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delunesnumberonefan · 7 months

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we're going to start the "love and war crash course posts" off with my greatest obsession in the campaign: the Matriarchs.

The Eldari Empire is where the bulk of the campaign is set in. it is ruled by 7 half-sisters known as the Matriarchs. Each of them has their own house/family that specializes in a different school of magic, each rule from their individual cities, they all share the same dad (who we hate). We have a complicated relationship with the matriarchs. Some of them are wonderful. Most of them are bitches. All of them have so many issues. My thought process was such upon realizing the extent of Them:

SO. obviously i am very normal about these women. these seven, powerful, morally grey, issue-having older women.

my boyfriend chase walked right into this one. he didn't see it coming, but he should've, and now here we are.

i am going to introduce each of the matriarchs under the cut. i want to thank korppipoika (linking them and not @'ing them because they don't need to see this) for drawing portraits of the matriarchs for me. I commissioned all of them so my boyfriend could have a poster of them in his room. i am the best girlfriend

so. the matriarchs.

we're going to go in order of age, starting from the oldest and the worst matriarch.

this is Adele Alnwick. her specialization is enchantment. mind control. you might be able to see where this is going.

Adele is on our shit list at the moment because we met an NPC (Badger) who was my character's (Gilt's) childhood best friend. Some shit went down, we got separated from Badger, Adele got her hands on her, and now Badger is evil mind controlled and wants to kill us.

we do not like adele.

we don't know a ton about her. Her whole thing is "house of corrections" type behavior. you go to her city of Athuum, and you either come back changed or don't come back at all. Athuum is subterranean in the mountains and also surrounded by lava.

She has one son, his name is Naite, and naite was mind controlled his whole life and escaped through the lava to get away from his mother.

if that ain't a testimony to the kind of person Adele is, i don't know what to tell you

next up is the complete opposite end of the scale: the matriarch we love the most.

Meet Freya Lovell.

the Eldari Empire (magic) has been at war with the neighboring dwarven faction (Ymir Conglomerate) (science) and the neighboring human faction (The Grand Imperium) (religion) for the past 100 or so years. House Lovell holds the line against the dwarves from the city of Thantos.

...how do i even begin to introduce Freya Lovell

she's half-giant, 10 feet tall. she is gentle. she is kind. she is a warrior woman who bonds with people (gilt) by kicking them through solid stone walls. Gilt views her as a mother figure and a mentor figure, as well as a dear friend. her specialization is abjuration magic. shielding. protection. she has a spell over her city called Heaven's Gate to make sure no dwarven projectiles hit Thantos. Thantos is shaped like a wedge or a shield. her keep is between her people and the battle line.

we met freya at a point where everything had gone to shit so hard in the campaign. we were wanted fugitives, we had no hope, no allies...and we stumbled upon a field where suddenly we couldn't use magic. and she sat in the center, and as we got closer we realized how big she was. she introduced herself, and gave us our first powerful ally, a home base, and hope besides.

i love Freya Lovell.

Freya had a human husband named Nicholas. he has since passed. Freya had two children with him. the first is her son Castien. they never really connected with each other because he was a bookish lad and Freya more readily bonded with his sister, her daughter Kalia.

about two years ago, there was a nasty battle. freya was out of commission after receiving her scars from a dwarven siege monster (think metal dragon) and so kalia and castien went out in her stead.

kalia died. castien lost his leg. after he recovered enough to realize what had happened, he ran.

...for two years freya was convinced she was the only surviving member of her family. and thanks to Gilt and Lost, we've returned her son to her. her daughter's corpse was taken by the Ymir Conglomerate and turned into an elite soldier known as "a Jack" (playing cards type hierarchy). we have defeated kalia, and are currently working on restoring her control so that freya can have her daughter back, too.

i would kill for freya lovell. we are house lovell in this household.

next up

Octavia Gilkes.

so there was an eensy lie in the above description of the matriarchs. the empire used to be ruled by seven powerful hot older half-sisters. four years ago, in a battle with the Grand Imperium, Octavia's mother Augustine Gilkes, the Illusion Matriarch, was mortally wounded. In her final moments, she activated a spell known as the Hell Wall

the hell wall would trap anyone who entered the city of Thannath in a powerful illusory reality that they couldn't escape from. for four years, anyone who entered the bounds of the city was trapped in this illusion and starved to death.

because Augustine died, the matriarch powers were passed to her only surviving child and only daughter, Octavia. for four years an 18 year old girl was trapped in a prison of her mother's making, a prison where nothing was wrong, everything was perfect, and she couldn't escape. she didn't even realize something was wrong, most of the time.

we traveled to Thannath to see if she could be an ally. through a very complicated series of events, we managed to bring the hell wall down. we found octavia ratty, dirty, emaciated, crying in the same room as her mother's corpse.

and we brought her to thantos. and on the way we were telling her outlandish stories from our adventure, stuff that the hell wall couldn't make up. stuff that would assure her that she was back in the real world. she didn't believe us until she encountered freya's curse.

all the matriarchs have curses. part of their magic. we don't know Adele's. Freya's is that no one can use magic within 100 feet, any type of magic. Octavia's is that her emotions take physical form and can get away from her, so to speak (and literally). when octavia's curse got cancelled out by freya, she collapsed into Gilt and Lost's arms, sobbing her eyes out, because she finally realized that she was truly free.

how many times had she been rescued in there? how many times had she believed she was free only to wake up back in it?

octavia is my daughter. i love her to pieces. second best matriarch.

next.

Helena Farraday.

...Helena goddamn Farraday. we don't know much about Helena.

What we do know is that Helena's curse is that she sees everything going on everywhere all the time all at once. she's the Divination matriarch, and literally Sees All. she's the surveillance state embodied in a person.

she never emotes. never smiles. never speaks above a whisper. hardly blinks. she looks like a statue most of the time

she has a loving husband named Actias Farraday who sees everything she is and sees every single weird quirk as a feature and not a bug. he loves his wife to pieces. the two of them have the most wholesome relationship in this whole damn thing. i have written smut about them.

they have four children. two are spies in the other powers. the other two are the secret police.

helena sees the future. but if she tells anyone about it, it changes. so helena is doomed to see everything that will happen to everyone everywhere all at once but cannot say a word about it.

