edmond Hartmann didn’t want to make a scene, and he knew that his daughter could make one very strong heck of a scene if she wanted to, but still she still got what she wanted in the end. Which was enough of a win for her for the moment.

Except not for this particular moment given the whole near-drowning situation of it all. She was supposed to live forever and she liked being alive. The winters in Maine were far from her favorite thing (on the list of her least favorite things, even) but being alive was really truly wonderful. Except that she was freezing now and she tried to use as much of her natural heat as possible but that was only minorly effective, and it certainly wasn’t helping her get out of the water. She needed someone who could handle the water and the cold both together. The water by itself was fine (enough) (she didn’t prefer it but the way the sun glistened off the water was a very flattering sort of look, so she let it slide).

She wasn’t sure if she was hearing everything correctly, but she was pretty sure that she heard a splash in the water that couldn’t have been her, because she was already deep down (and not in the interesting way like in The Little Mermaid. She would have much preferred a sea witch to whatever was going on right now).

Estella’s eyes were squeezed shut so tightly, but upon hearing the splash she opened them just a little bit, and there was absolutely somebody else there too. Nobody had pushed her into the water so that meant that this had to be some sort of hero. Which was pretty extremely fantastic, honestly! That meant that she probably maybe wasn’t going to die because heroes didn’t let people die. She was absolutely not a damsel-in-distress, not one bit, but everyone sometimes needed some saving, and that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. 

Then arms were around her, and they were skinny and couldn’t have belonged to an adult, but that didn’t matter, because kids could be heroes too, and often were, simply by virtue of the fact that they believed in so much more than any adults did. Human children didn’t get bored of her stories most of the time and they liked the magic she could do. Human adults were fine, usually, but sometimes they told her to stop playing pretend and that made Estella’s insides boil in frustration, because it wasn’t pretend and when she told the grown ups she didn’t and couldn’t lie sometimes she was met with an attempted placation that involved telling her what a creative and bright young girl she was. Which was true! But multiple things could be true, and her being bright and creative didn’t make her a liar.

The hero was pushing her up onto the ice and she kicked one leg up as best as she could before someone pulled at her and pulled her all the way out and she did scream, out of sheer panic, relief, and worry for the hero who wasn’t out here. “There – someone!” She coughed out, and the woman who’d grabbed her reached back into the water and then the hero did come out and Estella maneuvered her way over to him as best as she could. “You – okay? Are you?” She looked at the woman who’d saved them both (though the hero, all kind eyed and brown haired and lovely, had really saved her) and cleared her throat. “Can you please drive us to World’s End Isle? I’m Estella Hartmann, and that is where I live. Thank you very much.”

-

Mickey couldn’t remember much after pushing the girl out of the water. He had held off as long as he could, but he was pretty sure his body had gone into shock. It hadn’t been the first time, images of his parents and their last night flashing through his brain. He tried to focus on the present, the little girl trying to speak to him, but he couldn’t understand any of her words. All he could think about was how cold he was. How he’d never feel warmth again, most likely. If he had been in his right mind he would have remembered that this was technically a good thing. The big problem came if he started feeling hot. But he couldn’t think of the positives at the moment, all he could do was shiver and try to wrap his arms around himself for warmth, foiled by the snow and ice beneath him and the soaking wet clothes. 

Someone was helping Mickey up, but he couldn’t figure out who. Or how he was supporting himself. His body moved like molasses, or at least it felt that way. Like the way he would play in slow motion with some of the younger kids at the group home. He could hear words, even heard himself mumbling responses, but it was all lost on him. He simply followed. A terrible move, his friend at the group home would have given him so much shi- crap about it. After their fight, he probably didn’t even care though. Through his daze, he could recognize the little girl though, and stuck close to her. He needed to at least keep her safe. 

The two had ended up in the back seat of a car. Mickey huddled against the small vent, holding his face against it as heat blasted out directly against his cheek. He had no clue where they were going or how long they had been in there. It had felt like he had been floating above his own body for a while, but as he warmed up he finally felt like he was refocusing his mind. His vision sharpened and the whistling noise seemed to fade away. He found himself in the rearview mirror and noted that he was still soaking wet, his hair was tangled and falling over his eyes. He pushed it out of his eyes and looked over at the girl next to him. “”You okay?” he suddenly felt deja vu. They must have already talked about this, but he couldn’t remember now. “Are we going to your house?”

