#anita demarco

[mercurygray]

What Friends Are For

It's a normal afternoon at the airfield, with administration staff running errands and a baseball game in the outfield, until a replacement plane brings a new pilot...and a new perspective on an old face.

It had been the most normal afternoon in the world before the plane came in.

The day’s mission (a milk run of a diversion route, hardly worth worrying over) wasn’t due back for several hours, and everyone who’d been left off the roster was taking advantage of the July sunshine. There were men napping in deck chairs outside the Aero Club and half of a baseball game in the newly mown infield, a strange sense of peace smoothing over everything - until Anita’s voice was heard coming in over the tannoy that everyone was to clear the field and the runway for a flight in from Framlingham.

A wild scramble started at the Aero Club and the motor pool, a jumbled rush for jeeps and bicycles and anything else that could get you to the tarmac as fast as possible. Framlingham meant replacement planes, and replacement planes meant ferry pilots - and ferry pilots just might be female.

Two to a plane, a pilot and and a co-pilot who could run radios in a pinch. It was a job for flyers who were not quite 1A, not exactly front line and not exactly behind it either, and the Air Forces had decided that before they saddled their walking wounded with the indignity of being singled out for noncombat flights, they’d let the women do it. Look nice in the papers, wouldn’t it - fresh-faced young woman straight from college airfields and the Ninety-Nines clubroom. Girl flyers to ferry planes for bomber boys. It would be allowed that they were just level headed enough to fly the plane from point A to point B, but combat duty would be a bridge too far. Handling one of the heavies in anything stronger than a swift breeze was a job for men, not women. (Until someone needed to motivate the men, in which case - it’s so easy they’ve got girls doing it.)

And besides all that - it might be good for morale, to have a couple of cute faces around.

The baseball players made it in first - Egan and DeMarco and Biddick, shirts off and baseball gloves abandoned at the side of the tarmac while the B-17 touched down, slowing steadily and then turning on to the taxiway, one of the crew chiefs waving it down to an open hardstand to give it another once over. The crowd followed. “I call dibs if one’s a blonde,” Dickie was heard to say to his co-pilot, Curt shoving him playfully and telling him where he could put it.

They waited a ways off while the propellers stopped spinning, the familiar whine of the engine dying down until the silence said it was safe to approach.

A figure in Santiago blue emerged from the hatch near the nose, bag tossed on the tarmac and landing with a soft thump on the ground. (More than one man was thinking about how nice those legs looked, getting down out of the plane.)

“Still fun though, wasn’t it?” the woman was asking, waiting for another person to join her on the ground, fixing her gloves and loosening her jacket.

“God, yes,” the second voice agreed, the smile in her voice hardly trying to hide. “I forgot how much.” A second bag, a second pair of legs - but the face that went with it made every single man there pull up short.

Benny got there first. “Callaway?”

Sure enough, there she was - Cordelia Callaway, last seen on a truck south to Wing Headquarters at Horham, trying to brush the creases out of her trousers and shoving a pair of leather pilot’s gloves into her coat pockets. It was strange to see her away from her tower, and perhaps stranger still to see she was pulling down both her briefcase and a navigator’s board, its pencil hanging by a string.

“She was going my way,” the pilot in blue offered, as if some kind of apology were needed. “We were short-handed and it seemed silly to make an old friend wait for the truck.”

The answer provoked more questions than answers, but no one quite seemed to know quite what to ask - or how. “Are you gonna introduce us, Lieutenant?” Gale asked breezily, joining the party with his cap still on and a book tucked under his arm. “Some of us like to pretend we still have manners.”

Cord, too, was a little off balance. “This is Laura Simpson. She’s a... friend of mind from back home. Laura, this is Major Gale Cleven - Captain Benny DeMarco - Lieutenant Curtis Biddick - Lieutenant Dickie Snyder...and Major John Egan. They’re all pilots here at the 100th.”

“You any relation to the Laura Simpson whose father’s an admiral?” Dickie asked, as Laura went around shaking hands.

“Guilty as charged,” the pilot replied. “Hope you won’t hold it against me.”

“And how do they have you flying for the Army?”

“Nepotism only gets you anywhere if your uncle’s a six star general,” Laura said, grinning at her own joke. “The Navy won’t let me near a plane, much less the carrier to put it on - and believe me, Daddy asked. So it’s all Army, all day for this gal. I don’t mind it much, as long as I’m flying. Besides,” she added, with a wink for effect, “I have it on good authority the boys are cuter on this side of the war.”

That won some points - the smiles got wider and at least one man stood up just a little taller. “Are you going to stick around for dinner, Miss Simpson? The cuter boys always have room for another pretty face,” Dickie offered, obviously trying hard to get the last word in.

“Well, it is the last flight of the day for me,” Laura said, shrugging. “And it just so happens I brought my party clothes, too.”

“I should get going,” Cordelia said quietly, adjusting the grip on her briefcase and hefting the navigator’s board under her arm. “I’ve got film for Bowman and Brennan.”

“I’ll catch you later,” Laura promised. “I’m sure these fine gentlemen will get me over to the women’s quarters in one piece.” She looked around with a winning smile. “Someone going to offer to carry my bag?”

