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wangxianficfinder · 10 months

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SOS help emergency im going on a 19-hr flight soon and im going to need some reading materials. so if y'all could drop your fave long fics so i could download them to read, that would be most awesome 🙏🙏🙏 thank you so much for everything you do your blog has introduced me to so many wonderful fics <3

You know what to do everyone! We need to help Anon not be bored on their very long flight ~ send in some long fics for them to read ^^

- Mod C

Jumping in to rec 💖 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, immortal WWX, slow burn, pining, arranged marriages)

~Mod L

Many trigger warnings! Take them seriously. But this is a good one: burning camellias by AvoOwO (M, 284k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Sunshot Campaign, Prisoner of War, WWX is a Mess, Genius WWX, Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, BAMF WQ, BAMF WWX, BAMF WN, POV WWX, Hurt WWX, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Sentient Burial Mounds, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Assault, No Golden Core Transfer, WWX Has No Golden Core, Poisoning, Smart WWX, Protective WQ, WWX & WQ Friendship, Medical Torture, Cannibalism, WWX & WN Friendship, PTSD, Dubious Consent, Consent Issues, Heavy Angst)

on restitution by glitteringmoonlight (M, 98k, LSZ & WWX, WWX & JL, wangxian, dark JC, not JC friendly, captivity, non-graphic torture, angst w/ happy ending)

Ok ok. So it’s not a loooing fic. But it’s worth downloading for a plane trip: a thousand hills, no birds in flight | 千山鳥飛絕 by defractum (nyargles) (E, 26k, WangXian, Mythology, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon adjacent setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

Death of a Ghost by Gotcocomilk (E, 107k, WangXian, WWX & JL, Canon Divergence, Ghost WWX, Hurt/comfort, Family bonding, Fluff, Angst)

Amazing world building through the sun shot campaign - lots of sex heads up: Better Things to Do with a Flute in Wartime by Anonymous (E, 365k, MingXian, WangXianJue, Sunshot Campaign, Fix-It, Magical Healing Cock, Dual Cultivation, mild Dom/Sub, Undernegotiated Kink, Golden Core Reveal, Breathplay, Choking, Painplay, Subdrop, Topdrop, Major Character Injury, Canon Divergence, What-If, Temperature Play, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Fisting, Spanking, PTSD, Trauma, Self-Harm, (in the pursuit of cultivational badassery) )

Have a safe flight! Awaiting Your Return by Karmiya (E, 118k, WangXian, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, the opposite of slow burn, Found Family, Canon Divergence, Age Difference, discussions of wei wuxian’s canonical abusive childhood)

Over the Rotted Bridge by vailkagami (T, 314k, WangXian, Temporary Character Death, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, LWJ dies, Wei Wuxian doesn’t die, neither do (most of) the wens, JYL also lives, Original Character(s), outside pov, YLLZ WWX, Canon Divergence, CQL Verse, Illustrated, Grief/Mourning, Non-Consensual Resurrection, mute LWJ, Hurt LWJ, Slow Burn, canonical death of a child (mentioned), Survivor Guilt, PTSD)

❤️ The Third Young Master of the Qishan Wen by KouriArashi

T, 139k, wangxian, canon divergence, romance, angst w happy ending, Wen WWX, hurt/comfort, politics, families of choice, revenge, sibling bonding, pining, everyone lives au, Mojo's post)

Ten miles of Lotus Flowers by Yukirin_Snow (M, 273k, wangxian, JC/LXC, ABO, Romance, Slow Burn, Pain, Hurt/Comfort, True Love, Pregnancy, Humor, No one dies that doesn’t deserve to die, Fluff and Smut, Eventual Smut, Angst, Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending)

to pierce your heart; to fill it full by stiricide (E, 210k, wangxian, NHS/Other(s), WQ/Other(s), royalty au, magic, bottom LWJ, angst w happy ending, smut, dark gusu lan sect, implied future LWJ/concubine because heirs, blood & gore, sharing a bed, under-negotiated kink, light bondage, minor character death, slow burn, power imbalance, sexual role play, consensual non-con)

With No Particular Affection by Chrononautical (E, 92k, WangXian, Modern AU, Arranged Marriage, Kid Fic, Miscommunication, Family Drama, JFM and YZY’s A+ Parenting, Good Uncle JC, Wedding Fluff, Genius WWX, Street Kid WWX, Homelessness, Rich LWJ, Oblivious WWX, Cinnamon Roll WN, Implied/Referenced Suicide, WWX Has a Pregnancy Kink, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst)

Mud on Your Feet by AvoOwO (Not rated, 59k, wangxian, JC & WWX, nightmares, sentient burial mounds, possession, panic attacks, night terrors, hurt/comfort, fluff, good sibling JC, hurt WWX, angst w happy ending, blood & injury, hallucinations, insomnia, good sibling WWX, sleepwalking, sleeptalking, protective JC, WWX sees dead people, LWJ pov, PTSD, implied/referenced self-harm, yunmeng siblings feels)

Wei Wuxian Makes a Wish series by natcat5 (M, 119k, wangxian, major character death, underage, madoka magica au, modern w/ magic, time travel, high school au, body horror, self-harm, angst w/ bittersweet ending, time loop, mental instability, suicidal thoughts)

The Scarlet Lotus by rainbowninja167 (M, 137k, WangXian, Marriage of Convenience, Secret Identity, Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Canon-Typical Violence, canon-typical war crimes, Yunmeng Bros, the mortifying ordeal of getting seduced by your own husband, nonlinear chronology we die like cql, just kidding nobody dies in this fic, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication)

Mad about the Boy by TriviasFolly (M, 62k, wangxian, 1950s America au, greaser WWX, historical smoking, historical viewpoints, angst, internal struggle, pre-relationship, homophobia, sexual awakening, sexual experimentation, self-discovery journey, slef-love journey, gay academia, teenage dramatics)

The Fifth Type of Non-Contact Force by Caixx (Not Rated, 83k, WangXian, Modern AU, High School, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Fluff and Humor, Actually Somewhat Canon, Mutual Pining, Horny Teenagers, Angst with a Happy Ending, Non-Graphic Smut)

I know what my heart wants by yakuso5u (Not Rated, 28k, WangXian, Modern AU, Single Father LWJ, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Accidental Child Acquisition, Domestic, Slice of Life, Christmas references)

In Imitation of Life by travelingneuritis (E, 70k, wangxian, modern cultivation, scifi au, android WWX, tone: neon seedy, rich people are bored and terrible, post-apocalyptoc landscape, happy ending, smut, severe major characger injury, time loss)

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) the ultimate fix-everything in my opinion

Twin Demons of Mòby XiaoFeiFei (M, 358k, MXY & WWX, WangXian, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Injury, Abuse, Twin Demons of Mo, MXY Lives, Major Character Injury, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Angst, Minor Character Death, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Minor Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Torture, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Canon Divergence, Self-Harm, Found Family, Sexual Abuse, Rape/Non-con Elements, POV Alternating)

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 663k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement)

💖 Magical Marriage Ribbons series by starandrea (M, 1M, wangxian, ongoing, animal transformations, weddings)

WWX relives the story - I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the trope - it’s early for me: we’re starting at the end by Miss_Enthusiasimal (M, 92k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Golden Core Reveal, Burial Mounds, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Starvation, emaciation, Cannibalism, Self-Harm, Amputation, Suicidal Thoughts, Sunshot Campaign, let JZX and WWX be friends club)

Madam Yu comes to cloud recesses instead of JFM when WWX punches Zixuan: 🧡 To have and to hold by Moominmammashandbag (M, 78k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Major character injury, CQL verse, Happy Ending)

WQ time travels back to the core removal: 🧡 Never Again by Hauntcats (T, 67k, WangXian, WWX & WQ & WN, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Angst, Not JC Friendly, BAMF WWX)

Second Summer by Anonymous (M, 152k, wangxian, canon divergence, post-sunshot, mystery, amnesia, memory loss, curses, not everyone dies au, golden core reveal)

Linger by the Door (I’ve Always Been Yours) by piecrust (T, 78k, wangxian, canon compliant, slow burn)

actually super fuffy and funny despite tags: Like a Water-Worn Stone by meyari (T, 41k, wangxian, major character death, hurt/comfort, cchronic illness, serious injuries, self-medication, disability, PTSD, depression, self-worth issues, implied/referenced child abuse, aftermath of war, aftermath of violence, prisoner of war, idenity issues, warning: JGS, discussion of enslavement, discussion of abuse)

LWJ saves WWX from falling at nightless city: Unbreakable Heaven, Luminous Earth by carolyncaves (M, 96k, wangxian, graphic depictions of violence, canon divergence, secret identity, sharing a bed, literal sleeping together, pining, getting together, suicidal thoughts, bloog & injury, caretaking, sexual content, fluff, angst w happy ending, power imbalance, JYL lives, not everyone dies au)

🧡 Song of Suibian and Bichen: Or, the Greatest (And Only) Furby Master of Demonic Cultivation by moonwaif (T, 64k, WangXian, Fix-It of Sorts, canon adjacent, The spiritual weapons are furbies, Angst with a Happy Ending, The parent trap but make it WangXian with furbies, Mutual Pining, Taking my favorite parts of every adaptation and smashing them together)

🧡 All will be well when the day is done by abCEE (T, 76k, wangxian, time travel, canon divergence, fix it, not YZY friendly, not Jiang friendly, butterfly effect, no sunshot, madam lan lives, lan WWX)

🧡 like speaking to my heart by SnowshadowAO3 (T, 613k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Daemons, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Some people live!, additional warnings in specific chapters, if you don’t know what daemons are that’s ok because I explain it in the author’s note, also by slow burn I VERY much mean slow burn)

The Same Moon Shines series by sami (Various, 799k, check individual tags from the works!)

Crossover between MDZS and Scum Villain, where Jiang Cheng and Liu Qingge meet, pretend to date, get married, and eventually fall in love. You don't even need to know that much about SVSSS, is so beautiful written that you can just read it: What married people do by Shamelesscooper (E, 216k, JC/LQG, crossover, SVSSS, marriage of convenience, slow burn, pining, demisexual JC, sharing a bed, masturbation, jealousy, slow burn WWX & JC reconciliation, chapter-specific tags in the notes, bathing/washing, enthusiastic consent, relationship negotiaitions)

Nearly 400,000 words, WIP gorgeous AU transmigration: The Tamed by Escheria (T, 366k, wangxian, LWJ/XZ, WWX/WYB, RPF, YLLZ WWX, combination of MDZS & Untamed, OP WWX, XZ is WWX, transmigration, isekai, WIP)

Many happy returns. by orange_crushed (E, 25k, WangXian, Modern AU, Mistaken Identity, Misunderstandings, Grief/Mourning, Loss of Parent(s), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Suicide of a Parent, References to Depression, Anxiety, Therapy, References to Anti-Depressant Medications, Escort Service, Loneliness, Everybody’s Abandonment Issues, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Moving In Together, Oral Sex, Penetrative Sex, Hopeful Ending, Recovery, References to Escorting/Sex Work but No Actual Escorting/Sex Work)

live from new york by varnes (E, 87k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, This is a SNL AU, however the juniors are featured and there are lots of shenanigans!, slow burn, friends to lovers, pining, getting together, happy ending)

Cure by Yukirin_Snow (M, 100k, WangXian, XiCheng, XuanLi, Modern AU, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Character, Cancer, Medical Procedures, Medical Jargon, Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Love at First Sight, possible trigger warnings) i’ll keep reccing this time and time again until more ppl see how good this fic is!!!!!

#mod c #answers #long fics #long post #wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder

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uyuforu · 6 months

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BTS Tarot: Does Jungkook know who is his Future Spouse?

