#Lee!Floyd

[estelle-skully]

Trolls: Band Together tkl Headcanons!

Im only doing Brozone rn because thats all I feel like but send an ask or smth to request other characters if you’d like

golly gee here we go (im going in age order ((oldest to youngest)) because organization🔥🔥)

⭐️⭐️⭐️ John Dory:

90% ler, 10% lee

definitely used to wreck his brothers before the band broke up when they were younger

Used to embarrass his brothers in public by poking their sides or something and found it hilarious

the rest of Brozone definitely all ganged up on him for revenge

he isnt really a lee but doesn’t hate being tickled

still ticklish af though 💀

worst spot is his ribs

whenever one of his siblings starts a tickle fight, he usually wins

Always tells Poppy all of Branch’s worst tickle spots

He would sometimes tickle his brothers before a show to get them energized/in a good mood. Especially Clay, since he was supposed to have a silly attitude

(the following hcs are yanked from isitwp)❤️

- will purposely always pin his lees down, no matter who or what, he will always pin them down, even if it’s at the beginning, middle or end, somewhat he will pin them. (But sometimes he likes watching their limbs flail in desperate attempts to escape)

- when branch was younger, he would 100% hold him upside down and tickle his stomach as branch went crazy, desperately trying to get away.

- was known by his brothers as the “big tickle monster” considering he was the oldest, he was more stronger and he would chase them around the house and would not stop until he eventually got atleast one of them or until he just got tired.

- JD will in fact blow raspberries and to just make it worse, he would shake his head while blowing one to make it EVEN worse.

- definitely goes “nom nom nom!” When blowing raspberries and tickling his brothers, however he only does the nom nom nom thing on his brothers, he gets embarrassed if someone else knew that.

- definitely uses his hair to give a small sneak tickle attack to the side of his lee’s then acts like he didn’t he didn’t do anything.

- this bro used to actually tickle his brothers if they weren’t in the mood to practice, feel like it would go something like this: clay- dude, I’m not in the mood! JD- yeah yeah sure okay. *tickles clay’s armpits* clay- DUHUDEHE NOHOHO!

-if in a ler mood, JD will and I repeat will aim for these spots first, stomach, sides or ribs when he first attacks.

- acts like such a dad when tickling, he will go something like: JD- just checking on you! Respect your elders you rascal!

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bruce:

100% ler

he doesn’t exactly hate being tickled either, but when he was younger and JD would poke him to get him to laugh (he always did it when they were interacting with fans too) he would get pretty mad so now he just gets embarrassed when he’s tickled

buuuuut since he’s a dad now he probably tickles his kids a lot so he does the same to his brothers. Especially Branch, since he’s kinda still considered the baby of the family

as adults he and JD sometimes team up during tickle fights, but when they were younger they went after each other the most

death spot is his stomach/sides

sometimes when he’s tickling his brothers, he’ll tell a dad joke, and when they laugh (bc they’re being tickled, not bc of the joke) he says something like “I knew you liked dad jokes!” Or “you really thought that was funny?” And they always get pissed

doesnt wreck people often, usually he prefers to briefly tickle people to cheer them up/ surprise them or something

his laugh gets really high pitched when he’s being tickled and he hates it

as an adult, any time JD tries to poke him he INSTANTLY gets revenge and wrecks him no matter where he is

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Clay:

70% ler, 30% lee

ALWAYS the one to start tickle fights

loves to sneak up on his brothers and surprise them with a tickle attack

sometimes will intentionally bother his brothers just to get them to tickle him. Would never admit that was his intention though

after the band was reunited and stuff, he tickles Branch all the time since Branch gets annoyed so easily now and he wants to cheer him up

has a really squeaky laugh when he’s tickled

he gets surprised easily so whenever someone tickles him he fucking screams

Clay is literally the kind if dude to lie and say he isn’t ticklish when in reality he is

His underarms are his worst spot but his ears are pretty sensitive too

such an evil ler and always knows exactly what teases will fluster his lee the most

when someone tickles him he says every swear word (minus slurs of course 💀) like it’s insane

“FUHUHUHUHUCK YOU HAHAHAH GOHOD D-DAMN BIHIHIHIHITCH AHAHAHAHA-“

he never means any if it though dw

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Floyd:

40% ler, 60% lee

Floyd is the kind of dude to shyly ask his brothers to tickle him

SUCH a fucking sweetheart as both a lee and a ler

has a habit of hugging himself or his ler when he’s being tickled, but if he’s pinned then he’ll stim in some way, maybe by kicking his legs or something. He does this because he doesn’t want to fight the tickles but its hard to stay still

He would always team up with Branch when they were younger during tickle fights so that Bitty B wouldn’t be all alone/overwhelmed

LOVES soft/cuddly tickles

feathers make him WEAK (he’s hella feather ticklish)

has literally the sweetest sounding laugh

his back/shoulders/neck are his worst spots but he’s super ticklish everywhere else

when he’s the ler, he always gives raspberries

Don’t let his adorable appearance fool you, though- he can and will fucking wreck people. He just doesn’t do it often

best at giving cheer up tickles

loves to compliment people while he tickles them

(more stolen from isitwp because rawr)

has moments where he checks if the lee is fine before going back to mercilessly tickle them.

- 100% gave branch cheer up tickles and still does, YOU WILL NEVER CONVINCE ME HE DOES NOT.

- definitely tickled branch most when they were kids, he also tickled his older brothers to save branch from their tickles.

- gave branch the tickle of his lifetime after they returned, he would tease him like: Floyd- sorry branchie, gotta tickle you for all the years I’ve missed!

- calls branch “branchie” to tease him during tickling which branch HATES.

- pulls Lee into his lap so he can nibble on their neck, most likely going “nom nom nom!” Just like JD.

- like JD, he also used to hold branch upside down and tickle him.

- yells “here comes the spiders!” And begins spidering all over his lee just to hear them scream HEIWNWHDIDJS.

- just the look in his eyes before he tickles the lee is already enough to make the lee giggle, HE AHS SUCH A DEVIOUS LOOK.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Branch:

50% ler, 50% lee

Super duper shy about tickles though

whenever he’s in a ler mood, he usually goes after Poppy because he’s used to it (started tickling her more often when they started dating bc he knew that she was comfortable with it and also bc he knows that she’ll most likely get him back and he loves it). Doesn’t even know why he’s so nervous to tickle people, especially his brothers because they tickle each other all the time

when it comes to being tickled though…

Branch is easily the most ticklish out of all his brothers 😭

He would literally rather eat a spider than ask for tickles because it’s so embarrassing to him

he loves it when his brothers tickle him without him having to ask

at this point Poppy knows that he secretly loves tickles, and since he would never ask, she asks him if he wants to be tickled

he usually replies with a shy little nod

always covers his face to hide his goofy giddy smile when he’s being tickled

⭐️⭐️⭐️

YIPPEE THATS IT!

hopefully you enjoyed, again feel free to request headcanons for a specific character(s)/scenario 💜💜

also i highly encourage other tkl enjoyers in the trolls fandom to post headcanons please 😭 ive seen like no others so i had to provide for myself

[anzynai]

Hi you love twisted wonderland too, I haven't watched the show or played the game(s) so for the request can you do lee Floyd and ler jade or ler Floyd and lee jade the lee could be in a bad or sad mood {you can choose] and they need some cheer up tickles. Have a good day/night.🤗

fEELing

Jade & Floyd (TWST)

a/n: dont worry guys i hate the title too. ALSO SORRY RVERYONE, i know it took forever to get this out but ive been struggling with coming up with ideas and idkkk ANYWAYS, at least this one is up now! i don’t think theyre too ooc but uhh, if they are, please disregard. hope u enjoy!

if this isnt obvious (which is should be), these r twins so don’t ship them??? 💀

summary: when floyd is feeling down, jade tries to cheer him up.

warnings: contains tickling, and multiple florid (floyd x riddle) mentions!

word count: 1.1k

——

“Ughhh…” Floyd groaned very audibly, walking into Jade’s room, and plopping down face-first into the bed. It was a habit of his to go to his twin when he was feeling down and didn’t feel like being alone.

Jade, who was sitting at his desk, working on his homework from the day’s classes, turned around in his chair, watching Floyd mope.

