— // 𝙲𝙻𝙾𝚂𝙴𝙳 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁 ! . . . @shefatales liked!
everyone was still riding off the successful uranium mission. while ryan wasn't a part of it directly, he was still given the opportunity to go on the carrier and watch it all unfold. maybe it was a benefit of being friends with cyclone, or maybe it was just luck. needless to say, he enjoyed being back in it, even if he was still considered a civilian, it brought him back to the early two-thousands before his accident. sure, you never fully leave the navy. he has friendships and memories that will last for the rest of his life. and the past month had given him even more. it was diffucult not to feel sentimental.
they were now back on land. and no surprise, the hard deck was the destination for many involved. a nice little soiree before most head home -- wherever that may be. Ryan had a flight back to Chicago in three days himself. just in time for the summer to end , meaning he had to get ready for the new school year. he had been mingling with some of the pilots, before his brown hues land on maverick. he takes a small drink of his old fashioned with bourbon and decides to join him. he had to admit, he had only heard stories of the other pilot, the good bad and exceptionally ugly. but you couldn't ignore the raw talent that man possessed. despite being in the navy at the same time at the start of the century, they were never on the same mission, so they had not met until this summer.
❝ When I heard you were involved in this mission, I was surprised. but I'm glad you were. ❞ Ryan took a seat next to the pilot. The legacy of "Woodstock" is not even close to Maverick, but he does know that he still has a picture up on the wall at Top Gun since he did graduate top of his glass in 2000. Maybe a few achievements in his six years. However, none of that mattered anymore. ❝ What's next for you? ❞