-

The boy hero looked cold in the car, and even though Estella knew she wasn’t supposed to use her powers at random on unsuspecting human people but she scooted a little closer to the boy hero and did her best to think warm as much as she could, and hope that some of her warmth would help him, because, as she’d learned (when she was maybe five, ridiculously too late to be frank) that human people couldn’t just warm themselves up without help. Which made her pity them all the more, even though being able to warm yourself up was freakish, according to her father. Well dad, she thought, is being able to save a hero freakish?? She didn’t think too long about his answer to that. The boy she was bringing back to the house was human (or at least he wasn’t fae) and that would win her father’s favor at least a little bit.

It had to. She hated how much she still craved his approval, craved it in the same way that a baby craved milk, or how good a breath of fresh air felt after you’d held your breath for too long.

“I’m okay.” Her head hurt and she was wondering if the sun could get frostbite, but she was okay, all things considered. “Yes. We’re going to my house.” She pointed to a turn, and thankfully the woman driving them was a real hero and didn’t try to run off with them. Though there was a non-zero (even greater) chance that she knew at least of the family Estella was part of and figured it would be too much of a pain to kidnap her.

Soon enough, they arrived and Estella gave the woman (whose name was Leah, she’d learned) the code to open the gates (her father would just have to change it later, if he got paranoid about the general public being able to get into their home — so, yes, of course he would) and they drove up, Estella’s parents rushing out of the front door once the woman honked twice.

She didn’t like how good it felt to see her father worried about her. How much it made her want to try other dangerous things, because maybe then he’d love her. But she didn’t have the time to think about that right now. Right now, her mother was pulling her into her arms and her father was looking her over, and Estella coughed. “There’s a boy in there. He’s a hero. He saved my life! He should come inside. I think.” She craned her neck to look back at the boy. “Right? You should come in and eat cake or drink water or at least change.”

-

Mickey let Estella and Leah do the talking for the rest of the ride. He sat huddled, with his legs pulled up onto the seat and thankful for the sudden warmth. Mickey had only just recently started coming out of his shell. Well, more like dragged out of it against his will. Usually he was the quietest in the room, listening in and only speaking up when someone directly asked him a question. Mickey was happy to let the small girl do all of the talking for him. 

Out of all the homes Mickey could picture in his mind to drop the young girl off at, none of them involved gated access. He was pretty sure those only existed for fancy neighborhoods and mansions. It only took another minute of driving for Mickey to realize that it was a mansion. Or at least the closest thing to a mansion that he had ever seen. “Holy S- Crap” Mickey corrected his mumbling both for the memory of his parents as well as the little girl they were dropping off here. He made a mental note that he was far too young to be cussing and that he needed to tell the kids at the group home the same thing. Soon the parents came rushing from the front door and the girl was jumping out of the car, leaving the door open. Mickey wasn’t too broody to admit to himself that it stung a bit, watching the two embrace the small girl. 

Luckily, Leah distracted Mickey from having to watch too much of their reunion. “Where am I taking you?” Mickey pondered the question for a minute. He wasn’t embarrassed about the group home. Of the nightmare stories he had heard from other kids, he knew that he had actually lucked out where he was now. For the most part at least. He was more embarrassed to admit that he didn’t know the address for the place. Not very responsible. “Uh- would you mind just taking me back to the pond, actually? I think I forgot all my stuff there and it’s a pretty close walk.” Subjectively. “And sorry about getting your seats all wet.” 

Mickey was scooting across the seat so he could pull the car door shut when the girl was yelling across the driveway to him and motioning him out. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go out. Parents scared him, especially parents with this much money. He was pretty sure this house was bigger than the group home he shared with a dozen other kids. He looked to Leah in hopes that she’d get the hint and Fast & Furious the two of them out of there, but she just shrugged and motioned for him to hop out. After a moment of hesitancy, Mickey finally forced himself out of the car. Despite how cold he was just a few minutes ago, he realized now that his palms were incredibly sweaty and he tried brushing them against shorts to try to dry them off in case the dad wanted to do that weird thing that dads did where they shook hands with kids like they were adults. Unfortunately, he forgot to account for his shorts still being soaking wet so that did basically nothing. “Hi there.” Mickey abandoned the drying quest in favor of a small wave. He could hear his parents coaching him on how to introduce himself. My name is Michael Hart. It’s really nice to meet you both. Hand shake, hand shake. He had already messed it up. Besides, he couldn’t remember the last time anybody had called him Michael. “I’m Mickey.”