“You seem… upset,” Jade noted, pursing his lips.

“Riddle’s bein’ annoying’…” Floyd crossed his arms, pouting.

“Is he now?”

“I keep trying to talk to him, but he’s all like, ‘Get away from me, Floyd!’ or ‘I’m busy!’. Blah blah blah!” Floyd turned his head, facing the other.

Jade raised a brow. “That never bothered you before.”

“I know, but…” Floyd paused for a second, trailing off, before he let out another groan, more emphasized this time.

Jade stayed silent, thinking, before a lightbulb seemed to light up in his head. “Does this.. have anything to do with your feelings for him?”

Floyd made eye contact with his twin. “I knew nothing ever would get past you,” He replied, but didn’t deny Jade’s words.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice my own brother skipping work to bother a certain redhead? The amount of complaints Azul has had for you recently..” Jade put a hand over his heart, feigned shock in his features.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, when he keeps avoiding me,” Floyd rolled over against the bed so he was laying on top of the pillows horizontally. Jade stood up from the desk, sitting at the edge of his bed, beside his brother.

“Perhaps, talk to him.” Jade rubbed Floyd’s back in what he hoped was a comforting matter. Floyd was never one to be against touch, especially with him, but how effective it was in cheering him up varied.

Floyd invited the touch, most likely unconsciously, but leaning into it nonetheless.

“I…” Floyd seemed shy, something that was very unlike him. Jade was sure if he was anyone else, Floyd wouldn’t be so vulnerable. “I don’t know how,” Floyd admitted with a sigh. “I’m so used to annoyin’ him and messin’ with him, but I don’t know how else to act around him.”

Floyd shoved his face into the pillow, growling at it in irritation.

“And?” Jade pushed, sensing that Floyd had more to say.

“I don’t want him to be annoyed with me anymore.”

Jade’s eyes widened. This was a very interesting thing for Floyd to say, because it was Floyd. Floyd never cared what people thought of him. Jade chuckled to himself. Love really does change people, doesn’t it?

Floyd seemed to take his chuckle as mocking and he lightly shoved him away, a half-hearted glare on his face.

“In my opinion, perhaps, start with small changes. You don’t have to switch up immediately. Slowly, you’ll adjust,” Jade told him. Plus, he had a suspicion that Riddle, if not returned his feelings, at least enjoyed his presence. If Floyd was truly a nuisance, Riddle had ways of being alone, yet he was almost always found in places where a certain eel had a high chance of appearing.

“You’re right,” Floyd huffed. “As always..”

Jade resisted another chuckle, gently pinching Floyd’s side. His smile widened when Floyd flinched. “Don’t be like that, dear brother.”

He curled his index around Floyd’s waist, eliciting a gasp from the other.

“Jade!” Floyd said, but there was no tone of annoyance detected, so Jade took that as a sign to continue. It made sense. Floyd had never been against tickling, whether he was tickling someone or he was being tickled. It was typically only Azul who would fight against it, though Jade suspected it was only to keep up pretenses. Jade brought his other hand to Floyd’s hips, squeezing at the sensitive skin.

“Yes, Floyd?” Jade tilted his head, innocently, idly tapping and gliding his fingers across Floyd’s torso. If Floyd hadn’t known what he was doing, Jade was sure it would've seemed like a mere accident.

“Stahahap ihihit! I’ll gehehet you bahahack!” Floyd didn’t bother hiding his giggles and Jade smiled. Laughter was quite a contagious thing and it seemed Jade was no less resistant to it than anyone else.

Jade swallowed, slowly. He was sure that Floyd definitely would get him back, but that was a problem for the future, he decided. His hands roamed to opposite sides of Floyd’s stomach as he scribbled and scratched any place he could reach.

The shirt Floyd was wearing provided no protection. Perhaps, if he had been wearing his full uniform, but he was only wearing the white polo shirt that was underneath anything. Perhaps, it would teach Floyd a lesson to wear his uniform properly, Jade joked to himself, knowing that it most certainly would not.

“Gahahaa! Jahahade!” Floyd flipped over, his back facing the headboard as he faced Jade, his hands uselessly pawing at Jade’s nimble fingers. Jade moved up towards his ribs, poking in between the bones and pinching the skin. Jade reveled in Floyd’s laughter becoming more high-pitched.

“You are quite ticklish. Must suck being in your permission, no?” Jade teased, but Floyd seemed to not hear him, too caught up in his giggling fit, his face flushed. Despite Floyd’s flailing hands, he didn’t particularly seem to be putting in any strength in getting away from Jade, not even trying.

Jade had to admit, it made things much, much easier on his end.

It went on for several more minutes, until Floyd was practically screaming with laughter. The last thing they needed was someone barging in, thinking Jade was getting murdered or something. Though, that fate may not be much different from Floyd’s current predicament.

Jade stopped his tickling hands, allowing Floyd a chance to catch his breath. Floyd had a bright smile on his face, a complete switch-up from the depressing and frustrated aura radiating from him when he entered the room, and Jade said as so.

“You seem much more calm.”

“‘Course I am cuz now, I’m gonna get you back!”

“A-already?” Jade’s eyes widened, though he supposed he should have expected that. He backed away, moving from the bed and closer to the door, while trying not to look panicked. Because he definitely wasn’t. At all.

It was just that he never got tickled much! It was always Floyd and Azul, not him! So forgive him for avoiding it! It didn’t take long for Floyd to catch up, though. Jade reasoned that he was going easy on him, but Floyd didn’t listen as he began to tickle the other with a devious grin on his face.

“Hahahaha!” Jade broke after trying to conceal his giggles and Floyd’s smile widened. It was like a dam had been destroyed because Jade couldn’t get himself to stop laughing.

Amidst the laughter, he swore he heard Floyd thank him, but he couldn’t tell if it was his imagination. Floyd started to tickle his hips, squeezing and kneading.

“Nahahahah, F-flohohoyd!” He had more pressing matters to think about anyway.

[ijustliketickling]

Lee!Floyd 2

Colors aren't perfect because I had limited options -w-'

[blueblade-fluff]

So… Floyd Leech is Canonically Ticklish- that gives the Twisted Wonderland Fandom so much more for Lee Floyd! But he is also a Ler because he swears to get Yuu back for tickling him?!

Cannon tickle scene: Floyd Leech Lab Card- Home Screen (when you poke him)

[shadowsndaisies]

the athena-verse

so far, it's just a series of random ficlets and blurbs introducing the world and the top.

let's talk athena:

athena; the preamble - (6.24.24) athena at a glance, basically

hangman meets 'thena - (9.17.24) word is, there's a new pilot on board carrier air wing nine, and she flies for the VFA-14, the Tophatters.

top gun: maverick

the recall

the hard deck:

01: too observant to play dumb - (7.16.24) how the arrival at the hard deck went

02: slow ride - (7.16.24) a glimpse through jake's eyes

03: athena, meet rooster - (7.16.24) I think the title says it all

athena settles debts - (6.21.24) what if Mav’s daughter settled his tab that night in the hard deck

dogfighting 101 (and then some): "so, today we start with what you only think you know."

01: let's make it interesting: (08.29.24) harvard is a good friend (and petty on your behalf)

02: rock and roll: (08.30.24) It's been a long time since I rock and rolled, It's been a long time since I did the stroll, Ooh let me get it back, let me get it back, Let me get it back, baby, where I come from

03: clear mind, clear skies: (09.01.24) tempers are rising

04: 'nix is sick of this shit: (09.03.24) phoenix prides herself on knowing almost everything pertinent, it's the parts she doesn't know that leaves her on edge.

05: sugar and spice: (09.06.24) hangman leaves everyone hanging... right?