...we have no real opinions on Helena Farraday. she's the one we know the least about. she seems chill, and i have no ill will towards her.

oh the next one is a treat

Ethalind Newmont.

where do we even fucking start with ethalind. she's the matriarch everyone thinks of when they think matriarch. she's 7 feet tall. she's on all the propaganda posters. she's the evocation specialist. literally her thing is destroying people from long range.

she's also a massive hedonist and throws elaborate orgies in the capital. she has had 9 kids with 7 different dads (2 sets of twins). she is the matriarch with the highest kid count. i know in my heart that she has a breeding kink.

i love her.

she's terrible.

her curse is that her magic literally eats her body if she uses it to destroy. her arms are just bone, but her Transmutation sister made her rings that transform her arms back to normal as long as she wears them.

the palace in the capital city of Varantha is white and gold. opulence taken to its extreme. the transmutation sister literally makes gold but ethalind has more of it. everything is white and gold, ethalind is a stickler for it

she shirked her duties, actually. she prematurely passed on the matriarch powers to her eldest son through a magic artifact and fucked off to do...whatever she does in her free time idk.

honestly i support this decision, having magic that destroys your body sucks, she's honestly a girlboss for deciding that ruling wasn't making her happy and fucking off to have fun. i love her for this

we saw her at a party once. she took 15 minutes start to finish to make her entrance and when Gilt told her that she understood the impulse to "set it down" (her responsibilities) ethalind took her out onto the veranda and bitched her out for 10 minutes straight.

she is so insane crazy. none of the matriarchs are hinged in the way they are supposed to be, but ethalind is deranged. she is unhinged. she is such a fascinating npc and i love her. can't wait to see more of her

Lorelei Omand. the transmutation sister i have talked so much about.

lorelei is another one we don't know a ton about. we don't know her curse. she's the first matriarch we met because we were passing through Mymeara and happened to rescue her youngest kid, only daughter, blatant favorite (Lola) from a kidnapping plot ordered by lorelei's youngest son, Dominic.

she turned him to gold as punishment. really horrifying implications for her entire palace being solid gold.

she has four kids, each from a different suitor that was kinda hand selected for her?? she hasn't expressed much interest in like actually pursuing someone herself, she's had people paraded in front of her and went from there.

the only issue i have with lorelei is that she shows obvious, blatant favoritism to her daughter and kinda neglects her sons. listen. freya isn't mom of the year. but lorelei is still worse. she's good with lola!! but not so much with the rest of them

lorelei is the only sister to be half-human, and also doesn't have pretty long hair like the rest of her sisters. she's insecure about it :(

and. hoo boy. oug h. here we go. last one

Saskia Valentine.

she's enemy #2, after Adele. She's my girlfriend's character (lost)'s mom. if ethalind is nuts, saskia is batshit.

saskia killed her nephew (ethalind's youngest) on a live zoom call. saskia fucks otherworldly entities to have kids that she uses as war machines. saskia is the conjuration specialist, and spends 10 years prepping for the fuck of the decade so that she can have another war machine baby. she has 7 kids, 6 horrendously powerful sons and Lost :) 6 different dads, Lost and her eldest brother share the same demon/force from before creation dad in a neat bookending of the bunch

saskia resides in Altensar. nobody knows what in the goddamn hell is going on in altensar. saskia doesn't like sharing, and people tend to not come back if they go up there. she's terrifying.

whenever chase does her voice, i am overcome with murderous rage. i hate her so much every time i listen to her talk. however, she is so incredibly sexy and i want her to step on me. you know? she inspires so many contradictions, and i don't understand how she does it.

lost is something called a "seraph" which we have heard briefly mentioned by a hologram of the matriarch's mutual dad, Adamwyn. we don't like grandpa. im not convinced that grandpa isn't in saskia's basement

OH YEAH

saskia was the youngest and dear ol dad's favorite. which tracks so much to me that it makes me angry. it makes so much sense. she was spoiled rotten by her dad and doesn't even stop to think, let alone think that she might be wrong about something

i love her. she's so fascinating. i hate her. i can't believe how attractive she is. i want to strangle her. if she kissed me i would fear for my life due to my proximity. i want her to kiss me. i want to be on a different continent from this woman at all times. do not let her near me. but i also want to play with her hair and listen to her talk about her evil plans.

she inspires so many conflicting emotions. i don't understand. im in love with her. i hate her. i think she's sexy. she makes me so irrationally angry.

look at them. bitches (affectionate) (derogatory) (conflicted) (confused) (aroused)

and that has been the Matriarchs! they have...so many issues

everyone thank my boyfriend chase for making such unhinged sexy women. everyone say thank you right fucking now

#roselyn talks #love and war #saskia tag #chase tag #gilt tag #long post #IM SORRY I DON'T THINK THE CUT WORKED #;-;#the matriarch tag #freya tag #ethalind tag #lorelei tag #octavia tag #helena tag #adele tag #just adding tags because now that i've broken the damn i WILL be talking about these terrible women

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beliscary · 7 months

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hunting gore crows

#old kingdom #prince sameth #mogget #i love the volume of the cloth in leo and diane dillon cover designs hhhh #doodle tag #ugh sam is just. he's a good kid ok #i'm obsessed with him and ellimere but ellimere gets dust in the books #imagine going to school and seeing your namesake on a plaque commemorating a disaster every day of your childhood #no wonder she's so serious & so intolerant of what she sees as slacking in her brother. she was close to the Wall too she saw the goings on #meanwhile sam went to school further south of the Wall and there were times he could barely feel magic #and per the book he was sometimes treated like an oddity/unwanted ward #i think he became a bit of a golden boy and worked at excelling at everything ancelstierran bc of it #two different kinds of isolation #anyway i love my kids #GET BULLIED BY A CAT IDIOT #no wait im not done he's lit the same kind of self punishing & devoted as his father #but with the added bonus of being as quietly out of his gourd intense as his mom.#sabriel comes across so staid bc of her narration and competence but she was 18 and set out with a pair of skis and a dream like #'yeah i am completely prepared for spooky death land. im bringing my dad back im built different'#sam: do i wear the gilt heeled boots to rescue nick or the black leather #the whole family is insane thank you for your attention

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ai-higurashi · 2 years

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@cactincactout

O'Gilt fam AU my beloved...

#goldkley #ai's random art #bentina beakley #goldie o gilt #webby vanderquack #ducktales 2017 #mrs beakley #o'gilt family au #baby webby just wants affection from both habitants of the house and meanwhile Goldie is just there having a crisis like #'granny? ME?? I'm just like 120? 130 at most?? I'm too young for this shit pls send help shit I've got ✨responsabilities✨ now #I did not consent to this wtf stay back you heathen'#too bad no one can resist Webby for long :)#sry for tagging you Sadie I know you've already seen it snsjsj

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resurrectionhymn · 1 year

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left for dead, and when death came to collect, the offering hat passed had very little left in it. the devil on your shoulder, palms red, empty handed; unsure of what to do, just hanging around out of habit. gilt / 209. (feat. carson pace)

#GILT #music tag;#bandcamp #listen to GILT or else!