-

The boy listened to what she asked him to do and that made Estella feel incredibly bubbly. He was a hero and he listened and now he was going to meet her parents and that was the coolest thing. She hoped that her father would be on good behavior. He should be, especially considering that he liked to make a good first impression and this boy had saved his daughter. Even if he didn’t particularly care about her like a father should, her dying would mean that the Hartmann line stopped, and Edmond absolutely could not have that. So it would be in his best interest to be kind to the boy who had made sure that his bloodline didn’t end so abruptly. It was a bit of an icky way of thinking about it but it was the truth and Estella was as connected to the truth as someone could be.

(Even though she did lie sometimes, the stomachaches were worth it.)

“Yes!” She squirmed out of her mother’s arms and hopped onto the ground. Resisting the urge to bow (because she sure had stuck that landing) and instead bouncing on the balls of her feet. “This is Mickey and I fell into the water and I thought I was gonna die but then he pulled me out and saved my life which is what heroes do. He’s a real for-real-life actual hero! See!” She set her hands on her hips. “I told you guys that heroes are real. This is real. Not just in my stories!!” It was more evidence that she really did know what all she was talking about.

“Yes Estella, that’s nice. Is Mickey short for something, or is that the entirety of your name?” Her father looked down at the boy. “I can pay you for saving my daughter, if you would like compensation.”

Beloved or even loved daughter would’ve been a nice adjective, Estella thought, but kept her mouth shut (at least for the moment) and just looked at the conversation exchange, feeling something a little funny-weird in her stomach and chest – maybe she was just still too cold (though if she thought about it a little more, it was that there was a reward for returning her, just like you’d give to a puppy or a car. Not framed in the way you would expect it to when a father talked about his daughter).

“He needs to come in and change!” She exclaimed suddenly. “Come on. We can talk inside!!!” She took a few steps toward the door. “I’m also still frozen and would like to not wear dirty freezing clothes anymore.”

-

A real hero was just about the farthest thing from a description of Mickey as someone could get. His parents certainly wouldn’t consider him a hero, considering. His friend at the group home would have laughed in Estella’s face and whipped out multiple stories of just how cowardly Mickey really was. He could be brash and honest to a fault, but it was never meant to be hurtful. “I was uh- just in the right place at the right time I think. I’m definitely not a hero.” He tried to correct, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and feeling it heat up at the embarrassment. He hated being the center of attention. On the plus side, his neck no longer felt like it was frozen solid. “I used to play on the ice a lot. And I’ve fallen through a couple times myself. That’s it.”

Mickey didn’t know how to talk to adults. Other parents always told his own how much they liked Mickey because he was quiet. He kept to himself, only having hushed conversations with presumably nobody. He had been young enough that most had played it off as an active imagination and ability to keep himself entertained. From what he had learned, parents loved that stuff. So if the only thing that made adults like him was how quiet he was, how did he keep that going when they started asking him questions? “It’s uh- short for Michael. Michael Hart. But I just go by Mickey now.” His head tilted curiously at the offer to pay him for the rescue. Mickey didn’t even know that was an option. “I don’t have a bank account.” Mickey didn’t know why that was the first thought that came to his head but it seemed the most relevant at the time. He knew a couple of people at the home would be furious if they learned he had been offered money by a clearly very rich family and turned it down. But something about it didn’t seem right. His parents used to help people. Or at least they tried to. They never took money, so he shouldn’t either. “Or I mean, no thank you, sir. Like I said, it was just lucky timing.”

Estella was a ball of energy, Mickey was quickly gathering. It brought a smile to his face, one that he didn’t want to wipe away just because her father seemed much more serious. He decided that despite the freezing temperatures and one hundred percent chance he was in huge trouble once he finally got back to the home, he was happy that he had been in that right place at that right time. “Oh no, I don’t want to intrude. I should probably start heading back anyways. I’m not supposed to be gone for too long.” Or at all, without permission. But he didn’t want these people to think he was some kind of criminal. 

-

“Nuh-uh, he is a hero.” Estella couldn’t understand why exactly he kept insisting otherwise, but maybe he wasn’t confident, or maybe he’d never been called a hero before. That would make the most sense, because him not being a hero simply didn’t cross her mind as even a remote possibility. “He’s good with ice and I am not! That’s gotta be like, destiny, or fate or something, right?” 

