#thank you for this one mav

[anhonest-puck]

SOMEBOADY SEDATE MEEEEEEEE ☹️☹️

(aka., neil finding something else to be mentally ill about.)

[shit-sorry-fuck-mybad]

Give me widower Mav who has come to terms with his husband’s death and now gets to make jokes and comments about it which makes people uncomfortable while he finds it hilarious pls

As someone who lost their father a long time ago I have reached that point where I can make jokes and comments and like to my close friends it’s funny but to someone I don’t know it’s… strange cause they don’t know how to react and it’s truly a small moment of absolute joy cause they make it weirder than it needs to be

Here is what I mean:

Fanboy: Hi Mav! I like your hoodie!

Mav: thanks, it belonged to my dead husband

Fanboy:

Mav: he’s not gonna use it so

…

Hangman, pointing at the ring on Mav’s dog tags: you’re married?

Mav: I was, but sadly he died on a terrible accident

Hangman: oh I’m sorry—

Mav: I’m kidding, he didn’t die on an accident

Hangman: oh thank god I thought I—

Mav: he died of cancer

…

Mav: my husband used to hate this movie

Phoenix: what made him change his mind?

Mav: oh he didn’t, he just died

…

Mav: I miss my husband

Coyote: why, where is he?

Mav: I want to say heaven but he was a weird man so honestly I don’t know

…

Cyclone: Maverick where is the paperwork I asked for

Mav: oh I’m sorry? I was mourning the death of my husband, in case you hadn’t noticed, the audacity, I cannot believe you would come for a widower like this—

[compacflt]

the thought of icemav celebrating christmas together makes me a bit crazy. what do they give each other???

usually nothing . That’s kind of a big deal. in the 80s/90s they’d (reluctantly) celebrate Christmas with carole and bradley (who took that shit kinda seriously) so they wouldn’t really do anything by themselves. Maybe go out for a nice clandestine dinner just cause. After Carole dies and Bradley’s papers get pulled from the academy, ice’s low key newfound interest in celebrating christmas is one of his many many ways to try and normalize relations between him & maverick and try to improve their relationship in the conspicuous absence of the rest of their family. but yes he does make an effort—as does mav—to take advantage of holiday time to be with him as often as possible so, though their schedules don’t always line up, after 2006 they spend about 3/4 xmases together

Ice has very few hobbies besides a.) lovingly working on his cars & plane and b.) reading, so he is exceptionally easy to shop for (as most hobbyless men are): nice tie pins, cufflinks, those unnecessarily expensive hardcover books about weird random topics you find in airport bookstores, fountain pens, nautical /aeronautical themed paperweights, nice leather watchbands etc. highbrow rich guy stuff

Maverick has sooooo many stupid little hobbies that each last between 4-6 months so he is ridiculously hard to shop for— “i thought you were into woodworking so i got you some tools :)!” “uh no that was in April. im trying to learn how to make wallets now” :( so mostly if ice ever gets him anything it’s usually just an expensive dinner date in the city or cash in a blank card or a blank signed check for airplane parts for the next year. Buy whatever you want idc <3

any and all gifts are given with extremely little fanfare PLEASE don’t make it a big deal… hidden around the house with a little “merry xmas!” note attached, or shoved into each others suitcases pre-leaving-for-navy-reasons, or unceremoniously dropped into one’s lap while he’s watching tv, “here you go,” “oh, this is nice, thanks!” Et cetera. love language of gifts/acts of service, but, like, very quietly.

[redfurrycat]

Mav, before he made a bet with Ice: CAPT

Mav, after he lost a bet with Ice: VADM

*

Mav: FUCK YOU, ICE.

Ice: 😘

[silvercap]

17 and Chreon!!!!!

:))

Leon's drunk. The world spins around him as he stumbles through the door of his apartment, a hysterical giggle escaping him when he slams into the frame and spills out across the floor like a sack of potatoes. He thinks he hits his head, but it doesn't hurt and he's closing the door with his boot a moment later, so all's well that ends well. The stability of the cold hardwood is nice, and Leon sighs, fumbling for his flask. If only he could stop thinking for once. His last mission had been a total wreck, and it seems that no amount of alcohol is enough to drive away the lingering melancholy and guilt that plagues him like a shadow. He's fucked up too many times; gotten one too many good people killed, and he can't take it anymore. It's the same thing every single time.

