#The tail fin and ruffles?

[north-winds1]

Rivulet!!

#I'm thinking on who to make next #I just know I want to save Saint for last because of the fur #rain world #rainworld art #slugcat #rainworld #rw spearmaster #rw rivulet #The tail fin and ruffles? #I don't know what it's called but the side of the head things were a pain to make #It just kept breaking #Edit: frills

[dearly-somber]

hyunga’s sleeping | l.mh

-> pairing. idol!minho x non-idol!reader (f)

-> genre. Established relationship, domestic fluff.

-> rating. 13+

-> w/c. 1101

-> warnings. None!

-> a/n. This was fueled by pure, unadulterated Minho & Soon-Doong-Dori (SDD) brainrot.

-> skz drabble, oneshot & series m.list

-> started. Feb. 23rd, 2024 @ 16:51

-> fin. Fri., Mar. 1st, 2024 @ 19:40

-> edited. Sat. Mar. 2nd, 2024 @ 15:40

-> divider credit. @plum98

“Eomoni!”

“Y/N, darling, come in!”

Minho’s mom wraps her arms around your shoulders, pulling you inside with a big smile on her face. She waves you off as you slip out of your shoes and into a pair of bright pink Hello Kitty slippers Minho bought for you as a joke years ago, forcefully prying the bag of goodies you bought on your way here from your fingers.

“I hope I’m not intruding—?”

“Hush!” Mrs. Lee chides with a smile, “Stop worrying so much.” Her hand hovers by the small of your back, guiding you up the last step into the living room.

“Is Minho here? He said he was coming home today…”

“Yes, he’s here. He’s in his room.” Minho’s mom sets the plastic bag on the counter, and you naturally go to help her unpack what you bought, shelving things like you live here.

“I—hello, abeonim.” You bow at Mr. Lee, closing your eyes contentedly when he comes around the counter to give you a fatherly side-hug that squishes you against him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, ruffling your hair as he lets you go in favor of helping his wife unpack.

You shrug, walking around to the other side of the counter. “Thought I’d pop in to say hi. I missed the kittens very much.”

Mr. Lee laughs, shaking his head at you. “Of course, the kittens.” He wiggles his eyebrows teasingly.

You can’t help the grin tugging at your mouth, clearing your throat to speak. “Speaking of, where are the babies? I haven’t seen any of them since I got here.”

“Last time I checked they were all with Minho in his room,” his mom says, putting away the bottle of red wine you bought for dinner later tonight.

“Great! I can kill two birds with one stone.” You wiggle your eyebrows.

She snickers at you, shooing you away with a fond smile. “Go say hi and then come sit with us—we found a documentary we thought you’d like.”

“Okay, eomoni.” You smile at her and hope your pure love and adoration for her isn’t written too clearly on your face, afraid she might tease you. You walk with light steps in the direction of Minho’s room, unable to wipe the smile off your face.

“Minho-ssi,” you sing-song, rounding the corner with a light and airy step-a-step you’re pretty sure you saw somewhere in Thunderous’s choreography.

Mreow?

“Doong-Doong-ah?” Your lips jut out in a surprised pout, looking down at the talkative orange tabby with a tiny furrow in your brow. Following the lump of white sheets behind him, you finally make out Minho’s all-black clad body hidden under all the fluff.

You smile.

“Is hyunga sleeping?” you whisper, walking over on the tips of your toes before crouching in front of Doongie, scratching behind his ears with a soft smile. He mrews, his eyes fluttering closed as he leans his head into your hand. To your right, Dori hugs what you think is a bottle of lotion between his white socked-paws, his tail flicking with each nibble he delivers to the hard plastic.

You let your hand wander over Dori’s side and chide him with a half-hearted hiss when he clamps his teeth around your knuckles, shaking it off with a smile when he pauses a second before giving your hand a couple of licks.

You give his side one last pat before walking around Minho’s feet, only noticing Soonie as he’s cuddling into your boyfriend’s duveted stomach.

You can’t stop the smile tugging at your lips, crouching next to the sleeping cats to card your fingers through Soonie’s fur, feeling a familiar sense of pride swell in your chest at his appreciative purr.

And then you’re looking up at Lee Minho, your body tingling all over at the serenity on your sleeping beauty’s face, unable to help but reach out and let your hand run over his hair; a little frizzy at the ends but otherwise straight; he must not have been sleeping for very long.

You drag your hand over Minho’s head with an inexplicable softness constricting your throat, wishing you could lean down and kiss him without running the risk of waking him up.

You jump a little when Minho lets out an adorable grunt as he slowly pries his eyes open.

“Jagi?” he mumbles.

“Did I wake you?” you coo, combing your fingers through his fringe.

“Mmm.”

You chuckle, letting the pads of your fingers brush over his forehead, over his eyelids. “Ever the truthman.”

“Truthman?” he grumbles, bringing a hand up to loosely hold your wrist between his fingers.

“When did you get home?” You let your hand wander over his cheek.

“A few hours ago…”

“From practice?”

He guides the palm of your hand against his lips. “Mmm...”

He kisses your hand, turning onto his back (much to Soonie’s dismay) and throwing the duvet around his hips before tugging on your arm with surprising strength.

You yelp, practically falling on top of him. He lets out a back-of-the-throat kind of giggle that sends tingles down your arms, using his hands on your hips to shift you higher up his abdomen.

Minho lets out a satisfied hum-sigh against the top of your head, his fingers massaging the skin at your waist before hooking his fingers under the waistband of your trousers, letting the elastic keep his hands in place.

“Baby,” you say, softly—knowing his parents are waiting for you downstairs but feeling so tempted to sink into his warmth and stay there until the end of days.

“No,” he huffs, nuzzling your temple. “Lay with me for a bit.”

You can’t help but laugh, subtly shaking your head. Of course he knows. “Okay, but only for a minute. Your mom invited me downstairs to watch a—“

“Shh, jagi, I’m trying to sleep.”

———

“Y/N, sweetheart, we’re—“

Mrs. Lee stops in her tracks, right outside Minho’s room. The sight she comes across brings an immediate smile to her face, and she can’t help but take her phone out and snap a picture to give to her son later:

Minho, his arms wrapped around you as you lay on top of him, legs intertwined. And surrounding you, Soonie, Doongie and Dori; the youngest of the trio laying by his hyung’s head. Doongie lays by your feet, and Soonie sleeps just off to the side, his legs stretched out in front of him.

As she sits back down with her husband, Mrs. Lee can’t help but think: she can’t wait for the day Minho asks for her mother’s ring.

#skz x reader #skz imagines #skz fic #skz scenarios #skz fluff #lee minho x reader #lee minho fluff #lee minho scenarios #lee minho fic #lee minho imagines #lee know x reader #lee know scenarios #lee know fluff #lee know imagines #ao3 #archive of our own #kpop fic #kpop fanfiction #kpop fanfic #kpop fluff #skz smut #lee know smut #lee minho smut

[batnoise]

[🦇 / june 2023 ] for @softcatmemoirs !! 🧡💎

[ID: a digital drawing with rough linework of a tall, androgynous gold-orange anthro dragon with purple eyes, dark horns and spikes on their body, fin-like ears, long blonde hair with long bangs and a braid in the back, wings, a big long tail, and a lot of cuffs and jewelry with colorful gems embedded in them. they wear a long-sleeved shirt that falls off the shoulders, a stylized ruffled skirt that fastens with a pink heart button, and a blue belt with purple fastens across their waist. they stand in a confident pose against a light blue background with one hand against their hip. /end ID]

#batnoise art #furry #anthro #cleanfur #weirdfur #dragon #dragon art #sketch #a:bel #2023

[hana-no-seiiki]

𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐄

𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄! 𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐒 + 𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄! 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐱 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑! 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 (𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝟏)

“Athanaxious. We are going back right this instant!” An adult male siren called out to his brother. His beautiful gradient tail of obsidian to violet shimmered underneath the water filtered sunlight.

“Oh stop being a prickly pufferfish for once, Vasileios. We’ll be in the deep once again in a moment. I just have to—“ ‘Athanaxious’ replied with a huff. No matter the uncountable times he had come to the shoreline, it was still difficult navigating through shallow water on such a rocky beach. His tail, an exact opposite of his companion with its sandy ivories and gold, flicked in all directions as it tried to propel him away from harsh terrain.

His hands gripped tightly to a leather sling bag across his exposed chest.

“Have to wh—“ The albino creature attempted to ask but was thwarted by a hash tug on his arm, “Hey!” He stretched out his arm to slap Athanaxious in retaliation only to pause at the sound of singing.

“All I ever wanted was the open sea and sky; freedom from the life I always knew.”

Both men froze. A chilly delight crawled through their spine, their limbs and eventually the tips of their fingers and fin. Vasileious had never heard of a voice that entrancing. He has heard several of his fellow sirens luring humans to their demise, but none of them could even hope to compare to this sound. It echoed within the chambers of his heart, the matter in his brain, and the longing that lied dormant within.

But then he saw it’s source and the features on his face soured.

A human.

You.

“Now all I am is haunted as days and hours roll by…” You continued with your song, and then you abruptly halt. The next line wouldn’t come out properly. Your eyes run over the words, slowly getting frustrated with how it wouldn’t fit in.

Athanaxious doesn’t waste a beat. He knew that adorably annoyed sneer you’d make and what would fix it. “All I ever think about is you.”

Vasileious gasped. Athanaxious never sang. Always going on and on about the safety of the sailors on sea and how he didn’t want their blood on his hands. Yet here he was freely providing his — quite literally — magical voice to this human.

“Athanaxious, what are you—“

“Than! You’re back! I was just thinking on ways to improve that verse. Thank you.” You ran, the ruffles on your chiffon blouse flowed through the wind. You flinched and stumbled as the pebbles scraped the sole of your bare feet. Your luxurious leather heels long forgotten.

“Of course, your highness. I wouldn’t miss our reunions here for anything.” Athanaxious winked, just like how you taught him a while back.

You chuckled. The siren had noticed how the clothes you wore contrasted to those he’d usually spot at sea. ‘Couture’ you called it. But all he could think of was those pictures of human prince and princesses, and thus the little inside joke started. “I told you I’m not . . . “

Your eyes trailed from your raven haired companion to the albino. Athanaxious’ tail always fascinated you, but the new siren’s looked out of this world. Further reminding you of how different the worlds you lived in actually were. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, him?” Athanaxious rolled his eyes, another mannerism he learnt from you, “Just one of my older brothers.”

“You didn’t tell me you have an older brother.”

“Y-you didn’t tell me you were fraternizing with a- a- human! What would father think about this?Not to mention mother . . .” Vasileious’ fins shivered at the thought.

“Father knows.” Athanaxious shrugged whilst looking throw the bag he’d wrapped around him. You have gifted him many things, tangible or not, throughout your friendship. So he thought of bringing something back to you.

A pearl necklace. He was actually going to give you the clam it came from but judging from what fishermen looked for and spoke about, he thought giving you the biggest, shiniest pearl he could find would have been more appropriate.

As soon as you received the gift, you swiftly embraced him in an attempt to hide the empty look on your eyes before mustering the most sincere ‘Thank you.’ you could do.

“In any case, don’t humans have siblings as well? I just didn’t think it would be interesting enough to mention in our conversations. Our time together is often far too brief.”

“Far too brief it is.” You stared at the iridescent pearl. A sigh escaped your lips. “Than, I have an event scheduled on a beach—“

Vasileios attempted to cover his little brother’s mouth but it was too late.

“Magnificent! We’ll be there!”

“Excuse me, I didn’t agree to this—“

“—across the continent.” Your cheerful temperament dissipated.

Athanaxious asked, confused at why you seemed so upset about such a fact. Didn’t more events meant you get paid more in those currencies you spoke about? He shook his head, perhaps you were forgetting he wasn’t human like you always did and said, “Your highness, do I like I wouldn’t be able to swim there?”

“No, of course not. You seem quite capable.”

Athanaxious’ cheeks turned a dark shade of blue at your words.

“Besides you must have plenty of royal duties to accomplish.”

“I have no such thing—“

“Thank you for reminding me, human.” Vasileios’ patience had ran out. He loved his brother to pieces — he really, truly did — but feared the wrath of his parents much more. “Mother asked us to survey the reefs. If we come back without a proper report. . .”

“Oh fine.” Athanaxious slapped the other siren’s hand away, and then faced you with his sharp teeth. “Fare thee well, your highness.”

“You too, Than. Twas a pleasure to meet your brother.”

You sighed one last time. Annoyed at your lack of confidence in conveying the message you wanted to.

Athanaxious will find out sooner or later that it was your very own wedding he would attend by himself,

and the nickname he gave you? Might have some truth to it soon.

[ AUTHOR’S NOTE ] - status: unedited

Have an old ass draft that has collected dust atp.

If this gets idk, 1000 notes I’ll make artworks of our siren brothers and switch out the one I have featured on the header.

This fic will have three-five acts in total. Of which the story I’ve already planned out. It’s pretty much just a twist on the classic little mermaid story to end our pride month with a bang. We love our historic gays as much as our contemporary ones 🏳️‍🌈

reader is amab and will have more stuff alluding to their masculinity in later acts.

[ LINK TO NEXT ACT HERE ]

©️ hana.no.seiiki - yun | 2023

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere siren #yandere mermaid #yandere imagine #yandere oc #yandere fic #yandere x you #yandere oc x reader #yandere core #yandere insert #male yandere #yandere various #yandere harem #yandere harem x reader #gender neutral reader #dom reader #amab reader

[raintailed]

YIPPEE!!!! I made a reference for my headcanon design of Rivulet!

the design is inspired by a bunch of things, including nudibranchs, rainbow trout, and rainbow tripod fish larvae (which have crazy pectoral fins with neat spots on the ends)! coincidentally, this rivulet also has sunset colors for their fins, which is fitting considering that their campaign is second-to-last in the timeline...

notes transcript under the cut, plus a version without the fans

Notes transcript:

Ruffles, "The Rivulet;" they/he/she

Left side

polydactyl!

long body, kinda short limbs

fur is short & smooth like an otter

paws are webbed & have blunt claws

spots don't have to be consistent

optional scarf from moon

Right side

threat display: fans raised with glowing spots

fans: #781b77, #3f105c at 60% opacity

also, fans are optional!

tail is flattened laterally

#raintailed's art #rain world #rw #rw rivulet #reference #downpour spoilers #edit: fixed a color error

[monstersandmaw]

Male drider pirate captain x gn human (mild nsfw)

Disclaimer which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

___

Surprise! A story out of the blue! Hope you like it.