Her father wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. No, Edmond Hartmann was solely and incredibly focused on the boy who she’d brought home. “Are you a skater, young man?” Estella moved back toward her mom, letting the woman’s arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her close against her body. She relaxed into the familiar warmth, one that mirrored her own even if she felt that it was more of a distant warmth than anything else, lately. But right now she wasn’t keen to analyze that, instead she was far too wrapped up in the conversation between the boy-hero (she figured maybe she should start calling him Mickey by now) and her father. If he charmed her father (which he seemed to be doing) then he would really be a hero. She could have sworn she saw the tiniest smile on the corners of her fathers lips, and that was one heck of a miracle.

“Our last name is Hartmann.” Edmond continued, and Estella felt her eyes grow wide. That was some sort of coincidence and was also pretty cool. She wondered if the boy-hero’s – if Mickey’s – parents knew just how lucky they were to have him. 

“It is!” She called out, pulling at her mom’s arms, moving forward as much as her mother’s hold would let her. Always moving, never really able to sit still for more than a couple moments at a time. “We’ve got almost the same name!! Last name, I mean, Mickey and Estella are kinda different!”

“Well, if you’re certain you don’t want payment, you can come inside.” He waved Leah’s car away and began walking toward the house, very clearly expecting everyone else to follow in his shadow –

– (which was absolutely probably another reason why Estella hated shadows so much) – 

and Estella and her mom did, and she hoped Mickey would too, because she’d show him what good food they had. Mickey didn’t want to intrude and she felt her lip quiver, tears threatening to show themselves. “Please!! Please promise you’ll come in for uh – like –” Edmond turned around to glare at her. “Or don’t uh, promise. Just please come in so that we can exchange Skype usernames so that we can talk after this!! Please?”

-

“Ice isn’t so bad, once you get used to it.” Mickey had to lean a bit to match Estella’s height. Mickey used to spend so much time in the rink or out on frozen water that he preferred the cold and found anything less than frigid to be unbearably hot. Since he hadn’t been able to skate for the last few years he had gotten better, but still preferred the cold. “I used to play! I can’t play much anymore, since I-” he paused for a minute. His parents would think it was rude to dump a bunch of sad stuff on complete strangers. He shouldn’t mention that. “Well, I had an injury a few years ago so I don’t get to play a ton.”

Hm. It was weird that their names were so close. Mickey wouldn’t have thought much of it if Estella hadn’t been so excited by it, but seeing her excited made him happy about it too. He wasn’t sure he had anything in common with this family outside of the name, so he would take any common ground that he could get. It must have worked well enough, as he was being invited in the home and Mickey briefly considered whether he should run for the car and ask Leah to save him. If he offered to pay Mickey before, maybe they’d be willing to get him a cab back to the park so he could walk home from there? 

Mickey briefly ran over to the car before she had a chance to drive away, “Thank you again. For your help and also for not letting me drown.” They exchanged waves and then Mickey jogged back over to catch up with the man who was walking into his home. He realized he hadn’t spoken at all to Estella’s mom so he gave her another wave and a polite hello before walking in behind Estella. Weird that she told him to promise and then took it back, but he just nodded and followed along. “I don’t have a skype. But I could probably make an account if I can get some computer time.” One computer shared between a group of kids meant that he never got a ton of time to browse the internet and also that he spent a lot of time hearing Smosh echoing through the halls. “Wow.” Mickey couldn’t help himself, his head tilted toward the ceiling and glancing around the giant entryway. “You have a really nice home.” He spoke mostly allowed, though he was right next to the mom, “Like a really nice one. I’ve never seen anything like this.” 

-

“No, I think it always stinks.” Estella made her best disgusted face. “But I know, you’re not ‘apposed to yuck peoples yums, so I am sorry for yucking your yum. Even if ice isn’t food. But if you do eat ice, then go you!” She wiggled in her mother’s arms. “I’m sorry you got hurt!” Estella exclaimed before her father could say anything, though he always wanted to have a final word, and so it was no surprise to her when he followed up with:

“That is awful. I assume you were properly treated at the time?” It took everything in her tiny body not to roll her eyes at her father, not to say that this really wasn’t the way you talked to people. Not if you had even an ounce of compassion in your bones, but then again, maybe Edmond Hartmann didn’t. Maybe he was just better at faking it than everyone else was. Which wasn’t a good thought nor a good feeling, but sometimes the truth tasted gross. It was a simple fact, and she knew a ton about facts.

