#Primary Flight Display

[nocternalrandomness]

Cessna 182 Skylane panel

[reminiscingtonight]

Pretending (Pt. 2)

Aitana Bonmatí x Reader

Word Count: 986

Part One

[WOSO Masterlist]

“Do you want to get married?”

You’re soaking in the sun, a welcome change from the cloudy skies of Manchester when Aitana pops the question.

You crack open an eye. “Are you talking to me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?”

She says it with the most serious face that you start questioning if you’re the crazy one here.

“Are you asking me what my thoughts are about marriage in general or marriage between us?”

Aitana doesn’t have to say anything, she only gives you a look. 

You sigh, propping yourself up on an arm so you can face Aitana when having this conversation. “We’re not even dating.”

Aitana shrugs. “If it matters that much to you we can give it a day.”

It’s such a ridiculous proposition that you can’t do anything but laugh. “So what? We can tell our children we dated for a day before we got married?”

This time she grins, finger drifting to hook around your own. “Time doesn’t matter. We both know whatever this is, whatever we are, it’s been going on far longer than a day.”

You’ve been back in Barcelona for close to a year now. The two of you picked up right where you left off, spending almost all of your waking moments with one another. Even when night comes round, it’s rare to find you sleeping apart. 

Ona calls you both codependent idiots, Ingrid calls it something sweet, all you know is that it works for the two of you and although you’re not dating, it’s a life you can find yourself getting used to.

When the break came around and Ona announced she was going somewhere tropical with Lucy, Aitana was quick to make some plans for just the two of you. 

You didn’t question it much, happy to just spend time with the girl you’ve been pining after for years. 

At first everything was normal. Sure, Aitana’s been a bit more sentimental than usual, opting to reminisce about your childhood adventures or bring up the unofficial first dates of yours from all those years ago. But you don’t think too much about it, choosing instead to focus on not ogling all of the skin on display as Aitana’s primary activity these past couple days have consisted of nothing but sunbathing.

It’s not like you haven’t caught Aitana eyeing you up and down a couple of times too, but it’s different between the two of you. You’re still patiently waiting for Aitana to drop the pretense that you’re anything more than just friends, hence the respect you’ve been giving (though if she continues wearing two-pieces and hanging off your arm all day every day you might have to catch an early flight home before you combust). Aitana on the other hand… well you’re not really sure what she’s doing.

Though you can probably conclude that she’s not pretending anything anymore if she’s asking for your hand in marriage.

“I love you.”

Though her words fill you with warmth, you can’t help but frown at her sudden change in demeanor. Just three days ago when you were still surrounded by your teammates in Barcelona, Aitana cracked a joke about loving you when hell froze over --- though you probably deserved that comment after you let Mapi convince you to dunk her socks in the ice bucket. Although she’s affectionate with you, she’s never this affectionate.

“Aita, what’s going on?” you sit up, taking care to scoop Aitana’s hand into yours.

The smile slips off her face as her eyes drop, fingers nervously tapping by her side.

It’s automatic, the way your free hand rises, rubbing at the furrow between her brows.

Aitana melts into your touch, face leaning forward until your hand has no choice but to cup her cheek.

“It’s just me. Nothing to be afraid of,” you murmur, trying to prompt Aitana to speak her mind.

Aitana looks lost in thought for a moment. She bites at her lip before letting out the longest sigh known to man. “Aren’t you ever going to get tired waiting for me?”

You’re not able to stop the laugh that bubbles past your lips. “If that’s what you’re afraid of, you have nothing to worry about. I’m in this for the long run, even if that means waiting for you until we’re gray and old. I’m happy with what we are right now as long as you’re happy too.”

“But what if I’m ready now?” 

You blink, not expecting the sureness behind her voice. There’s a slight fire in Aitana’s eyes, the midfielder looking like she’d move mountains just for you to understand how serious she is. 

“I know I’ve always put football first but you have always been the one thing I’ve wanted to commit to. You’ve been so patient with me, loving me when I never gave you a reason to. You bring me up when I’m sad, give me reasons to smile when I just want to cry, you’re what I love falling asleep to every night, and seeing your face when I wake up just fills me up with joy.”

Your eyes flutter shut when she leans forward to press her head against yours. You can feel her breath running hot against your lips and it takes everything in you to not bridge the gap. 

“I love the way you know me and I love the way you’re you.”

When your lips finally meet there’s no other way to describe the kiss than perfect. It’s short and sweet but it’s everything you’ve been waiting for. 

“I love you. So much.”

Aitana’s giving you a teary grin when you open your eyes, and you can’t do anything but smile right back at her. 

“So will you marry me?”

---

Ona’s eyes nearly fall out of her head when she sees the matching bands on your fingers when you stroll into the locker room a week later.

[guardsbian]

wanted to try out (mostly) emulating FR's designs for this dragon design by @synthaphone! plus how I thought the primary/secondary/underbelly would sit on it

I probably would have tweaked a few design choices/interpretations of mine (the wings, the feet/hands) if I was better versed in this style, but overall I kind of just wanted to explore design by looking at two different art styles. I think a lot of people underestimate the flexibility and freedom contained within a "style," especially one like FR's— which faces a combination of universal guidelines for its breeds and can, occasionally, underutilize the diversity it's displayed in the past.

I ended up headcanon-ing this version as some sort of non-flight-aligned... gnome dragon? Biggest of the small breeds, secretly fixes your squeaky doors and sweeps up, and likes to kick their feet up on a toadstool after a night of hard work.

And I would love to put a little suit on these guys, both versions.

