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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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We’ll Be Home For Christmas 3.3

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Day Three - If not for the courage of the fearless crew – Part 3 Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.2

Author: Gumnut

27 - 29 Dec 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 4813

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Science!Gordon. Artist!Virgil, Minor various ships, mostly background.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos we haven’t seen it yet.

Author’s note: For @scattergraph. This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic :D I hope you enjoy it.

Now you’ve caught up. I don’t have the next bit written yet (only bits of it), so I’m winging it from here. Also, it was hard to find a good spot to cut/end this chapter and it is quite long. Hopefully that can tide you over until I can get the next bit out. Also, if I can get to see the new eps, I would really like to write some episode tags, but I’m still tied up in this fic with a trail of WiPs behind me ::wails:: I want to wriiiiiite more than I can ::wails some more:: I guess, I’ll just have to write in my sleep :D

Many thanks to @vegetacide and @scribbles97 for cheering me on and their wonderful support through this craziness. And to @onereyofstarlight for geeking out with me over the setting.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

It was mid-afternoon and Gordon was exhausted by the time he made it back to A Little Lightning. The ocean had a decent depth here and it had taken some time to get down, untangle and cut masses of netting from the rocks it was snagged in, stow it safely and then run the decompression ladder up the water column.

Two took Four back on board and Gordon was tempted to go with his sister back to the Island. He even suggested it, but Tin simply grabbed him by the shoulders, turned him around and marched him back to the hatch. “I’ve got this, Fish.”

“I need to clean out Four.”

“You’re on vacation. Besides, I need to deliver that net to WASP along with the rescue recordings. I’ll take care of your ‘bird, don’t worry.”

He eyed her. “That is a lot to ask of you. You are already taking care of Virg’s girl.”

Her eyes flickered away a moment and he frowned.

“I will take care of it, Gordon. Now go back to your boat. She needs her captain.” A smirk. “Or do you want to leave her in Scott’s hands?”

“Hell, no.” And before he could second think that thought she had him lowered to the ocean and jumping off Two’s forward hatch.

Alan scooped him out of the water in the inflatable asTwo rose in height and banked around in a curve. A moment and her massive rear thrusters fired, her roar bouncing off the water around him as she tore off into the distance.

A glance at the bow of his yacht.

Virgil was nowhere to be seen.

It took another half hour of getting himself cleaned up and being sideswiped by Scott who made him shove a sandwich down his throat before he could chase up his musical brother.

“He’s resting.”

Gordon stared at Scott sitting across from him at the table. “Voluntarily?”

His big brother sighed. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t going to question him suddenly doing something right, was I?”

“Is he okay?”

Scott shrugged. “He said he was fine.”

“But you don’t believe him.” He could see it in his brother’s eyes.

Quiet. “No...no, I don’t.”

Gordon opened his mouth to comment by was interrupted by John striding into the room. “We got them.”

“What?” He stared up at his space brother.

“Penny traced down the culprits and located the financial source. All roads lead back to a Richard Polominka, a billionaire who owns half the French seaboard. She’s got enough evidence to bring him down.”

Gordon stared at him. He wanted the energy to feel jubilant, but honestly he only felt the bare minimum of relief. It would stop, but how many had died? “Penalty?”

John straightened. “Enough. Penny followed through and she believes she has enough for life imprisonment.”

He looked away. “Good.”

The yacht rocked ever so gently, the lap of water against her hull, the only sound for a long moment.

“Thank you, John.” Scott’s gratitude was obvious, but his eyes were on Gordon.

John’s eyes darted between the two of them, questions in their turquoise that he didn’t ask. “Gordon, when you’re ready, Mel Fisher would like a report.”

“Yeah, thanks, John.”

His space brother dropped a hand onto Gordon’s shoulder and squeezed before heading back up to the bridge.

“Well, that’s it. We freed the calf, WASP is picking up the illegal nets and Penny found the person responsible. I think this mission is complete.”

“I need a drink.”

He felt Scott staring at him as he stood up and strode over to the bar.

“It is the middle of the afternoon.”

“Yeah, well, I had to stare a baby whale in the eye today and then hurt her to save her life, so you’ll excuse me if I would like a drink a little early.”

But Scott was suddenly in front of him, his hand on the bottle in Gordon’s hand. “Go and talk to him.”

Gordon looked up. “Why?”

