#doolally
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Hak Baker - DOOLALLY
Singer-songwriter Hak Baker: ‘The old guard is being priced out of London’
Time in prison helped the east Londoner reflect on his life. He’s now releasing a brilliant album that considers race, class solidarity – and the odd flirty, boozy night out
Jenessa Williams
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the obedience that came with your older bf!simon hadn’t started out as inherently kinky. it actually stemmed from a rather vulnerable admission, one that happened to come about as you were riding him.
“i need to follow orders”
it’d caught you off guard, but you’d been quick and accepting with it as your pressed your palms against his broad chest. you’d nodded, panting slightly as you tried your best.
“i want you to hold me down and really fuck me, si”
and that was it, he was gripping tight on your hips and jackhammering his own up into you until your head was tipping back and a fucking squeal was being torn out of you.
the rest was history.
simon explained it as he’d built a career off of following orders, he’d kept himself alive by doing what he was told- being in the right place at the right time.
if you wanted to see him at his best you had to tell him exactly what you wanted him to do.
after a particularly soft evening on the couch, one that would never leave the four walls of your home, where simon was cuddled into your front with your arms wrapped around him- he told you he felt safest when he had explicit instructions.
part of it was just easier that way, like when he didn’t really get the hype about sexting but you told him what you wanted and then you’d both be happy.
the other part of it was that security, he had someone who loved him enough to put him in the right place at the right time and eliminate as many variables as possible.
that didn’t mean spontaneity was out of the question, he could surprise you and you could do the same to him- but once you really got into things, he wanted you to tell him in graphic detail what you wanted him to do.
“just like that, don’t move your hand at all”
“cum inside me, please”
“bend me over, want you to use me”
“look me in the eyes, want to see you when you cum for me”
“lick my cunt, simon”
there was also something in there for him about you, sweet little you, looking this big man right in the eye and ordering him around.
made him weak in the fucking knees.
#ok i need to chill out but he actually makes me doolally i dont get it#simon riley x reader#simon riley smut#simon riley blurb#simon riley drabble#simon ghost riley x reader#simon ghost riley smut#simon ghost riley blurb#simon ghost riley drabble#older bf!simon
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‘‘I began the narrative by briefly profiling the fundamental biomedical factors affecting such related techniques as hypnosis, biofeedback and transcendental meditation so that their objectives and mode of functioning could be compared in the reader's mind with the Gateway experience as the model of its underlying mechanics was developed, Additionally, that introductory material is useful in supporting the conclusions of the paper. I indicate that at times these related techniques may provide useful entry points to accelerate movement into the Gateway Experience....’‘ 1983
https://archive.org/details/cia-rdp-96-00788-r-001700210016-5_202303
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There's this moment in translation when you feel like you've successfully crossed the river of expression from one stepping stone of synonym to another and are a bit proud of yourself, and just when you think it's over, the character says one more thing and you find yourself falling into the river resignedly with a soft 'plop'
#'he left under a bit of a cloud'#'went a bit doolally'#'almost unhinged'#'a complete fall from grace' what a journey this has been#translation
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ooh book COUPLE of all time? 👀
Okay, hear me out. 👀
I was gonna say any number of famous book couples (Lizzie and Darcy etc) but I really love the relationship between Jimmy and Lorrie from Dean Koontz’s Life Expectancy. We love a badass cool woman and a wife guy thrown together through weird circumstances and sticking together through even weirder shit 👌🏻👌🏻 (Also Lorrie tried to trick a man into thinking she needed tampons so she could attempt to shank him in the eye with a nail file. ICONIC-)
The “don’t be mean to me 😔 I love you.” “Yeah, well we always hurt the ones we love.” Exchange sounds really poignant out of context but is genuinely so strangely funny when you read it 😂😂
#for context he’s been shot in the leg and going a bit doolally with blood loss#and they met about an hour ago so she’s hauling his ass out a tunnel#I want a marriage like theirs 😭
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I told my grandad about the reading I got the other day with my gran coming through and he basically replied with "lol yeah I havent told anyone but she's literally still in the house I speak to her every day" like wtf richard you could've mentioned that earlier
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hate the idea of being an adult cause nobody wanna have fun and frolick anymore
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“You shouldn’t be out here all by yourself this late at night.” ( from Caleb? (: )
Terrible First Meeting Starters II Accepting
"Hm -- I wonder how much longer it will be?" Facing away from the other, he was fixated on the road. The question was missed or completely disregarded; no immediate answer was given. "The bus was meant to be here ten minutes ago." There was no knowing whether he was speaking to himself or the man, voice sounding distant. Unfocused. Fingernails stained with fresh blood scratched at an exposed forearm, revealing completely blackened skin; a stark contrast against the rest of his alabaster hue. It was visible under the intermittent flickering of the bus shelter light above them, casting everything in a sharp white and revealing more details about him. From the way his open hoodie was torn, trousers smeared in mud, and sporadic streaks of maroon ruining the front of his shirt; he appeared worse for wear. But no injury could be seen anywhere on his chest.
