#because i was trying to catch fish

[naffeclipse]

I've been musing over a few thoughts inspired by this ask about a mafia-ish style of Apex Polarity without it being too close to Pearl Eye, and after watching a few videos of Orcas hunting their prey (which included dolphins), landed on a sort of Mafia inspired Apex Polarity AU

Also not to add another Y/N to Orclipse's growing collection but this Y/N is a white-beaked dolphin. Look! They're so beautiful!

Sirens are cunning, brutal, and take everything with teeth and claws. The strongest kill and maim at a whim. As a siren who's not particularly strong, though incredibly agile, with a tail streamlined and dark gray with white patches, fins curved and mostly black, you're somewhere at the bottom. You're doing your best to survive and avoid trouble. You pick your battles and you pick your escapes, and most importantly, you stay alive.

But then you do something really stupid: you venture where you shouldn't have.

You don't usually swim so far up north but you're hungry, and the thought of a few tasty squids distracts you from the silent waters and vast, blue emptiness. You realize a bit too late that you're not the only one hunting.

You catch the first orca siren in the distance as a dark figure, and then another. Two who immediately cut through the water, charging straight for you like shadows. Though you turn tail and bolt, you quickly spot them in the corner of your vision. They easily keep pace, their size and strength overwhelming as they flank you on both sides, wide grins flashing their deadly teeth. You can hardly look at the mismatched color of their eyes as you dodge and weave, diving down only to be cut off by one with midnight blue colors at the tip of his flukes, and shooting off to the left just to almost be snatched by the black-bone claws of a siren with bright yellow fins framing his head.

They're toying with you. You know that for a fact in how they just barely keep back, corraling you onwards, draining your already spent energy, and picking at your panicking pulse. You have no choice but to avoid the edges of their jaws and the tips of their talons, and swim in the direction they want.

You near a field of ice floes floating on the water, and though you cut into the jagged structures dipping into the sea, the orca sirens never lose you. A desperate need for air pushes you onward. One small drop of hope still burns in your chest. Despite the aching of your muscles, you steal a gulp of oxygen and dip back down once more, charging away—

Only to run smack into a third orca siren.

This one grabs you, his burning red and orange colors filling your vision. The other two orcas join to help their kin keep you in place long enough for you to truly regret ever venturing here. Between the three of what you can only assume are brothers, hands hooked over you shoulders, claws clutching your wrists, and palms pressing into your hips, you're a fish caught in a net.

You brace for a voilent end. It never arrives. Instead of digging into your sweet meat, the sirens offer you a deal. The tips of sharp fingertips trace your jawline and the soft inside of your arms and down your slick tail while they explain.

You keep watch for human ships and report back when they're getting close, and in exchange, you get the best food you can imagine, the entire Arctic Ocean to swim, and anything else you'd like. The best benefit? You're under their protection. Of course, they expect utter loyalty from you. You are no one else's. Failure to devote yourself to this work and the brothers would mean a grisly fate, but hey, you're nothing if not eager to not be torn apart. So you agree.

You have a few questions about this whole arrangement, struggling to understand why they, powerful orca sirens, bother with a smaller fish like you when they could rip you limb from limb and be done. What's with the human ships? Why task you to this? Are you just fodder so they can keep their fins nice and unscabbed? They reassure you that they'll explain in due time (the sunny one booping your nose, much to your chagrin), but for now, all you know to know is that the human ships are a problem, and you are their solution for it. You've never really encountered humans before, but they've never really encountered sirens, or so you thought.

The burning red one lets you go, but you don't slip away too far before he tugs on your flukes and tells you to follow him. It's not a request. The darker blue one leaves for a moment, jetting away as the other two guide you to a nice resting place on an icy shore. They introduce themselves, and then their brother reappears with a squid in hand, half dead, and an insistence that you eat—they could tell during the chase that you didn't have all your energy.

And that's how you unwittingly join a very powerful pod of orca brothers who may or may not be teasing and taunting you simultaneously.

