Preston Salazar 🚑🚁 Poe Dameron (poedontdoit) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-11-15 22:42:00 |
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For as long as Preston had been flying, it was second nature to him. Pre-check was a breeze - the weather was nice, clear skies as far as he could see. Doug was in his harness, strapped in behind him and panting as he happily stared out the window. The handler on the ground nearby gave him a thumbs up and waved him off, and Preston threw a salute in his direction as the helicopter lifted off the ground. This was his favorite part of any day. Whether he was flying his rebuilt R44 or the 6-million-dollar Life Flight - both gave him a euphoria he couldn’t describe in mere words. The calm that settled in his chest was there even if there was someone clinging to life in the back - because they couldn’t connect the job to panic. One moment of panic, one wrong move, and he’d be putting everyone in the air in danger. But now it was just him and Doug, and that peaceful quiet settled in the cockpit, ambient sounds wrapping around him like a blanket. He didn’t have to close his eyes for the wave of familiarity to roll over him, and his breath caught in his throat as he suddenly was elsewhere. The cockpit felt smaller, somehow, and more closed in. The windows all around his head didn’t leave much room for anything other than a fractic glance around. Gone was the clear skies and open air, replaced with the darkness of space. The ambient noise was replaced with silence, though a frantic beeping in his ear brought Poe back to reality. “Fuck--” Preston’s eyes snapped open as Doug’s tongue licked a long stripe along the side of his face, jolting him out of the daydream. The helicopter had dipped down slightly, enough that the normally non-existent panic shot up in his chest and he pulled it back up with a sharp gasp of air. “Fuck fuck fuck--” When he got things righted, Preston unclenched and slumped against the seat, breathing heavily. “BB-8, you-” When he realized what he’d just said, his mouth clamped shut mid-sentence. There was no robot in the back, no X-Wing surrounding him. Space was out of reach and his brain was going a mile-a-minute, and his heart wasn’t far behind. “Kriff.” |