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tip-top-cloud-surfer · 1 year

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A Day with Duckie (Sequel to Three Generations)

Pairing: Rooster / Fem!Reader (Wife!Reader)

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: Rooster is a Dad; Female Reader with No Name or Physical Description, No Y/N, Third Person POV; OC Bradshaw Kid without Physical Description (minus a reference to his smile being similar to Rooster's)

This work, all of my other works, and my entire blog are 18+ Only.

Summary: Maverick takes Kai to the zoo for the day and finds out why Rooster was so insistent upon needing a babysitter.

Part of Three Generations Universe

Master List

About three months after the mission, the Bradshaw family permanently moved from Virginia Beach to San Diego. And they even moved into a house that was only a seven-minute drive from Maverick’s small residence. So, Maverick was over just about every other day. He tried to not encroach on their family time, but Rooster and his wife assured Maverick that they loved having him around.

And the free babysitting offers.

Rooster’s wife always sounded worried that she was completely inconveniencing him when she asked Maverick to pick Kai up from daycare or watch him for a few hours, but Maverick hadn’t turned them down once. He already missed so much time out of Kai’s life and Rooster’s, so any opportunity that he had to spend with either of them, he was going to take it.

And today, Maverick was going to take Kai out to the zoo for the day. Rooster texted him a few days ago, practically begging for Maverick to watch Kai for a few hours, and even offered to pay him. As if Maverick would take any money for watching Grandbaby Goose.

Gliding through the relatively quaint streets of Miramar, Maverick hummed a tune to himself as he made his way to the Bradshaw family home. He pulled into the driveway and parked his Kawasaki beside the Bronco. Turning off the engine, Maverick reached up to undo the strap of his new helmet that Penny bought him only a month ago.

It followed an afternoon where Kai was learning how to ride his bike and gave his mom a bit of sass about not needing to wear a helmet since ‘Mav doesn’t wear one.’ And, so, every time that there was even a chance that Maverick would see Kai, he wore his helmet. Penny even somehow got one customized to replicate the markings on his pilot helmet.

Walking up to the Bradshaw house, Maverick knocked on the door and waited patiently to be let inside. A few seconds later, Rooster opened the door. But before Maverick could even greet him, he was attacked by a very excited four-year-old with seemingly limitless energy.

“Mav!” Kai screeched happily, wrapping his little body around Maverick’s leg.

“Hey, Kai,” Maverick chuckled, stumbling back a little bit. “You excited to go to the zoo?”

“Yeah!”

“And what do you say to Mav for taking you to the zoo?” Rooster asked his son, in that classic ‘parent giving a lesson’ tone.

“Thank you, Mav!”

“Anytime, Kai,” Maverick chuckled, ruffling Kai’s hair.

“Thanks for taking him again,” Rooster replied, letting Maverick hobble inside with Kai on his leg. “We really appreciate it.”

“Stop thanking me for it,” Maverick told Rooster with the classic grandparent tone.

“Can we go?” Kai pleaded, grabbing Maverick’s hand and tugging it a bit.

“Kai, wait a second. Your mom’s still packing your bag,” Rooster stated somewhat firmly. “And you need to put some sunscreen on.”

Kai let out a sigh, but stopped tugging on Maverick’s hand. When Rooster walked off to grab some sunscreen, Maverick squatted down to Kai’s height and motioned for him to come closer, like he had government secrets. Kai quickly perked up and cupped his little hands around his ear for Maverick to whisper his ‘secret.’

“Don’t worry. The zoo’s not even open yet. We’re not missing out on anything,” Maverick assured Kai, poking him in the side.

Kai let out a little giggle and curled away from Maverick, rubbing his side. But the smile on Kai’s face quickly dropped when he saw Rooster returning with sunscreen in hand. Kai didn’t fight his dad, but he certainly pouted through the whole thing. He even shot Maverick a look that screamed ‘see what I have to deal with?’ that made Maverick have to hide a chuckle behind his hand.