#finally have a dolphin y/n (i know orcas and belugas are dolphins but this one is more 'traditional') #anyways #eclipse: join our aquatic mafia #y/n: and if i don't? #sun: we'll finish what we started #moon: and eat you :) #y/n: ...hard to say no to an offer like that #mostly it's the boys flustering y/n relentlessly because they think it's funny and you're just so cute when you try to hide your blushing #and not totally because they're catching feelings #they're all menaces your honor #y/n is just trying to get by and now they're stuck (protected) here #apex polarity #freaking idk what to call it #let's just go with #sleeping with the fishes #<<< au name let's go #also sun and moon are here! They're not babies this time! #naff writing #dolphin!reader #orca!sun #orca!moon #orca!eclipse

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 278

You know what I’ve gotten obsessed with and inspired by? Dredge. 

You know what is also fun? Merfolk. What’s even better? Lovecraftian corrupted merfolk. Especially if say, one goes with the Lazarus Waters being a form of ectoplasm. So, in this? Lazarus waters are like lakes, while Amity Park, thanks to the Portal, and the barriers? It is an entire sea. 

There are islands, small areas that were once the tips of buildings that have gathered more landmass around them. There are mangroves, trees not like anything on earth or anywhere else stretching up in canopies dark enough to block out the sun, yet lit by the green waters. 

It goes deep. Mariana Trench deep, despite it being impossible. The GIW have explored for caves or tunnels, they’ve tried to find some sort of explanation, but there isn’t one. 

Now all that ecto? That has an effect on people. They mutate, they change, they adapt. Anywhere else would have been a slow death- something the GIW might have even been counting on. But Amity Park? It was founded by witches, it was the hotspot for the supernatural, even before the Fentonwork Portal. They’ve been dealing with this sort of energy in microdoses from the moment they first began to live in the city in any generation. 

But they begin to adapt. Shift into something… other. Some stay contaminated, clinging to human forms as they form homes on the tiny islands, fishing and farming what they can. Others become Liminal, almost seeming to meld with fish, some similar to ones of the Living and others something just to the left. Similar yes, but not quite… right. And then there are those that have truly melded with the energy of the dead, forms torn asunder by it, ripped apart and made anew by it. 

The first sign back when the barrier was activated, when they could no longer leave and were trapped were the fish in the lake. And now they are the same, with gazes of something Else, with gnashing teeth and a hunger gnawing at where hearts once were. 

But they aren’t monsters. They’re still themselves. Just a little… Other now. 

#DCxDP #DPxDC #Prompts #Eldritch Ghosts #Liminal Amity Park #Merfolk AU #They see nothing wrong with each other because they’ve gotten used to it #Also yes they can ‘swim’ in the air too #Seriously check out the Dredge Wiki if u aren’t up for playin- at least look at the Aberrations #Even the more human-looking Parkers (usually elderly but not always) still look Off #While others have become deep sea nightmares #I see the fact there’s an entire Lazarus ecosystem in the middle of nowhere Illinois interesting Absolutely No One #People Definitely Doesn’t Have A Fishing Boat Out There Trying To Fish Up The Pit Creatures #Honestly GIW might do that too & have some fucked up fish- they keep failing at catching a parker who knows better #Clockwork and others visit too sometimes & it’s like seeing a Fucking Incomprehensible Leviathan #If the Infinite Realms is the Open Ocean then Amity is a Sea where whales go to set up their nursery #Idk if any of this makes sense I’ve been sick the last few days lol #Dredge Au