[sunlighthroughthe-ashes]

I saw a very different take on SJ and IS and it's interesting to see how differently we view things, someone said they don't feel IS's love for SJ all the time jumping wasn't because she was in love with him and she only confessed because she found out he's been in love with her for so many years. I mean does the show constantly spotlight just how crazy in love SJ is with her every moment he's on the screen, sure. Do they do the same for IS? I don't they do, so I guess someone could see it as them not having the same level of affection for each other?

hi, anon!

so, before i say anything, i think i want to mention that the beauty of art and entertainment media is the subjectivity of its interpretation. one little show can mean so many different things to so many different people, and i think that's wonderful.

now, coming to your question — i don't think it's a case of one person's love being stronger than the others' — i think it's a difference in display/expression: i.e their respective love languages.

sunjae wears his heart on his sleeve — it's out there for everyone to see even when he tries to hide it. his is the love that longs to flare its wings — to be witnessed in fearless flight.

sol's is more understated — hers is a love that shelters, promises safe harbor. but it's clearly there if you're paying attention — the way she puts her hand over his chest to listen to his heartbeat because she can't shake the memory of his death, how her eyes soften and the radiance of her smile when he puts the two sodas against her cheek, the tenderness in her smile when she's watching him sleep in the library. the way she simply loses herself in his hugs — like his arms are the only fetters that can free her.

sol feels a massive sense of responsibility: her tiniest action can permanently alter the future — even before she discovers that sunjae's death is in part linked to her. her primary objective is to save his life — above all else. she can't let anything get in the way of that, not even her own feelings. it's actually a testament to her love for him that she's so ready to sacrifice her own, and their collective happiness. she even says it to herself: "the only thing worse than losing your heart would be to lose you itself."

there has never been a moment in which sol hasn't loved sunjae with every fiber of her being — it's simply that she fell IN love with him as she came to know more about him. at first, it was pure adoration and unconditional respect from a fan to her idol — (and that's as it should be, if she had a romantic interest in him from the very beginning it would have been inappropriate) but the minute sol begins to know sunjae as a boy, as a three-dimensional person — how sweet he is, how gentle, how free and generous with his care, how can she not help but fall for him?

and fall she does.

who wouldn't? :)

[flightrising]

Summary: Emergency Maintenance

At approximately 14:00 Server Time on Friday, March 31 the engineering team was alerted to an individual probing for XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) weaknesses by pasting HTML script tags in various text fields on the site, some player-facing and some only visible to staff. Out of an abundance of caution we put the site into maintenance so we could evaluate the situation.

During the maintenance period, we reviewed the attacker's activity, focusing in particular on what fields the attacker typed script tags into. Then, we reviewed what pages (player-facing and staff-facing) display the contents of those text fields, whether those pages are properly escaping the text in question to prevent XSS vulnerabilities, and whether anyone viewed those pages while they potentially contained text content from this attacker.

Because it is part of our development practices to evaluate all new and revamped/refactored features for XSS vulnerabilities, we could not find issues in player-facing areas such as Forums, Private messages, Clan Info, or Dragon Biographies, or our primary staff-facing tools. We did identify and correct issues in some of our rarely used staff-facing tools that were not used while this attacker was active. Additionally, we identified some extremely old code that had potential issues and corrected them, but these areas are not areas where content entered by the attacker could have been viewed by another player or staff.

While XSS has a broad scope, one of the major concerns in any XSS attack is the potential that session cookies—tokens stored in your browser that "prove" that you are a particular logged-in user—could be stolen by an attacker, allowing them to essentially be "logged in" as you without knowing your password. Our session cookies are all set to use the "HttpOnly" flag which means that scripts categorically cannot access them. Barring vulnerabilities in browsers themselves, we do not believe session cookies were immediately at risk. Nonetheless, we revoked all outstanding staff and volunteer moderator sessions early on in our investigation as a safety measure.

Again, while we do not believe player sessions were at risk for the above reasons, if you wish to revoke all outstanding sessions for your account, including those for browsers/devices other than the one you are currently interacting with the site with, you can change your password either via Account Settings or the Forgot Passwordfeature.

In addition to reviewing our existing code, we also looked into ways to detect and block this sort of behavior proactively. We have made some initial changes in that area and we are going to continue to improve our security posture by adding additional layers of protection, detection and alerting. Please bear with us as some of these changes may introduce minor bugs while we fine-tune things.

In summary, at present we believe this individual was at the stage of probing for vulnerabilities, and we used the maintenance period to review and strengthen our protections against this sort of attack. We do not have reason to believe the attacker accomplished anything of major concern at this point.

If you believe you have found a vulnerability of any kind anywhere on Flight Rising, please disclose it to us privately using Contact Us right away.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[unmotivatedwrit3r]

One in Eleven Million

damian wayne x reader x jon kent  - ch.1

(A/N): The plot of this is mostly based off of a trip I took a little over a year ago, though there are liberties taken further on. And my memory is kinda sucky so take any airport lingo with a grain of salt. Also, thanks to @glorified-red for helping me outline this while I was heading to the same place this year and also for being my beta reader. 

This is fully written and has been for two months so hopefully I'll post a chapter a week or so? I am also posting this from hawaii so here's hoping a) I get new fic material and b) i've converted the time zone correctly and this posts late EST. 

If you saw this posted yesterday, no you didn’t. Posting across time zones is hard

wc: ~2300

warnings: plane travel; anxiety

~

Your phone buzzed in your pocket as you stepped off the tram. Above your head, the sign read Terminal B in large letters. The people ahead as you stepped onto the escalator were a couple with matching, brightly colored, floral-patterned carry-ons. 

The notification was a text from the airline. You skimmed it as you walked towards your gate, weaving in and out of internal airport traffic. We're ready to board your flight to Gotham (GHM) at Gate B6 and look forward to seeing you soon! The text was right below the one telling you about yet another delay. A quick check of the time declared that making any detours would cut your arrival at the gate a little close. 

“Worth the risk,” you decided for yourself. “Let's go.” 

The escalator opened into the middle of your terminal, a dozen gates from your destination. Even though the airport you were in was spread out massively, you weren’t too worried. Your boarding group wouldn’t even get on the plane for probably another ten minutes, so you ducked into the nearest restroom before crossing to your gate. 

The time in red on your boarding pass caught your eye. 70 minutes late, it read. Any other day, a delay would have been an inconvenience. This time, the buffer actually ended up being beneficial. You needed it when trying to catch a connecting flight—the second of two on your way home—after one already delayed. Your eye caught on a pretzel stand further down the terminal. You could almost taste the pretzels; it had been a while since breakfast. The usual delicious smells were covered by the perpetual airport scent of stale air and commercial cleaner. If you wanted to get close, you’d have to cross the foot traffic. The voice over the loudspeaker curtailed that hope quickly by announcing your boarding group. You sighed. Next time. 