"Late again." The mumbled words came from damaged lips, the bottom torn as though somebody had punched him. It was a failed attempt to defend. Those crafty hands belonging to a Wytch-hunter were not so deft after every bone was shattered, fingers twisted and mangled beyond recognition. What power came from muscular arms was no longer useful as they were contorted into impossible angles, eventually wrapping around his folded torso. Each vertebrae became dislocated, ribs cracking one-by-one, no longer able to withstand the pressure. Eventually the screaming ceased. All that remained was an unidentifiable heap of flesh and bone, but that was immediately buried deep -- deep -- underneath a nearby elm.
"What time is it? Perhaps I got the time wrong." There was no timetable posted on the board behind them. It was blank, apart from being covered by graffiti. Underneath, however, there was a notice reading 'BUS STOP NO LONGER IN USE.' Nobody wanted to make a stop on the side of a sprawling forest. As he turned around to stand up, his face was finally revealed. Golden eyes aglow, part of his left cheek was torn open enough to expose teeth and bone; a successful shot from a shaky gun. He would heal. But the rage coursing through his veins had temporarily damaged his mind, instead. There was a pause as he suddenly seemed to notice the other with a short intake of breath.
"Oh." He slumped back onto the bench with a brief titter, turning to stare down the road once more. Waiting, forever waiting. "When did you get here?"
#itokunii#v; leave behind your heartache#whispers in the woods ( prompts )#( He can be a bit doolally after killing )#( Totally okay with pre-estab if you want!! )
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I honestly hated Crimson Peak when first watched it. Because it was billed to me as a horror movie, and I like horror movies, and it wasn't one. And then, years later, I watched it again, with the expectation that it would be a Gothic romance. And then I really liked it.
Yeah, this is always happening to people! Drives me absolutely doolally, because it's such a beautiful period piece, such a glorious gothic romance, and like... is not a horror film.
Yes, it's a ghost story, but it's not horror, and it's not meant to be!
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a bit of a long ramble but
I'e been observing and following kpop on and off for some time because theres really not much other music out rn besides whatever is mainstream and even that doesnt always interest me enough. but I just wonder why so much of kpop has been so dramatic lately? lkke in these past few years online drama seems to increase surrounding idols especially and what idols do in their personal life doesnt need to be shared online like wtf and it just seems like every small thing for kpop groups tend to become big drama or their fans make it big drama all the time. thats why i watch from afar these days cause it seems anyone can have negative thing to say abt anyone whos in the kpop entertainment. even if there is some good things abt kpop music, overall it doesnt paint it in good light cause it make their fans seem like a pack of wild vultures who watch their idols like hawkes or ppl who cant seem to mind their business or let idols roam freely in their spare time cause smartphones seem to mean ppl can shove them in the idols face esp at airports.
its just kind of tiring most of the time like if people just liked it for the songs it wouldnt be so bad instead it seems to be one extreme or the other. i dont blame idols for never saying who they date bc look at what happened to karina and the actor. social media just spoils the fun of something and makes it into something else enitrely where its now often filled with dramas or toxic behaviours idfk whatever ppl post towards idols it only for them to get more negative reactions. i wouldnt be surprised if most idols are already dating but when it seem to get leaked in the media then ppl who are their fans act like it end of the world. i think the problem isnt social media itself but more so smartphones bc ppl who are more their hard core stans, i guess is the right word, they might go to extremes and they keep showing that extreme behaviour any time something doesnt sit right with them. like one minute the idol can be worshipped and next they can be tarnished so they cant really win anymore.