[puppyeared]

mmm, mmonkey

#figuring out how to draw them #it’s that sun/moon symbolism baby. they literally put it out for me it’s like catching fish in a barrel stg #I wanted macaques hair to be slicked back because it kind of reminds me of the curve on a crescent moon #like the dip at the end kind of reminds me of the tip of the crescent somehow idk #I’m trying not to draw stuff related to spoilers but it’s soooo harddddd. I can’t wait for the English release I need that serotonin NYEOW #MACAQUES ART THOUGH.. LMAO #without context it looks like he just made DLC for wukongs game and force fed it to MK #also decided instead of having fur covering the shoulders and chest maybe make it a glorified mullet #so the hair goes all the way down from the hair to tail on the spine #SO MANY DRAWING IDEAS IN HERE #myart #my art #doodles #Lego monkie kid #monkie kid #lmk #macaque #six eared macaque #lmk macaque #lmk six eared macaque #lmk sun wukong #lmk wukong #lmk monkey king #lmk MK #lmk xiaotian #monkie kid MK #lmk fanart #monkie kid fanart #fanart #wanna draw Mei next. I have a cool ass idea

[lucihoes]

So is the community in agreement that the makeshift set is just Reth's terrible attempts at carpentry or has this headcannon spiraled out of control for me?

#headcanon nonsense #palia but tangentially #but not tangentially i'm just shy about posting my thoughts in the main tag orz #i remember tish mentioning ONCE that it's based on furniture her and reth designed as kids but #the makeshift armchairs specifically implying they're ancient torture devices (re: his Path convo)? #the one planter that implies it came out of reth's trash? #i can just imagine him attempting things and tish helping to make them some semblance of useable #but given how self-depreciating he is he just threw them all into the lake or the bay or whatever because he was ashamed of them #and that's why you've been fishing them out all over #i like to think about him visiting the homestead and having to pause like #hey fancypants uh... where did you get those armchairs on your lawn? fished em out of the lake? haha! put em back! #you have to give him credit for being ambitious enough for a 76 piece furniture set though #even if he doesn't see any hope or future in his original path #tish has the skills but the makeshift set has so much charm because they worked on it together... #anyway this has been on my mind because i'm trying to gather the set + catch 1 of every fish thanks for coming to my TED talk

[the-gremlin-siblings]

Expectation: ‘Okay let me do a very quick fishing session and then go mining’

Reality: ‘Hey wanna see me catch 100 fishes’

‘Wanna see me do it again?’

#mod.talk #Drifter looking both in horror and worry as they see Operator come back with 40 buckets worth of fish #because they've been out there in the Plains for the Whole Night just Fishing #while said Operator is just showing off their catch in glee #Drifter did try to fish during their time in Duviri #Keyword try #It be going peaceful but then The Maw #warframe #Maybe I should draw Operator wearing those fishing themed clothing. Would be funny

[skeletalheartattack]

What are your favourite youtubes to eat food to?

i can't say i really have a favourite honestly, it's kind of luck based. i'll usually try to watch streams while i eat food, but if ive run out of the ones i'm interested in watching, it's likely im eating to a much shorter video.

#ask #anon #i tend to watch rtvs vods or rtvs adjacent vod channels. been watching videochess's star fox adventure streams recently for example #before that i was watching their stream of eggs of steel. since that game kind of stuck with me after scorpy streamed it once in the past #i gotta get back to watching facefullabugs' mother 3 stream since they got back into that recently #as for like. non-stream related content #i watch simpleflips stuff when he uploads stuff #urban rescue ranch i watch a lot of. though i try not to watch his stuff while eating food. #same kinda goes for haha ha's videos sometimes. if theyre building stuff for their cats then its a good watch #if they upload a video of them catching and cooking fish for their cats. i try to watch those later #since they tend to show themself preparing the fish in the video. which isnt great to watch while eating. #but otherwise i just like watching their cats #im not subscribed to any but theres a few tf2 channels that upload clip compilations from 2fort and doublecross and the likes #zeyo is the one ik by name. another has a cat icon. the other only has two videos uploaded on their channel so far. #i just kinda watch them when they appear in my reccomendeds #eager to see quintonreviews last part of his icarly+ videos. his stuffs always incredibly fun to watch #but ive also been rewatching waynes sonic adventurequest streams from the beginning so i have some audio while i work #but also im looking for a song he played on stream and i dont remember where it played amongst the 10 streams #uhhh ive been waiting to see billiams third Lost series episode. because of him i watched through the rest of Lost. #i remember my family watching that show when i was a kid. its pretty fun near the beginning but. near the end man. ough. #also if youre wondering why i replied with the channels in the tags. its cause i knew id be talking a lot #and i dont know if i can add a Keep Reading on a post with the version of the tumblr app from last year. #anyway i hope. all of that suffices as an answer for you anon #thank you for the ask!!!!

