#Combat glider

[nocternalrandomness]

USAAF Waco CG-4A Assault Glider on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force

[qqchurch]

ngl it's always funny to go from a high mobility game to a low mobility one

like, what do you mean i can't bullet jump / wall run / double jump / power slide in minecraft, i've been doing that all week in warframe???

[spockvarietyhour]

Eagles, Death Gliders and MIGs, Stargate Continuum

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than bots

I finally cracked open my old Modified set to add keyword counters and made/changed a bunch of commons

[1980sactionfigures]

Ewok Combat Glider - Star Wars (Kenner)

[mothandpidgeon]

While the Baby Sleeps (demon!Ezra x f!reader)

pairing: demon!Ezra x f!reader (mom!reader)

rating: E! 18+!

wc: 2.6k

summary: The only way to get your baby to sleep through the night is making a deal with an unholy creature. But, of course, there are consequences...

tags: dark fic, Dub/non con (making a deal with a demon), breastfeeding, nursing, lactation kink, mommy kink? (but not like that), stretch marks, oral sex, unprotected p in v, overstimulation, horns, Ezra is a sex demon, moth never uses y/n

an: Here is my submission to #MothandBirdMothersDayChallenge! Actually this fic is the reason why I wanted to do this challenge. Sometimes when I'm in the dark nursery in the middle of the night, I have fun intrusive thoughts like 'What if there was a shadowy figure in the doorway?' To combat how terrifying that thought is, I took it and made it horny. Thank you @ezrasbirdie for betaing this, helping me do this Mother's Day Challenge, and all around being a cool auntie to my fics and baby Moth.

 ...

He wakes you every night. It doesn’t matter what you try. Your son hasn't let you have more than three consecutive hours of sleep since he was born. 

You’re at your wit’s end. 

Every time you look in the mirror you see a hollowed out version of yourself with dark bags under your eyes. You make yourself coffee without putting grounds into the filter. You fly into a tearful rage when you spill a bottle of precious milk. You don’t know who you are anymore. 

Tonight’s no different. You lift your crying baby from his crib. Rock him, shush him. You sit with him in the glider and try to nurse him back to sleep. It’s all done bleary-eyed, half asleep. Everything is these days. 

You’d give anything for this baby to sleep. 

Just as the thought crosses your mind, you look up to see a figure standing just outside the nursery. It’s shadowy against the dark of the hallway, shades of gray on black. From the height and broad shoulders, it could be a man. He stands abnormally still. Silent, watching. You think it’s just a trick of your sleep deprived mind until he moves just slightly and a patch of silver hair is caught in the moonlight. 

You must be dreaming because if there was a man in your baby’s room, you’d be terrified. And you’re not. You feel calm like you’re floating on steady waters. 

“Who are you?” you ask. Your voice drifts like a lullaby. 

He doesn’t respond, just leans in the doorway. All that you can make out is that blonde hair and two eyes that glint at you.

“I’ve come to help you, petal,” he finally says. His voice is warm and melodic.

You feel yourself nodding off for a moment. When you blink yourself awake, he’s by your side.

You can make out his features better now. Dark stubble covers a handsome face. The sharp angles of his nose and jaw are silhouetted in the dim. You smell woodsmoke and frankincense as he comes near. He kneels beside the chair and his brow furrows as he looks up at you.

“You need that child to rest,” he says. 

You nod pathetically. You can feel familiar tears well in your eyes. Hopeless, helpless. Desperate. 

“I can be of assistance,” he says. 

“Don’t hurt him,” you say, holding your son a bit closer to your chest.  Your baby might be torturing you in the night but you love him. You won’t let anything happen to him. Even though you’re sure you’re dreaming, you remember old fairy tales, creatures that try to trick and deceive. This man isn’t human, you know that somewhere deep inside you. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I won’t even touch him. It’s not the babe that’s piqued my interest. It’s his mother,” he explains. His obsidian eyes are on your lips, pink tongue darts out to lick his own. 

“Don’t hurt me either,” you say, though there’s no fight in your words. 

“That’s not my intention at all. Quite the opposite. You’re so beautiful, petal,” he coos, brushing his knuckles across your jawline. 

It must be a dream because you haven’t felt beautiful in a long time. Your body’s been stretched and broken, engorged and swollen. Your hair falls out by the handful. Your breasts reek of sweat and milk, a sickly funk. 

“I want you. Carnally,” he says.  

The growl in his voice makes warmth pool between your thighs. He looks at you like something divine, an awe over his features. His light touch moves down your neck and over your collarbone sending goosebumps over your skin. You’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel anything other than exhausted, touched in a way that isn’t a demand for food or comfort. 

“Let me have that and that boy will slumber like an angel,” he promises. He watches your baby suckling himself back to sleep.

It sounds so good. Suddenly the only thing you want more than a a night’s sleep is for this stranger to pleasure you, to be inside of you. You haven’t felt desire in just about as long as you haven’t slept. You’ve barely been able to shower and feed yourself let alone take care of your own needs.

“Put the child in his cot and go to bed. Tomorrow I’ll come for you and you’ll see,” he says.

“Who are you?” you ask again.

“I’m Ezra,” he whispers.

You wake up in your bed the next morning and you’ve slept like the dead.

That strange dream haunts you but you think of it as nothing more than that. When you put your son down to sleep the next night, you don’t expect any miracles. He goes down easily enough, a nice little fluke, and you decide to turn in early yourself. 

Its nearly midnight when you wake up but you realize it’s quiet. The baby isn’t crying for you. You glance at the monitor and see that he’s sleeping soundly, sucking away at this pacifier. Just as Ezra promised. 