As Rooster was finishing up with Kai’s sunscreen, Rooster’s wife walked into the room with a small bag for the day. She greeted Maverick with a wide, kind smile and a quick squeeze of a hug.

“Thank you again for taking him to the zoo,” Rooster’s wife stated as she handed the bag over to Maverick. “He’s been dying to go since we moved out here.”

“Any time,” Maverick assured her, putting the bag on his shoulder.

“Can we go now?” Kai called loudly, sliding out of his dad’s grip easily due to the sunscreen.

“Yeah, you can go,” Rooster replied, handing the bottle of sunscreen over to Maverick. “Behave for Maverick, okay, Kai?”

After a quick set of goodbyes and Kai all but dragging Maverick through the front door, they headed out for the day. Rooster handed Maverick the keys to his wife’s car, which was the car with Kai’s car seat already in it. Maverick set up Kai in his seat and put his little backpack down on the ground before walking around to the driver’s seat.

“Alright, talk to me, Duckie. Am I clear to maneuver?” Maverick asked Kai as he started the car.

Kai made a dramatic show of whipping around to check the driveway and the road for any sign of cars or other hazards. And Maverick, although he already knew that he was clear and was going to triple check for any dangers anyways with precious cargo in the backseat, waited patiently for Kai to finish up with his thorough check.

“You’re clear, Mav!”

“Copy that, Duckie.”

~~~~~

The zoo was rather full on a nice Saturday, but Maverick and Kai intended to have a good time anyways. Kai was still bursting with energy and pointing at everything that he could see and identify. And even though his identification skills were not always accurate, he certainly sold his story.

Kai waved to his ‘Uncle Coyote,’ even though the animal in question was certainly not Javy Machado and was actually a wolf, not a coyote. He also practically screamed in greeting to ‘Grandpa Goose,’ even though the animal was actually a spoonbill.

Maverick was having a wonderful time and happily snapped plenty of photos of Kai for Rooster and his wife in front of just about every exhibit. They made their way through the penguins, the big cats, and now they were on their way over to the reptiles. And, of course, they had to stop by the grander bird exhibits before they left.

Walking around the outside exhibits, Maverick led Kai by the hand as they entered the tortoise area. However, Maverick quickly noticed a frazzled looking zookeeper diverting people further down the path. And when Maverick saw what the tortoises were doing, he quickly understood the situation.

“Let’s keep walking, Kai,” Maverick tried to urge Kai, but Kai inherited his father’s stubbornness.

“But I want to see the turtles,” Kai stated, tugging a bit on Maverick’s hand. “They’re right there.”

“Oh, yeah, they are,” Maverick chuckled nervously, sharing a look with the flustered zookeeper. “Alright, we saw them, so—”

“—What are they doing?” Kai asked curiously, turning to the zookeeper.

“Um,” the zookeeper grunted out, forcing a smile, “they’re, uh . . . they’re just playing with each other.”

“Oh,” Kai held out, nodding along. He turned to Maverick with an innocent smile. “I saw Mommy and Daddy playing like that!”

The zookeeper let out a noise between a squeak and a gasp and slapped a hand over their mouth. A set of heads swiveled over to Kai and Maverick as Maverick tried to not let his eyes pop out of his skill. Maverick didn’t get embarrassed often or severely. But holy hell, he wanted to get away from those stupid turtles or tortoises or whatever the hell they were in that exact moment.

And, well, maybe he figured out why Rooster was so desperate to have someone babysit Kai.

“That’s . . .” Maverick trailed off, unable to find the right word to use. After a few more moments, Maverick quickly whipped around and pointed over at the next exhibit. “Oh, look, Kai, there’s some ducks over there!”

“Where?” Kai asked, whipping around too.

“Oh, you just missed them, but they went this way, come on,” Maverick replied, dragging Kai with him.

“Okay!”

~~~~~

After a dinner of burgers, fries, and milkshakes and a quick stop at a hardware store, Maverick and Kai returned to the Bradshaw family home.

