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mindshelter · 2 years

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Under yellow sunlight, Kon is a near-perfect solar battery.

Kryptonite radiation disrupts the energy transformation process; cells lose massive amounts of heat, giving rise to extreme pain. The few thousand survivors of Krypton’s initial collapse succumbed to the poison gradually—as their ceaseless fevers burned their bodies alive, their cells began to eat themselves. Organs and blood vessels fell apart. After months of illness, the last fragments of their civilisation died with chattering teeth.

The excess energy Kryptonians store outside of red star systems accelerates the process to hours.

—on. Kon. Can you—me?

Something warm and damp brushes across his chilled skin. The world blends into light; indistinct globs and streaks. Kon tries to breathe. His lips are numb when he purses them together and takes the harshest exhale of air through his nostrils. The air smells like iron.

Can you hear me?

He nods.

Good. It’s done, alright? They’re gone. I’m so proud of you.

Kal’s lessons about Kryptonite hadn’t warned Kon of just how quiet its effects were. His blood roars, and everything about him is desperate, hungry, aflame—but the world finally becomes so, so still. For a few precious moments, everything is blessedly silent. It hurts—it hurts, and Kon wants everything to stop, but when the spasms in his legs forces him onto his knees, he remembers, with relief—

Something could kill him so easily, leave him so weak. He almost feels human.

It feels like peace.

There’s a steady hand laid across his cheek, holding his head in place. There’s the press of cloth to his face, swiping over his mouth, under his nose.

Kon tries to make use of his tenuous connection to his arms, reaching out to the source of the sound. His vision splits and wobbles. As the image recoalesces, Tim takes his hand.

The world saturates with noise. He hears the hum of the ground below him, the thunder of approaching aircraft, and the conversations of people who have gone about their days none the wiser, thousands of miles away. Kon narrows his focus towards the fibres of Tim’s leather gloves, and the steady tempo of his pulse underneath.

“Hi,” he croaks. The sound is noiseless to his own ears, but he thinks Tim smiles. It’s a faint, soft thing, peeking through Kon’s haze like daybreak.

It colours his words, too. “Hey, Conner,” Tim says back.

Kon smacks his lips, tasting metal and acid. It hurts. There’s rust between his teeth, painted onto his gums, and he needs every dredge of energy to speak. “Y’re… here.”

Tim adjusts his hold on Kon’s hand, a gloved thumb brushing over his aching knuckles. His hair begins to flutter—languid at first, and then with frenetic rhythm as the whir of a motor overhead grows louder.

“…hold on?” Kon asks, now loud enough to pass for a whisper, as a younger version of Tim’s voice echoes in his mind. You’ve got one job, Conner. Hold on. Nothing else. He’s so tired, but if Tim makes him promise—he’ll try.

“No need this time. Everyone is safe, and so are you.” Tim replies kindly, squeezing Kon’s fingers. “We’ll take care of you, okay? You can rest.”

The last thing Kon is aware of before he gives in is the wildness of Tim’s hair, and the way it flies in all directions even as the helicopter rotor gradually slows to a stop.

_____

The blade had forced its way into the flesh of Kon’s back and created an exit wound. Its trajectory had shattered part of Kon’s shoulder blade, and moments later, the tip had re-emerged just leftwards of his sternum. It was meant to be a killing strike—a blow straight through the heart. Surely even a God would have dropped dead.

Kon’s heart beats steadily under the flimsy linen overtop of his chest, between his lungs, tilted to the right side of his breastbone. The room is alit with sunshine and lamplight alike, casting a delicate glow over the outline of his knees, the metal bedframe, and the dark of Tim��s hair. Perhaps he shouldn’t be flattered that, in their haste to defeat their monster, they made the fatal mistake of overestimating how human he was.

“They think I’m,” Kon mumbles, “I’m some sort of… vampire, or something.”

Tim blinks down at him. He looks ragged.

His face remains carefully neutral, but his eyes are bloodshot—red-rimmed and swollen in a way Kon understands are from a long bout of tears, rather than too few hours of rest. He knows Tim is hoping Kon will give him the courtesy of ignoring it, but Kon isn’t sure he should.

It’s never for his own benefit, Kon knows; when Tim keeps his voice steady, his heartbeat grounded, and his temper even, he means: you will be alright. Things are under control. Everything is going to be okay. I want you to be comfortable. I want you to feel safe.

It’s not cowardice; it’s pure courage. But the very last place Tim needs to be brave is when it’s just the two of them.

“Like,” Kon adds. He mimics a stabbing motion, jabbing the imaginary weapon into chest. “Stakes. To kill me.” His body stiffens before going limp, weight sinking further into the flimsy mattress, and lets his eyes slide shut for good measure.

