#this is how they refer to the incident in later years

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

Endings and Beginnings - Rooster

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

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: Pregnancy, Second Person POV ("You"), No Physical Description about Reader

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

Summary: It's Maverick's retirement party but Rooster's far more concerned about you, his pregnant wife, than anything else.

A.N. Rooster is retired in this story and it's set a few years after TGM.

Edit: Part 2 is now out!

Master List

Maverick was officially retiring from the Navy. Or finally, depending on who you asked. The Hard Deck had been cleared out for the party and several generations of naval aviators, active and retired, and their families were spread out around the space. Drinks were poured continuously, there was pizza and snacks and even a cake with a Tomcat on it for later.

“Are you sure that you’re okay to be here?” Rooster asked you softly, grabbing your hand.

“I’m fine,” you assured your husband. “Just pregnant.”

“Very pregnant,” Hangman added, causing Rooster to glare over at him. Phoenix whacked Hangman on the arm your behalf, causing the blond to huff and complain. “What? It’s true!”

“I’m fine,” you repeated, squeezing Rooster’s hand. “I’ll sit down if I need to and there’s plenty of water and snacks that I can eat.” You released his hand and nudged him in the direction of Maverick, who was chatting with a few pilots his own age. “Go, mingle. Shoo. It’s a party. Party.”

“Only if you promise to let me know if you need to go home or to the hospital or—”

“—Rooster, I’m fine. The baby isn’t coming for another two weeks. Now, go. I think Mav’s been trying to subtly introduce you for an hour now.”

“Keep an eye on her for me,” Rooster told the others before heading over to Maverick.

The newly retired pilot was all smiles as he chatted with his old friends. But as soon as Maverick spotted Rooster walking over, he quickly moved to pull him over to the older crowd of pilots.

“She finally kicked you over here?” Maverick asked, referring to you.

“Apparently, I’m hovering too much,” Rooster joked with Mav.

“Well, it’s a perfect time to reintroduce yourself to everyone.”

Maverick gestured around the half-circle of former naval aviators. Slider, Hollywood, Wolfman, Chipper, Sundown, Merlin, and Viper all nodded to Rooster and Rooster shook their corresponding hands. It had been a long time since he saw any of them, what with the whole paper incident, but Slider still dragged him in for a noogie like he was eight-years-old.

“So, you were Maverick’s RIO in that whole business?” Merlin asked, referring to the mission.

Even though the mission was still highly classified three years later, the fact that Maverick and Rooster had barely made it out alive wasn’t. Well, that and word got around when an old smashed up Tomcat was unloaded off of a carrier.

“How was that?” Merlin continued.

“Most terrifying experience of my life,” Rooster responded, half-joking, half-serious.

“I understand completely,” Merlin mused, causing Maverick to smile and shake his head.

“That’s not why you turned in your wings, is it though?” Viper asked with a knowing expression.

“No, no,” Rooster replied immediately. “When I got married and my wife and I started to plan for having our family, I decided that I wanted to be there for every step. And I didn’t want her to worry about me coming home at the end of the day. So, I finished up my service requirements and retired.”

And, well, for a kid who lost his father to the Navy, Rooster’s reasoning didn’t raise a single eyebrow. Every naval aviator knew the risks involved in their line of work and while technological advancements helped decrease training accidents and fatalities, they were still always a possibility.

He wouldn’t—couldn’t—let his child learn about him from pictures, like he had to with his own father.

“And Maverick says that you’re switching to commercial?” Wolfman spoke up.

“Yeah, I have one more test to take and then I’m ready to fly, but I probably won’t start until we’re settled with our baby,” Rooster explained, nodding along.

“Your first one?” Viper guessed with an all-knowing smile.

“How could you tell?” Rooster inquired, earning a chuckle from the other fathers in the group.

 “You got that look in your eye.”

“Not too different from the rookies at flight school,” Hollywood added with an amused smile.

“It’ll pass eventually, but the first one always gets you jittery,”  

“Being a father is like learning how to fly—utterly terrifying at first, and there’s definitely a learning curve to it, but once you’re up there and you’ve leveled out, you won’t even remember what it was like before you learned in the first place.”

“I keep telling him to relax. He’ll be a natural,” Maverick spoke up, squeezing Rooster’s shoulder.

Rooster glanced through the crowd to check on you and found you sitting at one of the tables with your feet propped up on the opposite chair. You looked calm, but uncomfortable—though you’d told him that ‘nearly nine months pregnant’ and ‘comfortable’ did not go together no matter the situation.

“But speaking of, I should probably go check on my wife,” Rooster replied, his nerves and ‘Mother Hen’ tendencies, as Hangman called them, shining through.

“Of course.”

“Don’t let us keep you.”

“It was an honor to meet all of you again,” Rooster offered in goodbye, before checking on you.

The retired naval aviators watched him go and then turned to Maverick.

“God, he looks just like Goose,” Slider replied quietly.

“And with the mustache and the Hawaiian shirt too,” Wolfman agreed, sharing looks with the other retired naval aviators.

“Yeah, he does,” Maverick stated softly, watching Rooster weave through the party. “Just wait until you see him at a piano.”

Rooster slid through the crowd over to the back tables. You were still sitting with your feet propped up, a full glass of water in front of you, and your usual easygoing smile on your lips. Bob, Phoenix, and Hangman were keeping you company and spread out around you.

“You alright?” Rooster asked, walking to your side.

“I’m fine. Just wanted to sit down for a little bit. Baby Bradshaw seems a little excited about the party,” you stated, your hands resting over the swell of your bump. Rooster placed a hand under yours, where Baby Bradshaw tended to kick for the last few days. “How’s Mav doing?”

“I think he’s enjoying himself a lot. He hasn’t seen his old TOP GUN buddies in a while, so it’s nice for them to all come out to see him.”

“Well, Penny can be very convincing when she wants to be,” you mused with a smile.

Wordlessly you moved Rooster’s hand to the side, where the baby was pressing on you. Though you were growing tired of being pregnant, you didn’t think that you’d ever get tired of the way that Rooster just flipped a happy switch whenever he felt your baby.

“What are you all doing over here?” Rooster asked, turning back to the others.

“Actually, we’ve got a poll going about the baby,” Bob explained to Rooster.

“What are the votes?”

“I think it’s a girl,” Phoenix declared confidently.

“Which means that it’s a boy,” Hangman stated, just as confident.

“You only said that after you found out that Rooster and I think it’s a girl,” Phoenix retorted, causing Hangman to shrug his shoulders.

"So what?”

“I think that it’s a boy too,” you offered up. “The way that I’m carrying says that it’s a boy.”

“It’s not an exact science,” Rooster pointed out.

“No but call it mother’s intuition.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“God, you’re so whipped,” Hangman grunted, earning an elbow to the side from Phoenix.

Rooster and you ended up leaving the party among the first wave of people—mostly elderly and people with small children. But not before you received a whole bunch of random baby gifts from all of the people who missed your shower a month earlier.

“Do you want a hot bath when we get home?” Rooster offered, glancing over at you as he drove home.

“Maybe,” you sighed, shifting in your seat.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just uncomfortable. Nothing either of us can do for that.”

“You want more of that tea that Penny got you then?”

“Yeah, maybe that’ll help,” you murmured, leaning back in your seat. Your hands rubbed up and down your bump, trying to soothe yourself. “I think that Baby Bradshaw just got a little overexcited about meeting everyone all at once. But maybe some tea and a bath will help.”

“Coming right up,” Rooster assured you.

You pulled into the driveway and Rooster walked around to help you out. Usually, yo would just push his hand away and insist that you were more than capable of getting yourself out of the car, but this time you happily accepted his help.

“Are you sure that you’re alright?” Rooster asked worriedly.

“I’m fine,” you replied, pecking his cheek. “Just slow.”

Rooster walked with you to the front door, keeping a protective arm around your waist. You walked into the kitchen and Rooster instantly moved to heat up some hot water for your tea. You leaned on the countertop, just looking completely uncomfortable with your existence.

“I’ll grab the bags out of the car and then I’ll start your bath,” Rooster promised, pressing a loving kiss to your forehead.

“Thank you.”

Rooster jogged down to the car and gathered whatever bags were sitting in the trunk. He left the go bag in the car, just in case, before heading back into the house. He wasn’t even completely through the door when he spotted you waddling towards the stairs.

“I’ll run your bath, babe, just sit and relax.”

“I’m not going to take a bath,” you called back, moving up the stairs slowly.

“You need help?”

“No, I just need to change.”

“Oh, okay,” Rooster replied, setting down the bags.

“Also, don’t walk through the kitchen yet,” you warned him, grunting a bit as you walked.

“Why?” Rooster asked, moving to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

“There’s amniotic fluid all over the floor and I haven’t gotten a chance to clean it up yet.”

“Amniotic . . .” Rooster trailed off before the realization hit him like 10 G’s all at once. “Babe!?”

Part 2

#top gun: maverick #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction #rooster x wife!reader #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley rooster x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw fic #rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #rooster fanfic #rooster bradshaw fic #rooster x you #bradley rooster bradshaw x you #bradley bradsaw x reader #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x you

[ratgrinders]

**spoilers for latest episode of junior year**

alright so kalina saying "it's the only name i can say" when talking about ragh barkrock immediately paints the picture that kalina entered the spy's tongue curse with some co-conspirators and that ragh barkrock could theoretically lead the bad kids to figuring out who they are without naming them directly. also, kalina saying it immediately after the mall incident implies these co-conspirators have something to do with the dead god, which would explain why it would be on cassandra's mind as well when kristin communed with her.

so who are these co-conspirators? we know its not lydia because kalina was able to mention her by name back in sophomore year, and even if that was retconned, lydia was able to say kalina's name a couple episodes ago and the curse goes both ways. this is interesting because that leaves a lot less options for who kalina could be referring to, since there aren't a lot of options for people simultaneously associated with ragh barkrock, kalina, and with the dead god.

with a lack of any other information, i'm immediately suspicious of jace and porter.

it was stated in sophomore year that ragh saw jace in the room with kalina and arianwen during the whole nightmare king fiasco, and also that after the prompocalyse fight jace got porter to heal ragh with "barbarian healing" which then infected him with kalina. this to me implies that kalina, after talking to jace and/or porter, conspired to intentionally get ragh infected. (side note: this is interesting because to my knowledge this is the only instance of kalina deliberately infecting someone rather than it being incidental, which implies that kalina had some sort of plan for ragh).

so how could either of them be sus:

porter of course is the running joke of being sus, but as someone who is possibly part goliath AKA giant, while simultaneously being a barbarian who harnesses rage and a paladin with an oath to his ancestors, it makes sense that a possible god he worships would be a giant god of rage. honestly though itd be incredibly funny if after 3 seasons of being sus there yet again isn't anything wrong with him

jace has less evidence considering we know even less about him, but he is in a place of scrutiny seeing as he's been specifically made vice principal in the absence of gilear. and as a sorcerer, one possible subclass is divine soul, which makes it very possible for jace to derive his power from the divine source of a rage god. plus, the last name stardiamond can definitely be associated with the 21 point rage stars that the god has. AND, most importantly i think, yolanda badgood specifically went to jace stardiamond with her concerns over lucy frostblade and NOT principal grix, and then later ended up dead, which is a very suspicious series of events.

it still feels like we don't have enough information, but ultimately im curious about 1. why kalina would specifically enter a spy's tongue curse when she hasn't really done that with her other conspirators and 2. what she may have wanted with ragh barkrock

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fhjy spoilers #original post

[dxmoness]

𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐔𝐌 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐈 | 𝐋. 𝐀𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞

You are the fifth wife of the infamous Lant Agriche. Yes, fifth. This man had four more wives that were unknown to you due to him excluding you out of his estate.

He claims that you were the most special amongst them therefore it'd be best to keep you away. Going on about how his wives could be in jealousy and murder you even.

Though you pretended to believe his word for it. You knew better. If a husband pushes you to the side away from his life, that means dark matters were at hand.

In truth the way you two hit off wasn't the most effective way of doing so. Just to make it simple, he had just decided to come ‘visit’ your father and murdered him and a dozen others in your household whilst keeping you as a trophy of his feat.

A trophy that was later found more useful than others. He had threatened to kill you at first until a night when you unleashed a demon inside of you, quite literally. The demon had swarmed and nearly killed your now husband. All for the sake of protecting you from harm.

That incident caused the entire discussion that was later referred to as a marriage contract. In which he'd provide you everything you wish for and all you have to do was sit, look pretty and bear his children.

To this you agreed. Why bother ruining an opportunity of living a life of near luxury and most likely die in the hands of some human trafficker? Plus he wouldn't be paying attention to you anyway. After all he's got all those wives pent up in his home.

You now stood in the presence of your husband who seemed quite intent in knowing what you or your children had become after the two months he left you alone in. His eyes landed on the children next to you who seemed ever so cold towards their father.

"Good work." A praise that was so hollow anyone could tell so. "Can they do what you can yet?" As expected a question towards their way of things.

"Not yet." A whispered answer came from you as your eyes came to contact with his.

"‘Not yet’?" Lant growled with annoyance. "I thought we agreed to keep working until they manage. It's only a few days left until our sons come to contact and fight against the other children."

‘Our sons’ you almost scoffed at that. He didn't even care about them at all. The audacity of calling them his sons was infuriating. Last thing they'd, so did you, was to call him father or husband and him to call you all sons and wife.

"Steady progression is better than rushing." You responded plainly. "If we rush, the demons may not gain strength and will most likely not hesitate to make the host feel immense pain." It was no lie coming from your mouth. Steady progression was best for taming demons. If the demon is rushed it will not do your bidding. Indeed it'd rather be a menace than other.

A strike at your cheek caused you to stumble as your hand touched the now red side. It burned like hell. Touching it made it worse. You were sure it'd leave a bruise later on.

"I don't care if they feel ‘immense pain’, they are Agriches." Lant was infuriated. "If you don't make them as good by then, the next day you will receive their heads at your doorstep."

Your lips gave a quiver as you realize the danger your children could be in for. "Very well." A hushed response from you made him satisfied.

Days loomed by and your sons were now perfectly using their demons in fighting. The demons were more than one which was shocking for you, for it took you too long to understand or tame such demons. Perhaps that's where Lant's genes went to. It didn't matter. Now it was the day of the special test.

Your husband's blind arse told you not to worry one bit because they'll be alright. Tell that to the others who died years past! You could almost scoff at his excuses.

When your door swung open, your heart pounded with nervousness. In front of you was a masked man. His eyes gleaming at you, he stepped aside to reveal your children practically unscathed. You rushed to them, tears falling as you hugged them.

"Great work." Your eyes lift to see Lant standing there as well. Your fury was triggered upon just hearing his disgusting voice as your body screamed ‘kill him’, you would. If only there was no guard with him much to your annoyance there were loads. "Don't you think they did well, dear?" He brought your children to a situation as the such and expected you to say that they did well? Sure they did do well in finishing the test with flying colors but it was still infuriating when he expected you to enjoy the thought of bringing your children to a dangerous place.

"...yes. i do believe so." You're practically trying your hardest to resist the temptations of releasing a demon to slowly and rather painfully kill the son of a bitch in front of you. But revenge will need to wait. First you must prepare that day and when it happens, you will bathe in the sweet indulgence of vengeance while watching him suffer.

Your children grow amongst the Agriche children to be the greatest. Even surpassing the ugly half-sibling, Fontaine who was undeniably disgusting and troublesome in terms of activities that he keeps up. But that didn't matter since your children advanced him, ranking top in the chain.

Pleased with their wonderful achievements, you made sure to ensure that everyone knew that if they were to lay one single finger on your children with wrong intentions in mind, you'd kill them and enjoy it.

“How are you faring, sweetling?” Your husband inquires while pouring himself and you some wine to celebrate yet another victory of the children you bore; they had fought against Lant's other children whom you'd just recently met as well as his other supposed wives.

You couldn't help but nearly scoff when you saw the women he had wed, all were pathetic in their own ways. But one of them made you wish to protect her in a way. That one unique wife was none other than Sierra. The woman seemed traumatized, unable to form a complete sentence and always seemed closed off.

You admit that you were curious so the only thing you could have done was spoken to the woman. And speak you did, she ie surprisingly cheerful to be with and she is such a sweetheart. It warmed your heart but you were also reminded that you still had a duty as a wife of Lant, that duty being someone who shows no weakness.