He needs a distraction.

"Wanna fuck?" he slurs the moment Chris answers his call, grinning up at the ceiling. "I'm in town again. Last time didn't go so hot, but I wanna apologize, and---"

"Are you drunk?" Chris demands, and Leon imagines him frowning his telltale Redfield scowl at the phone. He laughs.

"Yeah, maybe. Offer still stands."

Chris's sigh is heavy on the other end of the line, but his voice is warm when he responds.

"Yeah, I'll come over."

Leon doesn't remember the rest of the conversation, and when he comes back to himself he's hunched over the toilet, vomiting as someone strokes the back of his neck soothingly.

"Shit," he moans, shivering. His leather jacket has gone missing, and he blinks in confusion, struggling to remember what he'd last been doing.

"Better?" Chris's voice rumbles, and Leon fights the dizziness to look up at his worried face. "Let's get you to bed, huh?"

Bed. Chris. Leon suddenly remembers what he'd been doing, and he leans in when Chris helps him up by the arm, nuzzling the space between his muscular shoulder and jaw.

"S'nice to see you again," he mumbles, eyes closing as he inhales the familiar clean scent of Chris's soap and cologne. Honestly, he could just stay like this for the rest of the night, but Chris came here for a reason and he intends to follow through. He drops to his knees, hands on Chris's thighs. "This okay?"

"Leon." Chris sounds faintly horrified. He's not sure why.

He's back on his feet before he knows it, Chris all but dragging him out of the bathroom and into the hazy mess of colors he knows must be his apartment. The bed is soft beneath him when he collapses into the mattress, and he's vaguely aware of blankets being drawn over his body. When he can focus again, Chris is sitting on the edge of the bed beside him, a gentle hand stroking through his hair. A lump forms in his throat.

"We can talk in the morning," Chris says softly, leaning down to press a kiss to Leon's forehead. "But for now, you should get some sleep, okay?"

Leon's not even sure why he's crying, but when Chris stands to leave he lashes out with a hand, clumsily grabbing hold of his wrist.

"Stay?" he begs, and Chris leans down to kiss him again.

"Of course."

[actuallyitsstar]

CHARACTER ASK GAME

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell + 21, 24 and 25?

✨ send me a number and a character! ✨

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

i actually already answered this question here, so i will give an honorary mention for this ask, in addition: i am a big fan of the whole tgm-mav-lowkey-being-the-daggers'-friends'-cool-dad trope. like. the idea that they get to know him after the mission and he's obviously taken a genuine interest in all of them and their wellbeing so they all just...stay in touch. the idea that the call and check up on him when they know rooster is deployed, that they start to leave a few extra things at mav's place because he usually hosts their squad movie nights and it's just easier to crash there sometimes, that they realize he doesn't have many people to spend the holidays with now outside of obviously bradley, and they all come together and drag him to a surprise christmas party with them before they go on their own leave for their respective family christmases. that's their emotional support old navy captain and if u wanna mess w him u gotta get thru 11 daggers and 1 son first so good luck!!!

that being said, tho, it can go too far i think, if we're not careful. barring a couple specific circumstances (jake and whatever fucked up childhood/non-existent parental relationships he has had comes to mind) the daggers all have families of their own, and entire lives before meeting mav. i don't think he's like. their DAD per se. he's their friends' cooler than expected dad ('your dad is an ace? that's so cool! i wonder if he has any stories to tell us! he once flipped off a mig while inverted? THATS SO COOL') that they can become friends with and look out for too, and i KNOW he'll be looking out for them. if they need anything he's right there, because that is within his nature. but for the most part, they're all adults who have friendships, and not like. Extra Children. if you know what i mean. except for jake idk i think he needs a role model or something but i guess that makes mav a secret third thing to him idk