In his periphery, Tim scoffs.

“If you’re trying to cheer me up right now, knock it off.”

Kon cracks one eye open. “Who says I am? Not everything is about you, man.”

Tim blinks down at him, clearly aiming for unimpressed, but the nascent glare slips when Kon meets it with a smile—it wavers, loses balance, and slips away. Kon can’t quite figure out what’s left, bared on Tim’s face; he’s not sure what the subtle twitch of Tim’s jaw means, nor the restlessness of his hands, tucked close to his body, fingers drumming against his knees.

Each deep breath makes his insides prickle. “Were you here all night?”

Outside, the sun is directly overhead. Kon had only woken up and been accosted by a flurry of well-wishers an hour earlier. Tim had lingered in the background while Kon wore his best grin and said his brightest hellos, and lingered again, by the doorway, as the others cleared out, one by one. After glancing at Tim’s fidgeting stance, and his cape draped over the single chair at his bedside, Kon had waved him over to come sit back down.

Predictably, Tim bristles. “Well,” he starts, body growing animated, “I. Do you… want me to leave? If you’re tired, or you really need a nap, I can—”

That’s not a no; Kon will take it. He begins to laugh, but a flare of pain quickly cuts it short. Through a wince and a single thump of his fist against his chest, he says, “Dude, I asked you to come back over and sit with me. What do you think, idiot?”

Said idiot’s brow furrows as he, with complete seriousness, mulls the question over. It’s fucking ridiculous; Kon can’t conceive of a single instance where he wouldn’t want Tim to stay.

In that inopportune moment, something clicks.

Everything else is dwarfed by the knowledge, the joy, that Tim had chosen to be with him, seated on a rickety chair until the sun rose, waiting for Kon to stir. That he had given Kon his company and their tangled hands as they had waited for help to arrive, and the thousands of fragments of himself he had offered over the years to Kon without asking for much in return.

This gravity—this pull—Kon thinks it must have been there for nearly his whole lifetime. Contracting, growing denser until the heft of it became impossible to ignore. At some point, the light inside of him must have swelled. And swelled, and burst outwards. It rests at the core of him, now, vibrant. Roaring with life.

Oh.

Tim seems to be finished thinking when he serves Kon with his best, most frightening glower—frowny face number sixteen—as he says, “Don’t call me an idiot, idiot.”

“I’ll follow your lead,” Kon shoots back easily. He times the silence by counting to three. “Idiot. But seriously, Tim, I don’t mind. I’m…”

Thankfully, Tim doesn’t push for Kon to finish that thought, throwing him one last crotchety grunt before his attention returns to his lap.

They sit in companionable silence before Tim says, “Does your chest hurt?”

Tim has never asked him to be brave. Neither does Kon, and he can only wish that Tim knows as much. It’s unfamiliar territory, watching the subtle twitch of Tim’s jaw, the restlessness of his hands, tucked closed to his body. Looking at what’s left, bared on Tim’s face, after the charade of exasperation fades—and seeing undisguised concern.

Perhaps this is courage, too.

“Yeah.” He swallows. “It still hurts a lot.”

Maybe Tim hadn’t expected Kon to be so straightforward, because he stiffens at the answer before he says, so quietly, “Oh.”

Then, his left hand lifts from his thigh to swipe under his cheek in one hasty motion.

The twitch of his jaw turns into a quiver, and then his head lifts: Tim’s expression is red and wet and alarmed. It's horrible, and Kon can't help but liken it some sort of kicked puppy with a pollen allergy. After a long, dreadful moment, Tim must finally register the fresh tears, because he hurriedly shoves his face into his hands, curling into himself.

“Oh, hell,” Kon says. Painstakingly, he pushes himself upright, and opens up his arms. “Just… c’mere.”

“‘m already here.”

Kon snorts. “Don’t be dense,” he says, aiming for nonchalant and landing, rather inelegantly, on fond. “Dude, look at me.”

Muffled into his hands, “No.”

Suit yourself, Kon thinks, and extends his TTK down his bed, to the floor, until it creeps up Tim’s legs and nudges him forward, the force of it just enough to topple Tim forward. He smiles when Tim wraps his arms around Kon’s neck in an instant.

Kon settles his hands over the small of Tim’s back, grip loose. Tim’s hold is gentle, too, as if he’s afraid too much force would hurt Kon further. It’s almost eerie, how silent Tim is when he cries; the fabric over his shoulder dampens, but there are no hiccups, no sobs—only shaky intakes of breath.

“I just need a bit longer,” Kon says. “A bit more time in the sun and I’ll be good as new.”

Over his shoulder, Tim lets out a long exhale while his fingers begin to skim the groove of his spine, pausing over healed-over flesh. It should be barely more than a raised, pink scar, now.