-> I had a lot of ask about this one, like does JK knows who she is, seems he seemed to already have seen details about her in psychic, dreams, etc. So I'm curious too! Let's ask the cards to see :)

Cards pulled per decks

Ekta Oracle: The deer; The books; The paper plane + The kite

Celeste Astrokiff Oracle: Capricorn; Changment; Sky + The positive choc

Original Tarot de Marseille: 10 of pentacles; Ace of swords; The chariot reversed; Jack of pentacles; The popess reversed; King of pentacles + King of cups

Botticelli Tarot de Marseille: 7 of pentacles; 10 of cups; 3 of cups; The sun; King of pentacles, The wheel of fortune reversed + The strength

Lenormand: The bear; The key; The tree; The bridge; Death; The fish; The book; The birds + The storks

-> Please don’t forget this is for ALLEGEDLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.

-> It seems like he has an idea, yes. He knows who she is. He doesn't know her yet, he didn't met her yet. But he knows about her. It's mostly intuition, or inner knowing. He could have seen her in a dream for example. He also knows because he searched for answers. So it means psychic, astrologers, tarot readers, etc. He is part of our team lol! He may have gone deep into wanting to know about her. I wouldn't be shocked if he actually tried all known technique to know about your future spouse. He was very studious about it, and very hard working into his researches. But he could have learned something that hurt him or someone? I'm gonna spoil you there but it seems like JK's FS being a foreigner will not please his parents, mostly his mom at 100%. I saw some astrological aspects of it and I'll explain in another post. I'm not saying his mom will not like his FS but she will be like "... for real? Why not a Korean?" something like that. Now, don't be too serious about this because I'm not 100% sure about this. It's more difficult for older generations to understand this. But it seems like JK doesn't care much lol he already loves her a lot.

-> The tarots are what actually made me understand he knows already a lot about her lmao. He achieve this knowledge already. He may have a good opinion of her or feel like "I can't wait to meet her and be with her" kind of thing. It seems like he knows they are not meeting now, so he can't do anything. To be honest, it seems like it will happen naturally, JK can't do anything but to wait for it to happen. So he is waiting but he feels very excited. He is very serious about that. He feels like he can give the world to her. But it seems like other details about her have been hidden from him. It is meant to be this way in order for JK to literally not pick her up at her house lmao. He could totally do it. He feels impatient, so he shouldn't know too much until it's the right time to meet.

-> It feels like the details he knows about her made him love her more. He loves her so much already. He thinks she is wonderful. He is very happy to know he will marry someone like her. He is over happy at this point. So much love here. He is trusting the universe a lot. He may be scared at time that it won't happened, but he knows he has to trust. He has to keep going.

Thank you for reading! Requests are open but make sure to read the rules first!

back to index ; ask ; requests ; schedule ; rules

#uyuans #jk #bts #jungkook #jungkook astrology #kpop #bts astrology #astrology #jk astrology #kpop astrology

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onboardsorasora · 5 months

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Enchanted AU: Christmas!

We have a posting schedule! that I will hopefully be able to stick to! I will be posting on Mondays and Thursdays. This will also pressure me keep me on a schedule to write lol

Part 1 | Christmas Parts 14 | Part 15

Part 16

Max pressed a palm gently into Daniel’s side and pushed him back onto the sidewalk and out of the way of an upcoming cyclist. They were out in the shopping district and Daniel was doing that thing again, where he was looking above them rather than in front. The city had started putting up their holiday decor, so there were new things to enjoy. Up ahead in the city center they were erecting a fairly large tree. It was impressive, Daniel looked plenty impressed, if a bit unnerved.

Grabbing his shoulder again, Max turned Daniel into the store he had requested they go to. They were buying Christmas decorations today and Daniel had been extremely excited. They’d just come from a shop where they ordered a tree to be delivered and now it was time to find things to decorate it.

“What colours should we get, Maxy?” Daniel asked excitedly, he was looking around with wide eyes, hands clasped in front of him as if to keep himself in check and not touch anything. Max thought that was fair because there were quite a few things in the store that looked breakable if you even looked at them too long.

“How did you even know about this store?”

“Sophie suggested it.” Daniel was biting his cuticle again, looking at Max as if he was waiting for him to disagree with the shop choice. Max shrugged, if his mother suggested it, then it more than likely had what they were looking for.

“I dunno. Maybe gold, I think?” Max said, answering the original question as his way of confirming that he didn’t mind the shop.

“Yeah, but gold and what? We can’t just have a gold tree, Maxy.” Daniel teased, a grin on his face and a sparkle in his eye. Max smiled back helplessly and shrugged.

“I dunno, red maybe?”

“Gold and red it is!” Daniel sauntered off, looking at everything with a bit of childlike wonder. Every now and again he would zero in on something as if listening, before walking over to far corners of the shop and picking things up.

Max wandered around as well, picking up little knick knacks style ornaments that caught his eye. Things he thought Daniel would enjoy as well. He made a small offering pile at the cash register. Similar to the piles of dead things the cats used to leave him. Max smiled at that.

Daniel wandered over eventually with a small shopping cart filled with decorations. All in their own packaging, it looked overwhelming. But Max trusted that Daniel knew what they were for. He watched as Daniel took in the small pile of trinkets. His eyes furrowed then widened in happiness. He looked to Max in confirmation that he could touch one.

Daniel took a small cat ornament into his hand, it was gold and shimmered in the lights.

“This is Sassy.” Daniel smiled then picked up the almost identical red ornament. “And Jimmy.” he looked up at Max through his lashes before looking back through the rest of the trinkets selected by Max. There was a paper plane and a bird. Daniel felt a flutter in his chest, he was touched.

He noticed the display that Max had apparently taken the ornaments from and scanned it quickly. His honey orbs locked on one in the shape of a car, it wasn't a race car but it reminded Daniel of that day in the mountains more than anything. And it was blue.

He placed it in the pile and watched as Max took it in and a smile slid on his face as he placed the memory as well. There was a small blush on Max’s face as he put the car back within the group of red and gold. Daniel felt his heart swoop in his chest. Oh no.

He bit his cuticles as Max paid for everything, trying to not wince at the total price of the haul. Max didn't bat an eyelash so Daniel would try to not make a thing about it.

They managed to fit the bags in the car and Max led Daniel around the shopping center in search of a restaurant to have lunch at. They got a seat on the patio of a bistro and Max pulled out Daniel's chair for him.

“There's a Christmas market being set up, we can go there if you want?” Max asked offhandedly, skimming through the menu. Daniel looked over at him with a smile.

“That would be fun, we could go when everyone comes? The boys would love it.” Daniel rested his head on his upturned palm. Max tried his damnedest to barely look at Daniel more than a glance. He knew he would stare otherwise.

“Yes, that sounds good, I think. We could do it and the tree lighting maybe.”

“Ace!” Daniel grinned then placed his order when the waiter came by. Daniel tried to ignore how domestic it felt, having lunch at a restaurant with Max. It felt like a date almost, but Daniel wasn't going to think too deeply about it.

It would be what Michelle always called a ‘day date' (not really) where you run an errand and maybe get a meal. And you talk and enjoy each other's presence. If this were a date (it wasn't) then this would be a nice one. Daniel would still tell Michelle about it, but he'll make sure she knows that it was all platonic and non-date-like.

They continued to chat about the upcoming holiday season and all the things Daniel wanted to do for the boys. It was a lovely afternoon, the air was getting cooler and Daniel knew soon he wouldn't want to come outside without a hoodie. As it stood, he was ok right now as long as the sun stayed out.

There was a stiff breeze and Daniel shivered, his oversized T-shirt no match for the cooler seabreeze. Max's laugh rang out happily as he noticed.

“Daniel it's not even that cold yet.” Max teased. Daniel smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

“I'm baby ok!” Daniel complained with a pout. He watched as Max stood from his seat and took off the lightweight cardigan he had been wearing over his tshirt. The same cardigan Daniel had teased him for wearing, citing that he didn't need anything for the current temperature. Daniel had gone to Jimmy and Sassy and ‘whispered’ conspiratorially that he was better at Max in the cold.

Daniel's face reddened as Max dropped the body warmed fabric over his shoulders. It smelled like Max's cologne and deodorant. He looked up at Max's crinkley eyed smile, back lit by the bright blue sky and reminded himself multiple times that this wasn't a date. Max was just a nice, lovely, considerate person.

This wasn't a date, this was just friends getting lunch. Friends who happened to live together– temporarily.

“Thank you Maxy.” Daniel said shyly. This wasn't a date.

“Oh, of course, it is no problem, Daniel.” Max said, slipping back into his chair. His shoulders seemed to broaden and get bigger now that they weren't being hidden by his sweater. Daniel looked away from Max's chest and biceps that were now indecently front and center. This wasn't a date.

But if it was, it would be simply lovely.

Part 17

#maxiel #max/daniel #Enchanted au #Enchanted AU: Christmas #disney princess dan

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aviatrix-ash · 11 months

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Absolutely in love with how we apply bird terminology to simplify complex stuff in aviation. Like when our propellers move with their leading edge pointed forward (helps keep the prop from vibrating to hell and/or tearing off an engine in the event the engine fails) we all it "feathering." Or when someone makes a radio call and/or a mechanic finds an issue we call it a "squawk."

The little control surfaces on the ends of wings planes use to increase lift on landing are "flaps" and they..sorta do just that 😆 and the vertical and horizontal "little wings" on the tail of a plane are often referred to together as the plane's "tailfeathers"

I love how we've applied a little whimsy to the silly machines we originally made purely just to experience what birds do. I think it's cute :3

(That one post of whimsy and cute things ppl do is ringing thru my head as I wrote this post. )

#i love aviation so much <3<3<3 #planeposting #that one whimsy silly post is ringing thru my head :'3

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roosterscockpit · 2 years

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His Little Girl | Bradley Bradshaw x reader p. 17

click here for the master list

SURPRISE MY LITTLE BABIES! Since some of you really wanted to read this part I'm posting it early! It will help add content to the story. Thank you for reading and being here with me babes! I love you all. 💕 Happy reading and enjoy! ❤️

A/n: This part is Bradley's POV during the mission. It is the original mission, but I added some more context to it and played with it. Enjoy!

Word Count: 6.5k SORRYY

Warnings: cursing, angst, sadness, potential death, shooting, missiles, kills, but still a lot of love 🥴

Please don't take my work, I will find you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bradley’s POV

I waved goodbye to y/n and boarded the boat. I followed everyone to the meeting room where we were lightly briefed. I was escorted to my headquarters where all of us changed. I dressed from my whites into my flight suit. I was sweating, I was so nervous. All I could think of was my daughter’s little face. How I just wanted to hold her again and see her smile. I’d do anything just to hear her laugh. How I so badly wanted to just cover her face with kisses and tell her how much I love her. I was so distracted.

Phoenix tapped me on the shoulder, “Hey, bird boy. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine.” I nodded and closed my locker hard.

“Did you tell her you love her?” She leaned up against the locker next to mine.

I nodded. “I did.” I took a deep breath. I turned my head slightly to look at her, “She told me I have a daughter, Phoenix.” I gulped.

She stood up from the locker and raised her eyebrows. “Congratulation, Bradshaw.” She patted my back. “What’s her name?”

“Leia.” I smiled.

“Well, when WE get home, I better meet her.” She pulled me in for a hug. “You got this, Rooster.”

I hugged her back. “Thank you, Nat.”

I made my way to the briefing room. Mav was appointed team leader and he was choosing whom he trusted most to fly with him. Would he choose me? Probably not. Why the hell would he choose me when he practically had Hangman kissing his feet the whole week.

Cyclone: “and your wingman?”

The room fell quiet for a brief second. I could see Hangman’s cocky ass straighten his back out ready for when he was going to be called. I shook my head at his overloading confidence.

Mav: “Rooster.”

"What..."

My heart dropped hearing my name. I looked up at Mav and he nodded at me. Was this some sort of mistake? How did he not pick Seresin? I was elated he picked me, I knew I could fly this mission. I had to prove myself to Mav that I was great at what I did. I knew what I was doing. I was ready, but holy shit… me? Was this for real?

Payback, Fanboy, Phoenix, Bob, Mav, and I went into the equipment room immediately to put the rest of our gear on. We grabbed our shoots and helmets and headed back to the briefing room.