“Because I think you need to.” A swallow. “And he needs to as well.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came to mind. He let the bottle go. “Fine.”

Scott placed it back on the shelf. “He’s in his cabin.”

-o-o-o-

The Tracy brothers mental health network was skewed. Gordon had to admit it. If you were a younger brother, you got the better deal. The more older brothers you had the more smothering you received until you were well again. Virgil had long compensated for Scott’s lack of an older smother brother by just smothering up the chain. But that was Virgil.

Of course, all brothers smothered up the age curve to a certain extent, but being younger and trying to look after an older brother who while bleeding to death might be eyeing you up and down and asking you if you were okay and telling you to sit down, it was smothering against the current.

And apparently, the older the Tracy, the more stubborn and less likely he was to take the advice of the younger Tracy.

So in summary, it was usually Scott who fielded any issues with Virgil. Gordon loved the man dearly, but he had no idea how his artistic brain worked, so in turn had no real idea how to fix it, and besides older brothers don’t like opening up to younger brothers. Particularly the eldest two.

But there was something about this incident. Something in the music his brother created, something in the eyes of the mother and her calf, Gordon felt it. He wanted to understand it. It called to him.

He knocked on the cabin door.

And received no answer.

“Virgil?”

Silence.

He waited a moment longer before quietly opening the door and peering in.

His eyes widened.

His brother’s cabin was draped in paper. Sketches and drawings lay all over the bed and the floor. There were humpback whales everywhere.

Virgil lay curled up on the bedcovers, asleep, still fully dressed in his linen shirt and shorts, fingers still wrapped around his pencil, sketchbook still in hand.

Gordon opened the door enough to let himself slide into the room. He had to reach down and pick up paper from the floor so he didn’t step on it. They were hurried sketches, far from his brother’s finished pieces of the day before. The pencil marks were aggravated, stabbed into the paper, the shading scribbled. On one sheet a net appeared with the whale and there was an actual hole in the page. Some pages were torn and crumpled.

God, Virg.

He closed the door behind him quietly and, picking up paper, made his way to the bed and sat on the end. The pages closer to his brother slipped into abstract shapes, words carved into the paper, none of them nice.

Ironically, looking at the drawings, Gordon could see a reflection of how he felt. There was beauty in those moments with the whales, but they were scarred and tormented by the injustice and the pain inflicted on the pair. Gordon had been there, seen it first-hand.

Virgil hadn’t been beside him, but perhaps he had been there another way.

The sound of his brother’s voice in the water...

“Virg?”

He didn’t expect him to wake easily, Virgil never did. So the brown eyes that flicked open almost immediately, surprised him.

“Gordon.” It was a hoarse rasp.

What to say next? Asking if he was okay would just be stupid.

Virgil was staring at him.

“John got the bastards.”

He got a grunt for that, the brown gaze looking away enough to see the paper all over the cabin. His brother let out a resigned sigh. “Scott send you?”

“No.” But it was an obvious lie.

Virgil threw the sketchbook aside and pushed himself upright, his legs falling off the side of the bed, feet hitting the floor. Gordon resisted the urge to help. It wouldn’t be appreciated.

“Then why are you sitting on the end of my bed?”

“Can’t I check in on you myself?”

Virgil eyed him and Gordon knew he had an inroad. Activate the elder smother brother, get him concerned about a younger brother and he would be less likely to see the concern coming from the opposite direction.

“You okay?” And yes, those eyes were combing him for injury.

“I’m fine.” Okay, so he wasn’t great at lying right at this very moment. But then this was Virgil, he didn’t have a hope at hiding something like this from his brother’s radar on his best days.

Today was far from best.

He held up a page with both mother and daughter drawn onto it. “They are beautiful, aren’t they?”

Virgil blinked, some unidentified emotion flickering across his face. “Yes, they are.”

“It was pretty amazing down there.”

“You did an amazing job, Gordon.”

He looked down at the page. “Heh, you did your own bit of amazing. Mel is going to be fascinated. You spoke to a whale.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You said enough to get a response.”

“I had no idea what I was doing.”

“You did something and it worked.”

“I-“ Virgil cut himself off and swallowed.

“Perhaps...” Gordon was hesitant. “When you are better, do you think you might like to try again?”

His brother’s eyes widened. “To speak to a whale?”