Three hands went up, but Curt’s went straight to the bag itself, which made him the winner, and the whole group set off back to base, Dickie jogging around to retrieve the rest of the baseball gloves.

“Mighty nice of you to jumpseat Callaway back to us, Miss Simpson,” Bucky said with a smile, his long stride loping a little to keep pace with Laura, who wasn’t nearly as tall as him.

“Oh, I didn’t jumpseat anyone,” Laura said strongly, smiling slightly herself. “She drove.”

There were stares, and Bucky actually lost a step. “Callaway’s not a pilot, she’s a flight control officer.”

His stare was just this side of predatory, his dark eyes focused and narrow, but Laura still laughed. “If you think that’s true, there’s a lot about Cordelia Callaway you don’t know, Major.”

“Enlighten us, then,” Curt offered, as generous with his smiles as he’d been with his carrying of her bag.

Laura met his eye with a generosity of her own. “Buy me a drink later and maybe I’ll tell you, Lieutenant.”

Later was after they’d let her fill out paperwork with Jack Kidd about the plane she’d just brought in, and let him make the necessary calls for a seat on a truck headed back to Framlingham so she could be returned to the ferrying roster tomorrow, and after Captain Brennan had made sure there were quarters ready in the women’s block and filled her in on the rest of the base’s amenities. And finally, after all the ts had been crossed and is had been dotted and her bags had been left in the women’s quarters, it was just close enough to happy hour that the whole party found themselves in the officer’s club for a few drinks before dinner.

“So how does an admiral’s daughter end up knowing a WAC from Ohio?” Curt said with single-minded focus, once the drinks had been poured and seats had been found near the fireplace. “Because there ain’t a lot of naval bases in Dayton, the last time I checked.”

“We met on the East Coast air race circuit,” Laura offered plainly, glancing around to blank and confused stares. "You all really don't know who she is, do you?" She laughed and took a sip of her whiskey. "Cord Callaway is the 1939 Cleveland Powder Puff women's pylons champion. She's not just a pilot - she's a racer. And an acrobat, while we’re talking."

"You're shitting me." That was Bucky, sitting back in his chair.

"Not for a moment," Laura assured him. "She's one of the best fliers I know. She did the course at Cleveland and took five seconds off the standing record that year - and she did it in last year’s plane."

"So what the hell's she doing up in a control tower?"

"You'd have to ask her that, Lieutenant Biddick. I only know part of the story."

“So share the part you know,” Bucky advised.

Laura looked around at the waiting faces and settled into her chair. “You all know she grew up at Wright Patterson, right? Her old man’s an engineer there - helps run tests on government contract models. She grew up flying - took lessons from officers at the base when her dad was working late. Practice something long enough and you get good at it, and she got good. The guys who were teaching her were all test pilots - taught her rolls and spins, and she got good at those, too. The Air Force usually sent a couple of guys to Cleveland, and one year she went with. They let her take one of the planes out as a joke, and she smoked three quarters of the field - no one knew who she was or where she’d come from. Next thing you know she’s got a Ninety-Nines membership and an invite to the next meet and one of the guys at Curtis is talking to her about flying their plane - once they find out she’s Wilson Callaway’s daughter. They figure that making it easy enough for a girl to fly will be a selling point.” She smirked. “It’s not just six star generals and admirals, you know.”

Bucky cut in. “Get to the part about the tower.”

If Laura seemed surprised by his insistence she didn’t say anything, just kept on with the story. “Jackie Cochran had reached out to a number of us in...was that the same year? I think it was. Wanting to talk about flying for England - ferrying duties. I didn’t feel like it, but then Nancy Love reached out...maybe a year later, a year and a half, about doing the same thing stateside, after Arnold asked her, and that sounded good to me. I called around to see who else I might be seeing, and I thought for sure Cord would be game, but she - she said she wasn’t doing it, that she was joining the WAC instead to do air traffic.” She paused, took a sip of her drink. “There was ...a guy she’d been mentioning a lot, and apparently there’d been an accident. He was due to join his squadron in a week.” Laura took another sip of whiskey, ice clipping around in her glass. The entire group had gone silent. “Captain James Chapman. Jimmy. When your number’s up, I suppose.” She raised her eyebrows and finished the rest of her whiskey. “And that’s what I know about that. If you want whatever’s left of the story, you’ll have to get it from her.”

It was a somber note to end on, but the mess sergeant was ringing the bell for chow, and man by man they trooped out to the dining hall, Curt and Dickie having apparently claimed the right to have Laura sit at their table. By the time they got to dinner everyone was talking and laughing again.

--

The officer’s club certainly wasn’t crowded after dinner, but Bucky still slid into the seat directly next to Cord and made himself comfortable watching Laura with her current dance partner across the room. For a moment the two sat in silence. “I think Curt’s getting ready to propose to your friend,” Bucky said, casually.

The observation made her glance up in alarm. He was right - Curt looked very serious indeed, his hand gently cradling hers as the two danced. “Someone had better tell him to save it,” she warned. “Laura’s already spoken for. She’s got a boyfriend over in Fighter Command with a right hook that’s just as good as Curt’s.”