Relief floods your veins. You put your head back against the pillow and your eyes drift close. As you begin to return to sleep, there’s a shift in the bed and you catch that earthy scent again. You gasp when you see Ezra’s black eyes. He’s beside you, the pad of his thumb tracing the plump of your lower lip. His chest is a wide golden plane littered with white scars, dusted with dark hairs. 

“Hush, petal,” he says. “I’ve kept my promise. And now I’ve come to ravish you.”

You want to tell him that you’re tired. You finally have the opportunity to go back to sleep and you shouldn’t let anything come between you and that sweet rest. But the same, strong want that you felt the night before is calling you. An ache runs between your legs up to where Ezra’s hand glides over the delicate skin on your pulse. You're powerless to stop your own desire from sabotaging the one thing you’ve wanted.

A languid sigh leaves you as you melt into his touch. 

Ezra sucks at your neck. You’ll have a black and blue mark from his teeth but the sensation is so delicious, you can’t bring yourself to care. 

He opens your legs and notches his hips between yours. The friction of his hard cock against your panties makes your back arch. 

“I want to taste you,” he says. 

He rucks up the ratty old t-shirt that you sleep in along with the nursing bra that’s constantly saturated with leaking milk. He takes a long moment to savor the sight of you so exposed, a smile twitching on his lips. A long, low growl leaves him as he slithers down your body, gathering your breasts in his big hands and bringing his face to nuzzle in your skin.

You hear him inhale deeply, taking in your scent. The stubble of his cheek scratches at your sensitive flesh. One thick finger circles your peaked nipple nice and slow. Your body responds— a bead of milk seeps out and rolls down to the valley between your breasts.

Your breath catches at the mix of sensations. Your cheeks heat and you can’t help the embarrassment that creeps up your spine. Much to your surprise, Ezra’s eyes widen with interest. He lowers himself and  traces the wet trail with the flat of his tongue. You can only imagine what he tastes– the musk of your sweat beneath sweet milk. It seems that he likes it. He closes his lips around your nipple and lavishes it with his tongue, groaning into your flesh. 

“Shit,” you gasp. 

You feel the tingle of letdown behind your breasts, his ministrations summoning more milk. Soon Ezra is drinking from you, grunting and rutting his hips against you. The other, neglected nipple weeps milk and he pauses to lap it up greedily. You tangle your hand into his hair and that’s when you feel it. There’s a raised bump amidst his curls but it’s hard as bone. It sits just above his forehead and stands only an inch high. As your fingers rake through his hair, you find another. Horns.

The terror you expect never comes. He might be something ungodly and all you feel is a building excitement. Everything about this is wrong but the world feels upside down. 

He comes away, his plush bottom lip glistening with pearlescent milk. It’s a sight that should repulse you but in the delirium of sleeplessness and lust, it just makes you hungry.

“You are an exquisite creature,” he purrs. 

His flat palm skates down your belly where you’re middle still holds baby weight, a reminder that your body is no longer your own. He peels your panties down your thighs. You feel the fine edges of his teeth against your skin. He penetrates you with two exquisitely thick fingers. No warning but you hardly need it— you’re already slick. 

You keen, back arching off of the mattress, and the sensation is doubled when he puts his lips to your clit and sucks with the same enthusiasm he had at your breast. His wide shoulders spread your knees to make room for his body. You drown in pleasure, a heady mixture of fire doused in the thick pool of sleepiness. Floating, sinking, cresting on a wave as he licks and spreads you open, presses in deep and coils you tight. It’s hard to believe your body can have such strong responses when you’re barely function in your waking life. Something primal drives you on and Ezra knows just how to unlock it. 

“Such a delicacy. To sup on milk and cunt,” he says, barely taking his lips from you. 

The swirls and undulations of his tongue and the sweet pressure inside works you into a frenzy. Your breath shortens and then stops altogether, your thighs tighten and you hold your eyes shut, listening to the whimpers and moans between your legs. It’s too much and not enough. 

When you come undone, it’s a rush of ecstasy that you want to live in forever. Rolling and gushing and sighing. You choke and arch, your entire body convulsing. Your spine clenches up like you’ve been struck by lighting and the electricity runs out through your fingertips and toes. 

“Such a glorious vision,” he muses as you come down, panting and shivering. 

Ezra’s eyes are fixated on you, pupils blown so wide they’re nearly black. He looks like he wants to devour you. 

You share his hunger. You want more already. You’ve just had a feast and yet you’re starving again. 

You see Ezra’s cock now for the first time. Thick and upright, it’s tip, flushed and red. He takes it in his fist, glazing his shaft in your release. There’s something animalistic about it that floods you with another wave of arousal. 

“More,” you manage to say. 

“Not too tired?” he teases with a wicked smile. 

You shake your head. How can you sleep when your body is on fire with lust?

“I’ll fill each needy hole,” he says. 

You whine. He lines himself at your entrance. 

“You’re a goddess. And I’m going to defile you.”

You're filled to the hilt. The noise that escapes him is animalistic and his eyes lose focus. You’re already fluttering around him, already so close to another climax. He fucks you, the stretch and rhythm making you dizzy. 

“This is the closest I’ll get to heaven, I fear,” he revels. “But what could be more divine than this sweet cunt?”

Each word that falls from his lips seems to stroke at your core. His hips drive into you, hands greedily paw at every soft part of your body. 

The only thing that quiets his debauched ramblings is suckling at your breast. Your senses are completely overwhelmed. Tears prick in your eyes as your insides tighten, another orgasm shattering through you. You bite down on his shoulder to keep yourself quiet. 

“Let me hear,” he demands. “He won’t wake.”

And so you do, crying out as you clench around his thickness, losing all control of your body. 

“That’s it, petal. That’s it,” he says. 

