#tandem skydiving near me | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

aadagio · 1 year ago

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Thursday was The Day!! I finally did it, I went skydiving!!

I had to wake up early to get ready and eat breakfast, and me and Craig left the house at around 10:30 am. There are no places to jump in Austin proper, since it’s a major city, so we drove about an hour out to this place called Fentress, sort of out near San Marcos. The place was called Skydive Spaceland and it was way out in the sticks, down a long gravel road with a bunch of RVs parked out front. They have a huge sign with a photo of someone jumping out of a plane where you’re supposed to turn, along with a crashed plane poised like it took a nosedive into the earth.

The drive out there was really smooth, we just took the highway and listened to music the whole time. The sky had this haze to it, though, almost like a thin smog that was slightly blurring out things in the distance. Craig wondered at one point if that would affect my ability to jump that day, but no one at SS ever mentioned anything about it once we arrived, so I guess it was considered fine jumping weather.

We parked 10 minutes before noon, and headed inside so I could check in. I had already filled out all the waivers online — it was a multi-page document that basically tells you to accept the fact that you could very much die while doing this, and that if you do die, or just sustain any injury in general, you can’t sue SS. Honestly, death has really never felt like a concern for me when it comes to this. Like I know in the back of my mind that it’s obviously possible and that skydiving is risky, but I’ve just wanted to do it for so long that the risk hasn’t ever concerned me. But filling out all the paperwork beforehand made checking in go a lot faster, which was nice.

I had ordered an add-on package where they have a videographer jump with you and you receive a flash drive with your skydive video and about 100 photos from your jump afterward. So all I had to do at check-in was show ID and then fill out a form specifying how I wanted my jump video to be edited. They have these sort of generic royalty-free music options like techno, country and R&B that you can choose from, and I chose classic rock since it seemed the least grating of all the options.

I was given a nametag with my name and group number on it to stick to my shirt. After that they told me to just chill out in the lobby while they waited for the rest of my group to check in, and they'd call my group number when it was time to go and watch the safety videos.

The lobby was basically just this large room with several booth tables lined along the walls, which were covered in multiple large posters depicting tandem and solo skydivers screaming and laughing for the camera. There were also three large flat screen TVs mounted around the room, running constant footage of skydivers. There were a lot of clips of groups jumping together and holding hands mid-air to form these huge circle formations in the sky, as well as videos of tandem jumpers making their first dives. They also had lots of board games, cards, and skydiving magazines and books scattered across every table. It was all very themed -- everywhere you turned, there was skydiving.

I woke up pretty gently on Thursday morning, which I was really grateful for, because I have a habit of jerking or startling awake most mornings and that usually results in a panicked feeling to begin my day with, which I hate. And especially after all the other stress that was building and building for a week leading up to this day, I was so glad to just be able to wake up calmly and get ready for this thing that I've been looking forward to for such a long time now. I felt really calm all during the drive out to SS, and I was maintaining that calm really well up until we watched the safety videos.

After sitting together in a booth for about 10 minutes, they called my group number and told us to head upstairs to watch the videos. I thought that would be the last time I'd see Craig until after I'd finished my jump, so I was trying to hug him goodbye, but the staff member calling us up said that it was just videos, and he could come and watch them with us if he wanted. So me, Craig, and this one other girl went upstairs and sat in this big room with one large flat screen in the center of the far wall, and about 20 or so folding chairs strewn about. The staff member clicked play on the TV, told us to just head back downstairs when we were done, and left.

The first video was one I'd already watched online, where Bill Booth, the inventor of the tandem skydiving harness, basically tells you once again that you could very much die while doing this, and that you are accepting that risk and signing all your rights away. Since I'd already seen it before, it didn't really psych me out, but the next video was different. This one was shot at Skydiving Spaceland, specifically to show to their students, and it basically talked about how SS is a skydiving school, so every jump you take with them can count toward getting certified, if that's something you want to do. Then it walked us through how we'd put on all our gear later, as well as how we'd board the plane, how we'd exit the plane, and how we'd need to position our bodies and limbs throughout the entire experience. The video finished by saying that they wanted us to take an active part in our jump that day, by pulling the cord to deploy the parachute, as well as take the reigns to steer the chute on our way back down to the ground.

Honestly, that was the part that finally got me to freak out. I read their website top to bottom while I was plotting out where and when I wanted to schedule this jump, and there was absolutely nothing on it that said we'd need to be in charge of any of that! I thought I was just there to enjoy the ride. So when the video started going into how we would be expected to be more active participants, my heart rate started speeding up rapidly, and I started feeling nervous for the first time. But I just tried to tell myself, "Ok, surely the instructors will go over this in more detail once you suit up, it'll be fine, just listen to what your instructor tells you."

After the last video wrapped up, I think I finally "woke up" a bit more and realized that it was literally just me, Craig, and this one other young girl in the room, and so I leaned over to introduce myself to her. She said her name was Hope and we both talked about how we were surprised that we were the only ones tandem jumping that day as we walked back downstairs.

Hope was there with her mom, so she went back to her booth to sit with her, and Craig and I went to another booth to wait for our names to be called so we could suit up. They had a smaller TV mounted near the front door in the lobby with a list of all the tandem jumpers and their instructor and videographer's (if they had one) names, as well as the wait time for when we'd be called. When we got downstairs, it said we had 25 minutes to wait, so I settled in with Craig to flip through skydiving books and try to keep calm.

At this point, every time I looked up and saw footage of people jumping out of planes on the TVs, I could feel my heart race and it just made me so nervous to watch. It was just all starting to feel very very real. So I had to force myself to keep my head down and focus on what was on the table in front of me, but after awhile of flipping through photos of barefoot skydivers doing crazy trickshots for the camera, I realized that looking at anything skydiving-related was just making my nerves worse. Several of the videos playing on the TVs had this macho-type copy pasted over them, with things like, "The hero and the coward both feel the same fear, but it's what they do with it that matters." and advertisements for their video packages that said stuff like, "If you don't record it, did it even happen?'

At one point, Craig pointed up to the TV that was mounted in the corner over my shoulder, and I turned around to see a compilation of fluffy baby Highland cows playing for some random reason. It was the first truly relaxing, sweet thing I'd seen all day, so I watched that for 5 minutes until the screen went back to playing skydiving clips. (After all of this, I can definitely say that I think they should stick to playing 100% fluffy cow clips in the lobby at all times -- those are sooo much more relaxing to watch before you jump than skydiving footage!)

About 15 minutes in to our wait, the name screen updated and bumped our wait time up to 40 minutes, so I had to be even more vigilant about distracting myself. Craig kept flipping through this skydiving photography book, but I focused on my phone and just kept scrolling Insta and Twitter trying to keep my mind off jumping. During the whole wait I also found myself getting up to go pee a lot. I've always been a nervous pee-er, like before any big event - graduation, concerts, flights, presentations, job interviews - I have to pee 3 times beforehand. But I guess my body was in nerve-overload or something because I think I literally got up to use the restroom like 6 times during our wait.

At another point, Craig suggested we go outside for a few minutes, and we went down the hallway past the gear room, the restrooms, and through this set of double doors out into the observation area that was set up for friends and family to watch jumpers land. The observation area was a gravel-filled stretch with a large white pop-up shade tent off to the left, and several wooden picnic tables. It was surrounded by a white fence and several signs warning not to go into the drop zone beyond, which was just a huge sprawl of grassy land where we could see several solo jumpers coming down to the ground. These people obviously had way more experience than me, because they were steering themselves into sharp turns just a couple dozen feet from the ground, and one guy even moonwalked his way to a light, standing landing on the grass. It was very impressive, but also not helping my nervousness at all, so after only a few minutes, I asked if we could go back inside.

Eventually, a tall burly man in jeans and a tan button-down shirt came out of the gear room that was off the side of the lobby and called my name. And this was when things started to go pretty quickly. I got up, hugged Craig and kissed the top of his head, told him I'd see him back on the ground, and then followed this guy into the gear room. He introduced himself as Joe, and said he was my skydiving instructor and that we'd be jumping together today.

We walked over to a rack full of brightly colored jumpsuits and after looking me up and down, he pulled a royal blue one off the hanger and handed it to me to put on. I noticed Hope being handed a hot pink one, and we both went over to these benches that lined the room to sit down, pull our shoes off, and step into our jumpsuits. The SS website had said to just wear comfortable, casual but form-fitting clothing and close-toed shoes to jump, so I showed up in bike shorts and an Iron Maiden T-shirt. The jumpsuit fit pretty tightly over me, but I zipped it up, put my shoes back on, and then walked back over to Joe in the center of the room.

There were 4 jumpers in there, myself included, and their respective instructors, and each instructor was in the process of harnessing and talking to their student. It felt very focused, like there was no group huddle or team lesson, it was just 4 pairs of people, each pair intently focused on one another. When I got up to Joe, he held up the pointer finger of his left hand and said, "Do you know why Taylor Swift never plays with this finger?" And I said, "No, why?" and he replied, "Because it's MY finger!" Which made me laugh.

He then started strapping a digital altimeter to my left hand, which is a device that tells you your altitude while you're in the sky. It sort of fits over your hand, held in place by a wrist strap and a loop that goes over your pointer finger. He also had a tandem harness ready to go for me, laid on the floor, and told me to step into the thigh loops and he'd take care of the rest. So I did, and then he pulled the whole thing up and started strapping me in and adjusting things. I had the thigh straps, a stomach strap, a chest strap, and a pair of straps for my arms to go into. The whole thing came together at the back, and there were 4 clips back there for me to be attached to Joe with later before we jumped together.

As he was strapping me in, he started to tell me about exactly how we'd be jumping together. He said, "Now when we exit the plane, you're going to put your butt on the floor and slide your legs out, and then I'll have you arch your back, put your head back against my right shoulder, and when you're arched enough, we'll jump out." And all of that was pretty much entirely different from the way that the safety video had told us we'd be positioned to get out of the plane. So I immediately asked, "So NOT like how the video said?" And he was like, "Yeah, not like how the video said." And so I pretty quickly realized that Joe had his own method that he wanted to follow to do this thing, and that the video, while informational, was not going to be the one strapped to me in freefall later on. I started to hit me that it would literally just be me and him, so I felt like I should just listen to whatever instructions he gave me and follow exactly those.

So he went over how we'd exit again, and then he asked if the harness was comfortable once he'd finished strapping me in. And I was like, ""Is it supposed to be comfortable?" because I was perfectly willing to be in discomfort if it meant I'd be safe, but he said it should be about as comfortable as a harness can be, which I suppose it was. Then he asked me if I wanted to pull the parachute cord later or not, and I kinda paused and eventually just spit out, "Uh ... not really!" And he was very nice about it. He just said, "It's your first jump, that's totally fine, you just let me do everything, sister, and you enjoy the ride." Which was 100% perfectly fine with me!!

At one point he asked me if there was a special reason I was jumping that day, and I said that I was turning 30 on Sunday, and he said, "I turned 30 once ... in 2008!" And I wasn't in a headspace to do the math at the time, but I did later and realized that Joe was probably 45, which he did not look. Like yes, he had his head shaved bald, but he just looked so much younger than that. I also didn't fully notice this at the time, but Craig pointed it out to me later -- all of the other instructors and skydivers at SS all had this "look" about them. It was like they'd all very much bought into the sport and the lifestyle, and they were all wearing brightly colored camo-print microfiber shirts, cargo pants, chrome wraparound sunglasses, rubber sport bracelets, bandanas on their heads, ect. And Joe literally just looked like he could be going to a BBQ or something after our jump, which, in hindsight is pretty funny.

But after I was completely suited up and ready to go, another man walked into the room - he was shorter than me, had chin-length black hair with a little grey in it, and was wearing a black jumpsuit. He introduced himself as Yoshi, and said he would be my videographer for the day. He led me out of the gear room and outside the same double doors that me and Craig had gone through earlier, and took me left past the perimeter of the observation area, over to a smaller shade tent right outside the plane hangar. I noticed on our walk over that moving with the jumpsuit and the harness on was not easy. It felt a little like what I imagine walking around in a space suit on Earth would feel like - just very heavy, a lot of resistance, and hard to raise my legs very much.

Yoshi had a GoPro for recording video, and he was holding a helmet that had a much larger camera attached to the top that I guessed would be for taking photos in the sky. He had me walk out into the field beside the hangar and started shooting the intro of my skydiving video. He asked me some pretty generic questions -- what I was there for (my birthday), how many feet high we would be going into the sky (14,000), how fast we would be falling through the air (120 mph), at what altitude we'd pull our parachutes (6,000 ft), and if I had anything else I wanted to add (not really, I was so focused on not psyching myself out, and remembering all of Joe's instructions that I couldn't think of much to say!). Then he took a few photos of me on the ground, and said that all there was to do now was wait for the rest of the group to gather and then we'd board the plane.

He told me I could sit under the shade tent, or I could follow him into the hangar and sit in front of this giant drum fan that was positioned on the floor near some chairs. Since it was about 100 degrees and humid as hell outside, I opted to sit with him in front of the fan. He told me that we'd be going up with a full load for our jump, and he estimated we'd have about 30-33 people in the plane altogether. A few of the other jumpers came over to where we were sitting, just milling about and talking to each other, completely paying me and Yoshi no mind. They all had that "look" I mentioned earlier, and seemed very focused on whatever they were doing, not having any interest in talking to tandem jumpers. I noticed that several of them were wearing beaded friendship bracelets with letter beads on them, and I wanted to ask them if they were Swifties or what that was about, but like I said they all seemed so in their own zone that I felt too intimidated to bother any of them. At one point, a guy in a electric yellow, neon green and hot pink camo wingsuit walked up to the group to sit in front of the fan, and I was so impressed by the design of his suit but once again felt way too intimidated to say anything.

Luckily, Yoshi was chatty, and he asked me where I was from and we got to talking. I found out that he was from Japan originally, but moved to California when he was 20 and that's when he started skydiving, and now he lived in Austin and worked at Skydive Spaceland. Through what he said, I was later able to figure out that he was probably 55 or so, which again, seemed a little wild to me, because he really did not seem that old. I've developed a theory after this whole experience that regular skydiving must keep you young or something.

But anyway, we talked to each other for awhile, and he told me that he would hold his hand out for me to take while we were in the sky for a photo, but that I needed to make sure to let go of it so he could keep doing his job up there. I also brought up to him how I'd read online that some people get addicted to the feeling of skydiving and get certified so they can keep doing it all the time. And he said yeah, that's what happened to him, but some people wind up trying it and don't like it at all. I kept this next part to myself, but I didn't think I would be one of the people who didn't like it, but I'd also told myself after booking my jump that I would NOT allow myself to get sold on further jumps even if I wound up completely loving it, because just doing this one was already expensive enough.

After some time had passed, the solo jumpers who had been milling about near the fan got up and headed outside, so me and Yoshi stood up as well and went back out to the shade tent where there was quite a big group gathered at that point. I saw Hope again, and her instructor and videographer, as well as the two other tandem jumpers who had been in the gear room with us and their instructors. Everyone else was going solo, and I realized at this point that Hope and I were the only women in the entire group.

I went over to Hope and asked her if she was there for her birthday, since Yoshi had made it seem like that was why a lot of people came through, and she said yeah, that her birthday was that day. She didn't say which one it was, but she looked maybe 18-21? Couldn't have been older than that. I told her happy birthday and that I was there for my 30th, and then she told me that I did not look 30, which I'll admit was nice to hear.

At that point, Joe found me again and told me that we were about to board the plane and that I'd need to duck my head a lot as we got in, since the clearance was low. The propeller was already going, so it was really loud and windy as I followed him up the stairs into the plane, with Yoshi filming the whole thing. I really don't know anything about planes, but this one was very small, at least to me - definitely the smallest aircraft I've ever been in. I was shocked once we got inside, because all that was in there were two very thin benches covered in a thin black foam padding. Joe immediately turned back to face me, sat down straddling the bench, and then started scooting back toward the back of the plane where several people were already sitting. I followed suit, straddling the bench and backing up until my back was to Joe's front, and then watched as Yoshi and everyone else in the group proceeded to do the same. I was worried about squishing Joe, but as more people got onto the plane, we kept having to scoot back as much as we could, which wasn't much to begin with.

Once everyone was on, a guy at the front of the plane closed the door, which was less of a regular plane door and more of a garage door the slid up and down. And almost immediately after it was closed, the plane started moving. It jerked forward, and I quickly realized that there was absolutely nothing to hold onto in there. There were no grab handles overhead like in a car, no arm rests, you couldn't even use your thighs to brace yourself on the bench under you because we were packed in so tightly. I didn't want to grab onto Yoshi in front of me because I didn't think that was polite, I didn't want to startle him, and also it was really loud in there and hard to hear, so I knew I wouldn't be able to communicate well. We left the ground very quickly, and then began the longest part of the entire journey - the 15 minute ride up to 14,000 feet.

I spent all of that ride using my left hand to brace myself by just holding it against the side of the plane next to me, and then holding my right hand in a tight fist. I alternated at several points, sometimes clenching both fists, sometimes clasping my hands together, sometimes opening and closing one or both of my hands. Through it all I just kept trying my best to take deep breaths and stay calm. I kept thinking to myself, "This is it, this is the thing you've wanted for so long, and now you're finally doing it!"