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wildflowercryptid · 9 months

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let yourself be weak prayers half-pronounced, falling asleep let it scab. regrow some skin you never had you’re numb and calloused, but you can feel it pressing

#sorry i randomly stumbled upon this band a while back & i need more ppl to listen to them #but there's not any uploads of their music on here besides spotify redirects #at least bandcamp plays in tumblr's app / tab #anyways pls stream gilt for the love of god #gilt #tunes #emo music #post hardcore #melodic post hardcore #queer music #ask to tag

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loveoaths · 2 years

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VERSE TAG DROP: YUKI HAKU.

❛ VERSE: IN THE BELLY OF THE SNAKE / ( otogakure verse. )

❛ VERSE: YOU WERE A HILT; NOW YOU’RE BLOOD-GILT / ( akatsuki au. )

❛ VERSE: WHEN FORCED TO STAND STILL YOU MIGHT AS WELL GROW ROOTS / ( konoha-bound. )

❛ ARC: SURVEILLANCE.

❛ VERSE: PUSHING DAISIES / ( edo tensei ever after. )

❛ ARC: UNGAIKYŌ.

❛ VERSE: VIRTUELESS MARTYR / ( kirigakure’s elite. )

❛ VERSE: IF THERE IS A PATH YET UNTRODDEN IT IS YOURS / ( legendary swordsman. )

#❛ VERSE: IN THE BELLY OF THE SNAKE / ( otogakure verse. )#❛ VERSE: YOU WERE A HILT; NOW YOU’RE BLOOD-GILT / ( akatsuki au. )#❛ VERSE: WHEN FORCED TO STAND STILL YOU MIGHT AS WELL GROW ROOTS / ( konoha-bound. )#❛ ARC: SURVEILLANCE.#❛ VERSE: PUSHING DAISIES / ( edo tensei ever after. )#❛ ARC: UNGAIKYŌ.#❛ VERSE: VIRTUELESS MARTYR / ( kirigakure’s elite. )#❛ VERSE: IF THERE IS A PATH YET UNTRODDEN IT IS YOURS / ( legendary swordsman. )#fuck these bitches #tag drop.#tag drop: haku.

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auxiliarydetective · 3 days

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Dank @klutenpetter jetzt Part 2 zu meiner Sütterlin-Umfrage, der da lautet:

Fraktur meint hier die Art von Druckschrift, die man am ehesten aus gedruckten Quellen bis Anfang 20. Jahrhundert kennt. Sieht dann beispielsweise so aus:

Das Bild kommt von hier

Diesmal gibt's ein paar mehr Altersoptionen in der Umfrage, weil ich hier mit weniger Optionen rechnen muss. Wie bei der Sütterlin-Umfrage gilt auch hier: Entweder man kann Fraktur lesen oder nicht. Auch wenn man zum Entziffern 5 Stunden braucht ist es immer noch gelesen - daher keine "naja so halb"-Option. Schreibt auch gerne wieder in die Tags, wieso ihr Fraktur lesen könnt, wenn ihr es könnt :)

Danke fürs Mitmachen!

#speak your language day #spyld #german stuff #bitte wieder rebloggen und teilen - würde mich freuen!#ich kann tatsächlich fraktur lesen #aber ich bin auch geschichtsstudent also...#ist meine situation und mein irl umfeld da kein guter vergleich lol

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noctvrnc · 26 days

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Kleiner Leitfaden über Tumblr Etikette und den richtigen Umgang mit Ressourcen. Aus aktuellem Anlass. Fix zusammengeschustert, Ergänzungen sind willkommen!

Tumblr ist als Blogging-Plattform, durch globale Vernetzung über Tags und die Reblog-Kultur, nicht vergleichbar mit anderen sozialen Netzwerken wie z.B. das alte VZ. Wer einen Account besitzt, sollte sich dieser Tatsache zuallererst bewusst sein. Tumblr besitzt seine ganz eigene Etikette und es gehört zum guten Ton, sich darüber zu informieren und sich danach zu richten wann immer möglich.

Auch wenn wir weitestgehend in unserer Nische bleiben, sind wir nicht allein auf der Plattform. User, die Rollenspiel Ressourcen kreieren wie Charakter PSDs und Carrd Vorlagen, Autoren von Fanfics, Gif Maker, Theme Maker, Fanart-Zeichner und andere kreativ Schaffende, genießen auf Tumblr mehr als irgendwo anders, viel Respekt und Unterstützung von ihren Communities. Diese Einstellung kann man sich gerne zum Vorbild nehmen (persönliche Meinung des Autors)!

Grundsätzlich gilt: Rebloggen ja, Reposten nein! Letzteres bedeutet, ein Gif oder Bild abzuspeichern und ohne Quellenangabe neu zu posten. Das ist wirklich ein riesen No-no hier, man macht sich sehr unbeliebt damit. Grafiken von Google oder auch Pinterest sind grundsätzlich geklaut (oft von Tumblr) und ebenfalls mit Vorsicht zu behandeln. Wenn man das Bild/Gif schön findet und unbedingt auf dem Blog haben möchte, lohnt es sich ein paar Minuten Zeit zu investieren und die Quelle zu tracken. Google-Links führen oft zurück zu Tumblr, von hier lässt sich das Set dann rebloggen oder man kann den Eigentümer dann auch fragen, ob man sein Werk mit Credit benutzen darf.

Rollenspiel Ressourcen aka Templates/PSDs (aber auch Carrds und Google Docs) werden von ihren Machern meistens auf Extrablogs zur Verfügung gestellt. Es lohnt sich hier den Blog zu besuchen und den Pinned Post zu lesen oder nach einem Rules Link zu schauen. Die meisten (nicht alle) Content Creator wünschen Credit! Auch wenn man selber noch Arbeit und Mühe in den Edit steckt ist es nicht angebracht, das Werk als eigenes auszugeben am Ende. Credit kann klein und unauffällig, ganz unten im Post unter einen Cut oder sogar in die Tags geschrieben werden. Es stört nicht, es macht nichts mit der Blogästhetik, es ist einfach nur anständig anzugeben woher man die Basis für seinen Edit hatte.

Commissions: Egal ob Zeichnungen, Promos oder irgendein anderes Werk, das speziell für einen bestimmten User gemacht worden ist, ist ohne Ausnahme tabu für die Eigennutzung.