Gordon shrugged, “Speak? Sing? Communicate on some level?”

“I didn’t speak to her.”

“Virg-“

“She spoke to me.”

-o-o-o-

Virgil stared at his fish brother as his eyes widened. “She spoke to you?”

He sighed, let his shoulders drop and rubbed a hand over his face. How did he explain how the mother’s voice had gotten into his bones, how it had felt? It wasn’t words, it was just...pain. Pain and anguish that he had done his best to answer, to do what he always did, try to help.

He could still feel that vibration, that infrasound. It did something to him. He had spent the hours since trying to express what he felt. It had been such an experience, and in a way, Gordon was right, he had communicated with the whales. But it wasn’t on a conscious level, it was just emotion and he felt inadequate as his response was so strong but so biased human. He had no reference but himself and it was all he could share.

And it wasn’t enough.

Gordon’s hand wrapped around his arm and he jumped. “Hey, it was a rescue. Whale encounters don’t have to be like that. When you’re better, we can go visit some humpback whales. Maybe we can introduce ourselves, get to know a particular family, build a relationship? We have Four and the technology. I can speak to Mel, get a special permit. Just you, me and the sea. What do you say?”

Gordon’s expression was so honest, so raw, so his caring fish brother, how could he deny him? “Okay.”

The grin that spread across Gordon’s face was worth the admission. “Okay. We can do it. Fit it between missions. Take it slowly. Mel’s gonna want to be in on this in some way. Maybe we can use her to help convince Scott. Use the eco-angle.”

And Gordon drifted off into planning, his eager muttering, dragging a small smile from Virgil.

A rush of fondness and he grabbed his little brother in a hug.

“Woah, Virg! I’m breakable!”

That only had him smiling more. A kiss in blond hair as Gordon struggled and he let him go. The eyes looking up at him were a little wild and wary. “Wow. No hugging whales for you, you might break one.”

Virgil just grinned. God, Gordon knew how to brighten the darkest of moments.

“Now, onto more important matters.” Gordon held up a pile of paper. “How many dishes do I need to wash to get to own one of your whale drawings?”

Virgil frowned. “We have a dishwasher, Gordon.”

His little brother grinned. “I know.”

-o-o-o-

Eventually, Gordon dragged Virgil out of his cabin and to lunch. There were concerned expressions from Scott and John, even Alan had a frown on his face. But a pointed glare on Gordon’s part and no-one questioned either of them.

The events of the day had drained them all, so it was decided that they would head for Raoul Island and break their voyage there before tackling the final stretch home the next day.

Gordon was quite happy about this. He had planned to drop in on Mel along the way anyway, but this gave them extra time to visit, maybe stretch their legs a little. Raoul was much larger than Tracy Island and any of the other of the Kermadecs. It was also an active volcano that twitched from time to time, IR having to fish the entire scientific compliment off the island for that exact reason more than once.

Before International Rescue existed, people had died on Raoul due to unexpected eruptions. IR could be there in minutes and it had been before.

So relief was the first emotion felt by Gordon on the bridge of his ship when Raoul appeared on his scanners. When her forested peaks finally crawled over the horizon he was quite surprised at the longing he felt for the Island. Sure, he hadn’t seen Mel for ages, but really?

The emotion was there, however, and as they approached and he piloted around the great volcano to the north shore, memories of visiting with his father all those years ago explained exactly why he was feeling the way he was.

A sigh. It had been a long day. He was obviously tired and a little maudlin.

“Hey, Mel. Ima knockin’ on your front door.”

A snort answered him over comms. “I can see you, Fish. You did go billionaire for this trip, dinya.”

“Only the best for my convalescing brother. Wouldn’t have done him any good to bounce him all the way home with those holes in him, would it?”

“Excuses, excuses, Thunderfish. Don’t you dare think I don’t have access to the specs on that beauty. The speed that girl can attain is definitely Thunderfish territory.”

It was Gordon’s turn to snort. “Like you would turn down an opportunity for a decent boat.”

“I have a decent boat, thank you.”

“Yeah, one I sourced and bought you after I saw that piece of crap the DOC had you relying on.”

“Not all of us are billionaires, Fish.”

“Yeah, well, I am and I choose to exercise it when necessary.” And it came out a little more strident than he had intended.

“Hey, Fish, take a breath. You okay?”