06: dead and buried: (09.08.24) if it wouldn't result in a court martial or a dishonorable discharge, you probably would punch that stupid mustache off his face.

canyon runs: take one

iceman's final flight - (7.1.24) ice's funeral, as you can imagine, is painful and heartwrenching

...

athena-verse taglist (currently open. last updated 9/17/24)

@omgbrianab @smoothdogsgirl @bazellawriz @sbrewer21 @inky-sun @djs8891 @rory-cakes @geeksareunique @je6291 @whoismurphyslaw @kee-0-kee @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @thespillingvoid @youdontknowe @burningcoffeecupp @mrsevans90

[canmom]

music and narrative {[0]}

so. as part of the ongoing music researches, I've for a while wanted about the relation between music and narrative. that's going to be a long project! but to begin with I wanted to run down the examples I know, and maybe solicit a few more~

now, on some level, nearly any song has some degree of narrative. your basic love song introduces us to some characters - singer, object of their affection - and furnishes them with emotions and desires. moreover, music can play a role in a narrative without literally relating events - indeed, the art of soundtrack design is definitely a subject I want to look into at some point. even songs addressed directly at the real world, such as political songs, construct some kind of narrative.

however, for these purposes, I'm interested in songs that go a bit further in the direction of telling a fictional story, especially when those link together into whole albums (sometimes called a concept album, though this is a slightly broader concept). which can work in a lot of ways!

for example, Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid tells a sweeping scifi story of an android fleeing an oppressive society and becoming an unintentional figurehead of revolution. it sketches out a wide-reaching set of influences in constructing a scifi world, but you'd be hard-pressed to boil it down into a simple series of events - it prefers to leave a lot to interpretation. by contrast something like Splendor & Misery by clipping. deals with kinda similar subject matter - a scifi story, an escaped slave, artificial intelligence - but with a different musical approach and perhaps a slightly clearer narrative arc; sometimes directly narrating the thoughts and actions of characters, or slipping into memory, but also drawing less direct musical parallels with e.g. gospel tracks and slave spirituals. both excellent albums - both solve the problems of conveying a story musically in different ways.

of course, the largest pool of examples here comes in the context of musical theatre, and further back opera. (the exact transition from one to the other is something I'm going to need to research). particularly interesting to me are sung-through musicals such as Les Misérables, in which there's no spoken sections in between the songs. this restriction means the songs (and staging etc.) have to do all the work of conveying the events of the story.

there's a lot to be said about the various traditions of musicals (for example). there's even more to be said about the history of opera - both the Western traditions and other musical traditions that have been given the label such as Chinese opera. but that will have to wait for later day in the project because otherwise this entire post would be a huge list of musicals, and I want to try and wander all over the shop.

what I'm most curious to find is music that tells a story all on its own - no actors or staging, but more similar to oral narration. of course, in the present era, music is often released along with videos, and these can tell quite elaborate stories that will become part of the overall 'message' communicated by the song, so the lines are a bit blurry! but since the aim of this series will be to look for ways to convey narrative using music, I'm looking for examples where the music does most of the heavy lifting.

music that tells stories is something with a looong tradition in folk music, pretty much the world over. in Europe, the ballad was a common form for it, a word that survives into the present. it seems that most cultures have had some kind of tradition of wandering itinerant musician-poets - for example, at various points in history, there were biwa hōshi in Japan (pictured) and griots in West Africa, medieval Europeans had minstrels, the Celts had bards, the Occitans had troubadors...

moreover, work and marching songs such as sea shanties would also have a certain degree of narrative to them, in addition to their main function of keeping a group moving in time.

in modern times, people will sometimes attempt to reconstruct how this kind of music and lyric poetry would have been performed. you can naturally only go so far with the archaeological evidence, but I'm fond of Peter Pringle's recordings of segments of the Epic of Gilgamesh, using period instruments if not necessarily a period musical style!

in the modern age of recorded music, these traditions have become much more niche, but there are still artists who use music as a vehicle to tell a fictional narrative. (fair warning: I'm a huge nerd, so most of the examples I know are like, supreme nerd shit. also about ten years ago I was given an assortment of metal from a friend which included a bunch of what I'm about to put below.)

to begin with I've naturally got to talk about my friend Maki Yamazaki (Dr Carmilla) and the band she founded but later left, The Mechanisms. They tell a story of a sprawling gothic scifi universe, with the band playing the role of travelling space pirates who observe the (invariably tragic) tales that unfold. The Mechanisms' music starts as folk song pastiche, but gradually gets more original, although narratively they keep the approach of crossing over mythology with genre storytelling (fairy tales as space opera, arthuriana as space western).

The Mechanisms got a significant measure of international fame washing back after their frontman Johnny Sims got really big on some podcast or something.

Maki's solo music as Dr Carmilla took things in (from a narrative sense) a more abstract direction, using elaborate production and an incredibly textured sound to tell a (so far!) fragmentary story of the tragic space vampire Dr Carmilla and her doomed relationship with another vampire Lorelei (for example). And I'm gonna have lots more to say about them all, in the future, but this is just an overview so let's not get ahead of ourselves!

In a related vein (though I'm much less familiar with them) comes indie band Decemberists, who often create narratively driven songs - for example, The Mariner's Revenge Song depicts a sailor's motivation for extracting bloody revenge on someone who wronged him, with the actual violence conveyed by an energetic instrumental break. A subject that reminds me of the Clockwork Quartet, now long gone, who managed to record just three of their songs from a larger project, yet stand out as way more interesting than most of the steampunk milieu - with for example The Clockmaker's Apprentice giving a very fun antihero-revenge narrative to the ticking beat of a clock, and The Doctor's Wife a compelling tragedy of desperate medical science.

There's definitely something in common with this type of storytelling and the subgenre termed rock opera, which has a pretty long history going back to the late 60s (SF Sorrow by Pretty Things and The Story of Simon Simopath by Nirvana, thanks wikipedia), with notable examples including some incredibly popular albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall (which was adapted into a partly animated film using animations by Gerard Scarfe, c.f AN86) and My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade. In many of these, the connection between songs and narrative is fairly abstract and metaphorical - most of the examples mentioned are about the psychological arc of one character.

Calling this a genre or subgenre is kind of a stretch recently - just in those four examples we see a pretty wide range of musical styles, so it's more like an approach to album writing. Still, for want of a better word, there's definite overlap between this 'genre' and musicals. For example, the history on wikipedia cites The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an example of rock opera, which in my head it's just a musical. (Anyway, exactly the taxonomy of regular opera/libretto, rock opera and musical theatre is not that important anyway, because we want to look at the techniques of all of them!)

A more direct narrative comes in the work of The Protomen, who have the 'no way that would work' premise of creating a huge, dramatic, emotional story based on the plot of the Mega Man games. By putting the focus on the tense relationships of the fought main characters (scientists Light and Wily and robot boys Proto Man and Mega Man), and their sense of rejection and betrayal by the broader society, they somehow pull it off.

Moving gradually in the direction of (progressive) metal, we encounter Ayreon, whose entire career has been telling psychedelic and occult stories of time travel, aliens, warnings projected into the past, out of body experiences, and the history and direction of humanity. I'm not sure if all of their albums fit together into one big story exactly, but certain ideas seem to keep coming up - for example, future societies or aliens sending warnings to humanity to fix our shit before it's too late. In some of their albums (e.g. The Electric Castle) they follow the device of having each member of the band play a character in an ensemble cast, bringing it a bit closer to something like a radio play.

Also in metal land we find the rather unique project Charlemagne: By The Sword and the Cross, best known for that time Christopher Lee shed the blood of the saxon men. This is using music as a vehicle for a (more or less) historical story, featuring an old Charlemagne (Lee) reminiscing on the various awful things he did over the course of his life. Apparently they made a sequel to this album, which I never realised!

As well as history, metal also likes to lean on literature and poetry. For example, Kamelot (classed, apparently, as 'Power Metal') have a rather fun adaptation of the story of Faust into two albums, Epica and The Black Halo. Iron Maiden famously took on the Rime of the Ancient Mariner in a 13 minute song. And that's not even to get into all the songs dealing with Tolkien.

Moving on from metal before we start listing a hundred songs about vikings, it's worth looking more broadly for music about history, since it's a pretty major overlap with fictional storytelling! For example, the Boney M song Rasputin tells an incredibly catchy account of the assassination of Grigori Rasputin. Another rather more charged example comes in Nakam by Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, about the unsuccessful paramilitary plot to poison six million Germans as revenge for the Holocaust.

If you go looking, you can find an impressively long list of historical songs compiled by 30 users of lyrics website Genius - though many of these I feel don't really count, since they were describing contemporary events when they were written.