The sun had already started to set, but there was still a glow of light left in the day. Kai was a bit sleepy, so Maverick scooped him up and carried him inside. Kai insisted that he was old enough to not take a nap, but his energy still seemed to have a limit. At least after 5 PM.

The door was already open for him by the time that Maverick walked around. Rooster stepped outside, dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a casual tank top. He smiled softly when he spotted Kai half-asleep against Maverick’s shoulder.

“You tuckered out, Kai?” Rooster called out to his son.

“No,” Kai protested sleepily.

“Alright,” Rooster replied with a light chuckle, taking Kai into his arms.

“I got a you, Daddy,” Kai stated, picking his head up as he transferred hands.

“A me?” Rooster asked, sounding confused.

Maverick opened the bag that he was carrying and held up a brand-new stuffed rooster from the zoo gift shop. Rooster let out a light laugh before pressing a kiss to the top of Kai’s head.

“Yeah, you did, bud,” Rooster agreed as he headed inside. As Maverick stepped inside behind Rooster, Rooster’s wife walked over.

“Hi, Kai. Hi, Mav, how was the zoo?” she asked kindly.

“Well, I can’t speak for Duckie, but I had a great time,” Maverick replied, smiling proudly.

“Was it fun, Kai, honey?” Rooster’s wife called again, rubbing his back soothingly.

“Good,” Kai mumbled out quietly.

“Ok, let’s get you to bed,” Rooster’s wife stated, pulling Kai into her arms and heading for the stairs. She shot Mav a smile and a small wave. “Thanks for taking him, Mav.”

“Any time,” Maverick replied, returning the nod. Once Kai and his mom were out of earshot, Maverick turned to Rooster. “But I have one last gift for you.”

“What? What gift?” Rooster asked, sounding confused.

Maverick led Rooster out to the car and pulled out a bag from the trunk. Handing it over to Rooster, Maverick motioned for Rooster to open it. Rooster shot Maverick a look, but begrudgingly opened the bag. Pulling out the door lock that Maverick bought him, Rooster took about three half-seconds to register what the gift was, before turning pink with embarrassment.

“He told you?” Rooster groaned, holding a hand to his face.

“Well, apparently there were two tortoises who were ‘playing’ like ‘Mommy and Daddy’ at the zoo,” Maverick replied, folding his arms over his chest. “He forgot about it in about three seconds, but I thought that I should get you a lock. Just in case.”

“You cannot tell anyone,” Rooster begged Maverick, grabbing his shoulder gently. “Mav, I’m dead serious. My wife wouldn’t even look at me for a day after that.”

“I won’t,” Maverick assured Rooster. “Just wanted to spread the embarrassment.”

“You know that I can’t bring this inside, right?” Rooster replied, holding up the lock.

“I’ll leave it in your car,” Maverick stated, plucking it out of Rooster’s hand and putting it into the Bronco. Chuckling to himself, Maverick shook his head, far too proud of himself and this little joke. “You know, if you and the missus needed some alone time, you could have just said that. I babysat you all the time so that your parents could—”

“—Mav, as much as I would love to talk about that,” Rooster interjected, causing Maverick to laugh. “But thank you for watching Kai. We really appreciate it. And he really looks up to you and likes spending time with you.”

“I’m always here if you guys need me,” Maverick promised, nodding curtly. “And tell Duckie that I’ll have the side car attached to my old bike in about a week.”

“I will,” Rooster returned, before he paused. “Wait, what!?”