when ppl say that kpop is becoming westernised i only think thats in the sense of them adding foreigners nowadays to the groups, but the groups and their fans are still very much particular towards things like in 2024 i didnt expect idols dating to still be considered a scandal? whereas in the west they date who they want or idfk adult idols going out to clubs and drinking seem to surprise some folk. even the stuff in the media dont surprise me anymore cause it no a big deal to me at least. honestly with the way their fans behave online and irl towards idols theres one thing im glad abt and that is i will never have to deal with them or knetz lol.
its shame bc theres still so much kpop could bring to music but its so formatted and rigid or set in its ways of doing things. the other thing is they arent debuting older age idols who may have more life experiences and they may be more mentally prepared to handle such fans behaviours or they might have different style vocals and so on, so with that in mind im like its so awkward and horrible to even watch the way much younger idols get treated or mistreated, i should say, by their own fans and maybe by other adults that they work with.
other than whatever is mainstream there doesnt seem to be market for my age group anymore cause in kpop theyre debuting them too young and ik they always done that but it still feels weird to me to like a group whos 4/5/6 years younger than myself. id have loved an other group like btob or a smaller version of exo but nowadays it seems groups have nearly 30 smth members in them and they usually have to be quite young :/ if ateez had been my age it would seal the deal but i dont even care too deeply for them either its just once in awhile sort of thing i will like their songs why does it always have to be more than that?
like im no going to go doolally about every group nowadays either for this reason that my generation seems to be getting left out of a lot of things to do with kpop. like i honestly really feel old these days esp when i look at an idol and theyre like a 99liner or 00liner :O and kpop probs now considers 20 year olds too old as well :( fomo sets in too when u dont particularly care deeply abt dance challenges or latest internet fads cause i rather just like a group for their songs or their talent than their looks or their group position / personality whatever its called
lastly whoever date or marry bts i honestly feel so bad for them like they going to get so much media attention and their fans wont like it either so the internet will descend into more chaos when they marry if they arent already secretly married that is. it really sometimes often feels like the beatles but with the internet involved its 100x more crazy no matter the group it always has bunch of crazies who seem to twke it way too far
sorry for my long ramble
GUUUUUURRRRL please don’t be sorry for your long ramble. I had similar thoughts as you but I have come to terms with it, especially when I’m the same age as NCT 127 Jungwoo things in K-pop music has become less enjoyable too. Hence, I don’t know much about newer groups or groups outside of my interests ㅠ ㅠ
You also pointed out how fans can idolise their idols and drop them the next minute when they’re “wrong”, for example going to the club, dating, and having a life basically. I think all of this is the company’s fault. Take SM for example, I’m not comfortable in the direction that RIIZE is going with the booheju (girlfriend stan) stuff, but it’s what it makes money? Because of this, I’ve slowly detaching myself from them and only like their songs and I have one particular member that I like, he is Lee Sohee. I also like him because of his singing skill and that’s all.
Overall, I agree with you. Tbh it’s the parasocial relationship that is an issue. Some fans seeks comfort from their idol and the idol gives them that. However, often they forget that an idol job stops when they’re behind the camera. They have a life too. So, I’m with you on this too. I have started to like a group for their song and less about what is trendy or their looks and personality. Girl groups wise I’m into Aespa, NewJeans and BabyMonster. Their songs are right up my alley. Now, the younger idols debuting is a problem in it of itself. But this has happened way before in Kpop. Take Taemin for example, or NCT Dream Jisung. I think the main reason is that the younger they are, the easier to “manipulate” them or influence them. I guess if a company debuts someone above 25 years old, they’re going to have a hard time dealing with them because their pre-frontal cortex has developed.
that’s my easiest bet! 🤡
I’m also not Korean so I can’t say for certain this is true. However, I’m Asian. I realise Asian people put so much emphasis on good character. Because of this, idols are seen as role models and they are constantly judged and put on a pedestal. It’s kinda sad really. So, take Seunghan for example, whether his rumours are true or not. His scandal has been a huge part of his idol career and to some, it could look like there is no going back. In terms of fan wars, I think people on the internet are just bored or mean. Most fan wars started by some troll or a fan who likes to compare other idols. I don’t know much about fan wards but this is what I noticed. I’m pretty sure if BTS gets married, it is during the time of their life where they are not at their “prime”. That way is easier for them to be accepted by their fans and the South Korean. Take, Ryewook from Super Junior. He got married recently and the fans seem fine. But ofc, we can’t exclude the obsessive fans. I’m sure idols realise they have obsessive fans. In general, I’m pretty sure idols knows their consequences and downsides to being an idol. We as fans also have full control of our interests. The only thing becoming Westernised in kpop is the song and not the culture. 🤡
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I had a dream.