Content: a human who faces daily discrimination for being one of the only humans in a relatively isolated society of non-humans, non-explicit/detailed mention of unwanted sexual/physical contact (it’s brief, but it’s in there - paragraph beginning ‘Still, they couldn’t be any worse than the naga...’), a reader who was orphaned at a young age, a dread pirate captain who’s actually a total softie, a motley crew of pirates who are also all secret sweethearts, and a tiefling friend who wants the best for you. And a briefly spicy ending. Enjoy? Wordcount: 8710

___

For all its pretty beaches and steady flow of gold and goods, Cutthroat Cove was hardly the kind of place that people aspired to reach, and it wasn’t the kind of place people lingered once they washed up there, humans least of all.

To get off the island, you had to find a pirate ship willing to take you, and the price of passage was usually dearer than it first appeared. Most of the crews didn’t like humans aboard either, which was another odd stacked against you.

“To the Empress!” A shout went up from the furthest corner of the dingy tavern, and tankards were raised in a jeering chorus of howls and inhuman noises. You glanced up from where you’d been drying off the wooden mugs that Harrow had just finished washing, and you watched as the crew of the Blackbird, flush with fresh plunder, began a familiar toast. “May she continue shitting out shiny gold coins for us to keep plucking out of her fat little merchants’ hands!”

Their laughter filled the small, low-ceilinged common room and made your ears buzz. There must have been a siren among them, you thought distantly as you shook your head to clear it. No one else seemed affected, but a nearby patron — a triton leaning heavily on the wooden bar — leered toothily at you and flared the fins on the side of their head in a mocking sneer.

As you turned away to diffuse the situation, your elbow caught a bottle of rum on the edge of the counter. It teetered and would have smashed had Harrow not grabbed it with his prehensile tail and shunted it back to safety. He shot you a warning look and rolled his dark eyes affectionately. A creased dimple appeared in his cheek and the tiefling smirked a fanged smile at you before throwing a wet dishcloth in your face. “Watch it, clumsy,” he snorted playfully. “Honestly. What are you like?”

“Thanks,” you mumbled and tried not to watch too closely as his purple tail uncoiled slowly from the bottle. Perhaps it came from being raised on a mostly non-human pirate ship, or perhaps you’d just been made differently, but your fellow humans had never done much for you, and in fact, the less human someone looked, the more likely you were to find yourself tripping over your feet around them.

With another sigh, you turned to see to a goblin with blood red hair who had just leaned over the bar to yell an order at you above the clamour in the room, a gold ring glinting in her nose, when the door flew open and a small harpy boy flapped inside, with his feathers all ruffled and his chest heaving from a wild flight up the hill to the tavern.

“The Widow’s Web docked down on Rum Quay fifteen minutes ago!” the boy panted, wide eyed and sweaty faced. “And they’re coming ashore!”

For a moment, the entire, packed tavern went completely still. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Someone set down their tankard with a loud clunk but for a good ten seconds, that was the only sound in the whole room.

“The Widow’s Web?” someone finally hissed. “She never docks anywhere. What the fuck is she doing here?”

“Maybe they need to resupply?”

“They don’t resupply ashore,” someone else scoffed. “They just take what they need off the Imperial Navy and keep on sailing!”

“Maybe one of them is sick?”

“Or they’re looking for new crew?”

“I heard the captain wraps people up in his webs to eat later…” came a nearby, dark muttering.

“Or maybe —”

“— Maybe they just want a good drink for once, and find Her Imperial Majesty’s rations perennially disappointing,” came a deep, smooth voice from the open doorway behind the harpy boy.

The poor lad squeaked and puffed up in surprise, floundering out of the doorway in a twittering spray of mousy feathers and gangly, avian legs, and everyone stared at the figure who had melted from the darkness beyond to fill the doorway completely.

It was impossible not to stare. You’d seen driders before, but you’d never seen one like him.

He moved on seven dark legs that were armoured with a natural carapace like a crab, with pointed spikes at the joints that glinted in the low light, and the eighth was a prosthetic, replaced below the articulated ‘knee’ joint of his right front leg with a shining, steel limb that had been sharpened to a point to match his other limbs, and which clinked softly when he walked. He had to duck almost double to squeeze through the tavern door that had been built wide and tall enough for even a draft centaur to get through.

As he leaned down, his straight, white hair fell forwards around his face like a shroud, momentarily concealing his slate-grey skin that was tinged with purple. He had four eyes, all completely black, and dark mandibles at the corners of his mouth, and as he entered the tavern, he took off his cocked hat and hooked it casually over the upward turning spikes on his left foreleg.

His spider’s body was huge and pendulous and black, covered in a downy fur that shifted like moonlight and spread up his human back, vanishing out of sight beneath a heavy, black coat with silver buttons and emblazoned on the back with the silver web of his ship’s emblem, the Widow’s Web.

Someone dropped a glass in the silence of his arrival, and you startled a little at the sound. Beside you, you heard Harrow inhale slowly. “Holy shit,” he hissed, and his dark, cloven hooves made a soft clopping against the flagstones as he sidled up to you. He was shorter than you, and you glanced down to find him looking up at you with wide, worried eyes. “That’s… That’s him…”

“Capitan Steelsling…” you whispered. “I thought he and the Widow’s Web were just… a myth? You know?” you added, glancing between Harrow and the pirate captain.

Behind Steelsling, a truly colossal, silk-white bison minotaur dipped her horns beneath the lintel and surveyed the room. She had red eyes and a pink nose, and was almost as legendary as her captain, and together, they made their way towards an empty table near the bar.

“Good luck, mate!” Harrow elbowed you in the ribs and ducked away with a mumbled lie about checking the stock.

You could hardly hear anything through the fear that had started a pounding at the back of your skull. You were going to have to go over there.

Still, they couldn’t be any worse than the naga who’d grabbed you with their tail and coiled around you tightly enough to make your ribs creak last week, only releasing you when the laughter of their companions had faded and you’d nearly passed out. Or the gnoll who’d tripped you into her lap and laughed about you being a soft little human while her claws had picked through your shirt. Or the siren who’d made you take your top off and dance a jig on the table with their hypnotic voice, to the rabid amusement of a packed bar. You’d endured a thousand humiliations in your life at Cutthroat Cove, and you were certain that you could weather whatever this dread pirate could dream up for you too.

Squaring your shoulders, you set the damp cloth down on the bar, wiped your hands on your trousers, and strode across the room towards the newcomers, with the eyes of the entire tavern on you.

The captain watched you approach with an unnerving intensity in his four, jet black eyes, but his minotaur first mate seemed entirely bored and unimpressed by the entire establishment. You included. Clearly you posed no threat to her or her captain, so she ignored you for the time being.

You drew to a halt in front of their table and looked up into the captain’s inhuman face. He was sharply handsome, with the hard, cut-glass plains of his cheeks and jawline thrown into start relief in the low light of the bar, and the thick, black, curved talons at the ends of his mandibles glinted in the lamplight like pieces of obsidian.

He tilted his head in a manner that might have been either patronising or curious, you couldn’t quite tell, and blinked his black, almond-shaped eyes slowly. The two pairs moved slightly out of time with each other, the smaller, lower outer pair starting first, followed by the larger inner pair. Holding his gaze for long though was like trying to hold an oil slick in your hands.

“What can I get for you?” you asked, cursing the way your voice cracked a little.

Conversation began to pick up hesitantly around you, and in the far corner, someone got out a tin whistle and began to play a well-known and popular song. The captain smiled when he heard it, his mandibles chittering briefly, and he leaned over to his first mate and grinned, “Remember when Keel played this and Harrik fell overboard trying to impress him?”

She snorted suddenly, her wild, white mane of curls bouncing and her large, fluffy ears flicking back and forth. “How could I forget that?” she chortled. “He looked like a wet rat when we hauled him back on deck. Couldn’t look Keel in the eye for a week!”

You stood stock-still while they reminisced, wary and patient and silent.

The captain turned sharply back to you and twitched his head a little. “My apologies,” he purred. “We are still waiting for a few more of our crew, but I know what they’ll have to drink at any rate. Perhaps you could bring a couple of pitchers of your finest ale over, and six tankards?”

You nodded and paused just long enough to see if they were going to add anything else to their order.

The first mate leaned forwards towards you, resting an elbow on the thick tabletop. It groaned under her muscular weight. “What’s in the kitchen tonight?” she asked. Her voice was rough and deep, but her tone was gentle enough.

“Roast pork,” you said quickly. “And boiled vegetables.”

The captain nodded. “We’ll wait for the others to order food, I think. If that’s alright with you?”

You blinked. “What?” you said before you’d thought about it. “I mean, of course. I’ll be right back with the ale. Excuse me.”

And with that, you bolted back to the bar, sweaty and a little shaky. They hadn’t been at all what you’d been expecting, and they weren’t like the usual patrons of the Salted Kipper.

Harrow had emerged by the time you returned, and he shot you a look. “Well?” he asked.

“Well what?” you snapped, distracted.

“Well what’s he like? I heard from Maggie that Steelsling ripped a human’s head clean off their shoulders just for looking at him too long, and one time, he used that legendary ‘steel’ web of his to garrote the commander of Port Liberty, but the thread was so fine the man didn’t know it had happened til he was bleeding out on the marble floor. And his first mate is hardly any better. I heard —”

“You shouldn’t listen to what people say,” you said with a frown as you fished the enormous pitchers out of the cupboard under the bar and turned to fill one from the barrel on the wall behind you. “You know how much bullshit gets peddled through here in a single night — how much sailors love to exaggerate.” In truth, you didn’t want Steelsling to overhear Harrow’s words and think you were gossiping about him.

“Yeah, but… no smoke without a fire, right?”

You just shook your head and concentrated on filling the pitcher without creating too much of a foaming head on the ale.

With the two pitchers set on a wide, wooden tray, along with the six empty tankards, you set off for their table again. En route, someone with sharp claws grabbed a fistful of your arse and you had to step over the swaying, serrated tail of a lizardfolk at the table next to the drider captain’s. She cackled a laugh at you when you nearly spilled the pitchers because of it. One slid a terrifying couple of inches along the tray as it tipped, and you wobbled in a desperate attempt to stop it sliding all the way off.

You cursed as you staggered, completely off balance, but something solid caught you at the hip and buttressed you up. Cold relief sloshed through you as you saved the pitchers from toppling off to make an ungodly mess all over the floor, only to look up and find that the drider captain himself had jutted out one of his huge, armoured legs to steady you. It was the steel prosthetic of his right foreleg, you realised, and you could feel its coldness seeping through your clothes the longer you stayed pressed against it.

All the blood drained from your face and you felt your jaw go slack. “I’m so sorry,” you blurted, and you almost leapt away from the contact to set the tray down, hoping to disappear as quickly as possible.

“It’s no trouble,” he said in his oddly polite, lyrical voice. You’d expected something coarse and harsh from the legendary sea captain, but he was refined and softly-spoken. “Does that happen often?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“Uh…” you swallowed, stepping back with the tray held in front of you a bit like a shield. “I mean… I’m pretty much the only human on the island now, so where else are they going to get their fun, you know?”

You’d said it with a false lightness to your voice, hoping to make him smile and say ‘fair enough’, but his expression darkened and his eyes glittered dangerously.

“It’s fine,” you babbled. “Really. It’s harmless. They’re just blowing off steam, you know?”

That also didn’t help.

He glared around the room and you got the vague impression that the people who had been staring, hoping for an impressed reaction from him, suddenly looked away in shame.

“Excuse me,” you said again, and fled.

The rest of his crew arrived not long after that, and they were an equally odd mix of people: another drider, though she was stocky and built like a tarantula, and her arms and torso were thickly muscled where Steelsling’s body was lean and wiry; a delicate cervitaur who looked about as unlikely to find a home on the sea as the Empress herself, with a white coat and white antlers and a dancing, graceful way of walking that wouldn’t have been out of place in a palace; a rugged, crab-like merfolk who was armoured to the nines in his own orange chitin and had pincers for hands and a sour look on his face as he squeezed his bulky carapace between the tables; a forest naga with a rainbow shimmer to her tail and dreads that fell to her waist; a tiny, waifish, hummingbird harpy whose iridescence matched the naga’s in vibrancy if not in hue; and finally… a human?

Yet again that evening, you tried not to stare, but it was so unusual to find a human among a crew of pirates in these parts that you weren’t the only one taken aback. People hissed and whispered behind their mugs, but no one tried anything with the other human in the room. They saved that for the one they knew was alone and largely unprotected.

As you worked the other tables that night, dodging wayward hands and sneaking trip hazards in a familiar dance, you caught glimpses of the way the crew of the Widow’s Web laughed and joked among themselves. They were clearly close as family, the realisation of which struck you to the core with something akin to genuine, physical pain. The other pirates who frequented the Salted Kipper were business partners and tight-knit groups, but there was always something festering away beneath the surface — some jealousy or scheming distrust — but the Widow’s Web crew touched each other frequently with a friendly nudge or a playful shove, and they laughed. They laughed until they cried and fell about on each other’s shoulders over something and nothing, and even Steelsling himself seemed amused. He kept a little back from the others though, as though he wasn’t quite a part of it, and he kept his four eyes roaming the room every so often too, as though keeping watch for trouble. Wherever he looked, people looked away, uncertain.

Frequently, his glinting gaze landed on you. When that happened, you ducked your head and busied yourself with another task, but you felt the weight of his four eyes on you as you crossed the room all the same.