"I've been alright." You respond calmly, sipping your tea. Your eyes do not know where to rest, but you knew it would be better if they don't rest on him.

"Are you truly alright?" Lant seems rather suspicious this evening and it's evident. You nod, remaining calm and unbothered by his suspicion. You will not show him anything that could have him questioning everything.

"Very well." Lant returns to drinking his tea which you knew was mixed with some sort of alcoholic drink. You wanted to pour your own tea at him, but you knew that'd make him fly into a terrifying rage. You excuse yourself and head to your chambers for the night.

That was close, your demons grow restless. All are eager to savour him, but you must wait. You're reminded by your conscience. Patience. But why wait when he's right there? Your demons were countering your own thoughts. You take a deep breath, clenching your hands to regain the power between the battle of your mind and the demons that are becoming insufferable by the second.

You enter your chambers and wave aside the maids, asking them to leave. Alone, you massage your head as you continuously hear from them who live inside you. No. You said firmly to the desires of those who were trying to take the reins.

They are angry, but you did not care. You will wait. Until the time has come, they will remain abstain whether they like it or not.

Slowly, the time came at last. Your husband is before you, you had summoned him here. His suggestive remarks were implying that he thinks you've summoned him for other matters.

He wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you to him, your bodies pressing close. You close your eyes and count to five then everything went dark, at least, for you.

When you regain control of the vessel known as your body, you're greeted with the sight of Lant on the floor bleeding out. A cruel laugh escapes you. "Did you truly think thay they'd accept you as my husband? That I'd accept you as my husband?" Your smirk towards him earns a strangled noise from him.

"Oh how silly of me, I forget you can't speak when you're choked! But of course you knew that right?" She referenced a time in their life when he had choked her to shut her up and she'd passed out.

She snapped her fingers and the strangling is put to a halt. "Please...Name, don't." Your husband's weak and frail voice was music to your ears. Despite it being a plead to let him live, it only fueled your thirst for his death if anything else.

"Let me think, hmm." You pretend to think and then you gave an all-knowing smile and shake your head. "I'm afraid, no." She says softly as you step away from him. The demons around him stare with hunger in their eyes.

You turn swiftly and leave the room, leaving them to enjoy their snack. There are screams, violent but oh so melodious screams. Then there's an eerie silence afterwards, he is dead. The whole house knows so.

There's a summoning, everyone must come. The crowds of the Agriche family enter in silence. The demons loom in the sides of the room, they leave the children and wives glancing with fear-stricken expressions. The wives were especially horrified at the prospect of you sitting on the dead head's supposed throne.

You sit on what was once his seat, your children coming forth. "Is he dead?" Your eldest son Alexander asks with a soft voice.

You nod. "He's gone now. No one will hurt you anymore." You kiss his brow and then turn to the rest of the wives, a smile tugging on your lips. She meets to Sierra's horror for only a moment's time. "The head of the Black Agriche is dead, I am the one you have to deal with now."

#manhwa #self insert #manhwa x reader #lant agriche #lant agriche x reader #the way to protect the female lead's older brother #the way to protect the female lead's older brother x reader #twtptflob x reader #twtpflob #twtptflob #{ ♡ heartstrings — fics }

[muzaktomyears]

In 1980 Peter Brown, a former assistant to Brian Epstein who later ran Apple Corps, managed the Beatles and was best man at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s wedding, started work on the definitive account of the Beatles. With the American author Steven Gaines, he spoke to the three surviving band members alongside wives, girlfriends, managers, friends, hangers-on and everyone else in the Fabs’ universe. The book promised to be the last word in Beatles history. Then in 1983 The Love You Make was published, and all hell broke loose.

“They were furious,” recalls Gaines, 78, still sounding pained at the memory. “Paul and Linda tore the book apart and burned it in the fireplace, page by page. There was an omerta, a code of silence around the Beatles, and they didn’t think anyone would come forward to tell the truth. But Queenie, Brian Epstein’s mother, told us above all else to be honest.”

“Even she didn’t think we would be quite so honest,” adds Brown, 87, his upper-crust English tones still in place after five decades in New York.

Why did The Love You Make, retitled by Beatles fans as The Muck You Rake, incite such strong feelings? The suggestion of an affair between Lennon and Epstein on a holiday to Barcelona in April 1963, only three weeks after the birth of Lennon’s son Julian, had something to do with it, but more significantly it was taken as a betrayal by a trusted insider. Brown and Gaines locked the recordings in a bank vault and never looked at them again — until now.

“Very good question,” Brown says, when I ask why he and Gaines have decided to publish All You Need Is Love, an oral history made up of the interview transcripts from which The Love You Make was drawn. He is speaking from the Manhattan apartment on Central Park West where he has lived since 1971. “When [Peter Jackson’s documentary] Get Back came out, a journalist from The New York Times wanted me to talk. I told him I hadn’t talked about the Beatles since the book was published and suggested he go to someone else. He said, ‘There isn’t anyone else. Paul, Ringo and you are the only ones left.’ And I thought, do I have a responsibility to clear it all up, once and for all?”

After the death of Epstein in 1967, Brown assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the Beatles and Apple Corps. He had on his desk a red telephone whose number was known only to the four Beatles. Unsurprisingly, given his insider status, the interviews make for fascinating reading. Paul McCartney, yet to be asked the same questions about the Beatles thousands of times over, is remarkably unguarded. Asked by Gaines if the other Beatles were anti-Linda, he replies: “I should think so. Like we were anti-Yoko.” On the image the Fabs had for being good boys on tour, he says, “You are kidding,” before going on to reference a notorious incident involving members of Led Zeppelin, a groupie and a mud shark, concluding: “No, not in the least bit celibate. We just didn’t do it with fish.”

Ono, speaking in the spring of 1981, not long after Lennon was killed in December 1980, reveals that she didn’t sleep with Lennon for the first two years of their relationship — “John didn’t know how to make a move” — and claims that she was blamed by the Beatles camp, George Harrison in particular, for getting Lennon onto heroin in 1969. “Everything we did in those days, anything that was wrong, was my responsibility,” she tells Gaines. But everyone, from the Beatles’ notorious late-period manager Allen Klein to the Greek electronics wizard/hustler “Magic” Alex Mardas — “the Mordred of the Beatles’ Camelot” according to Brown — has their own version of events.

Going through the transcripts reminded Gaines of the long shadow cast by Lennon. “I didn’t realise how sensitive the other Beatles were to John’s opinion,” he says, speaking from his home in the Hamptons, Long Island. “Paul worried about what John would say [in the event Lennon died before being interviewed] and was still longing for his friendship. George said that John didn’t read his autobiography because it was called I, Me, Mine. Those interviews were done before John’s death and Paul’s heart was broken, even then. It wasn’t just the break-up of the Beatles. It was more personal than that.”

From around 1968, the transcripts reveal how the key Beatles duo started to come apart. McCartney’s enthusiasm was only getting stronger. But Lennon grew increasingly bored and disillusioned. “You have to remember that John wasn’t in love with his wife Cynthia,” Gaines says by way of explanation. “He wanted to get away from the life he was leading and that’s why he started to experiment with drugs, all the way up to heroin.”

Brown says Ono was, and probably still is, a distant, mysterious character, exactly the kind of person Lennon was looking for, having done the right thing and married the sensible, quiet Cynthia after she discovered she was pregnant with Julian in 1963. “John told me about meeting this woman, and how frustrated he was that he couldn’t get to know her better; he couldn’t take her to lunch because it would cause gossip. I gave him the key to my apartment so he and Yoko could be together in private and thought, naturally, they were going there to f***. When I went home that evening, the apartment was untouched. They did nothing more than sit on the sofa and talk. That’s what they wanted: to know each other.”

Regarding the long-held, unfair suggestion that Ono broke up the Beatles, Gaines says: “Yoko came along at the right moment to light the fuse, but the dynamite was already packed. They resented her, she was difficult to understand and had a deep effect on John, but they were getting more and more unhappy with each other and needed to have their own lives. As people in the interviews say again and again, [the split] was bound to happen.”

It was Brown who in May 1968 introduced McCartney to Linda Eastman, an ambitious young American photographer whom he knew from his business trips to New York, when she came to London on an assignment to shoot the Rolling Stones. “I was having dinner with Paul at the Bag O’ Nails [a club in Soho] when she turned up, so I introduced them and he was obviously taken with her,” Brown recalls. “The following Friday, May 19, we were holding a party for 12 top photographers at Brian Epstein’s house in London when she walked in. Paul says I didn’t introduce him to his wife … but I did.”

If the book has a villain it is Klein, the New York accountant who took over management of the Beatles and sacked everyone around them, much to McCartney’s horror. As Brown puts it: “He was a hideous person. He even looked like a crook: sloppy and fat, always wearing sneakers and sweatshirts. Everything he didn’t like was ‘for shit’.”

You wonder why Lennon fell for him. “The interviews suggest it is because Allen Klein offered Yoko a million dollars for her movie project,” Gaines says. “She was enticed and John would do anything Yoko said.”

“I asked Mick Jagger to come over and explain to the four Beatles who this Allen Klein was,” Brown remembers. “And John, in his wonderful way, had Klein turn up to the same meeting, which was deeply embarrassing. It made Mick very uncomfortable too.”

Epstein, the man who saw the Beatles’ potential in the first place, is a central figure in All You Need Is Love. It includes a transcript of a recording of him from 1966, not used for the original book. It was in the possession of Epstein’s attorney Nat Weiss, and seemingly made by Epstein to mark the end of the Beatles’ final tour. He claims not only that Lennon felt remorse for the infamous comment on the Beatles being bigger than Jesus — “What upset John more than anything else was that hundreds of people were hurt by that” — but that the Beatles would tour once more. “There’s no reason why they shouldn’t appear in public again,” Epstein claims. They never did, unless you count that rooftop performance on January 30, 1969.

“Brian was driving them around the north of England in his car for a year,” Brown remembers of the early days. “This Jewish guy from Liverpool, who was gay, was with these guys who had been hanging around in Hamburg, so both had interesting backgrounds. They understood each other.”

For Gaines, a self-described “gay Jewish boy from Brooklyn”, Epstein is at the heart of the story. “Brian never felt the love of a real relationship. Then he found the Beatles. Everyone thought it would be just another of his phases, but he had tremendous feelings for John, both sexual and intellectual, and that’s what really pushed him. If there was one thing that started the whole thing off, it was Brian’s love for John Lennon.”

That love affair was the contentious issue of the original book. In his interview, McCartney says of Lennon going to Spain with Epstein: “What was John doing, manipulating this manager of ours? Sucking up to him, going on holiday, becoming his special friend.” It wasn’t the suggestion of a homosexual relationship that was troubling McCartney, but the balance of power tilting in Lennon’s direction.

“Paul wanted to be in charge, and he deserved to be because he was the motor, the driving force,” Gaines says. “Paul felt that John would steal away the power. He felt threatened by John’s relationship with Brian.”

“Paul always wanted to be active,” Brown adds. “After Brian’s death the world had to be carried on. Who was going to do that? It wasn’t going to be John, George or Ringo. Brian was my best friend and I was very upset [at his death]. I had to go to the court to convince the magistrate that it wasn’t a suicide, and the following day Paul set up a meeting so we could discuss what we would do next. I said we’d do it next week, and he said, ‘No, it has to be now.’ He was right.”

How did Brown and Gaines feel about the horrified reaction to the book, not just from fans but the Beatles themselves? “The world has changed,” Gaines says, by way of answer. “Now, after all these years, hopefully people can see it as a truthful, loving and gentle book.” It has been decades since Brown spoke to the surviving Beatles and he has not contacted them about this new publication.

What the interviews really capture in eye-opening detail is the story of four young men who became a phenomenon, then had to deal with the fallout as the dream ended. On December 31, 1970, the day McCartney sued the other three to dissolve the partnership, Brown handed in his resignation as the Beatles’ day-to-day manager and officer of Apple Corps. Ringo Starr said to him: “You didn’t want to be a nursemaid any more, and half the time the babies wouldn’t listen to you anyway.” Brown moved to New York and became chief executive officer of the Robert Stigwood Organisation. But the Beatles never fully left him, and in the wake of Get Back — and the news that Sam Mendes is to direct four biopics, one on each Beatle — he decided he had one last job.

“We have finished our responsibilities,” Brown says with quiet authority. “It is the end of the story.”

EXTRACTS

‘It’s like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!’

Paul McCartney on the Beatles signing Allen Klein as manager against his wishes

[John Lennon] said, “I’m going with [Allen] Klein, what do you want to do about it?” and I kind of said, “I don’t think I will, that’s my roll.” Then George and Ringo said, “Yeah, we’ll go with John.” Which was their roll. But that was pretty much how it always ended up, the three of them wanted to do stuff, and I was always the fly in the ointment, I was always the one dragging his heels. John used to accuse me of stalling. In fact, there was one classic little meeting when we were recording Abbey Road. It was a Friday evening session, and I was sitting there, and I’d heard a rumour from Neil [Aspinall, road manager] or someone that there was something funny going around. So we got to the session, and Klein came in. To me, he was like a sort of demon that would always haunt my dreams. He got to me. Really, it was like I’d been dreaming of him as a dentist. Anyway, so at this meeting, everyone said, “You’re going to stall for ever now, we know you, you don’t even want to do it on Monday.” And I said, “Well, so what? It’s not a big deal, it’s our prerogative and it could wait a few more days.” They said, “Oh no, typical of you, all that stalling and what. Got to do it now.” I said, “Well, I’m not going to. I demand at least the weekend. I’ll look at it, and on Monday. This is supposed to be a recording session, after all.” I dug me heels in, and they said, “Right, well, we’re going to vote it.” I said, “No, you’ll never get Ringo to.” I looked at Ringo, and he kind of gave me this sick look like, yeah, I’m going with them. Then I said, “Well, this is like bloody Julius Caesar, and I’m being stabbed in the back!”

‘You don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team’

Paul McCartney on Yoko Ono

Give Yoko a lot . . . that was basically what John and Yoko wanted, recognition for Yoko. We found her sitting on our amps, and like a football team, an all-male thing, you really don’t like to see a chick in the middle of the team. It’s a disturbing thing, they think it throws them off the game or whatever it was, and these were the reasons that I thought, well, this is crazy, we’re gonna have Yoko in the group next. Looking at it now, I feel a bit sorry for her because, if only I had been able to understand what the situation was and think, wait a minute, here’s a girl who’s not had enough attention. I can now not make this into a major crisis and just sort of say, “Sure, what harm is she doing on the amps?” I know they would have really loved me. You know, we didn’t like Yoko at first, and people did call her ugly and stuff, and that must be hard for someone who loves someone and is so passionately in love with them, but I still can’t — I’m still trying to see his point of view. What was the point of all that? They’re very suspicious people [Lennon and Ono], and one of the things that hurt me out of the whole affair, was that we’d come all that way together, and out of either a fault in my character, or out of lack of understanding in their character, I’d still never managed to impress upon them that I wasn’t trying to screw them. I don’t think that I have to this day.

How Cynthia Lennon was driven to drink — at an ashram

Alexis ‘Magic Alex’ Mardas on Ono’s love letters to Lennon

Alexis Mardas was also known as Magic Alex, a name John bestowed on him because he was so taken with Alex’s inventions. Alex was handsome, charming, and a charlatan. (He sued The [New York] Times in Britain for calling him a charlatan and settled out of court. He’s dead now.)

[The Maharishi] was fooling around with several American girls. The Maharishi was making all of us eat vegetarian food, very poorly cooked, but he was eating chicken. No alcohol was allowed in the camp. I had to smuggle alcohol in because Cynthia wanted to drink. Cynthia was very depressed. John was receiving letters from Yoko Ono. Yoko was planning to win John. She was writing very poetic and very romantic letters. I remember those letters because John was coming to me with the letters, and Yoko was saying to John that “I’m a cloud in the sky, and, when you read this letter, turn your head and look in the sky, and if you see a small cloud, this is Yoko. Away from you but watching you.” Poor Cynthia was prepared to do absolutely everything to win John. She was not even allowed to visit the house where John was staying. She was longing for a drink. Now, drinks, they were strictly prohibited in the ashram, but when it was discovered that Maharishi had a drink, I said, “Just a second, at least equal.”