Great. Now he had Mel asking that question and he hadn’t even set foot on the Island yet. “I’m good. Stressful day.”

“Yes, but I am glad you were out there.”

“So am I.” The comms fell quiet a moment. “Meet you on the beach?”

“I’ll be there. Make sure you and your brothers are clean. I want no bugs, no seeds and no life other than Tracys coming in with you. You got that?”

He rolled his eyes. “We know the drill, Mel.”

“Yeah, well, if you had to fend off tourists on a regular basis, you’d be repeating yourself at all times. The last lot tried to bring a pair of cats onto the Island.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Bloody idiots swore at me when I rejected their request to land. Said their pets deserved some time off the boat. Ended up having to call the local WASP in to escort them out of the Sanctuary.”

“I bet Brandy was happy about that.” Having spoken to the woman earlier in the day and found her as curt as usual, he had no doubt a request like that coming from Raoul would have set her off nicely.

“Oh, she was professional. Coulda cooked my breakfast on the heat coming off her comm signal though. For a bit there I wondered if the tourists were going to survive the encounter. I doubt I will see them again.”

“You can always hope.”

Another snort. “Okay, Thunderfish, secure your vessel, clean your shoes and I’ll see you on the beach. Don’t forget to bring that gorgeous convalescing brother of yours.”

“Be nice.”

Her only answer was a laugh. “Raoul out.”

-o-o-o-

To say Scott was itching to get off the boat would be to grossly understate the state of his mind. Gordon was efficient in securing the yacht. He had no wish to find her run-aground in the morning, and Scott understood that perfectly. But it was frustrating to have to go over every piece of equipment to make sure no bugs had hitched a ride. He knew the reasons and agreed with them, but he just wanted off the boat!

Both Virgil and Gordon were quieter than usual and it worried him. Virgil insisted on packing his overnight bag no matter what Scott did to offer to help. He was moving slowly and Scott ended up leaving him to it before his frustration spilled all over his brother.

His own bag was packed and ready before the Island even appeared on the horizon.

Okay, so boats were not his thing, but it was only three days. Well, four now. He never thought he would be climbing the walls this badly.

The sight of all that land was just...exciting!

Alan thought it was hilarious.

“You might want to calm down there, bro. You’re gonna break something.”

He glared at his littlest brother lounging on the lounge with his gaming console.

Alan snorted and shot him a smart ass grin.

Little shit. “How goes the game?”

“Quite well, thank you. Just beat John to the next solar system and it is one with some serious resources. Now I have all I need for my intergalactic jump. He can eat my space dust.” His words were punctuated with some serious stabbing of the gaming console.

Scott arched an eyebrow. “You might want to keep an eye on him. You know what John is like in these things.”

“No, no, I’ve got him. It is all under control.” Alan was grinning.

The grin vanished a moment later as his console screeched at him. “What the-? A mine? He seeded it with mines?!” The console screeched again. Alan’s expression became tragic. “John, you asshole!”

From the other side of the boat. “Language, Alan!”

“I’ll give you language! That was my solar system!”

“Finders keepers.”

Alan shot to his feet and yelled the length of the boat storming off in the direction of his middle brother. His language went further south the closer he got to John.

Scott rolled his eyes. Alan never did learn. Both brothers were geniuses in their own way, but Alan just wasn’t quite as devious as John. John definitely embodied the theory that it was the quiet ones you had to keep an eye on.

-o-o-o-

Scott finally got off the boat half an hour later. All five brothers climbed into the inflatable with all their luggage. It was a squeeze and since Alan was still shooting daggers at John with his eyes, at times it was an uncomfortable ride.

“C’mon, Alan, it’s just a game.” Virgil’s calming baritone was tired. “Not worth the effort.”

“Just because its reality is virtual doesn’t make it any less important. Anyone with an AI daughter should know that.”

John groaned. “It was all in fun. Who thought you would be such a sore loser.”

“Loser?! I haven’t lost yet. Don’t count your space chickens before they’re hatched, Johnny.”

His astronaut brother only rolled his eyes.

Scott turned to Alan. “Space chickens? Really?”

“Well, he needed something to count other than mines.” And the glare was back.

“If you two don’t stop arguing I will join that game and obliterate both of you.” That got Virgil a pair of astronauts staring at him. Scott was staring himself.

It was almost a stunned silence only punctuated by the inflatable engine and the water it was pushing through.