The boarding line was long and you silently thanked yourself for checking a larger suitcase as your primary luggage. Your only current accompaniment was your airline declared “personal item.” There was no way there would be spots for any hypothetical carry-on by the time you got on board. As if to agree with you, the airline employees over the speakers nudged passengers once again to check their carry-ons. 

Like always, it took longer than it rationally should have for people to display their boarding passes and continue into the enclosed boarding bridge. Your chest squeezed as your seat flashed on the screen. The only seat available and in your budget had been a “B”: a middle seat in the back of the plane. Middle seats were the worst, especially when traveling alone. Too often you’d found yourself next to men (and even women, sometimes) that made you extremely uncomfortable.

You scanned the numbers above the seats as the line in front of you blundered along. Someone’s carry-on bag almost smacked you in the face before the line cleared enough for you to be able to see your row. Your heart sank just a little bit when you spotted the two heads in the A and C seats. No hope for an empty seat on this flight, then. 

When you stepped closer, you could see two men—young adults and not older men, you realized, thank goodness—conversing with each other, both tilted into the middle seat. You hoped, privately, that they didn’t know each other well, if only so they wouldn’t be talking right through you the entire flight. 

“Excuse me,” you said, stopping in front of the row, “I have the middle seat.” 

The boys sat back. The one in the window seat had olive skin and dark wavy hair cropped close on the side, dripping down across his forehead and over his eyes. The other, with lighter skin and fluffy dark hair, stood to let you in. You had to take half a step back to let him out. He was tall. And pretty. Nope, Shut Up, brain. You pushed the thought into the back of your mind; he could be the most homophobic person you’ve ever met, how would you know? 

“Sorry about that, go ahead.” 

“Thanks.” You smiled at the boy before sliding clumsily into the row and landing heavily in the middle seat. You shoved your bag under the seat in front of you and sat up stiffly, shoulders pulled into yourself. The seatbelt dug uncomfortably into your thigh. Silently , you shifted, sliding on the smooth airplane seat, to free it. A few minutes passed in awkward silence as the rest of the passengers boarded. Your headphones were down in the bag you’d just squished under the seat. Was it really worth it to grab them now? Yes, you decided, leaning down to maneuver them out of your bag. The fluffy haired boy spoke across the seats. 

“Damian, I can’t get the app downloaded.” 

You sat back up slowly, chest constricting again. They did know each other. 

The boy in the window seat—Damian apparently—looked up from where his head had been bowed over a book. You couldn’t really make out the words scribbled in the margins, but both the text and the handwritten notes looked like something in the Arabic language family. He put his arm out and the other boy reached across you to place his phone into the outstretched hand. 

“You need to turn on your cellular data for the app store. There’s no internet here.” His voice was low in pitch and quiet. The kind people listened to. Window Seat Boy (it felt weird calling him Damian even if you knew his name) easily unlocked the phone—a red-cased, beat up iPhone—and started rifling through settings. 

The other boy turned his attention to you and you gave an awkward smile. 

“I kinda just realized that it’s probably really annoying to be in the middle of us so did you want to switch with me? Like so every time we talk to each other you’re not in the middle?” 

Your eyebrows raised in surprise. The offer was unexpected, but he looked genuine. You didn’t want to wait for him to potentially change his mind. 

“Yeah, um, that would be good—if you’re okay with that?” 

“Oh yeah I don’t care. I don’t fly like this often enough to have a seat preference. But sitting in the middle of two strangers would probably not be it.” 

Your response huff of involuntary laughter surprised you. He seemed sweet. Your guard dropped a little bit as he stood up in the now empty aisle to let you out. You pulled your bag out from under the seat in front of you and dropped both it and your jacket on the now vacated seat before sliding out and standing up yourself. 

“After you.” You gestured to the empty seat. He shot you a grin before maneuvering more awkwardly than you thought possible into the middle seat. 

“These are so cramped. How do people fly like this?” he muttered, then accepted his phone back from Window Seat Boy. You felt a smile tug at your lips, shoving your backpack under the seat as you sat back down.

“It’s the lack of legroom that gets me. There’s barely enough space for my bag, much less my feet.” 

Now, Middle Seat Boy turned to look at you. His eyes—shining from behind black rectangular frames—were a startling crystal blue. A smile spread across his face and you felt your chest squeeze for a different reason this time. You didn’t even have it in you to reprimand your brain; it really was a pretty smile. 

“Yeah I don’t get it. How is this supposed to be comfortable?” 

“It’s not supposed to be comfortable,” you said, “it’s supposed to make the airlines money.” 

There was a soft huff from Window Seat Boy and Middle Seat Boy’s grin widened. He extended his hand, elbow pressed awkwardly against his torso, before seemingly deciding against it and putting it back down. 

“I’m Jon. And this is Damian.” He gestured to the boy next to him, whose face was once again buried in his book. Damian—now using his name felt less like an intrusion and more like decent politeness—gave a brief nod as he was introduced. 

You stuck your hand out and Jon let out a small laugh as he took it. 

You appreciated that he repeated your name back to you when you gave it to him. Most people just barreled on with their misunderstood pronunciations. 

“Are you heading home?” Jon looked actually interested in your answer. 

You debated for a moment before deciding to be honest. There were over a million people living in Gotham.  

“Yeah, heading back. This is my connecting flight to get home. How about you guys?” 

Jon glanced back at Damian before answering. Damian stayed invested in his book. “He’s from Gotham and I’m going back with him so technically, yeah.” 

“Work trip? Or a personal one?” 

Jon opened his mouth then closed it without saying anything. “Kinda work yeah. We missed our,” he paused as if searching for a word, “original flight so now we’re here.” 

You nodded your head understandingly. 

“Oh that sucks. Hope you weren’t delayed too long.” 

Jon hesitated, wincing as he stretched out his left arm. 

“We weren’t, technically. Was hoping not to have to fly like this, though.” 

You shrugged. 

“This is my usual airline so I don’t have much to say about that.” 