Warlock started to brief us on the mission, what needed to be done, the parameters, and everyone’s position, it was all repetition of what this last week has been like. It was getting real. I couldn’t hear him talking anymore. My heart rate started to get quicker by the second. Sweat was rolling down my face. All I could think of was y/n and Leia. The way Leia gave me some of her popsicles at the beach. The way you looked so beautiful when you washed your hair out in the shower. I was the luckiest man in the world. Warlock finished his lecture.

Cyclone: “This is what you’ve all been training for. Come home safely.”

It's fucking go time. Come back home to your little girl, Bradshaw. I thought to myself. “Let’s go.” My breathing became rapid as they raised the platform for us to enter the runway.

Right as the platform stopped Bob patted me on the back, "See you in the sky, Rooster."

I slapped his back and nodded. I stood there for a while just staring at the sight in front of me. all the ground staff running around getting all the planes ready. All the planes lined up together perfectly and right down the middle of it, the sun coming up and over the horizon.

I made my way onto the tarmac. I started to walk over to my aircraft. I was so deep in thought about everything. My daughter, y/n, Mav’s decision, the mission, I was all over the place. I was so scared, but I know I had this. I knew my dad would be there with me. I knew he would steer me in the right direction. Then I was stopped face to face with Hangman. He just looked at me in disbelief.

He nodded at me, “You give ‘em hell!”

I nodded back to him. He was obviously hurt and concerned. He gave me a small smile and walked off to ready up his plane.

I kept making my way down and ran into Coyote. He slapped me on my chest, “You got this, Rooster! Come back safely, bro!”

I nodded and continued to walk.

I made my way over to my plane. Mav’s was next to mine and he was doing last-minute checks. Running his hand along his aircraft, admiring it. I knew what I had to do. Y/n told me I had to repair things with him. I knew what I meant to him and what he meant to me. It's now or never. I made my way over to him.

“Sir, Sir.” I was choked up.

He turned to look at me.

“I- uh” I gulped, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say. I was lost for words. “I just wanted to say-” and I was interrupted by the take-off staff for everyone to ready up. Shit. I thought to myself. God Damnit Bradley! I was so upset with myself. I should have done this sooner.

I looked at him and he nodded. “We’ll talk when we get back.” He gave me a small smile and nodded.

I gulped and nodded back to him. I turned to get in my plane and he called for me again.

Mav put his hand out to get my attention, "Hey! Brad- Bradley! Bradley! Hey!”

I turned and he had a slight smile on his face. He looked at me proudly, even though I was terrified. “You got this!” He nodded at me again. “You’re gonna do great, kid!”

I nodded back at him. I knew he had my back and I had his.

I boarded my plane and got ready for take-off. Over coms, everyone confirmed ready for take-off.

Mav: “Dagger 1, up and ready on catapult 1.”

Hangman: “Dagger spare, standing by.”

Payback: “Dagger 4, up and ready.”

Phoenix: “Dagger 3, up and ready.”

“Dagger 2, up and ready.”

You got this, Bradshaw. I thought to myself. My breath was shallow, and I felt like I was hyperventilating. The cockpit felt like it was running out of oxygen. I closed my eyes tight and the only thing I could see was Leia’s sleeping face. I opened my eyes and looked at the rearview mirrors that were set up in my cockpit. I saw my green eyes. The ones that y/n said I shared with our little girl. She was here with me. Leia was my strength.

Comms 1 officer: “Support assets airborne. The strike package is ready. Standing by for launch decision.”

There was a brief quietness throughout the room and on comms. It was so quiet you could hear someone click their pen from the comms room. The anticipation was killing me. C’mon Cyc. Let’s get this shit over with. I said shakily in my head.

Cyclone: “Send them.”

Mav took off, I took off, then Phoenix and Bob, and Payback and Fanboy.

My nerves were setting in. This is really happening. I stayed as calm as possible. All I could see was my daughter running around by the water when we met at the beach and y/n. The way my heart stopped when I saw you on the beach, how you made my heart skip a beat when you approached me at the bar, how beautiful you looked when you were sleeping next to me, how warm you felt when we slow danced in your room, and how soft you felt when we showered. I have to try my best to make sure I came home to you. I have to make sure I’m perfect so we all make it home.

I couldn’t calm my breathing. I was breathing so hard, I’m sure everyone hearing it over comms caused a raise in their nerves. But we are the best of the best, we’ve trained for this and we had the greatest pilot as our team leader. I knew he would help carry us to victory.

We started to approach enemy territory, Mav called for an air strike. This was it, in less than a couple of seconds the tomahawks were flying over us toward the enemy’s airstrip.

There’s no turning back now. I thought to myself.

We assumed the attack formation and headed into the terrain. We all maneuvered through the mountains, staying below the SAMs. We were undetectable, but seeing them overhead was nerve-wracking. I felt so stiff. One small mess up and that would be it. I had to be on my A-game. I had to proceed with caution. I had to make it home to my girls, they were waiting for me.

Don’t fuck this up, Rooster. Proceed with caution. I thought to myself.

“Dagger, Comanche. We’re picking up two bandits. Single group, two contacts.”

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! I thought to myself. My breathing started to heighten.

Phoenix: “Comanche, what’s their heading?”

Comanche: “Bull’s eye 090, 50, tacked southwest.”

“They’ve headed away from us. They don’t know we’re here.”

Mav called for everyone to speed up so we could reach the Uranium plant in time. Mav and Phoenix sped ahead to make sure we got there on time and didn’t have to cross paths with bandits.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t push the thrust lever to fly faster. I froze, I was stuck. I needed to proceed with caution like I always have. That’s always what brought me back safely. That is what would bring me back to you and Leia. I couldn’t risk going too fast and possibly not anticipating a turn, or crashing into the mountainside with my team following the fate. I had to play this safe. I stayed my pace. I had to.

I couldn’t risk anything. I made you and Leia a promise. I was going to keep it.

After the tomahawks hit the enemy’s airstrip it was called over comms that the bandits were headed for the uranium site. Surely I can make it there before them.

I got this. Keep my pace. I thought to myself. I am a damn good pilot. I can put up a good fight.

“Rooster, where are you?” Mav called for me. I stayed silent.

“Come on, Rooster. The bandits are inbound! We have to make up the time now! LET’S TURN AND BURN!” Payback yelled over to me trying to give me some encouragement.

I couldn’t bring myself to it. I was terrified. What would my dad do? I thought to myself. There were so many scenarios in my head. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t focus. I felt a lump in my throat. I couldn’t hurt you again. I begged you to wait for me and you promised you would.

“Talk to me, dad.” I needed him more than ever. “Please just give me a sign. I need you, dad.” I said to myself. Then there it was my sign from my dad.

Mav gave me some encouragement, “Come on, kid! You can do it. Don’t think! Just do!”

It echoed in my head, “Don’t think, just do.” The same thing you told me. The same thing you always told me to do.

When we were in college and I was nervous to play the piano in front of everyone to sing Great Balls of Fire, you whispered to me, “Don’t think, just do.” The time I was going to leave for basic training and I was nervous, “Don’t think, just do.” Right before I left for my first deployment, “Don’t think, just do.” And today, right before I left for this mission, “Don’t think, just do.” And here Mav was, telling me the same thing you always told me to do. THIS was my sign.

I had to do this. I had to make sure I came home to you and my daughter. As well as making sure my team that followed me made it home to their families.

I took a deep breath and pushed the thruster lever. I zoomed off leaving my team in the kicked-up snow.

“DAMN ROOSTER!” Fanboy called over comms.

“All right! Let’s go!” I called confidently.

We finally caught up where we were supposed to be.

Mav landed the first pair of bombs, landing them and providing me with a clear pathway. Now it was my turn.

“Get me a picture fanboy!” I called over as we made our way between the mountains heading fast toward the target.

“Deadeye! Deadeye! There is something wrong with the laser! I can’t get it locked! I'm sorry Rooster!”

“Come on Fanboy!” I called him. C'mon, C'mon, C'mon!

Shit shit shit! C’mon Bradley, GET OFF THAT DAMN PERCH, BRADSHAW! DON’T THINK, JUST DO. I yelled in my head.

I took a deep breath, “No time Fanboy! I’m dropping in blind!”

“Rooster! NO! I GOT THIS!” Fanboy yelled desperately trying to locate the target.

“No time! Bombs away! Bombs away!” I dropped the bombs and accelerated the steep climb. "Please, please, please!" I said in a whisper while trying to stay conscious. I was fighting the feeling of blacking out. "C'mon say bullseye please!" I whispered to myself.

“Bullseye! Bullseye! Bullseye!” Was yelled over comms.

I knew I hit the target. My heart leaped out of my chest. I fucking hit that shit! But it wasn’t over yet. Now came… coffins corner.

We finally surpassed safe grounds and the SAMs came right for us.

“Oh my god…..” The first one flew at me.

It was a dog fight, comms was flooded with our communication. It was so hectic. I was swerving, yelling, defending, outrunning, cutting off every missile I could. I had to make sure everyone made it home. I had to make it home. A pair of missiles came for me and I tried to defend myself, but my worst fear came true. I hit the flares deploy button and it was just clicking.

“SHIT I’M OUT OF FLARES!!” I ran out of fucking flares, I had no way to defend myself. My life flashed before my eyes. I could only think of you and my little girl. I broke my promise. I was going to hurt not just my daughter, but you again.

“I’m so sorry, beautiful. Please remind my baby girl I love her so much.” I got ready for the impact.

I opened my eyes to see Mav maneuver over me and use his last round of flares.

“No No No!” He was struck by the second missile. His plane was falling out of the air and on fire.

“MAV NO!” My heart fell to my stomach. "MAAAAAAV!" I watched him go down.

Phoenix yelled over comms, “Dagger one’s been hit! I repeat Dagger one has been hit! Maverick is down!”

Why would he do that? WHY THE FUCK DID HE DO THAT! GOD DAMN IT, MAV! This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen! My heart wrenched. I fucked up. I should have forgiven him sooner. I should have talked to him sooner. I should have told him thank you for all he’s done for me. I should have told him I loved him. He just was trying to do what was best for me. He was all I had left of my mom and dad. I held back my tears as my heart ached. I had to do what was right. I had to save him as he saved me. It's Mav, he still had to be out there somewhere. I had to save him. He did the same for me. Leia couldn’t live without her papa Mav.

“Does anyone see him?” I looked around. “We have to circle back!” The hurt in my voice was apparent, it was cracking. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I desperately searched for him.

I was ordered not to go back because bandits were headed for us. I hit the control panel in front of me. I held my tears back the best I could, but no dice. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think straight. I had a job to do and I lost the person I needed the most.

“FUCK!” I ripped off my mask. My body hurt, I was shaking. I couldn’t just leave him out there. I did what my heart told me to do. I did what my dad told me to do. I did what you told me to do. I did what was best for Leia.

Everyone made their way back to the ship. I stayed and looked for Mav. I saw an enemy aircraft in the distance. Then I heard shooting, I looked closely and saw a tiny figure bearing a green jumpsuit.

“MAV!”

I lined up perfectly and right when I got tone, I took the shot. I took the aircraft down, landing my first in-air kill, but no time for celebration… I headed straight into SAMs territory. I knew what was coming. I knew I had to save him. I braced myself for the impact. Right as I got hit, I started to go down. I pulled the ejection handle and descended into the trees.

I landed on the cold snow. It felt good, the air was cold and crisp. I felt like I could finally breathe, The air was fresh. I was sweating my fucking ass off up there. I was scared, but I knew I did the right thing. I started to put my parachute away.

“Well, now you’re here, Bradley. What the fuck do I do now?” I said out loud while shoving my chute into the snow. Then I heard the snow crunching in the distance and someone running. I looked to see it was Mav.

Mav yelled out to me, “Hey are you all right!?”

Holy shit he fucking found me. I was so happy, but you know… I didn’t let that show. “Yea! I’m good! Are you all right!?”