“You?” How Alan got enough scoff into that one word was a feat in itself.

Virgil straightened where he sat, arm wrapped around his middle. “Yeah, me. What? You don’t think I could kick your butt in a video game?”

John’s voice was calm as always. “You haven’t played a video game in years, Virgil. Things have changed since we were kids.”

“Yeah, Pong is long gone.” Alan was grinning.

“Ha, ha. This morning you were both arguing over who I should help.”

“Yes, but that wouldn’t have been actual play. I was asking you to help me design engines. That is your wheelhouse, isn’t it?”

Scott couldn’t believe he was hearing this. “Hey, guys. I wouldn’t underestimate him.” In the field, Scott was the Commander of International Rescue, but he would be the first to admit that Virgil was essential to that command. The fact both his space brothers obviously weren’t considering that at all was concerning.

“Well, he’s obviously underestimating us. Go ahead, Virgil, it will be fun.”

“Yes, fun to watch Alan get beaten by both of us.” John’s grin was pure evil.

While Alan spluttered, Virgil smirked and Scott found a smile on his own face at the sight of his brother’s spirits lifting just a little.

“Okay, World of Warcraft, put your swords down, we’re about to dock.” Gordon throttled down the boat’s engine.

The word ‘dock’ may as well have been replaced with the word ‘rock’ because this landing was no easier than the one on Macauley. It did, however, have the advantage of Melissa Fisher standing on those rocks.

Slim, blonde and no nonsense, she caught the rope Scott threw her and tied it securely.

“Kia ora, Thunderfish.”

Gordon was off the boat and hugging the woman. “God, Mel, it is great to see you.”

“And you brought your brothers.” She said it as if it was a surprise, which they all knew it wasn’t. “Alan, I haven’t seen you since you were this high.” She held a hand to her waist.

Gordon snorted. “So last week, huh?”

Alan glared at his brother as he climbed out of the boat. “Hey, Mel. Yeah, it’s been a while.” He held out his hand and she took it in both of hers.

“Well, it is great to see you now.” She turned back to the remaining three brothers still in the boat bouncing on the waves. “Commander.” She nodded at Scott. “Hey, Spaceman.” John grinned at her. “I hear you took ill, Virgil. Sorry to hear that.”

Virgil lifted up a hand and waved briefly. “I’m good.”

Regardless, it took both John and Scott to get their brother off the boat and onto the rock and there wasn’t a shortage of winces in the process either.

Melissa stood in front of Virgil once he got his feet under him, a brother still either side, and looked him up and down. “You’re taking the skyrail up to the lodge. No way in hell are you climbing the hill in that condition.”

Scott rolled his eyes as his brother tried to protest. A gentle clap up the back of the head brought his denial to a sudden halt. “Hey!”

An arched eyebrow was enough to fend off his glare.

Alan and Gordon hauled their luggage out of the boat. The moment the boat was empty, they lugged the boat out of the water and trundled it across the rocks to a spot far above the high tide mark and secured it. Scott and John helped Virgil across the rocks towards the conveyor system that enabled luggage to be transported up the hill.

“You want me to ride a flying fox?” Virgil was staring at it in horror.

“It’s not a flying fox. Dad designed and built it to carry people when necessary. It is more a skyrail. Related to your chute, actually.” Though admittedly it didn’t look it.

“My chute?”

“Uh-huh. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“They must have taken it out with my appendix.”

“Well, you’re not climbing that hill. So Raoul Skyrail it is.”

Scott had to admit the expression on his brother’s face as they secured him in what amounted to a laidback zipline harness was quite amusing. There were some alterations made to avoid his brother’s incisions and Scott refused to let him go until he was sure he was comfortable and nothing was pulling on stitches, but it was definitely smile worthy to set him on his way.

Gordon took video.

The skyrail trundled Virgil up the hill at a gentle pace while the rest of them had to climb the hill themselves.

Didn’t stop Virgil glaring at them through gaps in the trees as he passed them.

“It is good to see you here, Commander.” Melissa showed no sign of exertion as they climbed the hill. “It gives me a chance to thank you in person for all the resources and assistance both International Rescue and Tracy Industries have supplied us with over the years. Not to mention the loan of your brothers from time to time.”

Scott smiled. “It’s our pleasure. You’re doing good here. It is our honour to be a part of it.”