#rooster x reader #rooster fanfic #rooster top gun #bradley bradshaw #rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #top gun maverick #top gun #top gun fanfiction #tgm #tgm fic #pete maverick mitchell

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random-brushstrokes · 26 days

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Leonard Campbell Taylor - Stephen and Virginia Courtauld with their pet ring-tailed lemur Mah-Jongg (1934)

Virginia Peirano and Stephen Courtauld met in the Alps. She was impulsive, creative and unconventional, with the title of marchioness from her first, unhappy marriage. Stephen, scion of the Courtauld textile empire and a keen mountaineer, was quiet and ‘unflappable’, according to a former colleague. He had received the Military Cross in 1918, fighting with the Artists’ Rifles. They were married in 1923 in Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia). They were both in their early forties, and childless. On their return to England, they bought a ring-tailed lemur from the Harrods pet department. They christened him Mah-Jongg, although he was soon affectionately known simply as ‘Jongy’. With a large disposable income, the Courtaulds were at the centre of interwar London society, and were noted patrons of the arts. They also loved sailing. With the help of his brother-in-law, Stephen designed a motor yacht he named the Virginia. Over the winter of 1936, the couple sailed her from Cape Town to Egypt; other voyages saw them collecting orchids and making films around the South China Sea. Mah-Jongg, lounging in a specially designed deckchair, brought a certain tropical cachet to these trips. But he disgraced himself at a farewell lunch for the British Arctic Air Route Expedition on board the Virginia when he bit the expedition’s wireless operator, Percy Lemon, so viciously that he severed an artery. Lemon did not fully recover for three months. Looking for a new home close to London, the Courtaulds bought the site of Eltham Palace in 1933. Jongy’s spacious living quarters were on the first floor at the centre of the new house, where its two wings met. From a trapdoor in the floor, a bamboo ladder led to the Flower Room, adjacent to the entrance hall. His quarters were, like the rest of the house, centrally heated, providing a tropical climate. The cage’s décor of Madagascan rainforests, by Gertrude Whinfield, must have made Jongy feel quite at home. Exoticism of all kinds is reflected elsewhere in Eltham’s décor: the door reliefs in the dining room, for example, combine Classical Greek motifs with depictions of animals and birds from London Zoo. Mah-Jongg died in 1938, after 15 years spent sharing the Courtaulds’ glamorous lifestyle. Although he only lived at Eltham for four years, his enduring influence on one of the most beautiful 1930s buildings in England can still be seen there today. (source)

#Leonard Campbell Taylor #british art #portrait #animals in art #1930s

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ovaruling · 11 months

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listening and learning. the future has always been female

by Michael Roppolo

June 8, 2023 / 1:32 PM / CBS News

Researchers have identified the first known case of a crocodile making herself pregnant — and producing a fetus that was genetically identical to herself. The findings were published Wednesday by a team led by evolutionary biologist Warren Booth from Virginia Tech in Biology Letters, a journal published by the Royal Society.

In 2018, officials with the Parque Reptilandia in Costa Rica found 14 eggs in a female's enclosure. The crocodile had been in isolation since the age of 2, yet she still managed to lay a clutch of eggs at 18.

"Given the period of isolation from mates, these would normally be considered non-viable and discarded," the researchers wrote. But the officials gathered seven eggs that appeared viable and kept them in an incubator.

There were several signs that one of the eggs may be viable, Booth told CBS News.

"Viable eggs are often bright white, whereas infertile may be more yellowish," he said. "When held up to a flashlight, viable crocodile eggs will have a distinct band, whereas non-viable will simply glow yellow."

Costa Rica officials reached out to experts in the U.S. for consultation — ones that specialized in parthenogenesis. The term is derived from the Greek words "parthenos," meaning "virgin," and "genesis," meaning "origin," according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

Booth, and co-author Gordon Schuett of Georgia State University, had published multiple papers on the topic. As such, they were the "go-to people," Booth told CBS News.

Once considered rare, so-called virgin births have been documented among various species — including sawfish, snakes, sharks, and birds. The process, which is more common in the plant and insect worlds, allows a female organism to replicate itself without fertilization from a male.

In 2021, a study found that California condors can have virgin births. Researchers with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said genetic testing confirmed that two male chicks that hatched in 2001 and 2009 from unfertilized eggs were related to their mothers. Neither was related to a male. In 2019, an anaconda housed with two other females gave birth. DNA testing would later confirm that the anaconda babies were reproduced through parthenogenesis.

