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lesbianecrivain · 3 years

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Retourne-toi!

Summary: Denise decides to travel, hoping to take her mind off everything, only to end up doing more work as she makes the mistake of admiring a castle that has remained hidden from humanity for years.

AO3 link HERE!

(I’ll be posting all of the chapters on AO3. If you liked this, check that out more often because updates would be there. This is not too related with the game. F/F pairing)

Warning for a little bit of violence when OC remembers her childhood. Also, should I continue this? Reviews and kudos are highly appreciated!! 💕

Now, let us simp for the tall vampire~

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Chapter 1: Wandering Traveller

The wars never stopped. Up until today, humans still fight amongst themselves for silly reasons instead of working together to be united. Anyone would want to take a break from all these wars. Especially someone who had done everything they could to, at least, lessen or slow the effects of these unending wars. So, that is what Denise Rodriguez is going to do. She took a break from everything, flew back to her country hoping to feel snow again. She really loves the snow despite having low tolerance for cold. If lucky, there might be children on the street who would be willing to play snowball fight with her. A smile broke the straight line on her lips at the thought, heart warming at the images of children smiling as they throw the snowballs at each other. She couldn't wait to reach their destination, she made sure that the place is snowing this time of the year. Having been born from the tropical side of the planet, snow can quite be something desirable for someone like Denise. Something spectacular and worthy of attention and praises.

Here Denise was, sitting by the window seat and staring at the bright cloudy yet calm view outside, a small smile playing on her lips as the plane continued heading towards its destination. Only a few more hours until they reach Europe. Her heart bloomed at the thought of returning to a land that it acknowledged as home more than her land of origin.

When Denise opened her eyes, the sun was not shining anymore. A grin crept up to her face. The person beside Denise stared at her weirdly before going off with their own life. Denise couldn't care less though, she is finally back and she would never allow a mere stranger to ruin her vacation here. She will be staying here for some time, taking the opportunity to stay here for as long as she'd like to. Perks of dual citizenship. She badly needs a break from handling a lot of environmental issues and having to provide for hundreds of students, she almost forgot about her corporation. Yes, when she says she needs a break, she needs a damn break. From everything, especially her other country that has been a shit show ever since she became aware—this having started when she reached twelve years of age, and she is in her early 30's now. It has been a long time yet within the years she lived in her country, not even a single road in her street has been fixed.

"Alright," She muttered, bracing herself while her hand gripped her baggage tightly. "Romania, here I come!"

Denise went straight to her house and after organizing the stuff she brought, she glanced at her phone. There laid on her bright screen, 19:34 in black as her eyes wandered to the other time zones as well. The way to her house was splendid, she can't help but to marvel at the various infrastructures that passed as she rode the taxi despite seeing them for the nth time. She has observed how great the difference is between this foreign land and her own, and then she was again further disappointed with her own land. Enough of that, she is here to free herself of worry, Denise reminds herself, eyes quickly ridding of all the gloom and anger as they caught sight of the marble structure that she has been longing for ever since she departed from this land two years ago. She has always been a regular here the moment she found out about this place, around seven years ago. They just served the best pizzas Denise has ever known to exist, though that could change when she further travels across Europe in the future.

"Miss Rodriguez!"

Denise smiled at the chipper servant and greeted them back just as gleeful. She is glad to know that they are the same servant from two years ago. Even the other staff smiled at their guest, knowing how prominent she is in this place, seeing that she is a regular customer here and actually treated them properly than how other customers would, disregarding them as if they were lower than them.

"Denise!"

Her head turned toward the all-too-familiar light voice, almost squeaking, as soon as their eyes caught sight of Denise. A wide grin set itself comfortably on her lips, turning around to open her arms, preparing to envelop whoever had greeted her.

"Sophie!" Denise was too slow to react as the other woman practically threw herself in her arms. "Looks like someone had missed me," she chuckled, patting Sophie on her small back.

"You damn bet I do," Sophie pulled away but the smile on her lips was relentless. "I told them all to prepare your favorites as soon as you informed me that you will be coming here, and it seems like I am not the only one who missed you,"

Confusion was briefly on Denise's face then her eyes darted behind Sophie. There she saw people carrying a tray, enough to feed all the people inside, with smiles plastered on their faces. Denise knew herself that she couldn't finish it all by herself. Sophie seemed to close the restaurant earlier because the only people here are the staff, herself, and Denise, their guest. Warmth spread through the small woman like a drop of milk spreading lightness to a black coffee.

"Y'all," Denise shook her head in disbelief. "C'mere, let's eat. I cannot finish these all by myself!"

The place was filled with laughter, the faint glow of gold surrounding the place and adding to the calming and light atmosphere. They all took a seat on the long table with Denise on the head and Sophie on her side while the staff sat along by them. They all looked genuinely happy, as if this was the only time they could take a break from all the stress the day has brought upon. The wide grins, sounds of soft laughter filling the room, and the gleam in each of their eyes were enough to take Denise's worries away, even for the briefest moment.

"Y'all didn't have to do this," She told them, shaking her head.

"But we wanted to!" chorused most of the staff while some just kept smiling at her. Sophie then raised a brow in her direction. "Save your irrational guilt, sunshine," she told the small woman who seemed to be rethinking her decision of informing her of her coming. "We missed you and here is our way of showing you. So, shut up and eat, young lady, we've got so much to catch up on."

"Alright, Soph," Denise sighed in defeat yet the grin never left her face. "Y'all dig in too! I'm tipping all of you extra because y'all look extremely happy right now," and that warms my heart, Denise wanted to add but didn't want to sound cheesy or seem like a softie as she wasn't either of those.

Sophie hummed her disagreement. "Ugh ugh, this one's on the house! You keep eat—"

"No." interrupted Denise with a frown. "The least I can do is to pay and leave a huge amount of tip for you all individually, and no Sophie, this is not up for a debate."

Denise was determined and Sophie knew that there is no way she can convince the raven-haired woman when she is determined. She shook her head and released a sigh. "Fine, you are lucky you're handsome."

Denise was thankful for her brown complexion that a blush didn't appear on her cheeks at the sudden compliment. She wouldn't want to be blushing in front of anyone. She coughed, "So, how's everything with you?" She said, clearly dismissing the compliment and hoping that her friend wouldn't push it.

"Eh, nothing eventful while you were gone. Same old same.." Sophie shrugged, mind wandering to the events in her life in the past two years that Denise was gone. "How about you, busy bee? I've seen you on some article while I was surfing the net last night.." She grinned then teased the smaller woman, nudging her softly with her elbow, "You're really doing something big out there! Planning to contribute positively to the world along with a bunch of other stuff!"

At this, Denise's hand crept to the back of her head where her palm was able to feel her shaved head, all while she huffed as she smiled. Maybe it was the time where she joined in one of the protests against the passing of a ridiculous nonsensical bill. "I'm not doing 'something big', you silly," She rolled her eyes at the exaggeration. She doesn't want anyone thinking that what she is doing is grand, especially with all her wealth. "I'm just doing my responsibility as an inhabitant of this world.." She shrugged, and in her defense, she really was although Sophie has told her a lot of times that she is being a hero by doing so. But, Denise had quickly countered that what she does is not a heroic act but her moral obligation as a human. It would be natural to want to help in any way you can, at least that is how Denise thinks, which further amazes Sophie.

"Well, whatever you say," Sophie took a sip from her glass. "How long do you plan to stay? And tell me all the places you'd go to!! Maybe I can tag along if you want to or if I've got the time..."

"I think I'm gonna stay for a while and go to the old times.." Denise explained when confusion crossed Sophie's expression. "I plan on visiting this ancient village. I heard that the sceneries there are spectacular.. I'm going for this old-y vibes for my book that I'm currently writing.. and I plan to take pictures as well." Then she showed Sophie her phone which displayed the village she is referring to. The other woman nodded approvingly at her choice as she kept scrolling through the pictures.

"Well, what exactly are you looking for?"

Denise shrugged as she put her phone back to her pocket. "Nothing really specific.. If I go there and feel it, I would immediately take a picture. I hope to find an abandoned infrastructure or if I'm lucky enough, maybe a castle?"

Sophie grinned at her. "Look at you being all things at once," elbow nudged Denise again, urging her to shake her head. "I really wonder how the hell you're able to do all your responsibilities at once!"

Denise rolled her eyes. "That is why I'm taking a break, silly."

A chuckle bubbled its way out of her throat. Laughter filled the room along with the small conversations among the staff and themselves. Having this unfold in front of her prompted another smile on Denise's lips as one word screamed loud in her mind;

Home.

—————

Denise would have already started her travel, or adventure as she likes to call it, the day after she met with Sophie; however, works keep holding her back and as a result, she has been occupied by them for a whole week, unable to do anything exciting and relaxing other than to play her musical instruments or catch up on series. Why couldn't she just bring her stuff along with her so she could work when she reaches wherever she wants to go? Denise isn't certain if the area she plans to go to has internet or even supply of electricity. Either way, she finally has finished all her follow-up tasks, releasing a sigh—whether it be from relief, exhaustion, or both—as her palm pushed down the screen of her laptop.

"Fucking finally," She sighs again, leaning back on her office chair. She rubs her eyes before closing them. The silence in her home provided a calming effect after her long day of work. Imagine coming here to relax only to be haunted by those damned works. The city was calm. The loud sirens fading from a distance, honking of the car horns, and sometimes a loud chatter would bloom from a small crowd, created a soft cadence lulling Denise to sleep on her position that she would surely regret next morning. But, whatever worry she may have for tomorrow was left unthought of as the night progressed with much ease she hasn't had for quite a while.

The same calm she has been seeking for.

The following morning, the dull ache on her back was quicker than her eyes to open and be aware of their surroundings. "Dammit," grumbled Denise with her voice hoarse. She slowly stood up, still groggy from waking from such a deep slumber that she hasn't had for a while. Her hand immediately reached to rub her back, seeking for relief albeit brief, before she proceeded to go to the bathroom to clean herself. After doing her morning routine—cleaning herself, exercising then eating breakfast, Denise started prepping for her long journey. She had informed Sophie that she will be gone for quite a while and that her brunette friend may occupy her house during her leave, to which the restaurant owner quickly agreed to—saving both of them time and money.

Denise felt like a scout because of all the things she is going to bring with her. She nearly brought her house with her. Better ready than not, she thinks to herself as she packed her razor that she uses to keep her head shaved. Along with that are the various tools she deemed necessary (she brought her toolbox), and some weapons that are easy to hide and bring, for precaution. She also packed a lot of foods and clothings, and of course, money. After packing all of those stuff, she went to put her portable generator on the back of her van, just in case.

When she is satisfied with everything, Denise ceased her movements before sitting on her couch, a sigh escaping past her lips before she could even think of it. She took a deep breath and then closed her eyes, letting the silence envelop her in its tranquilizing arms. The comfort se found in silence started reminding her a moment from her childhood. Something she didn't want to remember. It was midnight back then and she jolted up from her bed because of the tingling sensation in her abdomen. Realizing this, she stood up and went downstairs, only to halt on her way as she heard a whimper below— on the living room where her parents sleep. The lights were off but the soft glow emanating from the television was enough to show her father strangling her mother. At that very moment, Denise completely forgot about her bladder's needs and went straight back to the bedroom she shared with her siblings as silent as she could. The confusion, fear, anger, disappointment, and sadness that she felt that night were too overwhelming. Since then, she promised to herself that she would never marry or have children if she would only act like her father.

"I am so ready!!" Denise practically bounced as she moved, hopping like a bunny on a meadow, as she stepped into her huge van. She decided to bring some of her musical instruments and some of her books to have something to keep herself entertained. Sophie stood by her doorway, waving and smiling at her as she drove away and into the unknown.

Denise had promised that she would take a lot of pictures so that when she shows them to her, Sophie would feel as if she were with her all along her journey. She hasn't reached her destination yet, however, the tall trees she kept passing by as she was hours into her drive were always able to amaze and put a smile on her face. Nature has always been enough to make all her worries drift away, one of the reasons why she does all her best to take care of it. She is a devoted environmentalist, writing articles about the issues regarding nature in her free time while also using her resources for further development of restoration of deforested lands. It may seem like a big work, just like what Sophie insists because it truly is, but for Denise herself it isn't. She loves what she is doing, she wouldn't feel the exhaustion if she weren't mortal. Unfortunately, she must take breaks every now and then for her to be able to continue doing her passion.

After two days of driving and taking breaks to get some sleep, Denise finally arrived at the said village. She immediately felt the atmosphere she needs for the inspiration of both her book and its cover. The village itself wasn't grand, quite the opposite. The way of living here seemed to be simple almost as if the people here are still living in the olden days, and she thought it is possible that they still are. She parked her van near the entrance of the village. The village was small so she didn't bother bringing her van inside, for it would be easier to leave it outside of the village. She greeted the people who met her eyes with a small smile, hoping that they are not hostile to tourists. Thankfully, she felt welcomed enough although some just glanced at her and didn't really pay her any attention but at least no one scowled at her. She doesn't plan on staying here for too long. In fact, after she bought some supplies and asked for the elder for permission to take pictures and after taking pictures, she was already bidding her goodbye and gratitude to the elder before she hopped back to her van.

Something in the north caught her eye as she scrolled through the pictures she's taken, which pulled her gaze away from her camera. The sun was still up, there's still time for her to travel further and find a place to park her van safely— she doesn't need to spend night in a hotel or motel since her van is big enough to host, but she still needs a place to stay for her security. Denise carefully placed her camera back to its place, securing it, then proceeded to drive further up north. What caught her eyes is the enormous structure that seems like a mountain covered in snow on top, a perfect scenery to add to her choices. But as she neared the said mountain, another caught her sight. This time, she also completely forgot what it is that she went for as she was utterly amazed by the sight in front of her eyes.

Her mind couldn't think of anything except;

Perfection.

A castle. It hadn't been in the map nor did the elder of the village informed her of this. It wasn't even on Google when she searched for this area. She thought that maybe this beauty was meant to remain hidden from the outside world. The reason behind for this possibility? She couldn't care. All she could give a damn about is that she finally found what she is hoping to see. So, she did what any people would do. She took her bag and her camera before stepping out of her van—making sure to bring the keys with her, after she parked it in front of the gates.

"Woah," Denise couldn't help but gape at the infrastructure.

Jackpot, she internally celebrates.

The structure seemed to be a mixture of both Gothic and Romanesque style, with its round walls yet pointed arches and stained glasses. Overall, the castle was impressive. Its walls were enough to tell about its age, which to Denise's opinion, this castle might have been built around 18th century. She went to the gate, searching for any doorbell or anything that would notify the inhabitants of the castle—if there were—of its visitors, only to find none. But, luckily, she found out that the gate is left unlocked. Maybe, the castle is abandoned? Denise thinks then smiles as she proceeds further outside the castle grounds. The gate squeaked as Denise pushed it slightly just enough for her figure to fit perfectly.

Denise walked around as if she were strolling around the zoo for the first time, gaping at the size and the details of the castle. The castle emanated a vibe she can't quite put her finger on. She wasn't sure what it was but she felt calm and relaxed. This is perfect for my book, she thinks as she turned around once more to gape at the place. She felt like a person entering an aquarium for the first time, amazed by all the aquatic creatures.

When she was in the middle of the property, not inside the castle yet since the outside was a wide space that would have been green if it weren't winter, Denise finally pulled her camera to her chest. Hesitation kept holding her back. She doesn't want to take pictures without the owner's or at least the caretaker's permission, but whom would she ask if there seemed to be no one to ask for permission? Denise felt as if she just invaded the property despite not going fully inside the castle. She felt horrible, knowing that she must desert the place because she doesn't have the permission to be here, yet the curiosity and wonder in her became stronger than the guilt she felt creeping in her earlier. And soon enough, the latter completely overthrew any hesitation she had.

"Just one picture," Denise promised to no one in particular, trying to drown the voice in her head that screams at her to just walk away. "Let me take just one picture of this masterpiece, then I will leave." Her eyes closed in concentration as she did her best to drown any guilt creeping in her. Obviously, she didn't listen to the rational part of herself as she went to crouch and angled her camera where it covers mostly the upper part of the castle together with the plain sky and the snow falling.

It was perfect, the shot she took was splendid. Denise smiled to herself as she dusted herself off while getting up. A smile graced her face before she could even process it. She took another look at the single picture she took, after all she promised that she would only take one picture then she will go away, and that is what she is about to do if it weren't for the picture she took. The curve on her lips was immediately set straight.

Something caught her eyes the longer she stared at the picture. There. In one of the castle windows, there stood something—someone, she wasn't sure which, but it seemed to be a figure dressed in white and smiling down at her? Denise shook her head, closed her eyes then took a deep breath before looking at the picture again, squinting her eyes at it. It was still there, the...she wasn't sure what name to put to it... The creature? Either way, it doesn't seem like this castle is abandoned at all. She took one last glance at the part of the castle where she also caught the figure. There was no one there. Not the dress, not the smile, not the figure, nothing. Only darkness. Weird. Maybe it had been one of her imaginations? But she looked at the picture and the same figure was smiling at her. It couldn't be her mind's doings. Maybe the castle wasn't abandoned at all, and maybe she could ask for permission? All while Denise thinks what she could do to be more polite to whoever is living inside the wondrous castle, standing dumbly in the middle of nowhere, another thought occurred to her. This one she didn't like;

What if they're not human?