Bucky seemed to be considering it for a moment, but he remained in his chair, his eyes fixed on Cord again. “You know, she’s telling some wild stories about your course record in Cleveland, Lieutenant.”

Cord met his eye for a moment in fear, her eyes quickly falling back to her drink. “I wish she wouldn’t,” she said, softly.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Bucky leaned over the table, his glass in both hands. “About being a pilot?”

“I didn’t think it was relevant.”

“So then why’d you give up flying?” Bucky wasn’t taking no for an answer here, clearly trying to understand more. “They would have let you, same as her. Was it this guy - this guy Jimmy?”

The name made her freeze for a moment, a deer under the hunter’s eye. “She told that story, too?”

Bucky nodded and leaned back in his chair again. “I have to say, I’m kinda struggling to picture you breaking your heart over a boyfriend, but what do I know?”

“That’s not why I did it.” Her tone was almost harsh. “It wasn’t a broken heart, and he ...wasn’t my boyfriend.” She said all this like that would be the end of the matter, and then made the mistake of glancing at Bucky, who said nothing, spreading his hands and raising his eyebrows like he was inviting her to say more. “It was an accident,” she said, finally. “A terrible, perfectly avoidable accident.” Again he said nothing, the silence guilting her to speak. “Control gave him and the next pilot in the flight pattern the wrong approach angle and windspeed - they collided in midair.”

If Bucky had a smart reply to that, he couldn’t immediately find it, and Cord, for once, looked vindicated. Every pilot worth his salt knew you invited trouble by talking about air accidents, and what she’d just described was one hell of a mistake. “Decided then war didn’t need more pilots,” she added, draining her drink with a bitter look. “It needed more people to get them back on the ground safe.” She scraped her chair backwards and stood up, leaving the empty glass between them. “I’m going to bed. I think Laura knows where she’s staying. Don’t let her get into too much trouble.” And then, just like that, she was gone, and Bucky was left alone at the table, staring at her wake. Plane crashes, pylons champions... Cord Callaway, a pilot!

The music wound down and Laura flung herself into Cord’s vacated seat, flushed and smiling and breathing heavily, a fresh glass in her hand. “You look like a man trying to figure something out, Major.”

“I am,” Bucky decided, sitting up a little and smoothing out his jacket. “I’m trying to figure out how the two of you are friends when you’re goddamn delightful and Callaway is -”

Laura rolled her eyes. “She’s not always like that, you know. She’s got a big job up there, and she takes it very seriously.” She brushed a hair out of her eyes and took a long sip of her drink. “You know, Cord talked a lot about you, on the way over,” she said, watching Bucky for signs of life. He looked up in surprise. “I mean, she talked about everyone, but she talked a lot about you in particular, Major Egan.”

Bucky scoffed. “Well, that’s not surprising. I’m a stone in her shoe. She trying to warn you off me?”

Laura shook her head. “She’s lived around pilots her whole life, Major. Cowboys and showoffs aren’t new.” Another pause, another drink. “No, I think it’s something else. You’re the guy they look up to - the one who’s invincible, who tells them it can be done and then does it. That’s how Jimmy was. And she saw what losing him did to the other guys with him.” She sat up a little in her chair and leaned over the table. “Did she tell you the part of the story about how she met his mother afterwards? She and his father were coming to see him off - missed the telegram. Instead of a vacation they got their son in a box, before he’d ever even got to the war. So she doesn't do it to be an ice queen, Major Egan. She does it because however she feels about you, she respects what you do. And I think - no, I know - that she cares about you. Maybe not that way - but she cares."

She gathered up her glass and moved off, to the table that Dickie and a few of the others were sharing, leaving Bucky to wonder in peace about secrets, and friends who shared stories, and just what kind of guy Jimmy Chapman must have been, to make a girl give up flying for him.

[n4t4nya]

who did you grow up listening to?

i was around a lot of Motown as a kid. my dad's special interest is Michael Jackson so him. i used to transcribe a lot of Stevie cause he rly touched me when i got old enough to get it, my mum loved anita baker, teddy p and I'm every woman (Whitney's version) - calypso/parang. i loved Otis Redding so much - bill evans was one of my first crushes + I listened to him every day. I love the way Art Blakey drums. Tyler the creator in his Wolf / CB / SFFB / Igor era went platinum in my skull candy headphones ! I loved Roy Ayers and Charlie Wilson in a modern context on his stuff. early Kali Uchis too - she made me really love the art of textures in music. I lived near to a record shop + would go there every day after school on summer walks home, I fell in love with Strawberry Fields Forever inside it. Jimi Hendrix + Janis Joplin were crazy cool to me. I listened to the Cocteau Twins + Mazzy Star and Hole with the lights off. QUEEN ! Definitely cried to Mac Demarco. I listened to all of Frank (Amy) on the bus home with my free Deezer Trial (I wouldn't have been able to pay for a subscription with my pocket money so I downloaded only one album) and fell in love. Hiatus Kaiyote opened my 14-year-old brain sooo much, I remember the first time I listened to Nakamarra in the bathroom on a school night when I was supposed to b asleep, the internet too. Frank Ocean was my goat. I couldn't sleep because I realised what the lyrics to Super Rich Kids were actually talking about and I remember envisioning the whole story in my head as the song played again then getting even more scared. I had to watch Adventure Time to calm down. I remember also staying awake on the school night when Endless/Blonde dropped, being confused at the live stream when F was painting on the ladder, then going to download every song on B straight from YouTube with tubidy. I thought Siegfried was intense, deep writing, I really related to it a lot. Drake (no matter what ppl say) lol. hope that answers ur question.