If the scattered crumbs of gossip were to be believed, which they rarely were, that night was the first time in six years that the Widow’s Web had formally put to shore, and no one expected to see them again for another six at least.

And yet, a month later, the door opened and in strode the hulking form of the first mate, accompanied by her eight-legged captain and a few of their crew.

You served them ale, and he asked you how you were as you set the pitchers down. “Fine, thanks,” you mumbled, head down.

It seemed to irritate him that you were so deferential, and he sighed sharply.

“You?” you added, glancing up as you tacked the question on as an afterthought.

His mandibles twitched in what might have been an arachnid smile and his shoulders dropped a visible inch. “I’m well, thank you. We had a successful couple of encounters on the Whale Road Shore lately.”

“You went all the way to the Whale Road Shore?” you gasped, staring openly at him. “But that’s… that’s at least a two week sail from here, even with the winds in your favour? How did you make it there and back in so little time?” Distances, maps, and charts had always fascinated you, the way a caged bird dreams of open windows.

Across the table, the first mate chuckled, and with a jolt you remembered yourself, and your place, immediately.

“Forgive me,” you said quickly. “I didn’t mean to pry. Enjoy your evening.”

“Wait?” came Steelsling’s soft, rich baritone. He didn’t speak loudly or harshly, but the simple, politely uttered question stopped you in your tracks. “You weren’t prying, and I don't mind. We have a wind witch aboard. Makes things much easier and faster.”

“Oh,” you breathed. A wind witch? Was there no end to this crew’s mystery?

“They’ll be here any minute,” Steelsling said carefully, deliberately, pointedly. “If you want to meet them.”

“Oh, no… thank you,” you said, despite the way your heart ached to meet a real wind witch. It was a particular talent that only humans had, though other species had similar gifts with the weather. It might have been nice to talk to another human after so long. “No, that’s alright. I don’t want to intrude, and I… I should get back to work.”

The captain just nodded, but he didn’t speak to you directly again that night. The human on his crew — the wind witch — did show up a little while later, accompanied by the pretty cervitaur and the fiery-looking orange merfolk, and the crew lost themselves again in their food and drink and conversation. All but one of the crew, you realised after they’d been there an hour. The captain himself was sitting back, resting his humanoid upper body against the wall of the inn, his spider legs tucked up tightly around him, almost like a cage of spiked, black steel with one silver bar, and he had his arms crossed over his chest and a dark glower on his face. You tried not to look at him when you discovered him already watching you, and you traded a week’s worth of floor scrubbing with Harrow to avoid serving their table again.

Month after month, the crew of the Widow’s Web returned to the Salted Kipper, and month after month, the captain watched you.

He watched you dodge the other patrons, sloughing off their insults and jibes and clumsy, pawing attempts to get you into their lap, and each time, his expression grew darker and more severe. He stopped taking part in his table’s merriment, glowering in the corner like a monster from a fairytale while his crew carried on around him. Only his first mate would frown at him and try and get him to engage, but he never did for long. You started to think you’d insulted him by refusing the honour of a conversation with the wind witch, and he was concocting a truly venomous revenge for your rudeness.

Then, after six straight months of visits, they vanished.

No one saw the black and silver sails of the Widow’s Web for months, and gossip about them erupted.

Rumours circulated like gulls on the wind: they’d been sunk by the Empire; they’d been swallowed up by a kraken who’d been hunting Steelsling for years after taking his right leg off; there’d been a mutiny and they’d all killed each other in the process; they’d strayed off the edge of the world; they’d strayed off the edge of the world and then returned with some mysterious illness; the captain had eaten his crew one at a time while stranded in the doldrums… Each theory was more ridiculous than the next, but you came to miss the crew’s polite presence in the corner of the inn. The lowering eyes of the deadliest pirate in the known kingdoms had gone some way to lessening the way you were treated as a human among so many of what the Empire called the ‘monstrous species’ and the ‘beast folk’. Monstrosity was a relative thing, you’d found.

One morning, after preparing the inn for the day, you headed down alone to the harbour to stock up on supplies for the kitchen. The folk who ran the market were used to you, given that you’d been on the island since you’d washed up there at the age of eight, and they’d stopped trying to fleece you on each purchase you made for Silas, who ran the inn.

You’d just added a box of smoked salt into the groaning basket on your arm when a gasp went up from the nearby shoppers and you turned to see what had snagged their attention. The elegant and eerie prow of the Widow’s Web — a series of carved, black spiders crawling up a cylindrical spar — and the furled black sails of the legendary ship as it was towed into port drew the attention of everyone in the harbour-side market.

You’d never seen them outside of the inn, and you watched as the small, efficient crew scuttled around making last-minute preparations to the lines and the sails before docking, and there, leaning his weight casually against the taffrail with his white hair streaming out behind him like a banner, was Captain Steelsling himself. Your mouth went dry at the sight of him and you stared openly, drinking in the contrast between the curve of his dark spider’s body and the angular lines of his slim, armoured legs. They looked like they could puncture the hull of a warship like a harpoon, and his prosthetic caught the sun and flashed blindingly for an instant.

You watched in awe as he left the deck and scuttled up the rigging with enviable ease to talk briefly to the figure tucked away in the crows nest. That done, he fearlessly descended the rigging and joined the others on the main deck. Just as he turned to give an order to someone on his left though, he froze and you looked on with an odd mix of trepidation and delight as he noticed you.

For a long time, he stared at you. Then, finally, he inclined his head and went about the business of making port.

You had intended to be gone from the market by the time the lengthy process of bartering for better docking fees was over, but fate it seemed had other ideas. You were halfway through haggling with the knife-sharpener for a more reasonable price for her services when she looked up and she dropped the small paring knife she’d been using as a prop to try and frighten you into giving in and accepting her price.

“Captain Steelsling…” the skinny naga exclaimed, and then she hissed at you. “Get out of the way, you little bilge-rat. Don’t you know who this is? My apologies, Captain, my apologies. How can I help you?”

“I know who he is,” you said carefully, turning and smiling shyly at him. His dark mandibles hitched up on one side and he crossed his arms. His long, white hair was plaited back off his face in a series of intricate, interlaced designs, cascading down over his trademark black coat with its silver buttons, and he looked so dashing that your heart skipped a beat. His captain’s hat was nowhere to be seen and he carried no visible weapon, but the authority washing off him was enough to make people skirt around him with their eyes averted.

“Good to see you again, and in daylight this time,” he said, and the knife-sharpener sputtered something unintelligible behind you while he ignored her completely. “How are you?”

“Well, thank you,” you replied. “You’ve been gone a long time…”

A sad expression flickered across his face. “Yes,” he sighed, and his posture sagged. “A sad business, but it’s over now. I’m glad to be back. I’ve grown rather fond of a certain inn here in Cutthroat Cove after all.”

“You have?” you asked, astonished. “I thought you only came to the Kipper because your crew like it. You always look so miserable.”

The knife-sharpener gasped audibly at your bluntness and started to titter something about offering him whatever he wanted, free of charge.

“I didn’t come to talk to you, and I sharpen my own blades, thank you,” he snapped at her, and turned to look over his shoulder, away from the market square. “Will you walk with me? I have a hankering to stretch my legs after so long at sea.”

“Uh…” You would expected back at the inn soon, but there was little you could do if the king of pirates himself wanted a moment of your time. “Sure.”

He smiled again, and held out a hand. “Let me take that for you.”

Still a little stunned, you mutely handed the creaking basket to him. He took it like it weighed nothing at all and hooked it over his other arm so that it was in no danger of swinging and accidentally clocking you around the head. He was massive on his stilt-like legs, after all.

You walked in silence for a little way, along the waterfront towards the old Imperial fortress that had been taken over by the Raven Queen - the local pirate power in these waters. She, ultimately, deferred to Steelsling though, as most pirates did. And there you were, trotting along at his needle-like heels while everyone stared.

“Why would you think I’m miserable when I’m at the tavern?” he asked after a while.

“What? Oh… I didn't mean to offend you,” you said quickly. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed at that, and you got the feeling you’d said the wrong thing. Instead of pressing the issue though, he paused at a bend in the fortification walkway and looked directly at you. “Why do you stay here?” he asked.

You frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“If you’re so unhappy here — treated so poorly — why do you stay?”

You scoffed a little laugh and turned to look out at the bright blue sea.

A strong wind was whipping the peaks of the waves to foam and the gulls dipped and soared on the currents, buffeted this way and that and seeming to love every minute of it. Further out, near the cliffs off Needle Point, gannets speared straight down from the clear sky with barely a splash as they disappeared into the waves, chasing the fish that glittered and flashed beneath the surface.

Salt air filled your nose as you inhaled and you shook your head. “Don’t have much choice, I guess. I can’t afford passage on a ship — not at the prices they charge a human — and… I have nowhere else to go anyway.”

“No family?” he asked carefully.

You shook your head. “No. My parents were killed when the Albatross was captured.”

You caught the soft inhale of shock from the drider captain and turned to look up at him. His solid, black eyes were wide and his mandibles had parted to reveal soft, almost human-like lips behind, and a row of sharp, white teeth. The soft, ombré shading of grey that spread up his jaw, fading from almost coal black around his mandibles to a heather grey around his eyes, was almost mesmerising enough to ignore the look of open horror on his face. “Your parents were on the Albatross?” he whispered at last.

You nodded. “My da was the cook. Ma was a gunner.”

His black eyebrows rose at that. “But you survived?”

“Got washed overboard,” you shrugged. “I was eight.” You fought down a tide of sickening memories and rested your forearms on the stone wall of the old fort.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “My first mate, Ellary, led the mutiny against the captain of the Bloodcrest after what he did to the Albatross. She killed him herself.”

“Good.” Somehow, that did bring a bitter kind of consolation, and you managed a smile. “Anyway,” you said. “When I washed up here, Silas took me in as a pot-washer and floor-scrubber at the Salted Kipper. It’s not so bad…” you said, but you didn’t sound convincing, even to your own ears.

Steelsling shot you a flat look. “I’ve seen the way they treat you there,” he growled. “I’d have cut off their hands if they tried to touch me like that.”

“Yeah, well, we can’t all shoot barbed wire out of our bodies, can we?” you said, speaking yet again without thinking first.

Instead of being insulted though, the captain laughed loudly and freely. “I suppose not,” he said when the sound faded naturally, like a retreating wave on the shore. “Listen, there’s an opening on my crew. It’s nothing exciting, but we’re a soul down now, since Tammas had to go back to his family on land, and I’d like to ask you to join us.”

You blinked at him. “Me?”

“Yes.”

“But… Why? I haven’t been at sea since I was eight. I’d be no use to you.”

“I know for a fact you can cook, and I bet you’re just as capable at mending and fixing things. Besides, I think you’d make a good fit in our family.”

Sure, you’d grown pretty handy in a number of areas over the years, but you were hardly a sailor. “You’d do better to ask around the market,” you said, fighting down a wave of anxious pressure in your chest. “I — Thank you, for the offer, but I should get going. They’ll be wondering where I am.”

You turned without another word and walked away before you’d even realised he still had your basket over his arm. Seconds later, he scuttled up behind you, his needle-like legs making scarcely a sound on the stone, save for the single steel pin of his prosthetic, and he darted in front of you, blocking the way with his body. Your breath caught as a moment of panic flared and dissolved almost immediately. He held the basket out to you but didn’t relinquish it once your fingers gripped the handle. “Think about it,” he said. “The Widow stays here for a week, but I shan’t push you.”

And with that, he let go and stepped to one side, and you fled back to the tavern with your heart pounding.

You dropped three tankards that night, tripped over two tails that weren’t even in your way, and nearly landed in a slime’s lap before Harrow pulled you to one side and asked if you were coming down with something.

You shook your head. “No, I’m sorry. I’m just… distracted.”

“What’s going on?”

With a sigh, you told him, and he gawped at you like you’d grown another head when you got to the part about being offered a spot on Steelsling’s crew.

True to his word, Captain Steelsling and his crew stayed away from the tavern until the very last night that the Widow was due to stay in port. When Ellary opened the door and stepped in, the usual hush descended on the common room, and Harrow shot you a look. ‘Do it’ he mouthed at you along the length of the bar, and you sucked in a huge breath for courage and held it til your lungs burned.

When you made no move and looked like you might possibly throw up instead, Harrow marched over to you and poked you right in the centre of your chest, none too gently. “Fucking do it,” he said. “I’m going to miss the hell out of you, but if you don’t take this chance, you’ll never get off this gods-forsaken lump of rock. Plus, he fucking likes you.” When you frowned, Harrow rolled his eyes. “The dread pirate Steelsling, who famously never comes ashore, takes one look at you and comes back here to this shitty tavern once a fucking month for six fucking months, apologises for being away for so long without telling you, threatens to personally skin anyone who lays a hand to you, and —”

“— wait, what?”

“Oh.” Harrow’s dark eyes widened guiltily. “You didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t know! What the fuck?”

Harrow shifted his weight. “I only learned about it when I overheard Lannicka grousing about how she wanted to teach you a lesson but didn’t want to wake up in a fucking web, dangling off a spar on her own ship…” He cleared his throat and glanced at the floor between his dark goat’s hooves. Behind him, his tail swished back and forth. “Turns out your captain overheard someone a few nights ago down at the docks laughing about getting you to spill ale all down your shirt, and he let it be known that the way people treated you was… ‘unacceptable’…”

“I wondered why people had backed off a bit this week,” you muttered. “I just thought they’d finally had enough fun and got bored with picking on the human.” You wanted to be angry with him for doing it behind your back, but it had made your work noticeably easier.

Harrow looked across the common room and his tapered ears pulled back suddenly, his multiple earrings flashing in the lamplight. “His first mate’s looking at you. She just pointed at you and beckoned you over.”

With a sigh, you turned your back on Harrow and looked at Ellary. She cocked her head to one side in a silent, expectant question.

“Go,” Harrow said. “I’ll miss the fuck out of you, but —”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” you laughed, already taking your apron off. You hugged him and he hugged you back. “Thank you for taking care of me,” you said. “You could have been like everyone else, but you weren’t, and I’ll always love you for that.”