‘He’s become so nasty’

George Harrison on reaching out to John Lennon

What’s wrong with John, he’s become so nasty. It sounds like he hasn’t moved an inch from where he was five or six years ago. I sent Ringo, John, and Paul all a copy of my book. I got a call from Paul. He called me up just to say how much he liked it. I shouldn’t have called it I Me Mine, because that title was a bit much. I sent a copy to John. I’m wondering if he’s actually received it, if he’s received it, he probably doesn’t like it or something offends him about it.

‘I told John that ... it was just a nice feeling’

Yoko Ono advising John Lennon how to take heroin

George said I put John on H, and it wasn’t true at all. I mean, John wouldn’t take anything unless he wanted to do it. When I went to Paris [before I met John], I just had a sniff of it and it was a beautiful feeling. Because the amount was small, I didn’t even get sick. It was just a nice feeling. So I told John that. When you take it properly — properly is not the right word — but when you really snort it, then you get sick right away if you’re not used to it. So I think maybe because I said it wasn’t a bad experience, maybe that had something to do with it, I don’t know. But I mean so, he kept saying, “Tell me how it was?” Why was he asking? That was sort of a preliminary because he wanted to take it, that’s why he was asking. And that’s how we did it. We never injected. Never.

‘It was time’

Ringo Starr on the end of the Beatles

Ringo Starr: Well, I’m pleased it happened because in so many ways, I’m glad it’s not going now. It was time. Things last only so long. Steven Gaines: The Rolling Stones are [still] going. Ringo Starr: Yeah, but they’re old men.

(source)

#the beatles #here we go

[spif-lol]

Reasons why the simpsons hit and run stream is jerma's best stream

it's ELEVEN HOURS LONG

you get to witness his slow descent into madness as he insists on playing the whole game in one sitting

I can watch it when i replay the game, would recommend makes it way more enjoyable

he spends too much time doing really bad impressions trying to copy voice lines for the game and yelling "HIRE ME IM AVAILABLE"

He decides to confess half an hour in that he knows nothing about the simpsons and has only seen like one or two episodes

this is ten minutes after he references a specific episode, and then proceeds to get told off for 'spoiling' an episode of the simpsons (from like 1995) by chat

Chat also somehow manages to convince him that ten year old boy Bart Simpson's famous catchphrase from everyone's favourite family animated tv show is 'eat ass'

In general it switches between him refusing to believe things people tell him about the game despite being true and falling for obvious lies

he starts the game going 'lol wouldnt it be funny if you could run over simpsons characters' and then jokingly drives towards civillians thinking they'll jump out of the way. they go flying. he is so confused

the dissonance between early and later parts of the stream are palpable. It turns from a cheerful and lighthearted exploration of a funny simpsons game that he refuses to take seriously or accept that it could genuinely make him angry, and transforms into a desperate race against time, his computer and his own hubris as he seeks simply to finish the game so he can sleep. This stream destroys him.

the way the stream highlights are named on his youtube is hilarious. "Jerma will not get angry at the simpson's hit and run" -> "Jerma might get a bit angry at the simpson's hit and run" -> "d'oh"

it's extremely funny how many time he's convinced he's in the last level of the game, only to be wrong. the first time he thinks that is in the first section and hour of the stream

easily his most rewatchable stream (this is gonna cover a lot of dot points)

the amount of tragic irony and foreshadowing in this stream is almost cinematic.

at the very start of the game he complains about the music being too loud and monologues about sounds and over stimulation of game music bothers him, which of course will be very funny in the finale

he also comments a few time at the start about how annoying homer's random voice lines are, and says 'oh god he's gonna repeat that a thousand times before the end of this game'. he's right, and it nearly drives him crazy by the final mission

speaking of the final mission(s), the second time he has to transport the toxic sludge from power plant to the school he like pauses the game and very seriously addresses chat like 'alright tell me right now are the next three levels also me driving the nuclear waste to the school that cant be possible right'. and then just accepting in defeat that that is in fact how this incredibly stupid and difficult children's game finishes

when he first races against the malibu stacy car and gets destroyed he gets mad and says he wishes he could drive that car. then when he gets to drive it in later levels he quickly decides its his favourite and maintains that until the end of the game

on rewatch... you hear him audibly crack open a can that chat demands he prove to them is soft drink and not alcohol like A WHOLE HOUR before The Incident and it's a little like watching a disaster movie where you see the characters laughing and having fun little knowing how they are being hastened towards their own doom... like chat keeps bugging him about it, he keeps making excuses, he keeps sipping the drink. they bring attention to it so much and you listen to it just knowing the pain that is yet to come. dramatic irony at its finest and most heartache inducing

15. ohmyfucking gaaaawd no! no... god... ICANDOITINAJUMP! ..... BART. WHERE IS HE??? BAAART!!!! AAAUUGH

16. actually fr there's a lot of memorable jerma lines in this stream, rewatching it is like watching a jerma funny moment compilation

17. the final couple of levels where he is getting steadily more overwhelmed to the point of ferality, and then he says he has an idea and goes to the sound menu and turns everything off. voice lines. music. sound effects. and then we watch him play the level in complete silence. and it actually helps him focus its really funny

18. the whole tragic sequence where he is in the FINAL LEVEL. he has played it so many times and just missed it by a few seconds. he is tired. he is hungry. he just wants to get off stream and eat a BURGER. he is focussing as hard as he can. he is almost there. he runs over too many things and the police are after him. but its okay. he's doing it! he's gonna make it!!! he gets to the school with time to spare and is sucked up into the end of the game beam. it's over. except then the police get sucked into the beam as well. he gets arrested in the beam. which teleports him and the car out of the beam. WHICH MEANS THE TIMER RUNS OUT AND HE LOSES. so he has to do it all over again. it's actually so so so funny and also something i think i personally wouldn't survive if i was in jerma's position in that moment

19. okay we have to talk about The Incident. bc i already alluded to it and bc like, i couldn't not talk about it. as stated above Jerma cracks open a can so you can hear it and chat immediately accuses him of being an alcoholic. he adamantly insists that it is a soft drink not a beer but they refuse to believe him unless he proves it by showing camera. he's playing on a modded ps2 pc port or whatever of the simpsons so it's a complicated setup and he explains that it would be too hard and also he's shirtless so they will just have to believe without seeing. chat continues to harass him while he goes on to play the game, specifically most of the lisa level. he laughs it off but eventually caves, gets up and get a blanket to cover himself and then alt tabs, holds his can up to the camera and says 'alright you satisfied? that might have just fucked up the game'. so then he tries to tab back into the game and it. crashes. hard. so hard that the game won't actually turn back on. so jerma's cursing and fiddling with the controls and saying its over. then it finally reboots and the game works and he's so relieved and it loads and he realises that he has lost SO MUCH PROGRESS. he's back at the start of the lisa section. this is truly the turning point of the game where it goes from being a fun experience to a nightmare gauntlet

20. on a related note: jerma waiting with bated breath *sound of simpsons game booting back up after refusing to for far too long* jerma: yeeeAAAAAH

21. im watching it right now as i replay, which is why im thinking about it obv. so i will almost certainly have more to add to this

#jerma #obviously jerma dollhouse and so on streams are probably the most iconic but simpsons hit and run is like #wonderful in a completely unplanned way #I'm also partial to his house flipper streams #if just for the bits and being a space for jerma to create the most insane things imaginable with only the slightest prompting from chat #vaguely unrelated: when my housemate got home and saw me playing simpsons hit and run while #rewatching jerma's stream at the same time they said that think if someone analysed my brain #and exposed a different brain to my content consuming process their brain would explode #so mean.... #i was also listening to one of the jay eazy megaman remixes at the same time. my awesome mind

[inez-winchester-cameron]

Exile

Rafe Cameron x pogue!reader, JJ Maybank x reader

Summary: Rafe and you have always had a toxic and rocky relationship, so it wasn’t a shock when you two separated. But you two just can’t seem to live without thinking of eachother

Cw: toxic relationships, quickly moving on, fighting, accusations, lots of angst

Note:  based on exile by Taylor Swift obviously, fun fact I love Taylor shes so pookie

You stand on the HMS pogue, JJ’s arms wrapped tightly around you from behind. His head resting on your shoulder. You two stare out over the water, just enjoying each other's company. In perfect timing, you spy the Druthers approaching. Your heart stops, knowing that boat better than anyone else. As it passes, you make eye contact with Rafe. JJ is rambling, not making the connection, and not realizing you’re not truly paying attention. You half-heartedly laugh at a little joke he made, mostly to put on a show for Rafe.

Rafe frowns and sips on the glass of alcohol in his hand. He glares daggers at JJ, but when you make eye contact with him, his expression noticeably softens. His eyes fall back on JJ and you know that look anywhere. It’s the look he gives people when he wants to beat the fuck out of you. With time, the boat passes and the Druthers is gone, along with Rafe.

You and Rafe had broken up a week prior to this incident. You and Rafe had been together since freshman year of high school, up until the fall after graduation. You two always walked a very thin line, your relationship filled with many disagreements. But you two understood each other and made a home in each other. He loved you and you loved him, “no superficial bullshit” as Rafe always said. But you had given Rafe more chances than you can count to improve himself and although he was noticeably better around you, it was exhausting and after one particularly bad fight, you cut him off.

“You’re being ridiculous!” You yelled at Rafe, both of you still tipsy after a big party, “We did not do anything!”

“He was eyefucking you!” Rafe argued back, referring to you and JJ talking at the party earlier that night, “You’re just too damn stupid to notice!”

“Oh yeah, tell me how you really feel!”

“You’re a naive little bitch and I don’t know why the fuck I’m even here anymore! You’re probably fucking that Maybank bitch anyway!” Rafe shot back, backing you into a wall. and you froze.

Tears stung your eyes as you made your next move. You didn’t intend to but your hand raises and Rafe received a slap across his smug face.

“Did- did you just hit me?” He said, disbelief apparent in his voice. His eyes darken, obviously more pissed as he processes it. 

“Fuck you, Rafe Cameron. I hate you. Don’t talk to me ever again and I mean that.”

“Y/n wait-” But you’re gone.

Your next encounter with Rafe occurs at the Boneyard during a party. You sit, tucked into JJ’s side on a log. You turn to him, kissing his cheek and ask, sweetly, “Do you want another drink, love?”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks babe.”

You smile in return and stand, going to get two more drinks. As you do so, a man takes notice of you. You start to get drinks for you and JJ as he speaks to you.

“Hey pretty lady, what’s your name?” He asks, and you internally sigh.

“Not interested,” you reply.

“Oh come on, you don’t even know-”

“She said she’s not interested.” A gruff voice comes from behind the man. The voice doesn’t belong to your boyfriend though, it belongs to none other than your protector, Rafe Cameron. 

No longer than a minute later, the man is on the ground and Rafe is approaching you.

“You gotta be more careful, I-”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.” You speak up, getting pissed, remembering your prior fight.

“I was trying to help,” Rafe replies, his eyes darkening, “Don’t be a bitch.”

“I’m not your problem anymore!” You snap, “So who am I offending now?” Emotions run wild throughout the both of you, the intensity of the situation getting to you.

“You stepped out the side door! You didn’t even hear me out! You never gave a warning sign!” Rafe yells, your conversation getting a bit of attention from the people on the beach.

“I gave so many signs! I saw my opportunity to leave and took it, don’t give me metaphorical bullshit!”

You had given many signs, subtly pulling away from Rafe over the years, trusting him less and less.

“I can’t read your mind, I never learned to read your mind!” Rafe yells back, “I love you so much! You know that!”

“We’ve done this so many times, Rafe..” You mutter, your voice tired, “We’ve had this same fight a million times over in different words. I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending.”

“Please..just one more chance. Y/n please..I’m begging you. There is no amount of crying that I can do for you.”

“I love you, but you’re in exile, Rafe. Maybe in the future.” You simply reply and move past him, going to look for JJ.

You gave so many signs.

#obx #outerbanks #rafe cameron #rafe fic #rafe #rafe x reader #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron angst #rafe cameron imagine #rafe outer banks #rafe obx #rafe imagine

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

🌮 < emoji for easy recognition

AITA for "bullying" someone out of a group chat for putting public health at risk?

This happened a while ago but I randomly remembered it happened and I'm super curious (and also still feel bad about it despite the incident happening probably around a year ago, but I also feel entirely justified). Additionally, I put "bullying" in quotes for a reason that will become clear later.

Some background: this group chat is a local/state Telegram group chat where everyone knows the approximate location of everyone; specifically, everyone knows either what region everyone else lives in or what town/city. One of the members of the chat (who was 19 at the time) worked at a fast food restaurant local to his area and is the "someone" this is ask is referring to. It's worth noting that a not insignificant chunk of the people in this group chat (which had around 150-175 people in it at the time of this happening iirc, most of the ones involved in this situation being older than him) found this guy annoying. I did too, but I was willing to talk to him because I don't think someone being annoying is a reason to be a dick to them (and I hold this stance with most people until they cross the boundary from annoying to toxic). Eventually I did block this guy because he was kinda a dick, but this isn't too relevant. What is relevant though is blocking someone on Telegram only blocks them from directly contacting you over direct messages; it doesn't block someone from replying to you in group chats or overall interacting normally in a group chat. Anyway, I had blocked this guy as of the events I'm going to get into and because of how Telegram works, we could still communicate in the group chat.

Now onto the actual event. Keep in mind that this guy works at a restaurant.

He came into the chat one morning mentioning that he was sick, like throwing up sort of sick, and said he was going to work anyway because his workplace was short on staff. Everyone active at the moment tried to talk him out of it -- he worked at a restaurant, and he was throwing up -- but we had no success in talking him out of going to work. All of us started trying to figure out what to do because this guy was risking the safety of literally everyone there. We even brought up the fact that if he went to work and got his coworkers sick, they'd be even shorter on staff, thus completely negating his point in going to work despite being sick.

One of the other members of the chat suggested we call his workplace and let them know he told us he was throwing up because it was a safety issue. I don't remember if anyone actually called his workplace, but it was something that was discussed.

Eventually (I don't remember if it was before or after he got off work) we started telling him our concerns and admittedly it did get heated, because this guy risked public safety (and his coworkers' health) and potentially his job and the restaurant by going to work after throwing up. NONE of us were happy about it. We were all varying levels of pissed, annoyed, irritated, anxious, etc.

Eventually he left the chat and he hasn't returned since then.

Why I think I might be TA:

I contributed to the discussion of "this guy is risking public safety and he really shouldn't be going to work if he's throwing up" which is the reason he left the chat.

I told my brother (who also worked in fast food at the time) and my aunt about it and they basically told me it was a dick move.

Why I think I might not be TA, or at the very least justified:

This guy was risking public safety

I didn't actively get heated until it was clear he wasn't taking what we were saying into consideration, at which point it felt like I needed to get more intense about it because he wasn't fucking listening

Additional bits of info:

To reiterate, Telegram doesn't block people from interacting with you or vice versa in group chats specifically if you've blocked them. It just means you can't communicate over direct messages. This is why I could still talk to this guy in the group chat despite blocking him.

I'm not entirely sure how relevant it is, but in case it's more relevant than if he worked at a McDonalds or Wendy's, this guy worked at a Mexican restaurant chain. I won't say specifically which one to respect privacy, but he worked at a Mexican fast food chain.

The reason I blocked him is completely irrelevant to this, and I don't feel like sharing why I blocked him anyway.

I don't remember what my thought on "call his manager" was, please don't ask about it.

He'd already been banned from or left the chat before (I don't remember which; if it was the latter I'm pretty sure it was because he knew people found him annoying but I don't remember any bannable offenses from him), then let in again by the chat's owner. He was actually let in again I think a day or two before all this went down. Because of him having just been let into the chat again less than 5 days before all this, the chat owner was trying to get us to calm down, which we obviously weren't doing since this guy had told us he was throwing up and still went to work his fast food job.

TL;DR: AITA for participating in making a guy feel so bad about going to work after telling us he threw up and therefore risking public safety and the health of his coworkers that he left the group chat?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole #emetophobia cw

[pooks]

time to nag about my headcanon "Percy has Seer powers" and why that is a great idea

first of all, a little clarification; this isn't common knowledge to the younger siblings. only Arthur, Molly, Bill and Charlie knows. they kept this secret after Fabian and Gideon Prewett died

this implies that they died to protect Percy, who was just this tiny toddler who had absolutely no control over what he could See

the result is to keep his Seer powers secret

some background info; Percy's Seer powers is a rare gift that is apparently passed down from the Black side

Cedrella, aka their paternal grandmother, had it and has taught Percy how to use and control it. that's why Percy had a more closer bond to his granny than the rest of the family.