#fakevz #userfakevz #「𝟷𝟺」⸻ 𝜎𝜎𝑐. ⊰✧⊱

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jemariel · 9 months

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Falling With Style

By Jemariel

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Dean/Cas

Words: 15,831

Tags: Wingfic, Dean has angel wings, Human Castiel in the Bunker, domestic fluff, wing grooming, flying lessons, love confessions, Cas has self-worth issues, first kiss/first time together, Profound Bond Gift Exchange: Hot Entity Summer

Written for the Profound Bond gift exchange for @eyesandwingsonlyafterdark !! I hope you enjoy 💙💚💖

Summary: Dean's facing a long summer cooped up in the bunker with nothing but his own brand new eight-foot angel wings for company. And Cas, of course. But the former angel is acting super weird about this whole thing, and Dean can't figure out why. He could sure use some help from the expert, though.

(In which Dean learns to fly, and Cas remembers what it's like.)

Read on ao3!

Excerpt and tag list below the cut, let me know if you want to be added to or removed from my tag list!

On this particular Thursday, Dean finds Cas in the library. Deep in the stacks, in a section that mostly contains books on angel lore, as far as Dean knows. He’s got an armload already and is peering with great concentration at the cobwebby shelves.

Jackpot.

Dean sidles closer, winching his wings in tight as they’ll go so they don’t knock anything off the shelves (again). Be a shame to give away the game.

Closer… closer… years of practice keep his feet and breathing quiet until he can count the hairs on the back of Cas’s neck. And then, just as Cas is juggling his books from one arm to the other—

“Whatcha lookin’ for?”

Cas jumps about a half a mile, and a dozen moth-eaten volumes go tumbling to the floor. Sam’s gonna kill him.

Worth it.

“Dean—” Cas exhales, a hand on his chest and murder in the set of his jaw. “What the hell are you doing?”

Dean grins and relaxes his wings a touch. “Just having a little fun,” he says, tongue between his teeth. For some reason, getting a rise out of Cas always gets him giddy. It’s like champagne bubbles under his skin, and ever since he sprouted these feathery intruders, that’s where he feels it the strongest. It’s like all the feathers are standing on end. It’s happened before. Like the time he pretended not to know or care about the Library of Alexandria for an entire hour, and Cas had gone on a righteously livid rant that left him flushed and sweaty. There’d been a chalkboard involved. Or the time Cas had wandered into the kitchen all pre-coffee grumpy in nothing but sweatpants while Dean was making eggs. That hadn’t exactly been Dean getting a rise out of him, but it gave him the goosebumps all the same.

Dean had chosen not to analyze it too closely.

With a glare in Dean’s direction, Cas crouches down to pick up the books, ruddy around the ears. It’s then—looking down at Cas’s head just below waist level—that Dean realizes just how close he’d positioned himself. His wings tingle harder, and his stomach does this funny little twist as he shuffles back to a more respectable distance. Suddenly, he has to swallow a whole mouthful of saliva and clear his throat before he can speak.

“Seriously, what are you doing back here?” he asks. Totally neutral. Completely normal.

Rising to his feet, Cas hands over one of the books. The spine looks like it’s decided to make a break for it, hanging on by a few bare horsehair threads. Dean actually feels bad for a minute before he reads the title.

“Alchemical Properties of Angelic Minutia? Sounds grim.”

Cas nods, still averting his gaze, fingering the dusty pages of a slim, gilt-edged volume. “I was hoping to uncover a solution to your… predicament.”

“Gabe said it would wear off on its own, right?”

One of Cas’s eyebrows climbs toward his hairline. “And you trust him?”

Dean snorts, handing the book back. “Not even half as far as I can throw him, but why would he lie about that?”

“I can think of a dozen reasons. But even assuming there is truth in that, why shouldn’t we try to”—he gestures vaguely with his laden arms—“encourage the process?”

Dean considers, crossing his arms as he leans against a bookshelf. The edge of the shelf digs into his bare bicep, and he shudders to think what kind of dust his feathers are picking up. “It’s not so bad,” he says. “Kinda grateful for the vacation.”

Cas squints at him in flat disbelief. “Dean, you have put up a protest every time Sam has left on a hunt for the last two months.”

“Yeah, well.” How does he explain this? “Netflix ain’t gonna binge itself, right? C’mon. I’ll make some popcorn.”

Cas nods vaguely as Dean slaps him on the shoulder and turns to escape the library. “Give me a moment to… reshelve these, I suppose.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Read more on ao3!

Tag list below:

@magnificent-winged-beast @starsinursa @silvie111 @gneisscastiel @yourspecialeyes @weathergirl83 @daughter-of-the-rain-and-snow @maliciouslycreative @suckerfordeansfreckles @rosemoonweaver @paperwhitenarcissus @maiosaurus @naruhearts @super-powerful-queen-reyna @anironundomiel-blog1 @jasminrogue @onsarah @cassbutt-and-the-righteousbi @elanor-n-evermind @sharkfish @fangirlingtodeath513 @angelarbaugh @psychoticblackhappiness @holyllamabanana-blog @lanaserra @freckles-and-wings @7faerielights @casbean @destielhoneybee @feraladoration @deaneatscake @generaldeliciousness @bre95611 @psychicbouquetblaze-stuff @lizleeillustration @hexentaenzerin @peacewhenuaredone-blog @nickelkeep @ellen-of-oz @malmuses @ltleflrt @archiival @idaaeri @kazshero @depairt

#destiel #destiel fanfic #destiel wing fic #wing kink #human castiel #profoundnet #profound bond gift exchange round 10: hot entity summer

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delunesnumberonefan · 7 months

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no mods on tumblr, post freya AKA freya lovell appreciation post AKA mandatory freya-loving post AKA i love freya and gilt's relationship so goddamn much post

in order

freya meeting gilt when she was small (not sure if canon)

freya and gilt having Talks (definitely canon at least once)

something freya actually said when she heard her daughter was back from the dead and evil 😭

them talking after the above

something i drew that hurt my own damn feelings far before gilt and freya ever talked about evil!kalia in canon

I Love Them, actual height difference, these two are everything to me

#roselyn talks #freya tag #we have to have a freya tag COME ON #gilt tag #love and war #roselyn's art #(vibrating at a frequency that can shatter glass) i love them i love them i love them

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unscharf-an-den-raendern · 1 month

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Schloss Einstein Folge 1062

Und los geht's wieder mit der großen Schloss Einstein Achterbahn! Werden wir nach dieser Folge bei "It's so over" bleiben oder sind wir wieder bei "We're so back"? Keine Ahnung, aber wenigstens kriegen wir Noah/Joel/Ava Trio Content!

Marlon macht sich bereit über das Waldlauf-Modul zu berichten. Da wollte er letztes Jahr zwar auf keinen Fall mitmachen, aber dieses Mal ist Nesrin dabei. Und los geht's mit Nesbrotlon!