24. what other character from another fandom reminds you of them?

oof that is tough!! i think that on most levels, mav is very different from the characters in other fandoms that i have imprinted on the most, so i'm not going to be able to do a 1:1 comparison here. but believe it or not the very first character that came to mind for me is ezra standish from the magnificent seven tv series, and it's not an exact match but i'm just going to provide my presentation on the matter (i am specifically comparing tg86 mav with ezra bc i have no one to compare tgm mav with lol):

horrible quality images (yes i did make these gifs but theyre very old so lets not talk about it lol) bc this is an obscure 1990s b-budget tv show shot on vhs probably. but this guy right here is either the second or third youngest member of his found family group (the seven ~lawmen~ a local circuit judge hires to manage an old west territory because it's so dangerous the sheriff and deputy he'd previously appointed ran out on the job). he's very accomplished at what he does, for his age, and has had way too many shitty life experiences and is much too world-weary already. everyone who works with him comes into it with a preconceived notion of how he's going to be. and how could they not? it isn't that the other six guys are short-sighted in assuming, exactly. ezra is direct about who he is and what he stands for, downright in your face about it, actually. you expect him to be kind of an arrogant asshole, and he tells you he's gonna be one. and then, for a while anyway, he kind of is.

loner type, doesn't need anyone, he's going to do everything his way because he knows best, needlessly theatrical about it in the process. they expect him to run out on them during their battle, and he does.... kind of. but he also comes through for them in a critical moment when he's needed most and they least expect him to do it, single-handedly taking out multiple enemies to save their lives. immediately, he adopted into the group, essentially, but ezra doesn't know enough about really having friends to recognize that it's happening until much later. additionally, his entire life and livelihood is overshadowed by his mother (who can be seen sitting in the bg of the larger gif), who is still very much alive, in his case, but whose actions and words define him, whether he wants them to or not. he had a shitty childhood bouncing between a hundred strangers' and distant family members' homes alike and is just overflowing with abandonment issues, and he expects the other six to give up on him at the drop of a hat, but they never do.

25. what was your first impression of this character? how about now?

the very first time i ever saw top gun was before tgm was ever a thing. i remember my favorite character being goose (isnt he always tho <3) and thinking mav was kind of a bland action hero guy with a story arc i did not understand at all or care about. i was like fifteen, tho, and hadn't seen hardly any movies or tv shows at the time because i had a kind of weird sheltered from media sort of childhood, so i don't think i had rly learned HOW to watch and interpret media and characters yet, tbh. when the sequel was coming out i rewatched top gun with my partner in preparation bc my parents were making me watch the new one, and they had never seen it. i was like oh !!! he's smol and traumatized. i bet there's fic about him and that blonde guy. i should look that up later. and then we watched tgm and that was it for me. i was like never mind him and that blonde guy i need to know if hIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS SON TURNS OUT OK......MY HEART..... and that was that lol. my dna has not been the same since <3

[abirddogmoment]

I'm so, so deeply sorry. Thank you for sharing Mav with us, he was a streak of bright light across the stars. I hope he and Layla somehow recognize each other and sniff the grass together with joy.

What was Maverick's favorite way to be petted and/or cuddle? Did he "talk" or bark to communicate with you? What was your dinner time routine? What was your bedtime routine?

Thank you, I'm so sorry about Layla as well ❤

Mav liked to have his face held, he liked to chin rest and would lie around with his face on me. It was extremely cute.

When he was ready to wake up and I was still asleep, he would curl up as my little spoon and slowly stretch out more and more until I woke up.

Mav would grumble out the window at cats or rabbits (and I would usually go look and agree with him). He would sometimes groan or make throat noises at me if there was something he really wanted (like during the time changes when dinner is an hour late), and he would bark in his sleep a lot. But he was otherwise a pretty quiet dog, he mostly just stared and sighed or stared and pointedly nose poked me.

Dinner routine: I'd get home from work 4:30-5pm and walk him. We'd do some training (usually obedience or nosework) for about 10 mins, and then he'd get his kibble in a ball or snuffle mat. He would also get some wet slop after his kibble to give him his painkillers and he really loved that.