Arthur did not inherit it, but one of his brothers did. unfortunately, his poor brother is dead (it's not Billius, but someone else cause Arthur had three brothers accourding to the wiki) because he rather die than to let himself being caught by Voldemort and used as a tool.

while he doesn't understand Seer powers too well, Arthur respects it and is trying to be supportive for Percy.

also at a later point, Percy had 1 Bad Incident™ involving his Seer powers and it slightly traumatised him enough to not try to use it again

he takes divination in his third year for two reasons; 1, he also want to achieve 12 NEWTS like Bill. 2, he wants to understand his weird future-seeing power.

Oliver, his roommate (oh my god they were roommates) finds out by accident and keeps nagging him about the future Quidditch match results. Percy refuses cause that's SPOILERS

and now ONTO THE FUN STUFF

Percy can look far into the future, but he settles for the fun stuff

he occassionally makes references to memes and vines

his siblings doesn't understand them at all

at least until they're all adults with families in the future

and they be like "YOU KNEW"

and Percy just smiles innocently even though he absolutely isn't

Harry and Hermione aren't safe from Percy's Seer Shenanigans either

everytime Hermione is working with a crossword, Percy's eyes flashes green for a moment and when he opens his mouth, Hermione hits him with a pillow cause he was about to reveal the answer

Harry asked Percy once if his Seer powers was why Fudge promoted him. Percy simply smiled and said "yes, that was the reason. but the idiot didn't realized that i tricked him all the time and sent him on a wild goose chase."

aaaaand some Ministry shitshow stuff;

HEADCANON TWO; PERCY MADE LIFE SOUR FOR FUDGE AND THE IDIOT NEVER REALIZED IT

ofc Percy would be petty af once he figured out Fudge only wanted him because of his Seer powers. which means the fucker looked at the classified information in his personell file. Percy is obvs mad about that, but it's too late to tell his family about it and he decides to be an absolute menace about it without being caught

"getting caught means that you weren't smart enough to get an escape plan"

Percy takes full offense of being treated like a tool instead of a human with rights

he burns several draft-ups for the "updated law for underage magic" because they're fucking awful and he knows the bastard wants to ruin Harry's education. that also means he would ruin his baby siblings' educations.

he also burnt the suggestion papers about giving Azkaban prisoners the dementor's kiss without trial.

the law suggestions about banning human rights for werewolves, wizard hybrids and squibs also got BURNT INTO ASHES

Percy: I decide the future now. >:)

Scrimgeour makes an early bird appearence cause Fudge can't find the law suggestions anymore and he was the idiot to not keep copies.

after investigating privately, Scrimgeour finds out that Percy burnt them up and this madlad explains why.

suddenly Scrimgeour fully supports Percy and says his late uncles would be proud. bonus: Scrimgeour simply says to Fudge that he can't find things that may be gone forever, it's sadly "lost media" now.

Percy, getting the idea from the twints, orders dragon fertilizer (it's dragon dung lol) subscription from norway's dragon research center and sanctuary and sends it to Umbridge, using her forged signature

he's careful to not get caught, so he looks into the future (a bit at the time, though)

feel free to add some of your own ideas/suggestions/headcanon about Seer!Percy Weasley :)

#percy weasley #hp headcanon #seer percy weasley #pooks rambles

[electronickingdomfox]

Star Trek TOS crew biographies

There are plenty of detailed biographies of the TOS crew, both online and in reference books. But I wanted to check what actually appears in the Original Series and the six TOS movies about this subject (that is, not counting secondary sources or later series). And the result is... very little, actually. I was surprised by the amount of data that I took for granted, just to find out it came from a novel or wasn't 100% set in stone. This is what I could find about each major character, just judging from the TOS series and movies. Feel free to add to this or correct mistakes.

James Tiberius Kirk:

Although in the series he's referred just as James T. Kirk, his middle name "Tiberius" appears in Star Trek VI. "Tiberius" was also his middle name in TAS episode Bem, and the novel The Galactic Whirlpool (both by Gerrold), as well as in Roddenberry's TMP novelization. So yeah, no doubts about his name.

He was born in Iowa (Star Trek IV) and had one brother, George Samuel Kirk, and three nephews (What are little girls made of?). Sam married a woman named Aurelan (Operation: Annihilate).

Kirk was 34 in The Deadly Years. Assuming each season is a year of the five year mission, he could be 33 at the start of the series. And this is the only reference for his age I could find. As for actual dates, I didn't find anything, except his statement in Star Trek IV that he comes from the late 23rd century. (It wouldn't be until Voyager episode Q2, that a date was given for the end of the five-year mission: 2270. This follows Michael Okuda's Star Trek Chronology, and all other dates for TOS are inferred from this).

At age 13 he witnessed the massacre of Tarsus IV (Kodos was governor twenty years ago, in The Conscience of the King).

At age 18 he had just entered the Academy and was tormented by Finnegan. At this time he also met Ruth (fifteen years before Shore Leave).

He served in the USS Republic as an ensign, at some unspecified time after his Academy years, where he reported Ben Finney for negligency (Court Martial).

At age 21 he visited the planet Neural and befriended Tyree (thirteen years before A private little war).

He teached at the Academy as a lieutenant. One of his students was his friend Gary Mitchell (Where No Man has Gone Before).

He was a lieutenant in the USS Farragut at age 23 (eleven years before Obsession), where he first encountered the cloud creature that massacred his crewmates.

Kirk had a relationship with Areel Shaw when he was 29 (four years before Court Martial).

He became captain of the USS Enterprise after Pike. If we suppose TOS first season happens during the first year of the five-year mission, Kirk was around 37 at the end of this mission.

There's a big gap of fifteen years between Space Seed and the second movie. And apart from the five-year mission, most of those years are unaccounted for. Kirk's been an admiral for two years and a half at the start of TMP. But we don't know if he became an admiral right after the Enterprise's mission, or much later. That is, we don't know at what point of that gap take place the events of TMP. Around this time, both Spock and McCoy had retired from Starfleet, though they both returned when Kirk took the Enterprise again for the V'Ger incident.

By The Wrath of Kahn, Kirk should be 48 years old (fifteen years since he left Kahn stranded in Space Seed). If David is around 30, Kirk's relationship with Carol could have been at the Academy, but it's also possible that David is younger.

The third and fourth films happen shortly after The Wrath of Kahn, but no idea how much time elapsed since then and the fifth and sixth films (though see the info for McCoy).

Spock

Known simply as "Spock". His full name is considered unpronounceable for humans, though the novel Ishmael gives it as "S'chn T'gai Spock".

His parents are Sarek and Amanda (Journey to Babel). Amanda's last name was never given, though TAS episode Yesteryear, some novels, and the 2009 reboot film establishes it as "Grayson". Spock also has a half-brother: Sybok (Star Trek V).

I couldn't find anything about Spock's actual age during the series/movies.

He was betrothed to T'Pring at age seven (Amok Time).

He probably joined Starfleet eighteen years before Journey to Babel, since that's the time he spent not speaking with Sarek. If he joined Starfleet at 18 years old, he'd be 36 by season two (but that's just a supposition).

He was part of Pike's crew thirteen years before The Menagerie, during the events in Talos IV. He'd be 22 by then. Spock served under Pike for eleven years (also from The Menagerie). That means Kirk had been captain of the Enterprise for at least two years before season one.

After that, Spock's career runs more or less in parallel with Kirk's, so I won't go over it again.

Leonard H. McCoy

His middle initial first appears in Star Trek III, as well as the name of his father: David. The novel Provenance of Shadows explains the middle initial as "Horatio", but other novels call him "Leonard Edward McCoy" (???).

Much of his biographical background comes from the "Writer's Guide" by Roddenberry and Fontana, but never made it to the series. That includes the fact he's 45 (by season one?) and born in Georgia. As well as the fact that he's divorced and joined Starfleet as a result of this, and that he has a 20 year old daughter (Joanna). Presumably, the story of his divorce and Joanna would have appeared in The Way to Eden, but the story was severely altered. His daughter is mentioned, but without name, in TAS episode The Survivor, and in several novels. The Gold Key comics call her "Barbara" instead. His ex-wife is given different names in the novels and comics: Honey, Jocelyn, Joan, Gillian...

No idea when he joined Starfleet (that depends on how long was his marriage), or when he met Kirk.

Ten years before The Man Trap, he had a romance with Nancy Crater. Though in the episode he sometimes says he knew her twelve years ago, and other times ten years ago. Either it's a mistake, or the relationship simply lasted two years (though McCoy's doubts about Nancy remembering him, imply the relationship wasn't very long).

At some point, he visited Capella IV for a few months (Friday's Child).

He served in the Enterprise for 27 years (Star Trek VI), but only under Kirk, it seems. If he was 45 when he started, he'd be 72 in the last film, and Kirk would be 60 years old.

Note on McCoy's age in later series

The "Writer's Guide" statement that McCoy was 45 at the time of TOS, was contradicted by later series. In TNG episode Encounter at Farpoint, he's said to be 137 years old. While in the episode The Neutral Zone (also from TNG season one) the year is 2364. As both episodes probably happen in the same year, McCoy would have been born in 2227. Since, according to Voyager, the five-year mission lasted from 2266 to 2270, McCoy would have been 39 at the start of the mission. I'm following the Writer's Guide figure, however, because I consider this document more relevant for TOS itself. After all, many things that are facts in later series, aren't the same in TOS, and viceversa. Also, considering that the age of the characters seems to be close to the age of the actors, I find more likely that McCoy was 45, and not 39, at the start of TOS. To give you an idea, Shatner was 36 in season two (Kirk was 34), Nimoy was also 36 (just as Spock) and Kelley was 47. The twelve year gap between Kirk and McCoy, would be almost the same as the eleven year gap between Shatner and Kelley.

Montgomery Scott

Very little about him, but at least we got his full name in the series. He's supposed to be Scottish, and has lived in Aberdeen (Wolf in the Fold).

Apart from being Chief Engineer in the Enterprise, he was engineer advisor in a freighter, running from Deneva to the asteroid belt (Operation: Annihilate).

Uhura

We never knew her first name in TOS! This is one of the things that surprised me the most. However, "Nyota" is her first name in the reboot films, the new series, and well before that, the novel The Entropy Effect.

She was probably born in east Africa, since her native language seems to be Swahili (the language she reverted to when her memory was wiped in The Changeling). Thanks to user @sapsuckers-and-stardust for pointing this out.

Very, very little about her bio background. Most of it has to be collected from novels or comics, and those never intended to be coherent with each other.

Hikaru Sulu

Though his first name was unknown for a long time, it was revealed to be "Hikaru" in Star Trek VI. But before this, he was also called Hikaru in The Entropy Effect.

Sulu was born in San Francisco (Star Trek IV).

Again, almost nothing of his bio in the series/movies. Though the DC comics explored his character significantly. And in Star Trek: Generations, he had a daughter, Demora.

By Star Trek VI, he was finally a captain of his own ship, the Excelsior.

Pavel Andreievich Chekov

His full name appears first in The Way to Eden, where we also learn he had a romance with Irina Galliulin at the Academy.

Chekov has no siblings (Day of the Dove).

He's 22 by season two (Who mourns for Adonais?).

After serving in the Enterprise, he was first officer in the USS Reliant during The Wrath of Kahn, though he returned with Kirk after the Reliant's destruction.

Christine Chapel

She abandoned her career in bio-research to sign aboard the Enterprise as a nurse, and search after her fiancé Roger Korby (What are little girls made of?) Strangely enough, a few episodes before, she had confessed her love for Spock. She chose to stay in the ship after finding out Korby was dead.

By the time of TMP, she was a doctor in the Enterprise, though she doesn't appear as part of the crew in the later movies.

Janice Rand

She served as a yeoman in the Enterprise during the early five-year mission, but disappears from the series afterwards.

In TMP, she's the transporter chief. And in Star Trek IV, Janice is seen at Starfleet Command, along with Chapel.

By Star Trek VI, she was the communications officer of the Excelsior, under Sulu.

#star trek tos #reference #biographies #star trek tos crew #james kirk #spock #leonard mccoy #uhura #montgomery scott #hikaru sulu #pavel chekov #christine chapel #janice rand

[beaulesbian]

I was only today years old when I realized that Trafalgar Law's names are probably references to two battles that led in our real life history to a certain emperor (Napoleon)'s defeat.

*arrives 10 years late with a meta post because of a realization*

uhh Dressrosa spoilers, I guess.

Trafalgar and Waterloo... Water Law.

In One Piece world that emperor being Doflamingo, who suffered two major loses thanks to Law's existence:

First being cca 13 years ago from the main storyline - at the Minion Island where Corazon managed to get the Op-op devil fruit for Law and saving his life from Doflamingo. On that island, Doflamingo lost both Corazon and the devil fruit he wanted to much to get his hands on, as well as Law, someone who he wanted to use as the sacrifice to get the immortality via the devil fruit's powers.

Tbh I haven't really heard about the Trafalgar battle before today. When I first heard about Trafalgar Law as character while I started to read One Piece only cca 5 months ago, I only thought "huh, isn't that a square in England, I was there on a trip once" but didn't look more into it now.

So I just skimmed throught the wiki pages of those battles, I don't know all the details, I don't want to compare it too much, but some maybe similarities/parallels that piqued my interest:

The Battle of Trafalgar were the spanish-france forces against english navy, and Donquixote/Dressrosa arc including all those spanish themes, as well as Law being from the North Blue (where Sanji and Mont Blanc Noland are/were also from) being a bit influenced by France, plays interesting role when this happened in North Blue as a prelude to what would 13 years later happen in Dressrosa (the birdcage, Doflamingo's rule, the puppets, etc).

This part of the Trafalgar battle describing the british was at first outnumbered, that the spanish had more ships along with one of their biggest one:

reminded me of how Corazon himself faced with the whole Donquixote family, including Doflamingo:

and some more interesting similarities how the "hero" of the battle died even before it ended:

but thanks to his informations, the Navy later arrived, and Law got away.

(even on the wiki of the Trafalgar battle there were mentions of some false informations, previous pursuits of the ships and admirals etc, so that vibe kind of fits.)

I haven't read much about the Waterloo battle, except how known it is for being the final defeat of Napoleon, by Coalition armies - which would nicely parallel to Law and Luffy starting their own Alliance during Dressrosa, and thanks to that it caused for Luffy to be there to beat Doflamingo once and for all.

Some other small details I noticed:

The Don Quixote book was apparently first published in two parts, one in 1605 and the other in 1615.

The battle of Trafalgar happened in 1805, and the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

I found one person even connecting the date when was published the chapter of Doflamingo's deafeat in Dressrosa - 18th of June, 2015, which is the same date only 200 years later after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

I love that in some sense both battles have in common water, and for the One Piece world that is connected with pirates and ships - with the historical aspects the battle of Trafalgar being a naval battle, and Waterloo for the Water in Trafalgar D. Water Law - he concealed his full name from Doflamingo for all those years, his secret name as well as the will of the Ds. - for our world a possible reference if one looks more that he really was meant to be Doflamingo's downfall.

There's just something beautiful about Law's whole existence to be a sort of a foretelling of the fall of one of the emperors of the sea, just by having these names. And it's not just the names of his, but the parallels to the situations and results of the incidents taking place at those locations.

It's literally a middle finger to Doflamingo:

#anyway.. i had some law feels bc of this #trafalgar law #trafalgar d water law #one piece #donquixote rosinante #donquixote doflamingo #donquixote corazon #one piece meta #gif:op meta #mine #long post #there could be so much more said about this connection to how law saved luffy and luffy in turned saved him. #how law carries Corazon in his heart as someone that needs to be remembered #how small doflamingo was told that because of his lineage and haki he's meant to be the king of all seas #this was all bc of a book i wanted to start rereading that has nothing to do with one piece. but the first sentence was a setting opening #'93 years after trafalgar' and just that made me remembered oh! naval battle on the seas with the same name as a beloved character! #now i can hopefully go back to start rereading that book lol

[anyasathenaeum]

Elysium (Dad!Vash fic) - Chapter 1

A/N: Hi everybody! So, I felt kinda beat up after Tumblr wiped my requests, but then I randomly got inspiration to write a Dad!Vash fic. This is going to have multiple chapters (no idea how many yet), but I'll be writing it as I can. I've cross-posted it to AO3 here.