He was still running at me at full speed when I turned around. “What the fuck?” I put my hands up, “Mav! Slow down!” And then he pushed me down into the COLD ASS SNOW.

“WHAT THE HELL!” I threw my helmet and stood up.

“What are you doing here!?” He was clearly mad at me.

Is this guy fucking kidding right now? “What am I doing here!?” I yelled back at him.

“You think I took that missile just for you to be down here with me! You should be back on the carrier right now!!” He was getting in my face.

I got back in his, looking down at him. “I SAVED YOUR LIFE!!!!”

He cut me off, “NO! I saved your life. THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT!!” He poked me hard in my chest. He was clearly frustrated with me right now, “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU EVEN THINKING!!!?”

There is no fucking way he just asked me that question…. “YOU TOLD ME NOT TO THINK!!!!” Now I was frustrated. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, dude! I just saved your ass and you’re really giving me a hard time right now?”

“I saved you! I told y/n at any cost! She needs you home! You promised her just like I promised her! This was my compromise and now both of us are fucked, Bradley!”

I shook my head, “She needs you too, Mav! I fucking need you!” I was breathing hard.

His tone softened and his eyes filled with tears, “What?”

"Shit now is not the time for crying, Mav." I shook my head and looked around, “Yes! I fucking need you, Mav! Okay? I’ve always fucking needed you, but you fucked me over!” I was still upset, but I was being genuine. I was mad but not mad at the same time.

He took a deep breath, “Bradley, I’m sorry. I just wanted to protect you. I didn’t want for you to…”

“What? Fly like you and die like my dad?” I was still trying to catch my breath.

He was quiet, “Yes, I wanted to protect you from that. I love you, Rooster. I wanted to make sure you lived the long life you deserved.”

I scoffed, “My whole life I wanted to be like you and my dad. I looked at you guys as if you were superheroes.”

Mav nodded, “I’m sorry, Bradley. I shouldn’t have made that decision for you. I should have given you the chance because you’re better than your dad and I put together.” He patted my shoulder.

I looked at him with surprise, “Wait, really? You think so?” I kinda got giddy, but I didn't want to show him that. I had to still be upset.

“Absolutely, I am so proud of who you are.” He gulped hard.

I nodded, “Thank you, Mav.” Fuck I feel like a giddy schoolgirl... I looked around, “so…”

Mav looked around as well, “Well I guess we camp out until the air is clear enough for the search and rescue to come and get us.”

I laughed, “Are you serious? And we just be sitting ducks? C’mon Mav. You literally just told me not to think and now here you are trying to think?”

He just stood there coming to the realization that he did in fact just tell me that not even 30 minutes ago. Boom bitch, got you there.

I exaggeratedly nodded my head at him and threw my arms up. “EXACTLY.” I knew I was right and he knew it too.

He ducked his head down. HAH! I WIN! I thought in my head as I looked down at him while he felt defeated.

He looked back up. “Well… It is nice for you to be with me if I am being completely honest here.”

Great way to redirect the shame, Mav. “It's good to see you too.” I looked around and looked at him concerned. We were still standing in the middle of the damn forest with nothing and still no plan. “So.. what’s the plan?”

“I think I know what to do.” He hit my chest with the back of his hand.

We picked up our helmets and started to speedwalk through the trees, looking for something, anything. We saw a cliff and heard the distant blaring of an alarm. Mav ran to it.

“No way. This man is crazy.” I whispered to myself. As I got closer to the edge I started to see the black smoke in the air. “Holy shit, he is fucking crazy!”

He knelt in the snow and laid down to blend in with the surroundings. He pulled on my pant leg and I got down with him. He pulled out his single scope and looked around at the enemy’s airstrip.

I looked at him and he had that look on his face. “Fuck me. Really?”

He looked at me confused, "What?"

“Mav… you’re not serious…”

He raised his eyebrows. He got up and started to make his way down the mountainside.

“That's it, he’s officially trying to get us killed.” I stayed there contemplating my life. I shook my head, “For Leia, Bradshaw.”

We made it down closer to the airstrip and laid down by some bushes to stay hidden. He gave me his single scope and told me to look and see if there was anything useful around us. I had this weird feeling in my gut that he already had something in mind, he just wanted me to see it. I started to look around, there was one single shelter unit still intact. I took a closer look.

“Oh hell no. Oh. Hell. Fucking. NO.” I looked at him in disbelief. He chuckled. This man definitely is trying to get us killed! I was in total shock.

“You have got to be shitting me.” I looked at him with my jaw practically hitting the snow. “An F-14?” This man is senile. “Are you fucking joking?"

He was so proud. “I shot down three MiGs in one of those.” He was nodding remembering back to when he was first called to Top Gun. He had that shit-filled grin on his face.

I closed my eyes out of annoyance. “Mav, we don’t even know if that bag of ass can fly!” I looked at him scared as hell. I think I might have offended him because he made a face that clearly read “WELL SHIT, BRADLEY.”

He smiled deviously, “Let’s find out!” He started to run to it. He’s officially gone off the deep end for sure.

“MAV!” Was I really gonna follow this guy into our potential death…. Yea I fucking was, what other choice did I have!?

“Okay…” I ran to catch up with him. I didn’t realize how close I was and how slippery the snow was because I almost ate shit. Luckily, Mav was right there and I grabbed onto him and regained my balance.

“Holy fuck, Bradley. Chill.” He helped me regain my balance.

Everyone around us was our enemy. “Mav.. there are guys over there.” I looked around, “Over there too.”

Mav nodded and looked worried, “Maybe we should start running.”

Everyone around us was running around, we needed to blend in. “Yea, run.. running is nice.” We started to run for the F-14.

We finally made it in and Mav started up the kick starter. He explained to me what I had to do before we took off. Before we knew it I was his backseater, just like my dad.

“You in, little goose?” He yelled back at me as he strapped himself in.

“Oh my god… this thing is OLD!” I examined the back of this old ass plane. What the hell was all of this?

“Ouch, Lieutenant that hurts my feelings you know.” He said sarcastically, but I knew all of my old jokes were crushing him.

Mav closed the canopy and we were faced with a problem. We just blew up this whole damn thing not too long ago and here we were trying to get this shit bag in the air.

“How are we going to get this museum piece in the air?” I yelled over to Mav. He looked at me through one of the rearview mirrors. He was clearly annoyed.

“Sorry. How are we going to get this piece of shit in the air?” I laughed. He shook his head.

“Okay, but seriously how the hell are we going to get this thing up, Mav?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

He smiled, “With a little TLC.” He smirked at me through the mirror.

“What? No… Ew. Gross.”

He looked around trying to find out what to do. He lined up on the taxiway. I could hear and feel the stirring of the aircraft. I went to look out and hit my fucking head on the window. Why were the wings coming out? What the hell was he about to do?

“Why are the wings coming out, Mav?” Silence. “Mav! This is a VERY short taxiway!” More silence. Surely he wouldn’t. There was no freaking way. Did he really just want us to die?

“You just hang on!” He pushed hard onto the thrust lever sending me back hard against my seat.

“Holy shit!” Whiplash x1.

I leaned forward and looked at the sight in front of us. We were heading straight for a structure on the taxiway. No freaking way, dude. "WHAT THE HELL?" I looked at Mav.

“Mav…..” What the fuck was this guy doing! He kept going, getting faster and faster closing in on the structure. “MAV!”

I can hear the shit grin on his face, “Here we go!” He yanked on the joystick and we started to ascend.

We started heading straight for the structure, this is it. This is when I die… not from being shot down, noooo, because my hero from my childhood was going to fly us straight into a damn building.

“Hoooooly shit.” I couldn’t watch, I closed my eyes tight and prayed for the lord to not send me to hell. I prayed for y/n and Leia’s forgiveness. To forgive Mav for being an idiot.

We cleared the structure, but our front wheel was taken off from “grazing” it. We were finally in the air headed for the ship. So I turned on my ESAT so that comms could have eyes on us.

The radio and radar were out, I had no idea how to turn them on. There was way too much going on back here. I was overwhelmed. So I asked Mav. He didn’t know either. Great.

“That was your dad’s department.”

“I’ll figure it out!” I smiled at the thought of my dad. I was looking at all of the breakers when something caught my eye. “Shit. It's the bandits from earlier.” I kept it cool. “Uh, Mav, tally two 5 o’clock low.”

I felt like I was gonna shit myself. First, I was going to shit and then I was gonna die. I'm gonna die with loaded pants… “What do we do?”

Mav looked over and behind, “Okay, Just be cool. If they knew who we were we would already be dead.”

“What’s your plan?” They were now level with us.

Mav put his mask on, “just put your mask on and remember, we are on the same team.”

I struggled to put my mask on, but I finally was able to get it to snap as they started to get closer.

“Just wave and smile! Like those penguins.”

I looked over at them and started to wave. “Penguins, Mav?”

“Yea from that kid movie. With all the talking animals?”

I narrowed my eyes, “What?"

“Just wave and smile, Rooster…”

I continued to wave and smile. Well, they couldn’t see my smile so I stopped smiling. They started to throw signals at us and we had no idea what the hell they were trying to say.

"What does that mean, Mav?"

"Uhhh... No fucking clue."

"Great..." I said slowly.

His wingman moved into weapon’s envelope. My heart started to race, but I knew I had to keep my composure to not worry Mav. We had to make it out of this. We both made a promise to you.

“Mav, can we outrun these guys?”

Mav sighed, “Not their missiles and guns.”

“Then it's a dogfight.” I had confidence in my voice.

Mav scoffed, “An F-14 against those fifth-gen fighters?” He sounded shaky.

“It's not the plane, It's the pilot.” I knew he had it in him, I just needed him to see I knew he did. “You’d do it if I wasn’t here.”

Mav took a deep breath, “But you are here.” The hurt in his voice.

“C’mon Mav. Don't think, Just do.”

He sat there for a second. I knew he could do this, he is the best there is. He’s had experience. He had this in the bag. Before I knew it he was yanking the joystick to right. I flew back in my chair, from the sudden jolt.

"Oh fuck!" Whiplash x2.

I straighten myself back up and he was already shooting the engine of one of the bandits. They started to go down. Their wingman was hot on our tails. Mav was in it, 100%.

“Rooster! Let me know when you see smoke in the air.”

Less than half a second later the wingman was shooting a missile at us, “Smoke in the air!”

Mav swerved towards the other plane that already going down and the missile hit them.

I threw my fist in the air, “Splash one, Mav!” I was looking around keeping track of the wingman, who was still hot on our trails. Not even a second later they were sending another missile at us. “Here comes another one!”

Mav accelerated quickly, “Rooster, flares now!!” I pushed on the flares deploy button. Negative contact. Mav maneuvered us around and came around so he was behind the enemy.

“Come on give me tone!” It started to beep.

“You got him, Mav! Take the shot!”

He shot a missile at them, but this circus clown did some weird ass maneuver and the missile completely missed.

“what…the hell.” Mav was shocked.

“Holy shit. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!”

They were back on our tails. We descended down into the mountain terrain so their targeting system wouldn’t be able to track us. They were trying to shoot us, but thankfully they couldn’t get a hit on us. As we came around a corner they started to shoot at us again, this time landing a hit on us.

“Come on, Mav! Do some of that pilot shit!”

He laughed, “You know your dad said that same thing to me once!”

“Now’s not the time for stories, Mav!” I knew he was just trying to reside some tension, but we were literally being hunted down.

"Are you sure you don't wanna hear it? I'm really good at multitasking!" He laughed.

"Mav. NO!" I was in a panic.

He laughed again, “Get ready!” He pulled some maneuvers again that threw us above the enemy. It felt like when you’re on a rollercoaster and you go start to go down the biggest drop, but times 100.

“Hoooooooooooly shit!” I flew out of my seat.

We were behind them and Mav shot our last missile. The enemy deployed their flares and the missile missed.

“Shit! We are out of missiles. Going to guns!” He kept on shooting them, not being able to land a shot on them.

“C’mon! You got this, Mav!”

