#FOR SOME REASON I KEEP SEEING BRUCE THE SHARK FROM FINDING NEMO WHEN SEEING THIS SHARKS SMILE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

threemoonsareshining · 6 years

Note

i think you're such a cool person can you do as many as you'd like of the get to know you asks? i couldn't choose! i'm just desperate to know you lol

Hi anon! There are a lot of asks and I’m not that cool but I’m sad and bored again so I’ll do as many as I can.

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? I don’t think I’ve ever really held hands for real with anyone but I’m pretty sure the last time was about a week ago with one of my best friends bc we were in a place with lots of people and we didn’t want to get lost 2. Are you outgoing or shy? I’m the shyest person I know (actually no, I know a girl who is even shyer than me but I’m pretty close)3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? Not to sound cheesy or anything but I really want to see this guy I had something weird going on with not because of any special reason I just want to know where things are going4. Are you easy to get along with? I’d like to say I am but actually it’s really really hard to keep in touch with me and I’m not good at making conversation at all6. What kind of people are you attracted to? First of all, I’m not usually attracted to people at all, I don’t know why and when I am I always ask myself “girl why this one exactly?” and honestly, I don’t know. There are just some persons I feel comfortable with in a specific way and then attraction grows from there idk I’m really not used to being attracted to anyone9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Extremely10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? A friend of mine when I was really drunk at his house waiting for my parents to pick me up. I don’t really remember what we talked about but it felt very nice.11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? it says “no da miedo hihihi” which translates to “it’s not scary hihihi”12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? right now I can’t stop listening to Fiji Water by Owl City (i’m so excited he’s releasing new music!), Your Mother’s Eyes, Rythm and Blues and Take a Walk by The head and the heart and It’s only life by The Shins.13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? I like it because it feels so so relaxing but at the same time it makes me anxious because I think that the more people touch it the dirtier and more damaged it gets and as a person who spends a considerable amount of time on my hair, that is not so nice15. What good thing happened this summer? I went to a festival in the town next to mine and I got to see all my friends after a long time and I had such a good time my heart hurts every time I think about it16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yess (idk if it’s bc I really like him or I just want to kiss someone)18. Do you still talk to your first crush? No! Actually I saw him a few months ago after… 6 years and we looked at each other like “are you who I think you are?”. I never really talked to him, he treated me like shit and he’s responsible for many of my insecurities so I believe it’s better this way hah21. What are you bad habits? I don’t sleep, I don’t pay as much attention as I should to my loved ones, I forget to eat and shower and I scratch my face like there’s no tomorrow my friend23. Do you have trust issues? Hell yeah I do. Literally everyone I knew left me when I was like 15 or so which is, you know, a crucial stage of your emotional development and stuff so since then I’ve never got close to anyone because what better strategy than not to be invested enough in a relationship so if it ends you don’t feel so bad about it!25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? My ears for sure. They stick out so that’s why I never wear my hair up in public. I thought about getting surgery but I want to stay true to myself and stuff.28. Who are you most comfortable around? I’m not 100% comfortable with anyone but I guess my best friend is a strong candidate.30. Do you ever want to get married? I never think about that because my brain always tells me “first find someone who is actually willing to marry you and then we’ll think about it”31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail? It’s long enough for 6 ponytails if you put your mind into it34. Do you play sports? What sports? Sports are bad and I hate them36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? I liked this guy for like 6 years and I literally never spoke a word to him but I think the way I looked at him made it pretty obvious (I guess that’s why he avoided me all the time)37. What do you say during awkward silences? I’m the Queen of awkward silences and I’ve learnt that it’s ok to not say anything. Or I’ll just sigh a lot.39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? Don’t make me think about shops rn bc I spent the whole afternoon trying to find something to wear to the 5 million Christmas dinners I have and everything was either too expensive, too ugly or just looked terrible on me so yeah I’m pretty mad40. What do you want to do after high school? I wanted to study something arts-related like filmmaking, music or dance, you know, the only things I actually used to enjoy but instead of that I decided to study economics because I hate myself41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? I think this depends on the circumstances but in my opinion and taking into account my own experience I’ll always give a second chance, maybe not immediately but eventually, I will.42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean? It means I’m being me haha43. Do you smile at strangers? I try to but it’s scary45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? I have no