“Does this hurt too?” Tim asks, words soft.

Kon shakes his head.

This little touchpoint to mortality will blend and flatten to match his skin in the days that follow. Tim traces the edges of it over Kon’s thin shirt, like he knows exactly where the blade had entered.

Does he?

As if on cue, Tim says, “I found you first. I don’t know long you were there, but your lips were turning blue.”

Kon remembers. They were alone, he thinks, under that dark, cloudless sky. He pulls Tim closer, and he responds in kind, pressing his face against the crook of Kon’s neck.

“You were lying there on your side… there were burns all over your palms, so I guess you tried to pull it out yourself—and…” He hears Tim swallow, feels his hold tighten, and his voice cracks once he adds, “You weren’t moving, or answering. I put my boot against your back, grabbed the hilt, and the more I pulled, the more you screamed.”

Hell. “Tim,” is all Kon can say.

“No, I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I made it on time. I haven’t always.”

One day, Kon will challenge that argument and win. For now, he tells him, “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Tim buries himself further. His tears are hot. “Don’t be. If you were screaming, it meant you were alive, Kon—I was relieved. It’s worse when… you’re you, you know? Even after everything, I always had it in my head you’d be the last one standing. Out of all of us.”

But I did scare you, didn’t I? “Okay,” Kon says. “You know I would never let that happen, right?”

If the price was his life for this horrid, wonderful world they lived in, Kon would hold his back straight, stand at his full height, and keep walking forward. If he could promise tomorrow would come, that tomorrow would be better, he would do anything. Over, and over, and over.

“Yeah,” Tim concedes. “I know. I hate that about you.”

“You don’t,” Kon rebuts.

No response.

“You love me,” Kon says. And I love you.

Tim shifts, but he does not move away. Those dovetailed truths, so incontestable, sweep over him, bleeding their way into his bones, his chest, his heart. The burning core of him.

It feels like something new. He feels human.

It feels like peace.

for @misspickman, who asked for a “take on how he falls in love/realizes he has a crush on tim, or likes men”! the interpretation is kind of loose, but i’d like to think i addressed the prompt. thank you again for the request! :heart:

#timkon #kon el #tim drake #dc #my writing #fic requests #dfkdjnv yeah i would have had a blast stitching together snippets of kon gradually falling for tim but alas it would have gotten #so far away from me in terms of length #doesn't mean i'm not thinking about it though #ask to tag #merci pour votre patienceeee

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bewilderedbuck · 8 months

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on losing a mother

#s.txt #s.poem #mom tag #poetry #okay to reblog #it's officially been over a year since the last time i saw my mom.#her skin was translucent paper thin and she looked so fragile in tht hospital bed but she was supposed to be getting better #and she did. for about a month.#she went back into the hospital 3 days after my birthday.#she stayed there for like 2 weeks and then died about a week after she checked herself out.#the last time she ever texted me was on my birthday. i waited two days to text back. and i never heard back from her.#the next time i saw her she was a pile of grey ashes in a plastic urn. she sits on my shelf now. i haven't gotten her a new urn yet.#i try not to feel guilty. there wasn't much i could do from a thousand miles away #but i still feel the guilt every day itching under my skin and screaming at me in my mind that i should have done better #that i should have been there for her #her phone number has since been given to someone else. i deactivated her facebook account. i cleaned out her apartment & threw away almost #all of her belongings.#i took photo albums. i took some jewelry - including the ring she wore as she was cremated. it survived the fire. the funeral home put it #in the urn with her ashes. i wear it sometimes just to feel like there's still a part of her with me.#but she's gone and i don't believe in an afterlife and neither did she #there's some comfort in knowing she is no longer in pain that she is no longer suffering #but i still sit here and i think of all the things i never got to tell her and the new things i want to tell her every single day #i never got to come out to her. not really. i never got to tell her that i understood what she went thru with my dad because i lived it too #anyways. sorry for going off in the tags. i'm okay i promise. just feeling a lot of feelings right now.