He goes on thrusting and pins you down, torturing that exquisite spot deep inside of you over and over again. You’re not sure where one climax ends and another begins but you’re possessed. 

“If only I could fill that womb, sire one after the other to keep you round,” he grunts. 

Ezra swears. He hisses out words in a language you don’t recognize. It sounds like an incantation. 

You hardly have time to make sense of it. He’s pulling out of you, grinding his wet length against your thigh and spilling hot ropes onto your mound. 

You lay beneath him, boneless and dazed. The exhaustion flushes over your weak body. You sense Ezra at your breast again as your eyes drift closed. 

The next thing you know, your baby is crying and it’s morning. 

It must be a dream. There’s no other way to explain it— a horned creature slipping in and out of your bedroom in the middle of the night, fucking you senseless when you have no energy left. But you wake up with come drying where he marked you. 

That night, he’s back again. 

And again after that. 

“Ezra, I’m exhausted," you breathe. "Please.”

“Isn’t this what you wanted, petal?”

Now your son sleeps soundly through the night while you are awake, debauched for hours without end. 

He’s insatiable and somehow you are, too. 

He fucks you until you’re raw. Your legs quiver and burn from being parted so wide. Your pussy feels battered and bruised. You beg him to fuck your ass just to give your cunt some rest. 

And although your body feels like it can’t take another second of pleasure, though it begs for a moment’s peace, every time he comes to you, you’re flooded with arousal. 

When you try to steal an afternoon nap, he’s there, cock already standing in his fist. 

Spittle dribbles from the corners of your lips as he fucks your mouth. It runs down your chest, your knees already bruised from the hours you’ve spent on them. You try to chase your own relief, grinding your hips against the floor. He pulls you by the ears to sink deeper down your throat. 

He grunts and moans and howls as he comes between your lips. 

He doesn’t always take. 

The next time he makes you come four times. 

“Again, again,” he chants into your ear. His words are hot breath as his fingers press inside of you overwhelming that ridge that sends you reeling. Your bodies are pressed together, sticky with perspiration and release and drool and milk. 

“I can’t,” you sob, your body sore and stretched to its limit. 

You’re so spent, so overstimulated, each orgasm takes more and more effort. But Ezra refuses to quit, punishing you until you reach a fearsome crescendo. 

“Oh, my petal, but I know you are more than capable.”

He’s right. You can feel the weak muscles in your core begin to twist. You hold your breath and focus on the brutal sensations Ezra gives you. 

“Besides, your ability is immaterial,” he goes on. “These were the terms of our deal. This cunt. Is. Mine.”

Despite the fact that you’re so exhausted you can barely remember your own name, hardly able to stand on your own two feel, the climax that hits you is just as monumental as the very first. 

“Have you endured enough tonight, petal?” he asks, sucking the gush of slick off of his fingers. 

“Please,” you whimper. “Please.”

You’re not sure if you’re begging him to stop or to keep going. 

“Tomorrow, petal,” he promises. “Now get some rest.”

He wakes you. Every night. 

...

Comments and reblogs are appreciated! My asks are always open and I don't bite (unless you're into that).

[dirtytransmasc]

ATLA! Avatar au ramblings, cause I need them out of my skull:

[Disclaimer: this is basically just Avatar, but if there were benders. there are no rules. god is dead. I wear his crown. we go by my rules now, even if they break atla canon. canon is a suggestion now]

each clean tends to be made up of benders from two of the elements, people from the clan can carry both traits, even if one is dormant.

for example, the Omatikaya are made up of earth and airbenders. both Mo'at and Eytukan were airbenders, yet their daughter Neytiri was an earth bender, and Sylwanin was also an air bender.

Humans are rarely benders, at least compared to the Na'vi, as the destruction of Earth led to the loss of benders, but when they are benders, they have only been fire benders. this includes avatars. the RDA specifically targets and recruits fire benders.

Fire benders are rare on Pandora. very few clans produce fire benders. and with the destruction the humans and the RDA have caused, fire benders are almost taboo, especially in the forest clans that faced the brunt of their efforts.

Jake is a fire bender, he is heavily disconnected from the idea of spirit, fluidity, or nature within his bending. it gets better as he lives with the Omatikaya, but old habits die hard, so he'll ways be a messy fire user, and his fighting style is messy, MMA like, the reckless assault of a soldier and not an art. he doesn't truly incorporate his bending into his day to day life either, it's like a gun to him, not a part of his spirit and being.

Neytiri is an earth bender (and in my world, they can bend plants, because fuck you). while she is known for her combat on Ikran back, she is just as deadly in face to face combat, as she is a heavily offensive fighter, and she will punch you in the throat with a dagger she pulled from the earth. but in a more casual day to day, she uses it to get around the forest, to weave and craft, to cook even. she makes something solid like stone and wood look as fluid as air, and something as delicate as plant life look deadly and jagged. and as a healer she uses it not only to cultivate and refine healing plants, and even bone bend.

a fire bender and an earth bender, have 3 kids:

Neteyam is an earth bender, he presented quite young, maybe 5 or 7, and he takes after his mommy, with the added aggression of Jake's fire bending attitude. he inherited less of his mother's likeness to plant bending, but can magma bend extremely well for his age, keeping that same fluidity. but as much of his life is taken up by combat and training, he's also a crafter and has plenty of little siblings bringing him rocks and asking him to make them beads, so he's also doing a lot of that. (he has attempted to bend a tree fort into existence and fell through it and on his ass, trust, I was there)

Tuk is an air bender. she's only presented around 7, and only in little gusts, so she hasn't cultivated an exact style, she can only really play with little gusts of air, or go gliding about on her glider, but only when a sibling is with her, in case she falls. she's also just an agile little thing.