Jon found that funnier than you expected, but you felt a smile crawl across your face as he laughed. The crackle of the intercom interrupted whatever he was about to say. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. Thank you all for your patience this afternoon. As you know, weather delays kept the plane from arriving here on time and we are happy to finally have you on board. My apologies for the delay in takeoff. There’s been a slight mechanical issue, but we should get it all straightened out in the next twenty minutes so just sit tight. Thank you for your cooperation” 

You sighed heavily, eyes rolling.

“Of course there is.” 

Jon’s worried expression snapped to you. 

“What?” 

Your eyebrows scrunched down in confusion. 

“'What' what?” 

“You said 'of course there is'. Of course there’s what?”

You felt your shoulders relax. 

“Oh, another delay. Almost every plane I take on my own has some sort of delay. Like my last flight was an hour and fifteen minutes behind. And now this one. I just want to go home, you know? I’m exhausted.” 

Jon slumped in his chair. 

“Yeah, me too.” 

He looked exhausted, you realized, eyes decorated with underbags and body slouched into his seat. He was also wearing two sweaters, even though the plane was more warm than chilly. 

“Are you okay?” 

Jon shrugged, smiling. 

“I haven’t uh—I haven’t gotten enough sun recently but yeah.” 

You let out a small huh of understanding and looked out the window open across the aisle from you. It was dark out despite the fact that the sun hadn’t quite set. He wasn’t native to Gotham, you remembered. Cloudy days are the default there, but you knew a couple people who could never make it in Gotham just for that reason. 

It felt weird to put in your headphones and tune out the boy next to you now. Usually, you wouldn’t have thought twice, but you liked him and didn’t want to block him out. Instead, you tucked the headphones back in and pulled a craft project out of your bag, continuing the row of stitches you were on when you put it down at your first gate early in the morning. 

After a moment, you looked up to see Jon watching you. 

“Whatcha making?” He asked, eyes tracing the pattern of your project. You paused, hands stilling mid-stitch.

“Nothing specific really. Just something to pass the time. It’s a pattern I found online a little while back. I kinda enjoy the time on planes and the like that force me to not watch something. Even though technically there’s in-flight entertainment, there’s not too much I enjoy so I’d rather read or something, you know?” You completed the stitch, eyes flicking back to Jon as you tugged it tight. Jon’s head tilted to the side. You had to stop yourself from smiling at the movement. It was cute, a little bit like a puppy. 

“In-flight entertainment?” 

“Like movies and TV shows, whatever the airline puts on it. You didn’t know that?” Jon shook his head. “How often do you fly?” Jon’s eyes widened. For a moment you thought you’d offended him. “I’m not judging you or anything I just—”

“No! No, you didn’t. I don’t…take airplanes much.” 

“Ok well there’s a whole selection of movies on the app, if you have that. This plane has some TV channels,” you said, gesturing to his TV. It was streaming a basketball game, same as most of the others around you. You’d turned yours off before continuing on your project. A quick glance at Damian’s revealed that his was also turned off. “But there’s a better selection of stuff on the app and then you can connect your bluetooth or whatever headphones to your phone and watch with those.” You pulled your phone from your pocket, opening the app and navigating to the entertainment section. 

“See?” You hit the button for the ‘view all’ list and turned the phone to Jon. “You can’t do anything with it unless you’re on the plane but since we are, here it is.” 

Jon pulled out his phone and navigated to the same page you were on, then started scrolling down. 

“This one’s okay but I feel like I’ve seen it a thousand times.” He tilted the phone towards you, display open to a movie from a few months ago. 

“Oh, I meant to see that movie but never got to. Do you recommend it?” 

Jon returned to the main page and shrugged. 

“I think you can do better.” 

You smiled, stuffing your project back into your bag in favor of scrolling through the movie list yourself. 

“Let’s see what they’ve got.”

[battle-of-the-birds]

Remember to read about the contestants before voting!

American Woodcock

The Woodcock, also known as the timberdoodle, the hokumpoke, and the Labrador twister. They have a silly little dance that they do, moving back and forth in one position. This is theorized to be a way for the woodcock to attract worms to the surface, since worms are its primary diet. They’re more active at dawn and dusk. They have a spiraling flight pattern as a part of their mating display that makes a twittering sound as the air rushes past their wings. Learn More! Comedy

Kākāpō

Also known as the owl parrot, this large ground dwelling parrot is native to New Zealand. They are endangered, part of which comes down to their breeding requirements. They need to have a large amount of a certain type of berry in order to be ready for mating. When they do begin to breed, the males will puff themselves up like balloons and let out a large booming call to let females know where he is. Learn More! Comedy!

(Art by @tertain-the-original )

[hihopelessromantics]

Fantasy Tails

Messing around with magical biology with some rough sketches and lore :) Tagging some who might be interested :3

@librathefangirl @zorria @7-ratsinatrenchcoat @theprinceofliones @stvrlightthearts

Demon

Another take on the traditional (?) demon tail! The heart on the end protects the demon's retractable, venomous (or just very pointy) barb.

Tails, venomous and nonvenomous, are used for balance, especially while the demon is maneuvering in mid-air. whether they are jumping or flying. flight. They're deceptively strong even though their mechanisms seem delicate and the fluff covering them doesn't appear as tough as the rest of the demon's skin. A younger demon’s tail reaches full size before they reach their adult height. Coloration depends on the demon’s primary colors, including features like hair, eyes, teeth, skin, and tongue.

Tail venom develops during late adolescence- an evolutionary process that serves two purposes. One, that the baby and toddler cannot injure its parents, itself, or its other potential packmates with a potent and uncontrolled poison. Second, that the toxin may adapt to whatever might suit the demon best as it grows. Environmental conditions are thought to play a direct role. High-level demon venom has no ‘antidote’ because it, structurally, is one-of-a-kind; antivenom would require an (albeit slightly) different formula even between identical twins. There are three official categories this venom can fall into: defensive, offensive, and constructive. Some demons will inject their venom into themselves or other demons on a circumstantial basis to help, not harm! A few toxins specifically adapt to treat a temporary condition their demon frequently suffers from- for instance, to treat extreme insomnia or muscle cramps, to dissolve abscesses from the inside, or to reset one of the body’s natural cycles. Level of toxicity can fluctuate throughout the demon’s lifetime.