He squeezed you more tightly. “Don’t forget about me, alright?”

“Never,” you promised, and set your apron on the counter top. “And thank Silas for me too,” you said. “He could have turned me away.”

“Still could have treated you better,” Harrow growled, canines showing.

You shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now though, does it?” you said, and grabbed the small bag you'd packed earlier and stowed beneath the bar. “Take care, alright?”

He nodded. “You too.”

When Ellary saw the bag in your hand, she grinned and stood up. Beside her, the delicate cervitaur rose from the soft cushion they’d been seated on — or, more appropriately, draped across like a slightly wilted lily — and flicked an ear at you.

“You’re coming along, then,” Ellary said, clapping you on the shoulder hard enough to send you staggering. You reeled backwards and found yourself righted by the crab-folk merman, who laughed like an open drain.

“I hope your sea-legs are better than that, friend,” he guffawed, snapping his pincers like percussion instruments.

“Last time I used my sea legs, I was eight,” you said, embarrassed. “I’ll be lucky if I’m not throwing up over the sides before we leave port.”

“Ah, Anneke has a potion or concoction for everything, seasickness included. You’ll be fine. Come on,” he said, and he chivvied you out of the tavern amid a forest of astonished gazes from the patrons.

When you reached the harbour, with the small fishing boats gently bobbing and the larger ships creaking and swaying at their stone quays, you had begun to wonder what you’d got yourself into. Ellary had strode along on huge, near-silent hooves, her scarlet coat flapping open to reveal only the thick fur of her pelt and the vaguest impression of her physique underneath, and Macs, the crab-folk — who apparently never shut up unless Ellary threatened to put him in a cook pot — had talked himself hoarse about their plans for the coming weeks’ sailing, while Phlox, the cervitaur, had tittered at almost every joke Macs made. You snorted softly through your nose when you realised that the most fearsome and mythical pirate crew of the era were actually a bunch of kind-hearted dorks.

“Something funny, human?” Macs asked, glancing sidelong at you while you all headed along the stone dock towards the sleeping figure of the Widow’s Web where she rocked quietly in the darkness.

“You know what?” you said, “I was actually afraid of you lot when you first walked into the tavern.”

“Ha!” he barked, and elbowed you in the ribs so hard you actually tripped over your feet at last and went sprawling sideways onto the stones. Or at least, you would have done, had Ellary not anticipated it and grabbed you at the last minute and hauled you up again with her huge hands.

“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “Can’t even take you to collect a new crew member without you causing physical harm to someone, Macs,” she said, and then looked at you. “He’s our master gunner, believe it or not.”

You raised your eyebrows and he clacked his pincers together. “Ain’t no one able to make a shot like me, human,” he grinned. “You can bet your unarmoured hide on it.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“I’ll show you, soon as we clear the reef tomorrow,” he said, puffing his chest up enough that Phlox giggled again and he looked mightily pleased with himself.

“I live with a bunch of buffoons,” Ellary said dryly and ushered you up the gangplank ahead of her, probably so that if you tripped, she could catch you before you toppled head-first into the salty, sloshing muck of the harbour at high tide.

A flap of dark wings from the rigging above made you look up once you were aboard, and a black-feathered kenku dropped to the deck. In Ellary’s own voice, using what was clearly a carefully-curated selection of her own words, parroted back at her, they said, “About time you got here. Captain’s gonna start spitting webs in a minute.”

Ellary snorted a laugh and turned to introduce you to the kenku. “This is Specs,” she said, gesturing at the avian creature. “Lookout and navigation.”

“Pleasure,” you said, muttering your own name.

In Macs’ voice this time, Specs cackled, “Nice to have new blood aboard.”

“C’mon. I’ll show you where to put your stuff, and we’ll find our illustrious, brooding captain, shall we?” Ellary sighed.

Knocking on the carved, ebony door of the captain’s quarters a short while later, Ellary didn’t wait to be called in, barging her shoulder against the salt-warped wood and stepping in with the familiar ease of a lifelong friend.

Part of you had expected to find webs slung in the corners and the carcasses of dessicated animals dangling from the ceiling, but of course, it was just a simply but comfortably furnished cabin, with a large desk smothered in charts and navigational instruments. The captain himself was standing behind it, his body little more than a dark silhouette against the large window at the rear of the ship, and his silver hair dangling like a drifting ghost in the light breeze that wafted in with Ellary.

The minotaur shoved you into the room and saluted the captain without a word before leaving, closing the door behind her.

“You… You decided to come?” he faltered, sounding unsure of himself for the first time.

You nodded. “I do have a bone to pick with you though, Captain,” you added and he cocked his head.

“Oh?”

“What’s this I hear about you threatening to flay people on my behalf?”

He did have the good grace to look embarrassed about that, and dropped his onyx gaze to the floor. “I apologise,” he said. “I lost my temper with someone in the docks, and did nothing to stop the spread of the rumour once it started.”

You shrugged. “Figured that was how it had gone.”

“Did Ellary show you your quarters?” he asked, as much to change the subject as to find out the answer.

With a nod, you looked around his cabin. “Nicer than a mouldy mattress in the Kipper’s storeroom,” you said. “When do we sail?”

“With the tide,” he said. “I’d almost abandoned hope you were coming with us.”

“Why did you want me, really?” you asked with narrowed eyes.

He sighed and came around the desk to stand in front of you, his prosthetic making a soft ‘pinging’ noise on the wood as the wickedly sharp tip pulled free with each step. You wondered, not for the first time, how he’d lost the limb, but didn’t ask.

“I warmed to you the moment you spoke to me,” he said simply. “You were afraid, but you still came over, and you were… yourself. The others… they all know my — our— reputation, and that changes how they speak to me, how they act around my crew, but you remained yourself, and I admired that.”

Swallowing, you tried not to choke. Other than Harrow, no one had ever made you feel like you were worth more than a passing moment their time, but here was the most successful pirate captain in the known kingdoms, telling you he thought that who you were was valuable to his crew. To his family.

“Look, you must be tired,” he said, clearly reading your emotions and not wanting to overwhelm you. “Why don’t you settle in for the night? We’ll sail within the hour, but you don’t have to do anything. Of course, you’re welcome wherever you like on the ship, but no one will ask anything of you just yet.”

Blinking through your tears you nodded and choked out a vague ‘thank you’ before vanishing below.

It was three days before you felt like you could contribute anything useful, and, just as he’d promised, no one asked anything of you until then.

After three months as part of the crew, you knew you were never going to set foot on land again willingly, and you understood why they just kept sailing from prize to prize. It was bliss. Even in the worst of the weather, you felt safe. Anneke, the weather witch, kept the most violent of storms from touching the ship, and the crew knew their business, tightening and trimming the rigging and the sails til the ship fairly thrummed with the joy of being at sea.

Ellary, you came to learn over the course of many an evening, had a dry sense of humour that left you breathless before guffawing a great laugh that would have made you self-conscious before, and Macs was just as bad. He was a practical joker, but never in a way that made you feel small or embarrassed. You met the other elusive members of the crew as well — those who had not felt confident or comfortable in coming ashore — and you fell slowly in love with all of them in their own way. Minal, an aqrabuamelu with a scorpion’s body and a human’s torso, was the cheery chef of the ship, and Gráinne, a selkie with a voice like singing glass and a burn scar across her face, was the ship’s quartermaster. Others on the crew included another minotaur named Wilf, a huge but incredibly sweet gnoll with a habit of giggling at the most inappropriate of moments, and a twitchy werefox named Keel who still treated you with suspicion, even after three months.

But above all, you found yourself drawn back to the captain. He stood on the deck with the wind in his hair and a smile on his handsome, inhuman face, and he looked truly relaxed. His strange body absorbed the motion of the sea and the rocking of the ship, and he would just as happily spend the morning dangling from his webs amid the rigging, scouting the horizon with Specs, as on the solid deck below, but oddly enough, when he seemed most happy, he was with you.

He taught you to read the charts properly and to map the course of the sun, to plot the stars and read the ocean currents and the patterns of the birds. He introduced you to the colony of orca merfolk who hunted just off the shore and provided information on the movements of the Imperial navy. He ate with the crew on the deck on warm nights, laughing shyly and encouraging them to play their instruments and dance and sing. Keel was a talented violinist, and Harrik, the gnoll, would always watch him with wide, dark, bashful eyes. It was unbearably sweet.

One night, as you leaned back on your hands and tilted your face to the stars while the others continued their revels, you caught a huge sigh from the captain, and glanced up just as he looked away from you and rose to stalk away towards the stern of the ship.

With a little frown, you noticed the way Ellary shook her head too, and when you met her gaze she rolled her red eyes and said under her breath so that no one else would hear above Keel’s lively gig, “Go after him, for pity’s sake.”

You nodded, and slipped away from the others. Climbing the stairs to the deck above the captain’s quarters, where you weren’t really supposed to be, you found him staring out over the ship’s wake, leaning his forearms on the taffrail and resting his great spider body on the boards of the ship’s deck. He looked small and sad and deflated in a way you’d never known, and it sent a frisson of worry through you.

“Captain?” you asked.

He startled a little despite the noise your boots had made on the stairs, and he twitched around to look at you. His breath caught audibly in the moonlight and you watched him swallow. “Yes?”

“Are you alright, Captain?”

His large eyes turned especially glassy for a second and he looked away. “Yes,” he lied.

“Captain, you —”

“It’s Ruven.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Ruven.”

“Oh,” you breathed, wondering how you’d gone so long without learning it. Then again, everyone called him ‘captain’ with the same affection they called you ‘human’. “Can I join you, Ruven?”

Slowly, and with an unbearable sadness in his eyes, he looked back over his shoulder at you. He was wearing only an undyed linen shirt, and it flapped loosely around his lean torso in the breeze. It made you want to touch, to draw it up to expose the musculature and chitinous plating underneath, to explore his body with your hands. “Yes,” he said quietly.

You approached on his right side and watched as he drew his long legs in a little closer to his body, as if to welcome you further into his space. You leaned your weight carefully against his steel prosthetic, knowing it could take it, and he let out a shaky breath.

He towered over you but you’d never felt more at ease with someone, and he nestled a little further down to accommodate your height. You smiled at him. “Thank you, Ruven,” you said, trying out his name again and enjoying the sound of it on your tongue.

“For what?”

You shrugged and stared out at the dark sea, a little overwhelmed. Little flashes of phosphorescence danced on the ship’s wake, like a heartbeat in the depths. “For giving me a family again,” you said with a glance back at the crew who were capering about on the deck below. “For making me feel loved.”

“You are loved,” he said without hesitation. He exhaled your name and leaned down to take your fingers in his dark grey hands. “You are loved,” he said again with sincerity burning in his black eyes. “Never doubt that.”

You smiled up at him, and gently tugged one hand free of his, then reached up to cup his sharp face in your palm. “I don’t. Not now.” You ran the pad of your thumb along his right mandible and he shuddered bodily, eyes rolling shut with a rasping breath. “You’re so beautiful,” you whispered.

A second or two later, a large, slow tear rolled from one eye, down his cheek to splash onto the deck between you.

“Ruven?”

“No one has ever said that to me,” he croaked, nudging his cheek further into your palm without opening his eyes again. “Terrible, monstrous, ruthless… but never beautiful.”

“Always beautiful,” you said, and he picked you up.

He held you to his chest, supported by the knees of his forelegs, and hugged you. His hands began to wander and you gasped, arching into his touch.

“Take me below,” you whispered and he smiled. “I’m yours.”

He didn’t linger, scuttling silently down the gangway to his cabin and closing the door behind him.

He laid you down on his large, soft bed and took you apart with slow kisses and lingering touches until you were moaning his name and shaking with a pleasure you never dared dream would be yours.

“Come over me,” you gasped as he kissed you where you were most sensitive, enjoying the taste and feel of you. “Please, I need —”

“Don’t encourage me,” he laughed. “I’m so close, and I’m making such a mess…”

You looked up at that and saw that he was dripping clear fluid from his abdomen onto the floor beside the bed.

“I’ve never made such a mess,” he laughed again.

“Please…”

He shifted his legs, looming over you again, and he rubbed his sensitive core over your legs, enjoying the slide of your bodies together at last. In three strokes, he came undone and cried out, arching his human spine to bring his spider’s body close to you, and he came with a yell in a wave over your lower body, his legs twitching and his body convulsing.

When he was utterly spent, he lay down beside you on his back and you curled up next to his cool, human torso, tracing the lines of chitin plating where his abdomen blended into the soft, moonlight fur of his spider’s body. He twitched occasionally but otherwise lay still and stared at you with his black eyes.

“I love you,” he said, apropos nothing.

You kissed him and let his mandibles rake tenderly over your cheeks while he kissed you back. “I love you too, Captain,” you smiled and he groaned into the kiss. “I love you too.”

__

Thanks for reading this story, and I hope you’ll consider reblogging it (as well as leaving a like) if you enjoyed it, as that will help others find it.

Take care, and I hope you have a lovely day/night wherever you are, and whenever you read this.

Masterlist | Ko-fi (tip jar)

#drider #spider monster #drider boyfriend #monster boyfriend #spider monster boyfriend #exophilia #monster pirate #pirate monster #pirate #pirate romance

[odyssean-flower]

Everything Shall Return to the Sea Chapter 1 (Yandere Neuvillette x GN Reader)

Summary: A lonely soul rescues a mermaid on the beach and finds their life changed forever. Warnings: Angst, reader has depression, obsessive yandere thoughts Note: This was written before the 4.0 update

Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3

The morning chill was seeping into your skin, despite the towel you had wrapped around you. However, you paid it no mind. 

You were sitting on a bench, watching the sunrise at the beach. The sun had yet to emerge from the horizon, and the sky was still a deep blue, dotted with stars here and there. 

There was no one around, too early even for the early-risers. And yet you sat there, alone, gazing at the horizon idly.

You were here on vacation, though your somber mood and days of mostly holing up in your cabin make it far less deserving of the cheerful and relaxing feelings that the word brought to mind. 