I was a robot, a well made one, more like an android, and I had done all my daily chores and whatnot. My master then, after I seat him, pats his knee for me to sit on. Once I do, he starts to undress me. I don't mind of course, this oh, this was a treat~. He then lifts my chin and starts kissing me. the feeling of his silky soft tongue sliding in and out of my mouth felt lovely. I am then lay on to the table, my legs spread then my master shoving his cock inside myopening is so fucking hot. The overlay of my sensors and my mind and voice glitching sends me doolally with pleasure as he keeps hitting my sweet sensitive spot.I
Once I cum out of my opening, gasping and panting, my master then mends part of my thigh, which had been a little dislocated, yet the feeling of pleasure overwhelmed that. I am a male robot, so no-one will believe I can be fucked like that.
if I'm extra good I am taken to bed and played with, either my dick or opening is played with till I can't think no more. Then I suck off my master, his yummy cream, dripping down my tongue.
Oh god. Probably my favourite dream.
.
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emotionally overwhelmed by ray's rehab entrance scene (who? me? i know right how weird and out of character for me to be doolally over a fictional happenstance with a broken character) and finding it so refreshing that, other than once by sand, there hasn't been an insistence that ray get help "for himself". that at his intake interview, he's given the option to be undertaking this scary vulnerable thing for somebody else's sake. because there is someone who loves him who wants him to do this, and that's reason enough. because he's hard to love! he knows he's nobody's fair weather forever, he's a broken, dysfunctional person, and he's hard to love, it requires patience to be with him, and he doesn't have that patience. ray's on the list of people for whom ray is hard to love, how is he meant to do something as hard as giving up drinking for himself? ray can't give up drinking for ray, ray's not worth that struggle.
but sand...
do it for yourself doesn't get it done for everybody. sometimes do it for yourself just makes it that much harder because "yourself" isn't a person you think is worth fighting for. but for a person you love? who against all odds and reason loves you? yeah maybe it can be done. and at the end of it all it doesn't matter why you do it - quitting drinking, not killing yourself, whatever it is - it matters that you DO it. and i found it really powerful to see that portrayed, when so many depictions will stress that the only way to truly recover is to do it for you. with support, yes, but not with someone else being your "reason" because that's "dependent" or "not healthy". when really, in practice, i don't care why you're still here. i care that you're still here, however you manage it.
#ray gives me a lot of feelings and they're only maximised by how much people have been showing their arses re: addiction and MH problems#i'm expecting backslide i'm expecting big wobbles big tantrums - no neat resolution on his drinking#and for people to be piss poor at handling that#but if being with ray takes patience then babe i've got it#only friends#ofts#liomsa#liomsa: only friends#liomsa: focail
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Mixed feelings about the "price" of doing Things with autism. And how much sensory overload headaches Suck™️:
Recently I have tried to be brave and do things that connect me to "the real world" more. For example: bedroom door open sometimes, play cards with Mum, listen TV shows or music on out-loud speaker instead of headphones.
The past two days I am extra brave - I even listen music out-loud while in swing! (Today was Beethoven 6th Symphony "Pastoral"). This is a big thing for me.
I am proud of myself, of course. But, man, the sensory overload headaches afterwards are not fun!! Ouch ☹️😡.
For so long I tried to do everything I could to prevent even a teeny tiny bit of overwhelm, because I didn't have enough energy to stim enough to recover from it. It was my only option.
However, I am and always will be constantly dysregulated, which Sucks™️. Anything and everything can make my brain and sensory system go even more doolally than usual. It's just the way it is.
It is good to try and expose myself carefully and gradually to tiny bits of more intense sensory input, I think. At least, I hope it will have a positive long term help.
But, still, I am really fully understanding better now why I used to have such frequent and intense meltdowns every day. My meltdowns really majorly reduced in frequency when I stopped leaving the house, and even more when I (mostly) stopped leaving my bedroom. (Although they did unfortunately get more violent as I get older 🤷🏻♂️).