In the case of the crocodile in Costa Rica, three months after workers found the eggs, none had hatched and only one egg was found to have a fully formed but nonviable fetus. DNA analysis would later determine that the fetus was 99.9% genetically identical to its mother.

Virgin births could be happening in crocodiles without anyone realizing, according to the researchers.

"These findings, therefore, suggest that eggs should be assessed for potential viability when males are absent," they wrote.

The authors suggest that in these cases among reptiles, birds, and now crocodiles, there may be a common evolutionary origin.

"This discovery offers tantalizing insights into the possible reproductive capabilities of the extinct archosaurian relatives of crocodilians and birds, notably members of Pterosauria and Dinosauria," they write, referring to flying reptiles that have been described as "close cousins" of dinosaurs.

Booth told CBS News that crocodiles are at the base of a lineage known as the archosaurs, with the most recent members being birds. All of these creatures use the same complex form of parthenogenesis, or terminal fusion automixis. It is unlikely they all developed independently.

"The cool aspect is that in between crocodiles and birds are the pterosaurs and dinosaurs," he added. "Given that all of these lineages use the same mechanism, it is highly likely that pterosaurs and dinosaurs also had the capacity to produce parthenogenetically."

#crocodilians are so so so so cool anyway one of my forever faves but this is a whole other level of cool #i looooove that there are species that can do this

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lucid35mm · 5 months

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#35mm #film #black and white #virginia #d76 #kentmere 400 #iso 800 #goat #petting zoo #photographers on tumblr #AE-1

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jastersmohnson · 11 months

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Lizzy Caplan’s full thoughts on the “Monkey Business” episode

This is from an article that was published in December. I just discovered it (apologies if it’s already been shared), but I thought it was pretty illuminating. I had no idea that Lizzy had such distain for the scene, I do feel very sorry for her. It’s bizarre that Michelle Ashford and the writers insisted on the storyline making it to air when the cast and crew seemed fairly vocal about it being a bad idea, and the critics and audience have almost unanimously agreed that it’s the worst episode of the show by several degrees.

So here’s Lizzy’s full thoughts on the scene/storyline, filmed on her birthday, June 30, 2015:

“This was season three, which was not our strongest season — like, objectively and for some very valid reasons that are not worth getting into now. It was not as refined, let’s say, as the first couple seasons.

“So, it was summer. We were deep into shooting the season and one weekend Annaleigh Ashford, who is amazing and lovely and was on the show, she was doing a cabaret show in Las Vegas. A bunch of us decided to go. My birthday was that upcoming Monday and it was also the very early days of dating my now-husband. We wanted to go have this fun, early birthday Vegas weekend.

“It was a perfectly debauched weekend and then we flew back to LA Sunday night and I was in pretty rough shape. Very hung over. Like, Vegas hung over. And then Monday morning, crack of dawn, I had to be back at work.

“We were shooting in Griffith Park all day. It was easily 100 degrees outside. So hot and there was not a lot of shade and I was still feeling pretty bad from the night before. Exhausted, nauseous, overheating in all those wool clothes that people wore back in the 50s, with 30 undergarments underneath.

“And I’m also dreading the scene we had to shoot that day. I had been trying to convince myself that it wasn’t going to be as bad as I feared because this is a respectable show! The setup of the episode — I have never watched this nor will I ever watch it — was that esteemed sex researchers Masters and Johnson are called to the St. Louis Zoo because their gorilla just won’t mate and (the zoo staff) are tearing their hair out and they need help. And who are you going to call? Sex researchers.

“Somehow Masters and Johnson come to this realization that this frigid — I don’t even know if you can use the word ‘frigid’ for a male gorilla? — but this frigid gorilla needed motivation to get there. So my character, Virginia Johnson, does the most obvious and logical thing, which is to expose her breasts to the gorilla to inspire him to mate.

“When I tell you the amount of times we tried to push back on this storyline (laughs) to no avail. So here we are on set, it’s happening.