reason to get out of bed in the morning besides the fact that if I stop doing the things I should do I’ll never be able to catch up and everyone will go on with their lives while I stay the same and become mediocre and that’s just inconceivable to me. So basically I don’t live for myself but for the expectations people have of me.48. Have you ever been drunk? Yes and I wish I was rn honestly49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? Yes and since I don’t want to tell anyone I won’t say what it is52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? I wish I wasn’t worried about literally everything because it’s so tiring and it keeps me from thinking about more important stuff64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? About a month ago I was at this party and everyone was telling me one of my friends I had been talking to for a while wanted to hook up with me and I kinda wanted to too but I’m too shy and anxious to make any moves so I got drunk, and after avoiding him like 6546 times (bc I was really worried I would look stupid not bc I didn’t want to) I finally kissed him in front of an entire crowd of strangers and all my friends found out about it right afterwards so it was like a public event and I felt really exposed so yeah it wan’t ideal~ but also not the worst (I cringed so much while writing this, it was so awkward my god)69. Are you watching tv right now? Not right now but I’m about to watch the new episode of Crazy ex-girlfriend 72. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2, one for my head and other by my side to keep me some company (I’m so lonely oh my god)73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? A shar-pei puppy dog I have since I was born (it’s so so cute I love it his name is wrinkles)75. Favourite animal? Cats are not only my favourite animals but one of my favourite things on earth78. Favourite ice cream flavour? since ice cream is my favourite food I can’t really choose one flavour (anything but banana flavour tho)81. Favourite tv show? GoT and Mr Robot I can’t choose but there are so many82. Favourite movie? Billy Elliot86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Bruce the shark, he deserves more recognition94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? I own lots of sweaters because you can never own enough sweaters (until you run out of space in your closet which is what’s happening to me)95. Last movie you watched? Tulip Fever. Not one of my favourites but last night I felt like watching some historic drama and romance shit (love it every once in a while). Alicia Vikander and Dane Dehaan tho98. Do you tan a lot? I used to but since I rarely leave my room during the summer I’ve become The Pale Friend™ 99. Have any pets? Two cats and I used to have fish but they weren’t my thing and I decided that no more fish would die because of me (I really tried but they just didn’t survive idk why)100. How are you feeling? I’m feeling really anxious right now and I can’t sleep. Partly it’s because I’ve got a lot of papers to write and a presentation on Monday and none of them are going especially well tbh, but there’s something else that is making me feel extremely uneasy and bad about myself and idk what it is but I’d like it to stop thank you very much102. Do you regret anything from your past? I regret not being able to enjoy these last 3 or 4 years of my life because they could’ve been some of the best years of my life but I was so full of sadness and hatred I just couldn’t pay attention to anything else108. What should you be doing? sleeping since 1 am but it’s 4 am and here we are115. Do you play the Wii? Who would I be without Just dance and Animal Crossing 116. Are you listening to music right now? yes, Rainbow Veins by Owl City (how unexpected)117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? I had that for dinner and it was beautiful118. Do you like Chinese food? The other day I cried tears of happiness because my mom ordered Chinese food for lunch119. Favourite book? Memorias the Idhún120. Are you afraid of the dark? Not so much now but not so long ago I would get what now I can consider almost panic attacks because the dark made me feel so anxious. I’d stay paralysed in my bed, feeling my arms numb and I can swear I heard stuff in my head and I got the feeling that I was literally dying.126. Are you currently bored? A little (these are a lot of questions but I want to finish them now)129. What your zodiac sign? Taurus131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? This is happening right now and I don’t like him that way so I just try to keep everything the same but also I try to keep the distances so he doesn’t misinterpret things (this makes me feel so bad for him sometimes but I’m trying to make him see that not liking him romantically doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy being with him). Let’s hope it works.133. Favourite lyrics right now? “I’ve been down the very road you’re walking now / It doesn’t have to be so dark and lonesome / It takes a while but we can figure this thing out / And turn it back around” from It’s only life by The Shins.137. How tall are you? 164cm which I think is 5,3 feet138. Curly or Straight hair? My hair is curly af and it’s very inconvenient for… life you know140. Summer or Winter? Summer because of the holidays winter because of the feeling141. Night or Day? Night145. Tea or Coffee? Tea but coffee has been saving my life these past weeks146. Was today a good day? Today was a wasted and disappointing day.150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? “Con Elodin nunca se sabe —dije—. Si no está loco, es el mejor actor que he conocido jamás” from The Wise Man’s Fear. It translates to something like “’Who can say with Elodin?’ I said. ‘If he isn’t crazy, he’s the best actor I’ve ever met.’”