He shot at them again with the little ammo we had left and landed the hits. The plane crashed into the side of the mountain. I was filled with relief, He fucking did it! We fucking made it!

“Mav!!! Splash two!!! Splash two!!!” I threw my hands up.

He reached his hand back and I gave him a high-five. He smiled, “y/n… here we come.” I laughed.

We were heading to the boat, and I finally got the radio up. I was about to contact the boat, but our warning alarm started going off.

“Where is this guy?” I started to look around behind us and nothing.

It got really quiet. “He’s on our nose…” Mav sounded anxious. He tried shooting, but we were out of ammo. We crossed paths with the enemy and he was coming around hot and catching up with us. He shot a missile and I deployed our last round of flares.

“Oh god…” I thought to myself. I started to think about you and Leia again. My heart felt defeated. Not only was I never going to see you two again, but I also was never going to get to tell Mav what I needed to tell him. I gulped and tried to stay strong. I had to stay strong, even though I was crumbling inside. He started to shoot at us landing hits.

“This is not good! Were taking hits!” I yelled as I looked back at our smoking engine.

“No no no!!!” Mav was in disbelief. We were so close.

My heart was pounding, about to leap out of my chest. We were so fucking close. I thought I was going to see you, meet my little girl, fix things with Mav, and get to celebrate with my team. But as the shots kept hitting us, my hopefulness was going down little by little. I felt a lump in my throat. I started to shake. I was sweating so much, my stomach was in knots. I couldn’t think straight. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. This was it…

“We can’t shake him! We’ve got to eject, Bradley!”

“WHAT! BUT MAV!”

“We need altitude! Pull the handles the second I tell you to!”

“MAV! WAIT!” I had to do it. I had to tell him.

“There is no other way, Rooster!” He took off.

We started to ascend, “Mav, I love you!” I had so much pain in my voice, but I had to tell him.

He looked at me in the rearview mirror, tears in his eyes, “I’m so sorry, Goose. I love you, Rooster.”

He closed his eyes tight, “Eject! Eject!”

I started to yank on the ejection handles and nothing. I felt so weak and defeated. I couldn’t breathe… my little girl…. My baby girl…. My princess Leia….

“ROOSTER! EJECT!!!!”

“IT'S NOT WORKING!!!!” I started to cry. This isn’t what was supposed to happen. “MAV!” I cried out. I closed my eyes and all I could see was you and our little girl. “I love you girls so much.” I braced myself. Then there was a loud boom. I opened my eyes and touched my body. I was so confused.

“Am I alive? What the fuck?”

I looked back and a big black cloud of smoke. “What….” I started to breathe fast and there he was.

Hangman: “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your savior speaking.”

I laid back and smiled. I sighed in relief. I was ready to cry. My body was tingling. I felt so many emotions. “You goddamn good, son of a bitch.” I said to myself looking over at Seresin.

Hangman: “Please fasten your seat belts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright position aaaaand prepare for landing.”

I shook my head and laughed at him, “Hey Hangman! You look good!”

I can hear the smile he had plastered on his face, “I am good, Rooster. I’m very good.”

I dropped my head in relief and smiled so big. I couldn’t believe it. Is this really happening?

“I couldn’t bare break y/n’s heart. I had to make sure I saved you guys and become her favorite.” He winked at me and I laughed.

“I’ll see you back on deck.” He dove out and flew towards the boat.

We headed back in the same direction. I was feeling so many emotions. I was so excited to get back safely. We fucking did it. But now Seresin had something to hold over my head for the rest of our lives, but you know what I could care less. We are alive. We were making our way to land.

I sat back in my seat getting prepared for a rough ass landing. Because remember? We lost our front fucking landing wheel. Whiplash x3, here I come. We started to descend and we hit the tarmac hard, the barricade catching us and slowing us down. I almost hit my head on the equipment in front of me. When we finally stopped moving it was surreal. No, it came clear to me, We did it. We are back, we are alive. I get to see my girls and drown them with kisses.

Mav: “Bradley, you good!?”

I nodded my head smiling. “Yea, I'm good!”

The canopy opened and we were surrounded by everyone. I couldn’t stop smiling. My body’s tension finally resided. I climbed down and was reunited with everyone. They were all coming to me with hugs and handshakes. I was so happy to feel the ground under my feet. Then Hangman came up to me and stuck his hand out. I grabbed it and shook it.

“Thank you. Hey man, you chalked yourself another kill!”

He smiled big, “That makes two!” He nodded and raised his eyebrows.

Phoenix: “Mav has 5! That makes him an ace!”

Hangman and I looked at each other and nodded with impressive expressions. She was absolutely right. That man is a fucking badass. Speaking of the badass, I went to go look for him before finally spotting him in the crowd.

“Captain Mitchell! Captain Mitchell!” I stood there frozen.

He was looking at me waiting for me to say something. “Sir.” Was the only thing I managed to get out before he was pulling me in and held me tight. I think he just knew what I needed to say and stopped me from having to say it and possibly fumble. I held onto him tight and we separated.

“Thank you for saving my life!” He was holding back his tears.

I took a deep breath and nodded, “It's what my dad would have done!”

He patted my back and smiled. “I meant what I said back there, Mav.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “God, Mav. Please don’t make me say it again.” I rolled my eyes.

He laughed, “I love you too, son.” Mother fucker, don’t cry Bradley. My lip quivered slightly.

I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. He pulled me back in and he held onto me tighter than in the previous hug. I'm sure he started to cry… because I did a little. After all, he was my hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was a long one. I had to add some humor and LOTS OF LOVE for Mav and Rooster. I love them! I hope you enjoyed it, besties! I will see you in the next part 🫶🏼

Tag List

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@shakespear-picaso-lovechild

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@beebslebobs

@creativitybeware

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@badasspizzalover

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scotianostra · 20 days

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James Allan Mollison was born on April 19th 1905 in Glasgow.

Graeme Obree, Chris Hoy and a certain steam train have all bee called The Flying Scotsman in their time, but the original title goes to a man who actually did fly, Jim Mollison.

Jim would go on to become a pioneering aviator, breaking records for long distance flights. His marriage to fellow aviator Amy Johnson also saw them lauded as the golden couple during their time together.

Born the only child of Hector Alexander Mollison, a consultant engineer, and Thomasina Macnee Addie. He was educated at The Glasgow Academy and Edinburgh Academy and took an early interest in flying and obtaining his Royal Air Force (RAF) Short Service Commission at 18, he was the youngest officer in the service, and upon completion of training was posted to India, flying on active service in Waziristan.

At the age of 22, Mollison became a flying instructor at Central Flying School (CFS), again setting the record for being the youngest in this role. Shortly after, he transferred to the RAF Reserve and devoted his time to civil aviation. In 1928-29, he served as an instructor with the South Australian Aero Club in Adelaide, leaving that position to become a pilot with Eyre Peninsular Airways and Australian National Airways.

In July-August 1931, Mollison set a record time of eight days, 19 hours for a flight from Australia to England, and in March 1932, a record for flying from England to South Africa in 4 days, 17 hours flying a de Havilland Puss Moth.

Mollison eventually served in the ATA Air Transport Auxiliary in the Second World War. In June 1941 Mollison and an ATA crew delivered Cunliffe-Owen OA-1 G-AFMB to Fort Lamy, Chad. The aircraft was fitted out as a personal transport for General De Gaulle.

Mollison was feted in London and New York, and could lead the life he had always wanted. “I am a night bird,” he once said. “Life and enjoyment begin when daylight fades. Cocktail bars and clubs, music, beautiful women— that’s living. Daylight comes to me as an interval for sleeping until an afternoon drink helps to bring on another evening.” His autobiography was called “Playboy of the Air”.

When Mollison and Amy Jonson married in 1932 the press were delighted, they were dubbed The Flying Sweethearts by the press and public. . The match was was perfect for the publicity machine, and the two of them set about devising new aviation records: in 1933 they flew together from Wales to New York and had a ticker-tape reception in Wall Street. But marriage did not last long or end well. It has sometimes been assumed that the match was a simple career move on Mollison's part: certainly he did not halt his relationships with other women. Nor did it limit his drinking. As I said earlier, he got the tag “ the Flying Scotsman” but those close to him called him “Brandy Jim”.

As well as his Playboy lifestyle and heavy drinking Jim Mollison was also quick with his fists, and a manager from the Grosvenor House Hotel was reported as saying ” We've had the most awful night here. Jim Mollison and Amy Johnson had a fearful row and he's beaten her up. The bathroom looks like a slaughterhouse.” The marriage officially ended in 1938.

Mollison kept flying, and – like Johnson – flew in a non-combat role in WWII. Both of them flew in the Air Transport Auxiliary. Johnson died in 1941 after baling out of aircraft. Mollison had at least one close escape, when his plane was shot up, but survived the war.

Mollison later settled in London and ran a public house. He married Maria Clasina E. Kamphuis in 1949 at the Maidenhead Register Office. Mollison continued to abused alcohol and in 1953, the Civil Aviation Authority Medical Board revoked his pilot's licence. The couple separated but Maria bought the Carisbrooke Hotel in Surbiton for him – a temperance hotel.

Suffering from acute alcoholism, he was admitted to The Priory, Roehampton, southwest London, where he died on 30 October 1959, the official cause of death was pneumonia, but unofficially it was thought to be alcoholic epilepsy.

#scotland #scottish #history #pilot #aviator #pioneer

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carolingarts · 1 year

Text

I just saw a post about how Henry is the "Original" creator of Bendy when canon says Joey and I think it's a fascinating opportunity to discuss Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney so *Let's Go* and if I get any facts wrong please feel free to add or subtract!

History is full of pairings like Henry and Joey (the closest ones obviously being Henry and William Afton - ha. see I got jokes) but the notion of a collaborative creative process that isn't instantly *seen* is something I find interesting. So much work today is dissected and arguments can be brought to social media extremely easily. It's re-defined the creative process.

Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney were the best of friends who worked on Walt's 'Laugh o' grams' before Mickey Mouse. When Walt wanted to move into shorts production and took Ub with him. The two of them went to work for Universal with Walt asking for Ub to come up with the *image* of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit while coming up with his personality.

So that's Oswald - Walt's ideas and Ub's work (His dreams, my effort) which doesn't mean that Oswald and by proxy Mickey Mouse aren't part of Ub Iwerks's work (in fact it's fucking criminal and if you like Bendy and you don't know who Ub Iwerks is go look him up in Henry Stein's name ok.)

Oswald is really interesting because Universal and Pat Powers tricked Walt into a contract that they owned total and complete rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Pat Powers - Walt's contact with Universal - announced that he had also hired away Walt's animators without them - or him - letting him know.

I remember in reading "Walt Disney: An American Original" a great story about how Walt and Ub came up with Mickey while they were still with Universal and managed to convince animators that were still "loyal" to Walt to draw the Mickey cartoon underneath their Oswald sketches while they waited their contract out. So imagine a bunch of dudes literally grabbing animation work and then hiding it when Universal supervisors came around.

From the Link I posted below:

[MARTIN: When the Laugh-O-Gram Studio eventually went bankrupt, Disney took a train out to Hollywood. But not very much time had passed before he was begging Iwerks to come out too. He couldn't make his cartoons' success without him.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: And that was where, in 1928, Ub Iwerks single-handedly animated "Plane Crazy," the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. After a record 700 drawings a day, Iwerks did in two weeks something that would have taken other animators months. ]

(JFC. If we can assume that Joey asked for Henry to do something like that and Henry did it the man is a fucking *machine*)

The rest of the story is - pretty much what we've gathered from Bendy canon unless the Meatly says otherwise. Ub ended up chafing under Walt's leadership, left the studio for 10 years and produced some pretty cool Looney Tunes cartoons even if his own studio folded. He rejoined the studio doing animation, special effects, and themepark design even winning an award for his work on "The Birds" (yes that birds, the Hitchcock Birds.)

Obviously Bendy is a story, but the real life stories about this kind of stuff are three times as interesting IMHO.