Lo'ak (for angst value) doesn't present for a long while, he makes it to nearly 13 before presenting, and he ends up being a fire bender.... which did not help his self image, in any manner. not only is he the demon blooded son, the one that never lives up to Jake and Neteyam, who looks like a freak, but now he's a fire bender too? just shoot him now.

Kiri, the child of Grace, who was not a bender, and Eywa, is an air bender (she's already Pandora Jesus, I'm not putting her through being the Avatar as well). she presented at 5, it never seemed like a big thing to her. Neytiri found her floating and that was that. she is heavily connected to her spirit, so she can astral project, and her world, which makes her very hyper sensitive to her surroundings. she uses her air bending to carry stuff, be more spry (in the comics she tends to fall behind her siblings, even Spider, who is much smaller than her. her air bending gives her the leg up to help her keep up). even after she gains an ikran, she tends to go gliding or just. floating. for funsies.

that leaves my son, my baby boy, Spider:

I'm making him the fucking avatar because I can.

[more bullshit below, this is just very long and I'd feel bad posting this behemoth and clogging people's feeds]

he is Eywa's first Sky child, her golden boy, and he is the bridge between humans and Na'vi— he is Na'vi in all but body, and human in all but soul —so she knows if anyone can soothe the tensions ripping her world apart, it will be him.

he starts out as a fire bender.

no one is shocked, even though he gave off his first sparks as a toddler. his parents had both been fire benders— Quaritch had mastered combustion, and Paz was known to give off smoke when pissed —this gets him even more ostracized than he was in canon from the get go. no one wants much to do with the fire bending son of Quaritch. no one can truly trust him, even as a child.

who's to say when he will become the wildfire everyone assumes he will become? who's to say he's not dangerous, even as a child? especially without the help of a fire bending master to aid him (could Jake do it? yes. do I think Jake would commit to that long term? absolutely not).

despite this, the Sully kids are his siblings, from the moment they meet. he's their big brother, watching out for them, promising his flames as their shield, forever and ever. no one will ever hurt them. that they don't need to be scared of him, because he'd burn himself to a crisp before burning them. and his will is so strong, he's never accidentally burned them like he has others. his spirit knows better. it's strong enough to render the heat to nothing.

so the second Spider can leave the confines of Hellsgate and go out into Eywa's jungle, he is more than pleased to do so. he isn't judged there. the animals don't flinch away from him or stare at him like they're seeing secrets from the future.

he bends in secret, first with fire, just dancing a flame over his hands, slowly gaining trust in himself and his control, and developing his own style of bending, one similar to the airbenders of the clan, as that's the closest thing he has to go off of.

and if he has dreams of Toruk like creatures, showing him the art of fire, when he falls asleep in the grassy clearings of Eywa's world, he won't question it.

and when he hears whispers of 'try it' when he thinks of attempting to bend a different element, even just pretending, child's play, he listens, because he trusts the soft voice in his ear.

he bends air first. while not rare, those who bend air are considered special, connect to the spirit of Eywa. it's a sign. well, it would be had anyone paid enough mind to the boy to see it.

air bending comes naturally. he'd been watching those around him air bend for years. he'd mimicked their movements while playing with his siblings. it feels right. like it was what he was destined for (Eywa just needed time to manipulate his soul). it keeps him alive in the jungle, not only cause it allows him to take riskier paths and such, but also because it allows him without an exopack.

earth comes next. again. he'd watched earth benders for years. longed to manipulate the forest like them. to create instead of destroy. wanted to heal instead of heal. wanted to use brute forced over his flames, because his flames were looked at with fear, while the other boys trained their bending and were cheered on. he can work plants as if it was as easy as breathing. weaving them together into forts and hide outs and supplies.

water is last, and seeing as it's the opposite of his birth element, he has no mentor, and not even a faint clue on how it works, it is his weakest. but he has an affinity for healing, even if it only works on little cuts and scrapes, maybe a bruise if he's lucky.

by twelve he is mostly living on his own in the woods. it's near impossible to keep him in the compound anymore. he's not interested.

no one has any idea what he is. Spider can't even fully believe it himself and all's down spirals of thinking he's giving into his human greed, somehow (don't blame him, he's just a little guy, a dumb little guy who doesn't know maths, and grew up around people who all but hated him. let him have a dumb dumb complex).

the only people who have a slight idea are his siblings; he bends too much on instinct. he reached out to catch his siblings, shifting the ground beneath them just a tad, or shooting a vine around their ankle or using a swift puff of wind to stop their descent. he heals small cuts while thumbing over them, rolling a little bead of water on the broken or bruised skin. he brings them up into elaborate tree forts.

his siblings only keep from saying something because of the look of pure terror he gets on his face when he catches himself.

as time goes on, he becomes more open with them. by 15 it's common knowledge amongst them who and what Spider is, but he still won't let them tell the clan. but he has Kiri and Neteyam to help him with his air and earth bending, as they can regurgitate their own lessons back to him, which makes him stronger over all, even if he continues to use his own methods.