Truth be told, you didn’t even know why you decided to come here. You had been riding the train when you saw an advertisement for a beach vacation. Something about the bright blue ocean and white beaches tugged at something in your heart, something that you thought had long died. So, you ended up renting a beach cabin for a week.

Honestly, now that you were here, you felt like you did something incredibly foolish. A change of scenery wasn’t going to miraculously transform your mindset or your life. All you did was feel lonely in a sunnier location.

Loneliness was your only constant companion throughout your life. Your parents died when you were young, and you had no other relatives. You grew up in an orphanage, always overlooked and ignored by the other kids and adults, and only ever had fleeting, shallow friendships. You didn’t really have any hobbies either. Even now as an adult, you never connected with anyone at your job, with your days mostly consisting of going to work and returning home.

Still, at least this scenery was beautiful. The horizon was lightening before your eyes, turning from blue to amber, heralding the sun’s slow rise. The stars gradually disappeared one by one. The gentle crashing of the waves and the faint cries of seagulls served as pleasant background noise as you gazed ahead. The damp sea breeze grazed against your cheek and ruffled your hair.

Right now, you could almost understand why people found the beach so relaxing. 

If only… you thought. If only I can just exist in this moment forever…

But of course, the world wasn’t so kind. The sky gradually lightened, the sun making its slow ascent above the waters. There were more people now, some of them shooting you weird looks for being here so early. You decided that it was time to head back.

As you walked along the shore, you suddenly spot something lying in the sand up ahead. You didn’t know what it was at first. It was long, its upper half white and its lower half blue and glittering. It also seemed to be moving faintly, though that might just be the waves. A beach toy? You thought. 

You steadily approached it, but the closer you got, the more you wondered if you were hallucinating.

The “beach toy” was larger than you thought. It would probably tower over you if it were standing up. Its upper half resembled the torso of the most handsome man you had ever seen. His long white hair, mingled with what looked like blue streaks of hair, was fanned out beneath him. His eyes were closed, his eyelashes long enough to brush against the tops of his cheekbones, and his chiseled features and torso reminded you of a classical statue. His alabaster skin shone in the sunlight. As your gaze traveled down his body, his human-looking waistline melded into iridescent blue fish scales. The scales tapered to a point before flaring out into translucent fins. 

It was a mermaid’s tail.

You were looking at a mermaid.

No, you idiot, you laughed at yourself. This is probably some kind of super-realistic toy or an elaborate art installation.

It really was a beautiful piece of work, though. It looked so real, like it could open its eyes at any moment. You found yourself kneeling down and reaching out to touch the tail. It was smooth beneath your fingertips. Smooth, warm, and pulsing.

Your hand jerked back and you whipped your head towards the mermaid’s face. Its eyes were open now, and looking at you. Though his gaze was weak, you could sense the scorn and wariness directed at you.

The mermaid’s mouth opened, but only a faint gasp came out. You stumble back when you saw what you took for lines on his neck flutter. They were gills.

Your thoughts were racing through your mind. No way, no way, this has to be some kind of prank. There’s probably a hidden camera somewhere…

You look around. There was no one around as far as you could see, no one running up to you and telling you that this was a joke. It was almost too quiet. 

“Are…are you really a mermaid?” you tentatively ask. The words sounded ridiculous, but there was no other conclusion. You briefly wonder if this person was just wearing a fake mermaid tail, but his skin blended into scales much too smoothly for that, and nothing could explain the gills.

The mermaid regarded you for a few brief moments. You could sense his annoyance, probably at how long it took for you to come to the realization. His head moved up and down imperceptibly. A nod.

“Okay…” Holy crap, I can’t believe this is actually happening, you thought in a mixture of fear and surprisingly, joy. I’m meeting a real mermaid! “H-How did you get here, sir?”

The mermaid only stared at you. He didn’t even open his mouth this time. Maybe he can’t talk on land? It was then that you notice the shallow rise and fall of his chest. The mermaid was weak. It must have been washed up onto the beach during the night and was stuck here, unable to push itself back into the sea.

Now you knew what you had to do. Still not quite believing the situation, you told the mermaid, “Okay, I get it. You want to go back to the sea, right? I’ll help you.” 

The mermaid’s eyes widened slightly like he couldn’t believe what you were saying. Did he think I was going to take him away and sell him or something, you wonder idly. 

Although, dragging him back into the water looked to be a formidable task of its own. For one thing, he was massive, so it would take a considerable amount of your meager strength to move him. There was still no one around. It was all up to you.

A part of you thought, I could just leave and call for help. The last thing my life needs is to get involved with a magical creature, and I’m nowhere near capable enough to help him. Not getting involved with others and keeping to yourself was how you survived. But it was overpowered by the weak but desperate gaze aimed at you. You’re the only one who can help me, the mermaid seemed to be saying. 

He needed you.

That thought spurred you on, and you got to work. You gently but firmly grasped the mermaid’s tail–which made him twitch a little–with both hands and started to drag the mermaid back into the sea. He was heavier than you expected, and you almost fell on your butt a few times, but you made gradual progress. You kept apologizing to him as you dragged him through the sand. It felt criminal to treat such a beautiful otherworldly creature like this. 

The mermaid’s eyes were fixed on you as he watched you struggling and wheezing. You really wished he would close his eyes again. His stare was unnerving. You’ve never been looked at like this by anyone, much less a beautiful mermaid, and it was just your luck that it had to happen when you were sweating and gasping for breath. 

Finally, when the sea was up to your knees and the tail was fully submerged in the water, the mermaid’s strength seemed to return. Now supported by the buoyancy of the water, the mermaid turned around and dove beneath the water. You watched in awe as his tail moved in a synchronized rhythm, his long white hair streaming behind him. 

The mermaid’s head surfaced a short distance from you. He didn’t say anything. You couldn’t read any emotion in his eyes. He was simply looking at you like he was waiting for something.

Suddenly, a strange urge to ask him to take you with him rose up within your mind. You had no idea where it came from. It was a preposterous idea, of course.

Instead, you simply gave him a small wave. The mermaid didn’t return it, only staring at you for a few moments longer before slipping back beneath the waves.

You stared at the spot where he once was until the ripples disappeared.

You never saw the mermaid again for the rest of your vacation, even as you went out to the beach every morning to stare out at the waters, trying to catch a glimpse of white hair or blue scales. 

You didn’t know what you were hoping for. You had no idea what you were going to do if you saw him again. Try to talk to him? Take a picture? 

Maybe you just wanted to feel like you were chosen. You were the one who found him, and you were the one who saved him. 

Maybe, you just wanted to feel that connection again.

The mermaid occupied your mind even long after you returned from vacation. Who was he? What was his name? Where in the sea did he live? Were there others like him? Were there others who also saw him?

These questions soon turned into a hidden passion. You began to spend your leisure time researching mermaid legends, collecting mermaid pictures, and even attempting to sketch that beautiful mermaid you saw. Your ears perked up at any mention of mermaids. It was a good thing that you lived alone and kept to yourself, or other people would have thought you’d gone mad. 

You scoured the internet for any information on mermaid sightings. Most were completely bogus, but after some time you managed to find a forum about mermaid sightings in the area you visited in some hidden nook of the web. It was a small forum where other mermaid enthusiasts eagerly shared theories, stories, and blurry photos of what could either be mermaids or giant fish.

At first, you simply lurked, but the easygoing and welcoming nature of the forum users eventually convinced you to share your own story. None of the other users had seen that white-haired mermaid before, but the response was more passionate than you expected, as you answered the bombardment of questions. Though some were disappointed that you didn’t take any pictures, everyone was more excited about the fact that there was someone else who shared their experience. No one doubted your story at all.

The forum soon became a place you frequented as soon as you got home from work. The other posters became familiar friends to you. Their posting habits, their active hours, and even the details of their life they shared became ingrained in your memory. And, as you were surprised to discover, the same went for the others. 

Your fixation on mermaids gradually faded. The forum became a place to vent, ask for advice, and simply to talk to someone. You started to share more and more about yourself, talking about things you never told anyone and, through the responses you received, you discovered things about yourself that you never existed.

You were still mostly invisible at work, but now it no longer felt like you were in free fall. It felt like there was a safety net beneath you now. 

When the other users threw you a virtual birthday party, you sobbed.

So this…is what it feels like to be a part of a community, you thought as you watched the familiar, dear faces sing “Happy Birthday” to you.

The mermaid books on the shelf behind you were dusty from being untouched for months.

In the depths of the sea, far beyond where the sun’s rays could reach, a lone mermaid was gazing up at the surface.

His long white hair billowed around him as he stared upwards unblinkingly. The blue horns–signifiers of his high status–jutting out of his hair gave off an eerie glow. His hand was absentmindedly touching the end of his tail–the same spot that you grabbed.

Even now, he still couldn’t get your eyes, so filled with loneliness, out of his mind. The warmth of your touch still lingered on his scales.

He never liked humans. He disliked their smiling faces as they tore through his people’s habitat and disturbed the peaceful creatures living in the depths. However, he never did anything to them, because that would put his people in danger.

He disliked humans…but then there was you.

The hesitant touch of your hand on his scales that turned into a firm grip, the defeated eyes that came alive as you tried your best to rescue him, the soft apologies that spilled out of your mouth…

All of that stirred something in the mermaid’s heart. Something he didn’t know existed.

Unbeknownst to you, he had come up close to the surface every day during your vacation as well. You never saw him, because he stayed right below the surface, observing you. You looked so frail as you stood at the spot where you found him, your toes barely touching the water. Sometimes you would take a step forward like you were about to go into the sea, but you would always stop and walk back. That was a relief for him. He didn’t know what he would do if you really did it. Then he would wonder why he was even worried about a human at all.

He didn’t really have any intention of revealing himself, but seeing your disappointed look as you walked away after another day of not seeing him almost made him want to emerge from the water. Those sad eyes…what had you endured to make them like that? And why did he want to know?

“Lord Neuvillette!” One of the other mermaids called to him. Neuvillette reluctantly turned around after a few seconds. 

Neuvillette didn’t understand these feelings that tugged at his heart, but he did know this: he wanted to see you again. No matter what. 

#genshin impact x reader #yandere neuvillette #yandere neuvillette x reader #yandere genshin impact #my works

[sentientgolfball]

sooo @rainyhoursinhell got me on a Sir Rain fix but then I thought too long about genderfluid Rain and the lunar cycle so now I give you Ma'am Rain..also go read their stuff!! They are THE Raintom person

18+ MDNI

Word Count: 2570

Pairing: Rain/Phantom

Tags: she/her Rain used, collar and leash, Phantom tries very hard to be good, mean Rain, pet play/pup used as a nickname, slight mention of daddy kink

Summary: It was a super full moon tonight and Rain had to get rid of the pent-up energy somehow

It was a full moon. 

A full super moon. 

Rain had been feeling the pull of the celestial body for the past few days, which wasn’t anything unexpected for a water ghoul. She was used to the push and pull of the moon's power. She knew how to handle herself in the presence of its light. 

Something Rain never could seem to get the handle on though was those few moments in the year where the cycle got interrupted. Eclipses, blue moons, super moons, those always caught her by surprise even if she had the date marked and highlighted in every calendar in the Ministry. She was still caught by surprise when she woke up dick painfully erect like she went into heat overnight. She could already feel that high that comes with the full moon and the sun literally just rose. She figured she needed to take care of herself before she got too high off the surge of magick and adrenaline. She ran straight to the shower and made quick work of herself, shooting onto the tile wall nearly piercing her hand with the effort of keeping quiet. 

When she left the bathroom with a puff of steam and saw her half-opened closet a grin slowly spread on her face. She knew exactly what to wear for the occasion. 

Short satin dress. Spaghetti strap. Black. Matching elbow-length gloves and choker. Opal stud earrings. 

She figured the effort it would take to keep her fins glamoured all day would be worth the looks she knew she’d get. Maybe if she were lucky Cirrus or Mountain would throw her over their shoulder to go rip the dress right off. Or maybe Dew would tease her all day until she decided enough was enough and bent him over the nearest surface. Oh or what about Swiss falling to his knees begging for permission to touch and taste? Rain had to bite back a moan at the thought as she looked herself over in the mirror, making sure each part of the outfit was sitting correctly on her figure. 

When she finally deemed herself the picture of perfection, she made her way to the kitchenette hoping to ruffle some feathers before slipping away to join the other water ghouls until she returned to the den when the moon was at its peak. She must have taken longer to get ready than she originally thought because the entire pack was out, spread between the common area and the kitchen. She tried her damnedest to keep a neutral expression when any conversation halted the moment she stepped into view. She could already smell the arousal on the whole damn pack. 

It was a super moon after all. It was the one lunar event that didn’t affect just water ghouls. Sure it messed with them the most, but still every ghoul of every element would be feeling the pull tonight. She knew this and she used it to her advantage. Every single time. 

She ran a hand over Mountain’s waist when she slipped past him at the stove. She made sure to reach for the glass on the highest shelf so Swiss could get a perfect view of her dress from where he was sitting at the table. She made sure to brush his arm and lean over Cumulus while she set the table. Her tail flicked when she heard a low growl from the common area. 

“Isn’t it a little early to start this Rainy?” 

Her eyes flick up to meet Dew’s glowing ones. 

“What? Am I not allowed to look nice?” 

He huffs “Not when the new kid is five seconds away from creaming his pants.” 

Rain can hear a small squeak followed by Cirrus 

“Sorry Ant but it’s kinda obvious, I can smell you from here.” 

Rain raises an eyebrow at Dew who returns the gesture with the slightest flick of his head. 

Looks like Rain found who she’d be celebrating the supermoon with. 

Rain had to admit, she was a little nervous at the idea of taking Phantom since this was only his second moon experience, but fuck the sweet smell of his arousal wafting over the others made her head spin and it still wasn’t anywhere close to sunset. 

She decided she’d play the long game with him when he couldn’t keep his eyes off her the entirety of breakfast. She’d glance at him and he’d look away with a deep blush and oh did she long to see how far she could push him. It got even worse when she realized his chores seemed to suspiciously line up with every spot the water ghouls decided to gather at to lazily make out or to expel the pent-up magick before the real show started. 