Bedtime routine: I'd walk him around the block, then he would go into the living room to find his stuffy. I would brush my teeth etc and go find him in the living room and pretend to steal his stuffy. He would play-guard it, I would "give up", and he would trot a victory trot into bed. He'd been sleeping on the floor until it cools down but moved onto the bed in the middle of the night.

[mollysails]

i saw the first top gun film the other day and I must say, in my humble opinion, the most unrealistic part about that film is the fact that they’re constantly trying to sell you that maverick pulls more bitches than goose

[antrunner]

@thwackk 's OC 😈😈😈 I LIKE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pollyna]

slooserole modern au, ig era.

[chradi]

*Tears down door* I GOT TO PLAY A DISGUSTING FLESH EATER FOR A ONE-SHOT

[playstationmademe]

TRAGIC HORROR TROPES

Tagged by @florbelles and @simonxriley to drag some of my OCs through this uquiz! Thank you lovelies! 💜💜

Tagging @cybersmallz @nightwingshero @verai-marcel, @slothssassin and anyone else who wants to try! 💜💜

The Harbinger

the harbingers have been through fire. you've got the scars to show for it. some people say harbingers are jaded- scary, even, to people who don't understand that the harbinger has seen the edge of the world and survived it. but being the harbinger means you're cursed to watch younger, brighter eyes fall for the same traps you did. trying to help isn't enough for you; you know what they're getting themselves into, and you want to protect them the way no one ever protected you, so why won't they just listen? it's frustrating. it's terrifying. no one should have to live through what you did, and i hope you know that you can't protect everyone but it's damn noble of you to try. it's not your job to save the world but i hope you know you've already made a difference to everyone who has taken your words to heart.

The Werewolf

there's something inside a werewolf that's sharp, thorns and barbs coiling up in tight knots of vine even on their best days. halfway through a conversation, you'll forget your happiness and the pain comes back in a flash. you never meant to, but the sharpness has done harm on your behalf. it's defensive. it's leftover artillery from a battle you spent so long fighting that it still doesn't feel like it's truly over, does it? you want so badly to be soft. to take the hand that you are offered instead of baring your teeth. and it might be hard to believe, but you are soft. you're the softest one out there. it'll just take a while to untangle those vines enough to know that very little is often life-or-death, and not everything touches to hurt.

The One Who Opened the Door

you turn the door handle. you call out, "who's there?" and the crowd has the audacity to groan, to get frustrated with you. as if the gift of hindsight was something you had. how the hell were you supposed to know you were born into a horror movie? no one bothered to tell you. say, if instead this was an action film, or a fantasy, would they still be telling you how silly of a mistake it was to press further on your quest? they would've commended you for your bravery. you thought you were going to be saving a princess in a tower, not getting stabbed in the back by a killer in the shadows. how is that fair? it isn't, and none of that was ever your fault. it is not wrong to believe things are good. your trust, your optimism, it shouldn't ever be mistaken for ignorance or stupidity. we need more people who open doors. how else are any of us gonna move forward?

[compacflt]

I just wanted to say as someone who has stumbled across your blog and has read your Wednesday wips and posts about anything topgun related that your thought process and consideration of mav and ice, specifically their political beliefs and relationships with their own identities, is honestly so impressive and cool. You have brought such realism and life to these characters which is just so refreshing to see. idk i just wanted to express how cool and awesome i think that is

Because of the thought into these characters does it make it difficult to like them or understand them if you have differing opinions from them? for me personally i feel like if i were to ever actually have a convo with ice or mav regarding identity politics i would actually start to lose my mind (like how one feels when your dad or fun uncle talks for too long at thanksgiving dinner). If it does make them difficult to like, does that make it difficult for you to write them sometimes?

oh yeah! i think, my ice i really empathize with & really love & really could get along with, once he grows out of the sexism of his teens & twenties, but my maverick drives me crazy. someone sent in an ask a while ago that was like “WHY is cyclone simpson your one true love??” And it’s because i too would absolutely hate maverick & hate working with him lol. people who are overly cocky & un-self-aware & a bit self-centered make me CRAZY. (narrator voice: compacflt is a hypocrite as all these things also apply to compacflt.)