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urlocallesbiab · 1 year

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thinking about dirk and farah parallels... i think what's similar between them is that the thing that makes each of them special, their powers (holistic detection and one-woman-army skills) are something that they haven't picked for themselves, that was forced upon them from above (dirk is an angel of the universe's will, and farah is her father's daughter), was demanded they cultivate to unreachable perfection to the (dis)pleasure (dissappointment, disgracre) of their father/-figure (try again, svlad; try harder, farah) — but also it is something they reclaim, and accept, and make theirs within the bounds of the agency. dirk can't help who he is but he chose calling himself a detective, and farah can't help who she is but she chose to open a detective agency. dirk finally has people who can keep him company on inevitable adventures, farah finally has people who appreciate her hard work and skill. they do not change their natures, but instead find — build — a space where they can be accepted; celebrated, even. loved.

there's a post by generalized-incompetence, about how todd's character growth goes along the "take control of your life" message of the show, and farah's along the "you can't control everything" one; repentance vs acceptance. and i agree! i think the two of them as dirk's friends represent the two halves that he, as the story's protagonist and thus the embodiment of everything, must try and balance within himself. it's about the complementing influences, inspiration vs assurance; and i think dirk really is a good influence on farah. being around him helps her accept both herself — feel needed, wanted, validated, accomplished, stretch the muscles she's spent her whole life building — and also the world around her. farah is (less now than at the beginning) a control freak, and every misfortune, big or small, she perceived as a personal failure – she's responsible for people she loves, they depend on her, if patrick gets hurt, if lydia gets hurt, it's her fault, her fault, her fault; she must be in full control of the situation! but with dirk she suddenly finds that she cannot. if he is meant to survive, he will be miraculously saved, and if he's meant to come to harm, he will be bizarrely wounded; dirk moves along a path in the sky larger than life, and farah can only hope to grasp at it, not reign it in. the best she can offer is support; the best she can offer is her best, not perfect. if she is to stick by dirk, the wild, godawful, unpredictable, incomprehensible, incredible dirk, she is to accept that she can't control everything. and so she does. it's not an easy change (the time travel was hard to fit into her worldview, and she still struggles — is still on her path), but a necessary one: she is, after all, one of the imperfect, free, wonderful freaks.

that she makes dirk happier is obvious: he is but a fountain of love, and it spills out of him freely with every bob of his head. but it's important to me to remember that he, too, makes farah happy, genuinely and deeply. there are many opinions in this fandom — about as many as there are fans — on who farah is, what does she want, how does she feel about the agency, and what does the future hold for her; i, personally, am a firm believer that she belongs at the agency. she still has to figure herself out, of course, to complete her arc and grow into herself, unbidden by expectations and blooming (and that's a whole another micro-essay unto itself, so let's table it for now); but joining, funding, opening the agency wasn't a rash decision, or a stepping stone, or a burden — it is a place where she can be, is free to be, wants to be (herself). a place she carved out for herself and her people: a freak hub, where she's the second-in-command freak. i think she's as much glad to be there, and instrumental to "there" existing at all, as todd is. in general, i view all three of them as integral, inseparable, experiencing equally intense affection towards each of the others (even though the flavors may vary from romance to queerplatonic bond to friendship (in that order: brotzly, todd&farah, dirk and farah; yes, i am rather predictable)), supporting equally strong and meaningful relationships. the three of them are a little family, and they all love each other very much :3

#dghda #dirk gently's holistic detective agency (tv 2016)#dghda meta #dirk gently #farah black #i need to write more about dirk's and farah's relationship it's So beautiful and important #agency trio #vikarambles #vika's personal dghda tag #the point Might have gotten away from me but i tried my best #anyway dirk & farah ily

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blubble-lake · 6 months

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it's been over 2 weeks and this thing (unfortunately) still has a grip on me

#rant in the tags coming so please do scroll away if you enjoyed the finale 🙏#you know how with some things you'll be like 'I had some negativity towards this thing but--#now that it's been some time I feel better towards it'?#my thoughts on the finale have only gotten worse since it released 🥲#being given more time to think on it made me notice more things I had wrong with it #like I really wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt but it is so difficult #when I tried ranking the episodes from best to least favorite #I'd come to realize that I couldn't put either finale episode above the other for the bottom two #they both gave me the same feeling of being doused in ooze 😭#I've written a good handful more thoughts on why I disliked it since the last rundown I had posted #though I'm afraid if talking about this is considered cringe or old news now that it's been a minute since the eps came out lol #I've watched the finale in full two times just to take everything in but I don't think I can do it again anytime soon #I think there's about 8-10 mins of the finale that I genuinely enjoyed #the rest making me want to cry in disappointment or was just 'okay' to me #just gotta 'it is what it is' my way through knowing the show ended like That. we stay silly!#however- writing about it does give me a little bit of relief lol #adventure time #at #fionna and cake #petrigrof #simon petrikov #betty grof #my post #my art

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d-lanx · 24 days

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These two would have committed war crimes together

#you cannot convince me otherwise #i'm talking when they're both faces #in their little-shit eras #troublemakers and cheaters but in a loveable way #they would have gotten away with murder #every day i imagine what a tag-team of these two would have been like #the WWE would have imploded from all the chaos #cm punk #eddie guerrero

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ectonurites · 4 months

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almost 4am can't stop thinking about the meaning of the idiom 'to have blood on [someone's] hands'—to be responsible for a person's death—combined with the fact that Zach is the one we are specifically shown with Daryl's actual blood on his hands (once for real and once in a dream)... Not Josh who had been holding the sword Daryl fell onto, but Zach who took the sword out.