#lady dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu x original character #lesbians #useless lesbians #lady dimitrescu is a little soft here #slow burn #original character #resident evil village #my writing #gay #aint we all gay for Lady Dimitrescu

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loosesodamarble · 3 years

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Nebra with prompt 7 please? 👀

At long last I have finished this prompt! I’m genuinely so sorry for the wait, anon! I had to deal with school and then I hit a creative block but now! Now I have written it! I’ll be honest, it’s probably not the most coherent oneshot mood wise but I like how this turned out regardless. I hope you enjoy it as well despite the wait.

..........

Nebra did a twirl, watching her cloak and skirt swish around her legs. She faced her full-body mirror and examined her reflection. The emblem of the Silver Eagle squad reflected the room’s lighting. As light as it was, she was aware of the fabric’s weight. She played with the fluff around her shoulders then adjusted her grimoire case. Her grimoire—the cover a deep shade of indigo with silvery accents, a perfect match for a member of the Silva family—completed her look as a Magic Knight.

Knck knck.

In haste, Nebra smoothed out her skirt and hair before going to the door. Nozel stood outside and, upon seeing her in uniform, gave an approving nod.

“Nebra, are you ready for your first job?”

“Certainly! What will it be? Hunting down bandits? Exploring a dungeon? Oh, how about—!”

……….

“Guard duty,” Nozel repeated for what could’ve been the hundredth time since he first said it. Perhaps it was there or perhaps Nebra’s bitterness clouded her judgement but she saw Nozel’s lips twitch up in a smirk. Did he find her disappointment amusing? Was he mocking her eagerness? “Just remain along this street and apprehend any criminals who happen to pass through.”

Nebra crossed her arms and glowered. “Happen to pass through.” He says it so casually. Sighing, she loosened up then said, “Fine. Vice captain’s orders after all.”

“Good.” Nozel turned then paused. “Take care of yourself, Nebra.” Before she could give any reply, Nozel walked away at a brisk pace.

“Hngh…” Resigned to her duty, Nebra leaned back against the wall of a store. What a dull task. I’m a royal, a Silva. In search of any kind of mental stimulation, she rubbed the material of her cloak between her fingers. I could handle something more challenging.

Looking up and down the street, Nebra didn’t see any shady or rowdy behavior. All she saw were peasants walking, talking, and going about their peasant business. A few people glanced her way before quietly moving on. She didn’t need them staring at her to know that she didn’t belong on that dirty street; she was above being in such a place. So then why?

Is Nozel looking down on my abilities? Does he doubt me that much? Nebra dropped a hand to her side, and traced the edge of her grimoire case. Mist Magic isn’t known for being strong offensively but I’m by no means weak.

“H-hey, get back here!”

Nebra whipped her head to the left to see someone scrambling in her direction, their arms wrapped around something. The person’s grimoire hovered near them as they waved an arm and yelled, “Mud Magic: Mire Blockade!” A wall of mud rose from the ground, keeping the person safe from the pursuers behind them. But they still hadn’t seen Nebra, a fact which made her grin with zeal.

It was time to grab the metaphorical bucket and mop; there was a big mess to clean up. And that mop would be her.

“Stop right there,” said Nebra while stepping into the middle of the street. The person stopped and Nebra got a better look. A young man, likely close in age to her, with tangled, brown hair and a loaf of bread in hand. “Give up now because you’re facing not just a Magic Knight but—”

“Muddy Surfing Wave.”

A pillar of mud picked up the boy and carried him over Nebra, bathing her in thick mud as he went. The filthy substance caked her from head-to-toe. After clearing her face of mud, she hissed through her teeth and spun on her heel to chase the offending party.

“Mist Magic: Guiding Mist Trail!” Nebra conjured a ball of mist and shot it towards the runaway thief. The mist ball reached the boy and clung to his back, leaving a line of fog behind. There won’t be any hiding from me now. As a Silver Eagle and the younger sister of Nozel, I won’t fail.

As Nebra chased after, she tried wiping the grime from the rest of her body but struggled as it began to dry. She created a fog cloud to carry her after the criminal. He was easy to follow with her tracking spell as well as the mud trail his own magic left behind. Soon, she caught sight of the boy, back to running on his feet.

Here goes. Time to catch him. Nebra’s grimoire flew open and the pages flipped in a blur. “Mist Restraining Magic: Mist Spider Binding Thread!”

Misty threads in the shape of a wide-spread net launched at the young man. The net blanketed him before the threads tightened and constricted his body. He let out a yelp as he tumbled to the ground. Nebra hopped off her cloud and stood in front of the thief’s face. She expected the young man to glare at her, to curse her out, or perhaps even defend his actions. Rather, he met her gaze before sighing in defeat.

“Big brother?” a childish voice cried out. A little boy with ash blond hair ran up to the fallen thief. “You didn’t have to steal, you know!”

“It’s my job to care for you though,” replied the thief. Nebra was confused to see him smiling, given his situation. “That’s what we do. We worry and watch out for our little bros.”

His words made Nebra pause, recalling Nozel’s words earlier.

Is that why my job was so simple? Because Nozel was worried about—? Nebra inhaled sharply and looked down her nose at the brothers. “I hope you learned your lesson, boy.”

“Miss, not to be rude but we’re probably the same age.”

Nebra huffed and turned her head away. “Don’t talk back to royalty.” She flicked hair over her shoulder. Or at least attempted to. She picked at a lock of hair and groaned at the mud-caked strands. “Ugh.” All her efforts to look good had gone to waste.

With a metaphorical mess cleaned up, now Nebra had a literal one to take care of.

#questions from the ask box #50 follower special #black clover fanfic #black clover #nebra silva #nozel silva

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somedayonbroadway · 4 years

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Could you do “The Little Mermaid (Sprace)”?

I am so stoked for this one!!!!!

The Little Mermaid (Sprace) AU

Characters

Racetrack Higgins (Tylilleprins) — Ariel

Spot Conlon — Prince Eric

Jack Kelly (Jaqeleder) — Sebastian

Alberd DaSilva (Alberdybhav) — Flounder

Bryan Denton (Brydenbeskyttelse) — King Triton

William Snyder (Snydehavheks) — Ursula

Medda Larkin — Carlotta

The Delancey Brothers (Osvraggods and Mostrandingsgods) — Flotsam and Jetsam

Mermaid colors:

Race has a blue tail.

Jack’s tail is green.

Al’s is an orange-red

Denton’s is like navy blue

Oscar’s tail is dark dark green, almost black

Morris’s is dark red

Snyder’s is a cecaelia (half human, half octopus) but his color is purple. Obviously.

Okay, so this AU actually takes place in modern day. Spot is the son of a very rich man who is practically royalty in Manhattan and basically lives the life of a prince.

Anyways,

Race, a fifteen year old merman with the birth name of Tylilleprins, is a prince of Atlantica in the Atlantic Ocean. He is the youngest prince, second only to his big brother Jaqeleder who he calls Jack. They speak their own mermadian language (in my head it is made up of small clicking sounds, almost sounding like purrs mixed with dolphin sounding noises and sometimes and some actual vocal words). His father, Brydenbeskyttelse, is the king (yes he has a very long name. It’s shorter in mermaidian).

Race is fascinated by the human world. Him and his best friend Alberdybhav (Albie) often go off to explore sunken ships and swim as far up to the surface as they can before Jack catches them.

Jack catches them a lot.

Al doesn’t always go with Race willingly. Race often drags him along on adventures even though it is forbidden by the king to go to the surface.

The king and the older prince of the sea have their reasons to hate the human world, but Race does not, so he has this curiosity that Jack warns him time and time again is very dangerous. He doesn’t heed Jack’s warnings.

One day, Race and Al eventually make it to the surface and hide behind seaweed and small rocks of the ocean while they get closer and closer to shore, gazing at the beach. He catches sight of a boy, about his age, maybe a little older, getting ready to go surfing with some friends. Of course, Race and Al have no idea what the boys are doing.

Eventually, Al says something that makes Race remember something.

They were supposed to be at a party in which Jack was being presented as the kingdom’s next leader. When they get back, Jack’s already mad at him, but is even more worried about him. When he finds out where Race was, he swims away and shuts Race out for a little while so their father can lecture Race about going to the surface, grounding him as he’s yelling at his youngest son.

Race and Jack had always been close, despite being at odds a lot of the time. Jack is extremely protective of Race, often shooing off potential suitresses and suitors who are after the crown. He tells Race he’s too naive to be in a relationship because there will be a lot of merpeople out there who are after him for status and power.

Race doesn’t mind that Jack is protective of him, though sometimes it breaks his heart that so many people he finds himself interested in are using him.

He doesn’t like that Jack won’t let him up to the surface.

What Race doesn’t know is that Jack hates the human world because he witnessed the humans murder their mother when Race was only a baby. Jack and her had been playing up near the surface at sunset and a group of fishermen spotted them. To protect her son, their mother pushed Jack behind a buoy and tried to swim away, drawing attention to herself and away from Jack. He watched them shoot her with something to slow her down and drag her up onto their boat with a net. She screamed for him to swim away so Jack did. They tried to shoot him too but they only grazed his chin. It’s how Jack got the scar that’s there.

After Race misses Jack’s party, their father persuades Jack to keep an even closer eye on the kid, trying to get Jack to forgive his little brother and somehow Jack ends up following Race and Al to the surface where he tries to literally drag the boys back down to the castle. But he hides behind a large stone when he finds that Race is watching some surfers.

Jack starts to get a little bit more frantic when he realizes how close they are to the shore. But they can’t swim away without someone seeing them.

Eventually, Jack finds that Race is infatuated with one of the boys in particular. They watch him for a long time until the boy is out there alone, riding waves until he wipes out, hitting his head on his board and falling under water.

Race’s reaction is immediate as he dives to save the boy from drowning. Jack screams at him to come back, forcing Al to swim away as he chases Race who doesn’t listen to him at all.

Race swims the stranger back to shore, taking in the sight of him and falling in love with him immediately. He talks to the boy, but to humans their language sounds like song above the water, while below the water it just sounds like ticking and dolphin noises (In some myths I believe Sirens, not mermaids but still, sound like song above the water and screeching under the water).

But when the boy starts to wake up, Jack grabs Race and panics, dragging him back under the sea before the boy can fully see the person who saved his life.

Spot Conlon is the son of a rich business owner. His father is rarely around, leaving him with a lot of butlers and maids to keep him company in his mansion that he practically lives in alone. He has a few friends from school, Hot Shot, Kid Blink and Rafaela. He loves to spend most of his time with them at the beach.

His mother used to tell him that he’d live in the ocean one day. That is, before she left them for another man. Regardless, Spot loves the ocean.

He has a tattoo on his arm of a mermaids tail along with a seashell on the back of his shoulder. His father technically paid for them, but he doesn’t know that. Spot gets them out of spite. He knew he was supposed to be a perfect child, but he hated that.

Anyway, he goes out surfing with his friends on his birthday. They all leave by sunset, but he stays a little longer, not wanting to go home to an empty house.

He loses his footing on his board and hits his head, going under.

He wakes up for a moment, hearing someone singing sweetly. He can see bright blue eyes above him before he goes unconscious again.

When he wakes up later, he’s in his bed with a doctor hovering over him as Miss Medda, the head of staff at his mansion, worrying over him like she always does.

Spot begs to know who saved him but Medda tells him he got washed to shore by the tide. Spot tries to explain that there was a boy that saved him and sang to him, but Medda tells him he must’ve been dreaming.

Spot promises himself he’ll find the boy who saved him.

Meanwhile, Jack is scolding Race for making contact with a human before Brydenbeskyttelse finds them and scares Jack by asking them where they were. Jack gets skittish and eventually manages to cover for Race, not wanting to get in trouble himself. But he quickly finds that Race is still curious about the boy he saved and the human world in general. Before he can try to talk to Race about it, his brother is gone, off being completely lovestruck.

Al teases Race and tries to figure out who made such an impression on his friend before realizing it was the human he’d saved. He gets a little nervous and Jack tries to talk Race down, eventually following Race to a small grotto filled with things from the human world. Race doesn’t seem to mind at first that Jack is there. In fact, he seems happy that his brother finally gets to see his collection.

Jack is horrified.

He doesn’t want to, but he tells their father.

The King is furious, scolding Jack before finding the grotto and frightening his youngest son. Race tries to explain to him that these things won’t hurt anybody, but Brydenbeskyttelse destroys everything within his sight with his trident. Jack is horrified by this too, trying to calm his father down, but only getting screamed at in response.

In case anyone was wondering: Race calls Brydenbeskyttelse “Daddy” because he literally is Ariel and he’s the baby and he loves that and his father had never gotten this angry at him before.

Their father leaves and Jack tries to apologize, trying to tell Race he was only trying to keep him safe, but Race would yell at him to go away, scaring Jack and Al who had unintentionally watched the entire exchange. Race ends up breaking down on the floor of his grotto, feeling alone and betrayed by his brother who he trusted more than anyone else in the world.

What he didn’t know is that he’d been watched.

Osvraggods and Mostrandingsgods have been watching Tylilleprins since the beginning of the story, in fact, they’ve been watching him for years, waiting for him to be at a vulnerable place where they could sneak in and try and comfort him.

Os and Mo circle around Race at first, creeping him out when he sees them. They coo at him and wipe at his tears. He’s scared and almost cries for Jack before they tell him there’s someone they know that can fix all of his problems. A sea witch named Snydehavheks. Race is skeptical, knowing that witch was dangerous, at least according to his father.

But the mermen promise Race that he will be able to be with the man he loves and away from those who destroyed everything he adored. So Race goes with them.

He is unknowingly followed by Jack who was trying to go back to check on him and Al follows him closely behind.

Together they watch the whole exchange. Snydehavheks is a strange but powerful man. No one knows much about him, but he reveals himself to be Race and Jack’s uncle who was banished from the kingdom after a few spells gone wrong. Race tries to retreat after hearing this, but with eight arms, the guy grabs him easily and holds him back, explaining that he’d turned over a new leaf and wanted to help.

Jack tries to go in and help his brother, but is stopped by Os and Mo who hold a “knife” to his throat (its sharp fish bones fashioned as a weapon).

Race still doesn’t know he was followed.

Snydehavheks offers Race a deal, one he describes as very good and well worth the cost. In exchange for two weeks on land with human legs and the ability to understand English, the witch will take his voice. The only catch is that Race has to get Spot to kiss him by the final sunset on the last day to remain human permanently or else his soul would belong to Snydehavheks. See, mermaids' tails can turn to legs when they’re on land, but walking on them is painful and horrible for them. So this offer is to take the pain away and make sure his legs stay no matter what for two weeks.

Race tries to argue, not understanding how he’d get Spot to kiss him if he couldn’t speak, but Snydehavheks would tell him that he still had everything he needed to make it happen and he’d offer Race a contract.

Jack would finally get the weapon away from the brothers in front of him and cry out for Race not to do it, but Race would just get even more angry and sign the thing.

His voice would be gone immediately and his legs would start growing. His fangs would turn into regular human teeth and his claws would shrink and flatten out.

He’d quickly find that he could no longer breathe.

Jack would act fast, Al right behind him. They’d swim Race up to the surface so he could breathe and Jack would be screaming at Race the whole time until Race was too stunned to listen. He’d be human and he’d be terrified.

Jack would tell him that they could fix this. That he’d go back and talk to the sea witch, but Race wouldn’t let him. He’d grab Jack’s arm and try to hold him still. Jack can see how shaken Race is and Al doesn’t know what to do so he can’t just leave the two of them up there.

Eventually, Jack tells Race he needs to go get some sort of clothing. While Jack doesn’t understand humans, he used to observe them too and knows they don’t just walk around naked.

Race would steal someone’s clothes that were left on the beach, realizing how difficult it was to walk when he’d never tried it before. Jack would panic and try to tell him to come back to the water, but Race wouldn’t and Al would tell Jack that even if he did make a deal with Snydehavheks, Race would still be human for a little bit and someone was bound to find him sooner or later.

Jack would try to get their father but before he could, humans would catch sight of Race. Jack would try to drag him into the sea by his ankle, but Al would force him under the water and away from the shore.

Race, who is now on the ground, would be approached by the very boy who he’d gone up there to see. It’s early in the morning at this point. And the boy who introduces himself as Spot was going out for a morning surf.

Spot asks Race if he’s alright and Race goes to respond, realizing again that his voice is gone. He starts to panic and Spot asks him where he can take him or who he can call. Race just shrugs and shakes his head which Spot takes to mean as he’s alone.

Jack and Al watch as Spot leads Race away from the ocean and Jack has no idea what to do.

Taking Race to Miss Medda, Spot tries to communicate with him, finding that this mysterious boy can’t read or write, but seems to understand him just fine. Spot finds that something about this boy reminds him of someone but he knows he can’t be the boy that saved him because the boy that saved him had hummed and sang to him.

Miss Medda gets Race cleaned up and washed up and redressed in modern clothing that fits Race perfectly. Spot offers to show him around since Race agrees that he doesn’t know where he is really and doesn’t have anyone he knows there.

Race is nervous and anxious about everything but gets excited about little things anyways. When he sees Spot’s tattoo, he grabs the other boy’s arm and studies it for a long time. So Spot asks him if he liked Mermaids and Race immediately smiles and nods his head.

Spot decides to then take Race to the local aquarium where they meet a scientist named Mr. Weisel, who Race immediately finds he doesn’t like. Weisel tells them about a mermaid they caught years and years ago (Race’s mother) who they unfortunately killed a little bit too soon. A lot of people don’t believe there was ever a mermaid, as mermaids are myths, but Race puts the pieces together easily. He shows them a necklace made of shells that Race recognizes immediately as his mother’s.