I hate that the price for doing anything I want to do, or anything nice or fun or with other people, is violent meltdowns and aggression behaviours and overwhelm and sensory overload, and *insert any other shitty thing that autism causes*.
And I am so limited by my autism. A lot of times I don't care about this, because I know the Thing would be a horrible experience in reality. But I still yearn to do these things that other people can do - I wish to be able to experience it as a "normal" person would.
It just really kinda sucks. Sometimes I feel left out and left behind. ☹️
It is weird to have such mixed feelings... I am glad and proud that I manage the tiny bit of new/different. But also upset that it comes at such a huge huge price. And that I could never cope with anything more than this tiny amount.
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If ominis and rowan had a massive falling out (like almost break up worthy) would marvolo step in and mediate? I can imagine at first hed be hella reluctant but i can imagine being stuck between rowans stropping and ominis' bitching would eventually drive him doolally!
I think he would, yeah! He cares about them both, and I think the awkwardness of his best friend and his brother arguing would definitely drive him mad! I also think he wouldn't give them the chance to leave the situation until it was resolved 🐍🐺
Ominis: Ooh for goodness sake!! *frowns* It's always about YOU isn't it?!
Rowan: Nah! It fuckin ain't! THAT'S the problem. It's NEVER about me! It's ALWAYS about YOU!!!!
Ominis: How DARE YOU raise your voice at me!!
Rowan: Don't you fucking try to pin it all on me though!!
Marvolo: *sat in his own room, trying to read, and sighs angrily*
Ominis: FUCK OFF, GO ON! GET OUT!
Rowan: FINE!! *storms out of Ominis's room*
Marvolo: *storming out of his own room with a frown on his face, heading towards Rowan*
Rowan: He started it! *frowns*
Marvolo: Get back in that FUCKIN room now..We're sorting this out.
Ominis: What, are you a relationship counsellor now?! Pfft *folds his arms moodily*
Marvolo: Right now? YES, I'm not having my brother and my best friend being all fucking aggy and moody. We're sorting this, NOW.
~
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one thing about me is I used to be obsessed with Carnivale, but in the kind of way where I never finished a whole season of it and mostly just sat around thinking about the vibe. Today is circus day for a.u.gust, do carnivals count? I'm not sure. @gallavichthings can be the judge of that. But this is what we got.
Shake Some Dust
eight - circus
The guy on the gate shoots him a quizzical look as he takes Ian’s dollar and hands him back his ticket. It’s not surprising, he probably doesn’t get a lot of return visitors, let alone ones who come back four nights in a row. Ian might be the first person who’s ever done that.
He shouldn’t have, really. Fiona would go, well, Fiona on him if she knew that he was spending his hard earned cash on multiple visits to a traveling circus. One night he could probably justify, but four tickets? She’d think he’d gone doolally. And maybe he has.
The thing is, there’s something about this place, some kind of strange magic. The smell of ozone burning on the breeze and everywhere Ian turns it’s like there is something, someone, just on the edge of his vision, in the corner of his eye. Melodic laughter follows him from ferris wheel to shooting gallery to merry-go-round, but when he turns to find who it belongs to, there is nothing but the lights and the chime of the penny organ lilting through its cheerful cycle forever and ever and ever.
But aside from the way he feels like he is being drawn here, night after night, the electric thrill of being tugged along by some invisible force, always with him but always just beyond his reach, there’s another reason Ian keeps coming back.
The first night he was running the High Striker, oversized mallet flung casually over his shoulder as he took cash from well-muscled guys looking to make an impression on their sweethearts. Yesterday he was barking the carousel, hanging with a weird sort of grace from the necks of the spare horses, surveying the riders and shooting signals back and forth with the ticket booth and the operator. On Thursday he guarded the entrance to the model show, and Ian wasn’t particularly interested in seeing half-naked girls jump and jiggle their tits in his face, but he waited in line for a while anyway, just to watch him.
Tonight, to Ian’s gut-clenching disappointment, he’s nowhere to be found. He walks the whole place twice around, all up the midway and over to every attraction. He’s not there. And Ian doesn’t know what to do. Tonight is the last night. Tomorrow night if he were to stand on this exact spot he would just be standing in a dusty field on the edge of a town that no one ever visits and no one ever leaves. Tonight’s the last night, and if he doesn’t get a glimpse of his guy, he knows it’s dramatic but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he feels like he might just die.