At a few points, I turned to look around at everyone else in the plane -Hope was to my right, a few people back, and we'd smile at each other every so often, and then everyone else was mostly just preoccupied with adjusting their suits or fiddling with their neck gaiter or the helmet. I think every single one of the solo jumpers had helmets, and a lot of them were covered in stickers and had GoPros attached to the top of them. Yoshi took his camera and held it out in front of him at one point to snap some pictures of me and Joe inside the plane, and I noticed Hope's videographer do the same. I really wasn't looking out the window much ... I don't know, I just didn't feel like that was something I wanted to do a lot of since I guess I figured I'd be seeing the view from a much more unique vantage point soon enough, but I noticed Yoshi putting his GoPro to the window a few times to get some footage.

Pretty early into the flight up, I turned to Joe and started going over all his instructions, trying to confirm that I had everything right, and he just told me, "Don't overthink it." But as we got higher and higher, he leaned closer and started repeating his directions and reiterating what we'd do to exit the plane. Toward the end of the journey, he told me he'd be clipping us together and pulling the harness tighter, and he was not kidding about tighter. He scooted me closer back against him and I could feel when he attached the clips at my shoulders to his harness. One leg at a time, he pulled my thigh straps really tight, and then he put a pair of goggles over my eyes and had me turn my head left and right to adjust them.

It was so very hot inside the plane the entire ride, and I could feel sweat pooling on my face, and my bangs sticking to my forehead as we ascended. But eventually, when we finally reached 14,000 feet, one of the guys at the front of the plane moved position and hoisted up the door, and suddenly this very cold, never-ending gust of wind came rushing into the plane. Shortly after that, guys started jumping out of the plane one by one. I'm honestly not sure how to describe what was going through my head at this point. Like, I was using my eyes and I was aware that people were jumping out of the plane. I could see clouds through the doorway. I could feel the wind on my face. I could feel myself putting my hands into the loops at the front of my shoulder straps, where Joe had told me to put them. Things were happening. But I really could not tell you what I was thinking. It was so weird. I wasn't thinking words, I wasn't thinking about fear or anything, I wasn't scared, exactly. It was more like, "Okay, this is happening. It's going to happen, get ready. You're going to do The Thing." But it wasn't even processing as words, just as a feeling.

And then all of a sudden, Yoshi was getting up and positioning himself at the door of the plane, and Joe was using his legs to crab walk us forward on the bench. With how securely I was harnessed to him at that point, I really couldn't do much, but I just moved my legs as best I could so he could manage to get us to the end of the bench and the onto the plane floor. I'm really not sure how I made it happen, looking back, but I sat myself on the floor and I think Joe was really the one who got us scooted toward the doorway so my legs were hanging out of the lip of the plane. And then I could feel him guide my head back onto his right shoulder, and he kind of rocked us a few times to get some momentum to jump out, and then HE JUMPED.

Now, everything I read online leading up to this experience said that the scariest part of skydiving is that last second before you jump out of the plane. The internet said that if you can overcome that fear and jump out, then you're gonna be golden. But that was not the case for me at all. For me, the absolute scariest part of the whole thing was that first single second after we had left the plane. I could see the hazy blue cloudy sky, and then I could see the ground, so far away from us that it just looked like a green patchwork quilt, dotted with tiny little trees and houses. And in that moment, we had no parachutes above us, no safety net below us, nothing slowing us down or blocking our fall -- we were literally just free falling through the sky.

In that first second, I felt this reaction from my body that I've never felt before. It felt like my whole body was trying to tense up because it realized, "Oh my god, we are NOT!!! supposed to be doing this!!!!" But then I just WAS, and extremely quickly my concerns shifted. I took one slow, involuntary blink, and then things started happening. After that first second, my overwhelming feeling was realizing that my ears fucking hurt. Immediately after we left the plane, I was hit with this severe ear pain unlike anything else I've ever felt. I looked it up after I got home, and apparently the tubes inside of our ears that regulate pressure and help us balance, can't really calibrate fast enough anymore once you throw yourself into 120 mph freefall, and that leads to sharp, intense, pressurized ear pain during your jump. So that was the first major feeling that hit me right away - pain.

And then very quickly after I realized how much my ears hurt, I also realized that I couldn't fucking breathe. Now Joe had told me while we were suiting up that if I felt like I couldn't breathe once we jumped, I just needed to scream, because I was holding my breath. After we jumped out, we went from kinda falling on our sides to being sprawled flat, back to the sun, parallel to the ground. And I could feel myself take about half a breath when we first entered that position, and then I couldn't breathe anymore. So, I tried to scream. And that did not help in the slightest. I still wasn't able to draw breath in through my nose. And all of this was happening so, so quickly, and I was watching Yoshi come into view with his camera helmet, and I was feeling Joe take my hands off of the loops in my harness and stretch them out beside me, and I was looking directly down at the green patchwork quilt beneath us, instead of up and out at the sky like I was supposed to be doing, and I was also realizing that I couldn't fucking breathe. And I just sort of told myself, in the span of another second or two, "If you can't breathe for the rest of this, then that's fine. It's not going to last forever. If you can't breathe, then you can't breathe. It's fine."

And then Yoshi was in front of me in the air. He was motioning with his hands, like kind of paddling them in the air, and I think now that he was trying to signal to me to move my hands around and emote so that he could snap pictures, but I was genuinely so overwhelmed by everything that was happening that I could barely function, so at first I just took my hands and kind of doggie paddled them in front of myself. But then I got it together, realized I needed to smile for the camera, and managed to position my hands into half-way decent thumbs ups, and then into solid rock horns, and forced myself to smile as wide as I could. It was actually more difficult than I thought it would be to smile -- I could literally feel my cheeks flapping in the wind since we were going so fast, which made control over my face really difficult. Then Yoshi held out his hand to me, and once again I was still so incredibly overwhelmed, that Joe literally had to grab my wrist and take my hand and put it into Yoshi's hand and then take it away, and to be honest, I wasn't even completely aware of him doing that until I saw the photos and videos of it afterward.

Really, the entire freefall aspect of it was just so overwhelming that I'm not fully sure of anything else that happened during it. I asked Joe while we were suiting up how much attention I would need to pay to my altimeter and he told me not to worry about it, and I don't remember looking at it once during the entire jump. But there are pictures I saw later of us where he is grabbing my wrist again and holding the altimeter in front of my face, and it looks like I'm looking at it -- but I literally don't remember doing that at all! Honestly, once we were out of that plane, I feel like every intention and thought I had going into the jump about what I wanted to do and how I wanted it to be just FLEW out of my brain completely and I was just doing the best I could with the circumstances!

And then before I knew it, Joe was pulling the parachute cord and we suddenly went from parallel to the ground to sitting upright, and I immediately could breathe properly and the pressure and pain in my ears lessened a little bit. I am SO freaking glad that I had someone else taking the reigns on that because I'm telling you, after everything I just described going through, there was no way in hell I would have been able to pull that cord at the right time.

But then there we were, sitting upright, falling significantly slower, gliding down really. I had put my hands back into my harness loops at that point, I think kind of involuntarily. And then I was able to actually look out and around at the sky and properly enjoy the sights, which was so nice. I remember having the thought in my head of, "Oh, this is what it looks like when you look out the window on a plane ride!" and then quickly following that up with, "BUT YOU'RE NOT IN A PLANE!!! YOU'RE JUST HANGING OUT IN THE SKY!!!!" So that was a trip.

I turned my head to the side to ask Joe if I could put my arms out, and he told me to hang on a minute, and I have to assume he was doing some steering or something with the parachute, and then he gave me permission to stick my arms out and THAT was the actual best part of the whole thing. I don't know if I can adequately describe the joy. I was thousands of feet up in the sky, my arms spread wide, wiggling my fingers in the breeze, looking all around me at the fluffy clouds and the horizon line in the distance, and just giggling and laughing and whooping and smiling so much, trying to open my eyes as wide as I could to take everything in. It was so fun and amazing. And, ironically, it was the one part of the entire journey that was not captured on film! I assume Yoshi was preoccupied with pulling his own chute and landing safely, so there are no photos or videos after a few quick shots of Joe pulling our parachute. The footage doesn't pick up again until we're just about to land. So all that amazingness and pure joy is only recorded in my head, just for me.

At a certain point as we were descending, Joe told me that he was going to loosen my thigh straps and get me situated in a different position -- this was information that he did not brief me on while we were on the ground, but at this point he had carried us safely through everything else, so I was just along for whatever he could have told me. He instructed me to pull my legs up and then wiggle my butt back, so that basically I would come into a more seated position, with the thigh straps holding my mid-thigh area up, instead of hanging out almost completely straight with the straps near my hips as we had been. I also had to put my hands back in my harness loops from this point on. But I did all that, and then Joe steered us into a spin in the air! That was really fun. He did another couple of turns, and I could finally see the drop zone come into clearer view. There was actually a giant orange arrow that they had built in one corner of the field, I guess to help jumpers know where to go.

Landing was actually extremely smooth -- Joe told me to pull my legs up as high as I could and point my feet toward the sky, and that we'd slide in on our butts. When you tandem jump, you want your instructors feet to hit the ground before yours do, and that's exactly what we did. It was so light, literally like sliding on a playground slide, but even slower. And then we were on the ground and there were two SS employees who had run up to us as we were coming down, and they moved to help Joe with the parachute as soon as we finished landing. I felt Joe unclip my harness from his, and then I turned and asked, "Was that a good landing? Did I do it right?" And he was just like, "Yeah, you're fine!" And then I was just kind of sitting there, feeling a bit dazed by it all.

I realized then that my legs felt very funny. And my ears still hurt so much. And I felt this sort of headrush feeling that I had never felt before, almost like the wind was still whooshing past my temples even though it wasn't anymore. Like a phantom wind, maybe. And then all of a sudden Yoshi was there with his camera, extending his hand out to help me stand up. And I was so grateful for it too, because I would not have been able to stand up on my own at that point. I think the first words out of my mouth to him were, "My legs feel weirdddd!" and he laughed. Then he asked me how I liked it and I said it was awesome, and he asked, "Would you do it again?" and I said, "I don't know" because I was worried if I said yes that he would try to sell me on a second jump and that would forever be memorialized on my skydiving video lol.

But then Joe was behind me again, this time standing up, and Yoshi was directing me to stand next to him for a photo, and my legs still felt so funny that I could barely function. But we took some photos together, giving a thumbs up and everything, and then Joe told me to walk back inside to the gear room and take my harness and jumpsuit off and he'd meet me in there. So I started walking toward the main building again, and that's when I finally saw Craig! He'd been watching from the observation area and waiting for me. And the first thing I did as soon as I got past the fence line was reach for him and give him the biggest hug. It felt so, so, so nice. Like seriously, I cannot recommend enough -- just hugging the person you love most in the world super tightly immediately after jumping out of a plane for the first time! Best feeling ever.

Craig had his phone out and he took some selfies of us after that, and that was when I realized just how windswept I looked -- my bangs had been completely blown back and my hair, which had been in a very tight, high ponytail before we jumped, had been blown halfway out of the pony due to the force of the wind on us.

I managed to walk myself back to the gear room on tingly, shaky legs, and I was so relieved to be able to sit down again on a bench to take everything off. That's when I met up with Hope again, and I was further relieved to realize that I wasn't the only one with sore ears. All the things I'd been feeling - tingly legs, sore ears, unable to breathe in freefall - she'd felt them all too! I was just glad to know I wasn't alone. Another one of the tandem jumpers came in while we were talking too and complained about his legs feeling funny as well, and that's when Joe came back in the room and I asked him if his legs also felt funny or if this was nothing to him and he said, "Yeah, I don't feel anything."

I looked it up online later, but apparently to become certified to be a tandem skydiving instructor, you have to complete at least 500 jumps. And it sounded like both he and Yoshi had been doing this for at least a couple of decades at this point, so I have to imagine the number of jumps he's done is in the thousands. And I guess after jumping out of a plane several thousand times, your body acclimates to all the overwhelming feelings! And at the end of the day, what I wanted out of this experience was to be strapped to someone who this was going to be a walk in the park for, so that worked out.

After I'd taken all my gear off and got my shoes back on and gone to the bathroom once again, I came back to the lobby area where I'd been instructed to wait. Joe eventually came out with a logbook for me, which SS gives to everyone so they can log their jumps if they decide they want to do more or go for a certification or something. It tracks things like the wind speed, equipment used, the aircraft flown, the maneuvers executed, the smoothness of your landing and the date of the jump. Joe filled the whole thing out for me and said I did a good job and wrote A+, which I feel pretty awesome about. Privately, I do not know if I really earned the A+, since he was literally doing all the work, but I'll take it.

After we'd filled that out, he told me I could book my second jump for $99 today only, and then said that a staff member would come out with my jump video and photos on a flash drive in about 10-15 minutes and that I could watch my video on one of the TVs in the lobby. And then I honestly don't know where he went after that, maybe to get ready for the next student or something, but Craig came and sat next to me and I just sort of tried to come down and recover from everything.

Seriously, I just felt so odd afterward. Like, when we landed and I was trying to stand up and everything, my body felt this strange sensation like, "Why are we standing? Why are we walking?? Shouldn't we just be flying everywhere now??" I guess it's sort of like how after you go roller skating, even after you take your skates off, your legs still feel this weird urge to skate instead of walking normally. It's so funny.

After waiting around for a little bit longer, a girl from the front desk came over and handed me my flash drive and said my video was about to play. So me and Craig, plus Hope and her mom, and a couple of other people who were sitting in the waiting area, all gathered around the TV to watch it. It's very weird to watch back something you just experienced right after experiencing it, but it was cool too because I was able to see more of what Joe and Yoshi were doing while I was freaking the fuck out in freefall. It was funny to see Craig's reactions to the footage as well, as I was describing what I was feeling during certain moments to him.

After that was done, it was almost 3 pm, and we headed back out to the car. My legs were still feeling so so weird and my ears were still hurting and my head still felt that strange whooshing sensation, but it wasn't as bad as it had been immediately after landing. Craig drove us to a BBQ place nearby and we had a very late lunch that I completely devoured. Turns out, skydiving makes you very very hungry. I also noticed myself developing a headache around this point too, which sucked, so I took 2 Advil with our food and that helped a lot. Getting food in my stomach and just being able to sit and rest for awhile really helped bring my body back down to Earth again, which was nice. I hadn't felt up to driving at all when we left SS, but after we ate I was able to get behind the wheel and drive us back to Austin. I will say though, driving feels sooo much more dangerous than skydiving, and statistically, it is, but I guess going skydiving really put that into perspective for me.

It's interesting, because I think a lot of people believe that skydiving is about facing your fears or overcoming something, and for me it wasn't really about that. I did feel scared when we jumped, but then I felt so many other things too! The whole experience wasn't just any one singular thing -- it was terrifying, it was exhilarating, it was painful, it was fun! It was a completely unique experience. I've never felt anything else like it. But at the same time, it didn't lead to any revelations or anything for me. I didn't find God up there. I didn't suddenly feel like all my other problems in life were so tiny. I didn't even feel proud of myself for doing it, to be honest. I just felt like, I'd had this goal and this wish for so long, and I finally did it! And that was awesome, but I was still just me.

I think one of the funniest things about all of this is just seeing other people’s reactions to it. Like they seem to think I’m so badass or fearless or something and I don’t see myself as any of those things at all. It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do, and I did it! I had tons of fears before I jumped, and I still have all of them after I came back to Earth. I just feel like I always have about myself — I’m just a person.

Several people have asked me if I'd jump again, which I was completely not expecting. In a way it sort of feels like how I've watched friends have one baby, and then immediately be bombarded with questions like, "When are you going to have another??" and, "Are you going to give them a sibling soon??" Except in my case I took a completely different path -- I fucking jumped out of a plane, and people still want to know if I'll jump out of a plane a second time!! I guess it goes to show that no matter what you do with your life, it won't ever be enough for some.

But honestly, I've been thinking about it more over the past several days, and I think I could be convinced to go again, but very conditionally. I'm proud of myself for going it alone after my friend who had initially wanted to join me was told not to by her doctor. I'm glad I did it by myself, for myself. And so I think the only way I'd want to do it again would be if a friend wanted to go with me. That just seems like it would be a really fun experience.

But otherwise, I think I'm fine if I never jump again. I feel like I got everything I could have hoped for out of the experience, and I feel very fulfilled about the whole thing. I can put a firm checkmark next to "skydiving" on my bucket list. It finally happened! Maybe I'll check in again in 5 years or something, maybe I'll get the itch again. I wouldn't ignore it if I did. But right now I'm happy to say that I feel perfectly satisfied and content with my jump.

On Thursday, after me and Craig had eaten, we drove back into Austin and met up with our friends Bryan and Amy for dinner and drinks at this bar we found. We haven't seen either of them in awhile, so it was nice to catch up, and it was fun to regale them with the tale of my epic skydive. We hung out there for several hours, just catching up. Bryan told me about a guy we went to high school with who had a crush on me. I never knew!

Eventually we wrapped it up and headed back home. I drove, since Craig had been drinking. It wasn't even that late, maybe 9:30 pm, but I already felt so tired on the drive home. I took a shower when we got back and then got into bed, but falling asleep proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be. I imagined that after such a crazy thrill-ride adventure like that, I'd just immediately fall into sleep, but instead, every time I closed my eyes, I would just see the sky as we jumped out of the airplane, and feel this rush in my stomach like I was about to free fall again. It wasn't scary, per se, just interesting, and it made it hard to relax and fall asleep.