Mickey was being slow and Estella wanted to call out after him until she realized he was talking to the lady  – Leah – and was being super kind and noble and stuff, again, and that turned any would-be frustration straight into joy and an extreme sense of very-much-pleased.

He didn’t have a Skype. That was fine, especially since he told her he could make one. She wanted to make him promise to make one, her fingers itched with the want of the promise, but she was good, she did what her father told her to do and she squished the promise all right up and down into her stomach and focused on something else. “It’s super pretty!” She exclaimed, scrambling down out of her mother’s arms. “It’s kind of like a palace, I think? Except many of those are made of stone and this isn’t, and I’m not a literal princess, so…” She trailed off. “But we should get you food and if you want new clothes we can do that too! For sure absolutely no problem!”

-

“I would never yuck someone’s yum.” Mickey agreed, half following what the girl was saying. Her mind seemed to move a mile a minute. His did too, though he wasn’t usually also speaking it out loud while it was happening. He liked to think that her comfort and confidence in sharing her thoughts out loud said something good about her parents. But maybe that was just the confidence that came with being a little kid still. “What do you like then, if not ice?”

“Um, yeah. They took good care of me.” Mickey didn’t like to think about a lot of things after that night. The people at the hospital were really nice though. Despite the pain and the fear, they had made things somewhat okay and really helped him. He had known even before they told him that he wouldn’t be able to play hockey for a while, maybe ever again. Part of him wondered if maybe he should try to be like them. “I have a scar, but it doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

As nice as Estella was, Mickey still felt like he was intruding on this overly massive home. Her parents both seemed nice, but more like they were accommodating their daughter’s whims than actually welcoming Mickey into their homes. He hoped he could find a way to dip out without hurting her feelings too much. “It’s totally like a palace. Which definitely makes you at least a Disney princess.” He gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her before turning his attention back towards the mom and dad, “I really appreciate you both inviting me in. but I don’t want to take up too much of your time. And uh- well there’s a pretty strict curfew back at the house so I should probably head back soon.”

-

“You don’t seem like somebody who would!” She grinned. He was following what she said even though her dad often said that she didn’t make sense most of the time. But here was a stranger who had only just met her and understood her just fine! So it wasn’t her fault, maybe. Maybe this was only more evidence that as much as she loved her dad, he didn’t entirely understand her (and not in the way that teenagers in movies said) and Estella happily gobbled that up as a win. It could even be considered multiple wins, if she thought about it for long enough – but instead, her brain was off thinking other thoughts before she could dwell on that for too long. “I like the sun and flowers and warm stuff and lemonade and strawberries and animals!!! Oh, and also my two best friends. I like them a lot too!”

Her expression turned into a frown at his comment about a scar. “I’m sorry about that. But I am really glad it doesn’t hurt anymore!” She was determined to get in more words than her father could, mostly because the way his vibe was going was major interview vibes and that was weird to do to someone who was probably not even a teenager yet or had only like, just become a teenager.

“Well, sometimes I think there’s better princesses to be, but thank you!” She curtseyed before running off to the kitchen to grab some snacks.

– and, yes, to maybe actually let her parents talk to the hero-boy.

Which they did – once Estella was out of sight, her father and mother started talking at almost the same time, and it was in that act of unison that there was perhaps a visible understanding of how the two of them had fallen so in love. “You say ‘the’ house?” Alba looked at him, curious. “Perhaps I am overstepping and too focused on wordplay, but why not ‘my’ house?”

-

Estella sure liked a lot of things. There was such magic and wonder in her eyes. Mickey wanted that too. It felt kinda hard these days, trying to find those things. He didn’t feel like much of a kid anymore, despite logically knowing that he still was one. “You have two whole best friends? Wow I-” did he have a best friend at all? He would consider his friend at the group home to be his best friend, but he wasn’t sure that the feeling was mutual. Especially now. “I’m jealous. You all must have so much fun together.” 