This is the most abridged version of the story *ever* and I'm sure I'm getting some facts wrong but I think both Ub and Walt would be the first people to say "we worked on Mickey together" as well as Oswald. A collaborative effort. Most creative efforts that are put in the spotlight are when things are negative and you have to really make the effort to say that it *was* the product of two people.

So it's *really interesting* that people are arguing over these two fictional characters and that Henry deserves just as much credit as Joey *especially* given that people are asking for Ub Iwerks to get more credit relating to Mickey Mouse.

There was a thread I remember reading on twitter (I wish I could find it) where an animator was talking about how in a Mickey Mouse short they were able to use a picture of Walt Disney for a joke for the first time - and how much of a shock it was. That's because Walt and Mickey are *sacrosanct*. You don't fuck with the image of Walt or the image of Mickey Mouse.

Think about it. TWDC has literally lobbied to *rewrite the copyright codes of the United States of America to protect Mickey Mouse*.

I like to say that if Walt had done what he did in the modern era or if social media had existed in the 30s he would have been like one of the big youtubers. He has an *image* that was carefully crafted - and Ub helped him design it! He was the one who said he should go by Walt Disney.

There's another quote in an American Original where Walt's like "I've kind of ceased to be Walt Disney. Walt Disney is someone else." And that's what successful branding *is*. Disney doesn't eat or yell or scare the hell out of his employees - Walt would bring cans of chili to other countries so he'd have something to eat and scare the hell out of his animators. He and Ub just butted heads then got back together and Ub helped us build themepark rides (think that Henry would give Piedmont a run for his money?)

You also have to keep in mind that even if the books *aren't* canon, Sammy was probably there pretty early and writing "The Lighter side of Hell." You can't forget the contributions of our favorite musical composer.

Any good creative project is a team effort and I'd like to think that Henry animated Bendy, Joey sold him, then they brought in Sammy who added more character. After all - Sammy technically (if they books are canon) mentions Alice and that the cartoons "need a girl."

So basically while Joey is twice as much of a bastard for totally breaking all his employees mentally - we have to give creative credit where it's due. Bendy was drawn by Henry, thought up by Joey, given a voice by Sammy (though I'd like to imagine Joey voiced him.) and then put into a world by the rest of the team.

Anyway, if people are going to have this argument I think it's important to draw from history - namely Ub and Walt and how the two *did work together* and apply it to Mickey Mouse and Oswald as well as our favorite Lil' Devil Darlin'. Again, history is full of partnerships like Henry and Joey and if you aren't careful you're going to forget one in favor of the other.

(I mean at least Walt didn't experiment on his employees outside of maybe asking them to ride rides or watch cartoons before everybody else)... As for Bendy tho.

This link above says it best, "Mickey is the Child of 2 Dads."

So's Bendy!

Joey's just the Disneyland dad and shitty parent and Henry's the one who'd probably be making sure Bendy and the crew would be eating and doing their homework before reading them to sleep.

That said, in reading the link, you should also make yourself *aware* of Ub Iwerks because he doesn't get nearly enough credit and Mickey being a team effort I think - in a world where people only bring attention to the negative aspects of creative partnerships - is important for people to know.

Let me close with my favorite Oswald animatic because it includes both Ub and Walt and Oswald and Mickey and it's inspired by Epic Mickey and it's just great.

youtube

#Walt Disney #Ub Iwerks #Oswald the Lucky Rabbit #Mickey Mouse #Disneyland #Disney #Bendy and the Ink Machine #BATIM #Bendy and the Dark Revival #Henry Stein #Joey Drew #Joey drew studios #Youtube

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tabsters · 2 months

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Tell me more about Ciara 👀 I noticed that in some of your previous posts about the TZE zodiac, they had bios with their age, ethnicity, title, a bit of backstory, etc. Does Ciara have something similar, or is that kept mostly under wraps for spoiler reasons? Either way, gimme any Ciara lore you want to! Go wild :D -hands you the sword of infodumping-

YOOOOOOOOOO INFODUMP ABOUT MY GIRL TIME *takes sword of infodumping*

ciara was originally intended to be a secret when i made those zodiac bios, but that was because i was trying to figure out her character as a whole, hence the whole secretiveness. but now that i have in fact figured out her character as a whole, here is the complete infodump!

GATHER ROUND CHILDREN @mythicalmagical-monkeyman @hyperfixation-tangentopia @maiawhimsicalt @cryptidwithaninternetconnection TIS TIME FOR LORE

AND ALSO TRIGGER WARNINGS: MURDER, SUICIDE, AND GENERAL DEATH! THESE TOPICS ARE ONLY DISCUSSED IN THE BACKSTORY PART OF CIARA'S INFODUMP, SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SKIP AHEAD!

full name: Ciara Linh Phuong

ethnicity: Vietnamese-American

death age: 15

ruling zodiac: gemini

design at the beginning of TZE and design at the time that i imagine the crossover fic takes place:

Backstory:

aight so the deal with ciara, as i have hinted throughout SLM, is that she is the reincarnation of eclipse's dead sister. and you might be asking yourself, eclipse??? the god that created the Zodiacs and constellations??? the one that is singlehandedly responsible for taking perfectly good human souls and turning them into monsters??? that insane bitch???

yep. that eclipse.

eclipse's backstory is a whole other can of worms, something that i am definitely keeping secret, but it is vital in understanding ciara's backstory. eclipse, as we all know, hails from the Abyss, the dimension that exists below the mortal realm. i did a whole lore dump on that a loooooooong time ago, and it is here. eclipse had an older sister who she adored, named chrysalis, and when she made her escape to the Astral Plane after murdering her father in an attempt to usurp the throne, she basically kidnapped chrysalis and took her with her.

needless to say, chrysalis was not too happy with this. so she decided that, instead of living in a world where her beloved sister became a cruel tyrant, killed herself. her soul went to the in-between (post about the in-between here), and was assumed by eclipse to be lost. eclipse grieved, but did in fact get over her sister's death and began to focus on creating this new dimension in her image.

(if you're wondering on what eclipse did with chrysalis' dead body, you needn't fret! eclipse used chrysalis' orichalcum to produce ophiuchus and cetus, aka, the very first attempts at creating Zodiacs! and the reason why ophiuchus and cetus are considered 'mistakes' in eclipse's eyes was because she used her sister's blood to make them! chrysalis is considered an 'albino taiju', meaning that she has health defects and is weaker magically than other taiju. these magical defects then transferred to ophiuchus and cetus, who are now unable to create their own magic! this also means that ophiuchus and cetus are indelibly linked to both ciara and eclipse!)

fast forward a couple millenia or so, and it comes to eclipse's attention that, no, her sister's soul was in fact not lost in the in-between. chrysalis' soul had in fact reincarnated into a human, and since chrysalis was a taiju (info on taijus in the abyss lore post), eclipse thought it impossible that a taiju's soul could reincarnate into a human's body.

it was in fact not impossible, and the result of chrysalis reincarnating into a human body is the one, the only, ciara! who is now eternally doomed by the narrative! hooray!

when ciara was a mortal, she had no idea of her powers, because she was essentially a human egg waiting to hatch into a taiju bird during her mortal lifetime. this proverbial hatching of her taiju powers occurred once she died and her soul was transferred to the Astral Plane—and even then, it took several months in the Astral Plane for even the slightest hint of her powers to show themselves.

so what does this mean, plot-wise? ciara has the same powers as eclipse, that being the ability to generate shockwaves, shields, and portals. her powers are augmented by the necklace she wears, as it contains a chunk of the crystal used to power eclipse's scythe. she is, however, noticeably much weaker than eclipse, which is understandable since she is literally still a teenager. most of the plot of TZE is ciara trying to figure out how to wield her new powers while also simultaneously trying to stop her sister(?).

BUT ENOUGH ABOUT HER BACKSTORY, TIME TO MOVE ON TO MUCH LIGHTER TOPICS.

Personality: i based ciara a lot off of what i acted like when i was younger: snarky, rough around the edges, a bit of a bitch, but a good heart underneath it all. she's gone through some shit, but always tries to come out of it a better person. she genuinely wants to do the right thing, and this shows through her actions in trying to stop eclipse. she feels many of her emotions very strongly, mostly anger, sadness, and fear, but also happiness.

Relationship with the Zodiacs:

Very Positive: Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, and Scorpio. gemini is the one who volunteers to house and train ciara in the art of fighting, and as the plot goes on, gemini learns to accept ciara as a part of her family, sort of like her younger sister. cancer is a very fatherly figure, especially to younger children, and readily accepted ciara into his makeshift family. aries, virgo, and scorpio were much colder towards ciara, but she managed to break through to them and eventually befriend them, and now they are her ride-or-die.

Positive: Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius. these three are ciara's other teachers, and they teach her in the various arts of theater, archery, and science. she admires and looks up to all of them, which makes some of their (*cough* leo *cough*) eventual betrayals all the more hurtful.

Neutral: Taurus, Libra. they just never really got a chance to interact with one another, which is unfortunate, but these two aren't really that important to ciara's personal character development.

Negative: Capricorn. ciara and capricorn initially got off on the wrong foot; capricorn was supposed to be ciara's teacher in strategy and tactics, but ciara (who was raised by a mother figure very similar to capricorn's stern demeanor) refused to listen to or comply with her new teacher's harsh demands. eventually, though, ciara realizes the importance of having someone like capricorn to teach and instruct her, and then starts to make amends with her.

Very Negative: Pisces. ciara never liked pisces from the start; she found him exceedingly creepy, and pisces viewed ciara as an intriguing new specimen to observe. however, some of ciara's suspicions later turn out to be true...

Godhunter:

the name of her cool-ass sword. in fact, it is this sword that kick-starts the entire plot of TZE; eclipse sent ciara on a noble quest to collect ingredients from all over the Astral Plane in order to enchant the sword and make it uber-powerful. eclipse's reason for this quest is...sinister, to say the least, as she intended to use the sword for her own personal gain, only using ciara to unwittingly do her dirty work.

the sword got its name 'godhunter' during a particularly intense tussle with it where ciara used it to wound eclipse. ordinarily, a sword wouldn't have done much damage to eclipse, but since this particular one was enchanted with a ludicrous amount of damaging spells, it does manage to harm her. hence the name, 'godhunter'.

Magical animal companions:

Asclepius:

Asclepius, as I have mentioned in a previous post (linked here), was made from ophiuchus' severed serpent tail, and thus shares a mental link with ophiuchus. because ophiuchus is distantly related to ciara, ciara and asclepius are connected by association. their first meeting is a...rather aggressive one, asclepius jumped out at ciara and ciara mistook him as an enemy. asclepius is also instrumental in leading ciara to the location where ophiuchus and cetus are being held captive, which is major plot spoilers, so it will not be mentioned :D

Kai:

Kai is ciara's raven buddy, named after ciara's dead ex-boyfriend for their similar twitchy and anxious mannerisms. kai is mainly used to carry messages between ciara and gemini in the later plotlines of TZE, as other methods of communication during that time are being closely watched. he does not get along with asclepius (ciara had to train asclepius to not try and eat kai), but tries his best to tolerate his situation.

Hobbies: ciara enjoys swordfighting, archery, chess (once scorpio teaches her), videogames, writing emo poetry, and annoying the absolute shit out of anyone she is with at the moment

GOOD LORD THIS IS LONG. UM. YEAH IF YOU MADE IT DOWN HERE I APPLAUD YOU. ANYWAY QUESTIONS ABOUT LORE ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED, IT'S 11 PM WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW, I AM SLEEPING GOODNIGHT.

#asks #zodiac lore

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smaptain-smerica · 1 year

Text

Female Reader x Rooster

Time: Post-Top gun: Maverick

Y/n Blackwood - L/n, daughter of Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood. Y/n took a strong interest in planes from a young age. Knowing her father was an esteemed pilot drew her even further into the navy. Quickly, she became one of the best solo pilots and graduating at the top of her class at Top Gun.

Her next mission? Return to Top Gun, Face certain death, romantic interests, and finally, her thought-to-be-dead, father.