Enough was enough, though when Phantom ran straight into Rain after slinking away when he saw Rain was nowhere to be seen with the other water ghouls. 

“You’ve been watching me all day haven’t you sweet thing?” 

His Lichtenberg figure scars glow slightly as a small wave of quintessence ripples through his body. 

“I uh I don’t know what you’re talking about Rain. I was just you know…working.” 

She tsks “Who taught you to lie? Good boys don’t lie Phantom. I thought you were good?” 

His eyes go wide when Rain turns and begins walking away. 

“Wait! Wait Rainy where are you—?” 

“Back to the den. If you can’t be good I’ll just find someone who can.” 

She turns and meets Phantom’s eyes with a bored look when she feels him grab her wrist. 

“Come on Rain please let me be good for you. I promise I’ll be good. Gimme a chance, I’ll do whatever you say.” 

She raised an eyebrow “Whatever I say? Really?” 

He nods so fast it makes Rain’s neck hurt. 

“Hm,” she hums “Guess we’ll find out if you’re still lying to me.” 

The second they’re back in the ghoul den Rain quickly wraps a hand around his horns and pulls him down the hallway to her room. 

“Good luck Bug you’re gonna need it!” Swiss calls from where he’s pinned between Cirrus and Aurora on the couch. 

“Be nice.” Aurora hisses. 

That’s the last thing Phantom hears before he’s shoved into Rain’s dark room. The lock clicks and he doesn’t even have time for his eyes to adjust before he feels Rain grab and shove him against the door. She pressed her whole body into him, stealing what little breath he had with a kiss. She teases his bottom lip with her tongue, huffing a laugh when he immediately opens for her. 

Rain slips her tongue into his mouth, making an attempt to shove it down his throat before pulling back. 

“Stoplight system, okay pup?” 

He nods with a little squeak. Rain growls and places a little pressure at the base of his neck. 

“What was that? You know how to speak don’t you or are you a dumb little puppy?” 

Phantom whines and nods his head “Yes.” 

“To which?” 

“All of the above.” 

Rain smiles, flashing her fangs before leaning in to suck a deep bruise onto his neck. 

“Good boy. But I still think you need a little training since you decided to lie earlier.” 

Rain pulls away for a moment. She fishes something out from her nightstand that Phantom can’t quite see. She throws open the blinds in her room to let the full moonlight fill the space. Phantom’s cock kicks in his pants at the sight. Rain’s skin practically glows when it hits her. The black satin is a gorgeous contrast to her pale skin and oh the darkness in her eyes was too much for Phantom. She crosses the space to stand in front of him, only this time she keeps a bit of distance. 

“Eyes on me pet.” 

Phantom's mismatched gaze immediately snaps to meet her. She smiles and takes the thing from the nightstand from behind her back, clipping it around his neck before he can even process it. He instinctively reaches up to feel the material. He’s a bit shocked when he feels the leather, whatever was against his neck felt soft and fuzzy. 

“Color?” 

“Green.” 

“Good.” 

Rain yanks on the leash he didn’t even realize was attached and he nearly falls on his ass. She pulls him over to the vanity letting him take a good long look at the two of them. Only Phantom isn’t looking at them. His eyes immediately fell to the collar. It was pink with a matching heart keychain on the leash clip. He squinted to read the words in the low light and nearly fainted when he realized what was written. 

Daddy’s girl. 

He felt another yank his leash. 

“What did I say? Eyes on me.” 

“I’m sorry!” His eyes immediately snap to look at Rain in the reflection. 

“I’m sorry…?” 

“I’m sorry ma’am” he whines. 

Rain steps back to sit on the edge of the bed pulling Phantom with her. He immediately moves to straddle her but Rain hisses, looping the leash around her wrist and yanking. 

“Nuh-uh, you haven’t earned that yet. You still need to be taught a lesson for lying. On your knees pup.” 

Phantom drops without a second thought landing hard. He’s going to have bruises for days after this is over. He looks up at Rain with those big eyes making her cock twitch. She shifts her weight just enough to lift the hem of the dress to expose her lacy underwear. 

“Sit on your hands pup. Since you wanted to use your mouth so badly that’s what you’re going to do.” 

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good boy. Now get to work.” 

Phantom leans forward till he’s slotted perfectly between Rain’s legs. He grabs the waistband of the panties between his teeth, careful not to nick her skin with his fangs. He slides them down just enough to free her cock. She’s already hard with a bead of pre pooling at the tip. He licks his lips and glances up at Rain, holding eye contact as he licks a long fat stripe from root to tip. Rain tightens his grip on the leash, letting his claws bite into his palm to keep still. 

Phantom laps at the tip before parting his lips and swallowing her down. Rain laces her fingers through his hair, gasping when her cock hits the back of his throat. He slowly pulls off, letting the flat of his tongue drag along the underside. He keeps his lips around the tip and holds for just a moment letting the anticipation build. He breathes deep through his nose before sliding down in one quick motion, burying his nose in the hair at the base. He hollows his cheeks and bobs his head. Rain moans and throws his head back. 

“Good boy. Good fucking boy pup. Do something good with that mouth.” 

Phantom’s tail snakes around to stroke and play with her balls. Rain hisses a curse and rips Phantom off her dick by his leash. He stares at her with wide eyes trying to babble out an excuse. 

“What part of mouth is so hard to understand stupid little puppy?” 

“Rain I’m sorry—“ 

“What did you say?”

“Ma’am! I’m sorry ma’am please” 

“Strip and get on the bed. Ass up.” 

Phantom jumps up and rips his shirt off sending buttons flying across the room. He almost falls on his face trying to get his pants off and onto the bed at the same time. Rain slips his panties the rest of the way off. She fishes out a half-empty bottle of lube, settling behind Phantom on her knees. She pulls one of her gloves off to pour a generous amount onto her hand. She pulls her dress up to sit above his hips. She jacks herself a few times to spread the lube and spit around. She lines herself up with Phantom’s waiting hole and slaps his ass. 

“Wait wait wait you’re not gonna prep first?” He yelps. 

“Color?” 

“Green.” 

Rain sneers “Do you really think you deserve it pup?”

She pushes the head in. 

“You spent all day stalking me.” 

She pushes in a little more. 

“You lie to my face.” 

She pulls all the way out. 

“And then you break two rules. So tell me pup do you really think you deserve it?” 

Phantom whines and writhes under her “No ma’am. You’re right I don't, I'm sorry.” 

Rain slams into him bottoming out in one thrust. Phantom howls at the stretch. Rain wasn’t big enough to really hurt him, but it still burned without any prep. He’d definitely feel her long after this was over. 

She gives him no time to adjust, immediately setting a brutal pace, one hand gripping his hip and the other keeping a tight hold on the leash. She yanks on it in time with her thrusts pulling strangled little moans from Phantom. 

“Ma’am please please. I’m good, I'm good, I promise.” 

He tries to grind his hips back on Rain’s cock, trying to get her deeper. 

“Are you?” 

“Please I am I am I’m good.”

“Then fucking take it.” 

She shifts her hips and the next thrust hits his prostate dead on. He keens and clenches hard around her. She groans and throws her head back. 

“Come on pup be a good boy. Be a good fucking boy.” She punctuates each word with a thrust, grinding her hips against his ass. 

She pulls hard on the leash until Phantom is pulled up and pressed tight against Rain’s chest. She licks and kisses over his shoulders before dragging her tongue up the column of his throat to his ear. She pants heavy and low in his ear and nips at the lobe. 

“You take it so well, slutty little puppy.” 

She pinches and twists his nipples. He whines high and feminine. Rain drags her hand down his body and grabs his dick. She jacks him as she grinds into him. It only takes a few more strokes and Phantom is spilling hot and heavy into her hand.

“Thank you ma’am thank you thank you thank you.” He pants and whines as Rain milks every drop out of him. She brings her hand to his face.

“Clean your mess puppy.” 

Phantom drops his mouth and wraps his tongue around her fingers when she shoves them into his mouth. He sucks until he feels her bite into his shoulder shooting into him thrusting her spend as deep as she can manage into him. 

She takes a moment to catch her breath before lapping at the wound to close it. She drops them onto the bed, kissing Phantom sweetly between the horns. She unclips the collar and kisses around the red marks left on his neck. 

“You were such a good boy for me pup. Come on let’s get you cleaned up.” 

Phantom whines and shakes his head burying his nose into her chest. 

“Wanna stay here?” 

He nods and tilts his head up to kiss the underside of her chin making her laugh. 

“You know we have to clean you up love bug.” 

“Aren’t you like a super water ghoul right now? Just” he gestures vaguely “magic it away.” 

“No bug, I can't magic it away, it has to go somewhere.” 

“Fiiiine” he groans. 

Rain just laughs and hauls him up, pulling him to the shower. She holds him close, swaying slightly to a silent rhythm. 

#the band ghost #nameless ghouls #ghost bc #phantom ghoul #rain x phantom #rain ghoul #raintom #mdni #the band ghost fic #golfball writes

[lilliancdoodles]

Merfolk Fobo for @tastytoastz's Fitpac Mer AU fic 'Life is like the ocean, it goes up and down'. Click for better quality!

Design notes below the cut.

Master post of all designs for this fic

HOLY SHIT OK. So i know I did this to myself but Fobo was ROUGH to draw. Everyone gave me some trouble.

Foolish: - Great White Shark but gold - Foolish is always hard for me to draw cause everyone draws him differently. I decided to base him more off of the more human designs/ cc!Foolish for this to break up the yellow from the tail. - I didn't want to make him straight up metallic, so I gave him a goldish color

Tubbo: - Swordfish - Did you know that swordfish and marlins look very similar? Well they do, so i had to make sure that I was giving him a swordfish tail and not a marlin tail. (I redrew it so much) - I gave him a different shaped sail cause one big difference between swordfish and marlins are their dorsal fin. The tails are pretty similar, but the dorsal fin is different. (pic for ref further down) - The scars are from when he got caught in the ship rudder causing him to end up at Chume Labs ----------------------------------------- Marlin dorsal fin V Swordfish dorsal fin V

Sunny: - Fantail goldfish (I got more specific than just 'goldfish' cause i wanted to >:) ) - Flowy ruffled shirt with a cut out in the back for her sail. - This Sunny looks a lot different from my normal Sunny, but I like them a lot. - by far the easiest of Fobo Leo: - Purple Lionfish - Sail is like the spines of a lionfish but with webbing between the spines - Ears inspired by lionfish pectoral fin - The fin gave me so much grief... I wanted to have it face forward and not sideways, but I could not for the life of me get it to face forward and look good, so I gave up. - Red t-shirt with white collar. I didn't draw it here, but I imagine it also has a little white hood that has the Walter dog on it, but it might get in the way of her sail, so unsure. Also has a hole cut in the back for her sail like Sunny's

Also close ups of Sunny and Leo cause they're small in the group shot:

#qsmp #qsmp fanart #qsmp au #qsmp foolish #qsmp tubbo #qsmp sunny #qsmp leonarda #LCDoodles #I spent like an hour and a half making sure I was giving Tubbo a swordfish tail #I eventually went to swordfish taxidermy and that was pretty helpful #I managed to find pictures of what actual propeller scars look like #Unfortunately manatees seem to get caught sometimes so i found a (non gruesome (looks like it had healed a bit actually)) of that #Leo was fun but that tail fin annoyed the hell out of me #I love how it turned out though #she looks so cool #my algorithm must be so confused #I'll probably do the humans next #cause im all caught up on the Mers we've seen #I have an idea for most of them #Richas specifically so im excited >:D

[echantedtoon]

Ocean Deep Ch1 Premise

In a world where inhuman and human creatures lives side by side, sometimes it was difficult to navigate where things were. So there was rules EVERY human followed. Don't engage. If you left them alone then they almost always left you alone... Unfortunately it's difficult when a whole pod happens to be under the impression that you belong to them.

IMPORTANT WORLD INFO:

This is set in a fantasy world with very little tech. Think Howl's Moving Castle kinda tech world. Also more Bride concept cuz I like it.

This is heavily inspired by @firelillys on Tumblr merfolk au. Please support all artists linked/mentioned here with their own works!  I'll be providing important info for our mer cast and leave links for a better image of what they look like. I wanted to pick pretty fish for them all so some of the original fish ideas were scrapped from the first drabble.

KYOJURO:

Kyojuro would be a lionfish such as the one drawn by @yuki2sksksk on Tumblr linked below.

TENGEN:

Tengen would be a white butterfly koi fish and would look like the linked post below except less eel and more butterfly koi also below.

Merman Tengen (minus the eel like features)

https://x.com/littlegao_gao/status/1527621514123681793

his tail would be more like this instead 

https://images.app.goo.gl/4Y3V2LkbRWKEua5v9

HINATSURU:

Hinatsura would have a tail that starts out red then fade to pink and would have sorta spotted like patterned semi flowing fins being a Strawberry Peacock mer.

MAKIO:

Makio would have an orange-gold tail with flowing fins being a Golden Dragon Koi mer.

SUMA:

Suma would have a blue tail with more ruffled fins compared to everyone else being a (all blue) Halfmoon Betta fish mer.

With this out of the way let's get onto the chapter.

In a world where inhuman and human creatures lived side by side, sometimes it was difficult to navigate where the danger lied. No where was safe. 

The fae ruled the forests. Fairies and elves. Pixies and gnomes. Pans. Mischief makers. If not careful they'd whisk you away. Never to be seen again.

 The dwarves and dragons claimed the mountains. Proud and strong. If insulted they'd be incredible does to crush you.

The skies were never safe either. Run amok with harpies. The plains ran with herds of centaur. The night plagued with vampires, werewolves, and demons. The day ran with fauns and tieflings and shape shifters. So many dangers and so many things to look out for. Especially when it came to courting a mate. As they say

"Beware the monsters who lurk and live amongst the world. Beware of those who seek courtship from maidens. Do not engage. If you ignore and leave them alone then they'll almost always leave you alone."