She barely came up to his shoulder, so she had to look up at him. “Well, thank you anyway. Our job would be so much harder if it wasn’t for you. Hell, some of us would likely be dead. I just wanted you to know that it is very appreciated, Commander.”

His smiled widened. “It’s Scott, and you are most welcome.”

-o-o-o-

Virgil felt like an idiot.

Sure, it was a harness, big deal. But it was a harness that had him dangling several feet off the ground with no way to get down.

He was stuck.

And looked stupid.

It took ages for his brothers to catch up and the laughter on the part of the two youngest deserved some serious retaliation. “Just get me down from here.”

Even Scott had a smirk on his face. Melissa was all apologies. There were only three other people on the island at the moment and two of them were on the far side of it. And, okay, she had forgotten to ask Sam to come help.

“Sam’s here?” Gordon was all excitement like some damn puppy.

“Yes, Gordon. Sam is here, but you need to behave.”

“Hey, that joke was a once off. I just want to talk cetaceans with him.”

“And he definitely wants to talk to you about today. He nearly set off the volcano with his ranting earlier.”

“That is no surprise. Wouldn’t mind setting off a couple myself.”

“Guys? Please?” He was still dangling and this was ridiculous.

“Ooh, sorry, Virg.” The smirks on all his brothers’ faces as they helped him down were annoying. Even more so when both Scott and John walked into the compound either side of him, ready to shoot out a hand if he stumbled.

“For goodness sake, I’m fine.”

They ignored him.

Sam turned out to be a mirror image of Gordon except for the red hair, extensive freckling and a missing right foot. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt loud enough to put Gordon’s colour scheme to shame, the man was wearing hot pink board shorts which left the mechanical portion of his lower right limb very obvious.

“Bitten off by a shark.”

“Excuse me?” Scott was frowning.

“That was the answer to the question on your face.” He frowned. “Gordo?”

Gordon grinned and stepping forward pulled the man into a hug. “Hey, Sam.” There was some mutual back slapping and they separated, holding each other at arm’s length.

“How are you? Have you gotten shorter?” Sam’s grin was infectious.

“No, but you’ve just lied to the Commander of International Rescue and the Chairman of Tracy Industries.”

The surfer’s eyes widened. “I wha-?”

Gordon stepped back and waved a hand in Scott’s direction. “May I introduce my eldest brother, Scott Tracy.”

Sam’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. “Oh my god. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. It was a motorcycle accident. It’s just that it sounds so much cooler when a shark is involved considering my occupation and it’s a habit and I’m sorry, please don’t fire me!”

“Gordon, what the hell?” Exasperation was the only word for Scott’s tone.

It took another ten minutes to get Sam to stop apologising. Gordon got clapped up the back of his head for his trouble and the rest of them were eventually introduced. Sam’s eyes stayed wide for the entire time. “Gordo, I knew you were a Tracy, but this is amazing. This is International Rescue.”

“Uh, Sam, I am International Rescue.”

“Yeah, but you’re just you. This is THEM.”

Virgil had to grin at the outrage on Gordon’s face. Served him right.

-o-o-o-

End Day Three, Part Three

Day Three, Part Four

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Alan Tracy

30 notes · View notes

siarven · 5 years

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WIP Prep Tag Game

Thank you so much for tagging me @i-belong-in-space <3 Your wip sounds amazing, I’m glad you tagged me so I could learn about it :D

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

FIRST LOOK

I’ll be doing this for Like Dragons of Old because it needs development since I only started writing it for NaNoWriMo this year :D

1. Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch)

The Observer (an immortal) and a phoenix chicken raise two girls among the towering stacks of an ancient, sentient library. Selandri is the first child born in the Library in millennia, and Timbre is the only survivor of a war that destroyed an entire continent and killed (or changed) everything else living on it.

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

Because I’m incapable of doing short things Like Dragons of Old is the first in a trilogy called Song of the Aunae.

Each book will span about 10 years, from when they’re children to ~18, 18 to around 30, and I guess 30-40? I’m very unsure about that last book. But there’ll be a lot of character development and growing up all in all.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic?

see 5 ... sorry, I’m too lazy xD

4. What other stories inspire your novel?

A non-fiction talk held by Neil Gaiman about him basically raising himself in the library when he was young :P Also a ton of fantasy novels with creative worldbuilding and magic systems.