Jake and Neytiri only find out the night he was taken; when he gave his all to protect his baby siblings from the recoms, all fire benders, and exposed the level of power he held... and was subsequently taken for.

and then he gets adventures with his papa and the squad. that he is so so so so so happy about (kill him).

bonus info that doesn't fit into the vaguely timeline coherent ramblings above:

Spider is a healer by nature, it's in his heart and soul. so while he trains himself for combat, it's simply natural for him to want to fix things, to help people, to give himself and his power over if it means he can soothe one ache in his people. so Spider learns all of the healing arts he can. he develops his own even. refines bone and blood bending to heal people. uses the scientific understanding of things that he picked up as a human to make better medicines, etc.

speaking of blood/bonebending. my boy is going to snap at some point during his captivity and fuck some people up with that, because he knows the dogs of the RDA deserve it. perhaps it's after Neteyam's death that triggers it. or maybe the Tulkun hunt/attack on the Ta'unui. it's something, something that has him going in a carnage spree.

he will train with Mo'at and Ronal when they find out about him. Mo'at will knowingly pass him over — she knew early in he was special, but knew, in terms of his learning, the forest was not his place, for there was too much pain. but she would watch out for him as she had his whole life, in her own ways — while Ronal will become one of his footholds in life. a place where he will always feel like he can drift back to.

~~~

that's all I have for now. it's a shit ton. I have maladaptive daydreamed part this point, but I'll probably be back on my bullshit eventually. I'll have more on Q and the water tribe and what not.

[hinamie]

Hi,

any chance you could tell me more about the 2nd years in the atla!au ?

I also just want to say that i just love this au

i have consulted th lore master say thank u @philosophiums <3

2nd years lore coming right up!!

Maki is a nonbender who has decided to study bending arts in order to be able to fight against them. Her ultimate goal is to take out the Zen'in Clan, or at the very least their current leaders.

Yuuta, while only being an airbender - though a very talented one - and not a member of the Gojo Clan, is considered by many to be Gojo's natural successor (what Gojo's role is, exactly, is a spoiler <3).

Inumaki is working diligently to complete all 36 tiers of airbending so that he can become a master and get his arrow tattoos. His mouth tattoos are a visual representation of a vow he has taken, the details of which are spoilers <3

Panda is a very very young spirit who accidentally stumbled out of the Spirit World as a cub and was taken in by a certain spiritual leader at the Northern Air Temple. He has always been a protector spirit™ and is still trying to find a place to call his own and protect (like Hei Bai has his forest).

Also Yuuta and Inumaki have been dating for abouuuuut 5 months when the main trio eventually meets them in the fic!!

Also my own design notes gHGFHJS panda is more or less hei bai meets gorilla mode and i don't have much to say about maki except Call Me but inumaki n yuuta's designs have at least a few things i can talk abt !!

while inumaki is in robes tht have more of a traditional style, i figured tht Yuuta being the more advanced airbender means he knows how to work the more modern flight suits that u see in lok so I have him wearing a variation of one of those underneath his robes

I also tried to make inumaki's clothes Baggier n Longer to *kind of* lean monk while still being fairly well-suited to combat ! echoing his technique in jjk I don't think he's much of a close-range fighter + air isnt a particularly close-range element so he probably doesn't need his clothes to be terribly form-fitting out of concern of a physical Brawl

when he's not using it, Yuuta keeps his glider in a wrap similar to his sword in the show. is there a reason.... :)

[nocternalrandomness]

A U.S. Army Air Force Waco CG-4A-WO cargo/troop glider photographed in 1943.

The Waco CG-4 was the most widely used American troop/cargo military glider of World War II. It was designated the CG-4A by the United States Army Air Forces, and given the service name Hadrian by the RAF.

[middlingmay]

Horse Trainer!Gale x Veteran!Bucky AU

Part one of my headcanons for this AU is here!

Some warnings to get us started: slight mention of alcohol abuse, references to gun violence, war, death, PTSD and a car accident.

Something bright and cheery for your Wednesday, eh? I promise it gets cute later down the line, just not today! Today we mean business. So here we go!

Bucky couldn’t remember wanting to be anything other than a pilot when he grew up.

His ma used to draw all kinds of aircraft: jets, airliners, gliders, helicopters, even a seaplane once. John would tuck himself into her side and watch, mouth open and fascinated as she drew smooth confident lines.

She explained to him why the nose was this shape, and how the wings and tail needed to be in balance, why the placement and size of the engines mattered. She went to school for it, before he and his sisters came along. Well, before his dad came along, really.

He didn’t take much of it in, he'd be ashamed to realise later, but he did absorb her obsession with aviation. Just not for the design. He would however, try to encourage her to go back to school to finish her degree.

Mama Egan took him to his first air show when he was eight, and she had to scruff him by the neck to stop him from taking off like a shot towards the real, live WWII B-17.

Instead, he thrashed at the end of her hand, jumping around like an eel as she walked him towards it anyway, and accepted the boost inside once his ma had convinced the pilot to let John take a peek inside.

He never looked back.

He enlists when he’s eighteen, and rockets up the ranks quickly. By the time he becomes Major - and a very young Major - the new recruits look at him like he’s some kind of maverick, some kind of legend.

The higher-ups see the natural born leader he is, and the boys in his squadron know him as brave, quick thinking, and with instincts that couldn’t have possibly all come from training. He could read situations in the air like most of them read books. When John Egan had a feeling, or ordered you to do something out of the blue, you did not ask questions.

Although he joined up out of pure enthusiasm and desperation to be a pilot, he quickly sees his time in the air force as an opportunity to help people. But, almost as quickly, he realises that he and the Brass have different views on how to go about that.

He dislikes combat missions the most. Sometimes it’s pretty black and white, and John can feel pride when he sees enemy targets crumble into dust. Or when he’s lost one of his men and he feels a thrum of vengeance he knows he shouldn’t and tries to suppress but sometimes can’t quite help on the darker nights.