He gets upset and even more scared so Spot would take him home.

Now it made sense why Jack, who seemed so fearless, was terrified of the human world.

From then on, Spot talks to Race about mermaids and how he was sure he’d seen some in the past (he’d seen Jack when Jack was little, playing with their mother).

Eventually, he takes Race back to the ocean where Race meets his friends who think he’s a bit odd, but Race doesn’t mind. They’re at the beach and Race can see Al. When he finds a way to get to where his friend is hiding, Al says that Jack is losing it. Race feels guilty, knowing it’s his fault his brother is so worried. Al tells him that Jack still hasn’t told their father what’s happened, explaining that Race was sick and wouldn’t leave his room and always finding an excuse for the king not to go see him.

When Spot finds him, Race shoves Al back beneath the water and pretends to just be watching the waves.

Spot and his friends teach Race how to surf.

Race is surprised at how much he likes it.

For the next few weeks, Spot and Race get very close. Spot starts to teach Race how to read and Race shows Spot how to appreciate the ocean in an entirely new way.

About a week in, Spot becomes infatuated with Race and starts to hold his hand. Race loves it.

At some point, they almost kiss in a lagoon, but are interrupted by Os and Mo who were sent by Snydehavheks to stop Race from succeeding.

Jack and Al, who were trying to help Race succeed, see the other two mermen and follow them back to their cave to figure out the sea witch’s actual plan where they learn that Snydehavheks is after the crown and plans to use Race as leverage to get it.

By the time they try to get back up to Race to warn him, it’s the end of the last day and he and Spot still haven’t kissed.

Weasel, who suspected there was something off about Race from the beginning, was watching him and Spot who were sitting at the edge of the water.

All in all, it’s a big mess.

Race begins to transform back into a merman and it causes him physical pain. He cries out, realizing his voice is back and tries to swim away before remembering that if he goes back, he belongs to the sea witch who gave him legs. So he hesitates just long enough for Weasel and a group of fishermen to throw a net over him and use long sticks with formed edges (not pitchforks but something similar) to pin Race to the shore. He tries to squirm away and cry out for help. Spot is confused and at a loss for words but tries to do something.

Race starts screaming for Jack who is hiding behind a buoy farther out in the ocean. Jack is paralyzed with fear and doesn’t know what to do so all he can do is watch them put his little brother in a large tank and pack him into the back of a truck and take off with him.

He dives back beneath the water and begs Snydehavheks to tell him where his brother is, reluctantly offering up his soul in exchange for information and help getting to Race.

The sea witch offers to help, but doesn’t grant Jack land legs. He simply tells Jack to swim up to shore and the rest would be made clear to him.

So Jack does what he says.

On the shore, there’s a uniform waiting for him. It’s a janitor’s uniform from the aquarium. He pulls himself from the water and puts it on, standing up on scaly legs and finding it extremely painful to walk on them, like thousands of needles piercing his skin. But he forces himself to walk and get to Race.

There’s an invisible trail leading Jack straight to his brother.

Race is being kept in a display tank for now in the aquarium. He’s been there for almost a full day by the time Jack finds him. He doesn’t like being in there. People tap on his glass and call him a freak. At first he’d hiss at them, showing off his sharp fangs and daring them to continue taunting him. Eventually he just gave up and turned away from the humans, curling up in a ball on the floor of the tank and trying to imagine his brother was there with him. Jack never let him be scared. Even when he’d wanted to shut down Race’s curiosity, he hadn’t wanted to scare him.

So he’s laying there with his tail pulled up to his chest and he’s crying, knowing he can’t do anything until he hears someone speaking his own language behind him and he turns around to find Jack standing outside his cage, looking like he was in pain, but still managing to look relieved that he’d found Race.

Race presses his hand up against the glass and Jack matches it crying at the relief of seeing his brother alive.

After a minute, he tries to break open the tank with anything he can find around him. He gets it to crack after a while, so Race starts hitting at it, trying to break it. Eventually, Jack manages to shatter the glass and Race gets pushed out onto the floor.

That's when a worker finds them, just as Race is regrowing his legs. Jack immediately sits down and pulls Race to him, hissing at her because he’s not a full human and has his fangs and claws still.

The woman, Katherine, Race reads off of her name tag, is shocked at first. He tries to speak English for the first time in his life, saying things like “please” and “ocean” and “daddy” because he knows that Jack is there but he still wants his dad.

Katherine would melt at the sight, finding some pants for Race to wear. That’s when Weasel would rush in. Jack was still holding on tightly to Race and Katherine would stand in front of them ready to defend them because she didn’t agree on keeping the merman from the beginning.

When Weasel tries to get to Race, Jack claws at his arm, deep enough to make him bleed.

That’s when Weasel figures out that Jack’s a merman too.

He grabs for his walkie talkie and calls for backup just as Spot breaks into the aquarium to try and break Race out. He finds Race and Jack on the ground behind Katherine and goes to get closer to Race. Jack tries to lash out at him, but Race stops him, though he still is a bit cautious of Spot because Spot didn’t save him while he was being captured.

Spot tries to ask Jack for his permission to help take Race back to the ocean. Race has to translate for him the best he can. Jack let’s go of Race, knowing that as long as Race made it home, he could be happy.

Eventually, he lets go of Race with one more kiss to his head and let’s Spot scoop him up as Katherine starts to fight with Weasel, tasing him with his own taser as more backup arrives.

She helps Jack stand and realizes walking must pain him, so she takes his weight and tries to get him back to the water.

They have a very hard time getting out of the building as Katherine has to hide them from Weasel’s men. Jack takes a reluctant liking to Katherine as she helps him through the building and back to the water. Even though they can’t understand each other’s language, Katherine manages to make Jack laugh and Jack finds himself intrigued by this woman.

Once they get back to the water, they find Spot on the shore panicking.

He tells Katherine that Race was there a second ago but the second he was fully in the water, some kind of octopus dragged him down.

Jack doesn’t understand, but he sees the panic on Spot’s face and immediately finds a place to dive into the water, going to find his brother only to be caught by two other mermen who drag him down beneath the water.

It’s Osvraggods and Mostrandingsgods. They tell him that Snydehavheks is there to collect him as he is now his property.

He finds Race struggling against Snydehavheks, who has his tentacles wrapped around the boy as they are forced to face their father who demands to know what on earth his half brother thinks he’s doing.

The sea witch shows Brydenbeskyttelse the contracts his sons signed.

The king knows what his brother wants. So he gives it to him.

With one final look at his sons who are begging him not to do what they know he’s about to do, he offers Snydehavheks the crown and his trident after making the other man promise that no harm would come to his boys. Snydehavheks agrees before making his half brother sign a contract and then taking the trident and turning Brydenbeskyttelse into stone.

Jack’s heart breaks as he watches his father fall but he demands that the sea witch release them as he made a deal. He rushes to grab Race before Race can go to the statue of their father and forces him to stay close, unsure of truly what to do.

Eventually, the younger prince fights his way out of Jack’s arms and tries to fight Snydehavheks who nearly kills him with the trident. After that, Race rushes up to the surface to get away from the man who’s now chasing him and Jack goes to help him.

At the surface, Spot and Katherine are still standing confused on the shore. But when they see Race struggling to get away from a giant half man, half octopus, Spot rushes to help him, managing to hurt the sea witch but eventually getting dragged beneath the surface.

Katherine tries to rush to help him, but Jack grabs her and helps her back to shore before Os and Mo can grab her.

Jack and Race then manage to get Spot to safety before Race finally takes his father’s trident and stabs Snydehavheks in the back, killing him. Jack then takes the thing to scare Os and Mo away. Once he does that, him and Race swim down to their father, freeing him.

Brydenbeskyttelse hugs them tightly before Race remembers Spot and rushes up to the surface again, hugging Spot immediately and trying to apologize.

Spot holds him back just as tightly before pulling away and kissing him.

Jack swims over to see Katherine and they have a cute little moment where Jack says in his own language that there was something about her he just wouldn’t be able to get out of his mind. She doesn’t know what he said, but she gives him a kiss on the cheek.

Their father watches the exchange, asking Race if he truly wanted to be with Spot. When he hesitantly nods, the king reluctantly gives Race the ability to walk on land without pain, even though he can still return to the ocean if he wants to.

Race doesn’t go without hugging his family again.

Eventually, Spot and Race do get married. But every time they get in a fight, Race goes back to find Jack and stay with him for a little while.

Spot gives the merpeople “human names”. He calls Race “Tyler”.

Jack visits his human friends and his brother once a week at least, learning how to speak English and finding that he was falling for Katherine who was just as quickly falling for him.

She finds herself fascinated by the life of the sea and eventually lets Jack take her down after he has his father’s permission. Brydenbeskyttelse turns her into a mermaid (her tail is yellow and orange). And her and Jack eventually become married and she gets to be a queen.

I know all of their names look like I was just typing random letters but I actually looked up the Danish translation for somethings (just on google, so I have no idea how accurate it is) because The Little Mermaid is a Danish story.

Tylilleprins — Lille prins means Little Prince

Jaqeleder — leder means leader

Brydenbeskyttelse — beskyttelse means protector

Alberdybhav — dyb hav means deep sea

Osvraggods — vraggods means flotsam

Mostrandingsgods — strandingsgods means jetsam

Snydehavheks — hav heks means sea witch

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed! I really like this one! Writing mermaids is interesting.

Let me know if you guys wanna see any scenes written out!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

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lanxelot · 3 years

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LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO ICT

ICT– Information and Communication-

It deals with the use of different communication technologies such as mobile phones, telephone, Internet to locate, save, send and edit information

Is a study of computers as data processing tools. It introduces students to the fundamental of using computer systems in an internet environment.

ICT in the Philippines

Philippines is dub as the ‘’ICT Hub of Asia” because of huge growth of ICT-related jobs, one of which is BPO, Business Process Outsourcing, or call centers.

ICT Department in the Philippines is responsible for the planning, development and promotion of the country’s information and communications technology (ICT) agenda in support of national development.

Computer– an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program. Internet– is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the internet protocol suite (TCIP/IP) to link billions of devices worldwide.

Means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere in the world via dedicated routers and servers.

Sometimes called simply ‘’the Net’’, is a worldwide system of computer networks- a network of networks in which the users at any one computer can get information from any other computer.

World Wide Web

An information system on the internet that allows documents to be connected to other documents by hypertext links, enabling the user to search for information by moving from one document to another.

Is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by URLs, interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet.

Invented by Tim-Berners Lee

Web Pages

Web page is a hypertext document connected to the World Wide Web. It is a document that is suitable for the World Wide Web.

The different online platforms of World Wide Web:

Web 1.0 – refers to the first stage in the World Wide Web, which was entirely made up of the Web pages connected by hyperlinks.

Web 2.0 – is the evolution of Web 1.0 by adding dynamic pages. The user is able to see a website differently than others.

– Allows users to interact with the page; instead of just reading the page, the user may be able to comment or create user account.

Web 3.0 – this platform is all about semantic web.

– Aims to have machines (or servers) understand the user’s preferences to be able to deliver web content.

Static Web Page- is known as a flat page or stationary age in the sense that the page is ‘’as is’’ and cannot be manipulated by the user. The content is also the same for all users that is referred to as Web 1.0

Dynamic Web Pages– web 2.0 is the evolution of web 1.0 by adding dynamic web pages. The user is able to see website differently than others e.g. social networking sites, wikis, video sharing sites.

FEATURES OF WEB 2.0

Folksonomy- allows user to categorize and classify information using freely chosen keywords e.g. tagging by FB, Twitter, use tags that start with the sign #, referred to as hashtag.

Rich User Experience – content is dynamic and is responsive to user’s input

User Participation- The owner of the website is not the only one who is able to put content. Others are able to place a content of their own by means of comments, reviews and evaluation e.g. Lazada, Amazon.

Long Tail– services that are offered on demand rather than on a one-time purchase. This is synonymous to subscribing to a data plan that charges you for the amount of time you spent in the internet.

Software as a services- users will be subscribe to a software only when needed rather than purchasing them e.g. Google docs used to create and edit word processing and spread sheet.

Mass Participation– diverse information sharing through universal web access. Web 2.0’s content is based on people from various cultures.

TRENDS IN ICT

Convergence– is the synergy of technological advancements to work on a similar goal or task. For example, besides using your personal computer to create word documents, you can now use your smartphone. 2. Social Media– is a website, application, or online channel that enables web users web users to create , co-create, discuss modify, and exchange user generated content.

Six types of Social Media:

a)Social Networks – These are sites that allows you to connect with other people with the same interests or background. Once the user creates his/her account, he/she can set up a profile, add people, share content, etc

Example: Facebook and Google+

b)Bookmarking Sites – Sites that allow you to store and manage links to various website and resources. Most of the sites allow you to create a tag to others.

Stumble Upon, Pinterest

c) Social News – Sites that allow users to post their own news items or links to other news sources. The users can also comment on the post and comments may also be rank.

Ex. Reddit and Digg

d) Media Sharing – sites that allow you to upload and share media content like images, music and video.

Ex. Flickr, YouTube and Instagram e) Microblogging – focus on short updates from the user. Those that subscribed to the user will be able to receive these updates. Ex. Twitter and Plurk

f) Blogs and Forums – allow user to post their content. Other users are able to comment on the said topic. Ex. Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr

Mobile Technologies– The popularity of smartphones and tablets has taken a major rise over the years. This is largely because of the devices capability to do the tasks that were originally found in PCs. Several of these devices are capable of using a high-speed internet. Today the latest model devices use 4G Networking (LTE), which is currently the fastest.

MOBILE OS

iOS – use in apple devices such as iPhone and iPad

Android – an open source OS developed by Google. Being open source means mobile phone companies use this OS for free.

Blackberry OS – use in blackberry devices

Windows phone OS – A closed source and proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft.

Symbian – the original smartphone OS. Used by Nokia devices

WebOS- originally used in smartphone; now in smart TVs.

Windows Mobile – developed by Microsoft for smartphones and pocket PCs

Assistive Media– is a non- profit service designed to help people who have visual and reading impairments. A database of audio recordings is used to read to the user.

e.g. Yahoo!, Gmail, HotmailCloud computing-distributed computing on internet or delivery of computing service over the internet.

-Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web

e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn’t exist

on your computer – it’s on the service’s computer cloud.

It has three components

Client computers – clients are the device that the end user interact with cloud.

Distributed Servers – Often servers are in geographically different places, but server acts as if they are working next to each other.

Datacenters – It is collection of servers where application is placed and is accessed via Internet.

TYPES OF CLOUDS

PUBLIC CLOUD allows systems and services to be easily accessible to the general public. Public cloud may be less secured because of its openness, e.g. e-mail

PRIVATE CLOUD allows systems and services to be accessible within an organization. It offers increased security because of its private nature.

COMMUNITY CLOUD allows systems and services to be accessible by group of organizations.

HYBRID CLOUD is a mixture of public and private cloud. However, the critical activities are performed using private cloud while the non-critical activities are performed using public cloud.

LESSON 2: ONLINE SAFETY, SECURITY AND RULES OF NETIQUETTE

INTERNET SAFETY- it refers to the online security or safety of people and their information when using internet. NETIQUETTE- is network etiquette, the do’s and don’ts of online communication.

TEN RULES OF NETIQUETTE

Rule No. 1: Remember the human

You need to remember that you are talking to a real person when you are online.

The internet brings people together who would otherwise never meet.

Remember this saying when sending an email: Would I say this to the person’s face.

Rule No. 2: Adhere to the same standards online that you follow in real life.

You need to behave the same way online that you do in real life.

You need to remember that you can get caught doing things you should not be doing online just like you can in real life.

You are still talking to a real person with feelings even though you can’t see them.

Rule no. 3: Know where you are in cyberspace.

Always take a look around when you enter a new domain when surfing the web.

Get a sense of what the discussion group is about before you join it.

Rule no. 4: Respect other people’s time and bandwidth.

Remember people have other things to do besides read your email. You are not the center of their world.

Keep your post and emails to minimum by saying what you want to say.

Remember everyone won’t answer your questions.

Rule no. 5: Make yourself look good online.

Be polite and pleasant to everyone.

Always check your spelling and grammar before posting.

· Know what you are talking about and make sense saying it.

Rule no. 6: Share expert knowledge

Ask questions online

Share what you know online.

Post the answers to your questions online because someone may have the same question you do.

Rule no. 7: Help keep flame wars under control

Netiquette does not forgive flaming.

Netiquette does however forbid people who are flaming to hurt discussion groups by putting the group down.

Rule no. 8: Respect other people’s privacy.

Do not read other people’s mail without their permission.

Going through other people’s things could cost you, your job or you could even go to jail.

Not respecting other people’s privacy is a bad netiquette.

Rule no. 9: Don’t abuse your power.

Do not take advantage of other people just because you have more knowledge or power than them.

Treat others as you would want them to treat you if the roles were reversed.

Rule no. 10: Be forgiving of other people’s mistake.

Do not point out mistakes to people online.

Remember that you were once the new kid on the block.

You still need to have a good manners even though you are online and cannot see the person face to face.

Internet security

Security Requirement Triad

ConfidentIality Data confidentiality Privacy

Integrity Data integerity System integrity

Availability

Threat ConsequenceThreat Action ( Attack)

Unauthorized Disclosure

A circumstance or event whereby an entity gains access to data for which the entity is not authorized.