5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel

the wip-intro-post moodboard :D it’s the aesthetic for the whole story though, not just the first book

MAIN CHARACTER

6. Who is your protagonist?

I have three POV characters/protagonists, but I’m currently thinking that I’ll give each of them their own book in the series.

One is Selandri, she’ll get the first book. She’s the first child born in millennia in the Library, to later fulfill a certain task ( which she knows nothing about, of course). Selandri is ESFP and chaotic neutral.

Next, Onii. Onii will be the POV character of the second book. She’s also immortal, but that’s mostly because she’s a phoenix. In form of a chicken, by choice (in that universe phoenix can choose their form when they are reborn). Onii is very chaotic neutral. Onii is isfp and very chaotic neutral.

Finally, Timbre. Timbre will be the POV character of the last book. She’s the only survivor (in the strict sense) of a war that destroyed her whole continent, killed her people and changed nature there forever (think of it as sth like a magical nuclear bomb). She survived for a few months with the help of dubious gods (the aunae) before the Observer found and saved her (despite having other orders). Timbre is INTJ and chaotic good.

They’re all very chaotic :P

7. Who is their closest ally?

All three are each other’s closest allies, and also the Observer. This will change throughout the series, however, as Selandri and Timbre will go seperate ways and finally see each other again, but on different sides.

8. Who is their enemy?

I prefer antagonist? In this book, at first it’s mostly the Aeqana/Librarians (Selandri’s parents etc) because they aren’t used to children, and especially not their pranks. Later on some people on a surviving continent from the world Timbre is from, originally.

9. What do they want more than anything?

On the surface, Timbre strives for knowledge, Selandri for adventure, and Onii for chaos.

Deep down, though, Timbre and Selandri just want each other, and Onii wants them both to be happy.

10. Why can’t they have it?

Because they only realize that when it’s too late...

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves?

Selandri thinks that she’ll always be second choice after Timbre, and Timbre thinks that she’s evil deep down and that everyone close to her gets hurt. Onii thinks she’s a horrible parent. Or something.

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

I will, one day, but today is not that day. I have a wip of Onii, though (sorry instagram crew, I still haven’t gotten further than this :’D but it’s more than what you saw?...), and moodboards (including face-claims) for both Selandri and Timbre.

(it’s far from finished and the bright feather will be somewhat less bright later on, I guess)

PLOT POINTS

13. What is the internal conflict?

Selandri struggles mostly with her self-worth, and Timbre struggles heavily with survivor’s guilt, and feeling as if she should’ve died with everyone else.

Also both of them feel like they don’t deserve the other.

Onii is generally carefree and loves pranking people (she’s very chaotic neutral) but she struggles with taking care of these two strange children, mostly because they love pranking others as much as she does but now she’s supposed to be the mature one?! After she’s spent the last millennia doing nothing else? Tsk!

14. What is the external conflict?

Librarians who haven’t been children for a long time not understanding that children need free time and having fun, especially not these children. Many raised eyebrows, and many punishments.

Later on, when they leave the Library for the first time, the people outside, and their strange customs... and what they might have had to do with the Broken Continent’s past.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?

To lose each other (for all three)

What they think:

Selandri - to become a Librarian and spend the rest of her days inside, cataloguing and transcribing knowledge collected from outside by other people.

Timbre - to be forced into some kind of destiny she doesn’t want by the Aunae and/or the Observer.

Onii - to be responsible for something that hurt Timbre/..., or to be incapable of stopping something like that. Also to never be allowed to prank anyone again.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?

Not telling you anything! Many. ;) Some only in later books.

17. Do you know how it ends?

Yesssssssssss but I won’t tell you

BITS AND BOBS

18. What is the theme?

Trees/plants, dragons, art/music, books/knowledge....

Freedom of choice, survivor’s guilt, the horrors of war, having hope even in the darkest of times (hopepunk), lgbt+, love, friendship, post-apocalyptic setting, the merits and woes of technology (as in, the continent that survived is very futuristic, combination of science and magic), racism, religion(s), nature, exclusionism; ...

....I’ll need to invest more time here :P

19. What is a recurring symbol?

See above.

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)

There is one world called Ferreske. The Broken Continent exists there, as do the other continents that didn’t get struck during the War. One of those will be visited, and it’s a capitalistic, futuristic hellscape society driven by a mixture of magic and technology.