Goddess

Goddesses’ legs are built for flight - not just for landing - they are very strong! 

Feathers all along the tail can fan out and adjust individually, though, of course, the tail end has the most maneuverability. For potion recipies requiring the physical essence of a goddess feather, it is not usually specified whether it need be a tail or wing feather. Instead, the recipe will reference a specific altitude or bloodline. The wings and tails of goddesses contain special adaptations per their homeland and family line. A feather separated from the body of some goddess species becomes serrated and sharp like a blade, for instance, and these contain a potent defensive energy. Coloration also depends on place of origin and closely resembles that of the wings. 

While aiming for the wings is considered a legitimate battle tactic, aiming for the tail is considered an extreme insult and foul play, a sentiment largely reciprocated and respected by the Demon Clan. 

Fairy

The creatures known as fairies / fae / faerie display immense biological and magical diversity and that's fascinating to work with, so I added them to the list for funsies.

A fairy’s tail begins as a simple prehensile limb and grows into a symbol of the fairy’s power as they mature. In their base form, tails are most often used in dancing and in daily nonverbal communication. Fully awakened fairies’ tails transform in the likeness of their wings, sprouting insect-like appendages which greatly increase the speed and maneuverability of the fairy’s flight. For those of the highest ability, it becomes near-impossible to disorient them or to knock them from the air.

Some examples I thought up!

[aut2imagineart]

This installation of my Pangea Ultima project features some mammals that would live in the mountains. To recap, the mammals of Pangea Ultima are from a group of rodents called the Ashbreathers which evolved during a period of major volcanic/geological activity which resulted in them developing multi-slit nostrils for filtering out the air. Anyway, here are the mammal species showcased.

Mountain Ashbreather: the most common mammal species in the mountains and one of the primary herbivores in their environment, the Mountain Ashbreathers are guinea-like rodents with long legs ending in hooves for transferring steep cliffs and rocky terrain. The males are larger than the females, boasting thick, brightly colored manes for display and intimidation as well as enlarged dewclaws for defense.

Gargoyle Ashbreather: Resembling a wingless bat, the Gargoyle Ashbreather is a predator that specializes in hunting spiders like Leopard Tarantulas. Their long forearms and claws allow them to attack prey without getting to close and risking venomous bites. In case prey does get close, Gargoyle Ashbreathers evolved tough skin similar to honey badgers for defense. Though incapable of flight, they do have flaps of skin between their limbs to slow their decent if jumping from a high location.

Shield-Nose Ashbreather: These mole-like rodents are omnivores that feed on roots as well as small invertebrates they come across. Mostly blind, they are heavily dependent on their sense of smell and the thick structure formed around their faces are used to push out any predators that try to enter their burrows.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

[inspector-montoya-fox]

I want to rewrite/ share my thoughts on this post because honestly what the fuck did I know at the age of 20? The title was a bit overdramatic, I wouldn't go so far as to brand the series misogynistic per se, but admittedly some of its less progressive moments reserved for the female characters really have me questioning if Sucker Punch had their best interest in mind. There are only 7 of them: Carmelita, Penelope, Neyla, Mz Ruby, the Contessa, Henriette, and if we're being extremely generous, Jing King. Also worth noting that out of the 65 guards only 3 are female. That's what I call equal opportunity! I think the main argument lies in whether or not the girlboss moments outweigh the... not very girlboss moments.

Carmelita's development, not only as a character but as a woman, throughout the series is the primary point of discussion here. In Sly 1, she's mainly seen as a foil to Sly's plans, which attaches her to 3 kinda harmful notions. Firstly, the 'woman who has no chill is out to spoil the boys' fun' trope. Secondly, the fact that a high ranking Interpol officer is unable to put 2 + 2 together and see the bigger picture while chasing Sly, who is desperately trying to show her that he's not the mastermind behind the Mesa City casino or the firework factory or the evil volcano lair. It makes it seem like she's not good at her job and lowkey stupid. Thirdly, her appearances are opportunities for Sly to flirt with her. Kind of a thin line here between developing their relationship and Carmelita 100% not reciprocating the flirt. The dynamic being presented is 'goofy guy has crush on serious boss lady' but if we're being a bit realistic, it can also be received as Sly not taking this female law officer seriously.

In Sly 2 and 3, her role transgresses these stereotypes because she's given more depth: her professional relationship with Neyla, her downfall and her conversation with Sly in the helicopter all transform her into a multifaceted character. That last one also shows that, even though she wasn't reciprocating the flirting in Sly 1, she enjoys Sly's company and wants to be with him too. And when she becomes playable in Sly 3, the idea that she's the most powerful character in the series is fully realised. Her move set - mega jump and shock pistol - as well as the fact that her segments are reserved for the bigger threats serve to prove that she is the ultimate force to be reckoned with.

Penelope suffers from having the opposite trajectory. Flight of Fancy and its display of gender commentary is such a strong start for her character but all of that is immediately thrown into the garbage for the sake of turning her into yet another love interest. She's better at hacking than Bentley and can fistfight on a moving plane but instead of allowing her to be one of the boys, she's reduced to Bentley's crush and made a hostage twice. I think this is why it took me so long to understand her character. Because there's this really abrupt switch after her introduction which dilutes all her best parts, mainly how she's a tomboy who couldn't give less of a fuck.