Exposure: Sensitive data are directly released to an unauthorized entity.

Interception: An unauthorized entity directly accesses sensitive data traveling between authorized sources and destinations.

Inference: A threat action whereby an unauthorized entity indirectly accesses sensitive data by reasoning from characteristics or byproducts of communications.

Intrusion: an unauthorized entity gains access to sensitive data by circumventing a system’s security protections.

Disruption

A circumstances or even that interrupts or prevents the correct operation of system services and functions.

Deception

A circumstance or event that may result in an authorized entity receiving false data and believing it to be true.

Incapacitation: prevents or interrupts system operation by disabling a system component.

Corruption: Undesirably alters system operation by adversely modifying system functions or data.

Obstruction: A threat action that interrupts delivery of system services by hindering system operation.

Masquerade: An unauthorized entity gains access to a system or performs a malicious act by posing as an authorized entity.

Falsification: False data deceive an authorized entity.

Repudiation: An entity deceives another by falsely denying responsibility for an act.

Usurpation

A circumstances or event that results in control of system services or functions by an unauthorized entity.

Misappropriation: An entity assumes

unauthorized logical or physical control of a

system resource.

Misuse: Causes a system component to perform a function or service that is detrimental to system security.

Types of System Intruders

Masquerader

Hackers

Clandestine user

Parts of Virus

Infection mechanism

Trigger

PayloaD

Virus stages

Dormant phase Virus is idle.

Propagation phase Virus places an identical copy of itself into other programs or into certain system areas on t the disk.

Triggering phase Virus is activated to perform the function for which it was intended. Caused by a variety of system events

Execution phase Function is performed

Key Terms

Cyber crime- a crime committed or assisted through the use of the Internet.

Malware- stands for malicious software.

Virus- a malicious program designed to transfer from one computer to another in any means possible.

Worms– a malicious program designed to replicate itself and transfer from one file folder to another and also transfer to other computers.

Trojan-a malicious program designed that is disguised as a useful program but once downloaded or installed, leaves your PC unprotected and allows hacker to get your information.

Spyware– a program that runs in the background without you knowing it. It has the ability to monitor what you are currently doing and typing through key logging.

Adware- a program designed to send you advertisement, mostly pop-ups.

Spam– unwanted email mostly from bots or advertisers.

Phishing- acquires sensitive personal information like passwords and credits card details.

Pharming- a more complicated way of phishing where it exploits the DNS system.

Fair Use- means that an intellectual property may be used w/o consent as long as it is used in commentaries, criticism, parodies, research and etc.

Keyloggers- used to record the keystrokes done by user. This is done to steal passwords or any other sensitive information.

Rogue security softwares– is a form of malicious software and internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer, and manipulates them into paying money for a fake malware removal tool.

Four search strategies

Keyword searching

Enter terms to search

Use quotation marks to search as a phrase and keep the words linked together

Common words are ignored (That, to, which, a, the …)

+ and – can be used to include or exclude a word

Boolean

AND – enter words connect with AND- it will include sites where both words and found

Uses: joining different topics (i.e. global warming AND California)

OR – requires at least one of the terms is found.

Uses: join similar or synonymous topics (i.e. global warming OR greenhouse effect)

NOT – searches for the first term and excludes sites that have the second term.

(i.e. Washington NOT school)

Question

a question may be entered in the search field of search engine

Advanced Features are offered on many engines by going to an “Advanced search” page and making selections. Effective in narrowing search returns to a specific topic or phrase.

LESSON 3: Advanced Word Processing Skills

Lesson Discussion

In the professional world, sending out information to convey important information is vital. Because of ICT, things are now sent much faster than the traditional newsletters or postal mail. You can now send much faster than the traditional newsletters or postal mail. You can now use the Internet to send out information you need to share. What if we could still do things much faster – an automated way of creating and sending uniform letters with different recipients? Would that not be more convenient?

I. Mail Merge and Label Generation

A. Mail Merge

One of the important reasons in using computers per se is its ability to do recurring tasks automatically. But this ability has to be honed by learning the characteristics and features of the software you use with your computer. After all, no matter how good or advance your computer and software may be, it can only be as good as the person using it.

In this particular part of our lesson, we will learn one of the most powerful and commonly used features of Microsoft Word called Mail Merge. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to create documents and combine or merge them with another document or data file. It is commonly used when sending out advertising materials to various recipients.

The simplest solution for the scenario above is to create a document and just copy and paste it several times then just replace the details depending on whom you send it to. But what if you have hundreds or thousands of recipients? Would not that take too many hours? What if you have a small database of information where you can automatically generate those letters?

Two Components of Mail Merge

1. Form Document

The first component of our mail merged document is the form document. It is generally the document that contains the main body of the message we want to convey or send. The main body of the message is the part of the form document that remains the same no matter whom you send it to from among your list.

Also included in the form document is what we call place holders, also referred to as data fields or merge fields. This marks the position on your form document where individual data or information will be inserted. From our sample document, the place holders are denoted or marked by the text with double-headed arrows (<< >>) on each side and with a gray background. On a printed standard form, this will be the underlined spaces that you will see and use as a guide to where you need to write the information that you need to fill out. In its simplest form, a form document is literally a “form” that you fill out with individual information. A common example of a form document is your regular tax form or application form.

2. List or Data File

The second component of our mail merged document is the list or data file. This is where the individual information or data that needs to be plugged in (merged) to the form document is placed and maintained. One of the best things about the mail merge feature is that it allows data file to be created fro within the Microsoft Word application itself, or it gets data from a file created in Microsoft Excel or other data formats. In this way, fields that needed to be filled up on the form document can easily be maintained without accidentally altering the form or main document. You can also easily add, remove, modify, or extract your data more efficiently by using other data management applications like Excel or Access and import them in Word during the mail merge process.

B. Label Generation

Included in the mail merge feature on Microsoft Word is the Label Generator. It just makes sense that after you print out your form letters, you will need to send it to individual recipients in an envelope with the matching address printed directly on the envelope or on a mailing label to stick on. By using virtually the same process as a standard mail merge, Microsoft Word will print individual addresses to a standard form that it has already pre-formatted. Simply put, it creates a blank form document that simulates either a blank label or envelope of pre-defined size and will use the data file that you selected to print the information, typically individual addresses. So even in generating labels, the two essential components of creating a merged document are present: the form document and the data file. Only in this case, you did not have to type or create the form document yourself because it was already created and pre-formatted in Microsoft Word. All you need to do is select the correct or appropriate size for the label or envelope and select the data file that contains the addresses (data) to be printed. You can also preview your merged labels before printing if you want to.

II. Integrating Images and External Materials

Integrating or inserting pictures in your document is fun and it improves the impression of your document. A common use of inserting a picture on a document is when you are creating your resume. Though seemingly simple to do, your knowledge on the different kinds of materials that you can insert or integrate in a Word document and its characteristics can help you create a more efficient, richer document not only in content but also in physical form. A better understanding of the physical form of your document as well as the different materials you would integrate in it would allow you to be more efficient and versatile in using Microsoft Word.

A. Kinds of Materials

There are various kinds of materials Microsoft Word is capable of integrating to make the documents richer, more impressive, and more informative.

1. Pictures

Generally, these are electronic or digital pictures or photographs you have saved in any local storage device. There are three commonly used types of picture files. You can identify them by the extension on their file names.

a. .JPG/JPEG

This is pronounced as “jay-peg“ and is the short form of .jpeg or Joint Photographic Experts Group. Like all the rest of the image file extensions, it identifies the kind of data compression process that it uses to make it more compatible and portable through the Internet. This type of image file can support 16.7 million colors that is why it is suitable for use when working with full color photographic images. Unfortunately, it does not support transparency and therefore, images of this file type can be difficult to integrate in terms of blending with other materials or elements in your document. But if you are looking for the best quality image to integrate with your document then this is the image file type for you. .JPG does not work well on lettering, line drawings, or simple graphics. .JPG images are relatively small in file size.

b. .GIF

This stands for Graphics Interchange Format. This type of image file is capable of displaying transparencies. Therefore, it is good for blending with other materials or elements in your document. It is also capable of displaying simple animation. Apparently, this may not be too useful on a printed document but if you are sending documents electronically or through email, or even post documents into a website, then this could be quite impressive. The downside is that it can only support up to 256 colors so it is good mostly on logos and art decors with very limited, and generally solid colors. .GIF is much better for logos, drawings, small text, black and white images, or low-resolution files.

Example of a .gif format picture.

c. .PNG

This is pronounced as “ping“. It stands for Portable Network Graphics. It was built around the capabilities of .GIF. Its development was basically for the purpose of transporting images on the Internet at faster rates. It is also good with transparencies but unlike .GIFs, it does not support animation but it can display up to 16 million colors, so image quality for this image file type is also remarkably improved. .PNG allows the control of the transparency level or opacity of images.

Example of .png format picture.

2. Clip Art

This is generally a .GIF type; line art drawings or images used as generic representation for ideas and objects that you might want to integrate in your document. Microsoft Word has a library of clip arts that is built in or can be downloaded and used freely. There are still other clip arts that you can either purchase or freely download and use that come from third-party providers.

Clip Art Icon in Microsoft Office 2010.

3. Shapes

These are printable objects or materials that you can integrate in your document to enhance its appearance or allow you to have some tools to use for composing and representing ideas or messages. If you are designing the layout for a poster or other graphic material for advertising, you might find this useful.

Shapes Icon under the Insert ribbon tab.

4. Smart Art

Generally, these are predefined sets of different shapes grouped together to form ideas that are organizational or structural in nature. If you want to graphically represent an organization, process, relationships, or flow for infographic documents, then you will find this easy and handy to use.

Smart Art

5. Chart

Another type of material that you can integrate in your Word document that allows you to represent data characteristics and trends. This is quite useful when you are preparing reports that correlate and present data in a graphical manner. You can create charts that can be integrate in your document either directly in Microsoft Word or imported from external files like Microsoft Excel.

Chart – Used to illustrate and compare data.

6. Screenshot

Sometimes, creating reports or manuals for training or procedures will require the integration of a more realistic image of what you are discussing on your report or manual. Nothing can get you a more realistic image than a screenshot. Microsoft Word even provides a snipping tool for your screen shots so you can select and display only the part that you exactly like to capture on your screen.

III. Image Placement

Layout of text wrapping options.

A. In Line with Text

This is the default setting for images that are inserted or integrated in your document. It treats your image like a text font with the bottom side totally aligned with the text line. This setting is usually used when you need to place your image at the beginning of a paragraph. When placed between texts in a paragraph or a sentence, it distorts the overall appearance and arrangement of the texts in the paragraph because it will take up the space it needs vertically, pushing whole lines of texts upward.

B. Square

This setting allows the image you inserted to be placed anywhere with the paragraph with the text going around the image in a square pattern like frame.

C. Tight

This is almost the same as the Square setting, but here the text “hug” or conforms to the general shape of the image. This allows you to get a more creative effect on your document. This setting can mostly be achieved if you are using an image that supports transparency like a .GIF or .PNG file.

D. Through

This setting allows the text on your document to flow even tighter taking the contours and shape of the image. Again, this can be best used with .GIF or .PNG type of image.

E. Top and Bottom

This setting pushes the texts away vertically to the top and/or the bottom of the image so that the image occupies a whole text line on its own.

F. Behind Text

This allows your image to be dragged and placed anywhere on your document but with all the texts floating in front of it. It effectively makes your image look like a background.

G. In Front of Text

As it suggests, this setting allows your image to be placed right on top of the text as if your image was dropped right on it. That means whatever part of the text you placed the image on, it will be covered by the image.

IV. Key Terms

Mail Merge – a feature that allows you to create documents and combine or merge them with another document or data file.

Form Document – the document that contains the main body of the message we want to convey or send.

Data File – includes the individual information or data or the recipient’s information.

Merge Field/Place Holder – marks the position on your form document where individual data or information will be inserted.

.JPG – file extension for the Joint Photographic Experts Group picture file.

.PNG – file extension for Portable Network Graphics image file.

.GIF – file extension for the Graphics Interchange Format image file.

Clipart – line art drawings or images used as a generic representation for ideas and objects.

Smart Art – predefined sets of different shapes grouped together to form ideas that are organizational or structural in nature.

Text Wrap – adjusts how the image behaves around other objects or text.

LESSON 4: Advanced Spreadsheet Skills

What is a Spreadsheet Software? • allows users to organize data in rows an columns and perform calculations on the data • These rows and columns collectively are called worksheet.

3. Examples of Spreadsheet Software: • LibreOffice Calc • OpenOffice.org Calc • Google Sheets • Apple iWork Numbers • Kingsoft Office Spreadsheets • StarOffice Calc • Microsoft Excel

4. MICROSOFT EXCEL

5. To open Microsoft Excel, Press “Windows Logo” + R then type “excel” then enter.

6. Key Terms in MS Excel: • Row – horizontal line of entries in a table • Column – vertical line of entries in a table • Cell – the place where info. is held in a spreadsheet

7. Key Terms in MS Excel: • Active Cell – the selected cell • Column Heading – the box at the top of each column containing a letter • Row Heading – the row number

8. Key Terms in MS Excel: • Cell Reference – the cell address of the cell usually combine letter and number (ex. A1, B4, C2) • Merge – combining or joining two or more cells • Formula – is an expression which calculates the value of a cell.

9. Key Terms in MS Excel: • Functions – are predefined formulas and are already available in Excel • Formula Bar – the bar that displays the contents of a cell

10. FUNCTIONS

11. BASIC MATH OPERATIONS: • =SUM(x,y) or =SUM(range) – returns the sum of x and y or (all the numbers within the range) • =PRODUCT(x,y) – returns the product of x and y • =QUOTIENT(x,y) – returns the quotient of x divided by y • =x-y – returns the difference of x subtracted by y

12. BASIC MATH OPERATIONS: • =x+y – returns the sum of x and y • =x*y – returns the product of x and y • =x/y – returns the quotient of x divided by y • =x-y – returns the difference of x subtracted by y

13. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =ABS(x) – returns the absolute value of x • =AVERAGE(x,y) – returns the average of x and y • =CONCATENATE(x,y) – joins x and y

14. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =IF(Condition, x, y) – returns x if the condition is true, else it returns y • =ISEVEN(x) – returns true if x is an even number • =ISODD(x) – returns true if x is an odd number

15. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =COUNT(range) – counts the number of cell containing a number within a range • =COUNTIF(range, criteria) – count the number of cell that fits with the criteria within the range

16. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =ISNUMBER(x) – returns true if x is a number • =ISTEXT(x) – returns true if x is a text • =LEN(x) – returns the length of characters in x • =PROPER(x) – returns the proper casing of x

17. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =LEFT(x,y) – returns the characters of x specified by y (from the left) • =RIGHT(x,y) – returns the characters of x specified by y (from the right) • =PI() – returns the value of pi

18. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =MIN(x,y) – returns the smallest number between x and y • =MAX(x,y) – returns the largest number between x and y • =MIN(range) – returns the smallest number within the range • =MAX(range) – returns the largest number within the range

19. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =POWER(x,y) – returns the value of x raised to the power of y • =ROUND(x,y) – rounds x to a specified number of digits (y) =COLUMN(x) – returns the column number of x • =ROW(x) – returns the row number of x

20. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =SQRT(x) – returns the square root of x • =TRIM(x) – removes extra spaces in x • =UPPER(x) – returns x in all capital form • =LOWER(x) – returns x in non- capital form

21. OTHER FUNCTIONS: • =TODAY() – returns the current date • =NOW() – returns the current date and time

22. EXERCISES

23. Consider this data: NAME MATH GRADE SCIENCE GRADE FILIPINO GRADE ENGLISH GRADE A.P GRADE MARK 75 70 78 81 78 PETE 84 87 86 88 85 ANA 91 92 95 90 90 REA 73 75 74 75 70

24. Give the formulas to get : • Mark’s , Pete’s, Ana’s and Rea’s averages • The highest grade that Ana got • The lowest grade that Mark got? • Sum of all Math Grade? Science? A.P.? • Sum of all Rea’s Grades • The Lowest Number among all grades • The remarks (Passed or Failed)

25. Now, consider this data: FIRST NAME MIDDLE NAME LAST NAME MARK CURTIS WILLIAMS PETE MCCLOEY HARRISON ANA MONROE FRITZ REA TAN COLLINS

26. Give the formulas to get : • Mark’s Full Name • Ana’s Full Name in Proper Case • Count the number of letters that Pete’s Last Name has • “COLL” from Rea’s Last Name • “LOEY” from Pete’s Middle Name • Combining “WILL” and “LINS” from Mark and Rea’s Last Names respectively

LESSON 5: Advanced Presentation Skills

Powerpoint is a highly innovative and versatile program that can ensure a successful communication whether you’re presenting in front of potential investors, a lecture theatre or simply in front of your colleagues. The following are the five features you should be using-if youy aren’t already. Learn everything about these tips: they will improve your presentation skills and allow you to communicate your message successfully. The five features of powerpoint was

1)adding smart art

2)Inserting Shapes

3)Inserting and Image

4)Slide Transitions

5)Adding Animations

Creating an Effective Presentation

Minimize

: Keep slides counts to a minimum to maintain a clear message and to keep the audience attentive. Remember that the presentation is just a visual aid. Most information should still come from the reporter.2.