There’s a team doing acrobatic stunts in a pen out in the open, a crowd of excited kids gathered round cooing and gasping in all the right moments. He saunters over, leaning against the fence and watching with unseeing eyes as a set of triplets launch themselves at and over each other, flipping and springboarding with impressive height and velocity into different poses, each earning them a new and bigger round of applause.
The breeze changes direction, a sudden gust washing over Ian’s face and carrying with it that burning ozone scent, along with another that has the hairs on Ian’s arms standing straight up on end. He can feel him, his guy, can’t bear to look even a fraction of an inch to the side of him but Ian can feel that he’s there. The inch or two of air between their elbows crackles with static electricity, a tiny lightning storm that rumbles and flashes and burns as Ian’s lungs fill with air as thick as treacle.
“Seen you here yesterday.” The guy says, his voice deeper than his face might suggest, but clear, soft.
“You might have.” Ian replies, just as soft, like the guy is a horse Ian’s wary of spooking.
“Day before that too.”
Busted. He’d known he’d been spotted yesterday, but the other days, well he’d hoped he’d been a little less conspicuous.
“It’s possible.” He admits, ducking his head, glancing away.
“Fact I think I probably seen you every night this week.”
Ian winces, cuts his eyes across to find the guy staring straight at him, eyes bright blue and shrewd, like he sees straight through Ian, like Ian’s body is a window-pane and he’s stood outside looking right on in.
“You must really like the circus.”
Not for the first time, Ian wishes he were smart, like Lip, or at least quick, like Fiona. Heck, even some of Carl’s unwarranted confidence would come in handy right now if it would help him figure out what to say.
Now those bright blue eyes are roaming his face, and it’s like Ian can feel them everywhere they alight on his skin. They drop down his body, a full once over that sends a whole-body shiver quaking through him before they settle back on Ian’s own.
“Seems like you comin’ out here every night, must be something particular you’re looking to find.”
It’s knowing, thoughtful, gentle in a way that Ian doesn’t expect, and his surprise must show on his face because the guy smiles, a little huff of a thing that Ian finds impossibly sweet.
“You ever had your cards read, Red?” The guy asks, and it’s such a total left turn, Ian doesn’t even think before his answers.
“No.”
He smiles again, Ian’s guy, sucks his lips inside his mouth for a second before knocking his knuckles against the fence and cocking his head behind him.
“Come on. I’ll tell you your fortune.”
He takes off toward the back of the field where they keep all the trailers and the equipment not in use, and that strange magic must be extending its hand again to give him a little nudge, because Ian is powerless. He follows.
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Traintober 2023: Day 25 - Distress Signal
What's Out in Tidmouth Bay:
“And every year, on the date of the sinking, the ship rides the seas again, searching for the crew that abandoned her to her watery grave…” Salty finished, grinning at the assembled engines.
“Rubbish!” snorted Douglas. “Thir's na sic thing as ghost ships rising up oot o' th' ocean. Whit a doolally idea. Whitevur neist? A submarine letting oot distress signals, even though thir's na yin thare?” Both he and his twin Donald sniggered. Edward scowled.
“You shouldn’t joke about lost submarines,” he said grimly. “After all, there’s a tale of a submarine that was lost off Tidmouth bay that will make you funnel quiver.”
“Ooo! Tell it! Please!” exclaimed the other engines. Edward shot a dark look at them.
“This is not a pleasant story, and it’s certainly not one to make light of…” With one last sigh, the old engine began his story.
“Back during the First World War, both Britain and Germany began to deploy early submarines to disrupt shipping and try to starve their opponent out of the war. But back then, the submarines were still new technology – they rattled, and sprang leaks, and they were loud most of the time too. But when they glided underwater, not even the keenest of eyes could spot them.
“In 1916, several British submarines began docking at Tidmouth. These submarines were manned by local Sudrians who’d signed up for the navy, and they were very proud of their machines.
‘Best in the Navy!’ they would boast.
‘Never to be beaten!’ we would often reply, caught up in a great patriotic spirit for our country and our boys doing their part to defend it.
“One of the duties of these submarine crews was to tow large underwater mines into choke points in the harbour waterways. These giant, spiked balls of explosives were placed randomly, so that enemy ships would be unable to get too close to the harbour to attack. The submarines were good at this job, and the island’s people always felt safer knowing they were protecting us.