When I was re-reading that original post, I was thinking that maybe I was a bit harsh but then realised the main point I had failed to convey was that... well, there's no nice way to put this but, the series is a product of the male gaze, exclusively. Yes. The protagonist is narrating his own story alongside his two buddies, so the entire world of Sly Cooper, as we know it, revolves around his own understanding of everything, including his perception of women. There is a lot of flirting and a lot of damsel in distress-ing, and these reflect on Sly's character. With the exception of Henriette, all the female characters are treated to either of the two, if not both: the main trio (Carmelita, Penelope & Neyla) are pigeonholed into the role of love interests, the former two also needing to be rescued, whereas Mz Ruby and the Contessa are met with flirty chit-chat from Sly (and I don't want to hear any bullshit that this is not the case again. If Sly handles the female villains with a more suave, teasing attitude as opposed to their male counterparts, guess what that means). And then there's the case of A Cold Alliance, which yay! anti-arranged marriage rhetoric and female empowerment by having the gang absolutely destroy Tsao, a total misogynist scum of the planet. Surely this harrowing experience must've had dire consequences on Jing King... oh wait. Sorry I forgot that Tsao's victim, the character whose rescue mission is the central plot of the entire episode, is not given a face and speaks only 2 lines of dialogue in favour of the pain her father has to go through... Isn't this kinda counterproductive?

I feel like, in closing, I have to reiterate that I don't think the series is misogynistic. Let's make that clear. I just think it's a bit 'one step forwards, two steps back' because its brand of feminism as well as its depiction of femininity are similar to the one in Marvel movies or Katy Perry's 'Woman's World'. Birthed by the male gaze, basically. A woman doesn't have to mega-jump and have a shock pistol to be a "girlboss", however. And, even though the majority of female characters are depicted to have established careers, it doesn't help that they have to have their gender brought up in some capacity. Anyway, I was going to close off by asking you to imagine a game where the developers have Carmelita wear a miniskirt but fuck that. Power to women.

[breannasfluff]

Broken Wing

Whump Rating: 3/5 TW: Blood, violence, minor monster gore, broken bone AO3 Link

“Monsters!”

“Watch out for the nets!”

“Protect each other!”

Legend screams at the monsters, pulling a wing in to fall from the air. Hyrule follows with a shrill challenge of his own. Time’s battle call is backed up by the raptors. The air is full of whistling wind and rage, pain, kill.

Wild shrieks. Help! Fear, Danger, help! 

“Get to Wild,” Time shouts. “Now!”

~

Only five minutes before the flock was flying in formation, dipping low over the sparse forest as they looked for somewhere to land and rest. The monster camp was a surprise to everyone, even Warriors, who normally kept a lookout at a higher level. Even worse, they were ready for avians.

Spring-loaded nets were thrown in the air and the flock scattered, nearly crashing into each other in a bid to escape. At first, it seemed like they escaped the surprise attack. But then Wild let out a shrill whistle, rapidly rising in fear as a net fowled his wings.

Now, Legend uses his momentum and spiked boots to slam his body weight into the face of one of the bokoblins. It roars as it goes down and he flaps frantically, trying to keep from being slammed into the ground with it. One of the toe spikes is stuck. He braces against the thrashing monster to yank his foot free.

Something bloody is still stuck to the spike and he wipes it against the ground until it comes off. There’s enough blood on it that he can convince himself it might not be an eye. Maybe. The bokoblin squeals until he sinks a sword in its throat.

Fear, terror, help! Wild’s shriek jolts him out of the moment and he shoves off the monster, running into the battle. The magpie is surrounded by monsters who are trying to haul their avian prize away.

The flock lands around him, although Twilight stays in the air to pull out a bow. Braced by his feet, each shot holds lethal power as it rains down on the monsters. Another net shoots into the air and the hawk is forced to dip and spin, shot thrown off.

Hyrule lands next to him, baring his teeth. “We need to get to Wild!”

“There’s too many!”

“I’m going to use lightning!”

Legend almost pauses, but he has to keep fighting. A lizalfo darts in close and nearly cuts a primary. “Are you sure? What about healing?”

While Hyrule has magic, passive healing is his forte. Active defense overdraws his reserves.

“Look around! We aren’t going to get this in hand!” Unfortunately, he’s right. Even with the whole flock on the attack, there are too many monsters. They are scattered, and uncoordinated. After a long day of flying, they are worn out; low on energy.

Fight, pain, hurt, fear! Flock! Wild’s shrill call is sliding into a worrying register. The avians know better than to announce injury if they can help it. If the magpie is…they need to get to him. He’s probably panicking.

Legend nods at Hyrule and slashes the throat of the lizalfo he’s fighting. “Do it! I’ll cover for you!” He spins to keep an eye on Hyrule, snapping out a wingbone and slamming a bokoblin in the head. The hard bone, made to withstand flight, gives a throbbing buzz, but the monster goes down.

If this was a battle they were prepared for, he’d have metal plates over the wing bone for protection. Knights had special armor that ran down all of the main bone to protect it from injury.

Hyrule takes a deep breath and closes his eyes to concentrate. His wings shudder, then flare out. Legend is forced to duck around him, doing his best to keep the monsters at bay. The brown thrasher chants softly under his breath and magic starts to gather in his palms.

This attracts the attention of the surrounding monsters and Legend screams a challenge, flaring his wings in a threat display. A few back off—at least for a moment. He rushes forward to engage another, frantically glancing back to keep an eye on Hyrule.

The magic in the traveler’s palms gains a crackle, then glows. Electricity snaps off the ball and jumps up his arms. It spreads, crackling over his wings as well. The display is much more terrifying than Legend’s and the monsters nearby start to back up.

Hyrule crouches, then pushes into the air. His wings beat double-time, leaving afterimages of crackling light. He doesn’t go far, just enough to see the area. Then, with a shout, he completes the spell.

Brown wings, wreathed in lightning, snap out fully. Each feather is traced in blinding detail before the lightning falls from the sky. The crackle and snap makes Legend puff on instinct, even though he’s safe. The magic is directed at the enemies, not the flock.

Across the battlefield there are shouts and screams as monsters fall. Then the magic fades and Hyrule is fluttering back down, wing beats uncoordinated. Legend reaches up and grabs his hands when he’s close enough, providing stability when his legs wobble upon touchdown.

Glancing around, there are no monsters left to worry about. Charred husks lie scattered about, bones gleaming white. Those that aren’t burnt outright are still shocked and lie on the ground, twitching. The hawks are quick to comb the monsters, killing any who might move again.

Danger! Fear! Challenge! Wild’s cry has the rest of the flock rushing for where he’s still trapped. There’s a circle of monsters, fallen when Hyrule’s lightning hit. One fell on top of the net the magpie is trapped in and he thrashes.