Politically… It’s difficult to say. no one really wants to hear the intricacies of one person’s political journey, which is why i won’t give you mine, but suffice to say—since the start of the russian invasion of Ukraine, and my semi-concerted effort to learn more about the political landscape of modern warfare, my own personal beliefs have shifted a whole bunch. definitely aided in that shift by my top gun fic project that specifically aims to understand the conservative straight-passing male mindset as it relates to military matters… there are many end goals to a project like mine, but one end product is a filter you can take away and hold up in front of your eyes and see the world through it. When writing from the eyes of a conservative straight (passing) white man, your priorities totally shift. I had to write from the perspective of someone who doesn’t care about identity politics. Because they don’t! A core tenet of conservatism is very proudly not caring about that stuff, and being very annoyed when people (usually left-of-centers) make that stuff very visible and want you to care about it! “Don’t shove it in my face,” etc., etc. Don’t force me to care about this taboo, private thing I really don’t care about. It violates my freedoms, or whatever, to be forced to care—or even bear witness to—stuff that i don’t care about. Etc. And then, to be nominally a part of that community that you really, really don’t care about, and then to be told that you have to care about it because of your publicity… people asking you to be proud of something that has had a negative connotation for much of your entire life… that’s not a transformation that happens easily.

Jesus, I could write an essay about this. I have, several times by now in responses to asks over my blog. But there is so much that I could talk about. I think… I really worry that some of my writing falls into the first of the below categories:

I really try not to romanticize conservatism in my writing—I tried to show that ice and mav’s happiness is the price they pay for their conservatism. They’re actively choosing to be unhappy—but because they prioritize their honor over everything, due to EXTERNAL PRESSURES they cannot control, and which I think are often ignored in the fandom space for one reason or another. The fact of the matter is, in 99% of IPs, characters prioritize something other than their sexualities. It’s never Maverick’s personal identity that is at stake in either Top Gun or Top Gun: Maverick, because he has built himself so impermeably masculine that there are no grounds upon which to question his personal identity. He just isn’t thinking about it. He’s thinking about how to get into Charlie’s pants, how to win the Top Gun trophy, how to uphold his promise to Goose, et cetera. If he’s fucking guys on the side, it’s because he wants to and because hes maverick and he does what he wants without thinking about it—that’s the whole point of his character, from a story-construction standpoint. That’s his archetype. He’s a renegade maverick superstar who is both thoughtlessly brilliant and thoughtlessly dangerous. He’s thoughtless. His priorities are to survive and to look cool doing it, and that’s it. He is a savant in the Naval Air Force, where honor is your lifeblood, who feels he has been dishonored by his own family name, and who willingly joined the conservative post-Vietnam Navy right when/after Ronald Reagan was elected President, and who wears cowboy boots and who disrespects women to their faces, and who is eager to get into altercations with Soviet-Chinese-DPRK-X-second-world-country-coded-but-EXPLICITLY-Soviet-manufactured-Mikoyan-Gurevich-MiG-28s(-F-5s-painted-black)… I’m sorry. In my opinion, the conservatism is baked into him as a character. I find it extremely difficult to separate him from his conservatism, because in some ways his patriotic conservatism is his raison d’etre. IMO if you take that away from him, he ceases to exist.

Same thing with Ice and his unwillingness to openly rebel or go against the grain. That is his whole reason to exist in the story at all. I know that I’m saying this in a fandom space where the whole point is to change characters & put them in different situations (fanfic) but… in kind of a perverse self aware way, as in I know I sound ridiculous and pretentious, i guess i don’t really understand an impulse to change the core tenets of a character irreparably in fanworks. We are shown that ice always goes by the books in TG. Then we are shown that he achieves the fruits of that labor (four stars) in TGM. So he is rewarded for never rebelling, whereas Maverick, who always rebels (but NEVER in a way that challenges his personal identity), has stagnated in the ranks at full-bird O-6. And that’s Ice’s character. That’s what he’s there for in the story—he’s a tool to show us the value system of rank and prestige you earn by following the rules of the Navy. Why take that away from him? That’s his priority! Canonically, that’s his priority and reason for existence! And historically the way to achieve that priority is through conservatism.