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: February 26

“Diamonds in the Mud” by Gerry Cinnamon

#song of the day #another song off that same excellent concept playlist by losersimonriley #there's so many more Scottish bands added to my circulation now it's wonderful #this is a song specifically about Glasgow being his hometown so he uses more of his accent for it which I love #I've been pestering my brothers with accent and slang fun facts for a while now #more or less since the first time somebody had Soap use a particular Scottish saying in their CoD fic and made me go over all !!!! #'innsidh na geòidh as t'fhoghar e' translates to 'the geese will tell it in autumn' and reading that nearly made me explode #because when I was a small child and I asked my uncle too many 'why' questions he told me not to worry about it #that the geese would tell me next fall #amazing to me to find out decades later through Call of Duty fanfiction that that's an actual phrase #preserved for who knows how many generations between the first Scottish folks who must've brought it to Appalachia #and then eventually my Uncle Tommy who decided to use it to turn the aggravation tables around on a child #I'm thinking about that again now not just because it still blows my mind a little bit #(really truly had so firmly accepted it as just my Uncle Tommy trolling me with nonsense. it's such a thing he'd do) #but also because of a specific bit from the end of the song 'it's thirteen degrees and there's folk in the street in the scud' #that's just under 60F (a blissfully warm sunny day in Glasgow it seems) and 'in the scud' means 'naked' #which is also a thing I've almost heard from my family! #my aunts up the mountain and therefore also my father at times would say 'in the scuff' (my aunts with a little tilt to the vowel sound) #there was a sort of connotation of it being a silly or immature or maybe drunken sort of naked. an unimpressive naked at least #like 'Tommy fell into the muddy end of the pond trying to catch that damnfool heron' (this is a true story btw. take that Uncle Tommy) #'when he got back his wife made him take off all his clothin in the yard and hose down first. had to walk into his house in th scuff' #and then all the old ladies cackle about Tommy walkin through his door 'both heads hangin low' and my dad winces a little bit #it's important I share all these memories with my siblings now. most of the family's dead and gone and the boys don't remember #very fun for me to tell the stories now and see Nick do the exact same wince at the slightly mean-spirited dick commentary #just a little family legacy in action. thank you Gerry Cinnamon #(in the spirit of song-of-the-day though I will share my favorite line without the contextual boost of silly ereborne family stories: #'I know a guy who's a lightweight one or two jars and he's buckled #he's the guy that loses keys has to break into his ain house and gets huckled' #ungodly fun to sing and I do know several of this guy. not related to them though. my whole family drinks like fish)

[katyspersonal]

I've had a strange dream tonight..

There was a small round pound and a lot of fish were roaming in it in circles! Fish, and one squid-like creature that also had some eldrich glow emitted from itself. I kept trying to catch a fish all the time, with something like a bug net for some reason and not a fishing road, but they ALWAYS slipped away from me! And at last I've caught one fish but someone near me pointed out that it was dead, in a very grumpy "told you so" manner.. So I looked at that fish, and true, it didn't move. And also strangely had two heads, second head instead of tail, even though in the water it looked normal..