[zianisaqueer]

It was also really nice seeing these old characters coming back for the final episodes. 😊

I missed them and I wished we got to see some bits and pieces of them throughout this season. I was worried that Alex is going to be alone in Ohio so I'm glad there were familiar faces in that prison. 🖤

[vausemania]

[queen-of-otaku]

WHERE ARE MARITZA, CARRIE (BIG BOO), NORMA, LEANNE, GINA, ERICA, ANITA, ANGIE, BROOK AND OTHER INMATES MORE?!!

I WANT KNOW WHERE ARE THEY NOW

[oitnb]

Treat yo self.

[likenextlevelcrazy]

everyone is losing their shit and alex is just quietly dying in the corner

[geekngamergasms]

I love OITNB, but...

why'd they give us a flashback for Ferguson, when there are characters like Yoga Jones, Gina Murphy, and Anita DeMarco who have been around since the first season and still haven't gotten flashbacks? Ferguson's felt a bit unnecessary. If anyone needed one, I felt like it was Ouija, Pidge, Zirconia, or the white supremacists. Hell, put in the Hapakuka or The Weeping Woman there, too, just for the hell of it.

[netflixpaused]

[nahalism]

Songs that make you want to experience love (of any kind) or remind you of it??

u just opened pandoras box.. like.. u think ur ready, but ur not ready. and i cant apologise for what im about to do because what song isnt a love song?.. you have proposed an existential question & for that i refuse to keep this uncompletable task concise. hold on 2 ur toupee, clutch ur peals 🤧

verdena // valvonauta

the nerves // hanging on the telephone

dionne warwick // walk on by

luther vandross // anyone who had a heart

stevie wonder // all in love is fair, never dreamed youd leave in summer, lately, superwoman (where were you when i needed you)

ms lauryn hill // i gotta find peace of mind

lenny williams // cause i love you

donny hathaway // ill love you more than you ever know (& the amy winehouse cover of this)

eva cassidy, autumn leaves

nina simone // you dont know what love is, just say i love him, you can have him, everything must change

chet baker // my funny valentine, almost blue, the autumn leaves

the police // roxanne

amy winehouse // take the box, wake up alone, you sent me flying, stronger than me

nat king cole // nature boy, smile, the very thought of you

etta james // id rather go blind

gladys knight & the pipps // midnight train to georgia

al green // how can you mend a broken heart, lets stay together

janis joplin // maybe

anita baker // angel

simply red // holding back the years, you make me feel brand new

luther vandross // a house is not a home

deniece williams //  free, silly 

boyz II men // i cant make you love me

michel’le // something in my heart

patrice rushen // remind me

toni braxton // another sad love song, breathe again

tamar braxton // all the way home, love and war

the delfonics // lala means i love you, hey love

bobby womack // if you think your lonely now

rick james ft teena marie // fire and desire

the gap band // yearning for your love

jahiem // ghetto love, could it be

mariah carey // anytime you need a friend, my all

tamia // stuck with me, so into you

shai // if i ever

new edition // can you stand the rain, if it isnt love

ATL // make it up with love

blackstreet // dont leave me

bow wow // let me hold you, my baby

jhene aiko // feel like a man, wait no more, my mine, you vs them

twenty88 // 2 minute warning

corrine bailey rae // the whole of her self titled album

yebba // my mind

neyo // do you, part of the list

erykah badu // green eyes, other side of the game, next lifetime, in love with you, out my mind just in time

keyshia cole // send from heaven, love, i should have cheated, trust and believe

whitney houston // i learned from the best, run to you, saving all my love, im your baby tonight

michael jackson // lady in my life, break of dawn, butterlies, baby be mine, keep it in the closet, who is it, give in to me, rock with you .. etc etc etc

abba // lay all your love on me

seal // kiss from a rose

patrick swayze // shes like the wind

phil collins // in the air tonight

the police // roxanne

tracy chapman // fast car, baby can i hold you

james blunt // 1973

chris isaak // wicked game

fleetwood mac // rihannon, dreams janis ian // at 17

googoo dolls // iris (duh)

oasis // wonderwall (duhh x2)

dido // white flag

joni mitchell // both sides now, a case of you

randy crawford // almaz, one day ill fly away

little dragon // never never, twice

lana del rey // video games, blue jeans

london grammar // hey i, wasting my young years

ellie goulding // starry eyes (acoustic), guns & horses (acoustic)