The Broken Continent is devoid of human life. The Aunae have taken it over, more or less (they’re sort of tree gods) and they’ve changed the wildlife physically to survive the new conditions. During the War the enemy triggered a sort of “nuclear bomb” that killed everything in a 300 mile radius instantly, and set loose something the Aunae call the Radiancy, which nowadays kills everything else within about eight hours, unless you’re a plant (or the Observer). Which is why the wildlife has changed into a sort of plant/animal hybrid. Timbre’s people (some of them) prayed to the Aunae to save them when they felt the change in the air, so they got turned into trees. All children under a certain age were "protected” by the Aunae, like Timbre...except she escaped while she was still more or less herself, in contrast to everyone else. Also, the radiancy leaches away colours, so the Broken Continent is called the Grey Continent by some people. And Timbre is colourblind because of it.

Then there’s the Library, which is its own world/realm, and also sentient. In the Library there are all kinds of knowledge. Timbre and Selandri grow up in the book part of it, but there is also an art section, music section, etc. It’s probably endless and holds a huge variety of knowledge, and peoples with different ways of life and clashing viewpoints. It’s a sort of sanctuary, I guess? The Observer is more or less the founder (but she’s lost control over it centuries ago).

Some people are very angry that not everyone can enter/find the Library. Exclusionism will also be discussed, I guess.. but later on, when the protagonists are older.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?

I’ve planned the first book during NaNo, for the most part. I’m currently at ~60K of usable words (which will still have to be cut drastically), and I haven’t even “really” started :’D But yup, I know a lot of what’s going to happen. Not in detail, but enough. Especially two really mean scenes >:D

22. What excited you about this story?

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT, IT HAS DRAGONS AND MAGIC AND MUSIC AND TREES AND I LOVE THE CHARACTERS AND THE WORLD(S) AND ALSDKJFSKDJFSLDJFSLDJFSD I can’t wait!!!!!! :’D It’s basically me mashing everything I like into one and then hoping to get a decent story out of it.

But first I need to finish Dreams and Shadows ;w;

23. Tell us about your usual writing method!

I spend one NaNoWriMo writing things without knowing anything about the story except for my tumblr into post. Then, halfway during NaNo, I start having some ideas for the rest of the project, I plan some things, change and rewrite some other things, and then NaNo is over when I know roughly what I want to do.

Then I procrastinate far too much, before getting back into it with more of a plan than before. Then I write the first draft/draft zero, which is mostly me trying to find out what works and what doesn’t (and what the characters want/don’t want to do o_O) -- which I then print out, and kill with a red pen. Also I’ll probably give it to some people who don’t mind the rambling and all that.

Then I rewrite it for the most part, so it’s (1) shorter and (2) better. That is usually the “actual” draft 1, which I’ll spend a lot of time revising and editing, but not rewriting on a large scale. I hope that this time I will finally write it all in one go, and not: write some chapters, rewrite what I’ve already written, add a few more chapters, rewrite everything again, rinse, repeat--

I’ve never gotten further than that, yet, but my other wip, Dreams and Shadows, is almost done with the second draft (the first half got revised quite a lot, while the second half didn’t. I’ve also already had people read the first half. Which was actually helpful for that thing as it’s a standalone... I HAVE THREE SCENES LEFT BEFORE THE SECOND DRAFT IS DONE).

I hope that I can write LDOO in one go, though :’D

I guess I’ll just tag the LDOO crew for this, and maybe some others?? wow, I’ve gotten so lazy :’D

@dramaticvoiceover @asttralhell @authordai @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad @importance-of-being-crazy @madmoonink @prismalicht @romenna @fynniana @sincerestaffect @writin-maaagic @random-stuff-thrown-into-a-pot @raiswanson @zekethegm @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword @stephrawlingwrites @kittensartsbooks @annelaurant-writing @lady-redshield-writes @wolfdancer333 @bmariewinter

@lynnafred @corishadowfang @writingwordsanddrawingpictures @amongwriters

I love learning more about wips but this does eat up a lot of time so I totally understand if you don’t want to :’D

#ldoo #siarvenart #tag game #tagging game #wip tag game #ok i like this tag game because it forced me to make up so much stuff on the go :P #i'd best copy this whole thing into scrivener asap XD #long post

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