Clarity

: Avoid being to fancy by using font style that is easy to read. Make sure that it is also big enough to be read by the audience. Once you start making your presentation, consider how big the screen is during your report.3.

Simplicity

: Use bullets or short sentences. Summarize the information on the screen to have your audience focus on what the speaker is saying than on reading the slide. Limit the content to six lines and seven words per line. This is known as the 6 x 7 rule.4.

Visual

: Use graphics to help in your presentation but not too many to distract the audience. In addition, instead of using table of data, use charts and graphs.5.

Consistency

: Make your design uniform. Avoid having different font styles and backgrounds.6.

Contrast

: Use a light font on dark background or vice versa. This is done so that it is easier to read. In most instances, it is easier to read on screen if the background is dark. This is due to the brightness of the screen. LESSON 6: Imaging and Design for Online Environment

PHOTO EDITING

Photo editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they are digital photographs, traditional photo chemical photographs, or illustrations. Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any traditional art medium.

Graphic software programs

Which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3D modelers are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images. Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from scratch.

BASIC OF IMAGE EDITING

RASTER IMAGESare stored in a computer in the form of a grid of picture elements or pixels.

VECTOR IMAGESsuch as Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape and etc. are used to create and modify vector images, which are stored as descriptions of lines, Bezier curves and text instead of pixels.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RASTER AND VECTOR IMAGES

RASTER IMAGESuse many colored pixels or individual building blocks to form a complete image JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs are common raster image types. Almost all of the photos found on the web and in print catalogs are raster images.

VECTOR IMAGES alternatively, allow for more flexibility. Constructed using mathematical formulas rather than individual colored blocks, vector file types such as EPS, AI and PDF are excellent for creating graphics that frequently require resizing. 3. 3D MODELING (OR MODELLING) is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three dimensional surface of an object via specialized software. The product is called a 3D model. It can be displayed as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in a computer simulation or physical phenomena. The model can also be physically created using 3D printing devices.

IMAGE FORMATS

Ø JPEG is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by a digital photography.

Ø PNG (PORTABLE NETWORK GRAPHICS) is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression.

Ø GIF a lossless format for image files that supports both animated and static images.

Ø BMP is a raster graphics image used to store bitmap digital images

Ø EPS used in vector-based images in Adobe Illustrator.

Ø SVG is an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional graphics w/ support for interactivity and animation

Ø .3ds is one of the file formats used by the Autodesk 3Ds Max 3D Modelling, animation and rendering software.

Ø .fbx is an exchange format, in particular for interoperability between Autodesk products and other digital content creation software

FEATURES OF IMAGE EDITORS

SELECTION One of the prerequisites for many of the app mentioned below is a method of selecting part(s) of an image, thus applying a change selectively without affecting the entire picture

Ø MARQUEE TOOL for selecting rectangular or other regular polygon-shaped regions

Ø LASSO TOOL for freehand selection of a region

Ø MAGIC WAND TOOL selects objects or regions in the image defined by proximity of color or luminance

LAYERS which are analogous to sheets of transparent acetate, stacked on top of each other, each capable of being individually positioned, altered and blended with the layers below, w/o affecting any of the elements on the other layers. IMAGE SIZE resize images in a process often called image scaling, making them larger, or smaller. High image resolution cameras can produce large images which are often reduced in size for Internet use.

CROPPING creates a new image by selecting a desired rectangular portion from the image being cropped. The unwanted part of the image is discarded. Image cropping does not reduce the resolution of the area cropped.

CLONING uses the current brush to copy from an image or pattern. It has many uses: one of the most important is to repair problem areas in digital photos.

IMAGE ORIENTATION – Image editors are capable of altering an image to be rotated in any direction and to any degree. Mirror images can be created and images can be horizontally flipped or vertically flopped. Rotated image usually require cropping afterwards, in order to remove the resulting gaps at the image edges.

PERSPECTIVE – is the art of drawing solid objects on a two- dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.

SHARPENING AND SOFTENING– Sharpening makes images clearer. Too much sharpening causes grains on the surface of the image. Softening makes images softer that removes some of the highly visible flaws. Too much causes the image to blur.

SATURATION- is an expression for the relative bandwidth of the visible output from a light source. As saturation increase, colors appear more “pure.’’ As saturation decreases, colors appear more ‘’ washed-out.’’

CONTRAST AND BRIGHTENING

Contrast of images and brighten or darken the image. Underexposed images can be often be improved by using this feature.

Brightening lightens the image so the photo brightens up. Brightness is a relative expression of the intensity of the energy output of a visible light source.

Adjusting contrast means adjusting brightness because they work together to make a better image.

PHOTO MANIPULATION

Photo manipulation involves transforming or altering a photograph using various methods and techniques to achieve desired results. Some photo manipulations are considered skillful artwork while others are frowned upon as unethical practices, especially when used to deceive the public, such as hat used for political propaganda , or to make a product or person look better.

DIFFERENCES PHOTO EDITING – signifies the regular process used to enhance photos and to create them ‘’Actual editing simple process’’. Also includes some of the regular programs used for editing and expose how to use them. PHOTO MANIPULATION – includes all simple editing techniques and have some manipulation techniques like erasing, adding objects , adding some graphical effects, background correction, creating incredible effect, change elements in an image, adding styles , eliminating blemishes from a person’s face and changing the features of a person’s body.

b.) Infographics

also known as data visualization, information design, and communication design

It is any graphic that display and explains information, whether that be data or words. When we use the term ‘’infographics’’, we’re using it as a general term used to describe data presented in a visual way.

Infographics are important because they change the way people find and experience stories. Infographics are being used to augment editorial content on the web, it create a new way of seeing the world of data, and they help communicate complex ideas in a clear and beautiful way.

TYPES OF INFOGRAPHICS

Statistical

Process Flow

Geographic

PROCESS OF MAKING INFOGRAPHICS

Research

a)Know what is needed

b)Take a reference

c)Know the audience

d)Decide the type of infographics

Brainstorm

a)Gather ideas

b)Build thought process

Design

a) Choose your tool and start designing

Review

a) Cross check the data to deliver flawless output

Launch

a) Make it viral

b) Share on social network

BEST PRACTICES WHEN CREATING INFOGRAPHICS

a)Maintain a structure

b)Don’t use more than 3 color palletes

c)Typography matters a lot

d)Include source and references

LESSON 7: Online Platforms for ICT Content Development

1.Facebook

Posted on

February 13, 2017

Marketplace – allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.

Groups – allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.

Events – allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to attend.

Pages – allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.

Presence technology – allows members to see which contacts are online and chat.

Within each member’s personal profile, there are several key networking components. The most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member’s Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or copyrighted images. An interactive album feature allows the member’s contacts (who are called generically called “friends”) to comment on each other’s photos and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates, a microbloggingfeature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member’s friends.

Facebook offers a range of privacy options to its members. A member can make all his communications visible to everyone, he can block specific connections or he can keep all his communications private. Members can choose whether or not to be searchable, decide which parts of their profile are public, decide what not to put in their news feed and determine exactly who can see their posts. For those members who wish to use Facebook to communicate privately, there is a message feature, which closely resembles email.

2. Instagram

Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing site that allows its users to share pictures and videos either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. Originally, a distinctive feature was that it confined photos to a square shape, similar to Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid SX-70 images, in contrast to the 4:3 aspect ratio typically used by mobile device cameras. In August 2015, version 7.5 was released, allowing users to upload media captured in any aspect ratio. Users can also apply digital filters to their images. Videos on Instagram debuted in June 2013, allowing prerecorded square standard definition resolution clips of up to 15 seconds to be shared; later improvements added support for widescreenresolutions of up to 1080p and longer recording times for either prerecorded (up to one minute) or disappearing live (up to one hour) videos.

Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, and launched in October 2010 as a free mobile app. The service rapidly gained popularity, with over 100 million active users as of April 2012[10][11] and over 300 million as of December 2014.[12] Instagram is distributed through the Apple App Store and Google Play.[13]Support for the app is available for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Windows 10 devices and Android handsets, while third-party Instagram apps are available for BlackBerry 10 and Nokia-Symbian Devices.

3. Twitter

Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and interact with messages, “tweets,” restricted to 140 characters. Registered users can post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them. Users access Twitter through its website interface, SMS or a mobile device app.[10] Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco, California, United States, and has more than 25 offices around the world.

Twitter is about learning and adding value

It is also about adding value to others by giving or sharing something valuable to them so that they are able to learn something. That is why I usually tweet about stuff that I read, learned or have good value. I have learned so much from the others that is why I love twitter. It is also about helping others, I disagree with many‘experts’ that say you should only follow ‘influential’ users because I don’t judge someone that way, and because I believe the people at Twitter don’t believe in them either. I also disagree that you should only share your own stuff otherwise you will dilute your brand. Sure it makes sense but 24/7 sharing your own blog post and following influential people?

BLOGGING SITES

Weebly

Weebly is one of the easiest website builders in the market. They allow you to drag and drop content into a website, so it’s very intuitive to use (click here to see our opinion on Weebly).

By using Weebly’s website building elements, you can literally drag them into your website and have a website built relatively quickly, and painlessly. The beauty of this system is that you can pretty much drag the elements to wherever you want – so it’s not very restrictive on where and how you place your website content.

Weebly’s elements include pictures, paragraphs, videos, buttons, maps, contact forms – basically all the basics for website building.

2. Tumblr

Tumblr is a popular microblogging platform designed for creative self-expression. It is considered a mindful alternative to Facebook and other social media websites where users blog on a myriad of topics.

You can link your Tumblr account to other social networks you use and you can feed your traditional blog or other RSS feed to your Tumblelog. You can also create static pages such as your own Questions page that people are automatically taken to when they ask you a question. If you want to make your Tumblelog look more lie a traditional website, you can do it by adding pages. You can make your Tumblelog private or just make specific posts private as needed, and you can schedule posts to publish in the future.

Tumblr is perfect for people who don’t need a full blog to publish lengthy posts. It’s also great for people who prefer to publish quick multimedia posts, particularly from their mobile devices. Tumblr is also a great choice for people who want to join a larger community. If a blog is too much or too big for you, but Twitter is too small or too little for you and Instagram isn’t versatile enough for you, then Tumblr might be just right for you.

It’s also easy to invite other people to contribute to your Tumblelog.

If you want to track your stats, you can add any analytics tracking code to your Tumblelog. Some users will even burn a feed with Feedburner, create custom themes, and use their own domain names

3. Pinterest

Pinterest is a free website that requires registration to use.Users can upload, save, sort, and manage images—known as pins—and other media content (e.g., videos) through collections known as pinboards. Pinterest acts as a personalized media platform. Users can browse the content of others in their feed. Users can then save individual pins to one of their own boards using the “Pin It” button, with pinboards typically organized by a central topic or theme. Users can personalize their experience by pinning items, creating boards, and interacting with other members. The end result is that the “pin feed” of each user displays unique, personalized results.

Content can also be found outside of Pinterest and similarly uploaded to a board via the “Pin It” button, which can be downloaded to the bookmark bar on a web browser, or be implemented by a webmaster directly on the website. They also have the option of sending a pin to other Pinterest users and email accounts through the “Send” button. Some websites include red and white “pin it” buttons on items, which allow Pinterest users to pin them directly.

Initially, there were several ways to register a new Pinterest account. Potential users could either receive an invitation from an already registered friend, or they could request an invitation directly from the Pinterest website that could take some time to receive. An account can also be created and accessed by linking Pinterest to a Facebook or Twitter profile. When a user re-posts or re-pins an image to their own board, they have the option of notifying their Facebook and Twitter followers. This feature can be managed on the settings page.

On the main Pinterest page, a “pin feed” appears, displaying the chronological activity from the Pinterest boards that a user follows.

A “board” is where the user’s pins are located. Users can have several boards for various items such as quotes, travel or, most popularly, weddings. A “pin” is an image that has either been uploaded or linked from a website. Once users create boards and add pins, other users can now repin, meaning they can pin one user’s image to their board as well. Once the user has set up their account and boards, they can browse, comment, and like other pins. Users might be discouraged by repeated images and difficult-to-follow direct linking features. Pinterest has also added the option of making boards “secret” so that the user can pin to and view boards that only the user can see when logged into their own account.

Pinterest does not generate its own content; rather, it draws from many resources around the web and compiles them in one convenient location for users.

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starfaring-princelotor · 5 years

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Mermaid Lotor when?

Hook

Summary: You bait a mermaid and find he is a little more terrifying than you heard from stories.

Warnings: None.

★ Disclaimer: I do not ship Lotura and I respectfully ask that this story to not be tagged as Lotura. This is a Lotor x Reader/Self-Insert OC story which is in no way related to Allura at all. Please be respectful of my chosen pairing. ★

At first, you thought it was a trick of the light. Maybe the setting sun had gotten in your eye or there was sand stuck in there, causing you to blink at the most inopportune moment. But no, that couldn’t be, because what you thought was a shimmering, triangular black tooth was surely just some…fossil that washed up on shore, right? That made much more sense than the idea that a mermaid had saved you from a vicious wipe out.

Try surfing, they said. You’ll get hooked to it, they said.

Your foam board was snapped in two, but that could have been your spine. Sitting up on the shore, water still lapping at your feet, you squinted to stare hard at the distant waves. Sure, your chest still hurts a bit from swallowing gallons of seawater. Your muscles ache from surfing so unprepared. And those scrapes from brushing against the coral? They hurt, but nothing would hurt more than not knowing the truth.

You blinked and saw the tail fin of…a dolphin?

The next time you went to the beach, you were ready. Or, at the very least, more prepared. Calm winds today, so no chance of being swept away suddenly due to poor forecast. Poor forecast and poor judgement, you reminded yourself. This time, you weren’t really focused on catching a wave. This time, you just wanted to see how far you can go. Past the break, past that safety net which kept the fish out.

And this time, you brought bait with you. Nothing fancy, but very smelly. The odor would no doubt be extra potent under water, attracting all manner of dolphins and other marine life near you. That was the plan, to catch that mermaid, because that was definitely what you saw. Well, catch is more or less the right term. You just wanted to see one. You wanted to believe they were real.

They had to be.

But when you waded beyond comfort and the shoreline was but a mere blur in the distance, suddenly maybe this wasn’t a good idea. It was getting dark. The sun had set, but the leftover remnants of the day was still decorating the sky. You had been holding the fish in the water for at least an hour now, but you hadn’t seen fin or scale or even heard a splash -

A spray of water had slapped the back of your head, making you yelp in surprise and drop your slippery bait. Turning around quickly, you saw the disturbance in the water already begin to settle back into a natural pattern. Maybe it was there? This time for sure, you were not going to look away from that spot. Blindly, your hand reached where you dropped the fish, hoping it hadn’t drifted too far away.

Then, you felt something rough brush against the palm of your hand.

“Hey!” you shouted, quickly switching your gaze to the side of your board after yanking your hand back to safety.

There was a faint purple glow beneath the surface. A line of them, illuminating the dark, deep waters below.

The locals had taken to calling you a plank, for the sole reason that you always seemed to just sit out in the water instead of ride the waves. Sure, they laughed, and many other surfers even came by to ask if you needed help, to which you only shook your head no. Maybe you didn’t know how to use your board properly? Or you were too occupied with being one with nature?

No. You were too curious for your own good. And, you will admit, too ambitious.

The plan tonight was going to be different, much different. You tossed the fish a few feet away from you and played the waiting game again. However, you didn’t have to linger long. The fish plopped and disappeared after a few spare minutes. Then, throwing another, it was plucked under within a second. Now, knowing that the mermaid was here, you took a deep breath.

And dove right in.

Your trusty board floated away, not too far that you couldn’t swim back to it, but would you even really need to? The knowledge that a real life mermaid was here was way more important right now. Plus, logically, you knew this was the one that saved you long ago. Why would a mermaid change their mind now? Why save someone to only eat them for dinner?

The current underwater was the first thing you felt change as you kicked your feet in a steady rhythm to stay afloat. But still, you saw nothing, except the moon, the clouds, and the stars hiding behind them. Did your heart picked up its pace in your chest? Yes. Did you regret this decision? Not quite yet. What was it that folklore said about mermaids? They were sirens of the sea? Lured people with their disarming voice? Ate poor bewitched humans as they dragged them to their watery grave?

And suddenly, the light from the moon became shadowed. That presence? Was behind you. Looming over you. Watching you like the curious little, wandering prey you are.

Swiftly turning in your spot, you were finally graced with what many believed to be the demons of the ocean. They were all wrong. All the stories. All the gossip and the myths and boastful claims of “I killed a mermaid before.” That was simply not possible because the one right in front of you was too extraordinarily beautiful for both land and sea.

And, oh, you were mesmerized. Enchanted. Captivated.

What drew your breath to stop was not his luminous, silver hair cascading like streams of moonlight over his collarbones. Nor was it his wine, almost grey, shade of skin, but rather his eyes. Inky blackness harboring a ring of nebulous blues and purples, glowing with intimidation and power right back at you. He was studying you, that much was certain if you had been aware of yourself at the moment. But you weren’t. You were trapped, ensnared, unable to bring your mind to think about anything else except those dual-toned irises belonging to this beast of a man.

The mermaid’s head tilted, soft locks giving way to expose those gills along the column of his neck. Markings, he was covered in them. They greatly contrasted against his wet skin in sharp curves, highlighting his handsome assets even more. Along his cheeks, his jaw, those broad shoulders, his well-developed muscles covered in aged scars, all the way down to his dripping waist and below. His…other half.