You know how sometimes when you're about to fall asleep, you suddenly feel like you're falling, and your muscles tense and your body jerks? I experienced that on Thursday night, too, except this time was so much more intense than usual, because I literally did feel like I was about to fall out of a plane thousands of feet in the air. It was a very harsh, full-body jerk. Eventually, I finally did get to sleep, but as the morning came, I noticed myself tossing and turning more and more because my back and neck had begun to ache in the night. I had started to feel an ache in my inner thighs from the harness on Thursday night while we were at the bar, but when I woke up on Friday, it was so much more intense, and so was the newfound ache in my shoulders and underarms. I didn't have any pain around my middle (I guess I have too much padding lol), and the back and neck pain I felt was significantly less than what I've felt after going to concerts in the past, but it was still deep and present. My ears also still had a small soreness to them. All of the aches and pains lasted for about the next 48 hours, but at this point I'm fine and back to normal.

I think that's pretty much everything from the experience. I'm so glad I finally pulled the trigger and just went and did it -- I think my teenage self would be so happy for me. As my 30th birthday has come and gone, I've been reflecting a lot on how I never imagined myself making it this far in life. Living this long. I am literally now double the oldest age I ever thought I'd make it to at one point. That's so crazy to me. And it's been hard, it's been so fucking hard, but it's experiences like this that make me so glad I've stuck around. I'm just really pleased that I went skydiving to ring in my 30s. I don't really know what other wild or crazy things I'm still hoping to check off in life, but I guess now I get to figure that out!

#This whole post has taken me a couple of days to finish writing #and I'm honestly not sure who the hell will even read this but I'm glad I recorded this even just for myself #personal #Adventures In Real Life #dumb dumb mushy stuff

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stokednomads0 · 3 years ago

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How to Become a Skydiving Instructor

Skydiving for a living. It is extra than a pipe dream: it’s a manner of life. Around the world, skydiving teachers have grown to become an ardour they love right into a viable manner to provide an income. Honestly, can you believe you studied any process that would be cooler than turning into a skydiving instructor?

If you haven’t even made your first soar yet, this could appear to be the stuff fantasies are made of, however we’ll have you ever know, each certainly considered one among our teachers began out proper wherein you are: they have been inquisitive about skydiving and desired to look wherein it is able to lead. Since we’ve been given a bird’s eye view, right here is the route you want to follow to emerge as a skydiving instructor.

Step One: Your First Skydiving Jump

Every adventure, irrespective of how exhausting or lofty, will usually start with simply one step. On your adventure to turning into a skydiving trainer, your first step could be your first jump. For the bulk of people, the primary advent to skydiving comes with a tandem skydive. On a tandem skydive, you're connected through a harness to a skilled skydiving instructor who could be in charge of the parachute equipment. If you've got got questions, ask away. Our skydive instructors like to fan the flames after they feel a person housing a spark of ardour for the sky.

A seasoned tip: experience this primary time skydiving experience, it'll continue to be a loved reminiscence lengthy after you’ve attained your purpose of turning into a skydive instructors.

Step Two: Learning to Skydive

Just as your instructional profession turned into a development from getting to know the alphabet and relying on your hands to the use of a written shape of communique and the use of the ones equal numbers in more and more more complicated ways, so too, will you develop as you discover ways to skydive. At Skydive Perris, we use an attempted and genuine approach of skydiving practice referred to as the Accelerated Freefall Program. The software itself includes 7 one-of-a-kind ranges of skillability that a pupil should obtain. Before a pupil makes their first skydive within side the AFF software, they'll be supplied with a 4-6 hour floor education and a pair of flights in our indoor skydiving simulator.

Once the 7 ranges are finished, the pupil could be cleared to skydive solo. From right here the pupil will want to finish the subsequent necessities to obtain their A skydiving license:

25 overall skydives (the 7 AFF jumps, educate jumps, and any preceding tandem skydives may be counted closer to this requirement),

at the least five educate jumps finished with a USPA licensed educate to broaden superior flying skills,

a low altitude skydive,

a parachute packing class,

and the final touch of an oral and written exam.

Step Three: Get Those Skydiving Ratings

As a brand new skydiver, you'll have a starvation for the game as a way to appear like it may by no means be satiated. This sort of urge for food for altitude is simply what you want to paintings towards acquiring your numerous skydiving licenses and academic skydiving ratings.

Before turning into a full-fledged tandem skydive instructors, you’ll want to construct each your coaching capabilities and your skydiving capabilities. Both are performed via means of attending a USPA Coach Course and earning your USPA Coach score.

Remember the ones teach jumps that had been referred to above as a demand for acquiring the A skydiving license? They are every finished with an person who has this precise academic skydiving score. The USPA Coach score lets in an person to leap with non-certified skydivers who've been cleared for self-supervision to assist them expand their flight capabilities and put together them for his or her personal skydiving career! Plus, this score is a required prerequisite for turning into a skydive instructors.

That’s right: even after this enormous achievement, the adventure isn’t over. Being a skydive instructors is a large responsibility, and due to the fact you’ll be in fee of the nicely being of every tandem pupil you soar with, there are strict score requirements. In order to come to be a tandem skydive instructors, you'll want to accrue 500 skydives, attend a tandem schooling direction authorized via way of means of the USA Parachute Association, gain a USPA D- License, have three years in the game, steady an FAA Class III Medical, and as referred to above, gain a USPA Coach Rating.

How long does it take to become a skydiving instructor?

We won’t lie: the adventure of turning into a skydive instructors takes time (no less than 3 years in case you need to be a tandem trainer), however you won’t need to tour far. You can complete each step of your adventure to turning into a skydive instructors right here at Skydive Perris. From a ultimate skydiving faculty to often scheduled score courses, Skydive stoked nomads is capable of getting your goals of getting a skydiving instructor jobs and become a skydive instructors off the floor and within side the air.

All it takes is that first step. Book your first tandem skydive today!

#skydiving instructor jobs #skydiving jobs near me #skydive staff needed #become a skydiving instructor #skydiving career #skydive instructors #skydive jobs #tandem instructor #skydive pilot job

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ecrisparfois · 2 years ago

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skydive

summary : Y/N involuntarily went skydiving with her boyfriend.

warning (s) : possible inaccuracy of skydiving thingies (I never actually went skydiving, bear with me).

words count : 1.1k

A/N : it's a reupload from my old blog. I made a few changes to save y'all from reading my old writing. It was full of grammatical nightmare.

Bad idea. It was such a bad idea. Y/N knew it, of course, she did. She always thought there’s something mentally wrong with people who voluntarily threw themselves off of a plane for fun! Ironically, her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, has been a skydiving instructor for almost a year. He went skydiving once during his travel across Europe with his two best-mates. He never stopped jumping off a plane since. In fact, he become so obsessed with the sport that he decided to take courses to become a professional skydiver. Once he got all the required licenses and certificates to register his name to be a skydiving instructor, off he did to a nearby skydiving centre. Draco did not need the money; he simply enjoys skydive, plus, he thinks it was fun to watch people pissing themselves – not literally – a second before the jump. Evil git.

And evil he did. He was fully aware of how much Y/N hate what he does, despite the fact that she never skydives her entire life. So, he booked one session of skydiving with her for her birthday gift. He did deliver the news gently. Although, she still nearly had a heart attack right there and then at the fancy restaurant he brought her to celebrate. He even bothered to make a full presentation of reasons as to why she should just accept her fate to threw herself off a plane with him. He won, and she begrudgingly let him attached the harness to her torso.

“I still think it’s a bad idea,” Y/N fretted while he tugged on the knot to double-check it’s properly attached to her body.

“It’s all gonna be good, you won’t regret anything,” he mumbled the same words he had recounted over a hundred times since last night, tucking a strand of hair falling to her face.

“I’m still mad at you, you know,” Y/N dramatically pout while Draco struggled to tie her hair in a ponytail.

“I’m not worried. You’ll forgive me once you realise how irrational your fear is,” Draco cockily said.

“I’m not afraid, and it’s not irrational,” she protested, earning a sarcastic brow lift from the blond, “You wouldn’t be so cocky if we land in the afterlife,”

Draco let out a chirpy laugh, “If that’s the case, at least, we’ll die together,”

“How romantic,” Y/N sarcastically retorted, rolling her eyes.

After the harnesses are all set, the couple made their way to the plane. Draco helped her to hop on and sat on his lap, attaching the harness to connect them to each other. He also helped her put on a goggle that Y/N always seen him wear in every footage of him skydiving. Draco holding her sweaty hand, squeeze it every once in a while. If her heart wasn’t beating so frantically right now, she would complain about the fact that he always had someone on his lap every time he was guiding a tandem skydive. Nearing the jumping point, Draco clutches her chest, right where her heart beating painfully fast. He holds her close, as if to help her heart not to pound out of her rib cages. The weird sensation as if her ears were stuffed of cotton candy did not help with her growing anxiety.

“There’s no need to be nervous, I’m here with you, aren’t I?” he whispered softly, almost unheard from the loud noise of the plane engine. He is earnestly comforting her, unlike the last few hours when he had the teasing tone when he was supposed to be reassuring his lover. “Do you trust me?”

“We’re not Jack and Rose, you know,” her tone was stiff, failed her intention to defuse the jittery feeling in her heart.

Draco chuckled, “That is true, but, still, do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Y/N defeatedly concurred. There’s no backing away for her now.

When Draco decided it was time, he scooted closer to the open door. Y/N felt sick when her feet dangling out of the plane.

“I’ll jump in the count of three,” he shouted right next to her ear, “One, two, three!”

“Holy sh-“ Y/N shrieked when she felt her body jerking forwards. She immediately shut her eyes, too terrified to look at the ground.

She waited for the drop, nauseating feeling in her stomach like the one she always had during a rollercoaster ride, but it never came. Instead, she felt like she was floating, wind swiping her cheek softly. She tried to open her eyes and immediately amazed by the view. The ground unfolds before her eyes; she could make out the cornfield and the river from the distance, right beneath her was a vast green field. She almost forgot Draco was right behind her, attached by the harness. He took her hands and spread it wide. The scenery was too stunning from above, she couldn’t bring herself to feel disgusted by the fact that she actually enjoying the experience. They were free falling for the next few seconds.

“I’ll pull the parachute!” Draco announced, and before she could even register his words her body was pulled by a violent tug preventing the gravity to pull her too fast to the ground. Y/N shrieked in response but she laughed gleefully right after reciting string of curses. Draco just chuckled in amusement.

“How was it?” He asked when they float down slowly. She still could see the farthest land from the height.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, still in amazement.

“You should see the one I saw in Switzerland,” his soft tone faded, switched back to his usual smugness.

The landing was much too swift for her liking. She still wanted to float around and enjoying the scenery from above with Draco. The gravity decided otherwise, pulling the couple down to debark to the place they both should belong. Y/N stretched her feet to the front, like Draco had instructed her before the flight. She could be heard letting out a relieved breath when the harness attaching her to her boyfriend was untied. She looked around to found his hair had ruffled into a mess by the wind, and she suddenly overcame with jealousy at the thought that she had missed this view thousands of times. It’s not until this moment she noticed a device on her lover’s wrist.

“Are you recording me?” she scolded him playfully, slapped his arm to add dramatic effect.

“Of course. It’s your first and only skydive. I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to document such event,” Draco defended himself, securing the camera from her attack.

The awaited attack never came, instead she looked at the ground bashfully.

“Actually,” she began, “could we, maybe, do that again?”

Draco smirked in victory.

Oh boy, she would never hear the end of it.

#draco x reader #Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy x y/n

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imwatermeloness · 4 years ago

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Trust me

Chapter 1 is out, go show it some love :)<3

Summary: 5 times Tony had to trust someone else to take care of Peter and one time he shouldn't have

Chapter summary: Tony and Peter go skydiving. Parker luck strikes and Peter pays the price.

Read it here!

__________

"I can't believe I let you rope me into this." Tony grumbles in the driver’s seat, fisting the steering wheel tightly in a white knuckled grip.

Peter rolls his eyes at the man and leans back in his own seat. “I thought you weren’t scared of anything.”

It had taken a lot of persuasion to get Tony to agree to skydiving with him, without Iron Man. With the suit there would have literally been no point to the activity. Peter had spent weeks talking the man into coming with him and only when he had accused Tony of being scared, had the man assented, though begrudgingly.

The billionaire fixes him with a glare. “I didn’t say that. I said I’m not scared of anything, except for Pepper and your aunt.”

"Then there’s no reason not to do this.” Peter countered with a self-satisfied grin.

The man scoffs. “Speak for yourself, guess who’s going to have his head torn off if I come back and tell them that I let you fall to your death cause I didn’t have the suit.”

“I’m not going to fall to my death, Mr. Stark.”

That makes Tony look oddly alarmed. “For that, I’m gonna need you to knock on wood, kid.”

There’s nothing in the car that’s made of wood, not even cardboard coffee cups or receipts. Tony keeps the car freakishly clean. So Peter knocks his hand on his head, eliciting a scolding look from the man. Tony doesn’t like when Peter plays down or mocks his own intellect, even if it's a joke. He makes a show of putting his hand back down. “I didn’t know you were superstitious. Didn't you say you don’t believe in magic?”

“I’m heavily relying on past statistics. You have a habit of getting into trouble right after promising me you’re not gonna get into trouble. I’m not risking it.”

Peter breathes out a laugh. “Oh come on, it'll be fun. It's supposed to give you the adrenaline rush of your life." He moves his hands in an arch to add drama.

Tony’s grip on the wheel tightens just a fraction. He glances at Peter briefly, an unreadable expression clouding his expression. "I get heart palpitations just from watching the footage from your suit. I'm good on adrenaline."

Peter huffs impatiently and turns nearly sideways in order to give Tony his full attention. The man looks like he’s about to tell him to sit back but Peter opens his mouth before the man does. "Don't be a grumpy Gus, please, just try to enjoy it, for me?" He only widens his eyes a little bit, but it does the trick.

Tony grumbles something incoherent under his breath that sounds a lot like ‘damn puppy dog eyes’ and blows out a breath. Then, “fine.”

----------

They’re in the plane and they're both attached to other people by harnesses that wrap around their upper bodies. Tony is going to jump first. He’s standing in the open doorway of the small plane, his back against the tandem instructor’s chest, looking wildly uncomfortable. Peter is not sure if it’s because of being so close to a complete stranger or the fact that he knows he’s going to be free falling through the sky in just a minute. Nevertheless, the man looks like he would rather be anywhere else right now. Mr. Stark turns around for the last time and locks eyes with the man Peter is strapped against. His eyes are steely and Peter is glad he’s not on the receiving end of that look.

“That’s my kid, you bring him down safe, capiche?” Peter’s cheeks heat up fiery red as he hears the man’s firm ‘yes, sir’. Tony nods once and looks back at Peter.

“You okay?”

Peter wants to roll his eyes again. Tony is such a mother hen. Deciding against it he simply smiles reassuringly and gives Tony a thumbs up. “Yup.” And it’s the truth. Sure, he’s nervous but it’s trumped by the adrenaline filled excitement that’s coursing through his veins now that it’s almost the time to jump. He honestly can’t wait.

Tony nods one more time and pats Peter’s shoulder. “Alright, kid. I’ll see you when you get down. Happy trails!”

And then they jump. Peter watches them float down until they’re merely a small dot against the large area of sand they’re supposed to land on. His heart is racing so hard that he can feel it in his ears.

“Ready, kid?” his flying instructor asks, walking them closer to the edge. Peter swallows down the bubbling anxiety and nods determinatedly, gripping the shoulder straps of his harness. “Yeah.” he says, “let’s do this.”

And suddenly they’re falling. It feels sort of like one of those amusement park attractions that drop down from really high up and make your stomach feel all wonky. it's exhilarating, insane, amazing, terrifying but so, so great. The oxygen is a lot thinner than down in the ground and for a second it's hard to breathe. His mouth is gaping like he’s seen fish do. He breaks out in startled laughter at the feeling that reverberates from the bottom of his stomach throughout his whole body.

It’s incredible.

Until they suddenly jerk violently and are flipped upside down, falling heads first towards the rapidly approaching ground. He hears the skydiving instructor yelp and it's only a half a second later that Peter registers a snap from somewhere in his lower leg, that is soon engulfed by absolute searing agony that emanates from his right ankle. It feels like someone is trying to rip his foot from the rest of his leg. He doesn't even realize that he has been screaming until he closes his mouth to grit his teeth together. His eyes fill with hot salt water and Peter can instantly tell from past experience that his ankle is definitely broken, there's no other possibility. He's felt this pain so many times.

They start spinning around wildly and Peter gets so disoriented that he is unable to tell up from down. He can't really see anything other than the chaotic blur of ground that he can make out occasionally and that they are nearing at an alarming speed.

The man behind him yells something at him but Peter can't concentrate on anything other than the unforgiving burning in his ankle. Peter looks up and what he sees makes his heart drop down to his stomach. The drogue chute has somehow inexplicably wrapped itself around his ankle. The sight of it makes the pain worsen tenfold and Peter bites his lip so he won't scream again. Oh man, what if this thing rips my foot clean off. It feels like it. Could he still be Spider-Man with only one foot? Tony could probably make him a really good prosthetic, with so many different features. He doesn't want a prosthetic, though. He wants to keep his leg and he doesn’t want to be an amputee. Oh God he doesn’t want to lose a limb because of something so stupid.

The rope squeezes his ankle so tight that Peter is half scared that it's cutting off the blood circulation to his foot. It feels worse than getting shot. Delirious from pain Peter thinks the rope might be caught on his shoe so he frantically kicks his sneaker off with his other foot, but it changes nothing. His ankle is still being strangled and no matter how much he flails his leg around, the rope won't budge.