But mostly he learns how devastating combat missions are. He much prefers supply drops and recovery missions, but these are so few and far between, that he gives up that privilege to those in his squadron to help keep up their morale. Their morale was his responsibility, after all.

John takes to drinking, just a little bit. Never enough to affect his work. But on days when he can’t shake the anger or the gloom, the glow of whisky helps him hide it better.

Somewhere along the line, his passion burns out and he starts to want out. He’s still one of their best pilots, still a role model for all the pilots, navigators and serving men and women on base - that is to stay, he still acts the part. He signs up for his second eight-year contract, but two years into it, he can’t stomach the thought of the remaining six.

He admits as much on a tearful phone call to his ma, who promises him he doesn’t owe anyone anything, and if he needs to he better get his ass into that doctor’s office or she’ll come and drag him by the ear and drop him at the counsellor’s door herself.

“Don’t you go doing anything stupid, now, John. I didn’t raise a fool.”

And John doesn't. Do anything stupid, that is. But someone does.

Because the mission fucks up, and fucks up in a big way.

It's a recovery mission his squadron all but forces him on, all of them insisting it's his turn, and what did he do to deserve those guys and dolls, huh?

But Ken hadn’t given him the run down of his plane, because he’s taken some PTO, and his replacement ground crew chief was nowhere to be found. And from then on, John just has a bad feeling about the whole thing.

Afterwards, he can't ever remember much, but what it boils down to is two bullets in his shoulder, a dead co-pilot, a murdered political attaché left behind on enemy ground, and a package, called Robert ‘Rosie’ Rosenthal, safe back on American soil. And his superiors patting him on his good shoulder, telling him what a good job he did.

A good fucking job. Like some green kid hadn’t died choking on his own blood, staring at Bucky like he could do something. And a fella in his late 50s, who’d been harping on about his first grandkid, was never going to meet him because his body was never going to make it home.

So, when the doc tells him the physio isn’t working and his mobility is compromised, he barely feels a thing.

Major John Egan. Honourably discharged at twenty-eight.

He’s been warned he might feel a little lost at home. But no one warns him that he’ll mistake a framed photo of his old man as that dead attaché and it would start talking to him: “You left me behind. Who’s going to teach my grandkid ball, now?”

No one tells him he’ll scare the life out of his ma coming home from ladies' brunch, to see John, who’s been standing there God knows how long, still heaving in ragged breaths surrounded by smashed glass with blood running down the hand that holds a sizeable shard of it.

So he agrees to therapy.

It doesn’t go well. Crank sets him up with a friend of his experienced in medically discharged vets, but Bucky can’t disassociate them from the military. They get all mushed up as part of the problem in his head, so he stops going and avoids Cranks calls for a while.

And the dreams get worse. And the sleepwalking hits him like a freight train, although it only happens once. Once is enough.

He ends up on a back road. It’s the only reason, Bucky thinks, he didn’t die. He veers between the grassy verge and the road. It’s dark and he’s wearing all black, and the car doesn’t see him before it’s too late. They weren’t going too fast, but they clip him all the same and he wakes up in a hospital.

And the docs have evidently spoken to his ma, because whilst they’re treating his physical wounds, someone comes for a psyche eval and he gets a stern warning that either he gets proper counselling voluntarily, or he’ll legally be forced to. A much less pleasant experience.

And he meets the driver who clipped him. A shorter guy called Curt who walks in rubbing the back of his neck and not quite able to look John in the eye until he says, “Irish, huh? That how you didn’t hit the bullseye? Too short to see over the steering wheel?”

Curt cackles and the two of them talk easy after that.

In fact, John finds it easier to talk to Curt than anyone else since he left the air force. He tells Curt about the disillusionment of it all, the anger, the dreams, all of it. And Curt understands because he used to be in the medical corps and he knows there are things you can’t unsee. Some things a man just can’t reckon with himself.

But, Curt also tells him about the horse ranch he goes to, that helped him when no shrink or medication could.

Cleven Ranch he calls it, and tells John that when he’s up and ready, he’ll take him there.

[silverskye13]

I've... been watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood again.....

Blurbles about all the hermits under the cut!

Rendog: Wolf Chimera. He has a human form he rarely uses, and generally gets away in public with the glaringly obvious lie of "Oh all this hair? It's a... uh... rare skin condition." It does help that his best friend is a known doctor and somewhat mad scientist. Shortly after he was created he killed his creator and stole their philosopher stone, entrusting it to Doc, a friend he had before his chimera-fication. He and Mumbo came from the same facility.

Docm77: Military and Cosmetic Automail Engineer. Started off in Rush Valley and, once he decided he knew enough about automail, started to work his way up through the military building specialized prosthetics. He's been trying to launch a body modification program for years, viewing it as a more humane was of augmenting humanity than the fleshcraft that comes with human transmutation. He was, understandably, horrified when Ren showed up on his doorstep one day as a chimera.

Bdubs: Istvalan Creation Alchemist. Bdubs is a freelance alchemist not associated with any military powers -- and he's trying desperately to keep it that way. His creations are intricate, and he specializes in a wide variety of materials. He's best known for his experimental [and extremely temperamental] "Pretty-Alchemy", where he McGuivers transmutation circles and equations on how they "feel" instead of how alchemically sound they are.

Welsknight [and Helsknight]: Soul-bound armor. A pair of swordsmen who were forced into a suit of armor to guard the chimeric facility that created so many monsters. Welsknight, the brains of the operation, is situated in the helmet while Helsknight, the stronger fighter, is bound to the chestplate. They spent a lot of time bickering amongst each other, but when their goals happen to align, they are a force to be reckoned with. When their facility was destroyed, they were ordered to kill the escaping chimeras -- until a very charismatic Ren convinced them to flee instead.