#super dark times #+ part of it that's insane to me is: Josh COULD have easily ALSO gotten (literal) blood on his hands—we see him go to check for a pulse #after Zach did... but we don't see his hands during that—they're left out of the shot! we just see his face. and when we see his hands next #there's no visible blood on them (if any got on he theoretically wiped 'em off ig? similarly Zach's hands when seen AFTER the shot of him #touching Daryl ALSO don't rlly show blood anymore—we see his hands in the leaves tho so it prob went there) BUT SO there was a CHOICE made #to give us a close up shot of ZACH pulling his hand away from the wound with blood on it... but to NOT do the same/smthn similar with Josh.#and yet ZACH is the one who CAN'T ACCEPT THE ROLE HE PLAYED IN ANY OF ITTTTT!!!!!!! GAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!#this post brought to you by me rewatching the Zach + Charlie on the phone scene and needing to just. stop and scream at Zach being #like 'Josh‚ or fucking somebody else‚ they went up there and if they found Daryl alive—' LIKE BRO. YOU *KNOW* HE WAS DEAD.#YOU KNOW. YOU KNOOOOW. YOU WERE THERE. YOU KNOW HE WAS ALREADY DEAD. the denial. the trying to find any fucking way that #there could be even a sliver of a possibility that it WASN'T even PARTIALLY his fault.... shifting the blame entirely onto Josh...#[plus like. the 'somebody else' only added in after Charlie was giving him shit for trying to complicate this more—at first he was #straight up saying Josh was the one that fucked with the body]... aghghghsfd he makes me INSANE #also fwiw. i'm forever a 'Josh didn't harm anyone on purpose until AFTER his fight with Zach at Zach's house' truther. that provides #at least SOME sort of motivation to push him over an edge into... the shit that happens. anything before that just fuckin' doesn't make #sense. To Me. ive already written a lot on my thoughts about all of that though [uhhh in the tags of my gifset of the fight at Zach's house #anyways. im also NOT trying to say 'ah so we should Just Blame Zach' because nah nah this whole thing was a fucked up accident. they're all #to blame. plus Josh did horrible shit at the end On His Own there's no way of getting around that—but the messiness of how Zach handled the #initial incident and how that ripples out across the whole movie is simply soooooooo... ghghGHGhghGHGhghghgh. To Me.#in conclusion: im soooooooo normal about the characters in this movie (<- lying)

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arsonforcharlie · 5 months

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'Scuse me, Bert, did you name yourself after the Canadian province?

this is the worst slander I've ever had to deal with on this webbed site

#alternate really funny answer i did not post because i know tone doesn't carry over the internet:#'i named myself after my DEAD GRANDMA you bitch'#and listen i know a lot of people from alberta #and relatively few who still live in alberta #sorry i have never been to alberta I'm sure its lovely but like the politics are point one #what a protofascist clownshow #sorry you unlocked stoned bert tag rants about canadian politics from the bathtub mode happy fake thanksgiving #am i also at least slightly biased because one of my ex albertan besties once overheard in a timmies:#re: newfoundlanders working in the rigs 'newfies? they're the fuckin mexicans of canada!'#sir what #i feel this ask has gotten away from me lmao sorry ama about provinces

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carolinanadeau · 29 days

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In Praise of Sally Ann Howes

As I've made it one of the purposes of my blog to share photos and songs and general positivity about the wonderful English actress Sally Ann Howes, I thought I'd make a post to talk in much more detail about all the great things about her and why I adore her so much!

This classy English beauty possessed a highly expressive face and eyes, an astonishingly powerful soprano, a great sense of humor, and the world's most charming laugh. One thing I cannot stop saying about Sally Ann is that she did not and does not get nearly enough credit and recognition for her immense talent and prolific career, and it's precisely for that reason that I'm here to do my part in giving it to her!

This overlong rambling post is a combination of biographical information and my personal fawning over her performances... whatever I felt I most wanted to put out there in the world and what I'd like people less familiar with her to know.

Click on Keep Reading and I'll take you on a journey!

As she preferred to work on the stage and didn't really pursue a film career, the catalog of Sally Ann's work that can still be viewed today is unfortunately small - though you can find almost all of her early films on the internet if you look hard! In her early film days, mostly made before she was able to pursue her true passion of musical theatre, her extraordinary singing talents weren't utilized by the producers at all.