This book contains strong language and sexual content that may be sensitive readers under the age of 18

This story was originally posted on Wattpad, follow me on there for faster updates. I have published a non-binary version of this story published there for those who do not identify as female or use she/her pronouns. It will follow the exact same story line. Link to Wattpad Account Link to the Non-Binary version

Master list

Tag, You're It

"Today we are going to be playing a game of tag." Maverick's voice rang out in our ears as Rooster and I flew side by side in the air.

"Each radar lock is a point. We will alternate who is 'it' by my command. Whoever has the most points moves on to the next round."

"A bracket game of tag?" I heard rooster ask with a chuckle.

"Exactly." Maverick replied. I could hear the mischief laced in his voice. In my head I could picture the smirk on his face.

I looked over at Roosters Plane and saw him looking back. He gave me a thumbs up, which I reciprocated with a smile.

"Ready?" Maverick asked us.

I took some steady breaths, gripping on the planes joystick with eagerness to start. There was a silence in the atmosphere that brought on an intense feeling of edginess. Like one wind gust would knock me over the edge.

"Rooster, you're it."

I jerked the plane to the side, making a sharp and precise 180 degree turn to fly off in the other direction. Being a single person plane had a downside of not being able to check your own flank as easily. I suppose that was part of the exercise, being conscious of your surroundings.

I used a series of maneuvers to try and throw Rooster off my tail. I struggled to move the metal bird back and forth at the top speeds. I heard the warning buzzing that he was about to toggle radar lock onto me.

"Shit shit shit." I cursed before quickly pulling up into the cloud cover. I made a few turns before ducking back down. I cruised through the sky alone. The silence was eerie, I checked around me for any other planes.

Then I heard it, the fate defining buzzing noise. I looked directly above me and saw rooster's plane. I quickly did a nosedive, crashing back down towards the hard deck.

"Switch! Wolf's it!"

Maverick's voice was like music to my ears. I was eager and more than ready to play chase. I hooked around quickly, Charging full force towards rooster and his plane.

It felt like only seconds had gone by, but 20 minutes came and gone and I beat rooster by two points. I admit, he had some balls on him. His flying had improved in just the short time we had been training. I don't want to brag, but I want to say flying with me made him more confident. And who wouldn't?

The bracket dwindled down over the course of the day. Until finally, Hangman and I flew side by side. "Prepare to lose, wolf." Hangman sneered in my ears. I looked over at him. Although I could only see his eyes, I could tell he was meaning it in a playful way.

"Prepare to have your ass handed to you." I replied back in the same playful and sassy manner.

The match started, I was chosen as it first. Hangman put on a good chase. I had managed to get a radar lock on him twice before we had to switch. When it was Hangman's turn, he also 'shot' me twice. We were neck and neck the entire time. By this time, I had flown against everybody, I figured out the rounds lasted 5 minutes before Maverick gave us the switch que.

I knew the time was running out, Hangman was putting on a good pursuit. I held my own and pulled out every single trick that I had known. The warning buzzer started going crazy in my cabin as I struggled to shake it off of my tail. I knew that Hangman was about to get a lock on my plane.

"Time is up!" And then the sound of tone.

I let out the breath that I had been holding in and leveled out my plane, preparing for the landing. Hangman appeared beside me, the smugness in his voice present.

"Told you, prepare to lose."

"Hold on, Mav said time was up before you got a lock!" I challenged him.

"I don't think so." He said in a sing-song tone before speeding up to be set up to land in front of me.

Once we were back on the ground, I got out of my plane and took my helmet off. I waited for Hangman to get out of his plane before I walked over to him. "You did not get that last point." I said confidently, defending my ground.

"I did too! You just don't want me to win." He put his hand on his chest pretending to be offended.

"You think I'd rather us tie?"

"Hey hey hey!" Both of us looked over to see rooster jogging over to his, his hands extended out towards either of us. "Let's calm down now."

I pushed my eyebrows together, shoving his arm away from me. "Oh shut up. We're fine."

Rooster looked over at hangman, who put his hands up in surrender, shooting me a wink through his blackened eye. I rolled my eyes with a smug smile on my face and happened to see Maverick walking over to us.

"Mav! Tell hangman he didn't get that last point."

"You just don't want to admit that I am better."

Maverick sucked his teeth and shook his head. "Sorry hangman, Wolf's right."

"Ha!" I pointed at his face in a childish way. I felt a little embarrassed afterwards, but it was my unfiltered reaction.

"Shit." Hangman scuffed his foot on the ground.

"Wait so who won the bracket?" Rooster asked. Maverick raised his eyebrows and looked between the three of us.

"Oh I want keeping score. I just put you all against each other and told you it was a competition so you'd try harder." With a wink, Maverick turned on his heel and walked back towards the door of the hangar, leaving Rooster, hangman and I to feel rather embarrassed.

•••

After a much needed shower, I returned to my room. I had on a pair of comfy grey sweatpants as well as a black tank top that I didn't care about. I took my hair out of the towel and began to towel-dry it vigorously. With my head tilted to the side, I noticed a green sweatshirt thrown over the back of the chair.

I stopped what I was doing and walked over to it. I picked it up and subconsciously brought it to my nose. The faint smell of tangy pine and sweet amber wafted into my senses. I couldn't tell at this point if I had liked the smell, or the fact that it was what Rooster smelled like.

I picked the sweatshirt up and headed for my door to see if rooster was still around. I passed by the cafeteria and popped my head in. Phoenix with fanboy and payback. "Hey guys," I called out to my friends, who in turn looked my direction.

"Have you guys seen Rooster?"

Fanboy hummed around his food while nodding his head. "He just left."

"If you run you might catch him." Payback advised, a lingering smirk on his face confused me as he glanced in Phoenix's direction. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Okay, thanks."

I made my way to the exit at a light jog, sweatshirt gripped tightly in my hand so I wouldn't loose it. I broke through the exit door to see Rooster lifting himself into his car.

"Bradley!" I called to him, raising one arm to catch his attention more. He seemed surprised by me calling him by his real name, as he looked at me with raised eyebrows. I walked up to the driver side door of his car where he sat. I thought the sweatshirt up to absent window and handed it to him.

"Here. I wanted to give this back before I forgot." I gave him a small smile. Rooster reached over and took the sweatshirt from me. "Oh, thank you."

"No problem." I tapped on the car door gently with the palm of my hand before I turned on my heel to walk away. I felt my hand catch and I turned around to see that Rooster had put his hand on top of mine to stop me. I looked at him expectedly, waiting as he gathered up the courage to ask whatever was clearly on his mine.

"Would you, um, do you want to get dinner?"

I let his stuttering words linger in my ears before they fully processed in my brain. "Are you asking me on a date Bradshaw?"

He looked bashful, a red glow was brought to his face. "Well I- no. Yes but, no not yet." He stuttered, getting frustrated with himself for skipping over words.

I raised an eyebrow at him, leaning my hip against the front of his car. "You're stuttering."

"Take out. We get takeout and, we will go from there." Rooster finally choked the words he wanted to say out of his throat. I smirked at him, walking around to the passenger side and hopping in the Bronco.

"Let's go eat then."

Rooster drove us away from the academy, down the paved road and past the landing strips. The sand of the deserts turned red in the light of the setting sun. I held my hand out the window, laying it flat so my hand surfed through the air. My hair whipped around in the warm air that blew around the topless car.

I felt my phone buzz and I looked down to unlock it.

I decided not to answer. I clicked my phone closed and threw it down in my lap. "Who was that?" Rooster asked.

I shook my head, waving my hand submissively. "Just Bagman."

"Oh." There was a moment of processing before Rooster continued his train of thought. "We're you two close in flight school?"

"Oh no, we hated each other. I guess over the years we got more friendly. Sometimes we text each other with our accomplishments to see who was doing better." This made rooster chuckle, I watched as his smile lines spread across his face and the mustache on his lips moved. "That sounds like him."

We ended up choosing a Japanese food drive through where I got an order of lo mein with chicken and Rooster ended up getting the same. I got one of my favorite drinks and Rooster got a sweet tea. We drove off, quickly appearing at the oceans shoreline as we drove along side it. I could smell the saltiness in the air and the breeze was significantly cooler.

We turned off on a section where the sand met the road. It looked like many other cars had gone off the road there because the decline was significantly flattened with visible tread marks on it. We unpacked our things, popping the tailgate down and setting down on it to eat while facing the ocean.

We sparked a few conversations, mostly about todays exercises and things we could have done better. Things we learned flying against the other aviators.

There was a silence between us that was comforting. I closed my eyes while chewing the last of my food. I basked in the sounds of the ocean waves and signed happily.

"Y/n, I wanted to talk about something." Roosters voice brought me from my trance and i looked over at him. He was aimlessly poking his chopsticks into his takeout container.

"A few days ago, the kiss. I know we were both under the influence but I realized I was acting on underlying feelings."

I turned my sitting position to face him, crossing my legs underneath myself.

"You... You are one of the most captivating women I've ever met. You are dangerous, hot headed, stubborn, a little full of yourself sometimes. But there's something about you that I can't keep myself from. I tried distancing myself to see if it was real or in my head."

My heart was swelling, I wasn't sure what to say in response to this. I had never heard anybody say such nice things about me. "Bradley..."

"No let me finish. I knew that with Maverick being your father would complicate things. I didn't want my relationship with him to be compromised if I ever hurt you. But I think I'm willing to take that risk. If you are."

Rooster smiled down at me with a toothless grin. He flipped his hand over with the palm facing upwards. I looked down at his hand and then back up at his eyes. Tears brimmed in my eyes from the overwhelming feeling of mixed emotions that were stirring inside of me.

"What, what does all of this mean?"

Rooster sucked air through his teeth, taking the initiative of grabbing my hand in his. "It means, go on a date with me. Go on a date with me this Saturday and if you don't hate me, then let's go on another. Okay?"

I felt his rough and callused hands squeeze mine. I looked up at his face, at the scars covering his face and the end-of-the-day stubble he was starting to grow. His handsome, stoic face that was illuminated by the faint golden glow of the sun. "Okay."

"Okay?" Rooster asked eagerly.

"Okay."

His face looked relieved as his smile grew across his face. "Perfect. I'll get you at 7."

"Make it 6:30, I want to sleep in on Sunday."

It was as though there was a magnet in our chest, pulling us toward each other as we talked. I could feel my heartbeat in my chest as our faces got closer.

"6:30 sharp."

Our lips connected in a sweet affair. It wasn't with the same sloppy drunkenness as the first time. It was gentle, purposeful, it brought hope for the future. I wasn't one to hold on to hope very tightly. But with this, maybe a little hope wasn't a bad thing.

Next Chapter

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blackvahana · 1 month

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Lightning ritual, 4/4/24

In Zeus’ territory, though that hardly narrows it down, there's a great expanse of red rock as far as the eye can see, an active lightning field. There are some formations of huge rocks stacked on top of other rocks, the swathes of red rocks have sedimentary layers except they band visibly on the surface. The sky above is blackened, gold on the horizon.

Young sky spirits are brought here for the rituals of rememberence, to tie their lines to those that came before - to ignite their mind with the Sky itself, the petroglyphic utterances of the ancestral collection of the Sky Bird.

Their bodies are marked with sigils. On the forehead is a sort of letter-character, representing them, their strengths. Each letter of any language ties into the sky for Indra-Zeus, his skies are painted with speaking and writing as one, and if you are to join you will take your place as a letter. This isn't a huge symbol however, it's not like this binds you to that letter, but it's important to him and that's what matters. In order to become a part of the sky, you have to fit a key into a lock - locks and key patterns are arbitrary but extremely specific to themselves.

On the body is patterns and scrawls that have their own meanings. On the outside are patterns of “feathers” representing, together, the Birth Cave, a place within which the Sky Fathers weave history together, something hard to get across and so worth its own post. Inside this down are depictions of various sacred animal spirits, vahana-esque in the way they're symbolic of qualities and act as vehicles - though literal vehicles - for various parts of the initiate's soul, journey, etc.