False: Military sniper. She spends a lot of time fending off Doc's advances [ie. automail modifications to help her shoot and aim better]. She's worked her way up through the ranks because of her skill, but her general aversion to leading and governing keeps her out of the upper echelons of Central Command. Instead she finds herself bouncing between command stations whenever uprisings occur in Amestris. She was one of the military officers sent to respond to the chimera facility's collapse. When she recognized Ren among the people escaping, she found there was "too much smoke" to take proper aim at the escaping creatures. She was demoted shortly after the event, not that it bothered her much.

Grian: The Updraft Alchemist. One of the few alchemists who have ever taken up Doc on his offer for cosmetic automail. The wings attach to nerves in his shoulder blades, and after several years of tweaking, actually respond to his movements. He can't fly with them per-se, they function more like an incredibly sensitive glider -- which works just fine for Grian, since he specializes in temperature alchemy, causing dramatic updraft/downdrafts. He was not at the chimera facility event, but has become good friends with many of the people involved through Doc -- he spends so much time getting his wings repaired after his various crashes, he almost lives in Doc's work room.

Tangotek: The Fuse-Metal Alchemist. He mostly uses alchemy in welding and crafting, though he's been known to create fire and weapons on the fly when he needs to. As a state alchemist, he's expected to be a living weapon on some level -- and his powerful alchemy definitely helps with that, though he's best at making walls and fortresses than he is at real standing combat. No one knows how he got ahold of his philosopher's stone -- in fact, most people don't even know he has one. He only uses it when he feels like his life is threatened [or needs a good kick to make something truly impressive]. He used to work in the chimera facility, making containment for the more volatile creatures. He's absorbed a lot of the theory on human transmutation, but has yet to use it.

Mumbo: Lizard Chimera and Chimera Expert. Mumbo's first miraculous use of transmutation was to turn himself into a chimera. Unfortunately, lizards aren't quite as smart as people are, so it took some time to relearn the formula and materials involved. He was subject 0 at the chimera facility, and, once he'd regained his wits, helped in the experimentation into chimera crafting -- though he was under the impression all the subjects were willing volunteers like he was... oh dear. He was the one who orchestrated the escape, and, having befriended Ren by then, escaped with him when the facility collapsed. He swears he'll never do human transmutation again -- except maybe on himself. Like, being able to climb up walls is nice and all, but imagine what he could do with bird wings? Or a bull's strength? Or--

[usafphantom2]

1/2: Painting l did in 2021.

Handley-Page Heyford, the last biplane heavy bomber to serve with the Royal Air-Force. Entering operational service in 1933, the Heyford equipped 9 RAF squadrons by late 1936. The Heyford began to be phased out of service in 1937, the final examples -2/2: -withdrawn in 1939 although a few served as trainers & glider tugs until 1942. No Heyford ever saw combat but 4 were lost in accidental crashes during a training exercise in 1936 and one in a collision with another aircraft in 1940. Only 125 examples were built.

@PeteHill854 via X

[rockyp77mk3]

American Glider pilots from the 101st Airborne cheerfully disembark from the landing craft and board a bigger vessel after fighting for 3 days trying to get back to the designated rendezvous point for return to England. In theory the pilots were to go back and fly new gliders into the combat area. In fact many were obliged to fight on as slightly underequipped infantry.

[randomshenaniganery]

Red Fountain Specialist Design Fr this time sksksksk

sorry if its hard to read I'll write it down under

Right is some facts about onyx and their role in the group

Onyx wears face paint on missions as they were aware that if they got face tattoos they would face problems in school

Onyx comes from the same planet as Tecna however from a smaller city and lower class

Stella's friend and main contact with RF (explanation LATER)

Ranged Fighter (main weapon rifle) and Strategist

Closer to Timmy and Riven

Kinda doesn't like Sky doesn't tell anyone about it (one sided rivalry on Onyx's end)

Had a crush on Flora cried over it

Beefs with Tecna sometimes

RIGHT: Drawing of On Mission Red Fountain Specialist Uniform

Right brace is a regular one and the left is modified to be a communication device for all specialists as well as a way to connect to any RFS gadgets, vehicles, machines etc.

The cape/glider in canon is inspired by research done on fairy combat, the wings serve as a glider when specialists are airborne. They function by metallic fluid that look like veins and those veins move the material, they have censors that will trigger to turn on if specialist is unable to use their screen to activate it manually. Before they can use this cape they have to be trained on how to glide and mimic fairies. also do not ask me about the specifics of how this tech works because i am not smart askakskakkaskaskkaskas I'm thinking about that fluid that moves with magnetism or just insert vague it's advanced technology from an entirely different realm

LEFT: In School Training Uniform

Minimal special features because it's meant to be worn when students are enhancing their natural ability

Light weight

Waterproof, non conductive to electricity and fire resistant

easy to put on in case of emergencies

RED FOUNTAIN SCHOOL FOR SPECIALIST HEADCANONS (for my rewrite)

Used to be an all boys school but was very recently changed to be mixed

Has different departments aka more like a university it has magic and non-magic combatants, a technology dep, a magical beast taming dep, etc.

Has more students than Alfea and Cloud Tower combined because it's not restricted to those who have specific magics anymore (used to be)

Privately owned but often works with government programs hence the reason why students would be in contact with criminals and also catching them

only a small percent of graduates become specialists as others use their degrees to get jobs in magix because there's more variety in the courses offered.

RF is considered neutral ground for fairies and witches

Rival to Paladins (Arcane focused school) but like in a friendly way

Principal can be considered like a multimillionaire at this point since he's owns a school that can produce military vehicles and students that create those designs while still studying. I think he's raking in government cash and also opens avenue to shady shit i can explore :3

[p5x-theories]

What We Know About Vino

(last updated 8/3/24!)

Chizuko Nagao, codename Vino, is a 75 year-old alcoholic who cares deeply for her granddaughter. She joins the team as a “Phantom Idol”, or cognitive teammate.

Her files are named with the codename "Dorothy" instead of her canon codename Vino. The exact significance of this, if any, is unknown.