avril lavigne // when your gone, im with you

paramore // misguided ghosts, decode

hiatus kaiyote // the lung

jorja smith // wandering romance, goodbyes

kelsey lu // dreams

kelela // all the way down, turn to dust, enough, better, take me apart

king krule // slush puppy, many more

SiR ft masego // ooh nah nah

fka twigs // papi pacify

steve lacy // dark red

iamddb // more

abra // pride

sonder x brent faiyaz // lovely

pharoah sanders // harvest time

james blake // wilhelm scream

portico quartet // the visitor

kokoroko // ti de

funkadelic // maggot brain, ill stay

collard // everglade

feng suave // honey theres no time, by the poolside

mac demarco // still beating, my kind of woman, let her go, let my baby stay, one more love song

connan mockasin // do i make you feel shy

gas dapperton // prune, you talk funny

blood orange // saint, out of your league, best to you, never good enough

majid jordan // her, u, king city, warm

japanese breakfast // triple 7, the woman that loves you, everybody wants to love you

frank ocean // higgs *or just insert his whole discog*

daniel ceasar // japanese denim

xavier omar // speculate

sza // pretty little birds, caretaker ft dram, babylon, warm winds, 2 am, passport

jeremih // british headboards, worthy ft. jhene aiko, raindrops, & obvs bday sex

j cole // runaway, shes mine pt1 & 2

travis scott // astrothunder

drake // come winter, cameras/good ones go, doing it wrong, east district... anything ending in interlude .. *again, insert practically any of his songs*

tory lanez // 1 call

partynextdoor // tbh, wus good/curious, west district, rendezvous, wednesday night interlude, persian rugs, spiteful, cant let the summer pass, her way, thirsty, muse, the right way

serani // do you good (!!!)

miguel // girl with the dragon tattoo, pussy is mine

vybz kartel & gaza slim // anything a anything

movado // when yuh feel lonely

nicki minaj // save me, i lied, autobiography

tokio hotel // monsoon

my chemical romance // the ghost of you, helena

nickelback // how you remind me & someday

whilst she sleeps // seven hills, our courage our cancer

pierce the veil // stained glass eyes and colourful tears, i dont care if your contageous, im low on gas and you need a life jacket, southern constellations, the new national anthem, bulls in the bronx, caraphernalia, disasterology

(& lol dont roast me but id b lying if i didnt include dem)

vanessa ann hugends // say ok :) 

lmnt // open your eyes

edward mccain // ill be

jesse mccartney // im leavin (lol dont roast me)

lindsay lohan freaky friday songz (?) // the ultimate, take me away

[mercurygray]

Apologies Owing

Well, they're finally here - the pilots, that is. The base's WACs have some opinions they'd like to share.

A follow up to this piece - and an announcement! I'll be trying to post all of Cord's drabbles on AO3 at Pavilioned In the Fields.

--

The talk over dinner was about nothing but the officers.

There was no consensus yet, it seemed, over who was the handsomest. Netta was stumping for Brady, the one who'd ridden his fort straight into a rut in the middle of the airfield and had walked away without a scratch, but Anita and Mary Dacre both wanted to speak of no one but DeMarco - or rather, the dog he'd brought with him, who had kindly consented to pets and treats and much crooning while his owner stood by and beamed at himself for the genius idea of getting the husky to find his Friday night dates for him. (Mae, too, seemed taken by the idea of the dog, though she was a little too world-wise to let the pup's gorgeous blue eyes win her over to his owner.)

"I liked the one that blew us a kiss," Nina said, almost loyally, still mooning into her soup about it nearly three hours later, elbow firmly planted on the table while she started wistfully into space. "What'd you say his name was, Phoebe?"

"Biddick," Phoebe said, wisely taking the middle road and saying nothing about anything apart from name, rank and serial number, reaching around Nina's elbow for the salt. "Curtis Biddick. Flies with Richard Snyder."

"The one who looks like Leslie Howard?" Becky looked like that was more her speed. "Now there's a man I'd let do a few close maneuvers."

"Curtis Biddick," Nina smiled dreamily, staring off into space obviously having heard nothing Becky had said. "It was so romantic."

"You gotta watch out for boys like that, Nina, they're usually more trouble than they're worth," Mae said, locking eyes with Phoebe across the table and exchanging abbreviated smiles.

"You all can have fun with the squaddies, but I feel like aiming a little higher," Ethel said with a cutthroat grin, inspecting the arch of her brow in the convex of her soup spoon. "That blonde who drove in with Major Egan looks like he really could be in pictures."

"Cleven," Phoebe supplied, before anyone could ask. "Major Gale Cleven. He's Egan's best friend, apparently. He came up to tower, didn't he, Cord? With Major Egan and Demarco?"

"He did," Cord said, non-committal while she wiped some sauce off the corner of her mouth and considered whether she wanted to try chasing down the last of her peas. "Seemed nice enough."

"Hmmm." Ethel looked unimpressed, and perhaps a little put out that Cord, of all people, had gotten an eye in to the main chance that she clearly couldn't appreciate properly. "Nice enough to have a girl at home?"

But no one ventured an answer for her - the half of the table that was facing the doorway all clammed up at same time as the man himself approached the table, uniform immaculate and blond hair swept just so over his very handsome face. The table stood up as one, Nina accidentally flinging her spoon into her bowl with a clatter.