Then finally his head clears enough to hear what the man is yelling in his ear.

"Kid! Kid, are you okay?"

Peter grunts, fighting to keep his voice level. "Y-yeah, yeah, it's just- my foot, it's-"

"Alright, you're okay.” The man sounds just as scared as Peter is although he is hiding it a lot better. “I'm gonna get us down! Just take a deep breath. I'll count to three and on three I'm going to pull the emergency chute. It's gonna get rocky but we'll be fine."

Peter pants because now the pain is on the point of being unbearable. He manages to nod shakily. "O-okay."

"Okay, one, two, THREE!"

It knocks the breath out of Peter's lungs. The abrupt stop in motion feels like getting hit by a car and he can already tell his whole torso is going to be bruised. He can't stop the yelp of pain that escapes through his lips when the movement jostles his leg violently. Deploying the emergency chute has flipped them back into the right position and now they’re floating down feet first.

Peter can't remember the rest of the way down. All he knows is the erratic race of his heart, the all consuming torment in his ankle and the strange numbness that he associates with shock. He thinks the tandem instructor might have talked to him but he can’t be sure. Once Peter's feet touch the ground his vision whites out and he almost faints when he feels the bones in his ankle creak. It suddenly strikes him that they could have very well died.

All the adrenaline drains out of him at once and he sags against the chest of the man behind him. Maybe he should faint. He wants to faint. He doesn't want to feel or think about the mess that is his leg. He can tell that it's bad, just from the feeling. Tears fill his eyes again and he tries to blink them back but then his lower lip starts trembling and he really wants May.

The man places a comforting hand on Peter's chest, rubbing it softly and shushes him quietly, all the while Peter trembles and shakes like a leaf. He's dazed and can't catch a single thought, his mind like a carousel, spinning out of control.

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

Tony lands with the man and his legs feel like jello. That was… God awful. This is the last time he agrees to any of Peter’s insane ideas. The whole way down all he could think about was the chute malfunctioning or the harnesses malfunctioning or the tandem instructor having a heart attack or something. His mind went through every single worst-case-scenario where something went wrong and they fell down, only leaving two wet smears of red in their wake.

Nothing happened though, thank God, and they descended safely. Although, the sight that greets him raises his hackles right back up again. The people around him, even the ones helping him out of the harness are all mesmerized by something that is happening above them, in the air. He’s confused for a moment until his mind freezes on a thought. Peter. Heart pounding he leaps off the ground and gazes up. Sure enough, it’s Peter and his skydiving instructor.

Something is clearly wrong though, as they’re falling down in a completely wrong position, very different from what Tony and his instructor had done, plummeting towards the ground. The air hitches in Tony’s throat and his heart falls down to his stomach. His hand automatically slaps against his chest, and instead of connecting with the nano housing unit, his hand only meets fabric on top of the scarred surface of his chest.

“Fuck.” He had come without the nanoparticles. The realization clenches his heart in a terrifying grip. His kid… Oh god- he has to- oh God. Fuck, he shouldn’t have listened to the kid. He doesn’t know what to do. Frantically he looks around and settles his eyes on the nearest man, getting into his face.

“Hey! What the hell is going on?” He doesn’t care that his voice shakes, he doesn’t even care that everyone there can clearly see that he's scared out of his mind. The man only glances at him before turning his gaze back to the blue sky. It’s painfully obvious that the man is doing his best to act calm around the billionaire. It does nothing to ease the panic that’s clouding Tony’s brain. “I’m not sure, Mr. Stark. It looks like something might be wrong with the drogue chute.”

He frowns. “What, what does that mean?”

The man doesn’t answer his question but places a placating hand on his shoulder. Tony wants to push it off. “Hold on, sir.” The man says and leaves him to go talk to the man a few feet away from them.

“No, you hold on-” it falls on deaf ears when there’s a unified gasp from nearly everyone around him. He spins around to look back to the sky and heaves out a breath of relief. Peter and the man have deployed a parachute and are now approaching the ground in what Tony thinks looks like normal manner. He may have not done this before but even he knows that a parachute means not being in an acute danger of dying.

Or thought he knew, because suddenly the people around him go even more frantic than before and Tony’s heart skips another beat. He hears the word “ambulance” and his heart all but stops. “What…” he breathes when he sees one of the men lifting a phone to his ear. He spins around to find someone, anyone available to tell him what is happening but everyone’s busy discussing the situation with each other.

Tony finally runs out of patience.

“Hey!” he yells with the deepest, loudest voice he can manage and is satisfied when the employees of the place stop buzzing around like damn bees. “Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on before I sue this place six ways to Sunday and you ragtag gang of damn adrenaline junkies never see the inside of another plane ever again!”

The silence hangs heavy around them for a moment until the man Tony had jumped with steps forward. “They deployed the emergency chute. You can tell by the solid color.” he explains calmly, like talking to a frightened animal and points to Peter and the man where they’re floating down with a bright orange colored chute. “That means something’s wrong with the original parachute. Now, according to protocol we have to alert the emergency services and get an ambulance here, just to be sure.”

Tony doesn’t think he’s breathing. Emergency chute? An ambulance?

His arm tingles uncomfortably and in that moment he’s sure he’s actually going to go into a cardiac arrest. Tony hadn’t prepared for this. Yes, technically he knew that there was always the possibility of something going wrong, but statistics always applied to other people. The statistics were there to assure people that these mishaps only happened to a very, very small portion of people and that there was really nothing to fear.

“Right now they seem okay. Don’t worry, sir, Dave’s gonna get your boy down safe and sound.”

That is what bothers him the most. The kid could be dying for all he knows and he’s helpless to do anything. He has to trust his entire world in the hands of a ‘Dave’ he doesn’t even know. Tony hasn’t felt so utterly useless in a long time.

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

"Peter!"

Peter numbly lifts his head to see Mr. Stark sprinting towards him with what looks like at least ten people. His mind clears a bit more and he manages to calm himself down enough to uncoordinatedly pet at the vest that he is still strapped in.

Tony kneels in front of him placing his hands to Peter's cheeks, while a few of the people that came with the billionaire start working on detaching Peter from the man. The tears spill over without his consent.

"Oh my God, kid. Lordy, you almost gave me a heart attack."

In his state Peter can only mumble incoherently. "M-my, my foot-"

Tony glances down at Peter’s ankle and Peter can see him grimace when the man takes in the blood seeping through the fabric of the suit. "Alright, Jesus, we'll, uh, we'll get you all fixed up, okay. I already called Cho."

Behind him he can remotely feel the tandem instructor's body leaving his back and he very nearly slumps down but he hears Tony’s quiet ‘whoa’ and feels the man’s hands catch his shoulders, keeping him upright.

He hisses when he feels someone move his leg to assess the damage. He quickly looks away and settles his eyes on Tony again.

Peter moves his head in a shaky nod, blinking to get rid of the blur of tears in his eyes. Tony is looking at him with more fear in his deep dark irises than the last time Peter got stabbed, and it had been bad. He doesn’t like it when Tony looks at him like that. He doesn’t like it when Tony or May are so worried about him. The atmosphere suddenly feels too heavy and Peter needs to alleviate it somehow. He sniffs quietly, trying his best to form a believable smile. "Told you,” he mutters. “the adrenaline rush of your life."

So much is happening around them, but Peter can only focus on Tony and the stab of pain in his leg. Tony gapes at him like it’s the most ridiculous thing Peter has ever said. Very soon, though, he gets himself together and then gently brushes the wild ringlets of hair off of Peter's forehead.

Tony’s hand is warm against Peter’s chilled skin. "And I told you, little hooligan, that I've had enough adrenaline as it is."

Peter chuckles and smiles sheepishly, when the man lowers his hand to cup his cheek again.

"You scared the devil out of me, Pete,” Tony states suddenly and Peter’s stomach clenches in guilt. “I'm never letting you go skydiving again, at least not without my suit. And even then I need a year, at least, to recover from this."

Peter lowers his chin to hide the relieved expression on his face. After all, this had been his idea. "I think I'm okay with that."

The sound of tires on gravel breaks the moment and Peter looks up to see an ambulance approaching them. He almost groans in embarrassment. He doesn't want to get on the bus and he doesn't want people to make a big deal out of it. He nuzzles into Tony's hand and looks up through his lashes in hopes that Tony can read his mind.

He can apparently, but it doesn't get Peter what he wants. Tony only glares at him playfully and taps the side of Peter's head disapprovingly with the hand that rests against his cheek.

"You put those peepers away. The puppy dog eyes don't work when I'm scared for your life."

Tony points at his own hair where Peter can see hints of grey. "See this? This is your fault, now you face the consequences."

Peter smirks, assured now by the realization that things we’re most likely going to be okay. "It's my fault, that you're... old?"

Tony barks out a laugh and nudges Peter's shoulder. "You little shit! It's only broccoli for you for the next month."

"Jokes on you, I like broccoli."

"Yeah, cause you're a menace."

"Am not! You like me!"

"Don't know where you got that idea from."

"I'm your favorite intern."

"Intern? Doesn't ring a bell."

"What?" He laughs. "You know me!"

"Peter? Peter who? Never heard of him."

Peter cackles so loud his whole body shakes, not even caring that the action jolts his leg uncomfortably, and Tony joins him. They giggle like children until the ambulance reaches them and Tony wipes the remnants of tears off of Peter's cheeks.

"Alright,” his voice is almost a soft whisper. “let's get you to Cho." Then a smirk grazes his lips and he points at Peter.

"It's Peter, right?"

Peter shoves Tony's shoulder with a childlike giggle. "Stop."

Tony chuckles and places a hand on top of Peter's curls. He grins at him and adds softly. "You'll be okay." Peter smiles back at him, all bright eyed and trusting, just like he always is.

Tony will make sure of it.

A mischievous grin tugs at Peter’s lips again. "So,” he stretches the word. “who's gonna tell May?"

The smile on Tony's face falls.

"Shit."

#peter parker #tony stark #protective tony stark #hurt peter parker #worried tony stark #my ao3 #fic #tony stark acting as peter parkers parental figure #peter parker whump

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ericsonclan · 4 years ago

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Falling For You

Summary: A part of Duck's past is revealed while on a date with Oakley. Oakley gives the address where Duck can meet them for their next date but no further details.

Word Count:

Read on A03: 3407

Life was good. That’s what Duck thought to himself as he contentedly chowed down on a burger while sitting in the corner booth at Ericson’s Diner. Across the table from him sat Oakley who was chewing upon a grilled cheese sandwich rather thoughtfully. Duck’s eyes pulled away from his burger to look over at his paramour. That’s what he liked to call Oakley. They both agreed it sounded gender neutral and romantic at the same time. Aasim had mentioned something about it not meaning what they thought it did, but Duck had never gotten round to looking into the exact meaning. Gulping down his current mouthful of food, he caught Oakley’s eyes. “How’s the food?”

“Crunchy,” Oakley took another bite, nodding in approval. Duck knew that was one of their favorite textures; the sandwich looked to be a success. He was glad. Some thought of Oakley as picky, but Duck always found it fun to try and guess what they would enjoy. Between the cushy booth seats and the enjoyment they were finding in their sandwich, Duck figured Oakley would be down for having more dates here. It was good news for him. Ericson’s Diner was usually one of the last delivery stops Duck made and besides he loved the people and the food here too. Making the diner a regular date spot when it was the first place they’d met sorta felt romantic to Duck too.

“Well, I’ll be damned. If it isn’t ol’ Duck Callaway,” The voice made Duck flinch. He looked up to see his memory had served his well. Roy Fortner stood before him, a girl Duck didn’t recognize on his arm. The young man smiled at Duck. No, not a smile. It was more of a knowing sneer. “Whatcha doing these days, Ducky?”

“Having lunch, same as you probably,” Duck mumbled. He looked over to see Oakley was still intently focused on their sandwich, seemingly unaware they had company. Good. Hopefully Roy wouldn’t say anything to them.

“Whatcha up to these days, Ducky? My old man got me onto the force just like I always said he would,” Roy flashed a smile over to the girl on his arm who seemed enchanted by his boasting. “How bout you? You flying airplanes now? You were always blabbing on and on about them,”

“No, I…” Duck cleared his throat, crumpling up his napkin. “I drive a delivery truck,”

“Huh. I guess that is more your speed tho. Get this, Carrie,” Roy turned to the girl on his arm with a devious grin. “We used to have another nickname for old Ducky here in school. I bet you can guess what it was,” He paused for a moment but not long enough for her to answer. “Dumbo! We called him that cause of his ears, see? Big as dinner plates! And cause he always talked about flying. But I guess you never did, huh, Ducky?”

Duck wanted to say something. Flying school was expensive; he was still saving up. He still had a long path ahead of him but he’d get there someday. But nothing came out. It was like he was stuck back at the lunch table at school, waiting for the teasing to pass.

“Anyway, it was good seeing you again. Later!” With a two-fingered mock salute Roy ended the conversation and strolled away with his girl on his arm, leaving Duck in an overwhelmed stupor.

After a few seconds though Duck looked up and saw Oakley’s eyes were on him. “Sorry about that guy, he’s a real jerk. I was hoping I’d never see him again but I guess the town’s not big enough for that,” Duck looked down at his half-eaten burger, his appetite gone. “He told that girl about the nickname as if I liked it, like it was a nice thing. But it wasn’t. They wouldn’t just say it when I talked about airplanes or even cause of my ears though they did that a lot too. They’d say it…”

Duck paused, his emotions from those days coming back. “I’m not the smartest. Not at life and not in school. So whenever there was a test or the teacher passed back papers they’d grab them and see how bad my grades were and tell the whole class. The teachers would tell them to shut up but they never did. Just kept calling me Dumbo every time,” He glanced up, suddenly growing self-conscious of his candidness. “Sorry, that was probably oversharing. Not like we’ve been going out long enough to say heavy stuff like that. I’m just…” The word ‘dumb’ drifted through the air between them, unspoken.

Oakley finished the last bite of their grilled cheese sandwich then carefully wiped all the crumbs off their hands. “I get to choose the next date spot,”

“Oh. Do you have something in mind?”

“I’ll text you.” Oakley looked round the diner before returning their gaze to Duck. “Good choice for this time. I like it here,” The small smile on their lips would normally brighten Duck’s day, but the encounter with Roy had left him in a bit of a funk. Oakley held out their hand, waiting for Duck to join.

Duck held out his hand too. He gave Oakley a down low high five then held out his hand for the same. On the second one their fingers drifted apart from each other then their firsts met in a fist bump. Their customary goodbye cheered Duck up a bit. He looked up at his paramour fondly. “Thanks, Oakley,”

“See you Friday,” With that Oakley got up from their seat and headed out.

Duck sat a minute longer, thinking back on what had just happened. Oakley hadn’t really reacted to any of that stuff with Roy or to Duck’s story from the past. Maybe they didn’t care about any of it? At least it hadn’t made them uncomfy. Rising up from the booth, Duck left a tip on the table as thanks for the free meal Clem had given them and headed out as well.

---

A week later, Duck drove out to the location Oakley had texted him. They hadn’t provided any details, only an address. It certainly wasn’t anywhere Duck had been before. The fact that he was driving outside of the city made him wonder if Oakley had some sort of picnic or hike planned. He never knew what to expect with Oakley; that was one of the things that made them so fun to be around.

As Duck neared the end of the directions on his maps program, his eyes widened as he saw what he was approaching. That was a plane on the tarmac! This was an air strip! Were they going flying today? It was a beautiful day for it, bright and clear, tons of puffy clouds. Duck quickly found a parking spot and hurried toward the main building, nearly bursting with excitement.

Once he was close enough to the building, Duck noticed a sign above the entrance: Wellington Skydiving Adventures. Skydiving! Duck had never skydived before. What an awesome date idea! Duck strode through the doors and toward the front desk where a friendly looking woman with goggles atop her head stood reading a flight schedule out of a blue binder. Her eyes brightened when she noticed Duck. “Well, hi there! My name’s Edith. Welcome to Wellington Skydiving Adventures! Do you have a reservation?”

“Uhhh maybe,” Duck scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile. “My name’s Duck Callaway and-”

“Oh, Duck!” Edith’s eyes brightened in recognition. “You’re Oakley’s boyfriend!”

“Yeah! Are they already here?”

“I should hope so! Otherwise they’re late for their shift,” Edith chuckled. She turned round and called toward the back room. “Oakley, Duck’s here!”

At that news Oakley emerged from the back room dressed head to toe in what looked to be a bright blue and orange skydiving jumpsuit. They walked over to Duck with a small smile and gave his hand a squeeze. “Surprise,”

“This is an awesome date idea! I didn’t know we even had skydiving around here!” Duck looked round the facility excitedly, taking in all the people and equipment. “So are we gonna join a group for training or is it gonna be more of a one on one thing?”

“One on one,”

“Oh, did you meet our instructor already?”

“It’s me,”

Duck looked over at Oakley in confusion. “Wait… you know how to skydive already?”

Oakley nodded. “It’s my job,”

“Oakley’s one of our best instructors,” Edith said proudly, tucking away the binder she’d been looking through. “They’re always patient with their clients and great on the jumps. I bet you two will have a lot of fun!”

Duck looked at his paramour in disbelief. Of all the jobs he’d pictured for Oakley, skydiving instructor had never even made the list. This was so badass. A grin broke out on his face as he swung their joined hands back and forth in excitement. “This is so awesome! I can’t believe I’m dating a professional skydiver! Does that mean we get to skydive just the two of us, holding hands and spinning in circles and doing flips while we freefall?”