It was a little different, now that you think about it, that the art depicting mermaids to be remarkably close to, well, a human. But he had no rounded ears or smooth, glistening skin, or even the same row of pearly whites like you did. They were…black and glinting at you dangerously with a smile. A smirk? A grin. He was grinning at you, eyes hooded with lax silver brows and a look one could only describe as deliciously amused.

“Are you lost, little guppy?”

You wouldn’t exactly say his voice was deep. It was more of a growl, a rumble, a warning disguised as nothing more than a simple question. No alluring magic there, but it did give you a shiver colder than the chill of water.

When you didn’t answer him, that grin spread even wider, “I thank you for the fish, but I do not think you should be out here this late.”

“I wanted to see you.”

“Hm. And so, you have.” An order, a tone of finality, and before you could add more to your answer, he waded closer. And closer still, “Now, it would be wise to return you to land before you drown from exhaustion, no?”

The mysterious mermaid had ushered you to your board, the firm plastic nudging your back, “But - no, wait - “

Despite your defiance, you found yourself climbing up on the safety of your surfboard. He swam effortlessly to the rear, getting ready to push you and guide the wandering human back to shore. The man - he was chuckling. At you? Your stutter? No, none of that. He was deviously delighted at this small human who he could easily break in a soul-crushing hug. This mermaid was no small shark, after all.

“I’ll see you again, right?” facing him, not once daring to look away lest the illusion wear off, “Right?”

“No, I do not think you will.”

That is for me to know and for you to find out.

Your face fell slightly at the prospect of never witnessing this marvelous man in all his mythical glory ever again, “Then…then can I at least know your name?”

The name of the one who saved me. The name of the one who will bless my dreams every night from now on. The name of the mermaid with black teeth and the unknown cosmos in his eyes.

“My name is Lotor, dear,” he winked, your heart stuttered, and your mind came to one conclusion.

You wanted, no, needed to know more about this mermaid who so easily trapped your heart in his jaws.

You were hooked.

#asks #lotor x reader #spacestories #da #ddy #sh #a #rk #do #doo #dooo #d #o

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hedgewitchcrone · 4 years

Text

Trumps War on Witches

Let’s us just imagine what would happen if the US President was to stand up for his keynote speech at his next election rally and say “ I have here in my hand my mobile phone. And on this device I can reach out to the people of the world with my opinions using social media”.

“And when I surf the net looking at various social media sites as I do from time to time Twitter, Tumblr and so forth, I am continually coming across people who are identifying themselves as witches” “ Yes Witches” he says laughting. “In fact as you know we have been seening them dressed in black openly walking at some of the BLM rallies and being photographed by the national press who see this as normal”.

“Yes normal” he laughs once again. “In fact they have even been calling upon in social media to have something called a Spell In”, “Yes a spell in” he laughs “to try and prevent me from doing certain things for the good of the American People and this great country because the don’t agree with it”.

“Well I am here to tell you that this is not normal. It is wrong for people to be identifying with witchcraft and being witches in this day and age. And it is wrong to corrupt the youth of today with these ideas and to allow it to continue unchecked”.

“I am hereby declaring today a war on Witchcraft and the Witches of the world for the good of society. As I firmly believe that this is part of what is wrong with the world when such things are allowed to go on unchecked or regulated and controlled. When the youth of today identifies as Baby Witch this and Baby Witch That and it is considered as normal”.

And you watch with a knot forming in your stomach 10,000 people standing up and cheering him on clapping and chanting “USA, USA , USA” which slowly turns to “Burn the Witch, Burn the Witch, Burn the Witch”.

Then he does it again at the next rally and the next and the next. Before you know it the press have picked up upon it ,and it’s more and more starting to appear in the news and being looked into and mentioned. within a week or so the broadcasts are being shown all over the world on the news and social media and eventually starts being echoed by other world leaders in some of the more oppressed countries around the world.

With all that is going on in the world with BLM, LGBT and woman’s rights and equality for all. When the Washington Redskins are under pressure to change their name and various statues of persons past are being removed.

How do you think it would be if identifying as or being a Practicing Witch was all of a sudden to become considered socially unacceptable within society and when on the likes of Tumblr we were to become hounded to change or beliefs, values. And way of life.

With the speed at which what is regarded as socially acceptable is changing at an accelerated pace, are we at risk as a minority group of becomming openly persecuted in the streets and returning to the burning times.

It would only take a few acts of indecency, atrocity or violence by someone identifying as a Witch and the likes of the Presidant of the USA or the church to seize on the opertunity.

And with the speed at which social media could turn upon us we could eventually find our way of life, our beliefs and practices in a perilous position.

What do you think you would do if this was to happen over the coming months and years, finding there was nowhere to openly be a practicing Witch or to be associated with anything to do with Witchcraft.

If we found ourselves with ten’s of thousands of protesters marching in the streets carrying banners with Burn the Witches written upon them.

Please let me know your thoughts.

#burning times #kill the witch #protest #disorder #Trump war on Witches #witchblr #witch #witchcraft

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soflsms · 5 years

Text

( sorry I'm late to the party im in pst so i was at work til now sdkfjl ) ANYWHO hi pals what the h*ck is up !! im chloe , im 21 , i use she / her pronouns & im a broke a$$ geography major !! i am SO excited to be her & get to rp with all y’all bc judging by your apps skdflj i fuck with u all . anywho ill stop my rambling , below the readmore is stuff about sofie & some wcs !!

trigger warning !! sex work , deportation , neglect , bad writing , alcoholism & substance abuse

HAILEY BALDWIN / SHE/HER / TWENTY TWO / BILLIE EILISH VC

welcome to los angeles , sofie almeda ! the glitterati has been watching you . rumour has it you made your first mark in the industry two years ago & that your net worth currently stands at 8m . it seems as though you’re enjoying being a singer since relocating from harlem , new york city . some might say you’d be a good fit for the glitterati due to your hollywood ranking being a solid #3, & it helps that fans speak so highly of your individualistic & assiduous ways . unfortunately , our sources cite that those closest to you aren’t particularly impressed with your self-destructive & choleric tendencies .

stats

name : sofie sydney almeda

nicknames : sof

age : twenty - two .

birthday : december eleventh .

zodiac : sagittarius .

gender : cisfemale ( though doesn’t vibe with the idea of being STRICTLY a WoMaN , she finds labels restrictive ) .

pronouns : she & her .

height : 5 ′ 6 ″ .

hometown : recife , brazil & harlem , new york city .

nationality : american , brazilian .

ethnicity : english , portuguese .

label(s) : the venereal , the bellwether , the opulent , the anaxiphile .

occupation : singer ( vc billie eilish ) .

quirks : fidgeting , allergic to shellfish , walks quickly , cracks knuckles , always wears her lucky ‘ st christopher ’ necklace from her grandmother , has a weird ability to talk herself out of trouble , can tie a cherry stem in her mouth , messy emotionally but on - point physically , vvv bad driver , loves a good theme party , can’t get through the day without multiple cups of coffee , refuses to wear glasses in public even though she’s quite far - sighted , always carries hand sanitizer , prefers rain over sunshine .

background

her mother , marcia almeda , was a recent graduate from secondary school who packed a backpack and went traveling !! before long tho she ended up knocked up by another backpacker , this one american , while they were having a fling in sydney ( hence sofie’s middle name lmao @ her mom’s humor ) . she flew back home when she found out & never told sofie’s father oops !! so marcia had sofie at home in recife just before her nineteenth birthday , and marcia was enthralled w little sofie . ofc she inherited her mother’s beauty ( i hc marcia looks like alessandra ambrosio bc hello ! ) & little sofie lived a happy early childhood life in her grandparents’ home in recife.

brazil isn’t the safest of countries & marcia didn’t want the same dangers she experienced growing up for her young daughter , so around sofie’s eighth birthday , her & her mother packed up and went on a ‘ trip ’ to new york city . joke’s on sofie , though - it wasn’t actually a trip , but rly they were trying to move there to find sofie’s father to confirm his paternity and get sofie american citizenship . it was proving more difficult than she thought , & marcia was quickly running out of money . with a face like hers , though , making money wasn’t too difficult , but it was time consuming . marcia found herself escorting older men in order to pay the bills , all the while leaving little sofie to fend for herself . some of her earliest memories are of strange men in their tiny apartment & sofie trying to block out their conversations with her lil cassette player hiding in the corner of her room . eventually , marcia was able to contact the father & they set up a meeting . sofie had gotten her hopes up that she would finally have a dad ( she got dressed up in her sunday best & everything bc reuniting her dad was a BIG deal ) , but the meeting ended up being a quick exchange of words , a mouth swab and a couple signatures . sofie never even learned his name , & this queued up a lifetime of daddy issues & distrust of men !!

while marcia was able to stay in america much longer than she was legally supposed to , eventually she was facing deportation , which meant lil sofie , with her citizenship finally confirmed , was put into the hands of her father who sent off to an american boarding school in new york without even contacting her . she would spend the summers in brazil with her mother or , as she got older , couch - surfing with different friends throughout the months . she started growing apart from her mother as she aged since she wasn’t going home every summer since she didn’t rly feel any connection to brazil . her grandfather had passed away & she only has faint memories grandmother , plus the city wasn’t at all familiar to her & she wasn’t practicing her portuguese after her mother returned to brazil .

through it all , music was proving to be the one constant in her life she could use to escape from reality . she had never done any training or classes , but she just liked singing along to whatever was on the radio & practicing on her own . she also found a passion for writing poetry which she later would realize was compatible with music . she would spend HOURS in the school library working on garage band lmfao bc she couldn’t afford her own laptop to produce music & her dad sent just enough money as he was legally supposed to . but she worked her lil tushy off & applied to a music academy in nyc & was rejected the first year ( DEVASTATING when mixed with her impostor syndrome & daddy issues ) but she practiced more & more & edned up getting accepted the next year . here , she worked on her vocal skills & music production , & started accumulating her own music & selling songs to music producers on the side for some ca$h money .

by the time she was 16 the state decided she was old / mature enough to live on her own so she got a TINY lil studio apartment in harlem where she’d grown up with her mum & she had friends who she’d grown up with . while it wasn’t the safest neighbourhood statistically sofie felt safe & just like one of the neighbourhood kids . it was the first time she genuinely felt like she belonged .

she was accepted on full scholarship to nyu & majored in music composition & vocal performance where she started finally feeling secure in herself & released her own music on soundcloud , quickly amassing a following & becoming an ‘ up & coming ‘ artist !! she was contacted by a scooter braun type guy who was interested in taking her on under his management so she dropped out of uni in her 2nd year ( bc tbh her grades in anything other than her music classes were v subpar ) . soon enough producers wanted to work with her & she was making enough that she didn’t have to sell her songs which she hated doing but had to pay the bills u know . oh & her vc is billie eilish bc ofc shes my queen go stream when we all fall asleep where do we go on spotify u won’t be disappointed

she also started getting into the partying scene here yikes !! it was a method for her to numb all her pain from her past & impostor syndrome & drown all that out in pills or tequila . it rly wasn’t healthy bc of how she would binge for a weekend then try to stay sober throughout the week but failing by about wednesday when she started to feel hollow . she wasn’t gonna be a one hit wonder & her mom sure as hell didn’t go through all that trouble just for sofie to be a nobody addict !! so she kept it together enough to start making big bucks & well ……. here she is :~)

personality

sofie blames it on her brazilian heritage but this bitch loves a party !! like shes the one who gets happy drunk at the pre then is the first on the dance floor then later falls out of the club & into some rando’s bed !! in the back of her mind she knows her drug & alcohol use is self - destructive but she figures shes allowed to let loose sometimes ( even if that ends up being most nights ) ; rly she’s just in denial bc she doesn’t want to change her ways & lose her identity !!

doesn’t put labels on her gender identity or sexual orientation . she finds them restrictive & useless for herself , labels would only be to satisfy others . she doesn’t see herself as 110% female either like she’s all about gender being a social construct / a spectrum ; some days she’ll get dolled up & wear heavy makeup & six inch heels , some days she’ll walk around in a bun & tracksuit & trainers . anyone who asks abt it will swiftly get 2 middle fingers in their face !! shes uncontrollable i swear

puts up a tough bad - ass front like billie does aksjdh like nah nothing can hurt me im bulletproof !! but is rly just kinda broken underneath . she doesn’t even let her closest friends know how hurting she is bc she doesn’t wanna burden them . she rly uses mmusic as an outlet tho so she’ll act totally tough then go to the studio & record all about her heartache . will NEVER let someone see her cry no matter how close she is with them . she rly sees it as a sign of weakness & shes in a much better place than she was 5 years ago so she figures she’s not ALLOWED to feel anything but grateful .

this bitch overthinks everything !! half the time she isn’t rly listenning to whoever bc she’s thinking about what they just said & if they’re mad with her . she’s that friend who will ask u to come over to formulate the perfect text response & fuss over it for hours . that being said , if someone talks shit abt anyone shes tight with , they’re gonna get it the next time she sees them . she isn’t about violence & would never get into a physical fight , but she’d work behind the scenes to ruin their life . but then she pretends like she rly doesn’t care though its obvious to those close to her that she cares way too much

has a very hard time expressing love bc she didn’t have much practice w it growing up . she was on her own most of her young life so even if her mom would tell her te amo she would be like uh huh gtg bye !!

tldr ; poor bitch w abandonment issues who was able to get out of it by channeling her energy into music & numbing the stress with pills or alcohol which she def still overuses but she doesn’t think its a problem !! yikeroony !! loves partying & having a good time , puts up a tough front but is rly soft underneath .

wanted (* = mw)

friends from high school !! - people sof stayed with in the summer bc she wasn’t going home to brazil .

friends from music school !! - she def felt like an outsider among the music prodigies at this school , & maybe this person was one of the ppl she actually connected with .

come out & play !! this person acts as a good influence to sofie . they’re level - headed & very grounding , & sofie doesn’t let it show but they’re really important to her . this is the Softest billie song ( prob bc it was for an ad skdj ) & they inspired it bc it’s how she feels when shes with them . they encourage her to be all that she can be & they believe in her , & they’re prob the one person sofie trusts the most which is SAYING something !!

*exes on bad terms !! - ok this would basically be based on all the songs billie has about a failed relationship / heartbreak !! shes got a bunch . im thnking maybe she was actually rly into them but had a hard time expressing it bc she’s never been good with emotional expression , & it led to the relationship feeling ?? unfaithful / disconnected ?? idk but she rly loved them & is still nursing that heartbreak . ( x , x , x )

the paris to her nicole !! - ok i f*cking hate that i said this but she’s nicole richie its true !! she needs a messy gal pal exactly like how paris & nicole are i stan them ( x , x , x )

roommate !! - bc of her abandonment issues she rly doesn’t like living alone so prob is the roomie who will sleep in their bed from time to time bc she doesn’t like being totally alone .

*when the party’s over !! - these two have been hooking up for a while no strings attached but recently feelings have been caught !! & now they still hook up quite often but sofie’s kinda harboring feelings & pretending all is well but she rly hopes they’ll just stay the night from time to time , & gets secretly heartbroken when she sees them flirting or leaving with someone else . they can also have feelings if u want that angst :~)

fwb !! - sofie is pretty transparent when it comes to what she wants & she’s got a bad habit of replacing dealing with problems with getting laid !! like u know in movies when the man opens his wallet and a row of like 20 pictures of different women fall out ?? that’s sof’s aesthetic . she’s got a bunch of fwb of all genders so bring me some pls

***mutual dislike / copycat !! self - explanatory , sofie thinks this person is copying her in everything she does & thinks its annoying af so she wrote a song abt it & hopes they indirectly get the message even if she drops not so subtle hints . skfldjh itd be messy pls !!

party buddies !! - someone who encourages sofies wild ways . when the two get together its usually to get drunk or high & thats the way they like it . sofie doesn’t feel judged by them as she does by others who don’t get obliterated at every social event ( what an idea !! ) so she rly values them , even if she doesn’t express it

** 8 !! - someone who kinda reluctantly got into a relationship with sofie out of maybe a desire to save her from herself ?? like u know that good girl bad boy trope where the girl tries to save the boy from whatever he’s struggling with ? that’s them but the roles are just reversed - good guy , bad girl . it was kinda just filled w her being self - destructive & confiding in him but not rly reciprocating the care so he became kinda distant bc of it . tbh she prob knew he was too good for her but had a sliver of hope he wouldn’t leave her even tho eventually she became too much for him . ( lyrics : you said, "don't treat me badly", but you said it so sadly, so I did the best I could, not thinkin' you would have left me gladly. i know you're not sorry, why should you be? 'cause who am I to be in love, when your love never is for me?” )

good influence !! this person can tell that her beahvior is unhealthy & are trying to gently nudge her abt it . she can tell what they’re doing but her addict brain is telling her its invasive & threatening so shes not the fondest of this person , but deep down she really appreciates them

music buddies !! these two are both in the music industry & rather than it being competitive , they’ve developed a friendship from it & enjoy working together .

* someone sofie ghostwrites for !! for whatever reason , this muse doesn’t write their own songs & instead pays sofie to write them for them . she doesn’t love it but its a way to make money & give away songs she doesn’t feel attached to but are worth something . maybe its tense bc they claim the songs as their own & sofie doesn’t like it , this could be ~escandolo~ later !!