Congrats if you’ve managed to read all this without unfollowing me 🍃🍃🍃⛄️⛄️⛄️

#ask #long post #bless u anon #sorry for the grammar mistakes #i'm just tired

2 notes · View notes

connorbellinghamfutureworks · 7 years

Text

Social Game - Finding Nemo

MEMBERS: CONNOR, ANGELO, PETE, LOUIS, LOUIE.

For our Social Game, I’ve come up with a couple of games; Finding Nemo is the first.

Finding Nemo is a social game where many people, preferably a minimum of 10 participants (can be played with less but a slightly different game mode). There is one Game Captain/Umpire who isn’t involved in the game itself. The Umpire controls the game and chooses who is who and asks the all-important questions at the end of each round.

OBJECTIVE: Nemo is missing!! You need to find Nemo by asking “Are you Nemo?” to everyone playing. You’ll need to ask multiple times because Nemo is too scared to remember who he is at the start…

RULES: Everybody (that isn’t the umpire) stands in a circle with their eyes closed and the umpire will choose 4 characters at random. These Characters are:

Nemo (The Clownfish): The main protagonist, Nemo is who everyone is searching for. Once asked, “Are you Nemo?” 5 times, he must then say “yes” and everyone else must stand in a “conga-like” line with their hands on the person’s shoulders with Nemo being at the front.

Bruce (The Shark): “Hello…..Name’s Bruce.” Bruce; the shark is hungry and sees this situation to be the perfect time to feed! Once everyone has lined up, the fish, both in front and behind Bruce are in danger off being eaten but can be saved by Nigel (see below). Another thing is Bruce will secretly go around similar to everyone else and ask the question “Are you Nemo?” however after being asked 7 times, he can then say “Yes”, similar to that of Nemo after being asked 5 times (This can cause suspicion to if Nemo is at the front or not).

Nigel (The Pelican): Nigel has a large mouth that can pick up fish but only one, meaning that whoever is chosen to be Nigel can choose either the fish in front or behind Bruce to save but it’s random because Nigel won’t know who Bruce is and there who is in danger…

Crush (The Turtle): Crush is a chilled out, 150-year-old Sea Turtle who has been around for long enough to know that danger is around. Crush has the ability to say who they think Bruce is (without being told) and if guessed right, no one gets eaten.

An example: Players A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J are playing a game and K is the game Umpire. players A - J stand in a circle with their eyes closed and K announces “I’m now picking Nemo” and K will tap someone silently on the shoulder (let’s say it’s player A). Bruce (B), Nigel (C) and Crush (D) will be chosen in this way but individually. Once all 4 have been chosen, K will say “open your eyes and Go and find Nemo!” The other players, keeping their identities secret, will ask the question “Are you Nemo?” to whoever they come across and then move on once they’ve heard an answer which will be “No.” (you can ask the same person more than once but not immediately after). After Nemo (A) has been asked 5 times, he will answer “Yes.” (Bruce (B) will answer “yes” after 7 times), whoever asked Nemo will grab their shoulders from behind (preferably subtly so everyone has to pay attention) then, everyone else will stand in a line with their arms on the person in front of them’s shoulders, A at the front, E behind with his hands on A’s shoulders, J behind E with his hands on E’s shoulders, etc. Once everyone is in the line, K will ask Crush (D) who they think Bruce is, D will answer. K will then ask Nigel (C) who they would like to save “in front or behind Bruce?” They will answer. K will then ask Bruce to reveal themselves. If D was right then Bruce is out but if D was wrong then whoever C didn’t save is out. The game then repeats with one less player until 3 people are left.