"Ladies. Was wondering if I might have a word alone with Lieutenant Callaway." His voice was all gravitas and gravel, and Ethel looked like she'd die of envy the way she was glaring across the table at her lieutenant.

Mae's eyes, on the other hand, flashed with delight, and Cord looked around the table to see that nearly everyone else was smiling the way girls smiled when they thought you had something to keep a secret about. She felt hot with betrayal. Now just what do you all think - "I think we're all finished, Major, we can leave," Mae offered, gesturing to the rest of the table to get going. "We'll catch you up, Cord." Mae promised, beaming back at her friend, following the rest of the group out the door and back to barracks.

Cord took a breath and studied her shoes for a moment, hoping that none of that heat had made it to her face, and Cleven hadn't seen any of their hinting smiles - or heard what Ethel had just said. She waited until the crowd cleared the door to speak. "Sir?"

"Seems I owe you an apology, Lieutenant."

Whatever she'd been expecting him to say ...wasn't that. "…What for, sir?"

Cleven's gaze was patient, though it looked like that patience was being tested a little at the moment. "Whatever John's done here for the last month."

It took Cord more than a moment to realize he was talking about Bucky Egan. She'd plumb forgotten his first name was John, if she'd ever known it at all. He introduced himself to everyone as Bucky. "…that's very kind of you, Major Cleven, but I'm not sure that's your apology to make, sir."

"Well, a fellow can try." He smiled - a brief thing - and Cord realized why Ethel thought he'd do well in movies. Underneath those baby blue eyes ran some very, very still waters. Well, they'd have to be, to have Egan for a friend. "He - he means well, usually. He's just not…real good at thinking things through sometimes."

You can say that again. "That's…not a quality one looks for in an executive officer, if you don't mind me saying, sir."

Cleven chuckled - a sound Cord was getting the impression most people didn't hear very often. "No, it most certainly is not. But he has others - a damn fine flyer, a good man to have with you in a fight, and a - a good friend."

The quiet fortitude was growing on her - a strong contrast to Egan's boisterous take-all-comers antics. And he'd come here, when he didn't have to, when nothing said he even needed to, to apologize, on the sole basis of one meeting this morning where she'd stood her ground and been short with his friend. He noticed things, Major Cleven did - and that counted for something. "He must be, to have you making apologies for him on your first day here."

Again, the smallest of smiles. "He'd do the same, if it had been me that had stepped wrong. I'm just trying to…pay the favor forward." He took a breath, and looked at his shoes. "He, ah - he mentioned you were from Ohio."

"Dayton," Cord supplied, wondering when this had turned from an apology into an interview.

"Pretty prime flying country out there at Wright-Patterson," Cleven said quietly, glancing at her with softly curious eyes.

"Yes, sir, it is. I practically grew up there - my dad worked on the base, as an engineer. Worked pretty close with the test pilots."

"Is that how you got into the tower?"

"More or less, sir."

"Heard Brady say you were the calmest voice alive, talking him in today."

The 'for a woman' that had doubtless followed the original comment went unsaid, and Cord measured out her own smile. "Well, there's two types of pilots, sir - those who've had a belly landing, and -"

"-those who will." Cleven finished the old chestnut with a smile. "They teach you a lot about belly landings in Dayton, Lieutenant?"

Cord took a deep breath, remembering the rumbling, skating feeling of the plane underneath her, the nameless terror that the brakes no longer worked and her steering was in God's hands, waiting endlessly while the machine skidded heavily to a halt and she planned her exits, preparing to make a run for it. "A fair bit, sir."

"Hopefully we won't give you any more." He caught her gaze and held it. "Let me know, if he gives you any more trouble? We can't have our controller off her game."

She looked him in the eye and knew, instinctively, that he meant that, and if she said something, he would take her at her word - something not too many men on this base would do. That counted for something, too. "You'll be the first person I tell, Major."

He nodded, glad to be heard and understood, and turned to leave, before thinking of one last thing. "And maybe you'll let your friend know the girl at home is named Marge?" His smile was nearly imperceptible, and Cord almost laughed to see it. So he had heard. That's a very dry sense of humor you have there, sir. "Wouldn't want anyone …getting the wrong idea."

She nodded, happy that there was something here she could do for him. Oh, we're going to get along so well. "Of course, sir." Well, Ethel, serves you right. She could just see the other woman's face when she told her that Cleven was definitely off the market.

The understanding, it seemed, was mutual - Cleven gave a little nod and put his hand in his pocket. "Enjoy your evening, Lieutenant."

"And you, Major."

He went back outside, and Cord's eye followed him through the windows to the group of pilots joking and laughing in the road outside, probably getting ready to go into town. What reason could he have given for stopping in the mess hall? Or maybe he didn't need one. Egan hooked his arm around his friend's shoulders, and Cord caught a glimpse, again, of Cleven's fleeting smile - wider now, laughing with his friends as they set off for the village and the pub. And they're best friends? Well, they do say opposites attract.