“And I remember this very, very vividly: I was feeling physically terrible, but also a deep, deep, deep embarrassment. I think it was hour 13 of what ended up being a 16-hour scorching hot day. And I’m unbuttoning my blouse to show my boobs to a man in a gorilla suit. And also, please don’t forget: It was my birthday.

“The camera was focused on my back, so you didn’t see nudity. You see me from behind, opening my blouse — I’m 90% sure it was only from the back. Again, I haven’t seen it. From my understanding, I wasn’t showing nudity, but it was very implied. And nudity was not uncommon on that show.

“So I remember looking over at the camera guy and I just saw the pity on his face as he’s mouthing: ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’ And he was actually a camera guy on ‘Fleishman is in Trouble,’ so we were just reminiscing about this.

“So I do the thing and I’m filled with a deep guttural shame — I didn’t want to do it but I had to do it. Then (laughs), the man in the gorilla suit — who is the only person on set having a worse day than me because it’s a billion degrees outside and he had to spend the whole day in this gorilla suit — he, in character, reacts to this display and then the gorilla is in fact inspired (laughs) by a human woman flashing him her breasts.

“And then the guy proceeds to go and start mating with the female gorilla.

“But the really crazy thing is that the guy in the female gorilla suit? That was the male gorilla’s actual son.

“So he had to look at me, and then make his way over to his son and pretend to mate with him.

“And I just wanted to walk into the ocean and die. That was the worst moment I’ve ever had at work.

“Working on that show was one of the most collaborative experiences, which was probably why this felt extra strange. There were things that pushed my level of comfort, but certainly, it was all my own choice and I was aiming to push it. I was never pushed by any producers to do anything I didn’t want to do — up until this point. There were a lot of times on that show where I had to steel myself in my trailer beforehand for scenes that I really believed in, but I was never pushed into doing anything. Which is why this felt like such an anomaly.

“When I signed up for this show, I had a pretty good idea of what might be involved. But it’s safe to assume that I did not anticipate I would be asked to show my breasts to a man in a gorilla suit in order to inspire the gorilla to mate.

“But also that’s what made everybody so sad. This was a show that was so respected and deservedly so. This is one of the jobs I’m most proud of ever, I’m so happy I was in this show. But there was something stinky about this third season. And to all of a sudden go from this lofty level of prestige to flashing your breasts to a gorilla — that feels like a pretty steep drop.

“The scene was made up, I say that with 99% certainty. I think they really were asked to go to the zoo, but I highly doubt — because it doesn’t even make sense! I don’t think this is how animal psychology works. I have no degree in animal husbandry, but I think it’s safe to assume this was a flight of fancy from some writer.

“Michael Sheen was as horrified as I was, if not more so somehow. Nobody wanted to look anybody else in the eye the whole time (laughs), it was horrifying.

“And it was so clear that everybody — the crew, who feel like the true team you’re playing on — we all felt the same. I couldn’t wait to get to a point where this was funny. But in that moment, it didn’t feel funny to me at all.

“I was probably a little more afraid to speak about this thing, even in a joking way, at first. But we had to do some press pretty soon after and Michael Sheen just went right into how stupid this gorilla thing was (laughs).

“I can’t imagine what this was like for the two guys in the gorilla suits. And they were clearly the best in the business. They were great at being gorillas! But you need therapy after that.

“I just imagine them driving home in complete silence (laughs) not knowing how to process the day.

“Perhaps we should employ the use of female breasts to solve all the world’s problems. Female breasts will heal the world — or at least, the world of the frigid gorillas in 1950s St. Louis.

“When I heard about this column, I knew there was no other story that would hold a candle to the level of deep shame I felt. I was feeling anger when I got home at the end of that day, but my boyfriend and I had this dinner reservation, and by the time we went to dinner, I was a shell of a human. It was definitely a memorable birthday.”

#Masters of Sex #Lizzy Caplan #Virginia Johnson #Michael Sheen #Bill Masters #Monkey Business

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