WILDCARDS:

Wildcards are little ways of playing the game that make it more fun, challenging or different. These can be made up but here are a few examples: - Silent Mode - No players except for the Umpire may speak but there should be a punishment for those who do. - Blind Mode - This Wildcard is tricky but you must go around with blindfolds or eyes closed the whole game. - Out of Breath - Players may only speak when off the ground, how you get off the ground is up to the player.

Design Statement:

We probably found the development of our social game to be the most entertaining. The person who actually put forward this concept used a demographic of younger children aged 7+, as he spent a large duration of his summer at Camp America. We loosely based ‘Finding Nemo’ off of a well-known game,‘Werewolf/Mafia’. However we only took small bits of inspiration from them, most elements in our social game came from the ideas of our group and through playtesting or feedback.

Initially, the way that Bruce (The Shark) worked in our game was that when it came to his feeding phase when everyone was lined up, he would eat everyone behind him. This was a somewhat flawed mechanic because if the group playing wasn’t too big, then games would not last that long. This worked out okay only in the event that large groups were participating in the game. We handled this issue by balancing out how Bruce works, he now only puts the people in front and behind at risk of being eliminated from the game.

Following on from that, Bruce’s balance came up as a recurring issue. The early stages of ‘Finding Nemo’ only had Nemo (The Clownfish) and Bruce as specific roles, through playtesting we noticed that every round played out far too similar to the last - making the game a bit too repetitive. Therefore, we came up with the idea of adding in roles that players took to affect how many people Bruce eliminated in a certain round.

Initially, the only role implemented to do this was Crush (The Turtle). The purpose of his role is to stop Bruce from eliminating anyone that round. You’re probably asking why we added Crush in, as surely he makes Bruce completely useless? The answer to that is yes, but we balanced the ability overall. The only way that Crush can stop Bruce from eating anyone is if he can guess the identity of the player who is playing Bruce that round…..which is someone completely random. This means that every couple of rounds, players could be lucky enough to get saved from whoever is Bruce (also eliminating that individual).

Now, that leads me on to the next addition we made. Crush could only take advantage of his ability every few rounds, as it would be hard to consistently guess who Bruce is. Hence why we introduced the role of Nigel (The Pelican). Just before Crush tries guess the identity of Bruce, the person with the role of Nigel has a chance to affect who Bruce eats and eliminates. He gets to say whether he would like to save the person in front or behind Bruce, saving them from elimination. One thing to also bear in mind is that not even Nigel knows the identity of Bruce, therefore that person may even be saving themselves from being eaten! The reason that we labelled this role as Nigel is that in the actual movie - he swoops into the water, saving Marlin and Dory - pushing across a saviour type of persona, like the purpose of the role in our game.

These additions mean that the order of play within a round begins with lining up behind Nemo, Nigel saying which person he would like to save, and then Crush taking a guess at who Bruce is. Once these things are done Bruce reveals who they are, if the guess made by Crush is correct then no one is eliminated and Bruce is out of the game, however, if it is incorrect Bruce eliminates the person that Nigel didn’t save.

Conclusively this now means that the threat that Bruce initially introduced has been reduced, making him more of a balanced role since he is at a slight risk of being eliminated himself. An added bonus too was that it added more variety to the players taking part when playing, and also extended the time that it took to play the game from start to end.

The next point I would like to elaborate on is that after we balanced all the roles out we proceeded to do some more playtesting. One thing was recurring, after playing through quite a few times we noticed that the gameplay element was solid however it started to get a bit repetitive. Some people started to lose interest. We felt like one of the best ways to mix it up was to introduce a different or unique style of play - wildcard rounds. For example, one wildcard round that was thrown in was the ‘Silent round’. In this round, no players can communicate through means of speaking (like in a regular round), those who do face instant elimination from the game. Players can only find out who Nemo is through the shaking or nodding of their head after they get said person's attention. The other two wildcard rounds developed are titled ‘Blind’ and ‘Out of Breath’ rounds.