Cord tidied her seat and exited the mess, surprised to see Mae was sitting on the bench outside the mess, apparently waiting. She got up as Cord stepped outside, grinning from ear to ear. "A word alone with Lieutenant Callaway, huh? You got something you want to share with the class, Cord?"

"Oh, buzz off, Mae. He just wanted to -" She paused, feeling, suddenly, that the apology was not for public consumption. "To thank me, for helping Brady land."

Mae nodded, a little impressed with the new Major. "The way she's going, I think Netta's gonna thank you too."

--

You can read more of Cord here on tumblr at her tag.

[oitnbloversmx]

Spoilers: The chickens ended up serving as a metaphor for the entire series, but they weren't the only major callback. Alex's transfer to Ohio Max gave OITNB the opportunity to check in on a slew of former characters who had gone missing from the show since the season five finale. A consequence of the riot was that the Litchfield inmates were sent away on separate buses — the ones who continued on the show were sent down the hill to Max, and the characters who were written off, it was revealed in the series finale, had all been sent to the Max facility in Ohio. "The change of location [to Max] provided the opportunity [to refocus on a core group of characters]. That first season is Piper being a fish-out-of-water in the prison, so it’s only fitting that when we’re coming to the end of her story in prison that we see the characters in this new location where they’re all fish-out-of-water," executive producer Brian Chamberlayne had explained of the cast trimming for season six. Kohan says the room missed all the characters who didn't return, which is why the series finale welcomed back so many familiar faces for both the finale and end-credits montage (below), which saw the cast filming rolling goodbyes. The final moments gave viewers glimpses of Red's old kitchen crew and family, including Carrie "Big Boo" Black (Lea DeLaria), Gina Murphy (Abigail Savage), Norma Romano (Annie Golden), Anita DeMarco (Lin Tucci) and Yoga Jones (Constance Shulman). Janae Watson (Vicky Jeudy) and Alison Abdullah (Amanda Stephen) of the Ghetto Dorm crew were seen on the track, where a changed Kasey Sankey (Kelly Karbacz) was approaching Brook Soso (Kimiko Glenn), who was last seen mourning girlfriend Poussey. Leanne Taylor (Emma Myles) and Angie Rice (Julie Lake), meanwhile, are still pantsing each other. "I didn't have that opportunity [for closure] when they loaded us on the buses. Because who knew what that was going to be?" DeLaria, who had also returned for a season six cameo, tells THR of the collective uncertainty the cast faced at the end of the fifth season. "It was really nice to be able to just say goodbye." #orangeisthenewblack #oitnb https://www.instagram.com/p/B09S2c_jw9d/?igshid=5bahfo43vzek

[superbrky]

OITNB Every Character First Seen On Every Season [Season 1-1/2]

I Wasn’t Ready

Anita DeMarco

Carrie “Big Boo” Black

Miss Claudette Pelage

Gina Murphy

Rica “Yoga” Jones

Jane Ingalls

[thecsientist]

representation + orange is the new black

there’s gonna be different categories here (so a LONG post) like lgbt, illness, cliques and races, so let’s get started with orange is the new black’s representation. but first, here are some of the things the show has covered. the representation in the characters will come after the cut off.

addiction

black lives matter

lgbtq+

mental health

racism

sexual abuse

the american prison system

and now on to the characters. let me know if i’ve missed out anything. let me know if anything on here (that i’ve stated like headings, etc) is offensive and how to alter it.

Race

Asian

Brook Soso

Mei Chang

Black (African-American, etc.)

Alison Abdullah 

Cindy Hayes

Claudette Pelage

Irma Lerman

Janae Watson

Michelle Carreras

Poussey Washington

Reema Pell

Suzanne Warren

Tasha Jefferson

Yvonne Parker

Latino

Aleida Diaz

Anita DeMarco

Armaria Diaz

Blanca Flores

Cabrera

Dayanara Diaz

Gloria Mendoza

Lea Guerrera

Maria Ruiz

Marisol Gonzales

Maritza Ramos

Ramona Contreras

LGBT+

Homosexual

Alex Vause

Carrie Black

Desi Piscatella

Maureen Kukudio

Nicky Nichols

Poussey Washington

Stella Carlin

Tricia Miller

Bisexual

Lorna Morello

Piper Chapman

Transgender

Sophia Burset

Pansexual

Brook Soso

LGBT+/Interracial relationships

Alex Vause/Piper Chapman

Brook Soso/Poussey Washington

Dayanara Diaz/John Bennett

Mercy Valduto/Tricia Miller

Nicky Nichols/Lorna Morello

Piper Chapmas/Stella Carlin

Suzanne Warren/Maureen

Sick

Ill (Mentally/Physically)

Brook Soso — depressed

Lolly Whitehill — psychosis (intense paranoia)

Lorna Morello

Rosa Cisneros — cancer

Maureen Kukudio 

Norma Romano — selective mute

Suzanne Warren — possibly autism, though not confirmed

Addicted

Angie Rice

Leanne Taylor

Nicky Nichols

Tiffany Doggett

Tricia Miller

Cliques

Black Girls — A group of inmates who generally belong to the African American race

Golden Girls — The older inmates

Red’s Family — A group of inmates headed (and protected) by Russian woman Galina Reznikov