“Maybe next time. You’re gonna be strapped to my chest this time. This way,” Oakley motioned and walked toward the training equipment, not noticing that their boyfriend had gotten a bit flushed at that prospect.

Duck followed Oakley into the training room. There were various stations reflecting different levels of difficulty and training. Oakley took Duck over to the workout mats first. The first training steps consisted of learning the proper posture and positions for jumps. Since they were going to do a tandem jump Duck didn’t need to know as much about how to control his movements as he would on a solo jump, but he still asked plenty of questions even though for this jump they were solely theoretical. He already knew he wanted to master skydiving or at least be good enough to jump with Oakley as an equal, not just as a student.

Oakley was patient and calm throughout the entire process, answering all of Duck’s questions simply and succinctly. Their hands were steady as they guided Duck in maintaining his core strength and changing his shoulder and arm positioning. It was great to see them so comfortable. Usually unless it was just the two of them Oakley was fairly standoffish, preferring to keep within their own world. But as Duck continued his training with them, he realized this was Oakley’s world. This was where they excelled.

Once they were done on the mat, Oakley and Duck headed over to the indoor skydiving tunnel. According to Oakley this was an alternate attraction for people who didn’t want to go as far as jumping out of a plane to skydive just yet but still wanted that thrill. The tunnel was reserved for training purposes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings though, so for now they had it to themselves. Oakley led Duck through a short series of hand signals since speaking wouldn’t be possible within the tunnel then helped him get suited up with a helmet, goggles, gloves and a bright green and yellow jumpsuit that matched Oakley’s in design.

Indoor skydiving was a ton of fun all in itself. Edith stepped into the wind tunnel with them to help Duck get started, lifting him up so he was horizontal to the floor and wasn’t simply knocked over by the wind. It certainly wasn’t as simple as stepping in and flying skyward. Duck started on his stomach upon the tunnel floor, trying his best to follow Oakley’s hand signals to move his body in such a way that he could lift off the ground. It took many, many attempts. An hour passed before Duck even felt himself fully levitate off the ground. But the glee he felt in that moment and the full-fledged smile on Oakley’s face made all the struggles worth it.

Edith placed a sticker upon Duck’s chest after helping him out of the wind tunnel, a fluffy cloud with pilot wings upon it. “Well done, Duck. You’re one step closer to becoming an officially licensed skydiver yourself should that be something you’d like to pursue,”

“Oh, definitely! This has been so much fun!” Duck beamed as he reverently traced the sticker.

Edith smiled proudly. “Wonderful. We can talk future lessons later, but for now I think it’s time for you to make your first jump. The plane is ready to go when you are, just waiting for its last few passengers,” With that she headed off to her other duties, leaving Duck and Oakley to their own devices.

Duck felt a soft pressure upon his hand and looked down to see that Oakley was holding it. His paramour looked up at him expectantly. “Ready?”

“Absolutely!”

---

It was a small plane that took them up in the air, a Cessna 182. As Oakley had explained, they would ascend until they were at 10,000 feet then make the jump. The freefall portion of the jump would last about a minute before Oakley pulled the chute and they’d float down from there for 4-5 minutes before reaching the landing zone. There would be a bus waiting for them there to take them back to the main building.

Duck’s heart pounded as he sat on the plane, strapped in front with Oakley behind him. It was rather loud within the plane, the sounds of wind rushing against the sides of the plane a constant background noise. Pilot Pete was calm at the helm, checking in with his passengers from time to see that everyone was doing well. The plane only held a handful of people: two other skydiving instructors and their clients waited in relative silence to reach the drop zone.

Duck wished he could look back at Oakley and talk with them. Instead, he settled for the calming warmth of their hand in his. This whole time Duck had been riding off of the high of excitement at the thought of the jump. Now that they were actually approaching it though, he could feel his heart doing belly flops within his stomach. He was about to jump out of a moving plane. His mother would have a heart attack if she knew. Duck tried to calm himself by focusing on the sound of the plane and its engines. Who knew, maybe someday whenever he got his pilot’s license it could be him flying the plane while Oakley led the jumps. They could be at work together, take breaks and lunch together, and he could fly every day. The charm of that daydream made the time drift away till suddenly Duck heard the announcement.

“We’re approaching the drop zone,” Pete announced over the mic. One of the other instructors got up and opened the airplane’s door. The rushing sound of the wind filled all their ears as the passengers’ hair tousled back and forth wildly. Duck and Oakley would be the third ones to jump. Duck bit his lip as he watched the first instructor position themselves by the doorway, their client strapped to their front. This was real. They were going to jump.

A gasp inadvertently left Duck as he saw the first pair drop. Moments later the second pair was standing by the open door. This was all happening so fast. Oakley’s steps nudged him forward, positioning them as the next and last in line. Before Duck could mentally prepare himself, the second pair had jumped. It was their turn. A few steps forward and he stood at the front of the open plane door, gazing down at the patchwork of green so far below them.

“Ready?” Oakley shouted in his ear, giving Duck’s hand a final tight squeeze.

He couldn’t back out. He didn’t want to. He wanted to be brave for Oakley, no matter how scary this was. And they’d be together the whole way down. He wanted to do this, for himself too. “Y-yeah!”

“Remember to scream!” With those final words, Oakley jumped out of the airplane.

They were falling, plummeting faster than Duck had ever gone before. Air rushed past Duck’s ears as the canopy of green so far beneath them stretched as far as the eye could see. Duck let out a loud, prolonged yell, forcing the lump out of his throat and grounding him back into reality. He could breathe, just like Oakley had said. The yelling worked to remind him. He wasn’t even short of breath and he didn’t have that dropping feeling in his gut like rollercoasters and water park slides gave him. Instead everything around him was quiet and peaceful but also beautifully exhilarating: a moment of pure, unbridled joy. It was almost like he was floating. No, more than that… All of a sudden, the parachute was pulled. They shot upwards into the sky for a moment and with the rush of the wind gone, Duck heard Oakley’s words as they leaned towards his ear.

“You can fly!”

Duck felt his heart swell at those words. He’d been flying. Euphoric excitement coursed through his veins, an amalgamation of joy and love. The words Oakley had said reverberated in his mind. With three words they had said so much. That last date when Roy had embarrassed him and Duck had let his past spill out to Oakley he’d wondered if it had been too much to share then wondered when they gave no response if Oakley had even cared. But they’d heard it all: the pain of that nickname, the long-forgotten dream. This had been their answer. They’d helped Duck fly.

“Wanna try?” Oakley offered Duck the handles of the parachute.

Duck quickly took them, smiling to himself as Oakley’s hands came to rest on top of his own. “I can see why you like it up here!” he called back as they drifted down peacefully, gently guided this way and that by the pull of the handles.

“Everything makes sense in the sky!” Oakley’s words were shouted, but their quiet tone was the same as always.

“That’s why you brought me up here, right? So, the words Roy said wouldn’t matter anymore!”

“I did it because you belong up here, with me!”

Duck wished he could hug Oakley right now. Instead, he settled for squeezing their hands, knowing that hug would be coming soon enough once they reached the ground.

It was silent between them as they gently floated down, their focus on the beauty round them as the patchwork of greens slowly grew larger beneath them, eventually settling into one uniform deep green tone as the landing zone came into sight. Oakley took control of the handles once more, guiding the parachute to turn and angle into the wind to help slow their descent. The brake lines were pulled and their speed slowed more and more as they neared the field until all that remained as they touched down was to slide along the grass to an easy stop.

“Wow, I-” Duck was about to say more, but a quick kiss from Oakley upon his cheek froze him in his tracks. He was left sitting in stupefied joy as his paramour undid the straps connecting them and began the process of removing themselves from the parachute. He turned slightly to watch them work. Dating a skydiving instructor really was the coolest thing ever.

Once they were done, Oakley took Duck’s hands and helped him up. “The bus is over there,” They nodded in the direction of it, moving to head out when Duck squeezed their hands lightly, causing them to look up at him.

Duck was grinning from ear to ear. “This was the best date ever! There’s no way I can beat this one!” He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his love’s cheek. “Thank you,”

“You’re welcome,” The smile was clear on Oakley’s face even as their eyes were locked on the ground. “You’ll come again!”

“Oh, definitely! Like I said, I’m gonna become a skydiving master! Just you wait, soon we’ll be able to do all the badass skydiving tricks together!” Turning toward the bus, Duck continued to gush about all that he wanted to learn to do in skydiving while Oakley happily followed along, listening quietly. It had certainly been a date to remember, one that felt like the beginning of something entirely new.

#twdg #twdg duck #twdg duckley #twdg oakley #fanfic #ericson's diner au

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ginasneesby · 2 years ago

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Kiwi Gee SqueeGee part 2

After a brilliantly fun, but travel heavy, first 5 days of the trip, we had a few days down time to spend in Queenstown – with things to do each day but still it meant we didn’t have to be in the car for multiple hours. Queenstown is known for daring adventures, high adrenaline activities and skiing, as it was slightly out of season and none of us are snow bugs, we stuck with the first 2! Alessa and I had booked a skydive for the next day – I always thought I was too chicken to do a skydive because the idea of being crammed into a rickety plane was a lot, let alone then willing myself out the door. But after a year of flying around it didn’t seem so bad after all; plus, with someone else willing to do one, I couldn’t pass it up. You tend to book these excursions in town and they make you watch a safety video or something and then take you where you need to be on a shuttle bus, Andy wanted to come along too to watch and I guess make sure if we died that he would see it; can’t do much to stop it at that point. The location is about 20 mins out of town near an old airstrip that this skydiving company had taken over, as you are arriving other groups are jumping/landing/getting ready; it’s a well-oiled machine. We were taken into the hangar area to get weighed and put on our jumpsuits (literally) which were big onesies plus very silly caps and glasses as the wind does batter you a bit and they want you to actually see what’s going on around you. You meet your jumping partner and discuss what they expect of you – there are certain body positions when jumping out or landing etc. that stops you breaking limbs or giving them a broken nose and we went over the photo/video options. Alessa and I had gone for the semi full package (the next one up being an extra jumper to film you from afar) which included photos and film from your partners little hand camera. I’m glad we did go for that, as watching the film back you capture the scenery a bit better than still photos with my stupid face in the way!

If I recall we did have to wait a bit as they get you there early for your slot, but then the plane landed again and it was our turn. We loaded on the plane to sit, there was basically just a long thin seat in the middle, we had to enter the plane, walk all the way to the back and then turn so we were straddling the seat, facing front. Your tandem partner gets in first and you shuffle right down in between their legs so you can be attached together front to back, then the next instructor gets in and shuffles right into your personal bubble awaiting their partner; it was super cosy. We flew up to 12,000 ft, there is one higher but as well as being more expensive it adds an oxygen requirement for the first few thousand feet which sounds complicated and like it might distract from the whole experience. So, 12,000 ft comes around and the doors open and we start throwing ourselves out, each pair in front goes and then me and my partner shuffle up towards the door. To get into the right positioning for them on the edge of the door, they basically hang you out, dangling out the plane door in thin air, no turning around now, and your partner is the one to jump; I’m sure they do ask if you still want to go ahead last minute but it’s all a bit of a blur so I just remember having very little input in whether we were coming out that plane of not! And then… free falling! I remember it struck me how cold it was, like I wasn’t expecting the air at 12,000 ft to be so cold as I breathed in, but everything else was just in-fucking-credible. We had picked Queenstown, partly to fit in with the diary, but also because if you are going to jump out of a plane, the views better be extraordinary; and boy did they not disappoint. You jump out overlooking Lake Wakatipu, The Remarkables mountain range (which they tell you with great joy are about 8,000ft) and across towards Queenstown, but you can see so much further in all directions. Across all the mountains which were snow-capped and beautiful, the green, rolling landscape in the non-mountainous area and the roads and waterways that map the area. According to the website, the free fall lasts only about 60 seconds before the chute is pulled, but I don’t really remember specifics, just that the whole thing was amazing; the views were phenomenal 360 and I think I just kept saying ‘wow’. Then the parachute is deployed and your insides try to become your outsides, I did not enjoy this part, the straps jump up into your groin and you start to float towards the landing zone. The instructor pulls some little cords to send us one way or the other, it looks majestic and beautiful, the parachute gently rolling us around a corner, flicking the legs up to the side and going with the wind rather than a straight line. What it feels like is terrible motion sickness, coupled with bilateral leg constriction and the fear of vomiting several thousand feet in the air – I mean, that could kill someone if it landed on them right! Anyway, we gently came down closer and closer to the ground and then they ask you to lift your legs up in front of you so you don’t leave one behind you on landing and dislocate your hips. With tight straps and minimal core to engage, it’s not the easiest thing to do, but I managed by holding them up with my hands and we slid across the floor on our arses and came to a stop; Alessa came down similar time to me, so once unshackled we ran to find each other and had a post skydive hug and group photo!

Buzzing from the morning’s activities, on return to town we headed straight for a pub for a well earned beer, 1876 pub serves pints in glasses that fill from below with a little rubber disc covering the hole. We sat in the garden, in the sunshine enjoying a cold brew, occasionally interrupted by yells from around the garden as idiots stick their fingers up the disc and are swiftly covered in their pint; not me though… I’m smart. (No, I did, I did it too.) Mo and LJ came back into town from their morning in Arrowtown and met us in the sunny garden before discussing what our afternoon would look like. Top of my list always is to go up the skyline gondola for the view but also then to luge around for a couple of hours, is it legal to luge half cut? So, this we did stretching from afternoon to early evening before heading out for a Saturday night in Queenstown, I’m sure I talked people into a Ferg burger, but I can’t remember if this was this night or the one before. It was a chilly night, being September and barely out of Winter, but we wrapped up and sat near the heaters, gently people got tired and went home and it was left with just me and Mo – standard. Instead of unomass we ended up out until probably 2ish and went to several bars, the final one was the underground, stuffy bar I went to on the previous bar crawl. There were a few young girls there who were being encouraged to take their tops off and dance in just their bras, who hasn’t, but then the bar tender who was at least 20 years older started spraying them with the soda water gun – gross. To my amazement, on the way out, Mo, who had been getting uncomfortable with this whole scene (standard) actually said something to the bar tender about it making him uncomfortable and the role of a 30 something man to vulnerable young people etc; I’m sure the guy just told him to fuck off but still, good work. We crawled into bed after a great night out, trying not to wake anyone and ready for a chilled out day tomorrow.

Andy and Alessa had fancy plans at a local hot tub place, so they were up and out before the rest of us emerged; eventually we headed round the corner to a café for a fat boy breakfast. Multiple plans for the day were bandied about but ultimately given our foggy heads and Mo’s inability to eat his breakfast, we decided to have a total chill day in the hostel lounge with some DVDs and snacks. I had brought some DVDs to NZ with me, but obviously not to QT so we hoped the hostel would have some good movies. We were not disappointed, going back to our teen years we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 and 3! Once the hot tubbers returned, we then tried to rectify Alessa’s gaps in knowledge by watching Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition) which I’m told she really enjoyed, I mean she quite liked it… yea it was alright. For dinner we found a local pizza place called Fat Badger which did 20-inch pizzas and some poutine, so to really recover from the hangovers we stuffed our faces in the lounge with LOTR in the background; what better way to spend a Sunday. The next day was fly back to Auckland and check into another Air bnb day, which again was pretty near me on the north shore. This hostel came with a very friendly couple, a separate lounge for our use and a fridge full of beer and wine which they said was fair game (I think we were their first customers). They also had a hot tub which we were getting ready to use when the heavens opened, not to be deterred as true Brits, we stayed in the tub and just put up some umbrellas. Carrying on from the previous night, we put on The Two Towers to watch while having dinner and then I went back to my place before our road trip tomorrow.

The road trip was a repeat for me, but I couldn’t really let me friends come all the way to NZ north island and not go to Waitomo, Rotorua and Hobbiton! (Like I’m complaining about having to go there again?!) I recommended the black water rafting instead of the simple tour of the Waitomo caves as it gave us a bit more activity to enjoy, in hindsight, not everyone was loving it! We drove down in time for the afternoon excursion which again involved jumping backwards into cold water (although I knew about the photos so tried to pose) then wandering through glow worm bedazzled caves with a few small waterfalls to spring off. We were joined by a few people from a kiwi bus type tour, who were all British needless to say, and a nice bunch of people; the part where you link rubber rings and float under the glow worms in silence is magical no matter how many times you do it. The mention of eels under the water towards the end made for a swift exit (apparently, they just hang around near the way out), I’ve never seen people move so fast on an inflatable ring! Hot soup and tea were served while we warmed up and waited for our photos before driving around trying to find our air bnb – it was up on a farm somewhere, through gates and over cattle grids so took a bit of work. It was a great find though, once we got there, as it was basically an old farmhouse, with separate rooms, a decent sized kitchen/dining area and a pile of board games to play. We had to open and close and gates we went through to stop the cows escaping, but once we were in, we were in; after jumping around in cold water all we were up for was some dinner and games including a Star Wars game that separated the jedi from the wookies (I’m sorry I can’t name 10 star wars planets). The next day we were heading just down the road to Otorohanga, where I had stayed the first time I visited the caves, for a quick jaunt into the kiwi house. We were planning to go to Rotorua for afternoon and evening plans, but as it’s a short drive I recommended we stop in to see what the bird sanctuary was like. Turns out, it’s amazing, there are loads of different birds – some in cages, some in a walkthrough aviary, some you can feed grain to and then the kiwis in their nocturnal house. There are some keeper talks and feeding sessions you can watch and get involved in as you walk through the sanctuary, including finding the elusive tuatara that lives in the undergrowth. The Keas were probably my favourite birds, they were all ladies except one fella who would jump in as soon as the food arrived to snaffle all the egg so he wouldn’t miss out (then saunter round with egg on his face like he hadn’t just shamed himself). In the walkthrough aviary, you can put some grain in your hands and the kakariki come and perch on you to eat it, flitting between everyone. There's lots of native plants around, the sun was shining and we found the tuatara enjoying the warm rays; a great place to visit!