And you ask me if it’s hard to like my ice and mav. Yes, but that’s not my choice. The movie already did that for me. They are not, I’m sorry, likable people. I am not a straight white conservative male writing about straight white conservative men to validate my own beliefs—I’m a queer AFAB person of color writing about straight white conservative men because I want to understand the limits of their conservatism. What they do and do not care about, and what it takes to make them care. And from what we are shown in TG… ice and mav would not care about ME. At all. And they would not want to be forced to care about me. Ice’s casual careless dismissiveness… “the plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies’ room…” mav following Charlie into the bathroom… turning the key in the ignition and driving away while pretending not to hear her… “what?? i can’t hear you! 🙉” … they do not care. They have no desire to care.

Again. Maybe I subscribe to a very very old-school and labored and pretentious ideology when it comes to writing… I know a lot of people write just to have fun. I do not. I wish i could, but I don’t. And when you’re not writing to have fun, you don’t have to like the characters you’re writing about. They’re nothing more than tools at your disposal to get your point across more effectively. No, I don’t like them! Of course not! My ice is cruel and cowardly and careless and hypocritical and subservient and weak, and my mav is demanding and dangerous and dismissive and oblivious and so, so, so unbelievably bitter.

And that’s what my story needed, to get my point across. So, shrug. My point was my priority. I don’t care too much about the characters themselves.

Re: icemav & identity politics. Part of hopefully selling this story is the attempt at empathy for the conservative male, to bring this discussion back to the top. Why write fiction at all if you’re not going to write about people different from you, and why write about people different from you if you don’t want to understand them? So… part of trying to understand them was to understand and have empathy for this shift in priorities. Conservative guys do not want to care about labels, or sexual orientations, or, God forbid, discussion of their gender identities. I can kind of see Ice tolerating it by the end… but, there are limits. Again, it’s supposed to be private. I think he’d chafe against getting labeled gay—he wouldn’t want to be called the first gay compacflt, or SECNAV, etc. He can’t say, “i slept with like a hundred fifty women before I even MET the ONLY man ive ever slept with,” because that’s like intensely private personal information!! No one deserves that information, but people still want to call him gay, even though in his head he really is not!!!! Again—from the conservative perspective, it’s a public imposition of left-wing, overly sexualized, too-neat labels and politics onto an area of life that has typically been kept private and respectable—I don’t agree with the conservatism, but I can at least empathize with it. Pre-Maverick’s death (pre-coming to terms with it), it would’ve been shameful & embarrassing to him; but even after coming to terms with it, it’s still not something he “takes pride” in. I think he thinks of it like this—most people aren’t proud of being straight. Like, it’s weird if you are. Same thing with being proud of being white, etc. Why be excessively proud of things you have no control over? Why not take pride in your ACTIONS—for instance, his career that he has actively sacrificed so much of his pride for? I can really empathize with that thought. I don’t necessarily agree, but I get it, especially in his professional circumstances, where he has so much to be professionally proud of, and yet people keep wanting him to publicly care about this private part of him he has no control over and can’t change.

Maverick though. I think he’d be actively hostile about talking about it in public. He Does Not Care. he does not want to care. It’s all an insult. They call him the first openly gay Ace cause he’s married to another man— “okay, but, like, I’m not. Stop calling me that. Neither of us are. Oh my god we have slept with so many women. Stop calling us that.” Ok then what do you want us, the press corps, to call you? First openly bisexual Ace? “No that’s worse!! That’s a word some teenager made up and doesn’t mean anything!! I’m sixty years old stop asking me to talk about this stuff im too old.” What do you have to say to LGBT kids who want to go into the navy? “😎👍 there’s a place for you etc etc. Let’s go back to talking about all the planes I shot down.” Maverick does what he wants without thinking about it. That’s the core tenet of his character. Very conservative. Don’t ask him to care too much.