Noah und Ava brainstormen, was sie für das Mindset-Modul machen sollen, können sich aber einfach nicht einigen. Joel ist genervt, weil er bei dieser schlechten Stimmung unmöglich sein neues Pastinade-Logo designen kann. Er diagnostiziert: Das Problem der beiden ist, dass sie kein Team sind. Aber weil das kein Problem für einen guten Manager ist, nimmt er es einfach selbst in die Hand. Joel Lucas, CEO, Paartherapeut und praktisch Profi im Bauen von Trennwänden, stets zu Diensten!

Annika merkt, dass Marlon nen Crush auf Nesrin hat. Er hat nämlich fast nur Fotos von ihr gemacht. Annika: "Badu hat immer gesagt: 8 von 10 Mädchen wissen am Anfang nicht, dass sie verliebt sind. Gilt bestimmt auch für Jungs."

Marlon dagegen kapiert gar nichts? Herzklopfen? Schwitzige Hände? Muss am Waldlauf liegen!

Joel hat für Noah und Ava eine Teambuilding Übung vorbereitet: Sich nach hinten in die Arme einer anderen Person fallen lassen. Er will es vormachen, knallt dabei aber voll auf den Boden, weil Noah ihn nicht auffängt. Ich muss zugeben, ich habe gelacht.

"Es gibt keine hoffnungslosen Fälle. Es gibt nur Herausforderungen." DIE MOTIVATIONSSPRÜCHE SIND BACK!

Marlon hat kapiert, dass er verliebt ist, ist aber komplett überfordert mit der neuen Situation. Er will erstmal gar nichts machen und hoffen, dass es vielleicht von selbst wieder weggeht. Annika dagegen shippt die zwei. Auch weil sie hofft, dass Nesrin so wieder mehr wie früher wird.

Tahmina kriegt mit, dass das Share Space keine Förderung bewilligt bekommen hat und deswegen vielleicht schließen muss. Sie will helfen und Dr Berger davon überzeugen, das Share Space zu retten.

Joel hat sich den Klassiker Schloss Einstein Move überlegt: Er sperrt Ava und Noah im Keller ein. Das sollte er eigentlich mit Noah und Colin tun, aber wir nehmen, was wir kriegen können.

Oh, ihr dachtet Joel sperrt sie einfach ein und hofft auf das Beste? Oh nein. Joel wäre nicht Joel, wenn er nicht nen ganzen Escape Room draus gemacht hätte!

Marlon fragt Nesrin, ob sie mit ihm ein Eis essen gehen möchte, doch die hat leider keine Zeit, weil sie mit Simon das Chemiereferat machen muss.

Tahmina passt Dr Berger vor dem Imbissstand ab. Der will zwar anfangs nicht helfen, lässt sich dann aber dazu breitschlagen, nachdem sie ihm droht, einen Artikel darüber zu schreiben. Wenn Tahmina bis zum nächsten Tag 200 Unterschriften sammelt, redet er mit der Bürgermeisterin.

Ava und Noah müssen jeweils 10 Dinge sagen, die ihnen zum Thema "Vertrauen" einfallen, ansonsten lässt Joel sie nicht aus dem Keller raus. Ich glaub nicht, das eine anerkannte Therapiemethode ist.

Fast hätte Marlon Ava und Noah befreit, aber Joel schafft es geschickt, sich rauszureden in dem er behauptet, er würde mit Geistern kommunizieren.

LIMON MOMENT! Sie waren zusammen "Trampolin springen".

Joel hat ein paar Gesprächskarten vorbereitet: Familie, Freunde, Ängste und Geschäftsideen. Ohohoho! OHOHO!! HERE WE GO!

NOAH UND AVA DEEP TALK! WE'RE SO BACK!

Noah erzählt, dass seine Eltern vor der Scheidung immer behauptet haben, dass sie sich noch lieben und es wieder besser werden wird. Dann ist sein Vater ausgezogen, seine Mutter hat das Haus verkauft und er musste aufs Internat.

NOAH ERZÄHLT AVA VON SEINEN ÄNGSTEN!!!!

ER WAR NOCH NIE ZUVOR VERLIEBT!!!!

DAS GUTE WRITING IST WIEDER DA OH MEIN GOTT!

Ava: "Deine Eltern haben was kaputt gemacht. Muss bei dir nicht genauso sein."

"DABEI BEDEUTET ER MIR VIEL!!"

ICH HEUL HIER IN MEIN BRILLENPUTZTUCH LEUTE!

Ich brauch kurz ne Plastiktüte zum Reinatmen AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Annika erzählt Nesrin, dass Simon mit seinem Crush Kumpel Leon im Trampolin-Park war, währen sie am Referat gearbeitet hat. Nesrin ist das aber egal und Annika merkt, dass Nesrin in Simon verknallt ist. Arme Annika, jetzt auch unfreiwillig Paartherapeutin. Hey, Joel, ich hab ne Geschäftsidee für dich!

Nesrin braucht aber keine Hilfe, denn Simon ist "cool und gechillt. Im Gegensatz zu dir."

Nach Noah Backstory kommt jetzt Ava Backstory: Sie und ihr Bruder haben früher zusammen getanzt. Patrick wollte aber berühmt werden, sie dagegen nicht. Er hat sie bei einem Wettbewerb angemeldet, Ava war null bei der Sache und hat es verpatzt. Tanzen ist etwas persönliches für sie und sie will dabei von niemandem bewertet werden außer von sich selbst - auch, weil Patrick ihretwegen sauer war. Als sie das nächste Mal zum Training gekommen ist, hatte er eine neue Tanzpartnerin. Hallo, wo war dieses Writing in den letzten beiden Folgen?

Nachdem sich die beiden endlich ausgesprochen haben, lässt Joel sie auch wieder aus dem Keller raus. Bzw. will er das, aber das Schloss klemmt.

Noah und Ava haben sich für das Mindset-Modul ein paar Vertrauensübungen überlegt und dieses Mal fängt Noah Ava auch auf.

Dr Berger muss eine schlechte Nachricht überbringen: Es gibt immer noch kein Geld, da die Budgets der Stadt schon alle vergeben sind. Tahmina will sich trotzdem nicht aufhalten lassen: Weder vom Unterricht, noch von Budgets, noch von Emilia.

Nesrin ist sich sicher, dass sie nicht in Simon verknallt ist. Okay, momentaner Love Quadrat Status ist also:

Marlon ist in Nesrin verknallt

Nesrin ist nicht in Simon verknallt

Simon ist in jemanden verknallt

Annika weiß, dass Marlon in Nesrin verknallt ist und denkt, Nesrin wäre in Simon verknallt

NOAH RUFT COLIN AN!

ABER ER TRAUT SICH NICHT UND LEGT WIEDER AUF!

WE'RE SO BACK LEUTE!