However, we were fortunately blessed with exactly one musical film role from her, and it's an iconic one: the aptly-named role of Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), the golden-haired, golden-hearted candy heiress who falls in love with and eventually marries Dick van Dyke's character Caractacus Potts after joining him and his children on a madcap adventure. She's a sweet, intelligent ingenue with hidden depths and one of my favorite sorts of character arcs - the uptight, lonely woman who becomes more and more warm and open as she discovers newfound freedom and joy in life and falls in love.

There is something about Sally Ann that just glows in every scene of Chitty, and it's not only that bright blonde hair! The way she widens her eyes sometimes, the way she raises her eyebrows, her gentle and soft presence in the happiest scenes, and the particular airy lilt she has to her speaking voice are all so distinctive and appealing, and I can't take my eyes off her. And her smile! When I say she glows it's barely even a metaphor, the woman just emits light.

(Funnily enough, I started to realize that many of the laudatory quotes I've found about her also refer to her in this way, like this quote from a 1965 TV Guide article, from playwright Sidney Kingsley: "She's luminous as an actress. I mean that literally. In Brigadoon she really lit up the stage.")

For me, I'm weak for any actress who can do the defrosted-ice-queen trope so incredibly well. Truly starts out as closed-off and prim, and nearly reverts to that state when she and Caractacus have a Big Misunderstanding near the end, but in the scenes where she's happy and carefree, the warmth just radiates off of her.

She also has the most adorable chemistry with Dick van Dyke in an annoyances-to-friends-to-lovers relationship that absolutely shaped my young brain. Whenever Sally Ann and Dick glance at each other, whether with irritation and frustration early in the film or with warmth and affection later on, their chemistry is obvious and natural, and there's so much expressed in each one of those glances. One has no difficulty believing that these characters are going to be very happily married.

(Here's a cute on-set interview where she talks about, among other things, how easily she and van Dyke clicked.)

While I acknowledge that the character of Caractacus Potts was absolutely originally planned to be an actual Englishman, Dick van Dyke played him with an American accent, and to me they will always be an adorable English-American couple. It's a whole part of the charm of this pairing to me!

Sally Ann also had a great relationship with child actors Adrian Hall and Heather Ripley who played Jeremy and Jemima Potts, and did her best to help make them more comfortable and happy during the many very long days on set. Having been a child film star herself, she knew a great deal about how difficult and alienating it could be. The genuine affection the three of them shared is obvious in their scenes together, especially in the extremely adorable "Truly Scrumptious" number, and it really makes the developing mother-child relationship between the characters so believable.

The beach scene, where so much of the relationship between Truly and Caractacus and the Potts children is developed, is incredibly cute and heartwarming, and a lot of that rides on Sally Ann's performance and how her previously prim-and-proper character shows herself to be warm and loving, once she (literally) lets her hair down. We've already seen how happy the Potts family is together; now we see how Truly fits in perfectly and makes them all even happier.

Look at her! Literally glowing!

(One thing I should mention: I think both the plot and the love story of CCBB are greatly improved if one just treats the "dream sequence" as real events, which was possibly the original intention anyway, so just note that is always the perspective I'm coming from here. It's the only way to make some things make sense and for the characters and their relationships to fully develop.)

"Lovely, Lonely Man" is Truly's big solo moment, and was probably the least comprehensible part of the movie to me as a kid (lol), but is now indisputably one of the very best parts to me as an adult. It's an exquisitely beautiful love song, especially the bridge, and I somehow love it more and more every time I rewatch it. Sally Ann's dreamy, graceful movements and the way the whole scene is shot make her look like a princess, and the slow build of the song is masterfully done. She has this distinctive crisp way of articulating her words while singing, especially the closing consonants like N and M, that I just love to listen to. The string section and the building countermelodies are so beautiful it makes me want to weep. Everyone involved in creating this scene and song deserved an award, I'm being so serious. While it's not the highest of soprano songs and doesn't fully show off Sally Ann's astonishing range, she shows an incredible amount of vocal control here through the many diminuendos and crescendos, and she's mesmerizing to watch and listen to. One of her "glowiest" scenes, for sure!

While I've seen people call this song irrelevant to the plot, I strongly disagree - the romance is part of the plot, of course, and while I didn't fully understand the meaning as a kid, this song establishes how much Truly's outlook on life and hopes for the future have already changed since meeting Caractacus, and how much happier she is with the poor Potts family than she's ever been in her life of luxury. Plus, now we know for certain that she's head over heels for Caractacus, but he doesn't know... increasing the dramatic irony of the pining and yearning to follow!

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In the reprise of "Hushabye Mountain", which was sung in a much earlier scene by Dick van Dyke alone, Caractacus loses the will to continue the song because he's overwhelmed with emotion thinking of his children being held captive. Truly comes in to aid him with the final verse - another pivotal moment in the developing romance - and Sally Ann's singing here is nothing short of breathtaking.