Story Summary: Vash the Stampede remains in hiding after the disaster of Julai city. In the year since the disaster, you and Vash have had children and are living a quiet life in town, until one day, the arrival of bandits threatens to rip away the life you and Vash have built together. What will Vash give to protect his family?

Warnings: Reader is AFAB in this work, referred to using she/her pronouns and "Mama" by the kids, explicit mentions of pregnancy, childbirth, and violence

Chapter Wordcount: 5.8k

Chapter 1: On The Horizon

"Mama? Mama, wake up." 

A little voice called from the side of your bed, and you groggily registered the feeling of little hands tugging on yours as your eyes fluttered open.

All you could see were two pairs of identical blue eyes, both wide open as they gazed at you curiously and somewhat impatiently. As soon as you awoke, two sets of identical grins broke out on your children's' faces.

"Mmm? What is it, my loves?" You asked groggily, sitting up in bed with a big yawn as you rubbed your sleepiness from your eyes. It couldn't have been later than 6 or 7 in the morning, but your twin children had always been early risers, much like their father.

"We brought you something!"

You watched as the boy, Nicholas, and his sister, Rem, came into your room with a tray they were holding. On it was a plate of food, as well as a cup of water and some beautiful flowers.

"Oh? Did you two make me breakfast in bed?" You asked, your heart warming at the sight of your babies doing this for you, "Thank you, my loves! I love it."

You took the tray from your children and placed it beside you on the bed before leaning over and enveloping both children into your arms, hugging them close and kissing their heads, causing them both to giggle happily as they hugged you back.

"Love you, mama!" Nicholas chimed happily, with Rem nodding her head in agreement and echoing her brother's sentiment, "Yes, mama, we love you!"

You chuckled happily as you hugged your children close, feeling their small bodies against your own. As you glanced up at the doorway, you felt your heart flutter at the sight of your husband smiling at you and your children.

Vash couldn't help but feel his heart swelling in his chest as he watched his children, your children, hugging you and giggling happily as you held them close in your and his shared bed, his smile only growing as he watched the scene before him.

In the past, Vash never would've dared to let himself hope that he'd ever experience happiness like this. He never would've let himself dream that he would have a family, have children and a spouse that he loved more than anything in his life. And yet, against all his expectations, against all his beliefs, happiness fell into his lap the day the two of you realized you were expecting.

You had found Vash shortly after the disaster at Julai city, when the entire city was turned into a crater in the ground and 90% of the population had been wiped out when Vash fell from the sky. Vash had been a broken man, unable to even speak from the grief and the shock of what had happened when you found him. His memories surrounding the incident were muddy at best, but eventually, they returned to him and Vash slowly began to work through what had happened.

During that time, a kind woman by the name of Sheryl and her only living grandchild, Lina, had taken you both in and gave you refuge as you and Vash recovered from the Julai incident, with Vash taking on the name "Eriks" as you both hid from the world. Many nights were spent with you comforting Vash as he wept from nightmares that plagued him constantly, or Vash holding you close and protecting you as memories tried to pull you into their dark depths.

Those nights together brought you and Vash closer together than ever before - the two of you had always been fast and good friends, but this... being each other's anchor when one was caught in a storm of grief and sadness and anger... it brought you two together in a way neither of you had anticipated.

You two had both chosen to silently let whatever bond the two of you had develop and become whatever it was going to become. However, after one particularly bad nightmare where Vash had dreamt of losing you and woken up crying, only to find you looking at him worriedly and with such warmth and tenderness behind your eyes, Vash couldn't help but blurt out those three words.

"I love you."

Vash had fully been crying as he said those words to you breathlessly, as if desperate to get them out into the real world, desperate for you to understand how much you meant to him. He had clutched you desperately to him, his face buried in your hair as he took in your comforting, familiar scent between sobs, mumbling over and over again.

"I love you. I love you, (Y/N), I love you. You're everything to me. P-Please... don't go."

Your heart had broken for him that night, before being set alight when you realized what Vash had said to you. He loved you. You wanted to scream with joy, but instead, all you could do was pull the man you loved so much closer to you, burying your face into him as you held him tighter than ever before as he cried against you.

"I love you, too, Vash. So, so much."

After that night, you and Vash were inseparable, and it was clear to anybody who saw you and Vash together that the two of you were in love and nobody would ever come between you. Grandma Sheryl and Lina had been kind in helping you both find a home to call your own in the town. A beaten-up, neglected old house on the outskirts of the town that desperately needed some love and care eventually became your new home, a home where neither you nor Vash needed to hide.

One day, out of the blue, you had suddenly realized your body was changing. When Vash had placed his hands on you, your belly had begun to glow with faint plant runes, much like the markings on Vash's body whenever he tapped into his Plant abilities and powers. As you looked at him curiously, you watched Vash's eyes widen and his jaw drop open.

"(Y/N)... you're pregnant."

"Woah, woah, woah, what do you mean "pregnant"?" You replied immediately, frowning at him. "That's not possible... is it?"

Vash looked down at you and replied softly, his eyes trained on your stomach, "It's possible. Just... extremely rare."

Your mind had began to spiral as your hand pressed to your belly protectively, as if to shield the life that was growing within it from the world.

"I'm pregnant," You repeated, clearly stunned, your hand beginning to mindlessly rubbing circles over your belly, tracing the plant markings that announced your pregnancy.

You and Vash had to sit down and discuss how everything was going to change now that you were pregnant, and at the end of that conversation, Vash had taken your hand in his and stood up before guiding you towards town.

"Vash? Where are we going?" You had inquired, gazing at him as he continued walking ahead of you, almost as if in a hurry.

He didn't answer you, instead just borderline dragging you through town until he stopped suddenly before an unassuming building. You had raised an eyebrow at him, clearly asking for an explanation.

"Marry me."

You blinked.

"What?"

Vash had grinned at you, his smile warmer than anything you'd ever seen from him before.

"Marry me, (Y/N). You're pregnant with my child, and I want you to be assured that no matter what happens, I'll always be there to love you and our child and protect you both for as long as I live."

You continued to stare at him as if he had grown a second head, failing to take in exactly what Vash had asked of you. Once it sunk in, your eyes widened and you had begun to splutter.

"B-But, Vash, what if you have to go on the run again? I can't be the reason you're held back! That's not fair to you."

Vash had stepped forward and pulled you to him, his large hand splaying over your abdomen protectively yet incredibly tenderly. His voice was low and gentle.

"(Y/N)... I don't care. You and this child are my family, now. And I swear to always protect my family. I love you both so much, and I refuse to let any harm come to either of you. I'll be damned if I leave you and my child unprotected. The best way for me to ensure your safety is by staying by your side. Forever."

You felt yourself moved to tears as you looked at Vash, who was simply smiling down at you with such love that it made your heart flutter in your chest. You pulled him down by the back of his neck and kissed him with everything in you, trying to show him just how much you loved him through your actions.

"Okay," You whispered softly once the two of you had broken apart, "I'll marry you."

Without another word and grinning like he had just won the greatest prize on the planet, Vash took your hand in his much larger one and guided you into the building, where the two of you signed a marriage license and exchanged vows and rings to symbolize your commitment to each other.

After that day, you and Vash prepared for the arrival of your child. You had managed to create a nursery, crib and all, and awaited nervously for the day your child would arrive.

Your pregnancy advanced more rapidly than that of a regular human, given your baby was half-human, half-plant, and you found yourself struggling to carry the baby as your pregnancy progressed. Your body had to adjust more rapidly than anticipated, and Vash was terrified for your safety as time went on. He refused to let you do anything that potentially risked your safety or the baby's, constantly stepping in and taking over whatever task you were trying to accomplish.

"(Y/N), be careful," Vash would admonish you gently, "Don't want anything to happen to you or the little one."

It got to the point where Vash would've wrapped you in bubble wrap if he could've, and it drove you gently insane.

"I swear, Vash, if you don't let me do this, I'm going to scream."

Eventually, your waters broke about 4 1/2 months into your pregnancy and you had rushed to the medical clinic in the town. With several hours of screaming various profanities, pushing, and nearly breaking every bone in Vash's hand, you had managed to bring your baby boy into the world.

"Nicholas," You had uttered the moment you saw your little boy, panting heavily as the nurses took him away to get him cleaned up and swaddled.

"Nicholas?" Vash asked gently, clearly fighting off tears as he gazed at the little blue bundle in the nurse's arms. "After Wolfwood?"

"Yeah..." You replied, gazing at Vash with a warm smile as he held your son, "I think it fits."

"I-It does," Vash choked out, tears beginning to pour down his face as he held little Nicholas close and nuzzled the little baby's cheek with the tip of his finger, "Our little boy. Our Nicholas."

Vash looked over at you as he began to weep completely, "Oh, (Y/N)... thank you. Thank you for giving me him. Thank you for giving me my family. I love you so much. You two are everything to me."

You had smiled and opened your mouth to reply when another crippling contraction ripped through you, tearing a scream from you. Vash jumped and immediately came over, reaching out to you, fear evident on his face.

"Mayfly?! What's wrong?!"

You couldn't even answer him, groaning and crying out in pain as contraction after contraction wracked your body, your hands gripping the sheets for dear life. The doctor and nurses came sprinting in, and after a minute or two of careful assessment, the doctor promptly announced.

"There is another baby, it's coming now."

"Another?!" You shrieked, looking at the doctor and then at Vash, who looked positively stunned, his mouth open and his eyes owlishly wide.

"Yes," The doctor confirmed, "It seems you were carrying twins. The second baby is coming now."

Thankfully, this baby came quicker than its older sibling, and within a couple pushes, another little wailing sound filled the air as your daughter announced her arrival into the world.

You were completely exhausted, unable to even keep your eyes open as the nurses brought your daughter back, cleaned and swaddled to rest on your chest. As your energy slowly returned, you managed to open your eyes and look at your daughter for the first time.

Both she and Nicholas had wisps of Vash's blonde hair, and the same big blue eyes he had. They even had matching birthmarks under their right eyes, complimenting the one Vash had beneath his left eye. Near carbon copies of their father.

"(Y/N)..."

You glanced over at Vash and you could see him sobbing almost hysterically from joy as he leaned down and kissed your forehead.

"Mayfly... oh, Mayfly... they're perfect. They're perfect. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you..."

Vash sat by your side and held you and your children close. The little girl yawned on your chest before dozing off promptly, much like her twin brother was sleeping happily in Vash's arms.

"What should we name you, little one?" You whispered gently, caressing your daughter's soft cheek with your fingertip.

You and Vash sat there quietly, just gazing down at your newborn babies, reveling in how things had forever been changed when Vash suddenly whispered.

"What about "Rem"?"

""Rem"? Like your adoptive mother?" You asked softly as you gazed at your daughter.

Vash nodded, wiping away his tears gently, "Yeah... is that okay?"

"I think it's perfect," You answered softly, reaching out to hold your husband's hand gently, squeezing it as you spoke.

"Nicholas and Rem," Vash repeated back, gazing down at the little bundled blankets in his and your arms.

He gave a watery smile as he looked back up at you, tears silently streaking down his face.

"My family, (Y/N). Our family."

Vash let out a shaky laugh before continuing, "I never thought I could ever be this happy. I feel like I swallowed a box of fireworks. I love you, (Y/N). I love you more than anything, and I... I love them. Little Nicholas... little Rem... I love them. Do they know just how much happiness they bring with them? Do they know I'd do anything to protect them?"

You couldn't help but laugh a little, your own tears going down your cheeks as you kissed Vash's cheek.

"I'm sure they'll know as they get older. I love you, Vash. I love our family, and I'll do anything to protect you, to protect them, too."

Vash slowly scooted into your hospital bed, sitting next to you and holding you close as he continued to hold Nicholas and as you continued to hold Rem. This was your family, now.

Rem and Nicholas proceeded to grow up pretty quickly due to their being half-human, half-plant, and within a year, they were already the equivalent of a human 4 year-old, able to walk and talk and tell stories and do things, like making you breakfast in bed with some help from their father.

"Thank you, my love, for making sure they didn't burn down the kitchen."

Your voice snapped Vash from his revelry as he stood in the doorway, and he looked up to see you smiling lovingly at him from your shared bed, your breakfast tray next to you and your children still hugging you tightly.

"Oh, my pleasure, Mayfly," Vash chuckled as he walked in and hugged you and the children, all of you giggling and laughing together. A moment of complete and utter happiness.

"Now, what should we do today?" You asked playfully, pressing a kiss to the top of both Rem and Nicholas's heads, before glancing up at Vash with a warm smile.

"How abouuuut...." Vash drawled playfully, before snagging Rem and Nicholas under their arms and pulling them into him as they squealed and laughed happily, "We all go see Grandma Sheryl and big sister Lina?"

"Yes!" Nicholas cried happily, clapping his little hands together, "Grandma Sheryl! Big sis Lina!"

"I wanna go!" Rem cried out, echoing her brother's sentiment as she tugged on Vash's shirt, looking up at him with the same big blue eyes he possessed.

You couldn't help but laugh at the sight of your family, and you exclaimed, "Alright, then! We'll do a field trip to Grandma Sheryl's and big sis Lina's! Papa's gonna go call Grandma Sheryl to let her know we're coming, but why don't you two come tell me what you made me for breakfast?"

Nicholas and Rem beelined right back to you, quickly crawling onto the bed and pointing at the different things they had made you for breakfast as Vash headed downstairs to call Grandma Sheryl.

"I made the eggs!" Rem said, a proud smile on her face.

"I made the pancakes!" Nicholas chimed in, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No, Papa made the pancakes!"

"No, I did!"

"No, you didn't!"

You couldn't help but laugh and pull the twins into you, hugging them close to stop their bickering, "Now, now, fighting won't get either of you anywhere. You both worked very hard to make me breakfast, so thank you, my loves. I love you both very, very much."

"Love you too, mama," Nicholas replied, burying his face into your tummy, as Rem snuggled into your side with a mumble of "Love you, mama."

You sat there as you slowly ate your breakfast, chuckling as the twins took pieces of food themselves from your breakfast tray ("Just to try, mama!" Rem assured you as she put a piece of pancake in her mouth).

Once you were done, you sent the kids to get dressed and ready to go see Grandma Sheryl while you took the time to shower and get ready for the day yourself. As you came out of the bathroom, you were greeted by the sight of Vash sitting on your shared bed, a frown on his face. He seemed lost in thought.

"You alright, Vash?" You asked softly, coming over to stand in front of him.

Vash quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he glanced up up at you, a small smile appearing on his lips as his hands came up to grab your hips before tugging you closer to him.

"Nothing, Mayfly. Just..." Vash trailed off, clearly trying to find a way to explain whatever was bothering him.

"It's okay, Vash," You encouraged him, cupping his face in your hands and making him look at you, "What's wrong?"

Vash sighed heavily before saying softly, "Grandma Sheryl says bandits have been wreaking havoc in town over the past couple days. Sounds like they've been behind all kind of trouble. I don't think we should still go see her. I don't want to risk your safety, or Rem's or Nicholas's. I don't want anything happening to you."

You frowned as you heard this, and you thought to yourself for a few moments before speaking up, "Well... why don't you and I go into town first and see how bad it is? If it's truly dangerous, we come straight back and spend the day home, instead. If it's okay, then we can bring the kids along and go see Sheryl."

Vash just gazed at you, carefully taking in your words and your expression before exhaling softly, "That might be the safest approach. Although, I don't think you should come either."

"Why not?" You asked, looking at Vash with a frown on your face.

"Because I don't want you in any danger, (Y/N)," Vash answered simply, pulling you into his lap and hugging you close to him, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck, "And I don't want to leave the children home alone if bandits are in the area."

You sighed as you felt Vash press a soft kiss to your neck, and you knew he was right - if bandits were nearby, causing havoc in town, it was best not to leave Rem and Nicholas alone, unprotected.

"Alright..." You conceded, looking down at your husband, "I'll stay here with the kids. But, you need to be careful, Eriks. Promise me you'll come right back here."

You shot him a look as you used his fake name. He was never "Vash the Stampede" anywhere except within the four walls of your home; instead, he was "Eriks Saverem".