#schloss einstein

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empressofmankind · 4 months

Text

BEGGARS SHAN'T BE CHOOSERS - Part I

[Crocodile x F!OC]

SFW

(A/N) Better known as the 'Impel Down' fic, I kept mentioning the past two weeks. This is Part One. Of five? Of ten? I've given up. The total draft was > 12k. So, I split it in 3x 4k. And then, I noticed today the 'first part' had grown to >7k. So, I've split it again. I have a clear end in mind, but how long it'll take me to get there...

Originally, this fic was meant to focus around Buggy, but then a 2.53m unit of absolute bullshit got in the way. Shivs and her world class plans, good gods. Post-Alabaste, the mens are stuck in Impel Down. Shivs is dead set on springing the clown from prison. However, she'll first need to figure out where they're keeping him. On account of his devil fruit powers, she suspects level 6. And she has an excellent alibi to demand visitation to level 6. For once, the legal quagmire of technically still being married to Crocodile is going to work for her. Right? RIGHT??

In this first part, we'll join Shivs and Benji (and Mani!) as they get ready to, and make their way for, Impel Down. That's it, that's all that happens, and it took me near 4k. I am so long-winded. It's a terminal condition, I know.

Tag(s): Considering this is the entré, there isn't actually much to tag for? There's fluff and humour. There's a 10-year-old running around saying the absolute funniest shit as things go straight over her head. We got Mani the scaly golden retriever Bananawani along? Oh, and one (1) good marine.

🐊 🐊 🐊

Beggars Shan't Be Choosers - Part I

“They're stupid clothes,” Benji said, her brow wrinkling with petulant annoyance. She was wearing a crispy white dress shirt, a green-on-ochre striped vest and grey slacks. She'd refused a dress of any sort. Her flame orange hair was neatly brushed and her small face wasn't covered in grease paint for once.

“I think you look handsome,” Shivs said as she pinned her own red hair up with a two-pronged kanzashi fashioned with golden lotuses whose inlaid blue diamonds had not seen the light of day in years.

“I look stupid.”

“Look. I am not comfortable in my clothes either,” Shivs said and indicated the mid-thigh sheath dress of black lace on dark grey broadcloth she wore. She'd decided on sheer stockings to go with it, but no gloves.

“You look pretty in them.”

Shivs turned back to the mirror to finish pinning her hair and adjusting her bangs to fall neatly from under the strings of her eyepatch. “That is the idea, yes.”

Benji put her hands in her pockets, kicking her foot, making squeaky noises against the deck boards. “What am I supposed to look like? I don't want to be pretty.”

“You are supposed to look like the most capable and well-behaved child to ever grace the Blue.” Shivs pinched her cheek, gilt bangles jangling. “And you do when you don't stand with your hands wearing out your pockets like that.”

Benji took her hands out of her pockets. They idled a moment, undecided, but then she clasped them behind her back. “Your neck looks naked.”

Shivs laughed at that because the bateau neckline of the dress could certainly use something. “Yours too.”

She plucked one of Buggy's patterned neck scarves from a drawer and tied it around her daughter's neck, tucking the ends into the vest. “There.”

“You should wear a pretty necklace,” Benji said, though her eyes were on the scarf. She seemed to like that, at least.

Shivs didn't have all that many necklaces conventionally considered ‘nice’. Going through the few she had in her thoughts, she picked up her modest jewellery box. Then paused as her gaze lingered on the bottom drawer of her vanity. Maybe she should… She pulled the drawer open and reached among clothes she rarely wore, patting around until she found the old music box.

Its silver had blackened with age and negligence, but even so, its delicate engravings of waves and tall ships were fine. If she polished it now, the oxidation remaining in the fine creases would help pick out its details better than ever before. She didn’t, of course. And she didn’t open the lid either. She couldn’t remember if it was wound up, and didn’t want to hear its melody if it was.

Instead, she held it with both hands and turned its engraved body as if removing a lid from a jar. With a click, the top section came off. Within the tiny compartment revealed lay a small, gold hoop with a bent hinge. She’d long since let the earlobe puncture it used to occupy close. Taking a thin string from her jewellery box, she suspended it from that instead.

“Like so?” Shivs asked, drawing Benji’s attention as she fastened it around her neck.

“Don’t you have anything sparklier, like your hair thing?”

Shivs brushed the kanzashi. Though the era of having such things aplenty was long behind her, she was loath to detract from the last one that remained to her with lesser gems. Besides, he’d notice.

“Sadly, no.”

“Oh?” Benji gave her the thumbs up. “Gold is pretty too, I guess!”

Part of the reason she’d picked it was that it was 24-carat gold. Just like the kanzashi.

“Can I do your makeup?”

“Only if you do not turn me into a clown,” Shivs said as she sat down at her vanity so the girl could reach her face. Benji grinned and set to work.

When Benji declared she was done, Shivs turned to the mirror and had to admit the little girl was now officially better at this than her. She’d gone for a dark burgundy smokey eye with a flawlessly thin line of gold right at the root of her eyelashes and a touch of white on the waterline. It made the hazel of her good eye pop like nobody’s business. She was pretty sure the dark red lipstick was Buggy’s favourite to use himself.

“I like it,” Shivs said and Benji beamed. “Now, I just need shoes.”

“I'll fetch some!”

Benji was up and running out of the cabin before Shivs could protest. It was only a few minutes before the girl returned, clutching shoes in her arms. And not just any shoes, either. She held up gold-tinted, faux leather gladiator sandals with six-inch stiletto heels that would be a trick and a half to walk on. Where had she even found those?

“These will look awesome with your hair thing and necklace!”

She didn’t disagree as she put them on, but hoped the floors of Impel Down would be neatly packed concrete and nothing else. She hadn’t walked on heels like these in half a decade. Throwing a long bridge coat the rosy beige of dunes about her shoulders, she turned to the floor-length mirror.

Benji looked her up and down with the pinched expression of a critical, pint-sized costume designer grading their latest creation. “You look very pretty.”

Benji wasn’t wrong. She did look nice. Her mood sank, settling like an anchor in the pit of her stomach. She looked like his wife.

“Why is it OK to lie today?”

“It's not a lie.” Shivs shook the morose feeling and picked up her small black bag, its gilded chain rattling as she double checked its content. “More like, hm.”

“Make believe?”

“Yes. Yes, I suppose it is,” Shivs said as she snapped the bag closed and hung it from her shoulder. “It will be easier to convince them to let us visit if we look the way they’d expect.”

“Why would they let us visit uncle Crocodile? Aren’t those visits for, like, if you’re his mom or sister or baby or something?” Benji’s small face was filled with healthy scepticism, hands in her pockets once again. “We should pretend he’s my dad.”