It made me despair and I let it slip back into the pond, and finally decided to abandon the fish and give that eldrich squid a chance. Not only it was way easier to catch than fish, but it even seemed to like me, wrapping tentacles around my arms, then I woke up. Strangely, before alarm clock, too

#dreams #personal #I wonder about the meaning of this but I have a guess...... #it is about my fandom life before summer isn't it. #trying to catch fish and constantly failing = my futile attempts to make friends back then #finally catching a fish but it's dead a literally two faced = making a bond but then- #-finding out people were two-faced (figurally of course) and would not be there for me #especially I think a certain someone that made me feel the safest and warmest Ive felt in a long time #only to block me without a single word and then work against me for not taking it well #and the squid... well... of course it was him #he definitely was an eldrich creature. #the last time I checked he finally became happy and stable (and promptly ditched me as- #-he didn't need me anymore in a happier and fixed life. it happens.) #but yes feels like it. I figured I could not find friends in 'mere ordinary fish'. it was all futile. #because of my negative charisma and apparently social cues I don't get #I also think relevant considering what I posted before going to bed... #damn my brain has interesting ways to illustrate my past or present.

[hecksupremechips]

I’m sorry I dissed fishing minigames I’ve become addicted to fishing in animal crossing 😭

#animal crossing #in an attempt to stop repressing so much and to try to make myself happy again #ive gotten back into acnh and idk fishing is very appealing to me rn #i havent caught anything interesting cuz i havent done my research in a while on when the good stuff is around #but its quite soothing #unfortunately theres not really many bugs out rn cuz its winter which is a shame #cuz i wanted to catch a bunch of cool bugs and show them off to the person i like because they have found #178 different species of bugs in the real world!!!! #and its making me really wanna catch the funny beetles

[victorluvsalice]

-->However, speaking of fun, we now we come to the part of the episode that I like to call "Is Fishing Fun?" Because I quickly realized that, if I wanted to put fishcake cans out on my shelves, I would need to have plenty of fish to turn into fishcakes. And currently the gang did not have plenty of fish. So, I decided it was time for Victor to resume the family business and took him off flower duty and put him on fish duty on the dock behind the store! He started out a bit slow, as evidenced by him holding a log there, but slowly started picking up the pace with a betta and a tetra. Meanwhile, Smiler started working on a new apothecary product, Red-Hot Tablets (tablets that make a Sim angry! ...look, all it required was three basil, so Smiler could make them really easily), and Alice --

-->Went upstairs and started watching "College Cram" once she ran out of fishcakes to make. Oi, Alice -- I said no fun until the shelves are filled! So, after a brief bathroom break (during which I realized I could put up those new "facilities" signs that came in one of the recent patch updates -- they do add a little extra something to the bathroom, don't they?), I sent HER out to join Victor fishing. And then I went, "well, if Victor and Alice are out there, might as well send Smiler too," and did just that.

-->And so the great fish-off began! With everyone standing there fishing their little hearts out to get enough fish to make loads and loads of fishcakes. And, I'm pleased to report, everyone did end up having a pretty darn good day out on the old dock --

Victor: Caught a couple of bettas, a tetra, a pair of tunas, an angelfish, a cichlid – and a “Captain Fishbones” Bonefish! Yeah, as you can imagine, THAT one stayed in his inventory to be brought home to live in the aquarium later.

Alice: Caught a tetra, a kissing gorami, a goldfish, a betta, a kitchen upgrade part, and a digitalistic sketchpad! XD Well, I had kind of meant to get her one of those eventually... She also got to Fishing level 4, which should serve her well when I force her to fish again to help fill these shelves. XD

Smiler: Caught a couple of angelfish, a tilapia, a betta, and a kissing gorami -- not the biggest catch, but then they started the latest, so it only made sense they'd catch the least. And hey, that is still a pretty good haul, all things considered. Certainly enough to make lots of fishcakes!