The final improvement I will discuss is to do with how we changed the distribution of roles across the group of players. In early stages of development, we had all the players shut their eyes, then the umpire would randomly assort roles by tapping people on their shoulder. The dilemma with this was that some players may ruin the fun element of the game by secretly looking at who was being assigned these roles. Therefore we decided to come up with a solution, making it a lot harder for cheaters trying finding out this information. All we simply did was firstly make “Round Cards” for the umpire to use, making him/her randomly select whether the upcoming round would be a regular or wildcard one. Lastly, we introduced “Role Cards” which the umpire also dealt to all players, randomly assigning them the roles of Nemo, Bruce, Nigel and Crush. Those who didn't get these cards just got a regular “Fish” card - essentially making them a bystander for that round. One quick thing to mention is that these cards also prevent the umpire from making bias decisions on what rounds to do and what roles people are assigned.

I hope you all enjoy playing but as always...Happy Gaming

Pictures from Finding Nemo

This was taken from early stages of development - all players are closing/covering their eyes before being assigned roles.

In this image Bruce can be seen revealing his identity.

You can see the sheer disappointment of the person behind Bruce - they just realized they have been eliminated.

#fwxb1000 #finding nemo #game

4 notes · View notes

thecreaminhiscoffee · 7 years

Text

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Jessica. She was born to two parents who should have loved her, the youngest of a trio of little girls who were all used as a way for their parents to make an extra amount of cash. One day, the eldest of them - Betty - ran away to her grandmother’s house, where she told what could only be lies. The police investigated, but nothing came up. Their parents grew careful at hiding their marks. Everything continued as it had. But the grandmother listened to Betty and began to unravel what was happening to her grandchildren. Although the police might not listen to a young girl, they listened to the grandmother and began to pull threads from various sources until, finally, they were prepared to make a bust. One of the sources told Jessica’s parents. The mother took care of her sisters’ bodies while the other poured bleach down his youngest daughter’s throat. When the police arrived, she was still alive - but barely. The parents were thrown into jail and Jessica, the last of the siblings, was taken in by her grandmother, who meant to raise the girl as her own. But Jessica was young, and the young do not always deal with trauma well.

“Thank you for meeting us today.” Jessica doesn’t listen but tightens her hold on her grandmother’s hand, eyes wide in the open blue space.

“It wasn’t a problem.” The other voice is gruff, and Jessica looks up at the tall man, startled. He tries to smile at her, but she thinks and it’s another smile she sees and hands at her throat, and she hides behind her grandmother’s legs, dropping her hand and peeking through at the man.

“Jessica, you don’t need to be afraid. William’s a friend.” Jessica does not know the word, and she stops paying attention. It is safer, hiding. She lets her gaze drop, watches through her grandmother’s legs, head turning this way and that at the bright glass walls and the lights and the people standing in front of them. Everything is so big.

Her eyes catch on someone not so big - her mind does not use the word little because she does not think of herself as little - someone maybe like her. She pulls on her grandmother’s pants’ leg and points at the other girl wordlessly.

“Go on,” her grandmother says, stepping out of the way so that Jessica has room to move. The girl looks up at her with wide eyes, and Eleanor pushes her forward a little way. “Go play. I’ll be right here.” Jessica swallows once, winces because her throat still aches, and walks over to the other girl. She stands nearby for a moment, not speaking, then turns to her. Beneath the lights, her red hair looks purple, and Jessica touches her own where it has been left down, wonders if it’s purple, too. She wants to speak, but doesn’t. It takes a bit for the other girl to say anything - not because she hasn’t noticed, but because she is more concerned with the fish swimming in the tank in front of her. Eventually, she turns and fully notices the other, jumps a little at the closeness. “Are you Jessica?” She nods, once.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Hurts.” Her voice is still raspy. Grandmother said she didn’t need her water bottle anymore, but she carries it slung around one shoulder anyway. She takes the bottle now, pours water down her throat, and it helps, but not much.

“Oh.”

Jessica doesn’t want to explain - couldn’t even if she did. Hurts can be too many kinds of pain.

There’s silence - not quite awkward, because silence between children is less awkward and this is one more born of small understandings and acceptances because children have a tendency to be better at that - before the other girl sticks out her hand.

“I’m Dana. Nice to meet you.”