Shivs flinched and struggled to keep her smile from faltering. “Well, only if we have to.”

“They’d have to be pretty bad people to stop a kid from visiting their father.” Benji took her hand. “I hope uncle Crocodile knows where dad is.”

“I am sure he knows.” Shivs gave Benji’s hand a squeeze. She’d no idea how she’d find out where Buggy was if Crocodile didn’t know. She couldn’t exactly demand that information on legal grounds like she had done with him. “Is Mani ready, too?”

“Yes! I scrubbed her squeaky clean and even picked her teeth and scales. She’s eaten and done a big poop.” Shivs tried to let the girl’s bubbly chatter lift her spirits. “I borrowed one of Richie’s sparkly collars and she looks flashy in it!”

“Sparkly? That sounds amazing.”

“It is! She likes sparkly things.”

“Let’s fetch her then and go before we are too late.”

Benji glanced up at her as they left the cabin. “How can we be late for an appointment we didn’t make?”

“We can be late for the only ship going there today.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Benji had wanted to stand upon the prow as the government ship approached the Gate of Justice out of Enbies Lobby, because the skipper had said the Tarai current that would see them to Impel Down was chock full of sea kings. Shivs sat on a deck chair with a glass of wine, watching the girl run back and forth with binoculars she’d weedled from a matelot. On account of the seastone laminated hull, she doubted they would see any. However, there was no need to dunk on her chipper mood.

They were not the only visitors, more had trickled aboard to form a modest but motley company on the deck. She’d caught snippets of conversations as they walked by: a mother visiting her son; a brother, his sister. And she had a good guess what some of them were whispering about as they stole glances her way. She’d neglected to list any details regarding who they’d be visiting, but, in hindsight, she supposed the pony-sized bananawani lounging beside her gave it away.

She’d tied Mani’s rhinestone-infested lilac leash to her chair leg, to discourage the reptile from wandering or - worse - deciding to take a swim. Not that she had any illusion as to its ability to pull the chair straight from under her if it wanted to go. But Mani was a creature of habit and minimal effort. A minor inconvenience such as this would be enough to keep her snoozing on the deck.

“Spotted any big ones?” Shivs said when Benji came towards her for a sip of lychee ramune.

“Not yet.” Benji plopped down beside Mani, putting her skinny arm around her scaly neck as she slurped lemonade. “Did you know bananawani hunt sea kings?”

“Really?”

Shivs remembered the way the casino halls would darken as they swam by, their shadows passing beyond the glass as they glided towards the feeding platform. The unwitting sea king never stood a chance.

“They are their only known predator and totally hunt them,” Benji babbled happily while enjoying her drink. Mani’s eyes were still closed, but she’d shifted to lean into the little girl’s petting. “Do you think sea king tastes good?”

The water would run red but only for a short while, only until the currents whisked it away. Theoretically, the creature could make it out for the Rainbase oasis connected to the Sandora river.

“I bet Mani would prefer sea king chow,” Shivs said.

“I don't think they sell that at the pet stores.” Benji pouted as she hugged Mani. “She won’t be able to have a sea king snack until she’s big enough to hunt them herself.”

Hopefully, that would take a while yet. Bananawani could grow to colossal sizes, dwarfing mid-class tall ships. Shivs had no idea what they were supposed to do with a fully grown one. Or how to afford feeding the beast if there was no prey for her to hunt on her own. Rain Dinners’ bananawani never hunted alone.

Benji emptied her bottle with a big, noisy slurp, waking Mani. “Maybe we should have brought something?”

“A deck would have been nice,” Shivs said as she watched them. “We could have played slapjack.”

“No, I mean, for uncle Crocodile?”

Shivs flinched.

“You always say that it is nice to bring something when you visit someone. Especially if you want something from them in turn?” Benji scrunched up her face, rubbing Mani’s thick scaly neck. “I have, like, half a bag of marshmallows, but I didn’t think to bring them.”

“I have something for him, don’t worry about it.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Impel Down was a fortress as ugly as it was unimaginative. It spilled onto the rapidly approaching horizon as a grey stain overtaking the limitless freedom of the open sea. And as they drew near on the Tarai current, its squat towers and crenellated battlements came into ever sharper focus until they dominated their entire surroundings. Curiously, there were no cannon embrasures, machicolations or any such defences one might expect from a proper bastion.

A fleet of warships rested at anchor along the approach to the underwater prison. The modest passenger ship they were on was dwarfed by the marine dreadnoughts they passed as the current pulled them inexorably towards the prison’s colossal gatehouse.

Benji had returned to the prow for the approach, and Shivs joined her there.

“It’s so huge!” Benji stared wide-eyed at the thick walls as they sailed under the barbican and into the secured harbour proper beyond. Mani sat beside her, holding her own leash.

“The vast majority of the complex is actually underwater.” Shivs counted the cannons peeking down at them through the embrasures, out of habit more than anything. She wondered if they had a standing firing crew to man them.

“Are we going underwater?” Benji hopped from one leg unto the other. “The Calm Belts are supposed to be full of Sea Kings! Maybe there will be a window, and I can see one? Maybe there will be wild Bananawani too!”

“It is a prison, so I don’t think there will be windows,” Shivs said in an attempt to calm the girl’s excitement and avoid utter disappointment if that turned out to be true. “It does reach quite a ways below the water surface. A few kilometres, perhaps? Yes, I think so.”

“Wow.” Turning to Mani, Benji added: “Let's find a window, I bet there will be wild Bananawani! You can say ‘hi’!”

Shivs took her by the shoulder when she saw the other visitors disembark. “Come, let’s not be late.”

Benji glanced up at her as they walked to the gangplank. “For the visit we didn-?”

“Don’t say that,” Shivs interrupted her with a quelling look.

“Right.” Benji smiled again and took Mani’s leash. “Come on Mani. Can’t be late!”

They were funnelled through the gatehouse and into a courtyard patrolled by marine sentries. Here, too, cannons peered through embrasures on all sides. Evidently, the prison was more concerned about threats to its security rising from within than without.

“Visitors for level 1 and 2 inmates, that way,” a young marine officer said as he gestured to a colleague. “Level 3 and up, with me.” The few people that joined them as they went to the marine officer gave the juvenile Bananawani plodding beside them a wide breadth.

The officer led them up steps and into an wholly uninviting lobby. With its worn plaster walls and dirty grey linoleum floor it did its very best to make you want to leave as soon as possible. No seats, no plants, no windows, no nothing.

“Registration check.” The marine officer motioned them towards the looming concrete counter on the other side of the unpleasant space. “In an orderly manner, gentlefolk.”

Benji put her arm around Mani, leaning into the large reptile and putting her nose against its scales as she eyed their casually hostile surroundings.