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #why yes I do watch James Turner's stuff why do you ask XD #if you don't get the joke James was never sure if fishing was fun in some of his earliest videos #I believe mainly the Super Sim ones #ah good old Max Power #the evilest Super Sim around XD #anyway yes basically this episode was mostly me making my Sims fish #because we required fish for fishcakes damn it #at least they have a convenient fishing spot right behind their store! #but as you can see they were out there for a WHILE trying to get some good catches #they got enough in the end but DAMN #I am going to have to rethink some of these products on my shelves #see what gets prioritized and what doesn't #however it was fun to catch the bonefish XD #I was like 'oh yay new friend for Punchy Chewy and Overthe' XD #I don't think I've officially named it yet though #...probably should be 'Jangles' ;) #queued

[puppysdog]

being depressed sucks but not being depressed is so fucking hard. bitches cant win at anything

#.txt #its getting a little out of hand again #i havent been eating really again and my sleeping has been bad #so its either no sleep or nightmares #and the sleep meds just make me groggy the next day #i havent been able to do anything i want for weeks and ive had so much time off #and i spend it trying to catch up on sleep i never get #i have so many things i want to do!! i want to clean the tank out to set it up for fish!! #i want to finish cleaning the bones!! #fuck man i just want to draw or write or something!! #and even before that i have appointments i need to make. i still havent cleaned or fixed my car #i need to get rid of clothes and clean the place entirely #it all keeps building up it doesnt matter if i can do little tasks at a time because its never enough #i can never do enough or be enough #living like this is a nightmare and i dont have the energy to fix it anymore #meds would help but how the fuck am i even supposed to do that when every psych isnt taking new clients #or doesnt take my insurance #or never gets back to me #i cant keep fucking trying when it never works out #everything hurts all the fucking time. im probably dying #but i cant make a doctors appointment to figure out whats wrong so what does it matter #can someone just fucking euthanize me already

[loverboybrightsideghost]

.

#so i’m o much only staying away from GO online and even at that i’m mostly staying away from the tv stuff #but i still think about it (good omens) and i’m actually relistening to the audio drama bc i love it soooo much #anyways because i love warlock so much and find his role so interesting i have a concept to present #just a scenario really #what if right around the time warlock’s eleventh birthday is rolling around the dowlings have another kid #they need a nanny again and crowley and aziraphale talk it over #and crowley as warlock’s brother’s nanny would just be really convenient for them to keep a closer eye on warlock #so etc etc warlock’s NOT the antichrist BUT the dowlings still need a nanny and crowley has to keep nanny-ing #while trying to find the real anti-christ #and this works with the logic of ‘he was going to just poof into space but he had to drive to tadfield???’ #it never crossed crowley’s mind that he’s a magic being and could just fake some memories and have some random nanny be their nanny #aziraphale (in the book) hates or at least very much dislikes warlock bc he is totally a little shit #so i have a head canon that crowley loves warlock bc he’s such a little shit. he’s like wow this kid sucks <3 that’s my boy <3 #bluebird.txt #essentially the plot is the same except more nanny ashtoreth and more ‘no mrs. dowling the boys are fine- WARLOCK STICK YOUR HEAD BACK IN #THE CAR YOUR HEAD WILL CATCH FIRE- yes we’re having a lovely time at the zoo- OTHER KID STOP TRYING TO CATCH THE FISH FALLING FROM TJE SKY’ #hehe #and aziraphale is like i love all of gods creations but some of them (children) sure take a little more effort huh #he’s just so annoyed the whole time #OH AND IF CROWLEY HAS TO BRING THEM TO THE BOOKSHOP BC HES MEETING AZIRAPHALE #HES JUST SO STRESSED OUT THE WHOLE TIME BC kid kid kID GET AWAY FROM MY PRICELESS COLLECTION OF FIRST EDITIONS