Idk. No I don’t like them. But I understand them, if that makes sense. Like their conservative anti-label logic does make emotional sense to me. So that’s part of what I took away from this project, for better or worse… probably worse: I understand why conservatives don’t like the modern over-publicity of sexuality. They don’t care and they don’t want to care. And because they are small-C conservative, my ice and mav still don’t care lol. So, yeah. It doesn’t make them hard to write, because thats why I wanted to write them in the first place.

[redfurrycat]

My GOD Red, you are like a top-tier Museum Curator of Fanfiction <3<3<3 Those fic rec lists you make are the greatest things ever :):):):) (I just bookmarked a whole bunch of Cowboy!Jake ones from the list you made :) - I Bookmark instead of 'Marking for Later' because if I mark them for later I will, ironically, forget about them :P whereas the Bookmarks are right there on the dashboard on your profile)

anyway, YOU ARE AMAZING I LOVE YOU HOW DO YOU HAVE THE TIME TO FIND/READ ALL THESE???

HEY!!! 🤗

"Top-Tier Museum Curator of Fanfiction"

OMG. Do you think I can write that down on my CV?! This is the best achievement ever. Who cares about diplomas and previous work experiences?

THIS. This is the best thing EVER!!! =D

Thank you for telling me this. <3

I'm glad you find them useful, and more importantly, that you find fics to add to your reading list. There are SO many wonderful content out there. I'm humbly trying to offer another way of finding and consuming the goodies. I've used so many recs lists for previous fandoms... So I'm more than happy to do it for the TG/M fandom (or like for the Hangster ship in particular...although I have plans to extend my work to several other ships as well).

Whatever works for you!! As long as you can find the stories easily, it's not important how you organise your library! :D (I'm going all in: open tabs, marked for later, word document, bookmarks, phone notes.... xD)

GOOD JESUS. No way. I don't have time to read all the recs before actually reccing them. No way, nope.... You know I still have some marked for later fics that were published at the very beginning of the Hangster fandom? And people keep creating content, so it's hard to keep track of my to-read sometimes.... (By that I mean, keep writing wonderful writers, KEEP WRITING! <3)

Now, I DO spend a lot of time finding and organising fics. Like A LOT of time...👀 I rarely read the fics for pleasure when I'm in 'reccing' mode. Instead, I'm using my super awesome research tricks in order to create a helpful (at least, I hope it is) repository of TG stories. (It's often way too elaborate the way I do it, but whatever, I have no chills whatsoever.)

You're a sweetheart for sending me this ask, I appreciate. <3

Love you too & enjoooooy the goodies! :D

🐈💕

*

You can find the Masterrecslist HERE.

(I'm also in the process of reorganising the post for better navigation, so expect a big update at some point in the future.)

[oh-great-authoress]

Okay, summary of the blog. *cracks knuckles* Let's see here...

Top Gun

Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

Star Wars!!! (Huzzah Ben Solo!)

Amazing fics! (I need moooorrrreeeee!)

LOTR and more Top Gun?

Where even is the lie?

This is completely accurate.

Also, the fact that my fics made the summary—I am screaming

[actuallyitsstar]

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw + 5, 12, and 24? (Ok, that's all😆)

✨ send me a number and a character! ✨

5. what's the first song that comes to mind when you think of them?

when i first started writing time takes no prisoners i had like, VERY RECENTLY seen tgm for the first time and i didn't rly have much of a playlist to write to. it was kind of like 4 songs on loop lol. i've already talked to you about this song but by sheer force of pavlovian conditioning, it's got to be kids by the midnight. however, since that's not new information, i'll share a runner up instead that was also on that playlist of like four songs when i first started writing ttnp: everything i own by bread. the one big thing mav and bradley have in common with each other is their grief, and originally i added this song to the playlist with mav in mind, but after hearing it all the way through again i decided this was very bradley coded.