Of course, there is a heavy overlap between this subject and political songs - in many cases the historical subjects are invoked to comment on the present. For example, Wernher von Braun by Tom Lehrer was written at a time when von Braun was leading the US space programme. In many cases, the songs simply invoke a historical event to express a feeling, assuming you already know what happened. Others may recount events more or less directly, before seguing into a verse or two at the end about why it matters now. Most of the songs in this list focus on recent (20th-century) history, sometimes they reach further back - mostly to talk about colonialism.

Historical songs can also be quite oblique. For example, Mili's song Salt, Pepper, Birds and the Thought Police is about the life of Korean poet Yoon Dong-ju, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the content of the lyrics unless you were already familiar with Yoon's life. More on Mili in a moment - most of their songs are more fictional.

One thing I'm curious about is whether there are examples of more historical fiction in music, which tries to imagine the thoughts and feelings of historical characters... well obviously there's Hamilton, and perhaps that illustrates why there aren't a lot more songs about non-recent history, because the vibes can be off.

Storytelling is still a powerful mechanism even in a contemporary, political song. Take Construção by Chico Buarque - the story it tells is of the pointless death of a construction worker; with the lines ingeniously remixed over the course of the song, this turns into a wider illustration of the ruthlessness of the system that killed him. Its lyrics are absolutely fucking genius, even if you don't speak Portugese.

Speaking of language, most of the examples I've covered so far are in English, since well, that's my native language. It's naturally a little harder to access a story in a language you don't speak, but in these days of subtitles, we kinda can! So for example I can encounter projects like MILGRAM, something of a combination of music project and voting-driven story, in which we are introduced (by character song) to a number of characters facing execution - and then invited to vote on who should die. Heavily illustrated, it is somewhere vaguely in the space between album and straight-up anime.

I mentioned Mili already, but many of their other songs have a strong narrative arc to them, and sketch out the contours of a fictional setting. For example, one of their best-known songs is world.execute(me), which portrays the failure of a bdsm relationship between an AI girl and her creator. Which is relatively grounded by Mili standards - other songs depict for example the relationship of a jiangshi and a mad scientist cooking food, or a witch reanimating a knight with scientific methods to kill on her behalf.

And I think that will suffice for now. But we are of course only scratching the surface - this is by no means supposed to be an exhaustive list but I'm sure there's stuff that I'll be kicking myself for not mentioning. Mostly, however, this is a request for recommendations - particularly, of music from genres I haven't addressed in this post, and especially non-English languages, or that convey their stories in especially creative or unusual ways.

This project will likely be a long time in the works - it's something of a supplement to the Music Theory Notes (for science bitches) series - but my aim will be to pick out a few of these to examine how they go about conveying narrative through songs. Because I think that's kind of one of the big things I want to do with music.

ok canmom out i gotta go play some music. see you next time!

[forsty]

TOP GUN: MAVERICK Poster based on this poster for The Hobbit

ALL 13 PILOTS + HONDO

[mrslectermoriarty]

Headcanon Series #20

I need the Daggers to have a TikTok Account, hear me out!

Coyote: "Were the Daggers, of course we look amazing in our flight suits." He does a twirl and strikes a pose. Applause behind the camera.

Cut to Halo: "Were the Daggers, of course we managed to get good callsigns." In the background someone yells “Fuck off, Egg White!”. Halo gives the camera a pointed look. “We definetly good the good call signs.”

Cut to Fanboy: "Were the Daggers, of course our CO is the Navy's greatest pilot." He holds up a picture of Maverick lying on the ground, he stumbled over his open shoelaces. “But seriously. He is.”

Cut to Fritz: "We're the Daggers, of course we've been at least once at Top Gun." The camera zooms out, so we can see the base he’s standing in front of. He does a thumbs up. “Crazy place!”

Cut to Hangman: "We’re the Daggers, of course we're the best of the best." Rooster in the background gives him the finger. Hangman doesn’t see it. Chuckling behind the camera. “What’s so funny?”

Cut to Phoenix: "We're the Daggers, of course we blackmail each other with embarassing photos." Bob is sitting in the background. He looks up into the camera and gives it a serious nod.

Cut to Omaha: "We're the Daggers, of course we look back at our academy days in shame." Fritz walks by and grimaces.

Cut to Payback, in a bar: "We're the Daggers, of course we loose a shit ton of money to each other when we play pool at the hard deck. Well, some of us." He smirks. Groaning behind the camera.

Cut to Bob: "We're the Daggers, of course we have a group chat." His phone lights up and he shows the screen to the camera. We see a group chat that gets new messages every couple seconds. “Guys? You know we’re all on the same base right now? We can actually talk to each other.”

Cut to Yale, it’s night by now and he’s standing in front of a dimly lit house in otherwise darkness. There’s whispering in the background. "We're the Daggers, of course we continue the tradition of raiding the CO's liquor stack."

Cut to Harvard, inside of a house. Looks like a living room. Everyone is standing in the middle of the room and shouting; it’s loud. Harvard looks bewildered. "We're the Daggers, of course our CO is married to an Admiral and didn't tell us about it. He also didn't tell us about one of us being his legal child." Cut to the zoomed in background where we can see a blurry figure standing in a corner with a glass in its hand. Cut to Harvard, now in selfie mode and close to his face. He whispers: “That’s the fucking COMPACFLT.”

Cut to Rooster in the same living room. He has a small, awkward smile on his face while Phoenix stands a bit behind him and looks pissed. "We're the Daggers, of course it never gets boring with us around, I guess." Hangman sneaks into the frame, kisses Rooster and runs away, yelling something like “it never does”. Rooster stands there, too stunned to speak. Behind the camera: “Wait, did he just-“

Cut to Maverick sitting in a comfortable looking armchair, elbows on his knees and a beer in his hands. He’s laughing into the camera and speaks with a soft voice: "They're my Daggers and of course they’re family." “No no no, you’re supposed to say- what, did you just call us family? Guys, Mav just called us his family!” Happy shouting erupts in the background and Maverick is being group-hugged by several aviators around him. The camera shakes and the video ends.

Beautiful inspiration, I must say…

[redfurrycat]

🎇🎁Festive Top Gun Event🎁🎇

Good morning Aviators!

Letting the Top Gun fandom know I'm planning to launch an event. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the - Hum. 👀

Details really are few at the moment, because I want to have the logistics of it all set for y'all. But starting the promotion as of today. 🤗 I won't lie...it is primarily to kick my ass into finishing up the details. 🦭

Two Events: Secret Santa || Week Event.

Ships: Icemav & Hangster || Rarepairs [Yuuuup]

Fanworks : Art & Fic

Theme? Pointing at my darlin'. She's got all the answers. 🤗

Sufficiently teased are you? Make sure to subscribe to @tg2024exchange for further details. Tumblr should be reused for the event to be. ❤️

Take care everyone, see you soon. 😘

Your friendly 🐈 compacflt. (Technically....🤭)

[Huge thanks already for Alex and the FGCC's helpful help. 🥹]

[spankmespence]

i think abt this scene so often.

[estelle-skully]

MY WIFE🔥🔥

Tk art jumpscare

look how much I improved since I last posted a trolls drawinggggg

It’s definitely not bc I’ve been drawing trolls religiously

no bc this man makes me SICK/pos I wanna tear him to shreds/pos

He’s so shaped

hehrhrheheheheheyehrhehehehehef (OH! If anybody wants to do a tk art trade pls dm me or send an ask omg I wanna draw some stuff)

[anzynai]

Oh, are requests open? Weeell, maybe a little something with the Leech twins and lee!reader (platonic), if you're okay with it? 👉🏻👈🏻✨

Have a nice day Jai <3

Two Times the Trouble

Jade & Floyd & Reader (Twisted Wonderland)

a/n: ANON I LOVE U SO MUCH FOR THIS. i love this request!!! anyways i did pour my heart onto this fic!! i struggled a little more that i thought i would?? the idea was a bit difficult but i think i made it work! this is the first request from the batch of TWST requests ive received (a long time ago, unfortunately, but im choosing to blame it on the fact i was doing my SS fic..) so sorry the request took forever but at least its here now LOL hope u enjoy!! ALSO FIRST FIC FOR THE NEW YEAR LETS GO

summary: when floyd learns of your ticklishness, you are already on edge around him. you didn’t know you had to be wary of his twin, too.

word count: 1.5k

——

You might be in trouble. You might really be in trouble.