You must learn to learn their language and not be tricked by anything. Stay alert. Stay aware. Always stay vigilant.

And never let your unmarried daughters near them alone-

The sky was beautiful today. That's all really you could think to yourself. The fresh scent of flowers filling your sense of smell as dead flower petals was swept away with the dirt and dust. With each step you took the sounds of distant crying was heard. F/c eyes only stared at the floor where bristles met the ground and pushed them all away... Eventually you did spare a look briefly over your shoulder and felt your heart sink. 

The Kocho family stood there. Or..what was left of the family.

The man hugged his wife tightly to his chest as she sobbed uncontrollably into his shirt. It was the most recent travesty really. Two months ago their youngest daughter, Kanao, had gone down to the river just down the old dirt road and through the woods a bit, to gather more herbs which they sold alongside the medicines in their family shop but she hadn't returned for a few hours. Then when their two older daughters went to go look for her, they two never came back. Panicked, a group of men including Mr. Kocho and the girls' grandfathers had gone out on a wide man hunt searching deep into the nearby woods and combing the long beach nearby for any trace of the missing sisters. Nothing ever came up. No footprints or scraps of fabric. It's like they've never even existed! Some say that they were claimed by fairies. Others say a ghost spirited them away. One person whispered that a flock of harpies might've flown them away.

Whatever the case, they were gone and it's unlikely that they were coming back.

The parents had already accepted that their girls were probably not coming back and was here to make flower arrangements for a memorial service the family was hosting in their honor and memory. Your boss was standing in front of them holding a few sample petals for them to choose from. In the middle of their talk, Mrs. Kocho had burst into tears, so the older woman gave the couple a moment to process their own emotions.

This wasn't the first time a young girl disappeared into thin air. 

When you were a little girl, your next door neighbor was a beautiful woman named Rei. Her pretty brown eyes and kind personality made her a favorite person to everyone. She loved going on night walks, but one night she didn't return from her walks. Her father moved his entire business three towns away a little after that. Another case was a girl your age who disappeared last year, Mitsuri. According to her brother, she ran into the woods to be alone after her fiance brutally broke up with her. As he went to find her, he saw her being carried away by a giant black and white naga, the boy had fled as fast as he could back but by then it was too late. Then later that same year, you heard rumors about a girl named Koyuki and her father disappearing from a boat ride near the river but since that didn't happen in your town, you didn't know if that one was true.

It wasn't always young women either. Sometimes it was young men that went missing. A famous case from up the mountains was the disappearance of Kagaya Ubuyashiki. The last anyone had seen of him was he was walking along a patch of birch trees. Witnesses said he was last seen speaking to a white haired woman before he vanished. People say she was a white birch spirit. Another famous case was Tokito. Again not in your town, but he was a lumberjack that often went into the mountains for wood but one day never returned.

Nevertheless it was both scary and tragic. 

Which was why there was a few unspoken rules your parents always taught you before they passed away. Never go anywhere alone. Never trust mysteries strangers. ALWAYS carry protection with you. Never go out late at night. Stay away from deep woods. But above all else-

NEVER TRUST ANYONE WHO WASN'T HUMAN.

They were all bad and will try to trick you. Don't trust a single one. Do not engage. Like clockwork you've always taken them to heart. Always looking over your shoulder. Keeping your guard up. Keeping a dagger on you at all times. Never going out at night for any reason. You weren't gonna be carried away by some lovestruck creature! It helped a bit that you loved in the middle of town and rarely went into the woods for any reason. 

"It's an excellent choice. These flowers are very beautiful. I'm sure your service will be beautiful." Your eyes finally turned away from the sight. Your sweeping resuming as your boss politely escorted the couple to the door. "Don't worry about the delivery. It's on the house. ...You both have my up most condolences." She bowed one last time to the retreating couple.

A sigh escaping from your lips. "It happened again..Why does this happen so much?"

"Because there are creatures who have become so fascinated by the easy prey of our kind. A human is seen as a trophy of sorts. A thing to show off what you have but others can't have..." The old woman slowly closed the door. "We must remember that as humans, there are those who will hunt us."...Old black eyes turned to yours. "You're a young, beautiful woman. Possibly the most beautiful woman in town now. I wouldn't forget to be careful during these times."

"Don't worry. I'm not allowing myself to be trapped by anything."

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu gakuen #Kny #kny fanfic #kny mermaid au #mermaid au #rengoku kyojuro #rengoku kyoujurou #rengoku #kyojuro rengoku #rengoku x reader #rengoku x y/n #rengoku x you #tengen x rengoku #tengen uzui #tengen x reader #tengen x wives x reader #tengen x y/n #tengen x you #uzuren #Kyoten #Tengen x wives #demon slayer suma #suma uzui #suma x reader #Suma #kny suma #makio uzui #makio x reader

[coffeeghoulie]

Hello, for the prompt list, may I please request RainDrop and #29 - as a promise? 💜✨

I haven't written Raindrop in a minute lol, I'm happy to change that though. Hope you enjoy!

From this prompt list

#29: as a promise

The sun beats down, junebugs droning, the slightest breeze ruffling the highest branches of the trees around them. The lake is nestled deep in the woods surrounding the Abbey, farther than even the bravest siblings dare to go, and Rain takes Dew by the hand, walking down the path they both know like the back of their hands.

The water calls, even though it's weaker now, but Dew still listens, obeys its beck and call. It's easier now, with the way his fingers lace through Rain's, his cooler skin a balm against his fire.

They emerge into the clearing, the sound of gentle waves lapping against the dock one of the sweetest sounds Dew's ever heard. His grip on Rain's hand tightens, and Rain turns back, smiling brightly at him.

For a water ghoul, Rain's just as beautiful and entrancing in the light, the sun making his scales and fins shine with iridescence as his glamour melts away. Rain must catch him staring, he throws his head back with laughter, shaking blue black waves out of his face.

"What?" He grins, baring a mouthful of sharp, serrated teeth that put Swiss's grins to shame. While the multighoul is quick to flash them at anything and anyone he likes, Rain's full-toothed smiles are a little rarer. It makes Dew's heart sing to see them, especially when they're directed at him.

"Am I not allowed to look at you, siren?" Dew teases, nudging Rain closer to the gravel shore, reluctantly letting go of his hand to unbutton his shirt. "My pretty fishy."

Rain snorts, flicking his tail. The pretty fins ripple in blues and purples and teals, and Dew finds himself grateful that Rain doesn't hunt other ghouls, the patterns mesmerizing.

Rain shucks his shirt, revealing the gills lining his sides, and Dew throws his own into the underbrush. He's not insecure about what the element change did to him, hasn't been for a long time, but the old scars along his throat and chest ache, just for a moment.

Rain's smile chases all of that away. The water ghoul throws aside the rest of his clothing, naked as the day he was summoned, racing down the dock and jumping headfirst into the lake. Dew shakes his head, clearing out the old melancholy before chasing after him.

Dew dives in with all of his old water ghoul grace, the cold of the water a shock against his sunwarm skin. He opens his eyes, just to see Rain reaching for him. He looks absolutely ethereal, hair and fins floating around him like a dark halo. Rain reaches for him again, webbed fingers grabbing his ankle and yanking him further down.

Air bubbles up as he laughs, and Rain shoves him up to the surface in a panic. They both breach, splashing as Dew sucks in a deep breath. Rain, now that his hair is subject to gravity, looks far less majestic. Dew doesn't need to look at his reflection to know he looks the exact same.

They stare at each other, copper meeting blue, before they both burst into cackling laughter. Dew treads water, paddling his way closer to Rain.

"Love this, Dewey," Rain whispers, grabbing Dew's wrists when he comes within reach. "Want this to be ours until the lake freezes over."

Dew smiles, scoffing. "Of course, pearl," he says. "And when it thaws. Wait, maybe a month or two after it thaws, it's still too fucking frigid to swim right after the thaw."

Rain rolls his eyes, but he's still smiling too. "Aw, poor Dewey can't handle the cold."

"Fire ghoul, remember?" he says, gesturing at himself.

Rain tuts, pulling him in. "I promise I won't make you get in the lake as soon as the ice thaws."

"Thank you, pearl," Dew says, pulling Rain in to press a sweet kiss to his lips. He tastes like lake water, the salt of his skin underneath,

When they pull away, there's a glint in Rain's eyes that Dew knows all too well. "That doesn't mean I won't dunk you though."

Dew laughs, yanking at where Rain has him by the wrists, playfully struggling to get away before Rain shoves him back under. He wouldn't trade this for the world.

#dot's writing #dewdrop ghoul #rain ghoul #raindrop #dew/rain #the band ghost fanfiction #the band ghost #kiss prompts

[takusan-no-ai]

Equestrian Training

PAIRING: Riddle x Reader (Platonic) (Male & Female Reader)

SUMMARY: Riddle teaches (Y/N) how to ride a horse.

“No, (Y/N)! Don’t walk up behind the horse.” Riddle was at his wits end. He promised to teach (Y/N) how to ride a horse, but that was quickly proving challenging by the Prefect’s lack of ability to handle simple tasks. (Y/N) kept circling around the majestic steed in astonishment, it’s well-kept mane, tail, and horse shoes proving to leave quite the impression.

“His name is Vorpal, my personal horse.” Riddle handed Vorpal an apple, the latter eating it all in one bite. He adjusted the saddle while handing (Y/N) a helmet. “Since you’re a beginner, safety is a must,” Riddle said while tightening (Y/N)’s uniform. He placed down a stepladder and helped (Y/N) up onto Vorpal.

“Thanks again for teaching me, Riddle. I really appreciate it.” (Y/N) said, patting Riddle on the head. He jolted back and flattened his hair, face blushing.

“I’m glad you’re grateful, but remember Prefect; I’m. A. Dorm. Leader. So please, refrain from treating me like a child.” He crossed his arms, pouting with a still red face, though this time it likely wasn’t from embarrassment.

“Sorry, Sorry, won’t happen again! So, how do we get this lecture started?” (Y/N) asked enthusiastically.

Riddle got onto a different horse and ambled slightly ahead of (Y/N) before turning around. A more serious look plastered his face, seeming even more like a teacher than a fellow student.

“First things first, you have to know the basics of equestrianism!” His commanding voice made (Y/N) sit up straight. “Staying alert is a must. For your own and your horse’s safety. Since Vorpal is well trained, HE will be taking care of YOU.”

“I’m not gonna be THAT bad, Riddle! Have some faith in me cochise!” (Y/N) said while lightly shoving Riddle.

Riddle, despite rolling his eyes, smirked and looked forward. “You’re already in the correct position for controlling Vorpal, so now let’s go for a nice stroll around the enclosure.”

After some hours of walking, galloping, and jumping, the sun was beginning to set and the stars were shining bright. Riddle guided (Y/N) through getting off Vorpal and led the two horses back to their stables.

(Y/N) waited for him outside, laying down in the grass and gazing at the night sky. “You did very well today,” Riddle praised. (Y/N) turned over, looking at Riddle. The redhead sat on the ground next to (Y/N).

“That’s only cause I had such a great teacher!” Riddle giggled while ruffling (Y/N)’s hair.

“And I had such a great student.” The two watched shooting stars fly over in silence. Suddenly, Riddle pinched (Y/N)’s face. “Though you were very difficult at first and seriously need better posture. If Vil saw you today…whew.”

“Why you little…”

“Little?!”

- Fin

#female reader #male reader #twisted wonderland x reader #oneshot #riddle rosehearts x reader #riddle rosehearts

[spoiledleaff]

could you bless us with some bottom dew x top rain where dew wants to go out to annoy rain but rain wants to spend time with dew so when dew tries to leave rain like strips in a flirtatious way and dew gets all weak for that and then rain fucks dew into the mattress? 🙏

ohoho!! anon, i've been staring at this ask for much too long, haha! you know that 'heart-eyes, motherfucker' meme? yeah, haha! that's been me staring this down!

anyways! some silly little filth below the cut ♡

They're onto him. He knows.

Dewdrop's been so awfully fucking bored this entire goddamn evening, and Rain had offered to spend some time in their dormitory together. Now, Dewdrop had thought that this was super-secret water ghoul horny code for 'hey, i'm also bored. wanna have me fuck your ass so hard, you can feel my balls in your chest?'

You'd think. But, no.

Rain's had Dewdrop tucked into their side for the past hour and a half, one of Cumulus' silly little romance novellas - a stupid human excuse to just read actual porn in public, as Dew might call it - perched half on their chest as their arm is wrapped over Dewdrop's shoulders, keeping him close.

The interactions between the two have been so goddamn chaste, that Dewdrop's absolutely fucking certain that they must know what Dewdrop's actually here for. He's been dragging his claws over the exposed little sliver of Rain's stomach, casually wiggling his own mangled tail over Rain's upper thighs and crotch, and even angling his body up to nibble on the translucent flesh of the fins decorating Rain's inner ear. In response? Rain linked their claws through Dewdrop's mischievous digits, entangled their tail with Dewdrop's before practically throwing them both out of reach from Dewdrop's target area, and even going so far as to twist their head away from Dewdrop's nibbling teeth.

Sathanas below, normally the ear nibbling move would have Rain's mouth on his chubbed up cock by now. They have to know.

But this? This kind of playing hard to get is just boring. Which is not a word that Dewdrop would often use to describe Rain of all ghouls. But, well, the poor fire's sin has been awfully under-stimulated since breakfast, and Dewdrop would much rather be the sexy kind of overstimulated right about now, to be completely honest.

"'M gonna fuck off to my room, I think." Dewdrop mumbles, already ducking underneath Rain's arm and untangling their tails so he could go literally fuck himself.

"Running away, droplet?" He could hear Rain's fluttering voice, croaking at first due to having not used their voice for some time.

"Tired." He lies, feeling as though he could run three different fucking marathons with how much sheer energy he can feel coursing through his vessel's veins.

"Too tired for me, pet?"

And, ohhhh. That made Dewdrop pause.