it does really make me think of bradley about mav during the fight, like, a lot (nobody else could ever know / the part of me that can't let go. and also is there someone you know you're loving them so / but taking them all for granted? you may lose them one day / something takes them away / and they don't hear the words you long to say).

there's also something to be said about goose and the inescapable trauma of having a dead father that everyone else seemed to have a bigger piece of than you, and the way goose's memory was taught to bradley through the people he still had (mom, mav, the flyboys) and their memory of goose's love for them. in a way, it means goose really did teach bradley to go all in on the ones he loves, doesn't it? he got that bradshaw over-protectiveness from his mom, and from goose, too, even if he learned it second hand. (you taught me how to love / what it's of / you never said too much / but still you showed the way / and i knew from watching you) but it also reminds me a lot of his grief over losing his mother (you sheltered me from harm / kept me warm / you gave my life to me / set me free).

and i think these (losing goose, losing carole, then losing mav) really are the three most defining events in bradley's life, and that bradley is a very all-or-nothing sort of person. if he's in your corner, he's in your corner (phoenix for example, mav later) and if he's not, you're enemies. (hangman. mav during the fight). so, i think the concept of giving everything you own for someone is very him <3 and he's been burdened with so much loss. i think he is that desperate and that lonely. he did kind of try to give everything for mav, didn't he? he was willing to die for him. he was in mav's corner all along <3

12. what's a headcanon you have for this character?

idk if this is a hot take but bradley is like...... just a little bit of a himbo. he is moving through life at his own pace and he is overthinking everything with all that anxiety, but not in a practical way. this man uses 18-in-1 toiletries exclusively and does not have a skincare routine. i don't mean like, oh, he doesn't use serums. i mean he's in the shower like 'oh the runoff from this combination shampoo-conditioner-body wash-shaving gel will get my face clean so i don't have to bother with washing that separately'. this man shakes the excess water out of his hair and is lucky enough to be blessed with his mother's curls, so it just sort of.... dries in a shape. he has never intentionally styled it. he does not understand why learning this frustrates people like phoenix and hangman immensely.

he can make eggs and toast and a grilled cheese and heat up a can of soup but that's about it, and it's not because carole didn't try to teach him- but when he was little he had too much energy to stand still and pay attention in the kitchen, and when he was older and shouldering more responsibility, she was too sick to teach him. he makes a mean box of macaroni and cheese. he would know. he's only eaten like 10,000 of them since leaving home ajdhfjfhg.

24. what character from another fandom reminds you of them?

aaaaaa this is a very tough question actually, i don't know if i really have a good answer for it. i almost skipped this one because my answer will be very imperfect, lol, but i have a very very basic option that came to mind and i'm just going to run with it and highlight their (arguably few, though notable) similarities:

this is andy travis from the very old and obscure tv show, wkrp in cincinnati.

some of the information i am about to share about him is disputable because they're a little vague about his backstory but i used to write for this fandom a lot so i Have Decided What's True lol

he's a huge perfectionist, overly cautious until he gains confidence in his abilities and relationships later in the series, and also is actually very caring and friendly. much like bradley, if he is in your corner he's in your corner and he's doing whatever he has to for you. if he's not in your corner- you're enemies.

unfortunately he's not very much in his own corner and he doesn't place much value on himself outside of his accomplishments.

he is an orphan who was raised by his aunt and uncle instead. he wanted to do something with his life that they felt was risky and didn't really want him doing, but he was determined that it was the only thing he wanted in life, and he measures his worth as an individual by practically making himself sick with the effort of succeeding.

he's also a himbo with accidentally perfect hair who doesn't understand why people think it's frustrating that he lives like this

he also canonically exercises and punishes himself in other ways instead of actually dealing with his emotions (rooster doing too many push ups on the tarmac 🤝 andy going for runs after work even tho he hates it because hes upset at himself for having no life ot successes)

idk the similarities probably stop here tbh this is the only other overly perfectionist orphan i have ever written for so my pickings were slim ok 😭😭let's not talk about it too much akjdhdjfhfhjf