After talking a mile a minute, a trait Mickey couldn’t even see himself doing, Estella was running off again. He laughed as she curtseyed and ran off. Definitely a princess. His attention turned to the parents as both started asking presumably the same question. The mom finished the question out and Mickey realized he had broken the rule he had set for himself. His parents wouldn’t have wanted him to dump his sad story onto these random strangers. But they wouldn’t have wanted him to lie either. “Oh uh-” he paused for a minute to consider how he could phrase it so that the people didn’t feel obligated to pack up a plastic container of food and send it back with him, “I’m at that group home at the edge of town.” Mickey wasn’t actually sure exactly where he was right now to know where it was in relation. But the edge of town gave them a general enough idea. “My parents died a few years ago.” 

-

“I do, and we do!” She was grateful for both of her friends, and she hoped that Mickey had some too. With how nice he was, she couldn’t imagine anybody not liking him.

Because of that (and because Estella was very hungry) she grabbed a whole box of Oreos, and Goldfish, and then, for good measure, some apples from the refrigerator. She bounded back into the room just in time to hear Mickey answering what had to have been a question about where he lived. Group homes were for people who didn’t have other places to live, weren’t they? She’d seen Annie (the 1999 one was the best, much better than the one all the way from the eighties) and she immediately felt a sinking feeling in her gut. Then he confirmed his parents had died and Estella had to squeeze her eyes shut extra tight so that she didn’t cry in front of the cool hero boy.

“You should come stay over! Or live with us!” She exclaimed, bounding back into the room. She could see her mother smile and her father’s eyes grow wide. 

“Yes, absolutely!” Her mother replied. “Our home is open whenever you wish, and I am happy to talk with whoever your educator is at your home to make sure everything is all above ground. We wouldn’t want you to get in trouble, of course.” Estella could even see her father nodding, and maybe it was because letting an orphan visit would be a good story to tell, but Mickey was also probably human and also a boy, two things Edmond Hartmann appreciated that Estella was not and never would be. “You can have the Oreos and Goldfish and an apple to go if you’ve gotta go, but you’ll come back, right?” Tongue pressed to the side of her mouth, resisting the urge to tack on promise? to the end of it. Because she wanted Mickey back of his own volition (how was that for a big word?!) and not because she’d bound him into returning. “I’d like you to come back. Maybe we can be best friends too.”

-

[spicycinnabun]

@galladrabbles for cuddles

~

“Could you watch where you’re sticking those bony fuckin’ elbows?”

“If you’d quit squirming,” Ian muttered. He frowned when he realized how shallowly Mickey was breathing, his forehead sweaty. “We’ll be over the border soon, Mick.”

“Yeah, not fucking soon enough.”

The car hit a pothole, and they groaned. Then, on a sharp turn, Mickey rolled. Ian caught him before he banged his head, locking his arms around him securely. “I got you.”

It said something about Mickey’s state of mind that he didn’t immediately accuse Ian of cuddling him. Instead, he let out a shaky breath and slowly relaxed.

[bell-swamp-fitzjames]

mcdonald goodsir talking scene but its like an hour bc i just would like to see them talk more

[percival-c-mcleach]

Mickey started giving villains therapy.

Special thanks to @sp00kies on Discord for giving me the meme dialogue!

[themickey]

closed starter @natcliachen when: september 6th, 9pm where: bar time babyyyy

she would be lying if she said that she wasn't excited to get out of the house and go to the bar with natalia. sure, she was still a little hurt because of what happened with dinner the night before, but she spent the day listening to the others tell her how mad she should be at natalia. she just couldn't find it in her to keep her anger towards her.

showering off the dirt and sweat from the day of fixing up the greenhouse, mickey tried to find the best outfit that natalia wouldn't cringe at (though, that was a tall ask) but didn't feel completely unlike herself. she settled on something simple but nicer than the baggie tshirt and jean shorts she was wearing all day.

sitting in the front seat of her jeep cherokee, mickey's thumbs drummed along to the alanis morissette song that played through the speakers as she waited for natalia. once the door opened, she turned down the radio some as natalia got in. "i haven't been out drinking in town since i was in college, i wonder if it's as townie as it used to be." mickey personally loved it, the normalcy of the town, but she was sure it was not natalia's scene in the slightest.

[ghosty-schnibibit]

i had this in my drafts for like a week debating when to post it and then found out today is 180th anniversary of the book's publishing

for the many versions that are just titled 'a christmas carol' or 'scrooge' i added the actor playing scrooge in addition to the year. i included mainly the most well known versions + those i personally watched growing up, if you have a different one you'd like to add please share in the tags or replies!

[eldritchx]

I'm sooooo fucking sick rn so take some older art because uhmmm