CHARACTER ASK GAME
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell + 21, 24 and 25?
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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
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WANING MOON – 1. STREET RAT
So, that stray dog that's been terrorizing dumpsters across the neighborhood? Yeah, it's not a dog.
content: young (teenageish) whumpee. abandoned pet whumpee. reluctant caretaker. past starvation. no beta we die like salem's sanity. swearing.
notes: FINALLY STARTING ON THIS BINGO CARD LOL. i mean actually i have several drafts. but actually POSTING something !! also gestures wildly to Moony!! yayy whump series time!!
"Of course," Salem grumbles, her umbrella springing to life above her. Thunder rumbles off in the distance, lightning skittering across the streets. "Of fucking course."
On the one day Asher couldn't give her a ride, she has to walk in the rain. Story of her life.
She spends most of the walk grumbling to herself, stomping through puddles. The chill in the air seeps straight into her bones, even though her hoodie; she scowls, jaw tight to keep her teeth from chattering.
A block from her apartment, she passes by the infamous Creepy Guy Alley— at least, infamous to her and her friends. Salem herself had nearly gotten stabbed here. When a dumpster topples over as she passes, she assumes it's just another titular Creepy Guy, and lays a hand on the pepper spray in her pocket.
There's no creepy guy. Just frantic scuffling. Maybe that dumb stray dog that Asher had been complaining about.
Salem stands there for a few seconds longer than she should, letting the cold sink into her bones. A stray out here in the rain... poor thing was probably starving...
She sighs through her nose and ruffles through her bag. "Hey, little guy," she coos, fishing out her half-finished lunch. The sounds stop short. "Hungry, little buddy?"
Salem scoots forward, carefully waving the sandwich. "Please don't be a raccoon," she says, in that same bright puppy-dog tone.
She reaches the edge of the dumpster, and holds the sandwich out a little further. She clicks her tongue a few times, shuffling forward just a little further—
Oh.
Oh fuck.
A pair of mismatched eyes stare up at her from a dirty, shivering lump of torn fabric. That's a person. He looks younger than her. Oh fuck, she echoes internally.
"You're not a dog," she whispers. Her arm is still outstretched, steadily soaking. "Oh, God." The 'stray dog' has been terrorizing their trash for weeks. This kid's been out here for weeks? She stammers for a few dumb moments, but eventually manages; "Where the hell are your parents?"
The kid blinks at her, wide-eyed, terrified. He's shivering head to toe. Slowly, his eyes unfocusing as he thinks, he shakes his head. Salem's brows furrow.
"O-kay," she mumbles, finally lowering her arm. "No shit. You've been out here for ages." She chews on her bottom lip. "Let's get you out of the trash. Come here, buddy, let's—"
Salem hardly sees him move, but suddenly he's standing in front of her. He's five foot even, maybe, hunched over like some kind of animal. He kinda smells like an animal. Everybody thought he was an animal.
Oh God, the animal in their trash was actually a kid. Fuck.
She shifts the umbrella to cover them both. "Here," she says, handing him the sandwich. "Let's, uh, let's start with that."
He stares at her expectantly. There are bags under his mismatched eyes so dark they look like bruises. His cheeks are sunken. He looks like somebody hollowed him out and filled the empty space with nothing but terror. His teeth are chattering so hard she's certain Asher can hear it from here.
He doesn't eat.
Stammering uselessly for a few moments, Salem nudges his hand again. "That's— that's food, buddy. I'm sorry I tried to give it to you like a dog, but— it's, uh, fair game." He scarves it down like he hasn't eaten in weeks. She tries not to be too freaked out. "Okay," she whispers again.
"My— my apartment is, like, a block that way," she explains, shrugging her jacket from her shoulders. When she reaches to wrap it around him, he flinches so hard he nearly topples over. "Shit— fuck. Sorry. You're shaking like a leaf. This is— well, okay, it's kinda damp. But it'll probably be warmer than—" she gestures to his scrappy sweater, hanging off of him— "that."
He carefully pulls it on. She takes his hand— carefully, trying not to startle him again— and the two of them start off.
. . .
She half-carries him up the stairs, both of them dripping wet. He shakes against her; she rattles from the force of it.
"Stay here for a second," Salem mumbles, sliding her shoes off at the door. "I'm gonna get you something nice and warm to change into. You got a color preference?"
He stares at her like she's grown an extra head.
"I'll take that as a no."
She gets halfway down the hall and stops, turning right back around. The poor kid looks at her like a deer in headlights. He hadn't moved a muscle.
"You..." Salem pauses. He smells like a wet garbage rat, because that's effectively what he was. "You should probably take a shower."
He inches forward. There's something wrong about the way he moves, but Salem can't figure out what exactly it is. She holds out her hand, and he shakily takes it. (It's like holding an ice cube.)
"I'll get the water started and then pop out to get you some clothes. Okay?"
He nods slowly, spacily. "Yes ma'am," he whispers. So he could talk. That would make things easier.
She doesn't make the shower as hot as she normally would. Salem's no medical expert, but she's pretty sure she's read somewhere that putting a cold person into hot water did more harm than good— why was eluding her, but...
"My name is Salem," she says, waiting for the water to warm. "You got a name, kid?"
His arms waver awkwardly and finally settle wrapped around himself. For a long moment, he doesn't respond.
"Moony, ma'am," he manages, finally. Salem decides not to judge.
"Okay, Moony." She very firmly decides not to judge, even though it sounds like something a ten year old would name a dog. Living on the streets had made him physically animalistic, sure, but the name?
She keeps her face carefully neutral. "That warm enough, bud?"
Moony sticks his arm out and tests the water, nodding slowly. "Yes'm."
Salem stands, sighing through her nose. "Alright. I'm gonna go get you some clothes. You can use whatever you want in there, towels are—" She opens a cupboard, only to find it empty. "I'll bring you a towel."
She leaves him to it, clicking the door shut behind her, and sighs. "Fuck," she whispers.
The front door unlocks and swings open. Asher drops his backpack off without even glancing up.
Salem groans. "Double fuck."
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