*** my boy ( high school bf ) !! - ok tea this song is the one that broke her into the industry . she produced it all herself & just relased it to her soundcloud thinking it wouldn’t rly go anyway but !! joke’s on yung sofie . essentially he thought the relationship was going well , she’d met his family & they rly liked her but !! sof was feeling kinda smothered & told herself he was lying & cheating on her n shit so she wrote a song about it !! & once it was starting to get attention he was like ….. uhhh what the fuck & she was like haha sorry !! so they broke up & ever since its been animosity , but she realizes she fucked up but it launched her career so she doesn’t know whether to keep up the idgaf i hurt you or apologize .

* ex - friends !! ok pls i have this hc where sofie got way too high one night & slept with this person’s dad or sibling or smth !! u know that line in ‘ bad guy ’ where she goes ‘ might seduce your dad type ? ’ ya that’s got sofie written ALL over it !! & now they’re not friends bc sofie can’t keep it in her pants but both sides kinda misses the other but are too stubborn to say anything :~(

exes from college / high school !! - ok honestly i just love all the exes plots . gimme someone who like maybe they were hooking up & decided to give it a shot dating & it worked for a while but ultimately fell apart bc of sof’s inability to open up. maybe theres still tension or maybe theyre friends now !!

* lovely !! - i need a male voice for khalid’s part in lovely bc i need this song in my life bc its a whole ass sofie mood ok .

i’ve also got a wanted connections tag linked HERE dksfj there's not much in it yet but feel free to check it out . ok i love y'all

#glitterati.intro #excited to be here :~)

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mobils0hb3t3-blog · 5 years

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Must i try online dating? Wherever may i uncover great online online dating advice??

mobil sohbet

If you are thinking associated with trying online dating, however, you can't quite get upward the actual nerve to perform so; perhaps you ought to just jump straight within and try it.

mobil sohbet

Generally there are lots of individuals - busy people, timid people, people in countryside areas - who possess reasons why they avoid find it easy in order to fulfill new people; as well as if you want to be able to grow your acquaintance, internet dating may be the solution.

It's a method of growing your social circle without having having to courageous the particular bar and club picture. And if you've already been thinking about 'Should I attempt online dating sites? ' but might usually found excuses way up to now which avoided you from trying it; well, maybe your factors are not as legitimate while you think.

It's not really safe

Consider that detailed. Why should this become any less safe than the usual blind date or conference someone randomly in the pub? You can invest plenty of time talking online before you choose to meet all of them, therefore you will have learned plenty about them prior to you actually do meet up with. You can also maintain your personal information private till you feel at ease revealing that and saying yes to arranged up a date.

We currently meet lots regarding people

Even if that is true, online dating may only increase it. This doesn't mean you need to quit looking for love one of the people you meet within your daily life; and actually if you do have got your eye on any couple of possible dates, there is no make sure any involving them will turn away to be Mister Correct. Think of online internet dating because just another method to increase your likelihood of finding The One.

I am as well busy to day right now

You might be also busy to trawl pubs or go to discos, but everyone can discover time for you to use the web - and to satisfy someone they think is actually worth their own time. In case your life is truly full, then online relationship is an extremely efficient use connected with your time which might produce a very good result. Commuting time, your own lunch break and some sort of few silent minutes inside the evening are almost all possibilities for browsing on the internet information, and you can easily exchange messages from the smart phone at any time.

Now i'm certainly not ready to begin dating

After that try putting your signature on up to some interpersonal groups first, and obtain an awareness of00 what it's such as to connect with people on-line. Remember that you could have since much or as small to do with these types of people when you want, thus you can take points at a pace a person feel more comfortable with. There tend to be plenty of social websites and also forums which are usually aimed at a friendly relationship along with shared interests instead of courting. You can make a few brand new friends, have several fun and be prepared to jump into online online dating with full confidence when you really feel ready.

It can too costly

Many sites allow an individual to register and search for free, even though generally you have to spend to produce your own user profile or react to profiles anyone like. But most costs are quite reasonable, despite the fact that some really specialist or even exclusive internet sites may cost a premium. Usually you actually would find yourself investing under you would upon a night out. And you might find it's money much better spent too!

I'd find it hard to trust someone I fulfilled online

Well, are a person and so sure that can always believe in someone an individual met off-line either? Nevertheless you meet folks, generally there is always the chance that they will come to be duplicitous, irresponsible or flaky. In either case, anyone should trust what their impulse tells you, and in case somebody gives you a new bad feeling or perhaps feel, avoid them in upcoming.

Is actually just for nutters and crazies

Any trustworthy dating website is envious of the reputation, in addition to they have safeguards for you to weed out people who else cause annoyed or offence to their network. As well as in their own passions, many people online are aware regarding reporting inappropriate or maybe dubious behaviour. You ought not to feel any kind of less secure than you would in the pub.

Only the desperate use online dating

Once perhaps, however, not these days. Almost all sorts of people worldwide are using online internet dating today, and several of these are just like you actually. They view it as the safe way to bring in themselves to people these people would in no way otherwise fulfill, and who also might turn out to be great buddies or also the Love of Their own Living. You can locate people with similar pursuits who enjoy the exact same things do, and a person get to select the men and women you want to meet up with. Elaborate not to just like?

I'm way too different/unusual/eccentric to help find someone who stocks my interests

If an individual may be a genuine one-off, after that the net is THE ACTUAL place to find someone that shares your originality. Not just can you include your current unusual hobbies in your own personal profile, but additionally, there are relationship sites online for just about all types of different cultural, religious, intelligent and physical attention organizations. And if your personal niche isn't very yet protected - nicely, start your own own!

I'm far too aged for online dating

Not really today! People of most ages end up single these kinds of days, and if you're never ever too old to begin once again. Even people within their nineties have been motivated in order to surf the internet as well as find really like online, and also if they're not necessarily as well old, then none are generally you. Life's too brief to up one associated with the best opportunities there is certainly to find a fresh love.

Each one of these excuses get been around for many years, however we're in typically the 21st millennium now along with online dating will be popular. Should I try online dating services? If you really carry out want to improve your possibilities of finding Mr Proper, then the answer should be Indeed. Whatever anyone reasons for not getting achieved the right guy up to now, no one is too busy to be able to date. Therefore give the idea a go and notice for yourself often the options it can provide which will add to your probabilities of finding Mr. Appropriate.

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driftwork · 5 years

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knowledge and a few words on Michel Serres, rights and responsibilities...

Michel Serres is one of best of the lovers of knowledge, who likes to be thought of as the son of a fisherman, one of the last people born of the neolithic age, sharpens his vocabulary once he has constructed it and remains within the plane of language. In Serresian terms the fishing nets are to be thrown into the streams of the listeners, caught in the net. These days he is concerned with the concept of life. For us then, as for Serres the question; lets ask the question does the Pacific Ocean live ? The answer is Yes. Do the Cairngorms, the Alps live ? Yes, but infinitely slowly. Which is to say on time scales that cannot be perceived on our human life cycles (including those we talk about in relation to multi-generational projects, or when we speak of our children and ancestors)`. But we can refer to things on longer life cycles than that, including the Orbits of stars as Serres describes them moving across the arc of the sky over a 200 Million year period. [...] “We are taking up the Grand Narrative again by starting, at leisure, at the big bang, if it ever existed, at the cooling of our planet, at the appearance of RNA, around the Kenyan rift, according to whether you are dealing with the Universe, the Earth, life or Homo Sapiens, at the four respective times of their emergence...”

Michel Serres is concerned with the question of a natural contract, a legal question. For the oceans have a right to be unharmed and this right should have constitutional status. There are no human rights without respect for the natural rights of the planet . Serres and we can leave aside the constitutional norms of the universe because contact between humanity and the forces out there is not yet particularly relevant to the present (though any left-Malthusian knows that the hideous questions of colonialism and imperialism already haunt us in relation to near space.) Can the lawyers in New York and London, law firms with many strata and segments provide legal representation for the Oceans, the Mountains, the defiled Earth, local space ? bacteria ? We should temporarily pause for thought. We are inclined to suggest that they are capable of claiming constitutional rights themselves. For we can see how the developing change in the climate is damaging our lives and will do so for 500 years or more (just as Neptune avenged the blasphemy of Ulysses men, who slaughtered his white bulls (that would spray, the white surf on undamaged coastlines), with a 20 year punishment). But how the internet users ask can an avenger like the Gulf of Mexico find its way to the BP headquarters in London ? How is the sea supposed to avenge itself on the BP organization in London ? It would be better Serres (we) suggests if the tribunician power of the ocean were exercised by Humans, equipped as it is with a provisional authority of legal representation - of the Oceans, of the defiled Earth, of polluted Local space, of defiling mines, of history, of political economy[…]. Rights here are placed with a natural contract, which is related to De Waal’s “I am more comfortable with the language of obligations, we have an obligation not to make them suffer” (de Waal).

And would that be the fourth or fifth estate ? Someone asks. How many constitutional subjects are there? We should not commit ourselves here, for to forget even one of the constitutional parties, will mean that the excluded fairy will take a bitter revenge, for the crime committed against her and for being forgotten. Then how do we protect the commons from their users?

(happily plagiarized from Michel Serres, Alexander Kluge)

#everyday practices #ideology and discourse #serres

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rachelisnotatwork · 6 years

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Week 2: in which it is very windy and we nearly drown (spoiler alert) but we do find a giant prawn

On Monday we left our rather gorgeous B&B in Kalbarri and headed further up North. The drive was a bit...monotonous. There was literally nothing to stop at or see for three hours, nor even any corners. Just a straight road, one lane in either direction, and some dead kangaroos by the side of the road.

After three hours, we reached the start of the peninsula we were going to stay on. Our first stop off was stromatolites. In case you don’t know what this is (I didn’t) it is a microbial mat that gradually builds up and turns into a rock. This is just as scenic as you imagine it to be. I was...underwhelmed. Apparently they were very important in oxygenating the earth and early life, so I guess thanks? The best bit was it was near the only shop for several hundred kilometres and they sold magnums, so ice cream and toilet stop win (no wilderness wees for me here since everything is toxic and I’m bad at spotting wildlife).

Our next stop was a place called shell bay, which is a super saline bay (evapouration, lack of currents etc) that only has one type of cockle living and dying there in epic proportions. It was quite pretty so I guess that wins over microbial mats. We also got asked by some tourists where the nearest petrol station was because their reserve light was on and had been for ages. The news there were none for at least 50km was not received well.

Our final stop off was Eagle Bluff, which is an overlook with a boardwalk. We saw a turtle from above, and I learnt about nervous sharks, which are frankly the only sharks I feel I might be on board with since I like timidity in my biting predators.

I also learnt about the existence of stone fish, which it suggests you take precautions to avoid. I was already concerned about going in the sea due to sharks, jellyfish, saltwater crocodiles and sea snakes (which I wasn’t even aware were actual creatures, not mythological beasts until this trip). I googled stone fish and added them to the “For Fuck’s Sake” list. Apparently they hang out looking like a stone (or bury themselves in the sand) but unlike a stone their backs are covered in spikes that can penetrate a boot sole and these are covered in agonising toxins that can both kill you and if doesn’t kill you, forever wither your limb due to the nerve damage. Fabulous.

We finally drove into Denham in the late afternoon. It is a town of 600 people in the middle of nowhere but it has a surprisingly decent supermarket. After a late afternoon snack of vintage cheddar and pumpernickel, we set out for a walk.

We tried somewhere called the Little Lagoon first. On the way we saw an echidna crossing the road and were very glad, since some tourists had stopped on the opposite side of the road to photograph it, that we hadn’t swung around the corner 20 seconds earlier and flattened it in front of the crowd. The lagoon itself was very dull, but we did follow the creek of it to the beach to enjoy sunset.

Directly after sunset the wind really picked up, which was a bit alarming as we are staying in a mobile home (accommodation is both sparse and expensive) and it started to creak somewhat ominously with the wind. We did however survive until morning which is always a plus.

Tuesday morning we drove across to Monkey Mia (deeply confusing name as there are definitely no monkeys in Australia but it is something to do with aboriginal names for dolphins and a pearling ship) to go on a nature spotting boat trip.

Monkey Mia is some sort of national park reserve but in a deeply un-national park fashion, they feed the dolphins in the morning (whilst putting up lots of signs telling you how feeding wildlife is awful and you mustn’t do it). This is mainly at 7.45am, which might as well be never on my schedule, so we thought we wouldn’t bother as they only sometimes feed them later. But luckily for us, we embarked on our boat tour just as they started feeding some so we got some great views of greedy dolphins indulging in unnatural behaviour (which is obviously exactly what you want on a nature cruise).

At first I was a little dispirited as our boat featured a crowd of elderly pensioners from a coach tour, so thought the whole trip would be full of elderly fallers and people bawling to hear each other over their hearing aids. But actually the first pensioner who struck up a conversation with us had emigrated to Australia 60 years ago because her husband was a doctor and he was horrified about the NHS coming into being. So they headed off down under and he became a rural doctor in the middle of nowhere, providing all the medical services a hospital probably does now and she used to assist him when he did operations on the kitchen table. Now she seemed to be off having a great time not being old- after explaining how the last time she hung out in the net they drag off the back of the boat so you get repeatedly dunked (it’s for kids and she said she thought “Am I too old for this? And then thought NO”), she headed off to climb onto the roof of the boat. She later did a Titanic impression and gave us pilfered cheese and crackers. My new life goal is to be her when I’m old. The next one told us about how he grew up in Perth but his sweetheart was in Tasmania, so he used to load up his car with days worth of petrol, water and food and head out across the untarmacked enormous Nullarbor desert hoping for the best. Made us feel a bit wussy with our aircon and cooler bag full of snacks in the car.

In addition to fun pensioner spotting, we also saw a lot of dolphins and turtles. One of the dolphins even decided to hang out at the front of our boat, surfing the bow wave and doing twirls in it. We then spent a long time cruising to look for dugongs, and getting irritated because we kept spotting turtles instead. Eventually we did see a mother and calf, although given how they swim you couldn’t really see the faces which are the most distinguishing part.

We cruised back and laughed at some pelicans on the beach.

Then we ate lunch at a restaurant overlooking the shore. From the terrace you could see the water. In which two children frolicked. We watched as a dolphin slowly swam closer and closer until he surfaced right behind one of the kids, who was a boy of about ten. Said child turned, saw the dolphin, shot about ten foot up into the air and ran out of the ocean in flailing all of his limbs. Pretty sure the dolphin was laughing.

After lunch we decided since there were so many dolphins just merrily splashing about in the water, we’d go kayaking. We rented a kayak. We headed out into the water. All of the wildlife immediately disappeared and the wind picked up so we spent about an hour trying not to get blown out to sea.

After we got back to shore some children were encircling a goanna. With the touching faith children have in adults, they asked me if it was dangerous. I said yes, because I think you have to assume everything here could probably liquefy your organs with a scratch. So apologies to those parents, as I assume their kids are probably having nightmares about lizards now.

When we had booked our original boat tour, we also got a free sunset cruise with the same company. So at 16.45 we headed back to the jetty to see that all the dolphins who had spent the last hour hiding were currently participating in a right by the shore war with the pelicans, who were giving as good as they got. Apparently pelicans piss dolphins off by following them around. When the dolphin has diligently found a fish and herded it to the surface, before it can move in for the kill the pelican that has been tailing it swoops in and nabs the fish. Knew pelicans had the look of right bastards about them.

That was about the best animal spotting we had on the sunset cruise. The dolphins aren’t supposed to be fed after midday but I concluded from the fact they kept hanging around all day by the feeding part of the shore, that they are like cats. Eternal optimists and poor time-keepers, always hoping someone might give them some fish.

The cruise was beautiful but the wind really picked up. To 31 knots, to be precise, which is 35mph, which is a lot more wind then you want when it is getting cold, you are in summery clothes and you are very, very exposed on the roof of a catamaran. They had to lower the sail because they were concerned the wind was going to damage it.

When we got back to shore there was another dolphin being scenic and hanging out right by the beach, which made our rather windy trip and cold trip seem rather pointless. But on the way home, driving carefully to avoid a kangaroo massacre, we did see a gorgeous blood red moon rising.

Wednesday we set off to drive to our next spot, the town of Carnarvon. We got there sufficiently early to waste most of the afternoon buying a hat for Marcel (indecisive is too weak a term. There needs to be new vocabulary for the experience of shopping with Marcel), but there was a brief amount of time left to visit a local attraction, the blowholes. They are a bit out of town past some huge salt plains and at a turn off marked with a huge sign saying “King Waves Kill”. This is not hugely reassuring when you are off to stand on a cliff edge drenched by them. It was incredibly windy up there. So windy that the lifebelt on a pole had been flattened to the ground. As a consequence it was not the most relaxing or enjoyable stop. We tried to walk on the beach near it, but again felt like the wind was going to scour the flesh off our bones. Western Australia is...breezy.

Instead we decided to have a wander in town and walked across the old tram lines to Whitlock Island. We didn’t get as far across as the other side of it though, where they have a (sadly shut at the moment) one mile jetty out to sea. Apparently boats used to offload there and then their cargo was carried on trams that used SAILS to help them travel back down the jetty and across the island and into town.

This isn’t the only slightly strange thing about Carnarvon. The reason we had stopped there was to visit the space museum, as during the space race years there was an active station there for communicating with space craft. I had always assumed they just chatted with Houston, but at various different points across the globe they had stations manned by scientists and astronauts to communicate with the space crafts at different points in their orbits. The museum was rather sweet and featured a huge cat called Buzz who liked to sit on the counter and ignore visitors.