You had originally thought him using his adoptive mother's last name wasn't the best idea, but Vash argued that he needed a last name and Rem's last name was as good as any, given she was his mother in every way that mattered.

"Besides, who else would recognize that last name?" Vash had asked, a small smile on his face as he remembered his adoptive mother.

"Your brother, all the individuals who work for your brother, Brad and Luida..." You had listed off, counting them off on your fingers, which caused Vash to whine.

"(Y/NNNNNN)..."

"Alright, alright," You had conceded in the end, sighing with a roll of your eyes, "But don't come crying to me if you have to go on the run again."

In the present, you pressed a soft kiss to Vash's lips before you stood from his lap, patting his back gently.

"Be safe out there, my love," You whispered gently, "Come home to us. Come home to me."

"Always, Mayfly," Vash replied with a warm smile, "I will always come home to you. I swear it on my life."

"Good," You retorted, "I'll be keeping you to your promise."

"I'd expect no less."

Vash grinned at you, before taking your hand in his and pressing a kiss to your wedding ring - a way of sealing his promise to you.

"I love you, Stampede," You whispered to him, reaching out and brushing a strand of his now-long blonde hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ear tenderly.

"And I love you, (Y/N)," Vash replied softly, catching your other hand in his and kissing your palm tenderly in return.

"Alright, off with you," You chuckled, stepping away from your husband and turning to head downstairs, "That way you can be back sooner."

All you could hear was Vash chuckling as you went downstairs, finding Rem and Nicholas playing in the living room of your small home. When you appeared, both of them looked up at you and smiled.

"What is it, Mama?" Rem asked suddenly, cocking her small head to the side as she studied you intently, almost exactly the way her father did.

You quickly forced a smile as you came over to where your children were sitting, joining them on the carpet.

"Well," You began softly, "Apparently, it's a bit hard for us to go see Grandma Sheryl and big sis Lina right now. Papa's gonna go take a look and see if we can still go."

Nicholas and Rem exchanged looks, and Nicholas now piped up, "Hard, mama?"

"Yes, my love," You answered, continuing to explain, "There are some bad guys in town, and neither Papa nor I want anything to happen to you two."

"Bad guys?" Rem asked, her eyes filling with a bit of fear. "Are they gonna hurt us?"

"No, my love," You replied immediately, "Papa and I will protect you two, we won't let anything or anybody hurt you. I promise."

Rem quickly scrambled over and hugged you tightly, and you could feel your daughter trembling in your embrace. You quickly held her close, stroking her hair gently.

"Mama's got you," You whispered to her gently, "And Papa's got you, too. Always."

Nicholas slowly came over and joined the hug, and you held both of them close. Suddenly, you felt an additional set of warm, muscular arms wrap around you and the twin, and you heard Vash's voice speaking gently.

"Mama and Papa will always protect you two. Always, my loves."

Rem and Nicholas shifted slightly so that they could hug both you and Vash at the same time, and you all held your group hug for a few moments before Vash finally pulled away.

"Alright, Papa's gotta go on a little adventure," Vash said gently, patting the children's heads, "I'll be back soon. Promise me you'll protect each other and Mama if anything happens."

"We will!" Nicholas exclaimed immediately, standing up straight, "I'll protect Mama and Rem!"

"No, I'll protect Mama and Nicholas!" Rem retorted, nudging her brother.

Before the twins could get into another small spat, Vash laughed heartily and pulled them into another hug.

"That's my girl and boy! I'm relying on you both, okay? See you both soon. I love you two."

"Love you, Papa!" Rem and Nicholas chimed in unison, and you mouthed to Vash as he glanced at you, "I love you".

With a final kiss to the top of the twins' heads, and a gentle kiss to your lips (met by loud "EWWWW"s from the twins), Vash stepped out of the house and headed into town.

Grandma Sheryl's warning had proven to be true - as Vash walked through the town, he noticed multiple buildings that now had holes in the wall, windows that were shattered, and that the inside of these buildings were filled with debris and torn to shreds. Vash could see smoke coming from some other part of town, and a feeling of dread began to take root in his chest.

'Oh, Gods... should I tell (Y/N) to get the children ready to move? Should we run? Should we go somewhere else, to a different town?' Vash's thoughts began to go wild as he carefully treaded through town, keeping an eye out for any sign of trouble. 'What if (Y/N) gets hurt? What if one of the children get hurt? What if-?... No, Vash, no, don't go there.'

Vash was snapped out of his internal panic by a cry from not too far away, and as he looked up, Vash saw a couple bandits surrounding an older gentleman who was laying on the ground, curled up in the fetal position as he tried to protect himself from the blows of the bandits. Vash recognized the older gentleman as the town doctor, the same doctor who had helped you deliver Nicholas and Rem about a year ago, a kind man who many looked to as the town grandfather.

"Hey!" Vash immediately shouted, his body moving before he could make sense of the situation, "Leave him alone!"

Vash managed to intervene, getting the bandits away from the doctor and helping him to his feet. The poor doctor was bleeding from his face where he had no doubt been kicked or punched, and one of his eyes were turning black.

"If ya know what's good for ya, get outta here!" One of the bandits, likely the leader of this particular squad, sneered at Vash. The other bandits circled around their leader, no doubt waiting for a sign to go after Vash and the doctor.

"Sorry, but no," Vash replied coolly, gazing at the bandits and trying to ascertain how much of a threat they posed. "What reason could you possibly have to attack the town doctor?"

"Because he said something I didn't like," the bandit leader retorted snidely. The bandit leader squared himself and approached Vash, getting much too close to him for Vash's comfort.

"I'll say it one last time - if ya know what's good for ya, leave. Now. Or we won't hold back on ya."

The bandit leader's eyes blazed as he said this, poking Vash hard in the chest in an attempt to intimidate him into backing off. However, Vash just shook his head once more.

"Sorry, guys, but violence doesn't fly with me. I'd suggest you get out of here before things go badly for you," Vash replied, even going so far as to smile at the bandit leader.

This, however, incensed the bandit leader, and he immediately swung at Vash, who easily dodged his attack and moved fast enough to flip the bandit leader onto his back and slam him into the ground.

"Aww, come on, guys!" Vash exclaimed, "There's no need for fighting! Just leave the doctor alone, simple as that!"

The other bandits came at Vash, but not one of them managed to get close to him as Vash swiftly dodged and evaded their attacks and used their attacks against each other. Within moments, most of the bandits lay on the ground, moaning softly and stirring a bit as they tried to regain their bearings.

"Mr. Saverem, thank you so much!" The doctor cried, shaking Vash's hand enthusiastically, "Your assistance was greatly appreciated!"

Vash went to answer the doctor, but he noticed how the bandit leader was now gazing at him, a look of pure and utter hatred on his face. Vash felt his heart fall to his feet - this wasn't over yet.

"S-Saverem, eh?" The bandit leader wheezed out, slowly getting to his feet and shooting Vash a wicked grin, "Good to have a name for the man whose ass I have to kick."

Vash sighed tiredly, "Look, buddy, I'm not in the mood to fight you again. Can you please leave so I can get on with my life, as can the rest of the town? I'm pretty sure you guys got everything of worth from here, anyways."

"We'll see about that," the bandit leader replied coolly, grinning once more at Vash and the doctor before holding something up in his hand. Vash felt his heart twist violently in his chest as he realized what it was - a picture. The picture Vash always carried on him in his pocket.

Of you, Rem and Nicholas.

Where did he get that?!

"My, my, she's a beauty," The bandit leader mused, his eyes filled with fire as he traced your smiling face in the photo. Vash had never felt such a strong urge to burn a picture before as the bandit leader traced over your face and then the faces of the twins, "And look at them. They look just like you, Mr. Saverem. You're a lucky man."

Vash suppressed a shiver as the bandit leader said his name with emphasis, and the smirk that grew on the bandit's face made Vash want to sprint home and hide you and the twins away from the world, somewhere where nobody could ever hurt any of you.

"Although..." The bandit leader continued, still smirking at Vash as he spoke, "I wonder at what point your luck will run out."

Vash had to bite his tongue, instead desperately fighting to remain calm and seem unbothered by the bandit leader's faintly veiled threats towards himself, towards you and the children.

So, instead, Vash merely shrugged and answered as if he didn't understand the threat the bandit leader was making, "I'm not sure."

The bandit leader's evil smirk only grew bigger as he crumpled the picture in his fist and threw it down on the ground, "Guess we'll have to find out."

With that, the bandit leader turned on his heel and stormed off, his lackeys trailing behind him as best they could as they ran off from where Vash had fought them off.

"Mr. Saverem..." The doctor spoke quietly, looking mortified, "I-I'm so sorry, I- I didn't think-"

"Don't worry, doctor," Vash responded kindly, picking up the now-crumpled photo off the ground before helping the older gentleman stand up a bit straighter and guiding him over to a bench nearby, "I think that guy was gonna find my name out one way or the other."

"You need to get home, son," the doctor spoke softly, looking at Vash worriedly despite his own wounds, "He made a threat to your family. And there's plenty of bandits in town. God knows what they might try to do. You need to go home. Now."

Vash shook his head, the fear beginning to seep into his veins as he replied, "I can't just leave you here, though. What if they come back?"

"Somehow, I don't think they will," the doctor answered, the smallest smile appearing on his lips. "Now, go home. Go to your family."

With a final nod, Vash quickly took off towards your home, going from a walk to a jog until he was full on sprinting towards the house. His panic was beginning to overwhelm him as he sprinted back towards his home, where his family was hidden. Hopefully, you'd still be there, playing with Rem and Nicholas, none the wiser as to the threats made against you and your children because of Vash's actions.

'Please, please, please, let them be there. Let them be alright,' Vash pleaded in his mind, unsure of who he was pleading to as he sprinted home.

Right away, Vash felt a sense of relief when he saw your shared home. None of the windows had been smashed, the doors were all closed, and your home looked completely untouched. No sign whatsoever of any kind of break-in.

'Thank the Gods,' Vash breathed a deep sigh of relief as he raced up the steps and opened the door, coming into his house, fully prepared to pull you and the twins into a tight hug and not let go of any of you for quite some time.

"(Y/N)? Mayfly?" Vash called as soon as he entered the house, quickly looking around to try and spot you or the children.

However, nothing answered him except silence. The house was eerily quiet.

"Rem?! Nicholas?!" Vash called, his voice growing louder as he walked from room to room. There wasn't even the slightest sign of any disturbance having occurred in any of the rooms - everything was perfectly in place.

'Where are they? Did (Y/N) take the kids out somewhere?' Vash wondered, continuing to look around until he had searched the house from top to bottom for some sign of where you and the children might've gone.

As Vash came back downstairs, he was at a complete loss of where you all might've gone. The panic and fear from before began to reappear, taking root once more in Vash's stomach as his mind began to race.

Where could you have gone? Where were Rem and Nicholas? Were you alright? Were you alive?

Vash's mind swirled with so many questions that he nearly missed the piece of paper lying on the kitchen table, alongside something glinting in the bright sunlight - your wedding ring, next to a piece of a broken children's toy that both Rem and Nicholas had treasured.

As Vash picked up the note, staring at your ring and the broken toy, he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces before it began to thunder in his chest from fear and horror as he read the unfamiliar handwriting on the note.

"Your luck has run out. Check the abandoned school building."

#anya's athenaeum #trigun stampede #trigun stampede x reader #trigun x reader #trigun #vash the stampede #vash the stampede x reader #vash x reader #eriks x reader #eriks!vash #trigun eriks

[theladyofrosewater]

Character sheets take longer than I thought (I'm drawing on my phone without a stylus help me)

notes below the cut

I am absolutely TERRIBLE at drawing guys body types so I had to stare at reference photos for like ever and I chose discus athletes as my frame of reference. It's better than my usual work but still not perfect so I'm glad I don't have to do scar/tattoo maps for all of the characters.

very common headcanon I know but I imagine all the the Ro'meaves are tall with Garroth being around 6"7-6"8. HOWEVER he and his brothers inherited their height from Zianna not Garte. With Zianna being around 7ft and Garte being around 5"11 (Which is still tall but like he's the shortest so he WOULD make everyone sit for family portraits)

I'm getting rid of the cross on Garroth's design and replacing it with a star symbol, maybe something to symbolize Irene's power or something. The "gem" in the center is actually dyed quartz as it's customary for head guard to place a false gem of glass or a cheap gemstone to mimic the look of the Jury of Nine. Guards are gifted slightly higher quality stone or hunks of metal if they are on the waitlist for the Jury as well.

I know we make fun of the fact he never changed his name but there was a period in where like 20 percent of the English population was named Mary so he can keep his name unlike Aph.

I'm basing O'khasis on specifically on places like Wales, Ireland, England and France so maybe expect some later design elements from there.

His cape is "faerie silk", which is one of the few exports from the Yggdrasill forest region and is known for its durability. It's one of the few items Zoey always keeps in stock because after the incident with Zenix, Garroth incorporated it into Phoenix Drop's guard uniform.

I keep running into problems with ages because Diaries is just inconsistent like that but I THINK 24 is a good enough age??? I'd explain but that's a whole ass post about the Ro'Meaves that isn't set in stone until I figure out how evil I'm making Zane and reworking how the lord system works.

His armor was originally way too fancy for Phoenix drop but I imagine that it fell into disrepair after the lord dies. Aphelia and Laurance get his armor fixed up for him for his birthday one year before everything goes downhill.

The scar on his face is because Zenix swung a giant-ass blade at his face and I refuse to believe he walked away from that fight unharmed physically

I know it's hard to see BUT HE HAS STUBBLE. He always attempts to grow a full beard but after like 2 weeks it gets too itchy and he just goes back to the stubble.

if you're still here pls send in a request for the last character sheet for now because Laurance has like 5 outfits and I don't want to draw all of themmmmmmmmm help.

#theladyofrosewater #art #minecraft diaries #minecraft diaries rewrite #mcd #garroth ro'meave #mcd garroth #I have a whole ass rant about the Ro'meaves and their bs #however it it held back because I can't decide on how evil I want zane to be #aphmau #aphblr

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Question: why do people refer to Tobias in Megamorphs 4 as a "quasi-voluntary" controller? I don't have access to my copy right now but I don't recall anything that would imply he had any knowledge of what he was joining/cooperated in any way? Did I miss something?

So I call Tobias quasi-voluntary, because I think — from my read of MM4 — that Tobias is about as voluntary as any "voluntary controller" ever gets. Which is not that voluntary. Tobias goes to a Sharing meeting because Jake's there, but pretty soon he gets sucked into the cycle of love-bombing: "When you attend your second meeting of The Sharing they assign you a guide" (MM4). In Tobias's case it's a guy named Bill, a few years older, who spends every meeting praising Tobias, and talking up how the Sharing cured his depression and being a full member changed his life.

Bill waits for Tobias to say "I want to be a full member." And then he asks if Tobias is sure, and Tobias says "Yes." Bill presses all the way to "You trade a little bit of freedom for a lot of belonging" and gets Tobias to agree a third time. When the time comes for the "ceremony" (infestation), Chapman makes Tobias explain why he's joining, and Tobias does. Three more times Chapman asks, and three more times Tobias says, out loud, that he wants what's going to happen next. Chapman explains why they want Tobias's consent: "We only have problems in twenty-one percent of willing members. And there are... fewer incidents of contested control." Tobias withdraws consent when he realizes they're about to put a slug in his brain, but by then it's too late.

Later Tobias says "Most painful of all was the image of myself swallowing everything the Sharing told me. I had walked, willingly, to my own destruction. At the time I'd seen no alternatives." So is Tobias voluntary? Well, is Chapman voluntary? He agrees not to resist in exchange for Melissa not being recruited, and he keeps his end of the bargain (#2). Not only does he not fight back while there's a yeerk in his brain, but there's every possibility he's one of the people allowing the yeerk to slip out of their brain and then quietly walking to go wait in the break room without supervision.

Okay, but surely the taxxons are voluntary. They chose to ally with the yeerks... Only it turns out their options were ally with the yeerks or starve to death (#53), and just because their leaders chose the yeerks doesn't mean individual taxxons were okay with it (Andalite Chronicles).

But then, we all know Taylor is voluntary. Because she gave up her freedom for little old things like... relief from pain. And escape from discrimination. And basic health care that didn't cost her family their life savings (#33). And she could never change her mind, because she got punished by Sub-Visser Fifty-One for misbehaving (#43).