And of course, I can't neglect to mention the "Doll on a Music Box" number, where Sally Ann, who was not a trained dancer and in fact considered herself to be "appalling" at it, performs an incredibly precise, incredibly impressive clockwork song-and-dance number while on a spinning turntable! She practiced it so well that she managed to successfully complete the shot in a single take, prompting the stage full of extras to burst into applause.

This is another important character moment for Truly, though it's disguised in a diegetic performance: though it's another thing that went over my head as a child who only got to see the movie once, the lyrics about being trapped up on a music box and longing to be freed by love pretty clearly symbolize how trapped the real Truly's high-society life makes her feel, and how she yearns to break free from class restrictions and live happily-ever-after with Caractacus, as it's only with him and his family that she really feels free.

Then there's that incredibly warm romantic look that Truly and Caractacus share at the end of the song when she silently acknowledges the love confession he's just made while singing in counterpoint with her, though they're still in a dangerous situation and can't give themselves away by appearing too human and breaking their disguises... sadly this vital moment is cut off on all the Youtube videos of the scene I can find, because none of the people who clipped it understand that that's the whole point of it all, apparently. But here's a gif!

The character of Truly doesn't exist at all in the original (quite different) book by James Bond author Ian Fleming - surprising, I know, given her name! - and, honestly, the fact that Truly and the romantic subplot of this movie exist are why it had such a strong impact on me as a child, and very much why I fell in love with it again as an adult. Even though the score is wonderful anyway and the story is charming and magical, I can confidently say that I would not have become as completely enchanted or had such a strong desire to revisit it again and again if there'd been no Truly and no love story. The fact that Sally Ann's performance makes Truly so loveable is, obviously, a pretty crucial factor there.

Sally Ann's delivery of "Well, Mr. Potts... now you'll have to marry me!" after Caractacus kisses Truly... that slide from prim mock-outrage to the playful, warm, you-can-hear-the-smile-in her-voice conclusion is flawless. Not even exaggerating when I say that this was the moment that made me into a hopeless romantic as a 9-year-old child. Sure, this wasn't the first movie I'd seen where two people fall in love and live happily ever after, but I distinctly remember that this was the first romance story that had me in a giggling, kicking-my-feet, "I ship it so hard" state of mind. And after revisiting it as an adult for the first time last year, I have confirmed that yes, child me already had great taste in fictional romances!

Oh, I could say so much about the difference in her body language between the two scenes where Caractacus carries Truly out of her car that's become stuck in a pond. The first time, Truly is affronted and extremely embarrassed by the situation, holding herself so stiffly and awkwardly to avoid an accidental embrace that she causes him to nearly lose his balance and drop her. The second time, when they're in love and they know it, she snuggles right up into his arms without hesitation and it's the cutest thing ever. Sally Ann was 5'6" but looks so tiny in that scene!

(And that kiss! Maybe I'm getting off-topic here in terms of strictly focusing on Sally Ann's contributions, because Dick van Dyke deserves tons of credit for making this kiss so good... but wow, the kiss. Several times I have called it "the Most Kiss they could have gotten away with in a children's movie." Again, giggling, kicking my feet etc.)

While Truly's costumes and hairstyling are rarely historically accurate (the film is set around 1910), the stylized nature of her fashion is iconic and memorable in itself. Sally Ann also completely pulls off playing a fresh-faced ingenue who is 12+ years younger than her actual age - and I do wonder if the aging-down of Sally Ann is at least part of the reason why Truly wears her hair loose throughout most of the movie! Either way, it works perfectly and I was shocked when I first learned how much older she was than her character. (If you watch her in The Admirable Crichton, where she is also in Edwardian costume and was closer to Truly's actual age, she really doesn't look all that much different. If anything, I think she looks even more glowingly beautiful in Chitty!)

Also, as for Truly wearing her hair down... it may just have been an intentionally anachronistic stylistic choice, but in-story, I think it actually contributes to her character by showing a willingness to flout convention and pursue whatever will make her happy instead of what's expected of her, which happens to be a key theme of her character arc.

Another thing that led me to adore Sally Ann as a person as I learned more about her over the last year: in the 1960s, she appeared as a panelist in quite a few episodes of the game show To Tell the Truth (as well as a few episodes of Password), and these can be found on Youtube. I really adore how her personality shines through - she's unfailingly bubbly, witty, self-deprecating, and a bit quirky. Just listening to her speak is a delight and she has one of the best laughs I've ever heard. Here is one of my favorite little moments that I clipped.