Jessica takes the other girl’s hand in her own, squeezes gently. “Yes.” And by this it’s understood that she means it’s nice to meet you, too but that yes is the least painful way to put it. Dana looks back at her father, where he is in conversation with Jessica’s grandmother, and he catches the look, winks at her. She licks her lips once and turns back to Jessica. “Have you been here before?” Jessica shakes her head no. She hasn’t been much of anywhere nice ever, and certainly nowhere this big or blue. Her eyes are still wide when she looks at the fish in their tank, and Dana follows her gaze.

“Do you have a favorite?”

“Jellyfish.”

“They aren’t in this tank, but I know where to find them.” Dana glances to her father again and bites her lower lip. Then she takes Jessica’s hand again, pulls her in the way children sometimes do when they’re both excited and nervous. “Come with me.” Jessica lets herself be pulled, eyes wandering over to where her grandmother is watching. She won’t be lost. She’s safe. So she squeezes Dana’s hand again and follows, keeping with her pace until they are in front of the tank.

“Here. Told you I could find them.” The blue lights are now interspersed with something softer, pinker, the glow of the jellyfish themselves in their tank. Jessica thinks her hair must look weird under the pink, but then she is drawn in by the jellies themselves. Her mouth drops open - and her throat twinges at the sudden stretch. She winces, pulls up her bottle, pours more water. A little better, but not much. On an instinct, she draws nearer to the tank, breath fogging the glass, and reaches out a hand--

“They sting you if you touch them.”

“ ‘sok.” Jessica lets her hand rest on the cool glass and watches as one of the jellyfish comes closer to her. They can’t hurt too much. She watches them for a moment, before saying, “Could jump across the top. Like a game.”

“I don’t think so.”

Jessica looks back, expecting the other girl’s brows to be furrowed, but instead seeing a much more exasperated expression. She tilts her head to the side, questioning, and the other comes forward, lays her finger on the glass - no tapping because that scares the inhabitants.

“We’re too big.” Dana points to the size of the tops then glances down to their tiny feet. “We’d pop them, and they’d sting us.”

“If we were smaller?”

“We’re not.”

Jessica nods again, once, pours more water down her throat. She’s not even really drinking, is still afraid to really swallow anything, but if there’s too much, it forces down. The ice helps. She glances back - away - and catches sight of her grandmother. The older woman notices, makes a shooing, go on gesture, and Jessica turns back. She looks at the jellyfish and thinks they wouldn’t really hurt her. She’d have to be human for that.

It’s while seeing the sharks that it becomes more apparent - Jessica hadn’t thought there’d be sharks here, and she doesn’t stand as close as the other girl, eyes scanning the creatures until one seems something like familiar. Then she half sprints up, full against the glass, head turned just so, and she waves at the shark as it swims by.

“That’s Bruce!”

Dana follows the other’s glance, looks at the placard on the wall. “How do you know?” The question careful - not excited as another child might be, needing some sort of explanation.

“I know him.” Jessica forgets the rasping in her voice, and in her excitement, it sounds strained. “From Nemo. The others are all scared of him.”

A pause and Dana looks down, back, at her father, then to her hands. “That’s not real.”

“Is so.”

“That’s a cartoon. They’re not real.”

“I’m real.”

“You’re not a cartoon.”

“Am so.”

Dana blinks once. She turns back to the grown-ups for some sort of help, but they’re talking, not listening. Her eyes focus on the other girl, the crazy one. “Prove it.”

“ ‘m alive.”

“So am I.”

“Yeah, but you haven’t lived through stuff only Toons do.” Her throat aches, and she pours more water. It doesn’t help, so she tries more. This is important. She has to explain this right. “Toons get hit and keep coming back. They drink fire and don’t die. No matter how much you hurt them. So. I’m not dead. I gotta be a Toon.”

“I don’t think that’s how that works.”

Jessica is flustered. She tries to take another gulp of water, to try and explain better, but her bottle is empty. It hurts to speak.

Dana takes her hand again, pulls gently. “C’mon.”

They pass a water fountain, and Dana stops. Jessica takes the opportunity to drop hands, to fill her bottle, to try and cool her throat. Nothing is helping. When she returns, she can’t help but ask, “Where--?” She cannot finish the sentence.

“Trust me.”

The phrase scares her, but Jessica nods once.