But Mr. Tidwell's definitely voluntary. He chooses to have a yeerk in his brain even after joining the YPM. Only he was so depressed he couldn't take care of himself when he joined (#29), and probably would have literally died without the yeerks.

Hang on, is Tom voluntary? He spontaneously offers to "be quiet" and "never trouble you again" when Temrash 114 starts trying to recruit Jake (#6). We don't know for sure that Tom isn't hanging out in that same break room after the events of #1, in exchange for Jake not being recruited.

So on. We know the Sharing targets people who are unhoused and/or mentally ill, and that the ones with happy, stable home lives (Tom, later Jake) tend to go unconvinced. You have to be vulnerable to end up voluntary, the series shows, so vulnerable that your whole ability to consent is seriously called into question.

#animorphs #yeerks #controllers #voluntary controllers #tobias fangor #emohawk #mm4 #yeerk empire #cult tactics #consent issues #intense indoctrination #heck - maybe alloran's voluntary - he does wait around to be reinfested rather than trying to escape in book 8 #maybe jenny lines is voluntary if the alternative is dying of withdrawal syndrome #maybe visser two was telling the truth in book 41 about having convinced marco to go voluntary #IS EVERYONE BUT EVA SECRETLY VOLUNTARY? #more at 5:00

[tip-top-cloud-surfer]

The Forgotten Nest (Part 8) - Rooster

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw / Mitchell!OC (Cora)

Word Count: 4.7k

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

Warnings: Past Unplanned Teenage Pregnancy; Angst; Absent Parental Figures; The 'He Didn't Know About the Pregnancy' Trope; Repeating Trauma Cycles; Crying; The Uranium Facility Mission; Named Mitchell Daughter OC (Cora) and Named Mitchell-Bradshaw Son (Nickie)

Summary: The uranium facility mission commences.

A.N. There are references to a previous unplanned teenage pregnancy (between two eighteen-year-olds) in this fic. There won't be any flashback scenes to the pregnancy, but the references are still there, so if that makes you uncomfortable, please do not read.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Epilogue

Master List

Cora stood at the window of her home. It was barely light and she was still dressed in her pajamas. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stepped out onto the front deck of her home, and closed the door behind her. Stepping further out onto the deck, she stared in the direction of the Naval Air Base, trying to hold herself together.

She hadn’t slept last night. Not after her talk with Nickie and her discussion with her dad. Glancing down at her fingers, she tried to rub the blue ink out of her finger pads. The ink was still wet when she handed that photo to Maverick for the transfer. He shot her a look that she didn’t have the stomach to return and pulled her into a tight hug before he was gone.

Letting out a shaky breath, Cora turned back to the Naval Air Base to see an F/A-18 take off. And then another. And then another. Slowly sinking onto the front steps of her home, Cora watched them fly off before slowly lowering her head down into her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks.

~~~~~

Bradley rifled through his small bag, moving to grab his sleep clothes. Omaha was already in his bunk behind him, but Bradley’s mind was racing too fast for him to fall asleep quite yet. The mission was set for tomorrow and they were simply getting into position tonight.

Reaching for his toothbrush, Rooster paused and frowned when he felt his hand brush against a thick piece of paper. Pulling it out of his pack, Rooster paused when he realized that it was a photo. A photo of him and Cora at their senior prom.

How did that get into his bag?

Flipping it over, Rooster’s eyes quickly landed on the blue ink on the back of the photo. It was slightly smudged and the letters were written in haste, but it was clearly Cora’s handwriting. He knew it all of these years later.

Nickie told me about your meeting. Come home safely and we can talk.

Rooster flipped the photo over again, remembering that night vividly. He and Cora spent the whole night together, never wanting to leave each other’s sides, and caught up in the kind of love that only teenagers seemed to experience.

And bile rose in his throat when Rooster did the math in his head.

Cora was probably already pregnant in these photos. And it might just be the closest that they would ever get to having a photo of all three of them.

~~~~~

Maverick stared out at the assembled aviators in front of him with his hands folded calmly behind his back. This was the moment. He knew that someone wasn’t coming back from this mission and now he had to pick the pour souls who would be on the chopping block, all of which had families and friends back home waiting for their return.

The foxtrot teams were a simple choice. Speed and accuracy and ability to react quickly were his main criteria for that. Picking the single flier was the difficult choice. The one that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. However long that might be.

Hangman was the answer on paper—he flew the fastest and the most aggressively, which was what the mission called for. But no one trusted him to cover their backs. Coyote was out. The G-LOC incident grounded him. And between Fritz and Rooster, Rooster had the better stats and repertoire with the foxtrot teams. So, the answer was there. He just had to make it.

“Rooster,” Maverick called after Cyclone’s prompting.

The initial shock that Rooster wore on his face was clear as day, though he quickly shoved it behind the mask that all of them were wearing during the briefing. The mask that all aviators forced themselves to put on before every mission.

Rooster and Maverick locked eyes for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them. The more sheepish, guilt-stricken side of Rooster stood out more than Maverick had seen since the incident seventeen years ago. And from what Nickie said, Maverick knew that it was genuine. He just wished that it happened sooner.

Then Nickie and Rooster could have actually talked and learned about each other. Rooster could have made it up to Cora and that stress could have been off of her shoulders years ago. And then they could have been just like any ordinary family of three.

But things were never simple in the Mitchell family. Nor were they easy in the Bradshaw family.

Maverick nodded to the gathered aviators before making his way to the locker room, leaving Rooster standing there, a bit lost.

~~~~~

Rooster stepped out onto the flight deck, gripping his helmet loosely and clearly lost in his thoughts. He wasn’t expecting to be chosen. Not after everything that he and Maverick had put each other through over the years, and especially in the last few days. Not after he coasted his way through the training runs, never quite pushing it like Hangman did.

He didn’t think that he was good enough for this mission. And yet here he was.

Picking his head up for a moment, Rooster paused when he found Hangman standing on the deck in front of him, a serious expression on his face. Gone was the arrogant edge that made Rooster want to knock his teeth out ever since he met him. No, for once, Hangman actually looked like a team player. Like someone who cared if everyone came home.

“You give ‘em hell,” Hangman yelled over the roar of the engines, before making his way to his plane.

Rooster barely even acknowledged Hangman as he walked away, too caught up in his emotions. Nickie wanted to see him. Cora wanted to see him. Maverick chose him out of the line up of the best aviators in the country. Hangman was actually believed in him.

Rooster was so lost that it was a miracle he didn’t fall off the side of the ship.

Righting himself, Rooster turned and walked over to the plane adjacent to his own. Maverick was running through the pre-flight checks on his own aircraft when Rooster approached him, a bit more frantically than he intended.

“Sir? Sir?” Rooster called, causing Maverick to turn around to face him. “I . . . I just want to say—”

The orders over the comms cut off Rooster’s apology and automatically snapped both aviators into action. Maverick, seeing the shakiness to Rooster’s expression, took charge.

“We’ll talk. When we get back,” Maverick assured Rooster, who nodded curtly in return.

Maverick watched Rooster turn around and head for his own plane. Letting out a breath, Maverick looked to the ground, shaking his head before moving around to climb into his plane. Maverick didn’t want to lie to Rooster. But he wanted to protect him even more.

And, so, he lied.  

~~~~~

Nickie sat out on his surfboard, staring out into the Pacific Ocean with a far-off expression in his eye. The waves passed harmlessly under him, tickling his calves, but not pushing him hard enough to snap him out of his daze. Maverick was somewhere out in the Pacific in that direction. Bradley was somewhere out in the Pacific in that direction.

And Nickie hated waiting. He hated not knowing.

“Hey, Mitchell!” one of the other surf team boys called, breaking Nickie out of his trance. “Let’s go!”

“Right,” Nickie breathed out, blinking rapidly.

Turning to shoot one last look in the direction of the Pacific, Nickie paddled forward to catch a wave, ignoring how his stomach was knotted uncomfortably with stress.

~~~~~

Maverick signaled to the deck crew that he was prepared for launch before grabbing the handle. Forcing himself to take a breath, Maverick closed his eyes for a moment, picturing Nickie and Cora back home, safe and sound and taken care of, before he opened his eyes, completely focused on the mission directly in front of him.

“Watch over ‘em, Ice,” he murmured, before his plane was launched into the air.

~~~~~

Cora stood on the sand with Penny, watching Nickie surf with the other surf team kids. The two women had barely talked since Cora arrived, both caught up in their own thoughts. Cora wrapped her arms around herself, watching Nickie surf through the waves, though not as well as he normally did. He was distracted, she could tell, and the realization made her heart ache.

“He’s doing well,” Penny commented, causing Cora to nod slowly.

“But he’s not in it,” Cora stated softly, turning to face Penny. She gestured to the open ocean in front of them. ���His head’s out there.”

“Can’t blame the kid,” Penny replied, just as Nickie wiped out.

Cora held her breath until Nickie resurfaced, completely unharmed, but just a little sheepish. Settling back down, Cora pursed her lips together and stared out at the setting sun in the distance. Penny reached out and wrapped an arm around her, giving Cora some support.

They didn’t need to discuss it. They both saw the look in Maverick’s eyes when he said goodbye.

“I think I’m going to take Amelia on a sailing trip,” Penny suggested, causing Cora to nod in return. “Did you and Nickie want to come?”

“No, thank you though,” Cora replied softly, turning back to her son. “I’m worried that Nickie would go tumbling off the side at this rate.”

“You know that I’m always here for the two of you.”

“I know, Penny. Thank you.”

Cora turned back to the waves of the distant ocean, unable to help the tears building in her eyes. Silently letting them drip down her cheeks, Cora let Penny pull her into a tight hug as the two women tried to hold themselves together for the sake of their children. And, frankly, for themselves.

~~~~~

“Dagger Two defending!” Rooster called out, spotting the SAMs behind him. Slamming his fist into the flares button, Rooster cursed when none popped out. “Shit! I’m out of flares!”

“Rooster, evade, evade!” Maverick yelled back, quickly turning around to help.

“I can’t shake them! They’re on me! They’re on me!” Rooster warned, going through evasive maneuvers.

Maverick didn’t hesitate. He just moved.

A thousand thoughts were flying through his head as he sped towards Rooster. Goose’s face. Carole’s face. Cora’s face. Nickie’s face. Oh, God, Nickie. Racing to protect his best friend’s son and his grandson’s father that he barely knew, Maverick hurried to get into position.

Rooster had to live. He had to live. He had to make it right with Cora. He had to make it right with Nickie. He had to live. He had to survive.

The sensors in front of Rooster started to beep aggressively, warning him that the SAMs were getting closer. Maverick yanked back on the joy stick, using the cobra maneuver to fly up above Rooster. Slamming his fist onto his flare button, Maverick released the flares behind Rooster, protecting him from one of the SAMs.

But Maverick’s own sensors started to blare as the second SAM flew forward.

“Mav!” Rooster screamed out in a panic.

Maverick grunted as the SAM hit him directly in the back of his aircraft. His plane broke apart and he started hurtling towards the ground in a great ball of fire. Sensors beeped all around Maverick as he released the joy stick, submitting to his fate.

And just before it all went back Maverick swore that he heard Nickie’s voice calling out to him.

~~~~~

“Penny said that she’s taking Amelia on a sailing trip,” Cora told Nickie softly as they packed up his gear to head back home. “Did you want to go?”

“No,” Nickie replied quietly, shaking his head. “I think that I just want to stay home.”

“We’ll do whatever you want to do, okay?” Cora assured Nickie, forcing a small smile.

“Do you think we could get those burgers at the diner that Gramps likes?” Nickie asked as he opened the passenger door.

“I thought that you hated those burgers,” Cora replied quietly, staring over at her son. “You always said that they were too greasy.”

“I know, but . . . Gramps always like them,” Nickie returned softly.

Trying to not let her lips wobble, Cora forced a smile and grabbed Nickie’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. Turning on the car, she faced forward to try and get control over her emotions.

“We’ll get some burgers then. For your Gramps.”

~~~~~

Maverick sprinted through the thick snow, powered by sheer determination. Every few steps he took, Maverick did a quick calculation about how much farther Rooster was and about how long it would take to get to him. His first aid training ran through his brain too.

Was Rooster hurt? Did he land safely? Did he eject safely? Maverick didn’t have the answer.

Spotting Rooster upright and kneeling in the snow, shoving down his parachute, Maverick felt new energy course through his veins. Rooster was alive. And he wasn’t hurt too bad based on the way that he was kneeling. He was alright. He was going to survive his ejection.

“You alright!?” Maverick yelled, hopping over a snow bank.

“Yeah, I’m good. You alright?” Rooster called back, right before Maverick pushed him straight into a pile of snow. “Jesus! What the hell!?”

Rooster yanked his helmet off and shoved it into the snow. Maverick slipped his off as well before turning to give Rooster the scolding of a lifetime.

“What are you doing here!?”

“What am I doing here!?” Rooster squawked back indignantly as he stood up.

“You think I took that missile for you so you could be down here with me!? You should be back on the carrier by now!”

“I saved your life!” Rooster snapped back.

“I saved your life! That’s the whole point.” Shaking his head incredulously, Maverick turned back to Rooster. “What the hell were you even thinking!?”

“You told me not to think!”

Maverick didn’t have a response for that, simply breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Rooster nodded sarcastically, throwing his arms up in the air, before slamming them back at his sides. Both Maverick and Rooster breathed heavily, looking around the forest for any hostiles, before turning back to each other.

“You were supposed to go back to Cora and Nickie,” Maverick sighed, staggering a bit. Squatting in the snow, Maverick looked up at Rooster, who stared back evenly at him. “You were supposed to go back and make it right.”

“I am going to,” Rooster vowed, straightening up. He looked around the forest again before returning his gaze to Maverick. “But it wasn’t going to work without you.”

Maverick let out a breath, dropped his head down onto his hand. Rubbing his face as he tried to catch his breath properly after sprinting a couple miles at his age, Maverick picked his head up to find Rooster already offering him a hand. Taking it, Maverick accepted Rooster’s help up and dusted some of the snow off of his flight suit.  

“She’s going to kill us when she finds out,” Maverick stated, glancing around the forest.

“If she finds out,” Rooster suggested, causing Maverick to nod in agreement.  

“Well, it’s good to see you,” Maverick replied with a small smile.

“It’s good to see you too,” Rooster returned, setting his hands on his hips. “So, what’s the plan?”

~~~~~

Cora looked up from her computer when one of the nurses at her office rushed into the room that she was charting in. Immediately assuming that something was wrong with one of the patients, Cora leapt to her feet, ready for action.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“You have to come see. Room 22.”

Cora quickly rushed down the hall, overtaking the junior nurse. Opening the door to the patient room, Cora stepped inside, expecting to see a swarm of doctors and nurses, but all she saw was her dad, dressed in his flight suit, waiting for her on the patient bed.

And in that moment, Cora wasn’t thirty-four. She was a little kid all over again.

Letting out a choked sob, Cora raced across the room and threw herself into her dad’s waiting arms, completely unaware that her coworkers were filming the whole thing. And she was even less aware that there was another surprise guest waiting for her in the corner. Unable to help the tears of relief, Cora let her dad rock her back and forth.

“I’m alright,” Maverick chuckled, hugging his daughter to his chest. “Just a few bumps and bruises.”

“I know that you’re hiding injuries from me, but I don’t even care right now,” Cora sobbed, unwilling to let go of her dad. “You’re home. You’re home.”

“We’re home.”

Releasing her dad, Cora wiped some of her tears away and turned to see Rooster standing in the corner, also dressed in his flight suit. It took her a second, a painful second where Rooster wondered if she was even happy to see him, before Cora took off again. Running into his arms, Cora buried her face into Rooster’s shoulder, and Rooster quickly returned the hug.

Wrapping her arms around him tightly, Cora breathed in Rooster’s cologne, soothing herself just a bit more. They were home. They were safe. They were alive. There wouldn’t be a funeral. There wouldn’t be a burial. They were here.

“You came back,” Cora whispered shakily, causing Rooster to hug her tighter.

“I wasn’t going to leave you guys. Not again.”

Cora nodded against him, letting out a shaky breath. Maverick smiled at Cora and Rooster’s embrace as he stood up. Cora and Rooster broke away, both turning to Maverick.