Time gives a flock call and Legend follows it with their sub-flock call, but it’s not enough.

Danger! Fear danger! Go away! Wild is too scared to respond past the bravado of an avian who’s hurt.

“Get him out of there, then let’s see what’s going on.” Time gestures for Warriors, who steps forward to help him pull monsters away from Wild’s net. Twilight joins them and they wrestle off the body that fell on top of him. Finally, Time pulls out a knife and cuts at the rope where it’s tangled.

Legend pulls Hyrule closer, even though he’s still keeping the healer upright. If Wild is hurt—likely—potions will help, but they can’t solve everything. If he lost too many primaries, they will have to wait for them to regrow and be stuck on the ground.

The net falls free and Wild explodes out of the rope. He screams a battle challenge and flares his wings, trying to present a threat. Only…the left wing drags limply on the ground. The challenge peters out into a whimper of pain. Blood slicks blue feathers and white bone gleams where it shouldn’t.

Wild’s wing is broken.

This will continue in tomorrow's prompt!

[nocternalrandomness]

Glass cockpit - Dassault Falcon 7X

[nav-i-nav]

Insane ramble

since Stranger has only ever seen darkness and rarely caught glimpses of pastel colors from headspace and gentle muted colors from memories, i think he would find the primary + bold colors to be absolutely hideous

he despises brightness

Stranger would hate this too, along with the noise if he had the displeasure of seeing it on television. faraway stranger is unlucky

Oh that also gives me the idea, how would Stranger (faraway) react to an emergency alert playing on the tv

:example I found on google

when I was a kid, oh boy, seeing this, hearing this- it was time to cower and hide in fear

it's so abrupt, loud, and it really strickens you with the fear of the unknown because this thing gives a child's brain a sense of doom since I usually never knew what the alarm meant

Terror really settles when it happens night too. Alone. It's a fight, flight, or freeze response right there

Maybe I'm looking to deep into it, maybe Stranger wouldn't be fazed.

But that noise, that static voice, the repetition ARARGGHH

No, I think I understand what you mean. Alarms and loud noises in general tend to overwhelm those who hear them, and considering stranger is still trying to get used to, well, existing, maybe it’s not the noise what makes him overwhelmed (since I assume he most definitely hears some unpleasant noises during his stay in Black Space), but rather his body’s reaction to it. Ears ringing, flinching, shivers, maybe even nausea and headaches. He has never experienced these, so it makes sense for him to be afraid at these new feelings rather than a loud noise or bright colors, which he might’ve seen in Black Space before (There’s a few areas that do display bright colors but I still think he’d find these unpleasant to look at due to the memories they might evoke). Not to mention, he also has to take into account that he has a body now. He’s no longer a shadow, but a breathing, living human who can bleed and feel pain. I don’t know if it makes sense sorry but YESSSSSS put that lad in situations RIGHT NOWWWWWW

[usafphantom2]

On This Day In 1970 The Grumman F-14 Tomcat Made Its First Flight

December 21, 2019 Military Aviation

the first Full Scale Development (FSD) Grumman F-14A Tomcat (BuNo 157980) during its first flight in 1970. (Image credit: Grumman)

It’s the anniversary of Turkey’s first flight.

On Dec. 21, 1970, the first Full Scale Development (FSD) Grumman F-14A Tomcat (BuNo 157980) took off for its maiden flight from Grumman’s flight test centre at Calverton, on Long Island.

The poor weather conditions forced the two test pilots flying the first “Turkey” (as the aircraft would be later nicknamed), Grumman chief test pilot Robert K. Smyth and project test pilot William Miller, to cut the maiden flight, carried out a month ahead of the contracted data, short. However, in spite of the short duration of the flight (consisting in a few visual patterns with wing swept forward), the F-14 had taken to the air for the first time: the first of many flights in the U.S. until the last one conducted in 2006.

An F-14 with bomb markings earned during Operation Desert Fox in 1999, aboard USS Enterprise. The aircraft’s role evolved during the years and the F-14 also carried out the bomber mission in a variant also referred to as “Bombcat”. (Image credit: Author).

The F-14 BuNo 157980 took off for the second test flight on Dec. 30 with the two test pilots swapping their seats: Miller sat in the front cockpit and Smyth in the back. The second flight is quite famous in the story of the Tomcat, as the aircraft crashed due to hydraulic failure: a mishap that was caught on camera by a chase plane.

Ezoic

Here’s how we described that second sortie in a previous article we published here at The Aviationist:

It was during this flight that a chase plane noted that the Tomcat was leaving a trail of smoke: shortly thereafter the F-14 experienced a primary hydraulic system failure forcing Miller to head immediately back to base.

While they were preparing to land, the secondary hydraulic system also failed, due to the use of the emergency nitrogen bottle to lower the landing gear: once it failed, the crew tried to rely on the Combat Survival System which had to supply the power to the rudders and tailerons only.

However this last limited control system showed signs of failing as well, the pilot lost control all over the aircraft and the crew was forced to eject.

The breakdown was caused by a fatigue failure of both titanium main hydraulic lines due to a coincidence of pump resonance and a loose connector: ironically, the F-14’s hydraulic system was fixed by changing from titanium to stainless steel hydraulic lines only.

As you can see from footage (around 03:20 min), the crew ejected only few meters above the trees but, luckily, they suffered only minor injuries.

Sadly, Miller died on 30 June 1972 when its Tomcat crashed into Chesapeake Bay during preparation for an air display with the tenth FSD F-14 (BuNo 157989), while Smyth passed away this year.

Both Smyth and Miller contributed in bringing the last in a long tradition of Grumman Cats to life.

The F-14 is still flying in Iran.

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

@theaviationist via X

[charlotteheehee]

Wario Land influencing Wario the Character (and vice versa)

Yeah I rambled to some friends of mine and I'm gonna copy-paste it here, with some tweaks and additions.

The Game Boy had a small screen, and since Wario's rather big frame would take up a good portion of it, it was decided his game would be slower pace as to prevent the players from not being able to react to what's ahead of them

Wario's greedy nature was established by selfishly stealing Mario's own castle in his debut game. This, combined with the above factor, influenced Wario Land's primary objective: looking around for LOOT.