A short hour and a half drive from Otorohanga, we came to Rotorua – we were booked into a central hostel so drove right into the middle of town, checked in and then separated for different activities. LJ, Mo and I headed back out of town a short way to Adventure Playground for a Horse Trek up in the hills overlooking Lake Rotorua, we were introduced to our horses (I was given a beautiful white stallion) and headed up the path. The guide took us up the hill to enjoy the views over the lake and surrounding green hills looking back at the city centre, trekking through native bush with birds and other animals; it threatened to rain but actually held off! We were part way round, when the guide started telling us how the horses they have are often old work horses who have retired, including some from TV and movies. Turns out the one I was riding was in Lord of the Rings (already excited) had I seen it (holy shit) that horse was ridden by Liv Tyler’s character just in case you’ve seen the movies (she has no idea); I was riding the horse that played Asfaloth. LJ’s horse, Huhu was a little rounder than the others, so the straps to the saddle were a bit precarious around his belly. After reaching the mid-way point, we started back down the hill towards home base; heading down seems to be a bit harder for horses, so Huhu did start a bit more swaying than on the way up. Part way down the hill, the saddle starts to slip around to the side, and no shimmying would rectify it, although round, Huhu was still quite tall so was a daunting prospect for LJ who started to fall off! Thankfully, she has some experience with horses, and was able to control her fall by launching herself off Huhu rather than be at the mercy of the swivel saddle, she landed beside him flat on her front and although winded, was not hurt, stupid Huhu. We made it back down the hill to safety and climbed off the horses, this time, before returning to the hostel and grabbing our swim stuff for a soak at the Polynesian Hot Pools. Unlike some of the other sites I’d been to, this was very commercial, for one you pay to go in, but they also have actual bathrooms and changing areas etc so it is definitely posher than the local river. Given Huhu being an ass, a good soak was exactly what was needed, followed by a restful-ish night in our own room at the hostel. The benefit of being 5 travellers, is that you can book out a 6 person room and more often than not have it to yourselves. This was definitely preferable on the night that I tried to leap sideways out of my bunk into the other bottom bunk and then run for the light switch to illuminate the room at 3am, obviously there were spiders crawling out of the bed above me, so I was in peril for my life guys…

After a slow morning start with a small breakfast, we excitingly piled into the car and drove out to Matamata to visit the Hobbiton movie set, we had booked for the lunch and tour combo which meant we got to have a massive buffet lunch, a gentle amble around set and finished with a free pint in the Green Dragon – could we be more hobbit. The buffet is all salads, roasted kumara and tasty meats, the amble takes you past Bag End, the party tree and Sam’s house and finishes at the Green Dragon pub next to the lake and mill where you can enjoy a free beer, made, solely for Hobbiton, nearby. You are then free for a short time to wander round the pub and if so inclined, dress up as hobbits to take pictures (of course we were, did you see the Twizel pictures!?) The other activity that one should do in Rotorua is go to a Hāngī at any one of the number of Māori run evenings, however, a Hāngī is another giant buffet meal, which I thought would be lost on us a bit given we were stuffed from lunch still. So, we spent the evening in Rotorua, found a local night market for a small bite and enjoyed the city centre; finishing with a few pints before rolling back down the streets to bed.

The next day was the last full day for 2 of our travellers, Andy and Alessa, and they had a hotel booked in central Auckland to make it easier to get to the airport the following morning, so we drove back up from Rotorua straight to our activity for the day – Kelly Tarlton’s. KT is an aquarium out east of central Auckland named after a NZ marine conservationist and the man who pioneered the curved acrylic tunnels that can be found in so many aquariums now. It’s a fairly standard aquarium, with the expected activities and animals, but on top of this, they have a massive sub-Antarctic penguin colony made up of King and Gentoo penguin living together. They have ice to walk around and water to swim in, you enter below the water and walk around the outside of their enclosure to become level with the ground – and that’s when the smell hits you. Penguins, obviously wild animals, do not have any sort of toilet training plus they eat fish so their whole enclosure is pretty rank – any up-close photos are definitely hiding a held breath. They also make a lot of noise screeching at each other or at the keepers who wander around with buckets of fish, the moulting babies are my favourites, they look like moody teens with stupid hairdos. Other exhibits include a recreation of Captain Scott’s hut – a walkthrough replica with a bed, clothes and memorabilia on the walls, apparently the original has been preserved in Antarctica since 1911 so it’s easy to replicate. Turtle bay and turtle rescue which rehabilitates sick turtles and then releases them into the EAC (dude) and as expected a huge tank and walkthrough tunnel with conveyor belt, to limit any exercise, where you can see all sorts of native NZ fish, ray and sharks. Once we had had our fill of the fish, we drove back to mine for a quick wash up and unpack, we left our leavers in town to check into their place so Mo and LJ stayed at mine rather than paying out for another Air bnb. For the last night I wanted to take my guests to a Korean BBQ place that gives you a table BBQ to cook your meats, plus 8-10 little side dishes that can be refilled a number of times. I had been once before and it was great fun, we stuffed our faces (a theme of this trip!) taking it in turns to cook the meat, I’m sure there’s some flawless business model here of get the guests to cook their own food at a restaurant, but we enjoyed ourselves. A pub next door was doing towers of beer, so we settled in with a couple of them to really toast the half ending of the kiwi adventure; Andy and Alessa were off home but I had a few more days with Mo and a week with LJ to look forward to. Those who weren’t flying the next day headed back to mine as we had prebooked a harbour tour the next day to try and see some wildlife; so, we sensibly stayed up till 3am drinking gin…

To Be Continued

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el-borealis · 7 years ago

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The Jump

A Mileven AU meet-cute.

Read on A03 or FF.net.

Wherein El Hopper, secret telekinetic skydiving instructor meets Mike Wheeler, a terrified 25th birthday boy on his first skydiving jump.

Also known as a mega random meet-cute no one ever asked for!

She had finally convinced her father to let her give it a try on her sixteenth birthday. From that day on, it had become her main unflinching obsession.

Skydiving was unlike anything else on Earth.

It allowed her to fly.

No. Really.

Fly.

Crashing through the sky alone was the only time she was able to use her powers without hesitation, bending the molecules in the air around her to do with them anything she wanted. It was a freedom she couldn't experience anywhere else in life. It was the one place where she could fully embrace her secret with the unbridled intensity she desired.

Life had fallen into place like a stack of Dominos after that first jump, and almost ten years later she found herself at the helm, jumping almost every day with endless tandem newbies strapped to her chest.

It wasn't a common profession for a girl of 5' 3". But, then again, she wasn't exactly a common girl.

So, that's where she found herself on a early May morning. On a quick detour on her way to the airfield, just like every other Saturday, preparing to lead yet another introductory jump.

El honked her car horn for the fourth time, desperately hoping Max would finally respond. They were running very close to late.

El sighed in relief as Max's red pony tailed whipped into view from behind her apartment door.

"I am so hungover, I hope I don't wretch on my tandem," Max groaned as she flung her body into the passenger seat of El's car. "Why do I keep drinking Jager?"

"Because you keep not listening to me." El quipped as she rolled her eyes. "Here, I got you breakfast." She handed the beat up girl beside her a croissant sandwich and a cup of coffee.

Max sighed "What would I do without you?"

"You'd probably be dead, to be honest," El replied with a laugh as she pulled out of the driveway and took the regular route to the airfield.

"So, what kind of assholes are we jumping today?" Max asked, her mouth full of breakfast sandwich.

"I swear, I don't know how you got a job dealing with people," El teased.

"Honestly, me either. But then again you hired me so I guess you're the one that will have to answer to that," Max replied sarcastically. "I hope it's cute boys. That always makes the day go faster"

"You always hope it's cute boys."

"Of course I do."

"Well, I took a look at the reservation this morning. It's four guys in their mid twenties so maybe you'll get lucky," El supplied, side eyeing her coworker with a smirk.

"Score, I hope they're girly screamers. That's my favorite."

El laughed. "You are a sadist."

"Guilty as charged," Max said with a serious nod.

El pulled up to the gate and flashed the guard her access pass, pulling them through to the prep area. Prep took a little extra time that morning, what with Max dragging ass, and they were only just ready to go as the car carrying their customers for the morning jump pulled up.

A handsome dark skinned man was in the driver's seat, next to a curly haired guy who was talking animatedly, his hands bouncing through the air as he explained something she couldn't hear. In the back were two more men, one blond, one brunette. El's eyed stayed on the brunette as she realized he was blind folded.

She groaned.

Surprised sky divers were the worst. She really needed to add a clause in the contract discouraging it. The last time she jumped with a surprise party birthday girl she was pretty sure she ruined birthdays for the girl for the rest of her life. The girl had cried the entire time and run away the second she had released her from the harness.

The men exited the car as she pulled on her most friendly professional face and waved. The curly haired man held his finger to his lips in her direction before turning to the blindfolded one.

"Ok, Mike. Are you ready?" he chimed.

"I swear to god this is so unnecessary. I hate surprises. You know I hate surprises," the guy she now knew as Mike grumbled.

"You'll love this one," the man from the driver's seat encouraged. "Will, take off the blindfold."

The shorter man, Will reached up and took off Mike's blindfold as she encouragingly said, "No really, you're going to love it."

Mike's eyes opened, falling directly on El.

He didn't speak for a moment as he stared at her.

Neither did she.

She wasn't sure she knew how anymore.

Something about his deep dark eyes locked onto hers had rendered her voice utterly useless.

"Um..." he stuttered.

"Dude. She's not your surprise. Look around you," the curly haired one said as he shook his head and the boys all laughed directly at Mike.

Mike blinked, breaking the eye contact she had just been lost in, and looked around for the first time. Then, he blanched.

"No. No no no no no. I told you guys I didn't want to do this." he protested as he tried to get back into car.

"No you don't!" The man from the driver's seat countered. "You've always wanted to do this."

The curly haired one then jumped to the task before Mike could protest any further. "Hi, I'm Dustin. It's Mike's 25th birthday. As you can see, he's difficult. You're our instructor?"

"Yeah, that's me," El said, highly embarrassed to find her voice still struggling to work. She resolutely tried to keep her eyes on Dustin and did not let them drift behind him.

"Lucas," the dark skinned man said as he held out his hand. "And this is Will and our birthday boy, Mike."

El shook each of their hands, stopping on Mike last.

"Happy Birthday," she said as she neared him and held out her hand in greeting.

"Thank you," he replied, his grip firm and lingering.

"I can guarantee you it's not as scary as you think it is," she said, pushing herself to sound as professionally kind as she could muster. "Plus, you'll be strapped to me and I've jumped out of a plane hundreds of times without dying."

"I'll be strapped to you?" He asked, his voice raising an octave.

"Unless you'd rather go tandem with Max," she said, pointing over her shoulder to the red head sorting equipment.

"No, no. You're fine," he stuttered.

A peal of laughter echoed behind her from the boys, coupled with Dustin hiding his face in his hand and muttering, "Oh my god, Mike," under his breath, but still loud enough to hear her.

Keep is professional, Hopper.

"Okay," she said as she clapped her hands together and surveyed the group, pulling their attention. "Ready to skydive?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's go!"

"Yes...?"

El turned on her heel and waved them to follow her. Max looked up as they approached and waved. "Hi, I'm Max. Everybody pick up a gear bag and meet me by that plane over there," she said as she hoisted two into her arms and headed for small silver plane off to the left.

"Oh god, that plane has propellers," a shaky voice grimaced behind her. She turned around to find Mike, pale, as he looked at the tiny plane. El held up her hand for him to slow down while she let the others follow Max.

"Afraid of flying?" She asked.

Mike avoided her eyes, a blush rising to his cheeks. "I feel like a huge baby admitting this to a professional sky diver, but yes."

"Mike," she said, causing his eyes to dart directly to hers as she said his name. "I understand. It's okay. You don't have to do this, but I can guarantee you that plane is safe, and you're in good hands. Tandem is easy. Really, all you have to do is trust me and I'll do the rest. I promise."

Mike was quiet for a moment as he looked at her. The fear radiating in his eyes just a second earlier began to simmer and was replaced with the disarming gaze he had bestowed upon her when he blindfold had come off.

"You promise?" he said quietly.

"Yes. I promise," she replied with a nod.

"Okay," he said after a second. "I trust you."

"Smart man," El said with a smirk as she turned back around and led the way to the plane, happy for a moment to let the blush wear off of her cheeks.

Smart man?! What the hell kind of a thing to say was that? What was happening?

She shook it off as they reached the plane. El scaled the steps and crawled into the hull.

She greeted her pilot and her other two tandem instructors as she straightened up and pointed for Mike to take a seat. He was tall enough that he had to hunch slightly to do so.

"Okay, everybody strap in and let's begin."

El quickly fell into her daily routine, walking the guys through her safety and procedure schpeel as the pilot began to start the plane. The mood was extra jovial, filled with jokes and banter, all unique to the group of friends that seemed to know each other insanely well.

Despite her attempts, her eyes kept gravitating back to Mike. He had calmed down considerably, and was even joining in with his friends on the jokes and light hearted banter.

God he had the best smile.

After walking them through the safety procedures, she and the other trainers paired off with their tandems to strap everyone up and get the flight off of the ground.

"So, how does this work?" Mike asked as she held the vest open for him to slip it on.

"Basically, you wear this, and then I will hook onto these back here," she said, pulling on the apparatus. "So, I'll be strapped to your back and I'll be in charge of anything. Your only jobs are to let yourself fall and not accidentally punch me in the face."

"I think I can manage that," he replied with a smile as he turned back around and zipped up the vest. She checked each of his restraints, right up close to his body while she did so. A heady sensation came over her that made it hard for her to do her safety check properly.

"You've done hundreds of jumps?" He asked as she continued to test the harnesses on his vest.

"Mhmm" she replied as she kept her eyes on her work. "Passed about 900 a couple months ago. I've been jumping for almost 10 years."

"Oh wow, that's bitchin," he said quietly.

El laughed, "you think so?"

"I've never even so much as jumped from a rooftop let alone a plane. So, this is a big leap for me..."

"...No pun intended - ."

"- No pun intended?"

They caught each other's eye on the jinx, each of them looking away quickly as she stepped back.

"Okay, take a seat and strap in, we'll take off in a minute."

Mike nodded and did as she asked. She suited herself up quickly, testing her equipment in a practiced fashion before signaling to the pilot that everyone was ready to go.

Max was sitting beside her tandem, Lucas, cracking jokes with him in way that seemed like they knew each other. El smiled as she took the seat on the bench next to Mike and strapped in.

"Okay everyone, a quick flight up and then a quicker flight down!" She called.

The hull erupted in cheers, with the exception of one subtle groan to her right.

She looked over to find Mike once again looking pale." It's going to be fine. It'll be over before you know it."

The flight up was smooth and uneventful as she talked the group through what to expect, final considerations, and a brief pep talk, all the while distractingly aware of the raven haired man who's knee was touching hers.

What was she paying so much attention to that, an 8th grader?

Finally, they were there, in the sky, at altitude, ready to fly.

The trainers began to stand and work their straps to connect to the group of men in tandem.

"Okay, you ready?" El asked softly into his ear, bringing him back from a far off look as he jumped in surprise. His eyes shot in her direction and she fought back a gasp. They were desperately close.

"I'm as ready as you can make me" he said quietly; his voice hoarse.

One by one the boys fell from the plane until it was just El and Mike alone in the hull. With each drop of his friends she could feel his tension edging to a new plateau. She must have lost her mind because at that moment she reached around and took his hand quickly, squeezing it before she dropped. "Alright. It's our turn. If it gets to be too much just squeeze my hand and close your eyes, okay?"

"Okay..."

El connected their safety harnesses with surprisingly shaky fingers.

"Okay," she said, almost laughing at their now obvious height difference as her job became cumbersome. "You okay?"

"Um..."

"I promised you you could trust me," she said, "So trust me."

"I trust you. I don't really trust myself right now," he replied as she peered out of the open door, the wind lapping his hair dangerously.

"Well luckily you don't have to," she said as she pulled him back against her, ready to jump. "I've got you."

"Oh...kay."

"Alright. Here we go."

He grabbed her hand instantly, making her jump; the contact feeling so wholly intimate in a way no other dive ever had, and they hadn't even jumped yet. She tightened her hand around his.

"On three. 1 - 2 - Happy Birthday, Mike!"

She pushed them out of the hull.

She was pretty sure he broke her hand as he squeezed, their bodies together in a free fall through the sky.

"HOLY SHIT HOLY FUCK OH MY GOD"

"You're okay! It's almost over already, just relax!"

And shockingly, he listened.

What followed was one of the best jumps of her life. Over the course of 30 seconds he went from a terror to pure exhilaration.

"THIS IS AMAZING!"

"RIGHT?! I TOLD YOU!"