“So, how’re we going to surprise Nickie?” Maverick asked, wearing that iconic mischievous smirk.

~~~~~

Nickie walked up to the side door and unlocked it, heading inside after taking the bus home from school. He locked the door behind him and went about his usual after-school routine as if it was a normal day. Dropping his backpack onto one of the chairs, Nickie turned for the fridge to grab a snack. He opened the fridge door and frowned when he found a note waiting for him with his mom’s handwriting.

“Turn around?” he read aloud, confused, before doing as the note said.

Nickie had a split second to register who was standing behind him before sprinting the last few steps over to his grandfather. Maverick laughed as Nickie had to bend a little to give him a hug and rubbed his back as Nickie quickly sobbed into his shoulder. Cora held a hand to her mouth, happy tears coming to her eyes as Nickie reunited with his grandfather.  

“You’re alive,” Nickie croaked out, hugging his grandfather just a little tighter.

“Well, apparently, I refuse to die,” Maverick returned, causing Nickie to laugh a bit shakily.

“Does Mom know that you’re here?”

“Yeah, she’s right there.”

Nickie looked up from his grandfather’s shoulder to see his mom standing there with tears in her eyes. Cora waved to Nickie before he looked beyond her and spotted another figure standing there. Rooster stayed back, knowing that Nickie didn’t exactly view him as a dad but more of some kind of random stranger that bumped into his life unexpectedly.

But after Nickie gave his mom a quick hug in greeting, Nickie turned to face Rooster on his own. Rooster stood a bit nervously as Nickie stopped a few paces away from him. He wasn’t sure what Nickie’s reaction was going to be to his presence. But after what seemed like a century passed, Nickie reached forward and gave Rooster a hug.

Rooster froze for a moment before hugging Nickie back even stronger, far too emotional to do anything else. It was the first time that he held his son. His kid. And his son willingly hugged him. Rooster couldn’t help but let a few tears out during the moment. And Nickie, for his part, didn’t seem to want to let Rooster go either.

Amelia was right, Nickie realized with some apprehension. He really would have beat himself up for the rest of his life if he didn’t talk to Rooster before he left on the mission. Not that it mattered now, because Rooster was here. And based on the way that Rooster was hugging him back, Nickie had a feeling that Rooster was around to stay.

Cora shared a smile with Maverick as they watched Nickie and Rooster embrace for the first time ever. Maverick squeezed his daughter’s shoulder as she dried her eyes again.

~~~~~

There was a cook out on the beach with the whole Dagger crew in a post-mission celebration. Penny pulled out a grill from somewhere in the Hard Deck and Maverick was nominated to do the grilling for the whole team, which he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

The rest of the Dagger Squad and their guests were spread out over the patch of sand, talking and chatting with each other and simply enjoying the San Diego sun. Cora stood to the side of the volleyball court a short walk from the grill, smiling to herself while she watched Nickie and Rooster work together to try and beat Harvard and Yale.

“Ms. Mitchell?” a voice called from her left, causing Cora to turn.

“Admiral Simpson,” she returned, straightening up subconsciously as Cyclone stood beside her.

“It has come to my attention that your son, Nickie, wants to become an aviator,” Cyclone began, causing Cora to pause for a moment.

“Yes, I believe that he does,” she replied quietly, fiddling with her necklace.

“Well, if he’s anything like his family members before him, he will one day make it to Top Gun.”

“That is his dream,” Cora echoed softly.

“Can you do me one favor, Ms. Mitchell?” Cyclone asked her after a moment.

“Sure,” Cora responded, turning to face Cyclone fully.

“Please inform me the second that your son gets his wings. So that I can immediately put in my retirement notice,” Cyclone emphasized, causing Cora to bite her cheek to not burst out laughing. She simply nodded instead, trying to hold it in. “Thank you.”

When Cyclone walked off, Cora let out a quiet laugh to herself. Shaking her head, she turned back to watch the volleyball game. But it seemed that between being Maverick’s daughter and the mother of Rooster’s secret love child, she was a popular person around the Dagger Squad.

“You must be the lovely Cora that we’ve heard so much about,” Hangman drawled, walking over to her.

“And you must be Hangman,” she returned, gazing at him curiously.

She didn’t get much of the details about the mission—considering it was top secret and all that—but the way that Maverick talked about Hangman led her to believe that something happened on the mission that fixed Maverick’s and even Rooster’s perspective on him.

But that grin that Hangman only told her one thing—he was trouble. Luckily, Cora was a Mitchell. She was natural at being trouble. It was in her genes.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he stated, offering her a hand to shake.

“Likewise,” she returned, shaking his hand politely.

“You know, I have to say that you are far more beautiful than anyone described you as,” Hangman flirted, causing Cora to cock an eyebrow.

“How badly do you want Rooster to lose this game?” she asked, tilting her chin up a bit.

“About twenty bucks worth. Forty, actually,” Hangman replied, waving over to Coyote and Phoenix.

Phoenix shook her head in disbelief, probably waiting for Cora to knee Hangman in the balls, while Coyote seemed to be struggling to contain his laughter. Remaining poised, Cora turned back to Hangman as he continued with his explanation.

“That is, if Rooster comes and tries to rip my head off,” Hangman replied with a wink, causing Cora to smirk to herself.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about Rooster.”

“Your dad’s all the way—ow!”

The volleyball smacked right into the back of Hangman’s head, causing him to whirl around, rubbing his head. Nickie, who was originally wearing a look of death, immediately put on an innocent smile when Cora and Hangman turned to him and waved sarcastically.

Nickie, after all, was a mama’s boy. A mama’s boy who knew that men liked to lurk around his mom.

“Sorry!” Nickie called over.

“It slipped because of the sunscreen!” Rooster covered for Nickie, holding a thumbs up.

“Sure, it did,” Cora replied, shaking her head. Turning back to Hangman, she offered a smile. “I think that means that you only get twenty.”

“Great shot, Nickie!” Penny praised, clapping loudly for him.

“Any chance that you’d like a drink?” Hangman asked, trying to make just a little more money.

Up until Rooster hit the volleyball, which had rolled back to him after hitting Hangman in the head, into Hangman’s back, causing Hangman to roll his eyes. Rooster waved innocently, not unlike his son did moments before, as Cora shot him a look.

“Sunscreen again!”

~~~~~

Eventually, the teams broke for food. Cora sat on the beach chair that she brought along, chatting with Bob and Phoenix, when Rooster slowly approached her. Phoenix nudged Bob in the side and they both made lame excuses before heading off, leaving Cora and Rooster alone.

“Is this seat taken?” Rooster asked, gesturing to the seat next to her.

“It looks like it’s about to be,” Cora replied, nodding towards it.

Rooster sat down and the two of them shared a small smile for a moment. It was still a little awkward between them, and there was no way really around that, but it was getting better. It was getting more and more like old times. Bradley was reminding Cora more of the Bradley she knew before Carole died, and that in of itself made her so happy.

“They asked us if we had a preference for where we wanted to be stationed,” Rooster began, causing Cora to sober up a bit.

“And?”

“I talked to Cyclone about it. He couldn’t guarantee North Island, but he said that he would make sure that I was in California,” Rooster explained, causing Cora to smile and nod. “And I know that you have work and Nickie has school, but we could drive out to where we grew up and show Nickie all of that and . . . my parents and that sort of stuff.”

“I think that Nickie would really like that,” Cora agreed, smiling softly.

“And you? Would you like that?” Rooster asked quietly.

“I’d love that,” Cora stated, causing Rooster to grin.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I would,” Cora repeated, smiling over at Rooster, who beamed right back at her.

Maverick watched Rooster and Cora chat over by themselves, relived that the two of them were talking and seemed to be getting along again. Penny nudged him with her arm, causing Maverick to turn to her. She pointed over at the volleyball court, where Nickie was holding up the ball.

“Hey, Gramps! One more game?” Nickie asked, grinning mischievously.

“Easy game!” Fanboy heckled, causing Maverick to laugh and slowly get to his feet.

“Alright, one more game, Nickie,” Maverick replied, jogging over to his grandson. “But we can’t go easy on them, okay?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Nickie agreed, smirking that iconic Mitchell smirk.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Epilogue

A.N. So, that's it! The main part anyways! Epilogue is inbound, and should be posted soon! Thank you to everyone who read this series and especially those who reblogged and commented on all of the different chapters! I hope that you enjoyed it!

Tags: @xoxabs88xox @eternallyvenus @mygyn @kmc1989 @thegoddessc @midnightmagpiemama @badasspizzalover @praline357 @oatmealisweird @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @abaker74 @avengersfan25 @yogabigooby @daisydaisygoose @sgt-barnesveins @angelbabyange @percysaidnever @artemissunn @indiestrashfire @kidd3ath @luv4kani @lt-spork @brooke-stinson

If I forgot you in the tags, don’t be afraid to ask again because I’m definitely scatterbrained when it comes to that but please have a reference to your age somewhere on your blog (bio, pinned post) or just message me because you will not be tagged otherwise.

#top gun fanfiction #top gun maverick #top gun: maverick #top gun #tgm #tgm fanfiction #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw #rooster fanfic #bradley rooster x oc #bradley rooster bradshaw x oc #rooster x oc #bradley bradshaw x oc #rooster bradshaw #top gun rooster #rooster #rooster top gun #pete maverick mitchell #pete mitchell

[aroayr-shuk]

Reverse Robins AU!

Damian | Timothy | Jason | Dick

• Early Life:

Timothy Drake was left alone for most of his childhood, locked away in his parents' manor he learned how to pick locks and hack security systems to sneak out. He grew up with tales of Batman and his shadow, and when he was nine he began to research who they might be. Honestly it wasn't too hard to connect Batman and the Shadow to Bruce and Damian Wayne. What was hard though, was talking himself out of trouble when they caught him sneaking into the Cave.

When Damian cut ties with Bruce, eleven year old Tim stepped up. Tim fulfilling his life long dream of becoming a hero, and Bruce being given a second chance at being a father with a boy who chose him.

• First Outing:

While you could consider young Timothy breaking into the Cave as his first outing, the first time he appeared as his superhero alter was months after being taken in by Bruce. Batman was adamant that Tim did not have enough training in comparison to his first sidekick (and the other bats) to appear in the field. But when Batman was captured by Scarecrow, and Tim fought through his own fear to save him, Bruce decided it was time.

• The Name:

Tim spent his early days meticulously crafting his superhero name.

Nuthatch? No, that would be shortened to Nut.

Batboy? Juvenile.

Boybat? Worse.

Myotis? Sounds too much like mitosis.

Red Bat? Filing away for later.

Aves? Yeah Aves, short and snappy.

Tim often credits himself with the addition of red to the family color chart.

• Home Life:

Tim's home life was much less rocky than Damian's, Bruce put in more of an effort to help the boy who chose him. Actually taking an interest in his education for example, and pushing him to take an interest in Wayne Enterprises.

Damian and Tim don't have a personal relationship at all until they establish a working relationship. Their interactions outside of work are akin to that cousin you only see at family gatherings who you don't dislike but you never speak to.

• Independence:

When Tim was 15 he was benched. The moniker of Aves ripped away from him, due to his time as Joker Jr. His injuries sustained then, both physical and mental, made him unfit for duty.

After an event referred to as the "Incident," Tim returned to the life of vigilantism to support Batman as Red Bat, and briefly as Drake.

#batman #timothy drake #tim drake #red robin #robin #reverse robins #drake #bruce wayne #damian wayne #jason todd #red hood #dick grayson #nightwing #batfam

[damianbugs]

You need to tell us what you think of your favorite Bruce ships. Pls

i should preface by saying i usually prefer bruce (in my own works and others, including comics) to not be in a relationship at all because i can't think of a time he's like ever emotionally stable enough for that. like ever. THAT BEING SAID isn't that all the more reason to throw him into a ship? doomed tragic romance you will always be famous to me

and because i am insane, here are some comic recs to go with my fav bruce ships!!

>batcat

a classic favourite, batcat!!! i will admit i am not the biggest fan of their rebirth stories, and the whole wedding fiasco and most of what tom king wrote about them (and in general) was. not enjoyable. but pre crisis/golden age batcat? MY PARENTS. just. silver and bronze age batcat too. what a refreshing and entertaining couple. the thing that really makes them compelling is at the end of the day they have the same goal; protect the people of gotham. the ways they go about it can be different, and selina especially faces some serious mischaracterisation in order to make bruce look like the "hero" in the relationship, but at their core and simplest expression of love, they share the same dream, and they both know that. it's this selflessness that connects them deeply.

> "The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne" (Batman the Brave and the Bold #197) is, in my opinion, essential batcat reading. a very bittersweet story!

> for a more modern read, "Only Takes a Night" (Catwoman #32) is a delightful read about how hopelessly in love they are. bruce is such a devoted loser.

> ghostbat

every character needs that one irreparably damaging young adult tragic romance that changed their life forever and that is what ghostbat is. khoa is the perfect foil to bruce, in that ultimately, they are two ends of the same spectrum. fiercely stubborn and confident in their own moral code but in the opposite way. this ship is particularly fascinating because even now, the respect and love they have for each other years later is so deeply consuming that it is prevalent in how they interact now. i don't think bruce would have been the person he is without his relationship with khoa pre-batman, in both a good and bad ways. i also really love the hc that khoa is bruce's first heartbreak (refer to: the Snow and Gun incident).

> "Batman The Knight" is like ghostbat religious text. this is all you need. let it destroy you.

> batlantern

no long paragraph about this one because its my silly guilty pleasure. sometimes u need a ship in which they just don't get along except for the times they do. hal brings out such an irritating (said fondly) side to bruce and its even funnier because it works mutually. i think another really wonderful thing about this pairing is that they are really not so different from each other (nothing says romance than being consumed by your guilt and stubbornness), but they both think otherwise, so they knock heads while also begrudgingly respecting about one another in a colleague-friend-crush way. they want to make out so bad it makes them look stupid.

> "Batman: Universe" is a great and short silly story that shows their dynamic really well. amused me greatly. not ship focused though hal is there for like. a single issue unfortunately. but fun!!

> i usually never recommend any new 52 books to get INTO a character, but if you're interested in this pairing and its most 'popular' fanon interation, then "Jutice League (2011)" is the best place to start. you can get to their better stuff afterwards! (there's also an animated movie about it!)

> brutalia

AND BEST TILL LAST. THE BRUCE SHIP OF ALL TIME. ruined my life. CHANGED my life. i wish i could explain how insanely important this relationship is in words. i love my pairings tragic and there is quite literally no other ship quiet as dramatic or poetic than brutalia. talia is often seen as bruce's "one true love" with great reason, and him hers, and despite that they will probably never actually get back together. in a wider lense, the al ghuls and bruce have an insanely complicated dynamic, and this inherent conflict about missions bigger than themselves makes brutalia's forbidden love drama all the more compelling. talia brings out the best in bruce, and bruce respects and loves talia in a way i don't think he does anyone else in his life.

to complain for a moment, it's no wonder that because their relationship (since it's very first introduction) was so irrevocably pure and consensual (they were both so ridiculously obsessed with each other), that Certain Writers had to pull out the most out of character and disgusting stories to make it clear the tone of batman was changing. talia is always a victim to racism, misogyny and just unbelievable ooc writing — most evidently in her stories with bruce, unfortunately.

AND YET. recent comics have realised how truly ridiculous it is to write her as anything but kind and strong, and bruce being anything but hopelessly infatuated. i think my favourite thing about brutalia is that bruce and talia is a relationship that has been separated for actual Decades and so both their characters have been developed to have their own tragic stories and growth. then when we get small moments that bring them back together and letting that past show through the cracks in their carefully constructed walls, it's all the more romantic.

beautiful heartbreaking ship. the kind of relationship historians would cry over. would have the romantic period publishing fifteen books over.

> "Batman: Son of the Demon" is ESSENTIAL brutalia reading. also, if you are insane and delusional enough, it can be the true origin of damian.

> the comic moment that inspired all romance the moment of forever the blueprint even is in the famous "Batman (1940) #244"

> for a more modern take, very recently in fact, is her appearances in Ram V's run of detective comics, starting from #1062. its not brutalia focused, but a great take on how natural and yearning their relationship is now.

#for a guy who is notoriously shit at relationships he sure does find himself in them constantly #but truly is there a single fail loser man that yearns as much as batman #bruce wayne #batcat #ghostbat #batlantern #brutalia #saki comic talks