With the incentive to explore levels that were slower and somewhat more open than Mario levels, it's a guarantee for more playtime and replayability.

(Would you look at this haul, wowzers!)

This is expanded upon in the sequels, which are even more exploration-based, fitting for Wario's newly-displayed hobby of treasure hunting.

And when the screen for Wario's games got bigger, whether it be on Virtual Boy or Game Boy Advance, Wario was allowed to ram into who-knows-what even faster.

Wario's design changed a tad following his new series, he was slightly redesigned to be less.. goofy-lookin for the protagonist role.

Here he is in 1992, his debut year, he's a real charmer.

The lazy eye, my dear lazy eye, was removed quite soon after.

Here he is in 1994 with his trusty treasure-hunting hat, his debut as the lead of the Wario Land series. He has a confident smile that says "You're-a playing as Wario now! That's right, soak it in, hee hee hah hah!"

(I know that's a safari hat, but the way it's shaded always makes it look like metal.)

Here's where his strength is first emphasized, what with powerfully ramming into everything and everyone against him. note those toned arms of his, this trait will become more visually apparent soon.

The next year, my darling Virtual Boy Wario Land released. Take a gander.

Here he's drawn notably slimmer than usual, spooky, though this is rather inconsistent.

Not much else to say here or for the next couple years outside of the advent of his 3D model, so let's skip to 1998

Behold, Wario Land II !

Would you look at that, someone's shortened his sleeves!

To emphasize Wario's cartoonish levels of strength of which he displays in his games frequently, the designers have given Wario permission to show off his enviable biceps. (Mario spinoffs went back and forth on this for about 6 years. The funniest example to me is Wario having short sleeves in Mario Tennis, yet having long sleeves in its sequel.)

Wario has reached the conclusion of his design evolution, good for him. Well, there's WarioWare, but that's for another day.

Despite these tweaks to his design, Wario is still very much a goof, so all his transformations are just comedy.

Initially, Wario's power-ups were just that. Wario utilized a variety (3) of hats, all of which granted him abilities such as a flame attack or a flying dash attack.

(look at that, incredible.)

The world turned upside-down on, once again, the release of Wario Land II. Those deranged folks back at Nintendo get a lot of yucks inflicting life-threatening slapstick onto Wario, all because Wario is naturally goofy, poor guy.

Thus, "Wario with a Dragon Hat that Breathes Fire" became "Wario Running Uncontrollably on Fire" and "Wario with an Eagle Hat that Helps Him Glide" became "Wario Got Stung by a Bee and His Balloon Head Gives Him Flight" among others, there's a lot more than three this time.

I love this guy.

[es46]

Regarding neopterans, always got to fit a mosquito monstie in there - QUITAS Title - Pestilent insect Monster class - Neopteran Known locales - High-altitude environments such as mountains and clifftops Element/ailment - Defence Down + Effluvium Elemental weakness - Dragon (3), Ice (2), Fire (2), Thunder (1), Water (0) Ailment weakness - Sleep (3), Blast (2), Stun (1), Paralysis (1), Poison (0) Quitas is a neopteran tending to inhabit more isolated locales such as mountains. They are distinguished by their rusty brown exoskeleton lined with insulating hairs, as well as a dramatically colourful orange abdomen and bright red eyes. Their limbs are slender, with hook-like claws to latch onto support should fierce winds blow, and the neopteran's flexible proboscis contrasts the long golden horn. With translucent red wings, Quitas is a competent flyer and adaptable monster. Quitas is a herbivore adapted to tackling the most rugged and resilient of flora. Any plant that can survive in the windswept mountainous environment must be unappealing to most, allowing Quitas an exclusive niche. It feeds on these plants by using a powerful acid secreted from the horn to dissolve their defensive walls, allowing the proboscis to reach inside and drain the fluids within. Though fatal to the plants, they can at least spread pollens that adhere to Quitas's hairs, spreading their next generation when the neopteran moves on. As a specialist herbivore, Quitas has no interested in humans or other creatures. At best, it regards them with mild curiosity. Researchers can operate with little fear if a Quitas is in the area, though be mindful of its horn should it come for a closer look. Flash bombs are recommended if at any point the neopteran becomes obtrusive. As expected, the acid produced from Quitas's horn is its primary offensive tool. Used either to stab or spread the acid, it inflicts Defence Down on hunters and can drive off most other monsters that may intrude on its turf. Otherwise, Quitas lashes with its proboscis and hooked claws, preferring to attack from the air in a hit-and-run fashion. That said, should Quitas feel overwhelmed, it can released a noxious gas from pores in its abdomen. Crafted from microbiological waste products from the plants it feeds on, this bacterial mixture replicates the atrophic effects of effluvium, though it is not as potent as the miasma hosted by monsters such as Vaal Hazak. Quitas prefer high altitudes, but they will occasionally descend to wet environments such as marshlands or swamps to reproduce. Males will fight for control of still water sources such as lakes, sparring with their horns until one backs down, and then the winners will display to females with their larger abdomens. Females lay their eggs on the shore where the male fertilizes them, and once the spawning period is over, the adults return to the mountains. The larvae soon emerge, differentiated from the adults by their ravenous carnivorous appetite; they will swarm and kill any living thing they encounter, and if no other prey is available, they will even turn on each other. Those that survive will eventually pupate and emerge as adult Quitas that follow their parent's trails to the mountains. Despite its chemical weapons, Quitas is not a particularly challenging monster (Low Rank -1, High/Master Rank - 1) on account of its low durability and generally placid demeanour. Still, hunters who earn its aggression must be wary of its lunging strikes and gaseous defences. Sleep weapons can stymie the neopteran, whilst dragon weapons disorientate them. Flash pods are also effective in reducing its aerial effectiveness. Quitas tends to avoid the attention of most large monsters, who tend to find it unappetising, but it is at the mercy of its nemesis, the snake wyvern Seraphibra. Well adapted to flight and boasting powerful sedatives, Seraphibra is exquisitely suited to preying on Quitas and a prime controlling factor in its population. - Thank you for reading and take care.