It all started just a few minutes earlier. You were in class, minding your own business! Of course, Floyd was in the class, but so was Jade. Azul.. was not, and the only reason you noticed because somehow the three of them were almost always together, unless they weren’t..?

Anyway, Floyd usually only interacted with Jade or Riddle, if he was in the mood for teasing the housewarden. He didn’t really talk to you all that much.

So obviously, you were surprised when he apparently had decided to change his target for the day to you, plopping down in the seat next to you. Grim often sat there and you could hear his protests, but Floyd either didn’t hear or pretended not to. Eventually, Grim grumbled and just moved to sitting on top of your desk. He was small enough.

“What’s up, Shrimpy?” Floyd drawled, a small grin on his face, showing his spiky teeth. It must be a Moray thing, you thought offhandedly.

“Oh, hey, Floyd.” You greeted him back with a small smile. Mostly out of politeness because you had no idea what he was doing there.

“M’ bored. Jade won’t entertain me. And Goldfishie’s not here.” He sighed, sadly, though, it did not sound genuine at all.

“That sounds annoying.” You said, but you start focusing your attention away from him and to Professor Trein, who began speaking. And… you really didn’t want to get on his bad side.

“Yeah, you get it, Shrimpy. That’s why you’re gonna entertain me today!” Floyd grinned, a large toothy smile, almost like an innocent child.

“Am I?” You asked, though it was more of a “response” than a question. You looked down at your notebook, jotting down notes as Trein lectured, pouting when you saw Grim snoozing away. Usually, Trein noticed right away, but he seemed very invested in his lecture today.

“Mhm!” Floyd said, slowly, before he decided to try annoying you. From taking away your notebook so you couldn’t write it down, from kicking your chair, from grabbing every little thing he could get his hands on. You began feeling pity for Riddle. You had always thought he was exaggerating, but you swore you could feel yourself popping a blood vessel every two seconds.

Suddenly, Floyd decided that stealing your items were too boring and he resorted to poking you instead. Again. And again. And again.

“Would you sto-AH!” You tried whispering but then he poked a spot on your side and you couldn’t hold back your squeal.

“Everything alright over there?” Trein asked, seemingly annoyed that his class was disrupted.

“I—uh yeah!” You stuttered out, embarrassed as everyone turned towards the two of you. You glanced over, hoping that Floyd didn’t notice, but the scary grin on his face told you otherwise. For the rest of class, he kept poking your side and you found yourself unable to focus on the lesson, trying your hardest not to giggle.

“I’m gonna squeeze ya!” Floyd exclaimed, though a bit quietly. When the bell rang, you were the first one out the door.

You didn’t notice that Jade had been watching the two of you the entire time.

——

“Floyd, leave me alone!” You shrieked, running around the mostly empty lounge. You decided to get a quick snack from there since you were about to dive headfirst into an all-night study session for the Alchemy test coming up and you figured that making sure you weren’t hungry would.. help.

It was supposed to be in and out. Quick and easy.

It was not in and out.

Floyd was clearly still interested by his discovery, which even you had thought he had forgotten about. Really, he got bored of most things so quickly so why not now!?

So brings you to the present, him chasing you, wiggling his fingers menacingly and you running as far from him as you can. Azul sighed, used to Floyd’s antics.

“Just don’t mess up the lounge… or you’ll be cleaning it all by yourself.” He said, before walking away and into the kitchen.

You, on the other hand, ran towards Jade, who had been watching you guys with amusement. He seemed like he was wondering whether he should continue watching or help you and well, you decided it for him.

“Jade, help!” You exclaim, ducking behind him and using him as cover. You guys hopefully seemed friends enough to be able to do this, so you were obviously gonna use it to your advantage!

“Now, Floyd, don’t be like this..” Jade started, a pleasant smile on his face that had you sighing in relief and Floyd groaning in disappointment.

“Come on, Jade, just let me squeeze 'em..”

“Look at them, don’t you think they’d be too sensitive to endure your wrath?” Jade added and you could see the exact moment Floyd’s gaze lit up and all hopes of mercy on your poor, unfortunate soul were shattered. But before you could move, Jade grabbed your wrist, locking your arms up easily. You struggled in his grasp, but it was no use. It wasn’t even as if you were weak! What did he eat anyway?! Were moray just stronger?

“Jade.. How could you do this to me..?!” You shouted, betrayed, gulping when Floyd walked towards you, menacingly. It was fast-paced, but to you, it felt like he was walking in slow-motion.

“I must apologize. However, I should indulge both myself and my dear brother at times. You must understand.” Jade said, though there was not an ounce of guilt on his face. Your arms, which were hooked up from Jade’s arms were suddenly released, but that didn’t mean you could escape. Instead, Jade wrapped his arms around your waist and began tickling your sides. And Floyd, well, he pounced and started tickling your stomach, your armpits, pretty much anywhere he could get his hands on.

“N-nOHOHOHO, w-why?!” You cried, feeling overwhelmed by the fact that the Leech twins were so easily tickling you.

“Oooh, Shrimpy, already broke ya, huh?” Floyd teased. He was more on the rougher side of tickling, pinching and squeezing your sensitive skin, while Jade was more gentle, with light grazes and scribbles which were still so evil.

“Ehehehe shuhuhut uhuhup!” You looked around, feeling embarrassed, but the lounge was mostly empty and those who were there seemed occupied with other things so they didn’t pay attention to you. You looked back at the Leech twins, flailing in their arms, but Jade managed to pull your arms above your head with his hand, despite your flailing.

“You’re really going to say that to us? Now, don’t be so mean. You might hurt my feelings.” Jade chucked, deep and low. You knew that what he said was complete bullshit, but you couldn’t comment on it, too caught up on the hands on your body.

They were relentless, that much you could tell. It felt like they were trying to find the spots that made you tick and react the most and you could feel that this wasn’t the last time they’d tickle you like this.

“Plehehehease!” You giggle instead, unable to find the words to respond.

“Please what, Shrimpy? You’re so ticklish already!” Floyd giggled, his hands grasping against your sides and occasionally drifting over towards your stomach.

“Now, now, Floyd. I’d say that they are faring quite well.”

“W-WAHAHAHAHH!” Is your response, apparently. You could just die right now. You never imagined that today would be the day you found yourself being tickled to absolute pieces, by none other than the Leech twins! You began wondering how Azul ever put up with them! Knowing how they’re acting now, you’re sure the three of them have engaged in some sort of tickle-fights, if the experience they very obviously had was anything to go by.

“Sure about that, Jade? They’re like a squeak toy!” You tried to put your lips together. That.. lasted about half a second before you found it hard to keep your mouth shut, eliciting the noises that Floyd had just compared to a toy. “Squeak, squeak!” Floyd chirped, squeezing like you were, in fact, a toy.

“Nohohohoho!!” You shriek, laughing and laughing. The fingers on your body were unrelenting and you could feel tears of mirth begin to prick at your eyes. They hadn’t even gotten your worst spot, and Jade was barely even tickling you, more focused on holding you so Floyd could get more access. Still… you were feeling a bit overwhelmed.

It seemed Jade was watching your reactions, though, because he muttered Floyd’s name. Either that, or he just conveniently and coincidentally noticed at the exact time you were reaching your limit. It didn’t matter, because he had let go of you and Floyd, instead of tickling you, slung his arm over your shoulder, leaning. You felt exhausted, so you just dropped your head, using his arm as a headrest.

“That was super fun, Shrimpy! We gotta do that again sometime!” Floyd laughed, heartily and cheerfully.

“Hopefully not too soon…” You muttered, under your breath, causing Floyd to laugh harder.

“I agree. I wouldn’t mind this scenario happening again.” Jade nodded, poking your side and smirking when you flinch and glare.

“Not you too..” You pout, though you couldn’t hold back a smile. You hadn’t really thought about where you stood with the twins before, but you found that you didn’t ever mind their presence either. In fact, you could feel yourself hoping for times like this to occur more, as well.

[ijustliketickling]

It's been a while!

Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted anything or worked on any requests. School is back and I don't have a lotta time, I'm also not very motivated. So, here's how it'll go: I'll try to make 1 to 2 requests every saturday, and 1 self indulgent art every sunday. It's not a lot, but I hope you guys are fine with it. For now, here's a lee!Floyd doodle I made in class a while ago :)

[crazyk-imagine]

You die while they're Working Headcanon

*This is sad but I couldn't resist, it's been in my draft much like... every other thing I want to write

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jake

-       He wouldn't know until a couple of hours after he was back on the ground after training

-       He was in the air, acting cocky as all hell

-       It was a normal day like nothing was different

-       Beau was the one to get the call

-       Bradley was the one to tell him

-       And when his frenemy told him about the news, it takes him a couple of minutes before all the information clicks

-       The poor man wouldn't know how to console him or calm Jake as the tears pool in the Texan boys eyes

-       Jake's legs give out and he's going down

-       Bradley catches him and his suit is sticking to him as he lets the man begin grieving

-       No one’s ever seen him this way

-       He was quiet in the sky whenever it was his turn

-       It was hard for him to process but eventually the Hangman everyone knew slowly began to return but the spark in his eye was gone

-       Everyone knew it might not ever come back and felt bad they couldn’t do anything about it

Bradley

-       He had yet to take off

-       Pete got the call

-       Natasha was in the room with him but the older man felt it was his duty to tell his godson

-       She understood and felt the same way

-       Another reason why her best friend didn’t see her that morning

-       Bradley had no idea what Pete was going to tell him

-       Then the words came out and he did nothing

-       The poor boy- he just stood there, unable to move and then came the water works

-       His mustached quivered before he sniffled

-       This is the second worse thing the two men have ever heard and had to deal with in their lives

Bob

-       He wasn't told until the end of the day

-       He had a gnawing feeling in his stomach all day but couldn't put his finger on why

-       Beau got the call

-       No one could figure out who should tell him (out of Beau, Pete, and Bernie)

-       There was no way they were going to drag Natasha into this

-       They didn’t even know if she would be able to tell him because Pete and Bernie know that she introduced the two of you

-       And them talking with the door open was one of the worst things they could have done

-       Bob walked by the door as they were still trying to figure it out and almost lost it right then and there

-       Instead, he was running on his emotions and stormed into the room, demanding answers

-       Something he instantly regretted doing

-       The Vice Admiral sent him home, giving him time to try and collect himself

Javy

-       He didn’t know until after he came back from his recent deployment

-       Bernie got the call with his friend in the room

-       And that’s when Jake decided to take matters into his own hands (with permission because this is such a serious matter)

-       He’s the first face Javy sees after taking a shower

-       He has barley finished getting dressed when he felt something off with his friend

-       Jake lets him start the conversation before he explains to him the news he’s just learned

-       They sit on the bench in front of the lockers as Javy stares at picture he has of the two of you in his locker

-       It takes him a few weeks before he is comfortable enough to come back to base a little better

-       You know, not crying anytime anyone asks if he’s okay

Natasha

-       She wasn’t meant to be on base but here she is

-       The base mail guy tried to send it to her but didn’t know where she was and Bob happened to walk by

-       He passed the letter to him and ran off

-       Bob wasn’t trying to he nosy but when he saw a familiar phrase on it, he knew something bad had happened

-       He ran to find Pete because he doesn’t want to tell the other members of the squad

-       The man didn’t know what Bob was going to tell him, he very much wasn’t expecting this

-       Pete opens the letter and skims through it, finding that it was about you

-       He knows everyone is going to be devastated and feels it would be better coming from him

-       Bernie was in the room with him and he makes sure Bob is nearby in case she needs a familiar face

-       Bernie would have done it but he doesn’t know if Nat would want to listen to him after

-       She knew something was off when she got here, it was her day off and she’s here

-       She missed spending time with you to be here

-       She takes a leave of absence which everyone understands

-       It takes Beau threatening to discharge her for her to go in the air again

Neil

-       Beau got the letter and felt he should be the one to tell him

-       Poor guy was so nervous when he got called in by the big man

-       He didn't know what was going to happen

-       Logan was hyping him up by saying he was going to be promoted or something of that extent

-       It was awkward when he sat down but then the words came out of the admiral's mouth and his world fell apart

-       He honestly didn't believe him at first

-       But that letter slid across the way and he knew it was real

-       His life wouldn’t be the same

-       It took everyone a minute before they realized it was something serious

-       Nothing could have prepared anyone for this

Callie

-       She was getting ready for practice when it happened

-       Beau got the call but thought Bernie might be the better choice

-       She was confused when he called her and pulled her outside their “hangout” room

-       She slid down the wall after he told her

-       It was the worst thing she could have heard

-       Even for her fellow squad mates

-       They weren’t trying to listen, but it was hard not to put two and two together with all the commotion coming from outside the door

-       It took a while before she came back to work

-       Sticking with paperwork for a bit before trying to get back into her plane

-       She saw your old plane and decided that’d be it, she’d fly it

-       It was the only thing that could bring her some sort of comfort

-       Beau wasn’t to upset when she decided to fly it (more than her own)

-       The only reason was because his seniors were on his ass about it, but he understands what she’s going through

Logan

-       He didn’t know what was going to happen that day but he could sense something was going to change his life

-       It was like a back and forth game between the three men when they tried to figure out who should tell him the news

-       They decided to have Beau call him in do they could all tell him

-       He felt like a kid being called to the principals office

-       The squads comments didn’t help either (it was just before they needed to start training)

-       He waited, for what seemed like hours, before Beau said anything 

- He lost it when he finally heard and didn't know how to act when he got back to everyone 

- Callie made sure everyone took turns checking on him 

Billy

-       He thought everything was fine… until it wasn’t

-       Bernie had to tell him, he didn't have to talk to Pete or Beau. He thought it'd be better coming from him

-       The two talked and stayed together for a few hours before he decided it was time to go home and take some time off to process and grieve

-       He didn’t think that he should tell anyone (not wanting to worry them

- Everyone found out because Pete and Bernie were worried about him

- Pete didn't want him to go through this alone and feel as though he had to 

- He was not alone for even a second

- Everyone came his way, offering food, a place to say, etc, etc 

- No one was upset with his brief leave, they understood and wanted him to come back when he knew he could be in the air and his mind not be elsewhere

Mickey

-       He still doesn’t know what happened exactly, even now when he thinks back or has nightmares

-       He thought Beau and Pete were surprising him with something else when they told him they needed to see him as soon as he landed 

- He was one of the few up for a new position and this was the worst thing he could have ever heard 

-       He waited till he was alone before breaking down in the locker room 

- No one knew what he did until was he found by Jake 

- The blond was thrown off and knew something bad had happened, kept the poor distraught man at bay until Reuben could get there 

- His friend drove him back to their shared apartment and let him cry before explaining what happened 

- Natasha got everyone down to the bar so they could hold a private ceremony in your honor. They all loved you and they needed to grieve with him

- It was a while before he decided he was done being on desk duty 

- Natasha grabbed him by the collar and threw him into her plane so they could practice 

- Bob got him a collectable item the two of you wanted when your one year anniversary came up and he teared up 

- It was a while before he started dating again, not being able to see your face or hear your voice made it harder 

- He added a letter he'd written to you in the early years of your relationship to his locker and it was his lucky charm 

Reuben

-       He hoped that everything would be fine

-       But when he saw Pete walking down that hallway in his fast and serious manner, he knew it had to do with you

-       The squad has never seen this man cry (sober, of course). So, imagine how they'd feel when they heard the news 

- Only reason they found out was because Pete was holding him while he wept and kept begging for you 

-       They couldn’t leave him behind because they know how hard it is to go through grief whether you’re on your own or not

- When it first happened, Mickey made sure he ate when he was at home 

- He took a few months off to fully grieve you so he could make sure his head was in the game and not hurt anyone 

- The others made sure he never went to bed or woke up with an empty stomach 

- They're the only ones keeping sane throughout the wake and funeral but he's happy he has them by his side otherworldly who knows what would have happened to him 

Brigham

- None of the older guys wanted to talk about it but couldn't put it off forever 

- When he was called into the Beau’s office, hearing this devastating news is not how he thought he was going to start training 

- Bernie was the the one to tell him but Beau was in the room with him, explaining that they understood if he needed some time off

- It was a couple of hours until the rest of the squad heard about it because they were all training before him

- When they got back, they teased him for not being there until he told them with little to no emotion 

- Logan and Neil checked on him constantly 

- Natasha got everyone together so they could through a small potluck in your honor because everyone loved you and knew you two were meant to be 

- They were excited when his name was on the board to practice and practically threw themselves at him as they hugged

-

Taglist

@blueoorchid @kmc1989

[shadowsndaisies]

iceman's final flight

WC: 3.3k

synopsis: ice's funeral, as you can imagine, is painful and heartwrenching

main masterlist

athena-verse master post

a/n: the brain rot my friends is absolutely insane.