White Power Group — A racist formation. (If I say any more, it would be spoilers)

[veale2006-blog]

4697 Sep 13, 2020 6:39:44 PM EDT Q !!Hs1Jq13jV6 ID: f64c4e No. 10635981 Jedidiah Fulton, 39 [https://archive.is/GWLYq ] Alberto Vincent Acosta [https://archive.is/cFPbd ] Kevin Carle, 37 [https://archive.is/xHiFO ] Ivan Geronimo Gomez, 30 [https://archive.is/mhKtG ] Guadalupe Molina-Pacheco [https://archive.is/US23e ] Julian Draper [https://archive.is/JyfJe ] Demarco Covey, 24 [https://archive.is/owMeD ] Wesley James Bergman, 37 [https://archive.is/rl2cm ] Elias Pendergrass, 44 [https://archive.is/wJ1XR ] Unknown [https://archive.is/mOAqq ] Anita Esquivel, 37 [https://archive.is/nMZFo ] Vanya Hummel, 24 [https://archive.is/DgwbY ] Unknown [https://archive.is/wZqgM ] John Davies, 55 [https://archive.is/VDg3M ] Unknown [https://archive.is/twWHf ] Unknown [https://archive.is/jjLfn ] Christine Comello, 36 [https://archive.is/4mLJT ] [https://archive.is/XxPPE ] [https://archive.is/Vvnoz ] Alexander Bradford Smith, 26 [http://jailviewer.co.douglas.or.us/Home/BookingSearchDetail?BookingNumber=B20002631 ] Unknown [https://archive.is/0pex9 ] [https://archive.is/8Jli1 ] Unknown [https://archive.is/JkLAw ] Jesse Peterson, 30 [https://archive.is/gQg3e ] Jeffrey Accord, 36 [https://archive.is/j3yuB ] [https://archive.is/UszGL ] [https://archive.is/nJ9OU ] Facebook stream mirror; [https://www.bitchute.com/video/iCiNEzxzOaqd/  (embed)] 2014 Ferguson Arrest; [https://archive.is/IgEUL ] Info roundup; [https://archive.is/JxZ4P ] Unknown [https://archive.is/oTl3d ] Unknown [https://archive.is/knQbj ] Unknown [https://archive.is/AEQgp ] Milton Loice Moran, 48 [https://archive.is/PiJpR ] Anthony Travis Bodda, 21 [https://archive.is/eQ8HB ] Alexander Jones, 36 Unknown [https://archive.is/eAHK7 ] Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41 [https://archive.is/DGEGz ] [https://archive.is/Vr0Tj ] [https://archive.is/mqJnI ] Jonathan Maas, 44 [https://archive.is/Hw9JK ] Combat tactics, Mr. Ryan. By turning into the path of the torpedo, the Captain closed the distance before it could arm itself. Q

[jeffgoldblumsmulletinthe90s]

Fic Writers Week: Day 2

My real inspiration for writing is that I google “Colin Farrell shirtless” and then cry about his titties and also the endlessly, unquenchable burning pit of rage which I have in place of normal human emotions.

But here are some fun playlists!!

Here is a playlist for @iamonlydancing‘s fic the burning boats are gone and lost, which I ADORE.

The tracklist is:

True Affection - The Blow Venus Fly - Grimes & Janelle Monae Wind Blows - Chateau Marmont O’Sailor - Fiona Apple So Light Is Her Footfall - Air And Darling [This Thing That Breaks My Heart] - Tegan and Sara Steady, As She Goes - The Raconteurs Sea Of Love - Cat Power

Notably, Elis did a playlist for her fic a good man. So there’s an excuse to go listen to some good music and read THAT delightful fic.

I also made a playlist for @braganzas‘s fic that’s the way the cookie crumbles.

The tracklist is:

Jealous (I Ain’t With It) - Chromeo Marble Soda - Shawn Wasabi You Can’t Hurry Love - The Supremes I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) - Four Tops When A Man Is In Love With A Man - Of Montreal

I’ve also done loads of playlists for my own fics, cause I love music. The stripper AU playlist is now up to 32 songs and it has spoilers for the next part which I am still writing.

AND! Because I love them, I did playlists for Newt and Tina and for Queenie and Jacob, which is reflective of their relationships but also would be music that they actually like in the fic! (And I threw my stripper au Seraphina playlist onto Spotify just for the hilarity)

But I also did a playlist for In a City, Reconstructed that pretty closely follows the plot and I could literally tell you which song goes to which part of the fic — but I think it’s more fun to figure that out on your own.

And I did a playlist for The Truth of Masks, but I felt too embarrassed to include it with the fic... Oh well. If you ever wanted to hear a piano cover of “Mask Off” though, there is one in there. But generally it’s a very swing-y mix that is meant to play around with the fic’s themes — but it’s got modern sensibilities. 

The tracklist for that is:

Temptation - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins Santeria - Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox The Phantom - Parov Stelar Devil’s Dance - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy The Way You Look Tonight - Anita O’Day Are You That Somebody - Giselle Mask Off (Piano version) - Ryan Louder Don Juan - Mac Demarco