By all accounts, she was a delightful person to know and work with, witty and clever, very professional, and very serious about her craft. She also always maintained a great affection for and pride in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and her role as Truly, which is always a wonderful thing to know about an actor in a beloved role.

Another bonus: here is a super charming interview with her after a backstage disaster at What Makes Sammy Run? on Broadway.

She was also, along with Twiggy and Diahann Carroll (as Julia Baker), one of the first three celebrities to have her likeness made into a Barbie doll.

Two of her earlier films I recommend are the comedies Fools Rush In (1949) and The Admirable Crichton (1957), if you can find them (hint-hint, you can.) You may also be able to find the 1966 TV movie of her reprising her Tony-nominated role of Fiona in Brigadoon with Robert Goulet, and although I feel like the oddly close-up way the film was shot kinda does a disservice to the actors at times, it's still amazing to be able to see and hear her in a role she performed on Broadway.

Richard Rodgers once called Sally Ann "the greatest singer who ever sang on the American musical stage." Now, I don't quote this to claim this superlative as some kind of objective fact. If you know anything about me, I am very, very strongly opposed to pitting women against each other and all the Golden Age sopranos are absolute queens who deserve crowns, no matter how much mainstream success or present-day name-recognition they have/had. I just think it's phenomenal that she received such high praise from a man who worked with many of the best musical theatre singers who ever lived... and to think, many people today have never even heard her voice. Without her performance as Truly Scrumptious, it's possible almost nobody would in the future! I am so glad that Sally Ann's lasting legacy was ensured by such a beloved film role.

Sadly for us, many of the theatrical roles which she originated (and thus, for which cast albums featuring her exist) were in shows that either flopped quickly or at least did not enter the theatrical canon, so she never achieved the level of mainstream recognition she clearly deserves. But Sally Ann also played such legendary and challenging roles as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Fiona MacLaren in Brigadoon (for which she received a Tony nomination), Maria Rainer von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Anna Leonowens in The King and I, and, much later, Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. She received great acclaim for all of these performances and, judging by what we know of her process on My Fair Lady, was excellent at making roles distinctly her own and never merely imitating another performer.

Even in her iconic original role of Truly Scrumptious, you don't get to hear the true full power of Sally Ann's extraordinary soprano. For that, I highly recommend listening to "Another Time, Another Place" from Kwamina (1961), and "Something to Live For" from What Makes Sammy Run? (1964). I'm always sad that we don't have any recordings of her in her "fiery" star turn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but you can at least hear her do a Cockney accent, be silly, and sing "With a Little Bit of Luck" with Bing Crosby here!

If it weren't for the enduring success of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, few people might have even heard of Sally Ann Howes today, and that would be a terrible loss. I cannot overstate that I am so grateful that we all know who she is because she played this role and we get to see her give this radiant performance of a character that's all her own. Maybe this sounds strange, but I think the fact that this was Sally Ann's only musical film role (and the ONLY role most people will ever see her in) makes it even more precious, and makes everything she brings to the character that much more distinctive and unique and special.

Both for all of the talent and charm she brings to the role itself, and everything else that I and many other fans have been able to learn of so much of her otherwise-obscure work because of it, the world is incredibly lucky to have the lovely Sally Ann Howes immortalized as our Truly Scrumptious, and I wouldn't have it any other way 💖

#*mic drop*#sally ann howes #chitty chitty bang bang #and that's why you should vote for... wait there's no poll involved? I may have gotten carried away ;)#ok so I doubt anyone will even pay attention to this post but if you are going to tag or comment on this BE KIND AND POSITIVE ABOUT HER #like this is obviously a labor of love on my part here... don't be weird or backhanded. I don't need to hear how you disagree or whatever #and no pitting women against each other on my posts I am so serious #this is a fan post! this is a stan post! this is a celebration! do not derail!#I feel like I need to sprinkle holy water on this post before I release it out into the world #oh Sally Ann we're really in it now #also parts of this are poorly written I know. it's literally just an infodump about my Special Interest English Lady what do you expect lol #the switches between formal tone and informal fangirling are intentional btw #this is what I'm using my degree for apparently #I know I mixed in a lot of character/story analysis here and maybe that's slightly off-topic from lauding her performance but hey #it's not like I'm getting graded on this. and I mean you can see these things in her character BECAUSE of her performance #take my hand. love her with me. life could be a dream #you know the lyric in Hamilton - 'I wrote my way out'? that's what this was for me. I wrote my way out of a mental health crisis with this #when I came up with this idea I was going to save it for her birthday but that is sooo far away. so I'll post now and reblog it then!#I'm shocked tumblr can even handle whatever I'm trying to do here #I wouldn't have put SO many photos except that I needed to use multiples so I could make them smaller!!#my original post #long post

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