They come to a stop in front of the jellyfish again, and Jessica looks to Dana, blinking, confused. Dana takes the hand in hers and presses it to the glass. “These are real.”

“So ‘m I.”

“No.”

“No?”

Dana shakes her head once - that isn’t what I meant - and starts again. “Look.”

Jessica follows her gaze, looks, sees nothing.

“Toons are flat.” Dana presses her lips together, struggling to find words to fit what she knows to be true. “The jellyfish are real.”

“They’re like Bruce. He’s not flat.”

“Is. Skin’s all flat. You can’t feel him.” Trying, trying. “A real shark has rougher skin.”

“So?”

That exasperated look again - she’ll perfect it when she’s older - and she tries again, takes Jessica’s hand in her own. “Look.” She turns her own hand over in Jessica’s, has the other run fingers along her palm. “It’s rough.” A pause on one patch of skin. “Dad says they’re callouses. Like blisters, only they make you stronger.”

“So?”

“They’re real. Toons can’t get them.”

Jessica nods once, accepting this, because she cannot think of a Toon with callouses.

“You’ve got one, too.”

“No.” Immediate denial. Jessica knows every inch of herself - she’s been told by her older sisters to keep track of everything, document it, and even now she’s been keeping track of all the changes, even if there’s no longer any reason for it. “Don’t.”

“Do.” Dana tries to take Jessica’s hand in her own again, but Jessica flinches away. Now her brow does furrow, lips pressed tight together. “From your bottle. There is one. I felt it.”

Jessica’s eyes widen - that crippling sense of fear - and she begins to raise her hand to check.

There’s a ding, and a voice familiar to Jessica overhead: The Marine Life Institute is closing in fifteen minutes. Please finish up your visit and start heading to the exits.

Dana hears nothing, follows Jessica’s glance up, sees nothing. “What?”

“Sigourney Weaver.” She winces, takes the water bottle, tries to pour more water down her throat. It’s hot; the ice is long gone. “I’ve got to go.” She scampers away to where her grandmother is with the other man and looks up at the woman, heart tight. “Scared.”

“Do we need to leave?”

Jessica nods once, turns back to where Dana is staring at her, then back, nodding again, rapidly.

Her grandmother picks her up in her arms - winces at the pain in her lower back - and Jessica hides her face in the crook of her neck. Eleanor smiles at her friend. “I’m sorry, William. My Jess is a little--”

“Don’t apologize. I’ve seen men fare far worse.” He bends down, pats Jessica on the head, and she flinches. His eyes meet Eleanor’s. “She’ll do fine.”

“Maybe.” Eleanor turns to look at the girl still standing in front of the jellyfish tank, watching them but not moving, her lips pressed tight together, brows furrowed. “Dana seems like a good kid.”

“She is.”

Jessica whimpers, curls closer.

“Yes, yes, I know.” Eleanor tries to smile. “Maybe we should do this again sometime. It was nice catching up with you.”

It is adult talk, and Jessica stops listening. She turns to face the other girl again, blinks once. Their eyes meet, and she can almost see the frustration hovering around her - something black and red, like her dad was. See? Only Toons could see emotions like colors like that.

She is too scared of the other’s anger to stick her tongue out at her, but the impulse is there.

When her grandmother turns to leave, Dana waves at her. Jessica doesn’t understand this. Black and red does not mean waving or nice. She thinks for a moment, then starts to check her hand again.

The same dinging, the same voice overhead, and she is glad she is leaving, they really should go.

She does not remember any of this when they meet again - has nothing to connect the girl from her childhood to the federal agent who sometimes drinks with her even though she knows she makes her nothing but uncomfortable, has even less to connect her with the only person she will ever consider a true friend, cannot tie the confusing blacks and reds with the golds and cerulean that she becomes.

Dana takes her to the aquarium, and for a moment she feels like a child again - not the pain in her throat, but the sort of innocent excitement that she would have had if she’d been normal. It’s the same sort of pride - Dana finding the jellyfish - and Jessica, on an impulse, steps forward, remembering, almost.

“These,” she murmurs, breath fogging the glass, “are real.”

She removes one hand from the glass to look, nail catching on the callous there.

4 notes · View notes