Turning on his heel, Dewdrop cautiously glances over his shoulder, immediately going fucking bug-eyed when he sees Rain toying with the buttons of their uniform's collar. They've already popped open a couple of the topmost buttons, their claws now torturously swirling slowly around the rim of the next button. Dewdrop can see the sharp edges of their collarbones peaking over the slight ruffling of their shirt, the way those twin arteries seem to flutter underneath Dewdrop's predatory gaze, and the way there's this one specific bead of sweat that's slowly falling down Rain's Adam's apple and pooling in the hollow of their throat.

The tip of that one merciless claw has drifted down towards the side of their chest, tap-tap-tapping over the area where Rain's perky little nipples are almost certain to be hiding underneath the sinfully thin layer of Rain's undershirt. They've dropped their book, and their newly freed hand is now able to teasingly grope at the laces and ties keeping their pants secure over their waist. Those ink black claws are now toying with the ends of those uniform laces, slowly - excruciatingly fucking slow - pulling on one of the ends of the ties.

(...Dewdrop wants to rip those laces off with his fangs; tongue fuck the hollow of the water ghoul's fucking throat just to get a sip of their nectarine sweat.)

But, Dewdrop can't. All he do is stay frozen, watching helplessly as Rain proceeds to slowly pop open those buttons without hesitation. Inch by inch of indigo skin slowly being revealed to Dewdrop's ravenous gaze. The saliva gathering in every corner of his mouth suddenly feels overwhelming; choking.

Rain's undershirt falls open as the last shiny button is removed, finally.

Their nipples are hard and pebbled, small beads of sweat trickling down the length of their sternum, and Dewdrop's eyes are fucking glued to the neat trimmings of hair leading down to the agonizing bulge hidden just beneath their trousers. Rain's claws graze up their stomach and chest, teasingly swirling around their newly naked nipple before flattening their palm over the edge of their collarbone. They cock their head to the side, and Dewdrop audibly gulps at the way a singular strand of dark curly hair falls over their face.

"Hot in here." Rain quips, those sharp eyes raking over Dewdrop's frozen body in an unfairly predatory way.

"Uh, yeah." Dewdrop says, dumbly. His trouser suddenly feeling much too restricting.

Rain laughs at him, perhaps a bit too cruelly considering the unfair situation. Their legs fall open further, the unmistakable bulge of their arousal already soaking through their pants with the amount of precum Rain's already fucking leaking. Goddamn water ghouls-

"Get on the bed, baby." And Dewdrop fucking dives for his previous position of being sprawled out on Rain's sheets. Although, with the way his knees suddenly collapsed under him, it was more like the fire's sin stumbled into those satin sheets.

Again, they laugh, slipping off their bed as they begin to slowly slip their unbuttoned shirt off their shoulders. Dewdrop twisted his body around to watch as their shirt slowly fell off their slight frame. Rain swirled their hips, their tail performing a mesmerizing dance behind their shifting legs as those beautiful claws plucked and played with the idea of unlacing those trousers.

"Rainy..." Dewdrop whines, his own hands quick to reach between his thighs and cup himself. Rain doesn't tell him off for touching himself without explicit permission, but Dewdrop gulps at the way their eyes darkened behind those elegant eyelashes.

"Take your pants off," Rain hardly had to even finish their sentence before Dewdrop was yanking at his own respective lacings, "panties too."

(Dewdrop flushes noticeably at how Rain fucking knew that Dewdrop chose his favorite pair of silk and lace panties to wrap his pretty little cock in.)

By the time Dewdrop's focus is once again zeroing in on the way Rain's groomed happy trail shimmers underneath their room light, Rain's ties are fully unlaced and the material is being pushing down their spread thighs.

And their fucking cock bounces free from its constraints. Because apparently Rain wasn't the only one who decided on some more risqué choices of undergarments for the day. Or, well, lack thereof.

"Turn around, slut." Rain suddenly demands, their tone turning dark and the sound of it suddenly makes Dewdrop that much closer to pure shamelessness.

Dewdrop flops over onto his stomach almost immediately, propping up his ass and wiggling his tail in Rain's direction.

"Gonna fuck me, Rainy?" Dewdrop teases, shaking his ass as one of his hands ducked in between his thighs once more, palming and stroking at his growing arousal. He's fucking dripping.

"I'm gonna shove my cock inside this tight little hole," Rain growls, kneeling onto the bed and quickly slapping Dewdrop's ass, "and I'm gonna fuck you so hard, you'll feel my cum dripping down your throat, droplet."

Rain presses closer, leaning in to dribble spit over Dewdrop's fluttering asshole, immediately lining up the tapered head of their cock with Dewdrop's asshole. When they push in, it's all in one go. Rain fully sheaths the length of their dick inside Dewdrop's tight ass with a low groan, the pace they set fucking into Dewdrop's hole is brutal; cutthroat. They press the entirety of their front against Dewdrop's clammy back, one of their hands reaching over to shove Dewdrop's face further into their mattress, their other smacking Dewdrop's ass as Rain nuzzles their face in the side of Dewdrop's neck.

"Unholy Father, baby," Rain groans, dragging their nose over Dewdrop's sweaty jawline, "I always love sinking my fat fucking dick in this tight little hole of yours. My favorite way to spend the afternoon-"

Dewdrop gasps as Rain's knot bounces against the rim of his asshole with every harsh thrust. There's another smack to his ass, and the fire's sin prays to every unholy deity that might be listening that he'll feel those hits for the next week.

He can already feel the imprints of the stitch work of Rain's once pristine sheets pressing into the meat of his cheek. Fuck, this is so much better than Christian fucking cuddling-

#spoiled seeds #ghost bc #ghost band #ghost #dewdrop ghoul #the band ghost #nameless ghouls #rain ghoul #ficlet #ghost fanfiction #ficlet request #anon ask #raindrop #rain/dew #spoiled writing

[doctordiscord123]

If requests are still open, could you write something about the fantasy au with Bim, King, Dark, and Wilford? I feel like King and Dark didn’t get to interact much and I’m curious about how that would go

Kudos to you for bringing back an au I haven't thought of for nearly 4 whole years

King hummed, dutifully weaving together his latest flower crown with his legs dangling off the edge of the pier, kicking at the water slowly as he watched Bim chase fish in the shallows. None of them were big enough for a proper meal, they both knew that, but it was fun, and King enjoyed watching his boyfriend's theatrics, arcing him tail and poking his head up out of the water to excitedly get King's attention, a fish fisted in one hand.

He didn't see the shark fin traveling steadily toward him. Nor the flash of pink scales beneath the water beside it. He was too enraptured with his little pink and purple flower crown and Bim's antics, not to mention the gorgeous sunset that bathed the ocean in all sorts of color.

"How --"

King shrieked as Dark surfaced by his foot and spoke, falling back on the pier and scrambling away a little. Bim's head immediately surfaced, an expression of concern on his face and teeth partial bared, before he spotted who it was, rolled his eyes, and swam over. He smacked Dark on the shoulder -- who, for his part, looked entirely confused and apologetic with Wilford laughing at his side. "Dad! What are you doing here?"

"...We simply came to visit." Dark shot King an apologetic smile, and the dryad shifted to sit at the end of the pier again, revitalizing the partially crushed flower crown with a bit of plant magic. "...Check up on you two, see how things were going."

"So how are the two lovebirds~?" Wilford threw an arm around Bim, ruffling his hair with a spark of mischief in his eyes. "Hope you aren't doing anything I wouldn't approve of~"

"Dad..." Bim grumbled, shoving Wilford away, and crossed his arms. "We're doing fine. Great even. Go away."

"Oh Bim --" King reached over, placing the flower crown on Bim's head, and he smiled at the two older mermen. "I don't mind if they visit. They must miss you."

All three mermen flushed, and King laughed. Distantly, the leaves of his tree shook with a nonexistent breeze. "We're doing fine, like Bim said. Spring is finally coming, see?" He gestured to his tree, at the new growth coming in that decorated his branches. He smiled softly at Bim, touching the coral flower still tucked behind his ear. "We'll be able to spend more time together soon, now that I'll be able to be out and about more."

"Well --" Dark cleared his throat, and shot King a little smile. "...I trust that you're still good for my son. Bim needs someone to care about, other than himself."

"Hey! I resent that!"

Bim flicked water at Dark, and Dark just laughed, shifting in a way that the mark on his neck caught King's attention. Somehow, those two little pinpricks stood out all the more in the growing shadow of twilight, and King couldn't help but swallow. Dark was trusting him here. Trusting him, a 'land dweller' as Bim liked to call him, with his son. Bim had told him the stories, though nothing Dark confirmed himself. The first vampiristic merfolk...

King flashed a smile back, laughing himself as Wilford joined the water war, and covered his face with his arms. He'd watched this shore for a long time. Centuries, in fact. So -- as the little playful fight wore down, he leaned forward, gently touching Dark's shoulder. "...Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to him."

The look Dark gave him in return was...unreadable. A mix of anxiety, or fear, of dread -- but mostly relief. "...That means more than you know."

#ask discord #anonymous #my writing #fantasy au #darkiplier #wilford warfstache #darkstache #bim trimmer #king of the squirrels #bim trimmer/king of the squirrels #king of the squirrels/bim trimmer #bim trimmer x king of the squirrels #king of the squirrels x bim trimmer

[adobe-outdesign]

thoughts on the horsea line? i love kingdra

For as complex as seahorses are visually, Horsea is ironically very simple. It has a seahorse's signature tail, an elongated noot-noot snout, some ridge-like structures on the side of the head, and a segmented cream underbelly accented by the single cream fin. The blue color indicates its water typing and the red eye draws attention to the face. It's a bit bland at this stage, but it sets things up for the evolutions and is pretty cute as well.

In Japanese mythology, seahorses are thought to be baby dragons that will transform if they live for a century (with their Japanese name literally translating out as "dragon's child"). Horsea's evolution references this with Seadra here. It's not super overt, but the shape of the head and the fins, the scales on the underbelly, and the "wings" on the back all loosely invoke dragons.

Visually, it keeps most of the same elements from Horsea minus the red eyes. The shape of the wings and head fins mimic each other, and the cream underbelly is now matched by cream only on the tips of the back fins, which breaks up the amount of blue a bit and gives the fins a sense of movement and somewhat naturalistic patterning.

My only real problem with Seadra is that I think it starts to be a bit too busy. The combo of two head fins and two back fins starts to become cluttered; it may have been better if they just stuck to one or dropped the head fins entirely. The circular nature of the tail also now feels a bit more at odds with the angular-ness of the rest of the design. Similarly, I think the vertical nature of the underbelly scales contrasts a bit against the underbelly color, which cuts straight across them in an unnatural way. None of these are major issues, obviously—its still a pretty cool design all around.

Out of the line, Kingdra's my personal favorite. While still a dragon, it actually includes progression in the seahorse front by advancing it to a weedy seadragon, a seperate-but-related species:

What I like about Kingdra is that it still mixes dragon elements with seahorse (or seadragon) elements, but it does so in a much more elegant and streamlined way than Seadra does. The various frills reference Horsea's head fins, but also serve to form a pair of dragon-like horns. Meanwhile, the shape of the head invokes the long whiskers Eastern dragons are known for. It also still invokes a dragon's scales, but this time by simply including some lines over the body instead of individually drawing them out. It's beautiful, it's easy to read and understand, and it looks powerful.

My only nitpick is that the more saturated colors, while beautiful, do make the orange underbelly stick out. It might've made more sense to make the eye orange instead to draw the color through, seeing as Seadra already lost the red eye anyway.

All of that said, I do have to point out one thing: to me, it looks much less like a Seadra evolution, and much more like a Horsea evo. Horsea has red eyes as does Kingdra, but Seadra looses them; Horsea and Kingdra have one light-colored back fin, Seadra has two primarily blue fins; Horsea and Kingdra are all smooth curves while Seadra is all spikes. Horsea and Kingdra have smooth lines for scales, Seadra's scales are ruffled, etc. etc.

In that regard, I kind of feel like Kingdra and Seadra would've worked better as branching evos from Horsea. Kingdra to me looks more like an Eastern dragon while Seadra looks more like a Western, so it makes thematic sense. Likewise, Horsea has a simple design that's not super invocative of one species, which then would lead into it evolving into either a seahorse or seadragon. Obviously it's not a big deal that it doesn't, and it doesn't ruin the line; it would just make more logical sense to me. (Also, both could be dragon/water with different stat distributions; it feels weird that Seadra is a dragon but lacks dragon-typing.)

Kingdra also has this beta design, which is worse in just about every way. I will say that it's a bit easier to see how this evolved from Seadra (elements like the blue back fins becoming a cape, the head spikes being kept, the progression from seahorse -> seahorse/dragon -> Actual Literal Dragon, etc.), but the realistic dragon head feels very out of place and doesn't fit well with the body. I'm glad they refined this one some more.

Overall, this is a solid line. I do think the progression could've been a bit stronger in terms of how the line is structured, but the actual designs are all very nice and the theme is clear. Now all GameFreak needs to do is actually pay attention to them once in a while.

#horsea #seadra #kingdra #pokemon #pokemon reviews

[chocomd]

Gone

Rating: G

Word count: 1200

Story summary: Aang struggles with the aftermath of burning his glider. Takes place after “The Awakening” (S3E01).

————–

The rush of airbending ruffled Katara’s dark red cloak as Aang leaped onto a rock among the lava trails of Crescent Island. He gazed down at the glowing red cracks in the volcanic rock. A staff of battered wood and tattered cloth drooped from his hands, the wounded remains of his Air Nomad glider. 

Aang’s glider was missing its tail fin and most of its wings. Thin wooden struts jutted out from the shaft like broken ribs. No one wanted to say it, but everyone knew the truth.

His glider was useless now.

Aang stood atop the rock, a tiny speck against the looming red and black mass of the volcano. Even his own robe of red and black seemed to swallow him up.

Katara knew what he was about to do. But knowing didn’t make what happened next any easier to bear.

Continue reading on AO3 or Fanfiction.net

#kataang #kataangtag #kataang fanfic #aang #katara #atla #atla fanfic #avatar the last airbender #chocomd #chocolatelova #chocomd writes