You never liked wearing your full-service dress uniform. The whites meant shipping off, and the blacks always seemed so morose. And wearing it for Tom Kazansky's funeral, well, it was difficult to even get it on. Honestly, if Jake hadn't knocked on your door, you're not sure you would've been able to do it.

But he did.

He stood, fully dressed, and didn't say anything when he saw you still in your pajamas. Simply squeezed into your barrack and directed you to the shower. When you came out, he had your service dress laid out on your bed. he waited, back turned while you put them on, and then sat you down and did your hair. You focused on him while he did. The careful movements, the gentle brushes. You knew he had a sister, but this was much more of Jake than of Hangman.

He didn't ask you about it, even though you know he probably wanted to. He knew that your dad had been close with Ice; they'd been in the same Top Gun class, and that was all he needed to know for now.

So he helped you get ready.

He gave you a protein bar because he knew you wouldn't eat anything otherwise; quite frankly, you weren't sure you could stomach even that, but he patiently waited, watching, making sure you ate something. The blank look in your eyes was alarming because in the years he'd known you now, he'd seen your eyes get glassy with nostalgia, sadness, and heartbreak. He's witnessed the fire from anger, ferocity, and challenge; he's melted at your softness, your light; and been in awe of your mischievous streak, and cunning mind. He's never seen this, though, the blank dis-attached expression.

He guided you to the atrium where the rest of the recalled aviators were meeting before you'd all participate in the procession to the burial site. Hand pressed to your back, as you seemed to disassociate with everything around you.

Your dad was already on site when you arrived. Staring at the photo of Ice, and while he looked every inch the PACFLEET Commander that he was, you much preferred the collection of photos that you had. Polaroids and film shots from you as a toddler on his shoulders or in his lap, the collection that grew with each of your father's deployments spent in his home, of barbecues and beach days. This man helped raise you. He filled in the role of father when yours was on a deployment. He signed permission slips and stayed up with you that first night of every deployment when you were too anxious to sleep.

Goose had been your godfather, the one who you would go to if something ever happened to Mav, and then Goose was the one who was gone. And Mav changed the papers. He changed it because how could he place that pressure on Carole when she's battling her heartbreak and raising Bradley? Ice and Sarah were the ones who would assume you if he took his last flight before you were old enough to take care of yourself.

When your dad spotted you, he waved you over. You felt Jake's hand at your back reassuringly before you left the rest of the team.

Approaching your dad, you notice who is next to him, and you have to fight to not break down at the sight of Aunt Sarah.

"Ma'am," your voice cracked as you stood at attention.

There were tears in her eyes as she looked at you, "Stop, no," she corrected, arm grabbing you. "You're our girl, remember? I don't want Ma'am's, not from you, never from you," her whispers bring more tears to your eyes, and your vision swims as you try to breathe through it.

"Lieutenant Mitchell," you straighten at Cyclone's voice and turn to him. "A word before we begin," he calls, and you nod. "Apologies, Mrs. Kazansky, for the interruption.”

You squeeze Aunt Sarah's hand before walking over to the Vice Admiral, "Yes Sir," you respond, standing at attention.

"The Kazansky family has made a request," he begins, and you swallow the lump in your throat.

"Sir?" you ask.

"Mrs. Kazansky, has indicated that following the conclusion of TAPS, she would like the flag presented to her children," he explains.

"I'm sorry, Sir. But it was my understanding that you would be presenting the flag?" you finally ask, though your voice lacks its normal luster.

"In his instructions, Tom Kazansky requested that you present the flag to his family, Lieutenant," Cyclone says, and you freeze.

He did what?

Your eyes meet the Vice Admirals, and you're not sure how to react or what to say.

"Do you accept this final order from former PACFLEET Commandar Tom Kazansky, Lieutenant?" he presses when you stay silent too long.

"Sir, yes, Sir," you affirm.

"Good. You will honor his flag, Lieutenant, assume your position," he nods to the space where you assumed he would have been, but you nod your head in affirmation.

"Yes, Sir," you repeat.

He nods once more, a look in his eyes, but doesn't say anything else, instead walking away. You took a moment to breathe, then you turned and assumed the position across from Cyclone. Your eyes focused for a moment on the coffin in front of you. The resting place for the man who helped raise you. You swallowed the lump in your throat again and then assumed a position at attention. You made eye contact with your dad, who nodded at you with glassy eyes, with Natasha, who offered a sad smile in support, with Jake, whose expression was nearly unreadable but whose eyes were focused entirely on you, and finally with Bradley, who looked like he was in a similar boat, keeping back tears and swallowing the distress in his throat. He was so much bigger, so much older than when his mom passed, but his tells hadn't changed all that much. You focus on him for a moment, and despite the rift, the still uneven footing you both have with each other, there's something there in this moment, brought on by the man who loved you both the way he loved his own kids.

When TAPS began, a chill went down your spine, a finality of what it all meant settled over you, and a tear escaped. You sniffed but remained silent. Warlock was on your left, and Cyclone was across you. You followed the motions, folded the flag, and when the ends were tucked in, you approached Aunt Sarah. She nodded with a sad smile, and you continued, stopping beside Ryan and Elizabeth. Ryan and Elizabeth, who had been your younger siblings, who you love so much, and who you used to play with in their playpens. Ryan and Elizabeth who were both married with their own kids now. They looked so incredibly sad, but as they stared at you, Elizabeth started shaking her head like she couldn't believe this was happening. And when you held out your hands, flag proffered. Ryan's hands clenched, but he waited for Elizabeth. When he looked at you for help, you cast a sideways glance at Aunt Sarah, who was crying silently now.

"Lizzie," you whisper, and Ryan's eyes blow wide.

Talking was not a part of the process, especially informally, not when presenting honors to a grieving family, but this was your family, too.

"Lizzie, take the flag," you whisper again, and this time she meets your eyes, and you nod encouragingly at her. "Take the flag, kid," you repeat, and this time, she uses one hand to hold her brothers as she accepts the flag. Ryan's other hand supports it, and if you squeeze his hand gently as you hand it off, no one else needs to realize it except him.

You step back and salute the Kazansky family, and your father steps up to do his part. His wingman until the end, you watched, arm still raised, as your father approached the head of the casket and placed the aviation wings at the head, pounding it into the casket.

His final flight.

The sound of the pin pounded in place and echoed in your ears long after the jets of salute and the sound of TAPS.

When it was over, and the civilians began to walk away, you moved to fall in line with the aviators. A space had appeared beside Bradley and Hondo. You swallowed as you stepped into it. You could feel his eyes on you as you did.

When the call for dismissal was stated, your whole body seemed to sag a bit, tired, strung out, and heartbroken.

"(Y/n)-" Bradley's the one who said your name so softly, so broken, that you almost caved. You almost caved and launched yourself at him the way you would have in the past.

Almost.

Because Ryan and Elizabeth were walking straight up to you at the same time, calling you with a wavering, "Miss Mitchell," the tone nearly reminiscent of when you were kids.

"Kid Kazansky," you greet in kind, matching his tone.

"Is it bad form to hug you now?" Elizabeth asks though she doesn't really wait; instead, she lunges at you.

You rock back a bit and feel Bradley's arm steady you before it retreats.

"Never bad form for a Lizzie hug," you whisper, and she sobs a little.

"Bradley?" Ryan's surprise is evident as he stares at the man beside you. His eyes jumped at you and then Bradley like he couldn't figure out the puzzle before him, not that you blamed him; you were having a hard time, too.

"Wait, Brad?" Lizzie asks, turning to catch as Ryan and Brad shake hands.

"You two grew up," he notes sadly.