“What’s his name?” The marine officer’s tone was amiable, conversational.

“Hers!” Benji said, holding on tighter to the Bananawani.

He tried to catch her gaze with a smile. “Big girls, both of you.”

“Her name is Mani.”

“Ah, ‘she who averts harm’,” he said, and Shivs appreciated his attempts to make Benji feel comfortable. “A wise choice for such a hardy animal.”

“She’s very sweet and tough,” Benji agreed as she snuggled Mani. “I love her.”

“I am sure she loves you very much too.”

“What is your name?” Benji asked. “Mine is Benji!”

“Nice to meet you, Benji,” the young marine said. “Mine is Toby.”

By then it was their turn, and Shivs approached the desk. It was higher than such things normally were, for she was not a particularly short woman and yet she need not bend down to meet the registrar’s gaze.

“State your name and purpose?” the woman said, hands poised to take down the information.

“Figarland Seonaid. Conjugal visit,” Then added when she saw her transcribe it as ‘Sheona’: “That is without the H, and spelled with N-A-I-D.”

The registrar gave a sign of neither interest nor recognition. “Visiting?”

“Crocodile Niall.”

The woman paused when she heard that name. And Shivs ignored the whispers she could not quite catch from those behind her in line.

“Niall. N-I-A-L-L. Not ‘Nile’.”

The registrar flipped through a thick binder, finger running down a table packed with dense handwriting. “No visitation registered.”

“Preposterous,” Shivs said, overacting an affronted tone. “A signed request for visitation has been approved weeks ago.”

“There is no record of it, ma'am.”

Benji let go of Mani to fling her arms around Shivs’ waist instead, and gave the registrar and marine officer her most watery of wobbly baby looks. “Mommy, I want to see daddy!”

Shivs rubbed her shoulder, giving the registrar the pleading look of parents the world across trying to desperately manage a child on the brink of wailing. Benji's little sob into the fabric of her dress was very convincing. Mani paced around them, uncertain but riled by the sudden change of mood.

“Can't you put in an expedited request?” Shivs suggested, trying her damndest to sound sincere. “She'd been looking forward to it, and we get so few chances.”

“No registration, no visitation,” the woman said as Benji took in a breath to start a wail.

Toby shook his head. “Let me see what I can do,” he said as he produced a small, earpiece Den Den Mushi and put the sea snail against his ear. A few transmissions later, he turned to the registrar and held up his hand. “Two visitor badges, please.”

With due reluctance the registrar handed them over to him and he turned to Benji. “There you go, kiddo,” he said as he gave her one, and then Shivs as well. “Courtesy of the vice-admiral making the curator see reason.”

“You're the best!” Benji beamed. “Look, mom, I am number 17! What is yours?”

Shivs looked at the scuffed 13 on the badge. It reminded her of a poker table she used to deal at, and the memory settled in the pit of her stomach like a fetch of cannon balls. “Not as high as yours, sweetie.”

“Come, I will see you two down to the right level,” Toby said, and led them to the elevator room beyond the lobby. There were four, two on the left and two on the right. He took them to the far right one, the doors opening as they approached.

“Awesome!” Benji said as she rushed inside, Mani hot on her heels. For the elevator was made entirely of armoured glass and provided a grand view of the ocean sprawling all the way across the horizon. The afternoon sun kissed the waves, setting sparkles to the white-capped water. And Shivs felt it beckon in her bones.

Benji gave him a hopeful look. “Are we going underwater?”

“We are,” Toby said as he put a key in the control panel and turned it.

When the doors slid closed, Shivs suppressed the sudden and overwhelming urge to get out, to leave and never look back. To stay at the surface, where they belonged. I have to, she told herself as she clenched her hands into fists around the chain of her handbag. Bugs is down there, and he hates the dark beneath the waves.

The elevator jolted to life and Shivs closed her eyes, ignoring the sound of the lapping waves against the glass as they submerged, focussing on Benji’s excited noises instead. When she opened them again, they were enveloped in blue. Sunlight still penetrated, sending curtains of light through the water. Less so with every foot they descended, as the blue grew deeper, darker.

“A Sea King!” Benji screamed, spooking Mani as she glued herself against the glass. In the far distance, blurred in the shifting hues of the blue, swam a long, serpentine creature, its body undulating as it made its way from somewhere to elsewhere.

“It could be the Prince of the Deep,” Toby said as he came to stand beside her. “It has about the right shape. Colour too, perhaps.”

Benji glanced at him, her eyes large and eager. “Prince?”

“Yes, because he is a prince among his kind. The largest Sea King in this part of the Calm Belt,” Toby said. “Ten times larger than Coral Grove, our largest dreadnought.”

“Wow.” Benji pressed her face against the glass. “Mani could snack on that for years.”

“Wouldn’t it be tough for her to hunt such a large creature?” Toby said, not without humour.

Benji rolled her eyes. “Not right now, she’s a baby. But she’ll be big and strong one day! Bananawani hunt Sea Kings, did you know?” she said and babbled the poor marine’s ears off about the large reptiles for some minutes.

As the armoured glass elevator descended to deeper water, their surroundings became steadily darker. Shivs put her gaze on the glass floor and the pitch black abyss below. It was easier to face the darkness approaching than the light receding, the sparkle of the sun on the water surface dwindling as you sank. The sea has never been friendly to man.

Beside her, Benji had put her arm around Mani as she looked up. No more sea kings down here.

“The 6th level is also called ‘The Basement’,” Toby said, making the girl glance away from the ever more distant sunlight. “Do you know why?”

Ghosts in the attic and monsters in the basement, Shivs thought as she recalled the sailors’ idiom about grief with its haunting memories and stowed feelings.

Benji eyed him, holding on to Mani still. “Because it's dark and far down?”

Because nobody goes there if they can help it. Shivs stared at the watery dark beneath their feet. The sea floor might never come and she'd not be surprised.

“Nope!” Toby said, his smile bright in the dimming light. “Because it is where all the cool people stay.”

Benji’s mood lit up. “My unc- Dad, is super cool! He's actually made out of sand, like, for real.”

“Are you made out of sand?”

Shivs gaze snapped onto him like a hawk. He was looking at Benji, fondness soft on his youthful face. He couldn't be much older than 20 or 22.

“I don't think so?” Benji let go of Mani to brush at her clothes, then glanced at him. “Do you want to pet her?”

Toby smiled. “Absolutely.”

🐊 🐊 🐊

Horny hell seat reservations - @tiredemomama @smut-goblin @ruledbyproblematique @momodwriter @littlemountainwolf @fanaticsnail @feral-artistry - except there's no horny. Croc isn't even in it either. I feel like a cheat.

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