Despite the shift in his fear, he had not let go of her hand. His fingers had interlaced with hers, pressing down in a way that trapped her in his grasp. She pulled his hand out away from them so he could fully feel the free fall.

His hair was whipping against her face, raven black strands chopping up the scenery in her view.

"YOU GOOD?"

"I'M AWESOME!" he replied, pumping her hand in reply.

Her heart swooped, completely without the assistance of the gravity pulling them down.

Gravity.

At that moment she was assaulted by sudden dangerous urge. One that came out of nowhere. One that had never once triggered on any of the hundreds of tandems she had jumped.

Don't do it.

"Want to try something?" She yelled across his ear, cursing herself as her rational mind lost to her impulsive emotion.

"Anything!" He called back.

She swallowed hard, her blood boiling in nervousness... as she cut out the gravity.

"What the fuck?!" He yelled as they shot upward.

"I know right?! Just gotta know how to maneuver it!" She lied.

There's no way he would ever know, right?

She took Mike on a mini version of her solo flight.

She had never shared this sensation with another soul. She'd never even told anyone about it.

She had no idea why she wanted to do it with him.

It was glorious.

And from the tone clear in his yelling voice, he absolutely loved it.

She cut it off quicker than she would have liked in order to avoid suspicion, and instead, pulled the parachute.

They buoyed in the air, and she felt him let out a breath he'd seemed to have been holding, his words a jumble of adrenalin.

"That was fucking amazing! This is fucking amazing! You're fucking amazing!"

El's breath caught at his final words as their fall took the air of the parachute, making them glide.

"So you like skydiving?!" She cried, noticing her hand still pinned in his.

"This is the best Birthday of my life!"

El's vision landed on the back of his head, calling to her as their slow fall became more controlled with the parachute. She didn't know what the hell she was doing, and she felt like a major creep, but that didn't seem to stop her from dropping her forehead to lie down momentarily against the nape of his neck.

He leaned back into her.

"Okay," she said into his ear, no need to yell too loud as her lips were almost touching his ear. "We're going to hit the ground soon. So make like you're running and we'll have a smooth landing."

"You got it!" He cried back.

And that was just what he did, but the landing was anything but smooth. His lanky frame plus their height differences made for a hard rolling land into the dirt.

El's laughter echoed through her ears as she splayed half on her back on the ground, the wind knocked out of her lungs, connected awkwardly to Mike who was pushing her deeper into the ground. She worked quickly to release him from the harness and attempted and failed to catch her breath as she laid back into the dirt.

"Holy shit that was amazing!" He said, breathless and panting, as he rolled onto his stomach and placed his face to the ground.

"Good first jump?" She asked through heavy breaths as she worked her way up onto her elbow and leaned toward him.

He looked up at her, his body less than an inch away from hers, glee shooting through all of his features as he nodded vigorously.

And then she froze as Mike did the least expected thing she'd ever experienced.

With a swiftness that made her miss his movements, he leaned in against her suddenly and searingly kissed her full on the mouth.

El melted without warning into the grass below, her body giving way to him on instinct as if something deep inside of her knew she needed his kiss. His lips, dry from the wind, shot shocked sparks throughout every corner of her body as he leaned over her on the ground.

He pulled away after a moment, his eyes glazed two inches from her face. He exhaled in an overwhelmed huff, rustling her hair against her cheek.

"Wha-" she breathed as she stared at him blankly in astonishment.

Mike blinked. When his eyes opened back up they were filled with an instant and real terror. He jarringly jumped to his feet.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry I'm just so hopped up adrenaline and you're so pretty and that was so amazing and like, how did you do that in the air, how did we fly up?! I'm im so sorry. Stuff like that has to happen all the time right? Like, I'm not the first adrenaline addled person to kiss their trainer in thank you am I? Oh my god." He buried his head in his hands.

"Um... You might be the first..." she said, breathless, her eyes wide, her body still on the ground, the feeling of his lips still coursing through her veins with more delicious intensity than she had felt in the jump through the sky.

"Fuck, I am so sorry," he grimaced as he turned away.

"It's okay...I... I liked it."

I liked it?!

What kind of crazy alternate reality El had taken over her fucking mouth?

"Oh..." was all he said in reply as he shifted back around quickly and looked at her in complete surprise.

El felt her face flush scarlet as she forced herself roughly to break eye contact and scrambled to her feet to collect the parachute. "Okay. Umm... let's get back to the others," she stuttered, not looking at him as she began to cross the field.

Mike followed her wordlessly as they left the field and quickly joined the others in a pickup location.

"Dude that was awesome!" Will called to Mike as he arrived. "You survived!"

"I uh..." Mike stumbled over his words. "I better than survived. That was the best five minutes of my life."

"Yeah, man!" Dustin called from behind them, running to join them.

They waited for a long moment before a rustling occurred to their left and Lucas and Max came out from behind a large pile of brush. Lucas looked like his dog had died.

"I don't want to talk about this ever again," he barked as he joined the others. Max's smirk told El that she couldn't wait to tell her that story.

El went through the rest of the motions in a daze, so much so that Max ended up leading the trip back to the airfield and their car. El just couldn't get her mind off what had just happened. His eyes. His smile. The fact that she still found him so engaging though he had been the worst kind of scaredy cat. Whatever had possessed her to actually fly with him. That fucking kiss...

"Well, I hope you had a good time, guys. Especially you, Lucas," Max said with a tease as they reached the end point and began to say their goodbyes.

Lucas grimaced and nodded curtly in return as he bee lined for the car, making the other guys laugh out loud.

Mike sheepishly crossed to El as Will and Dustin spoke to their instructors.

"Thank you," he said sheepishly. "I know I was probably the weirdest tandem you've ever done so thank you for dealing with me."

"You definitely were but... it was fun," she replied quietly, her professional voice completely checked out and nowhere to be found.

"Uh...okay."

"Okay..."

"Well," she stuttered. "Happy Birthday. And if you ever want to jump again you know where to find me."

Mike nodded, a glint in his eye. "I'll do that."

He looked at her one last time, and in that moment she attempted to send him a signal, any signal to keep talking, to stay, to... anything. A desperate calling shooting from somewhere within her that she couldn't explain. But instead, he just waved, turned around to the car and crawled in the back seat with this friends.

El let out a breath, her heart falling to a shocking degree as she watched the guys drive away.

"What. The fuck. Was that?" Max questioned, her tone laced with her intent to dig for gossip.

El simply sighed. "He kissed me after we landed."

"Oh my GOD!" Max exclaimed. "That's a new one."

"I know."

"Did you like it?" she asked, leaning into their new secret.

El looked over to her friend, certain that her eyes would betray her if she tried to lie. So instead, she chose truth.

"I loved it."

"Ellie!" Max squealed. "Did you get his number?"

"...Nope. I left that up to him. Didn't happen." she replied, trying to keep the dejection out of her voice.

"Oh," Max replied. She was silent for a moment before she changed the subject, for which El was grateful. "That Lucas guy screamed like a little girl the whole way down. I thought he was going to die."

El laughed. "So, you're favorite kind of jump, huh?"

"Oh, absolutely. It was fucking hilarious. I think I made it worse for him because I couldn't keep in my laughter."

"There goes our Yelp rating. Thanks, Max"

Max rolled her eyes, "Did you -"

But at that moment a car, one that she had just seen leave, reappeared around the bend, driving fast until it stopped abruptly at the curb.

Mike jumped out, his lanky body making hard work of the small back door.

El's heart jumped.

"Did you forget something?" She asked.

"Yeah," he stated breathlessly, his eyes nervous. "I forgot to get your number."

"Oh, Smooooooth" Max breathed quietly beside her in admiration.

"That is..." he continued as he scratched the nape of his neck, "If you'd be willing to give -"

"Yes." El interjected immediately as she hurriedly fished for her card from her jacket pocket. She handed him her business card and pointed to the last number. "This is my cell. Use that."

"Okay," he said as he sucked on his bottom lip and looked at the card in his hand. "I'll um... I'll call you Uh... El Hopper, Head Skydiving Instructor."

"Okay," she replied without hesitation, a traitorous smile tugging against her lips.

Mike was silent for a moment before he looked back up, his deep dark eyes on hers one last time, completely rendering her speechless. He finally found the words he wanted to say.

"Thank you again for the best five minutes of my life."

"Right back at ya," she breathed in instant reply

Mike blinked, obviously unsure what she meant by that.

Did she know what she meant by that?

She did.

Holy shit wow… She absolutely did know what she meant by that.

"Bye Mike," she said shakily.

"Yeah... bye..." he replied, bewitched as she backed up the car and crawled back in. "I'll... I'll call you."

She let out a tiny wave as he slammed the door to the the car and it left the curb.

"Damn that is the slickest shit I have ever seen," Max exclaimed through a boasting laugh that had been building up in her throughout the entire time she'd watched the interaction. "That is the most love at first sight shit I have ever watched. And I watch way too many romance movies."

"That is the most love at first sight shit I've ever felt." El replied without thought, her filter long since gone.

"Ooh Hopper, you are a goner."

“Yeah, I think I am.”

#stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fanfic #mileven fanfic #mileven au #mileven fanfiction #mileven as adults #Stranger things au #stranger things #mileven

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skydiveswoop · 1 year ago

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How to become an Experienced Skydiver | Learn Simple Steps

Becoming an experienced skydiver is a thrilling journey of skill, confidence, and adventure.

Start by enrolling in a reputable skydiving school where you'll receive thorough training on safety procedures, equipment, and techniques.

As a beginner, you'll make tandem jumps with an instructor before progressing to solo jumps. Consistent practice, guided by certified coaches, will refine your skills and build confidence.

Gradually, you'll earn advanced licenses and have the opportunity to explore various disciplines such as formation skydiving, freefalling, or wingsuit flying.

#experienced skydiver #tandem skydiving #skydiving in canada #skydive swoop #skydiving near me #tandem skydive #swooping #swoop skydiving

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callioope · 7 years ago

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Yea so normally I spend my flex days on tumblr, but today I tumbl’d out of an airplane...

...and got engaged!

*cue cheesy puns about ‘falling’ for each other and ‘taking the leap’*

Good now that that’s out of the way

So jumping:

got this as a bday present for Fuz. he has wanted to go skydiving for YEARS, and i finally caved and got it for him this year

was terrified and nervous all morning. Fuz took me to Panera for breakfast which is one of my favorite breakfast places (chocolate chip muffie ftw)

drove out to Warrenton, VA which is in or near the Shenandoah Valley, where we like to go hiking

arrived early hoping we’d get to go up on one of the first flights (it was supposed to start at 11 a.m.)

read and signed ridiculous (and long) waiver about how if anything goes wrong they are not responsible, thus

got more terrified and nervous

paid extra $100 to get the video (just for me not for fuz, bc the world would need actual evidence that i did this)

waited around forever because everyone was late and they had to do a group lesson explaining how to not hurt yourself

learned that one of the instructors was turkish and he was super excited when he heard fuz’s name. then fuz disappointed him when he couldn’t talk in turkish lol

got strapped into harness... felt calmer... as if the harness was like a security blanket lol

thought about rebelcaptain skydiving au, decided bodhi should be going with jyn. decided luke should be another instructor. or maybe the pilot. idk. was getting too nervous to plot clearly.

did group lesson, was mad i could not take notes, was worried about this, spent next few minutes reciting what they said with fuz

watched first plane go up -- bc we did not end up on it, but this was a good thing actually

watched people fall out of the plane

chose which parachute i thought was prettiest, obviously an important part of the experience (it was green and purple)

recorded pre-flight video with instructor. when he asked if i had any last words, I said, “May the Force be with us.”

ignored instructor’s strange look. btw i should mention this was tandem, they don’t let you go alone unless you have a license or are certified or do a course or something.

resolved to channel my inner Jyn and her bravery

felt surprisingly calm as the plane took off. it was a super small plane but there wasn’t a lot of wind, so not a bumpy ride at all.

thought ‘oh cool’ unsarcastically when i saw we were above the clouds

fretted about my glasses but instructor got me bigger goggles to put over them rather than the first ones my harness came with

was last person to jump

screamed/shrieked/screeched as i plummeted from the plane

calmed down as we straightened out

DIDN’T PANIC even though i didn’t have a towel with me ;) (props to the hoopy froods who get that)

admired the beautiful view of the Blue Ridge mountains as we gently soared above the rolling hills of rural Virginia

nailed the landing if i do say so myself.

realized that that was one of the most amazing things i’ve ever done and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT

So engagement:

accepted piece of paper from instructor saying i jumped ... wooo

was told to wait for my video

asked fuz to get my phone from the car..... and he said ‘come with me’ and i said ‘what? why’ and he was like ‘let’s just go together’ and i was like ‘no, i was told to wait for my video’

relaxed and watched the third group of jumpers take off and jump, all from the glorious, shaded hangar on the ground

decided, hey, maybe i would go again, if someone wanted me to go with them

received video

went out to car

complained about car being locked (fuz NEVER remembers to double click unlock for passengers)

was told there was ‘something on the car’

stared at car in puzzlement. ‘someone putting giant poster-sized ads on windshields all the way out here? i mean i GUESS we’re in the middle of nowhere and they still use dated advertising methods...’

walked to front of car to see what the perceived ad was

pushed it up and saw it said ‘will you say yes’

turned around and saw fuz holding out the ring!!!!

said yes, obviously

Yea so. pretty good day.

and also it’s Harry Potter’s birthday.

YAY :)

#personal #liz rants #skydiving #life event #wooo

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travelonlinetips-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://travelonlinetips.com/4-awesomely-adventurous-ways-to-see-newport-rhode-island-2/

4 Awesomely Adventurous Ways to See Newport, Rhode Island

Even more than Providence, Newport is Rhode Island’s most iconic destination. But, that means it’s easy for visitors to fall into the tired trap of walking the same well-worn tourist attractions as everyone else. Break free, dear vagabonds!

Here are four far more interesting and adventurous ways to experience Newport, Rhode Island …

Adventurous Things to Do in Newport, Rhode Island (RI)

#1: Parasailing with Island Style Parasail (Summer season)

I’ve long had a fascination with seeing new destinations from the highest vantage point possible. Skyscrapers, helicopter rides, tall bridges — whatever. So, parasailing has always seemed like one of the best ways to experience Newport. It took a little prodding to convince Kelsey to go tandem with me. But, she’s committed to trying one new experience every year that scares her. So — up we went with Island Style Parasail.

To our surprise, the company is the only parasailing provider in all of Newport. No matter though because Kevin and Andrew (the company’s founder and ride facilitator, respectively) probably wouldn’t have any competition anyway. They’re two guys from Hawaii who seriously love what they do, and I’m convinced they could get a boat full of people excited about watching seaweed float around Newport Harbor.

If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it all the way!

Our tandem ride with them was even more awesome then we expected! They offer three experience “tiers” depending on how high you want to go: a 600-foot line, 800-foot line, and 1,000-foot line. But, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it all the way. So, we opted for the “top floor” 1,000-foot experience which allowed us to sail roughly 500 feet over the bay. That’s higher than the support structures of the Newport Bridge!

The views are, not surprisingly, fantastic. From the height of a 50-story building, we could practically see the entire state plus some of Massachusetts and Connecticut to boot. Once you get to the top, it’s pure bliss. It’s quiet, relaxing, exhilarating and just plain beautiful.

Island Style Parasail only operates during the short summer season, and slots fill up fast. Trips leave every 90 minutes between 9 am and 6 pm daily. 1,000-foot flights are $99 per person (plus gratuity if you’re a good person), but you can score a $20 discount on the first and last flight of every day.

#2: Rail Biking with Rail Explorers (May 12 through November)

Rail biking near Newport, Rhode Island with Rail Explorers

This one isn’t technically in Newport. But, Rhode Island is so damn small, it sort of doesn’t matter, so long as you get close enough …

Rail Biking is all the rage right now. To be fair, this isn’t an “awesomely adventurous” experience in the sense that it’s a seat-of-your-pants thrill ride. But, Rhode Island’s own rail biking experience with Rail Explorers is a new and interesting way to see some lesser-visited parts of the state. If you’re unfamiliar, rail biking recalls the days of 19th-century rail workers who relied on pedal-powered vehicles to travel long distances of track. The latest incarnation is sleeker, lighter, more reliable … and a helluva lot more fun. Go it alone, with someone you (mostly) like, or bring a total of four passengers on the company’s “Cadillac” edition Quad Explorer.

The two Rhode Island tours track distinctly different sections of Aquidneck Island and beautiful Narragansett Bay:

‘The Northern Ramble’: a six-mile exploration of the historic railroad between Portsmouth and the Sakonnet River. One way tour with shuttle bus.

‘The Southern Circuit’: a six-mile round trip tour (3 miles out, 3 miles back). Bring a drink or a snack to enjoy during a 30-minute break at Bayside Station, an exclusive waterfront picnic area, before riding back to the station.

#3: Tour the Newport Mansions by Helicopter (Year-round)

The Newport Mansions Seen from a Newport Helicopter Tour

Newport’s mansions are some of the most famous “summer homes” in the country. A proper tour of the Breakers is practically required for first-time visitors, and it does provide plenty of historical perspective on the city’s history. But, the surrounding Ocean Drive is wrought with tourists, particularly during the summer.

Newport Helicopter Tour Flying Over a Sailboats in Newport, Rhode Island

If you’re looking to sidestep the throngs of out-of-towners and take an exclusive mansion tour, you need to rise above the crowds — literally. The best way to do that? A proper helicopter tour with the aptly named Newport Helicopter Tours.