"Well you'd know-" you pinch at Lizzie's side, she had a smart mouth, something Ice and Sarah liked to blame on you, but now was not the time, and this was not the place.

Elizabeth huffed but stepped aside to stare at Bradley, and he stood and took it while Ryan stepped up and hugged you. If he squeezed tight, you squeezed back, and when he pulled back, you could see today's toll on him.

The Kazansky kids have been prepared for this day from the moment Ice was diagnosed, maybe even earlier when you consider all the deployments, but just because it was a possibility, the reality of it was painful to experience and to witness.

"Mom wants to know if you're able to come to dinner tonight, she said to add she's not afraid to pull the grieving widow card," Ryan asks, and you smile ruefully.

"I-" you begin, but Lizzie cuts in.

"We understand, though, if it won't work," she reassures you. "Dad mentioned some special detachment as the reason you were back for a bit," she admits.

"Time sensitive and top secret," Ryan supplies, and you frown at them.

"When'd you two get so smart?" you ask with a frown, bringing a small watery chuckle out of Aunt Sarah, who'd finally walked over herself.

"Probably around the same time you did, sweetheart," she says gently, taking your face in her hands.

"I am so proud of you," she begins, and the tears reappear in an instant.

"Aunt Sarah-" you try to stop her, all too aware of how the rest of the detachment is unabashed in witnessing this moment.

"I am so incredibly proud of you, Lieutenant Mitchell, but I am even more proud of (Y/n)," she begins again. "And he was too. He was so, so proud of you. And folding the flag, it was unfair of him to ask that of you, but I am so proud of you and so grateful that it was you handing it off, holding his honor," she says, and you break.

A sob slips past your lips, and she pulls you forward and presses a kiss to your forehead, mindful of your cap. "I will see you at dinner, Lieutenant. It's perfectly alright if you're late. We've spent a lifetime on the Navy's clock; we can last another day," she says finally, and you nod. "Good, bring your dad," she adds as an afterthought.

"Yes, Aunt Sarah," you nod.

"Good girl," she smiles again, still holding your face, and when she lets go, she straightens your coat, just like she did after hugging you at your graduation. She finally looks down the line at the aviators standing nearby. She starts with Bradley, directly on your left, "You too Bradley Bradshaw, I expect to see you at dinner, and I demand one song, any song," she says forcefully, staring hard until he nods his affirmation at her, lips sealed shut.

She looks down the line; you know she recognizes Yale and Harvard from when you were in Top Gun originally; the two had become your guests for poker nights and barbecues. She turns back to you, "Bring all twelve of them," she finally decides, and you hear the intake of breath beside you.

"Aunt Sarah-" you begin.

"Let's teach them who he really was, huh?" she says softly, and you nod.

"Yes, Ma'am," you agree.

She smiles, tapping your cheek one last time before turning to her kids. Each loops an arm with her, and they walk back toward their cars. The second they're away, you sag fully, all but ripping your cap off, breathing too fast; you know you are.

Bradley reaches for you first, but you flinch away, and he freezes. Nat's calling your name, and the rest of the team is lining up around you protectively. The first set of eyes you meet are green. Jake. Slowly, he shows you his hands, and one starts at your shoulder, skims down your arm, and takes your hand, pulling it into his chest.

"C'mon, 'Thena," he whispers softly, "five senses," he adds, and you nod jerkily.

Five things you can see: green eyes, Jake's ribbons, Bradley still hovering beside you, the grass, the jet trail in the sky

four things you can touch: Jake's dress shirt, the cufflink of Jake's coat, his hand, which is holding yours in place, the chain of your dog tags around your neck.

Three things you can hear: distant chattering of all the funeral attendees, Jake's gentle affirmations, Hondo on the phone

Two things you can smell: Bradley's cologne, the fresh dirt, and topsoil.

One thing you can taste is blood from where you'd bitten your lip during the ceremony.

You take a staggering breath at the end and let go of Jake, who straightens beside you and waits for your next move. He allows you a moment to continue evening out your breathing.

"Two feet on the ground, right?" he asks.

"Copy, you," you confirm.

He nods, satisfied by your response.

You finally look around at how the team had shuffled to keep you out of sight from anyone else. Yale and Harvard are sending you concerned glances as they stand guard.

"I'm fine," you tell them, waving off the concern. "I'm fine, it was just too much, at once, but, I'm fine," you say, readjusting your cap back on your head.

"Maybe you should take a minute, Athena," Bradley cuts in.

"I said I'm fine," you negate.

"Just take a breath! Do your box breathing-"

"Box breathing? Are you serious Bradley?" your tone finally loses the flat edge it's had all morning, giving way to incredulity. To his credit, his eyes blew wide at it. "Box breathing hasn't worked since I started pulling Gs regularly," you scoff. "I said, I'm fine!"

"You don't look fine!" he argues, the two of you facing off across each other now.

"And how would you know?" you challenge, voice dropping back to a reasonable level, but suddenly so cold. "How could you possibly know what fine looks like for me now?"

He freezes again; it's a direct dig, more so than any of the wave-offs you've done when he tries to talk to you since you both got reassigned.

"If Athena says she's fine, then she's fine. I'd take her at her word any day," Harvard cuts in, and you look at your friend gratefully.

"Seconded, c'mon, we can give you a lift back to base," Yale agrees, and you nod.

You spare another glance back, focusing on Jake. He nods at you, though you can see the concern in his eyes, and you nod again, turning and walking in line with Harvard and Yale.

"My saviors," you whisper to them.

"It's a hard day, and the absolute least we could do," Harvard offers.

"You're getting softer with age, Brigham," you chirp, but there's no heat behind it.

"Speaking of soft," Yale hedges, and you side-eye Logan. "Hangman knows about your anxiety attacks?"

"Not only does he know, he knows how to talk you down," Harvard supplies.

"Don't," you warn them.

"Today is hard, we know. We know it's going to be hard for a long time," Harvard back peddles.

"We just… we wanna look out for you Athena, you always did for us, you still do," Yale clarifies. "Look, Hangman's a cocky bastard-"

"I believe Phoenix was the one to coin the term Texan Douchewad," Harvard supplies.

"But," Yale sends his WSO a look, "it's obvious, he's different with you."

You were content to ignore the prodding, but Harvard stopped, handing over the passenger seat door. He planed to open it for you but pauses and holds out a hand.

"Just hold on a second, please," Harvard asks when you start glaring at him. You huff but pause. "Look, today… today sucks, but seeing him help you makes him suck slightly less in my book. You're the only person he didn't ditch during the dogfights. We assumed he was brown-nosing because Mav's your dad, but obviously there's more there. Ice was… he was so much more than PACFLEET Commander to you, we know that. We've seen what you and he were like together. I consider myself really fucking lucky that you trusted us enough to share that shit with us, and clearly Hangman knows it too, but he hasn't made a single Nepo-Baby joke the entire detachment," he lines out, and when you drop his gaze, he sighs.

"Athena, we learned day fucking one at Top Gun that you are a force and a half, we have always got your back, we just… we need to know the play is, that's all," Yale tags on.

You lift your gaze and stare at the two; Brigham and Logan were the only Aviator/WSO team that got recalled. Payback and Fanboy hadn't worked together before, nor Phoenix and Bob, or even Fritz and Halo, just them. You're stuck on how well they know each other for a second, and you are so glad they got called back, too.

"The play.. the playbook is on fire," you admit, and they share a nervous glance. "It's in a fucking dumpster fire, with jet fuel poured on top," you tell them, and they wince. "But, the plan is we go back to base, we finish the day, we go to dinner. I'll probably cry my fucking eyes out, so hopefully, one of you will bring tissues, and then tomorrow we go back to work because Ice died, but the clock doesn't stop, and he'd be pissed if I let Jake or Bradley make Team Leader over me," you huff out.

It hurts so much because his phrasing would have been over my dead body will you let cocky aviators walk over you, but he is dead.

You just buried his body.

That doesn't change the point, Kiddo.

Your heart clenches at the response because it even sounds like Ice.

Ice cold, no mistakes, the voice continues.

"Ice cold, no mistakes," you repeat softly.

"Then that's the play," Brigham nods, finally opening the door for you.

...

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[fandomsarefamily1966]

Rockstar friendships that have very similar vibes to me