The Birth Cave is an awful thing to skip over because it's central to the markings. It's symbolic of the history of the Sky itself, but not, the Sky is both it and contained in it. Specifically: It's the true origin point, and so, because the Sky is seen as the origin point, it is synonymous with the sky… But really it's the clay of Creation. The Birth Cave is containment, the sacred temple, the outer limits, and thus is also the expanse and the knowledge that there is something outside - think how a “cave” implies that it is a pocket within something else even if all we see is the cave.

Regardless, the initiate is woven into the Cave. In visions, the Cave is a place for the initiate to carve their own place into, this registers symbolically on this plane as cave paintings, but isn't the same.

What actually happens in the ritual is not to be spoken about, because it's the point speaking inverts and becomes pure existence. There are birds, there are revelations, there are visions, ancestors, mergences.

The lightning plays a key though. The sky spirit should be prepared to be struck, that plays a key part. The ritual is walking into the mouth of Zeus and expecting to come out the other side, but it is also a shedding of skin whether it's ready to come off or not.

This is, though, chiefly a mutual respect of Father Sky and Sky Children inheriting. The symbolic painted hands on the wall are not an absorption into a hivemind, this is not about assimilation but revelation. It uses the power of the Kings of Mountains to transcend the mind's barriers and ignite the river of the archetypal forces… If a sky spirit is a sky spirit, then it is a sky spirit, and the sky is ancient and its river extends beyond the birth and death of sky spirits - thus the sky spirits who are ready and chosen can be given a lightning bridge to outside themselves.

#ramblings //#Spirit: zeus #Location: Lightning field

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heavensickness · 1 year

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HIII SUDE <3 i wanted to ask u if u have any thoughts/theories/remarks on the part of the trailer where ais exhales the smoke, which then morphs into a bird, and then we see birds flying past kuras?

it could just be for smooth transition between the two scenes, but considering the game is filled w symbolism i'm inclined to think it's more than just that. so far things i've found on the dictionary of symbols by j. e. cirlot is this:

also i find it interesting that birds fly towards kuras (who has biblically accurate wings) rather than mhin (whose monster form is an actual bird) but other than that, i have no concrete theory so would love to hear what u thought ab this <3

First of all, your IQ is around 3000+ & i think you should make a post about this (if u want to of course!) so other people can read about it too. Honestly I didn't have time to focus on the intricate symbolism in the game or trailer like this since I was so busy with work this week.

But!!! I think Ais being an oni (a demon) and Kuras being an angel is very interesting as they would be normally fundamentally opposite forces, yet they hold respect for each other. Seaspring, the "people" of Ais who have joined the groupmind, and his seemingly "missing" gang makes me think that Ais originally held a very high position among monsters; maybe he was the ruler of all of them at some point. I am not sure what happened in his past to cause him to be so isolated as he is right now, but I feel like it wasn't his choice.

Ais is portrayed as a fallen leader and Kuras is a fallen angel, so maybe they understand each other on a different level: Being cast out by your own people and the unbearable loneliness that comes with it.

I also think that Kuras's dark secret has something to do with monsters. We know that the border between MC's world & another plane of existence has been demolished; thus allowing monsters and the Soulless into MC's world. This is a complete shot in the dark but maybe Kuras was the angel who was supposed to guard this border and he somehow failed? So his punishment is to wander around the world for eons and eons without a chance to return Heaven back?

I know that this isn't the answer to your question, but these are my thoughts about Ais and Kuras so far. I find their dynamic as one of the most interesting dynamics between the LIs & I can't wait to learn more about their past and relationship

#ais #kuras #touchstarved #things i'm playing

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aheckinmess · 1 month

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Hanging Fire in the Pond [Snipe] (Fluff)

(One-Shot 7/? in a collection of My Hero Academia one-shots posted regularly on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.)

Read on AO3.

Tags: Snipe x OC, Pro Hero Snipe x OC, Choku Dan, Original Female Character, Snipe is a Gentleman Cowboy, OC is Just Trying to Relax in the Pond, But Snipe's Horse is Eating Her Clothes

Word Count: 1,591 words

Summary: Ichijiku takes a trip to a pond for a swim and a relaxing bath. When a stranger comes by with the same idea, how will she leave with her dignity in tact?

Author's Note: As far as I know, Snipe's real name hasn't been revealed. So for the time being I've given him a name that means "straight shooter" to reference his quirk, at least until he's given a real name canonically in the series. Hope you enjoy!

CONTENT WARNING: Nudity

Ichijiku (Tigress)

Cold, rushing water caresses my skin after a hot day in the sun. The calm, lapping waves wrap around my naked skin like silk as I wipe away the dust and grime from a busy day.

Birds and frogs serenade me from nearby trees and lily pads spinning around me in the pond. The sound of hooves trotting in the distance provides a soothing cadence to steady my wandering thoughts. I take a deep breath and duck under the water, allowing an overflow of serenity to encapsulate every inch of me.

For those few moments, my mind and body hover in a blank plane of existence where I'm untouchable from the hardships of life, until I eventually must resurface for air.

Rubbing the water off my face, I open my eyes to a stranger five feet away from me at the pond's edge. A stranger who's unable to see me as he pulls his shirt off over his head.

My heart jumps in my throat as I glide behind a large mossy rock to peek out from. I've never seen such a man before. He's so handsome. He tosses his shirt aside and then works at the buckle of his trousers. With a soft gasp, I hide with my back against the rock until I hear him step in the water.

A frog disturbs the surface tension and I stay still for a few more moments to make sure my position isn't given away before I peek around slowly again. His bare chest stretches above the surface. Chiseled muscles flex as he moves deeper into the water. Tan skin gleams with rolling droplets in the sunlight as he rubs a wet cloth over his taut skin. He closes his eyes and leans his head back, giving me a better view of his blue dreads.

I should let him know I'm here. I think, but my mouth hangs open when I try to speak. I can only hide behind my rock and ogle him. No, I shouldn't be doing this. My conscience pipes up, making me shake my head and sneak to the other side of the rock towards my clothes on shore. As I move closer, I notice some of them missing.

On the bank, a black horse rubs her nose in my shirt and then pulls my socks and undergarments closer to her along the ground. Internally, I panic, but I try to keep a calm exterior as I duck my head to reach for the clothes when I hear a deep voice.

"Kuroashi! What are you nosing into?"

Just as I reach for my shirt, the man reaches for his horse and we're suddenly a breath away from each other. I glance at the dip of his hips and his eyes droop to the valley of my chest before either of us process what's happening.

"O-Oh!" He falls back into the water with a splash before I see anything, but I'm frozen in horror for a moment before I cover my chest and tuck in the water with a squeal.

His horse remains unbothered and continues rummaging through my clothes.

"I'm sorry, ma'am! I didn't realize anyone else was here." He quickly apologizes.

"I-I should be sorry," I squeak out, submerging every part of my body up to my chin underwater. "I saw you but didn't say anything. I had hoped to make a quiet escape."

"Well, I'm mighty glad I got to see your pretty face before you did." He chuckles.

"I can't say I wasn't fond of the view myself." I smile shyly. My neck gets hot and I pull my soaking hair to the front, shading my burnt cheeks.

An awkward silence stretches between us as we peek at each other. Fantasies of swimming over to touch him skirt the edges of my mind, but I force myself to be good when the sound of munching reminds me of why we met.

"Your horse is eating my undergarments." I giggle as my bra dangles from its snout.

"Gah! She's–Ashi!" He exclaims, hopping out of the pond with everything God gave him exposed to the elements. "Give that here, you nosy thing!" He laughs when she nickers, moving back and forth to make him work for it.

I grin when he finally snatches the bra from his mischievous mare and coaxes her to walk with him so he can toss it into my pile of clothes without letting me see him naked.

"Sorry about that," He rubs the back of his neck, before patting his mare fondly. "Kuroashi can be such a busybody sometimes, but at least she ain't crowbait."

"Crowbait?" I ask as I extend my hand to her and wait to see if she'll sniff me. When she bends her head, I stroke the fur on her cheek.

"Crowbait's just another way of saying she ain't a good quality horse."

"Oh, well I agree. She isn't crowbait. She's lovely." I coo.

"She's a good girl." He gives her a good pat on her shoulder. "Just doesn't know when to keep her nose out of the dirt and mind her own business."

"Does she take after her owner?" I tease.

"I've been known to get involved in another's business a time or two." He smirks. "But only on the odd occasion."

I look down with a grin as I comb my fingers through my soaking hair. My eyes cut over to him a few times. What I wouldn't give to touch him at least once.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Choku. Choku Dan." His goofy smile reveals a set of pearly white teeth. "And what about you?" "Ichijiku." I take a few steps toward the shore until I expose my shoulders again.

"Oh! Right. Well, Ichijiku, let me help you out." Choku moves back around the edge of the pond to his clothes before grabbing a large, red cloak. "Here, darlin', use this to cover yourself."

He holds it open for me and I gather my clothes as I step out of the water and on land. Wrapping me up in his cloak, the cool wind isn't so bad, especially when he's trapping me in his warmth being so close. He buttons the clasps and I find myself mesmerized by the look on his face.

"What were you doin' out here anyway, sweetheart?" His brown eyes sparkle under the setting sun. "It ain't often I happen upon someone as beautiful as you in this pond. It's not exactly easy to get to."

"I often come to the woods for an adventure. Sometimes I need to go for a swim; though, skinny dipping today was a first." I chuckle nervously.

"I'm sure not complaining." His gaze shifts to my lips for half a second before his cheeks tinge pink and he looks back at me. "I-I mean, unless that makes you uncomfortable, ma'am."

"I'm more uncomfortable that you keep looking at me like that without kissing me."

I don't know where my boldness comes from but I can't say I regret it when he dips his head and closes the distance. Warm, soft lips dance with mine and I melt against him, his thin cloak the only thing separating us. It ends far too quickly, but that's probably good considering how fast my head spins when he pulls back.

"Sure didn't expect to do that when I came out here today." He presses his forehead to mine and we're close enough I hear the beat of his heart.

"I didn't either. I doubt there's anything more surprising to top it." I admit.

"Really now? What if I told you this pond is on private property and you're under arrest?" He slips his hands under the cloak to snag my wrists playfully.

I might be worried except he's smiling far too big for him to mean it.

"I'd say, 'Well, I can scratch that off my bucket list.'" I giggle.

"Who puts getting arrested on their bucket list?!" His laughter bounces off the trees as he shakes his head in amusement.

"The same lady who just kissed you wearing nothing but your cloak."

That seems to flip a switch in his head as he lets out another yelp and goes to grab his clothes and shuffle into them.

"Shit, that's right! I meant to offer you a ride back to wherever you needed to go. I'm sorry. I've been hanging fire this whole time!"

"Hanging fire?" I ask. I think I like learning about his cowboy slang.

"Delaying or getting held up." He explains as his pants zip and he throws on his shirt. "Come on, honey, Ashi and I will have you home lickety split."

"Oh, thank you. I don't mean to inconvenience you. I can walk if–"

"Nonsense. It's no trouble at all, ma'am. Let me help you up." He lifts me up as I keep his cloak secured, then he stuffs my clothes in his saddle bags.

By the time he reaches my house, the crickets sing to us as the remaining daylight wanes. He helps me off Kuroashi and I take my clothes gratefully.

"Wait here and I'll change so I can give you your cloak back." I say as I fish my keys from my jean pocket.

"Don't worry about it, ma'am. I've got more at home, I promise."

"Oh...are you sure? It's yours. It doesn't feel right to take it."

"I'm sure, darlin'. I imagine it'll give me a reason to come back." He winks.

#mha fanfiction #mha one shots #bnha #bnha fanfiction #my hero academia #bnha one shots #fluff #snipe #prohero snipe #snipe x oc #choku dan #Original Female Character #Snipe is a Gentleman Cowboy #OC is Just Trying to Relax in the Pond #But Snipe's Horse Keeps Eating Her Clothes

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