The company offers a variety of options from the entry-level 12-minute tour for just USD $75 per person. But, if you’re willing to splurge, the 20-minute Sunset Island Tour is the way to go. The views are ridiculous. Or, if you’re feeling especially adventurous, take an Intro/Demo Flight where you can play helicopter pilot for almost a half-hour.

It’s worth noting the company even offers discounted helicopter tour / rail biking combo packages. So, if you’re considering both, you can save quite a bit with just one booking.

#4: Skydive Newport (Year-round, weather dependent)

Tandem Skydive with Skydive Newport in Rhode Island

Of course, if parasailing and helicopter flights aren’t disco enough for you, skydiving is the only way to fly. Skydive Newport has been launching jumps out of South County since 1999. The company specializes in tandem skydiving, so they’re an obvious choice for first-timers.

All-in rates start just north of USD $200 (with a discount for cash customers), plus a tip for your instructor. But … can you really put a price tag on sheer, unforgettable terror as you plummet to the earth at more than 100 miles per hour with a stranger strapped to your back?

What are your favorite things to do in Newport? Share with us in the comments below!

The post 4 Awesomely Adventurous Ways to See Newport, Rhode Island appeared first on Vagabondish.

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spicynbachili2 · 6 years ago

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Indian couple who died in Yosemite took risks for photos – Orange County Register

By JOCELYN GECKER and PAUL ELIAS

SAN FRANCISCO — She was a self-described “adrenaline junkie,” and he took “wow-worthy images” of the couple posing on the fringe of cliffs and leaping from planes that appeared on social media and a journey weblog that attracted 1000’s of followers.

In a single put up on the Grand Canyon this spring, 30-year-old Meenakshi Moorthy even warned daredevils who attempt to snap selfies from harmful heights: “Do you know that wind gusts could be FATAL???” The caption accompanies a photograph of Moorthy sitting on the sting of the canyon’s North Rim.

The couple’s newest journey turned out to be their final. Moorthy and her husband, Vishnu Viswanath, 29, who had been Indian expats dwelling in California, fell to their deaths in Yosemite Nationwide Park final week whereas taking a selfie, the person’s brother mentioned Tuesday.

They arrange their tripod close to a ledge at a scenic overlook within the California park, Viswanath’s brother, Jishnu Viswanath, informed The Related Press. Guests noticed the digicam the following morning and alerted park rangers, who “used high-powered binoculars to search out them and used helicopters to airlift the our bodies,” he mentioned.

Rangers discovered their our bodies about 800 ft (245 meters) beneath Taft Level, the place guests can stroll to the sting of a vertigo-inducing granite ledge that provides spectacular views of the Yosemite Valley beneath.

Their thrill-seeking social media posts foreshadow the couple’s hyperlink to the rising drawback of selfie deaths.

A examine revealed this month within the Journal of Household Medication and Main Care mentioned 259 folks had died taking selfies between October 2011 and November 2017.

The report, primarily based on findings from researchers in India who scoured worldwide media stories, mentioned the primary causes of selfie deaths had been drowning, often involving folks being washed away by waves or falling from a ship, adopted by folks killed whereas posing in entrance of a transferring prepare, deaths involving falls from excessive locations or whereas taking footage with harmful animals.

Greater than 10 folks have died at Yosemite this yr, some from pure causes and others from falls, park spokesman Scott Gediman mentioned.

Moorthy and Viswanath had been born in India and had lived in america for a number of years, most not too long ago within the San Francisco Bay Space. Cisco India mentioned Viswanath was a software program engineer on the firm’s San Jose, California, headquarters in Silicon Valley.

They graduated in 2010 from the Faculty of Engineering, Chengannur, within the Alapuzha district of India’s Kerala state, considered one of their professors, Nisha Kuruvilla, informed AP. She mentioned Moorthy and Viswanath had been each good college students who had been keen on touring and had married at a Hindu temple in Kerala in southern India 4 years in the past.

Moorthy described her and her husband as “journey obsessed” on their weblog, “Holidays & Fortunately Ever Afters,” which was taken down Tuesday. It was full of images of the couple in entrance of snowy peaks and on romantic journeys throughout Europe, the place they took selfies from a gondola in Venice, on the Leaning Tower of Pisa and on the Vatican.

Moorthy wished to work full time as a journey blogger, her brother-in-law mentioned. She described herself within the weblog as a “quirky free spirit” and “an ardent adrenaline junkie — curler coasters and skydiving doesn’t scare me.”

She posed on the fringe of the Grand Canyon sporting a Surprise Girl costume, writing, “Plenty of us together with yours really is a fan of daredevilry makes an attempt of standing on the fringe of cliffs — and skyscrapers. However do you know that wind gust could be FATAL??? Is our life simply price one photograph?”

Her husband’s Fb cowl photograph reveals the couple smiling, with arms round one another standing at a Grand Canyon precipice. “Dwelling life on the sting,” he wrote.

In a put up from July 2017, the couple celebrated their marriage ceremony anniversary by skydiving in Santa Barbara, California. Moorthy posted a video on Instagram that reveals her in a T-shirt saying, “Gimme Hazard,” and flashing a thumbs-up as she jumps from the airplane.

“I imagine I can flyyy. I imagine i can contact the skyyy,” she wrote within the put up. “Aaaand contact the sky I did from an effin’ 18000 ft because of the unconditional love-ninja in my life, Vishnu, who actually took this yr’s anniversary shock a notch ‘larger’ than final yr’s sizzling air ballooning journey, by gifting this adrenaline junkie with one of many highest tandem skydives on this planet!”

She additionally blogged about melancholy. In a put up from April, Moorthy apologized to readers for going silent and “disappearing for greater than a yr.”

“Between battling the tightening tentacles of melancholy and blustering within the tempest of transferring insanity, I’m afraid social media is taking a again seat??” she wrote.

The couple’s footage indicated they preferred to pose in scenic spots at sundown, which was the final time they had been seen alive.

In an eerie coincidence, one other couple who hiked to Taft Level captured footage of Moorthy previous to her fall, saying she seems within the background of two of their selfies.

Sean Matteson mentioned Moorthy stood out from the gang having fun with sundown on the overlook as a result of her hair was dyed shiny pink. He mentioned she made him just a little nervous as a result of she was near the sting.

“She was very near the sting, however it appeared like she was having fun with herself,” mentioned Matteson of Oakland, California. “She gave me the willies. There aren’t any railings. I used to be not about to get that near the sting. However she appeared comfy. She didn’t look like she was in misery or something.”

The journey recommendation web site MyYosemitePark.com posted a photograph of Taft Level as an example its “unhealthy selfies” checklist, warning vacationers: “Don’t pose on high of an enormous granite drop-off.” It added, “It could solely take a unfastened rock or unhealthy footing to plummet.”

Yosemite spokeswoman Jamie Richards mentioned officers had been investigating the deaths, which may take a number of days.

In India, after a rash of selfie-related deaths, the Tourism Ministry in April requested state authorities officers to safeguard vacationers by putting in indicators in areas the place accidents had occurred declaring them “no-selfie zones.”

Related Press writers Ashok Sharma and Chonchui Ngashangva contributed to this report from New Delhi.

from SpicyNBAChili.com https://www.spicynbachili.com/indian-couple-who-died-in-yosemite-took-risks-for-photos-orange-county-register/

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coreymichaelsmithson · 8 years ago

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Leaps of Faith

This morning, I fell 13,000 feet from an airplane. On purpose.

Skydiving is one of those cliché bucket list activities that lots of people say they're going to try someday, but few adventurers actually ever get around to doing. For years I've been blathering, to anyone who would listen, how much I wanted to jump from an airplane, just once. Deep down inside, though, I wasn't sure if I could ever muster the chutzpah to actually go through with such a thing. I couldn't think of a more terrifying proposition: riding a dinky little prop plane way up into the sky, to a place where the air gets really thin, then falling through thousands of feet of empty space. Forget about the risk of mechanical failure or a bum ripcord … just imagine placing your safety in the hands of the stranger who packed your parachute, hoping that they weren't drunk or high or going through a divorce.

But what is the point of a life lived without bravery? This journey I've been taking through America is more than a road trip; it's a full-bodied leap of faith. And so … if you don't mind me milking the metaphor … it seemed like now was the time, if ever, to buck up and jump.

I made a reservation with an outfit in rural Wisconsin, about an hour east of Minneapolis. At first, I read anxiously through the online reviews, which were almost uniformly positive, but then I realized … if anybody died while parachuting, they certainly didn't post a letter of complaint afterwards, so there may be a natural bias. There was nothing more for me to do than to commit to a date and plunk down the deposit.

I woke up, took a long bath, put on my favorite college tee-shirt, which reads, "MASSART MADE ME FEARLESS", climbed into Pamela, and drove east. Traffic was snarled and tense, with plenty of close calls, and I kept thinking, "Please don't let me die in a traffic accident on the way to dying in a skydiving accident." I arrived early at the little airport, and then went through a seriously demoralizing process of signing liability waivers. The upshot of all this paperwork is that any professional skydiving school needs to be fully cleared of any and all legal responsibility for your survival. I've filled out lots of corporate disclaimers and end-user license agreements, many of which seemed horrendously exploitative, but I have never literally signed my life away like I did this morning. The "safety" video was entirely dedicated to this principle of absolution: skydiving can totally kill your dumb gravity-bound ass, kill it good, and your family can't sue anybody if you splash yourself against the roof of a barn.

I met my tandem instructor, a freckled and beefy jock named DJ. He made a few jokes about this being his first dive, how he hoped he packed the parachute right. This seemed like a well-worn shtick, as did his insistence on calling me "VICTIM" in this pseudo-military way. I wanted to say, "Dude, we might actually die doing this, have some goddamn dignity" but I just held my tongue. As he helped me step into the harness, he muttered something like, "Make sure that your players are in center field." Mystified, I said, "Huh?" … and then he yanked the straps hard against my groin, and I yelped, "GAAAAAHHH, HOT POTATOES", and everything kind of went numb down there. Other jumpers were being paired with their instructors, and strapped up, and a few of them looked pretty pale.

A short time later, we were all walking bow-legged across a grassy field towards the plane, like a dozen John Waynes. The aircraft seemed so small, so fragile, and so ... real. That was the unpressurized vehicle that was gonna take us up there, the same teensy aircraft that we would voluntarily jump out of in just a few minutes. Instead of a hatch, or a regular plane door, it just had a flimsy plastic roll-up, almost like the kind you might see on a toolshed. Inside were two parallel benches, padded and low to the floor, which we all sat astride, facing the tail. My instructor and I were near the cockpit, with his back resting on the co-pilot's seat and me nestled up against him. We would be the last pair to jump. It seemed oddly intimate, to be leaning against a stranger like this, as if we were snuggling at an outdoor concert.

The plane taxied towards the runway, which was the same grassy field we would (hopefully) land on later. I looked out the plastic window at some dandelions, and thought, "Gosh, I really like dandelions. I don't want to die." We took off, at a steep angle, and climbed swiftly towards our drop altitude. As the ground fell away, DJ's attitude changed. He lost the "yah, brah" persona, like a snake shedding its skin, and became very gentle, sweet, and reassuring. He held me tight, adjusted all our straps one last time, and whispered near my neck that it was going to be just fine. I guess being literally tied to another dude will force a man to re-evaluate his stance on hugging.

Finally, we reached our altitude. The foremost jumper rolled up the door, and there it was: a big blue rectangle of atmosphere. I felt strangely calm, and slightly euphoric, and I wondered if I was suffering the effects of oxygen deprIvation.

DJ asked me, "You ready to do this?" and I gave him the thumbs up.

The first jumper went out, and then the full reality of the situation hit me right in the eyes. When you see footage of people skydiving, it's usually from the perspective of other divers who have already left the plane. It just looks like everybody's happily flying around, waving and grinning like idiots, their clothes flapping in a strong breeze. But from the inside of the plane, it's a different matter altogether: the jumpers just … drop. Well, maybe "drop" isn't the right word. They plummet. It looked alarmingly fast, alarmingly irreversible, and it was bewildering to witness. Since we would be the last pair to leave, I had to watch everybody else step into that blue rectangle and "SHOOP!" right out of sight. My guts started to churn, and my hands trembled.

"Fuck," I said.

"What's that?" said DJ.

"Fuck," I repeated, with a little more urgency, but he either couldn't hear me or decided to ignore me. It was our time. There was no turning back now. We scooted forward on the bench, which was a very awkward motion for two big conjoined men to manage, and then we assumed a crouching position right before the opening.

Since nobody was waiting behind us, I wanted to take a slight pause at the threshold, just a brief moment where I could close my eyes, focus, and acknowledge the significance of what was happening. I was forty-three years old, lost in America, homeless (again), living out of my car, and conquering my fear by jumping out of an airplane. DJ was … well, DJ was getting paid to do what he loved. Two strangers, some four hundred pounds of clumsily bundled man-meat, were about to take a 13,000-foot step together.

I was silently murmuring a prayer, some deep heartfelt shit like, "I just want to take this opportunity to -" but then DJ hurled us both forward, and out we went.

The first few seconds were truly terrifying, but not in the way that I expected them to be. Probably not in the way that any first-time jumper expects them to be.

Try to remember the last time you fell. Maybe you slipped on some ice, or missed a stair, or dropped off a tree branch. That sensation of falling lasts only an instant, and then you usually slam against something: a sidewalk, or tombstone, or your prom date. Now, stretch out that feeling, stretch it way out, and imagine there is nothing there for your hands to grab.

Nothing but air.

This terror only lasts for a few seconds, though. Once you reach terminal velocity … in our case, with air resistance and the pilot chute flapping behind us, about 120 miles per hour … you just can't fall any faster. The feeling of dropping changes, remarkably abruptly, into something unexpected: a sense of floating. The air that's been rushing past your ears suddenly becomes air pushing against your torso. You open yourself up, creating more resistance, until you are fully face down and spread-eagled, your body seemingly supported from below by a column of cold but cushy wind. You know how good it feels to stick your hand out a car window on the freeway? Distribute that feeling over your entire body. It's oddly peaceful, to fly like this. It takes surprisingly little time to get adjusted to the feeling, and then you can begin to really absorb what's happening around you.

I could see the curvature of the earth. The farms were a patchwork of squares and rectangles, brown and green and yellow, much like they usually look when you're a passenger in an airplane … except that the shapes were getting bigger and bigger by the second, and the earth wasn't just a pretty abstraction moving below me.

"That's Wisconsin," I said, flapping my hand towards the ground.

"WHAT'S THAT?" yelled DJ.

"WISCONSIN!" I yelled back, probably spitting into his goggles.

He tapped me on the shoulder, the signal to prepare for deployment. I barely had time to grab the loops of my harness when we were suddenly jerked upright. The shock of deceleration knocked the wind out of me, and my jewels were once again squeezed mercilessly by the thigh straps. And then, we were gliding, magically, through the sky.

The parachuting component of the jump was, in contrast to the high drama of what preceded it, wonderfully relaxing. Save for the growing discomfort in my crotch, it was one of the most serene moments of my entire life. The most surprising thing was the total silence … you don't realize how loud life on the ground is until you are far away from it. From there we heard no birds, no traffic, no trees rustling. Nothing. It was the quietest five minutes imaginable. DJ whispered softly into my ear, "Look, Corey, there's Minneapolis," and he pointed towards some hazy grey outlines on the horizon. We could see smoke rising from a large wildfire nearby, and the sun glinting off of windmills, and the squiggly parallel lines left in the soil by tillers.

DJ gave me the two steering handles, and showed me how to tilt us this way and that. After about thirty seconds, though, he took them back, and said, "So, I gotta correct our course. This is going to be a little scary, okay?"

"Oh?" I had just fallen out of an airplane, so I wasn't sure what "scary" meant anymore.

"Yeah. I want you to hang on real tight. Whatever you do, don't look down." Then he yanked hard on one of the handles.

"But what's going to - AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

He pulled us into a tight corkscrew, turning and descending so rapidly that I thought I would pass out from the sheer spiraling intensity of it all.

Then, thankfully, we leveled out, now much closer to the ground. I spotted the drop-zone, the field full of bright yellow dandelions, and the shadows of the other parachutists. I could see Pamela waiting for me in the parking lot, and as the ground rushed up to meet us, I thought, "Already?"

Our landing was gentle, if a bit undignified … we lifted our legs, DJ masterfully controlled the canopy to slow us down, and our asses bounced a few times against the grass. The other staff members rushed forward to disconnect us from our chute, which would otherwise drag us backwards across the lawn. DJ unhooked himself, I stood shakily on my feet, back on terra firma, and it was really over.

For the whole day, I've been closing my eyes and reliving that critical moment on the plane, where I had to decide whether or not to go through with this insane leap of faith. If I hadn't given the thumbs up, if I hadn't mustered up the courage to go through with it, I would have missed out on one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. It was the same thing when I decided to go to India, it was the same thing when I decided to take this trip across America … I will be forever grateful for having taken the plunge. I'll carry the memory of falling over Wisconsin for the rest of my days: how its silos sparkled like jewels in the morning sun, how our planet's atmosphere seemed to be cushioning my fall. Sometimes you just have to "screw your courage to the sticking-place", as Shakespeare said, and take a real big scary leap … that's when you'll always get the best views. So, my friend, when the opportunity presents itself to risk everything for a single moment of grace, I urge you to be brave … trust your parachute, gulp down your dread, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and step unafraid into the wide welcoming sky.

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