“It all changed one foggy night. A German U-Boat had been spotted off the coast of Liverpool and was sailing north towards us at a tremendous rate. At the time, Tidmouth was a major manufacturer of shells and explosives for the front line, and even one hit to the factory would do irreversible damage. The submarines in Tidmouth bay were sent out to find the German U-Boat, despite the thick fog that made navigation almost impossible – and they found it. Unfortunately, they also found the minefields.
“The radios were filled with crackly cries for help from Sudrian sailors, all lost in the fog and trying to avoid the mines they’d set while also hunting for a German U-Boat. We all waited with bated breath on the shoreline, all listening to the radio and praying for the boys…”
Edward paused, then tears filled his old eyes.
“And then, there was a flash of light – it was so bright, it pierced through the fog and lit up the entire bay – and screams. They came through the radio for only a couple seconds, but they were the longest seconds of my life. They were horrible – wretched, broken, filled with agony and suffering – and then they were gone. One of the Sudrian submarines had found the German U-Boat and fired on it… but they had missed… and hit an underwater mine. Both ships were destroyed, sinking down to their final resting places on the sea floor.”
The engines were horrified. Even Donald and Douglas were silent, eyes wide. Every engine who had lived through the First World War had known someone who had lost their lives – but to actually see it with their own eyes… it was horrific.
“But that wasn’t the end,” Edward continued, startling everyone. “One year later, the remaining submarines were sat in the harbour when their radios crackled with an unknown message. But it wasn’t just the submarines’ radios – no, it was every radio in Tidmouth. Every single one picked up this unknown, crackling message. It was a distress signal! – a shouted one, in two different languages. One was foreign – German; garbled, broken by the static of the radios. The other however… it was the lost sailors from the sunken submarine. They were shouting at each other and at us – and then there was a massive explosion that ripped through the radio-waves. There was a flash of light – and then those screams. They tortured us, far longer than the screams we’d heard on that fateful night. They were in German too now, as if both ships were wailing for their losses. And then… nothing.
“This happened again the next year, and then the year after that – and after that, the people of Tidmouth learnt. Every year, on the date of the accident, every radio in Tidmouth is switched off. It’s a moment of silence, for the men who lost their lives.”
No one knew what to say, and so they all went quietly to sleep.
The next evening, Edward was away on his branchline, and a new driver decided to leave the radio on for the engines in the sheds. This was not uncommon – the engines enjoyed the background noise; it was relaxing after a long days’ work.
It was only Donald and Douglas – Bear had the midnight goods, Gordon had the express, Salty was delivering some trucks to Elsbridge, Duck was collecting a late load of ballast, James and Henry were sleeping at the other end of the line, and Oliver was pulling the last passenger train of the evening.
“Edward's story - ye dinnae hawp it, dae ye?” asked Donald.
“Na! nae at a' - tis a guid story fur a friten, bit thir's na sic thing as ghosts,” snorted Douglas. “Especially nae ghosts sending oot distress signals.”
“Aye, whit nonsense…”
The song on the radio ended – but another didn’t start. Instead, the radio crackled – as if suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of static. Voices could be vaguely heard from the radio, quiet – but growing louder. They were in English… and in German. They were screaming, pleading, arguing, begging for help. It was a distress signal. The voices grew louder, more garbled – and then, there was a sonic BOOM! that erupted from the radio, almost knocking the Caledonian twins off their rails.
It was followed by a horrific wailing and screaming. It ripped through Donald and Douglas, their boilers going cold at the sound. It was the sound of dying men. It stretched on for what felt like an eternity, eventually tapering off into garbled groaning, and then nothing.
An unseen figure in a top hat clicked off the radio, and vanished out the back door, unheard by the twins. They were barely holding in their tears, eyes wide and wheels quivering.
Oliver puffed in, looking very confused.
“Are you two alright?” he asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost—”
“Dinnae... say that…” Donald croaked.
Oliver stayed respectfully silent.
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#fanfiction writer#railway series#weirdowithaquill#thomas the tank engine#traintober 2023#traintober#ttte edward#ttte douglas#ttte donald#wwi fiction#naval#submarine#tw ghosts#railways#prompt: distress signal
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