Her All Out Attack finisher text says "I can't find a good place to stop", though it's obscured by her head.

Her Japanese voice actress is Masako Katsuki.

Chizuko spends her time at bars in Shinjuku, and this is where Wonder first meets her. She tells him to head to the station, but then saves him when a drunk man tries to extort him for money, and takes him to a bar that allows minors. She likes chatting with him, and exchanges contact information after walking with him to the train station.

The next time they meet, she's gotten so drunk she fell asleep before Wonder arrived. After waking up, she ends up telling him about her high school-aged granddaughter, Manaka, who recently attempted suicide (reminding Wonder of the girl that jumped off a roof the day he awoke his Persona), and survived but can't walk anymore. Chizuko is very worried about her, so Wonder suggests she try bonding with Manaka over a shared interest, which reminds Chizuko that Manaka loves music. Chizuko herself used to play the saxophone, while Manaka likes to sing, and they used to spend time together at a jazz club. Chizuko starts to formulate a plan to eventually perform there during amateur night with Manaka, though she asks Wonder to come and help out.

Her side story is being added in parts, and thus only the beginning of it is currently available in-game.

Information about her has also been translated as:

"A 75-year-old drunken woman. She has a bold and righteous personality, but is troubled by the difficulty in communicating with her granddaughter, who depends on each other for life. Although she is good at playing the saxophone, she has not practiced for a long time after the death of her husband, who also loved music."

Vino’s Persona Ampelos (based on the Hamadryades nymph of vines, and/or the lover of Dionysus and personification of the grapevine) is categorized as a Nuclear type, and resists Nuclear while being weak to Fire. Notably, she rides atop it like a glider.

Ampelos is a Surrender Persona, meaning she’s focused around applying debuffs to gain an advantage, and her trait gives an enemy the radiation status effect whenever it gains any other elemental status effect. She has three nuclear attack skills: the first hits one enemy, reduces its defense, and causes a random elemental status effect that the enemy doesn't already have; the second hits all enemies, with a 40% chance of causing a random status ailment they don't already have; and the third hits one enemy, increasing the damage it takes for two rounds based on how many elemental status effects it has (this increase stacks up to three times). Her passives cause enemies with radiation take more damage from nuclear attacks, and boost attack power relative to Vino's effect hit stat.

In combat, her melee weapon is a knife or dagger, while her ranged weapon is an assault rifle. Her Highlight is shown from 2:38 - 2:50 in this video, and hits one enemy, with a 75% chance of afflicting it with two elemental status effects it does not already have.

Her recommended card sets are 1) 6 of Swords (Science) + Queen of Coins (Harmony), 2) 4 of Coins (Power) + Queen of Coins (Harmony).

The game recommends teaming her up with 1) Queen.

[khaenriahn-anthropologist]

Genshin Improvements for Endgame Content

I'm just going to ramble about what I think would be better for the game.

At the moment there's not much we can do that feels fulfilling once you've completed an area. Seeing as how Genshin has made this Natlan region so small on release I feel it more than ever that we really lack any real substance once we get to endgame and exploration is complete. I finished it so quickly despite having a full-time job and there's significantly less random world quests in this expansion too.

I'm really feeling the pinch in terms of content.

Don't think this is going to be another "We need a new end-game combat mode" rant because I think there are things we could do for everyone no matter the type of player you are.

Furniture Mini-game

Similarly to animal crossing, have NPC's request decorations for a room. They will have a set of mandatory items and a list of requested items. All items aside from those will also earn bonus points towards the reward of the game. You'll have a new NPC every 3.5 days or every week, this will give teapot enjoyers something to do casually and encourage people to use the system.

This would also encourage players to diversify the items that they craft and to pursue furniture recipes from chests. People that were previously using the old Screen stacking thing to get realm currency will now have to begin farming more furniture items.

Since our current realm currency is silver, we could earn Golden Realm Currency instead. These golden coins can be used in a special shop that resets monthly, allowing players to work towards buying the limited items throughout the month. This would finally give players something interesting to buy every weekend since the traveling salesman has not had an inventory update in a very long time.

Rewards could be things like the following:

Wood Bundles: As I think farming wood is rather tedious and this could be a nice way to get a small chunk of different wood types every month. This would not replace farming wood in the wild but would be a nice supplement for people who enjoy making furniture. The wood bundle might include 20 pieces of a certain wood type.

Limited Furniture Items: What's a better way to reward teapot builders than to give them more furniture? At the moment there's tons of furniture pieces that are unused/unobtainable. This could be an easy way to give people furniture. These items could be ones without recipes which makes their recycled appearance in the shop still valuable as some builders may be interested in having more than one copy of an item.

Something that would minimize the strain on the developers is to utilize a recolor system, offering color variants of existing models in the game. This would also open up a lot more opportunities for decorators! And of course brand new items that haven't been seen in game would be wonderful to get as well.

New flooring and wall colors would also be super awesome to see.

Other Rewards: Primogems, Special Glider, Namecards, Mora, EXP Books, Etc. The Basic kind of rewards.

Downsides to this game mode:

Players may craft only the essential items and not decorate. This isn't too much of a big deal. Players who enjoy decorating will decorate and those who don't shouldn't be held at gunpoint to do so if they at least went through the effort of farming mats and crafting them to begin with.

Newer players will have to play catch up in order to get the recipes that they need but this is why I think it should reset NPC's every couple of days to give everyone the opportunity to get the recipe and to craft it.

______________________________________________________

This is it for now, I have other game modes as well but this is the big one for me. Let me know what you think!