[tysonfurybattlepass]

i swear to christ i am FUCKING DRAWING ok

#not me trying to apply ecology to character designs that were intended as representational and not biological #anyway she is a shallow water proto-mammal that specializes in catching fish #tanystropheus if it were an endotherm and had 3 heads #also her tail is a registered deadly weapon #get smacked with that and you wont see atars youll see god #i think darkners fail to realize how physically powerful they are #they seem to rely entirely on magic for combat which is probably a cultural thing #but most of them are both larger and more physically powerful than even the largest hometown residents #like at what point do they realize they can just punch people in the face. that is 100% an option #i suppose their aversion to physical altercation is good for us because if king spade had decided to throw hands instead of projectiles #that would have been a significantly more dangerous fight #ironically he was probably playing the distance game because he was afraid of getting smacked up by the high damage lightners #but if he had just committed to a more aggressive physical fight and tanked a few hits he probably could have steamrollered us #but that is the nature of the disparity between lightners/darkners isnt it #lightners seem to have WAY less hp and way less magic options #but stupid high damage #susie can deal upwards of 300hp damage per hit even in ch1 thats goddamn ridiculous #if darkner magic did those numbers every fight would be a one-hit kill because all our party members have less than that in base hp lmao #the logistics of dark world combat always fascinated me #in cutscenes it’s shown that physical violence is still very much a thing #but it’s implied that the battle format is a core part of the world’s engine #or at the least a core cultural practice #idk where i was going with this. #deltarune

[amethystpath-writes]

You guys REALLY delivered with those new requests. Much thanks <3

#vacation is pretty sweet for those of you following along #my boyfriend was upset because a kid 1/4 his size caught a big ole fish that he was trying to catch #with a bobber at that #almost witnessed someone get mauled by a deer #saw some wild turkeys for the first time since I was a wee lass #laid on a rock

[sleepii-moth]

one could come up with a million fake alien foods the hearthians would make but the REAL answer to 'what would hearthian food be like' is cajun food. its just cajun food

#ow spoilers #just because of the tags im about to write #assuming there's more animals on timber hearth than just fish and also assuming the majority of the animals left on timber hearth #have evolved from some aquatic animals because of the interloper killing all other land dwelling animals #we can rightfully assume based on that the majority of their food would be seafood (or i guess more appropriately just like water animal) #based because thats what they have access to #you can also just ignore all that because im really saying this bc i have family who live in louisiana and ive eaten alot of cajun food #and also i just think they would like it maybe #im also now just imagining hatchling hearthians sticking their hands into random holes in puddles trying to catch crayfish

[beemovieerotica]

I know people on tumblr looove stories of underwater cave diving, but I haven't seen anyone talk about nitrogen narcosis aka "raptures of the deep"

basically when you want to get your advanced scuba certification (allowing you to go more than 60 feet deep) you have to undergo a very specific test: your instructor takes you down past the 60+ foot threshold, and she brings a little underwater white board with her.

she writes a very basic math problem on that board. 6 + 15. she shows it to you, and you have to solve it.

if you can solve it, you're good. that is the hardest part of the test.

because here's what happens: there is a subset of people, and we have no real idea why this happens only to them, who lose their minds at depth. they're not dying, they're not running out of oxygen, they just completely lose their sense of identity when deep in the sea.

a woman on a dive my instructor led once vanished during the course of the excursion. they were diving near this dropoff point, beyond which the depth exceeded 60 feet and he'd told them not to go down that way. the instructor made his way over to look for her and found a guy sitting at the edge of the dropoff (an underwater cliff situation) just staring down into the dark. the guy is okay, but he's at the threshold, spacing out, and mentally difficult to reach. they try to communicate, and finally the guy just points down into the dark, knowing he can't go down there, but he saw the woman go.

instructor is deep water certified and he goes down. he shines his light into the dark, down onto the seafloor which is at 90 feet below the surface. he sees the woman, her arms locked to her sides, moving like a fish, swimming furiously in circles in the pitch black.

she is hard to catch but he stops her and checks her remaining oxygen: she is almost out, on account of swimming a marathon for absolutely no reason. he is able to drag her back up, get her to a stable depth to decompress, and bring her to the surface safely.

when their masks are off and he finally asks her what happened, and why was she swimming like that, she says she fully, 100% believed she was a mermaid, had always been a mermaid, and something was hunting her in the dark 👍