Carnarvon was also, strangely, the site of the first live broadcast to and from the UK, because of some satellite they put into the wrong level of orbit, which afforded them 12 minutes to time to broadcast live TV. The BBC decided to use this to provide an early version of video chat and they had an old TV playing the broadcast from the 1960s of very awkward people in Carnarvon talking to similarly awkward parents and siblings sitting in a studio in the UK. Oddly fascinating.

Carnarvon is a huge fruit growing town, so on the way out of town I made Marcel stop so we could buy two of the hugest papayas I’ve seen in my life that I lovingly wrapped in his jumper on the back seat. We then drove on up to Exmouth.

Exmouth is a surprisingly charming town located up on a peninsula by the Ningaloo reef. It is surprisingly lively for it’s size and we stayed in a lovely place (the Ningaloo B&B should you ever find yourself in that part of the word) where our hostess took the local tourist magazine and showed us all the best places to snorkel, shop and eat. We had a great dinner that night at a craft beer and pizza place called the Whalebone Brewing Company. Marcel was in seventh heaven.

The next day we headed into the national park. We had decided to go for a couple of the walks and then snorkel to cool down. The walks were fine, although we failed to see any of the parks famed rock wallabies.

We then decided to head to the beach to snorkel. Our first stop was Oyster Stacks, which they advised could only be snorkelled at mid-high tide. It was alas low tide. So we got out and headed to the next bay.

The next beach along was called Turquoise Bay. The tourist magazine produced by the town recommended the “drift loop” where you walk up the beach, get in and swim out and then drift along the shore over the coral “before getting out near the sandbar”. We drove to the car park where there was a warning that because of currents only moderate to strong swimmers should go in the water. I felt we both hit the category of moderate, so we headed out.

The next ten minutes were an interesting lesson of how good times can go bad exceptionally quickly. The water was pretty cold but the current was managable- it was down the beach but I checked at the entry point that I could swim out and back without drifting at all. So we set out over the reef. The water was cold but we saw some beautiful fish and a 5ft reef shark swam right by us, which was pretty cool (they are generally known to be massive wusses so we weren’t concerned). We were reaching the sandbar so we decided to get out. Only to find that the current here was pretty much a riptide out and around the sandbar. We couldn’t really swim through it to the shore. We got to a point where we should have just about been able to stand and Marcel could, but I was just skidded along the seabed and further towards the sandbar. I kept fighting, getting a face and mouth full of seawater to get in a bit shallower and the tide pulled my flippers off my feet, which I think is the definition of a tide that NO swimmer, regardless of strength, should be in. Eventually I was shallow enough to bury my feet in, and then shallow enough to bury my hands and feet in because the current was so strong I still couldn’t stand in it. So eventually I crawled out the water, farily traumatised with cuts on my toes from where the flippers were ripped off and a fairly large bruise on my hand from it hitting something. A later read of tripadvisor had lots of helpful information from locals about the fact that you shouldn’t swim there at low tide nor go anywhere near the sandbar as the combination of low tide and a hole in the reef near the sandbar creates a riptide out through the reef into the bay. Which would be undesirable in many, many ways as no one would have noticed we were gone, the waves outside the reef are fairly huge and smash down on the reef and it was already late afternoon, so doubt anyone would have spotted our distress. So thanks a bunch National Parks Service and the local tourist information literature for forgetting to mention those fairly important facts for people who don’t want to drown.

At this point I was fairly keen to go home and never see the ocean again. We headed back and celebrated our survival by eating a kilo (and I’m not joking there) of papaya; these papayas were the size of a calf’s head. Bloated, we headed out to an astronomy evening I had booked, which was delightful. The sky around there is very clear and very dark and in winter and spring, you can see Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in the night sky, all of which we saw with the telescopes. The views were so good you could see the ice cap on Mars.

The next morning we woke up to find an emu with his 4 chicks hanging out in the front garden. Emu fathers raise the chicks for 18 months and are pretty defensive of them, so we stayed safely inside the porch.

We had had more snorkelling planned for the next day but I flat out refused to go into the sea despite Marcel’s claim I shouldn’t let one bad experience put me off (I feel like near-drowning is a very good reason not to ever go in the sea anywhere in Australia ever again, or possibly any sea anywhere ever again) so I left him to it and told him I’d be on the look out for if he got swept out beyond the reef. We had a picnic afterwards on sandy bay, which is beautiful, albeit it windy.

Saw a few huge sea turtles pootling about on our walk there but this wasn’t enough to tempt me back into the sea. On our way back we stopped at the lighthouse. In WW2 it was an important defence site and it is mostly interesting as no one ever removed the sandbags and over the last 70 years they’ve pretty much turned into rocks. They also had some information about the early Qantas flights to Europe, which used seaplanes and were very, very slow. They were up in the air without landing for over 24 hours at a time, so long you’d see the sunrise twice and this was celebrated on landing with a card certifying your membership of the “rare and secret order of the double sunrise”. Times really were more exciting then.

We had to head back earlier than the previous day though because on the advice of our host we’d booked into a whale-watching tour. I have never really bothered signing up for a whale watching tour before as I felt it was unlikely we’d see much of them and Marcel gets really sea sick, so the thought of paying a small fortune to watch Marcel hyperventilate and vomit (whilst not seeing any sea creatures) was not appealing. But this was inside the other side of the penisula (the bit without the coral, badly signed beaches and riptides) which is super calm and this area is where the whales stop on their migration down from the Kimberley area (where they give birth) back to Antarctica, to teach the babies social skills somewhere safe.

I was hoping our boat would be empty as their was some super important Aussie Rules football match on (I didn’t think it was possible to care less about football, but then I discovered they have this weird subtype of it down here that I care even less about) but alas there were other tourists. We headed out and within about 5 minutes were treated to a baby humpback whale repeatedly breaching and playing by the side of the boat. It was super cute. I was ecstatic. And then to continue the theme of bad luck with cameras and sea life, my camera which had claimed it was fine for battery power that morning packed up and died of low battery.

Thankfully I had my iPhone as over the next few hours we were repeatedly treated to the sights and sounds of whales breaching, fin slapping, tail slapping and blowing. Since most of them were mothers and calves, each action by the mother would be copied a few seconds later by the calf. It was pretty amazing. There were so many whales in the bay that looking across the ocean, the plumes of water from whales blowing looked like molehills scattered over a lawn. We also saw a couple of “heat runs”, which is a collection of randy males swimming after a female, hoping to impress her. Even the boat staff said they didn’t normally see this much activity. I felt a bit sorry for them because they were trying to serve canapes but everyone was ignoring them for the whales. It was incredible. I almost forgave Exmouth for the near-drowning. But I didn’t because, epic grudge.

The next morning we set off for Tom Price. On the way out of town I found this giant prawn, and was very happy. Australia is famous for big things by the road (presumably to break up the monoty) and this was the first one we’d spotted.

Tom Price is a mining town, best described as “in the middle of nowhere”, whose only redeeming feature is its proximity to a national park. The option was staying there or glamping. There is no glamour possible in camping, and I do not camp, so the mining town it was.

The drive was about 7 hours. We passed ONE petrol station in 6 hours and two feral cows. That was it for signs of human habitation and animal life. Just a straight road, one lane in either direction, occasional cars passing in the other direction.

We listened to a lot of Bill Bryson’s “Down Under”, which has done nothing to soothe my fears of death by animal life. There are two roads into Tom Price, a more direct one that is used by the mining traffic but is unpaved, and a much longer paved road to the only other town in the area. We took that one, so did get to see some civilisation, and at about that point some hills, which I tell you after pretty much entirely flat desert from Perth is pretty exciting.

The accommodation options in Tom Price are...limited. We were staying in a cabin in a caravan park. Except by cabin, it was more really a converted shipping container into a tiny very basic studio. The interior décor was… a single fridge magnet for the local rural suicide hotline.

I decided to do some laundry before dinner. The laundry room was rather 1970s, and probably to prevent you getting decent value for money, all the knobs to select the cycle on the washing machines had been removed so I put my laundry in under the suspicion what I was actually getting was a cold wash.

I headed back out to get my wash with Marcel. On the way we noticed dozens of tiny frogs. How cute I thought. I removed my washing from the machine to find...one in the bottom of the drum. I was horrified to think I’d killed a frog, but then I realised it was staggering around, head tipped askance and clearly very dizzy (later a friend directed me towards an article about how Nasa used frogs to investigate how the human vestibular system would function in space as apparently frogs have very similar ones to ours and get motion sick from the same activities, so I felt very guilty). Having no idea whether the frog was toxic (as everything else here bloody well is), we spent ages with an elderly magazine we’d found trying to scoop it out of the machine.

It eventually climbed aboard and staggered off into the night to live another day. I then spent a frantic amount of time googling frogs to see if I had washed some toxic frog venom off said frog and onto my clothes. Looks like it was a harmless desert tree frog though. Probably one of only two creatures that can’t kill you here. And so ended week 2, with a slightly higher drama laundry load than I’d anticipated.

Ways I’ve thought I might die in Australia this week:

Death by stone fish, collapsing mobile home and/or ending up in Oz after we disappeared in a tornado, swept out to sea by a king wave whilst admiring a blowhole, capsized on a windy sunset cruise, death by riptide (actually not paranoid about that one but entirely reasonable), eviscerated by an overly defensive emu dad, squashed by a large whale breaching onto our boat, killed by frog toxin from envenomed underpants.

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atropaazraelle · 6 years

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A Spell for Happiness: Ch.8

Final Chapter

Also available on AO3

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Ignis was a mermaid.

Gladio paced the beach with his hands in his hair, trying to keep the thoughts in his head from spilling out into the air. Ignis. His Ignis, the beautiful, gentle blind man he'd taken in, the man he'd kissed, the man he'd fantasized about in the privacy of his own bed, was a mermaid.

“And you knew?” he yelled at Prompto, trying to take that particular tidbit of information in at the same time.

It had seemed fine, out in the water, with Ignis' tail twined around his legs and his beautiful, bright green eyes looking at him for the first time ever. With the scars gone and his eyes clear, Gladio had been thunderstruck by Ignis’ beauty, and not even the fact that he had a tail and gills could dampen Gladio’s desire for him.

Then he'd come ashore, and seen Prompto, and Prompto had asked where Ignis was and suddenly the fact that this was all real and not some dream had hit Gladio like a tonne of bricks.

Prompto hadn't been surprised by the truth. He hadn't called Gladio a liar, or laughed at him, or anything that he should have done. Instead, Prompto had taken Gladio by the arm and dragged him off to the rocky part of the beach where they'd found Iggy, and told him to wait.

Prompto made an urgent hushing noise between his teeth, flapping one hand at Gladio as he gripped his necklace in the other hand and muttered something. Gladio couldn't hear what he was saying, although Prompto seemed to be concentrating very hard.

None of this made any sense. Prompto had known, but how? And what the hell was he supposed to do now? Ignis was gone, back to the sea where he belonged, but Gladio couldn’t accept that. He wanted Ignis back. There were so many questions he needed to ask, not least about how the hell he'd been human.

Banished, he'd said. Banished from the sea for the crime of saving a life or two.

The truth hit Gladio like a ship coming in too fast, first colliding, and then plowing right on through and destroying everything in its wake.

Him. It was him and Prompto. Those were the lives Ignis had saved.

“It was us, wasn't it?” he asked, sitting unsteadily on a rock while his head swam. “It was him. This whole time, Iggy was the one who saved my life.”

Prompto turned his back to the ocean for the first time since coming to this spot of the beach and looked at him.

“It took you 'til now to work that out?” said a voice from the water.

“Noct!” Prompto cried, and leapt into the surf.

Gladio looked up sharply. A boy, maybe Prompto's age, naked and pale, with black hair plastered to his face and the bluest eyes Gladio had ever seen, was reaching for Prompto's hand. Prompto pulled him up until he could grasp one of the rocks and haul himself onto it, and then Gladio saw the brilliant blue tail that started from his hips.

“You're Noct?” he asked, dumbly. This boy was the one Ignis had screamed for, the one Ignis had been banished for. Gladio wasn't sure if that made him want to smack the kid or thank him.

“Yeah,” Noct replied. “Where's Specky?”

“Specky?” Gladio repeated, lost in the conversation already.

“It's his nickname for Iggy,” Prompto supplied, nervous energy radiating off him. He fidgeted as he spoke, hovering near Noct as if the two of them had to put up a united front against Gladio.

“His tail was speckled when he was younger,” Noct supplied. “It's supposed to be a mark of beauty, so we called him Specky.”

A mark of beauty? Gladio huffed at that information. He'd seen Iggy's tail, and it was brilliant green, the sort you could see rainbows in when he moved. He didn't think Iggy could be any more beautiful.

But that was the thing, wasn't it? Ignis had a tail. He wasn't human. He never had been. “It was all a lie, wasn't it?” Gladio muttered, placing his head in his hands.

There was a splash of waves against the rocks, almost as if they'd been thrown, and Gladio looked up to see Noct's tail shimmering for a moment before the colour settled. “Do you really think he's that sort of person?” Noct challenged, venom in his tone. “You've spent nearly a season with him, and that's what you think?”

“He's a fish!” Gladio snapped. There was no other way to put it bluntly; Ignis was a merman, half fish, not even human. No wonder he hadn't known what coffee was, or that he'd marvelled at fire. They'd taken it for amnesia, but it wasn't, it was culture shock.

“He's still Ignis!” Noct bit back. “You think where he came from or what's below his waist changes anything about the person you know?”

Gladio struggled to answer. Ignis loved coffee, and Byron, and early mornings. He loved the softness of fine cotton against his skin, and placing his hands in the small of Gladio's back when they kissed, and no, none of that was different just because Ignis had a tail. “He lied,” Gladio replied. “I was...” I was falling for him. “He lied to me.”

“Not because he had a choice,” Noct said firmly. “Where is he?” he asked, turning to Prompto.

“He's gone back,” Prompto said awkwardly, and gesturing at Gladio. “He wasn't making much sense, and Ignis was gone, so...” he trailed off, and gestured at Gladio again.

“Ardyn,” Gladio said, drawing himself up to recant the tale. “Iggy mentioned someone named Ardyn. Something about him coming back for us, and Iggy couldn't let him have me.”

“It was Ardyn?” Noct asked weakly. He seemed stunned, even distressed, by the information, his tail drooping listlessly in the water.

“Who the fuck is Ardyn?” Gladio asked, already sick of hearing the name. Ignis was a mermaid, and some guy was out for Gladio, and nothing made sense any more—and worst of all, Ignis wasn't here. Gladio wanted to hold him and forgive him for lying, but he also wanted so many answers from him that his head spun with the questions.

“He's a witch,” Noct answered. “A really powerful one. He hates humans.”

“What's he got against humans?” Prompto asked.

Noct sighed, flashing Prompto an apologetic look. “The same thing as the rest of us?” he offered. “You drag nets through our homes, catch our fish, and poison our water. That's why we hide from you.”

Gladio listened to Noct explain, staring blankly at the water lapping on the beach. “That why it's against your laws to save us?” he asked.

Noct gave a nod, frowning. “But it's not right,” he said. “Our laws say we should have let you drown, but you're good people. We could sense that, so we saved you.” He looked down at the water, his tail twitching unhappily, like someone scuffing their foot. “Specky took banishment to save me, so I went to Ardyn and I brought him a spell.”

“To make him human,” Gladio intoned, slotting the pieces together in his own head.

“No,” Noct said vehemently, “it was supposed to give him a chance at happiness. It was supposed to set events into motion that would let Ignis have what he wanted out of life.” He took a deep breath, and then sighed heavily. “But it turned him human and he nearly drowned, so I brought him here.” Gladio glanced at Noct, who looked just as defeated as Gladio felt inside. “Where we come from, if someone saves your life, you owe them. I thought it might work both ways, and that we couldn’t understand how the spell worked, but when I saw him last...” He shook his head, looping his arms around the back of his tail and tugging it toward himself. “I realised that maybe his happiness wasn't with us after all.”

Gladio felt his throat drying out. You made me happy. Those had been Iggy's parting words to him. “He went to Ardyn for me. He said I made him happy, and that it was enough.”

“If he gave up on happiness, then he broke the spell,” Noct said.

“So he's going to be miserable as a merman, for Gladio's sake?” Prompto asked.

Noct scowled, his shoulders hunching. “If he's with Ardyn, he'll be worse than miserable,” he said. “Specky is pretty powerful—with magic, I mean. Ardyn will use him.”

“Like fuck he will,” Gladio said, gritting his teeth. Iggy had surrendered his home and his happiness to save Gladio’s life. That alone was bad enough, but that he'd willingly given himself up to someone he knew would use him? No. Gladio wasn't about to let it end like that. “How do we get Iggy back?”

Noct shook his head. “He gave himself in your place. It's like a magical contract. The only way to free him is if one of them dies, or Ardyn doesn't hold up his end of it.”

“So we have to kill the guy?” Prompto asked, sounding more and more nervous with each word, shuffling his weight and fidgeting with his hands.

Noct laughed humourlessly. “Not that easy,” he said. “I'm pretty strong, but I don't think I could do it. You've got no chance.”

Gladio considered that. It left them with one option that he could see, because leaving Ignis behind wasn't among them. “So how do we get him to break his own contract?”

Noct looked at Gladio, and Gladio held that blue eyed gaze as he was studied. “How much are you willing to put on the line for Specky?”

Gladio didn't flinch at the question, instead taking a deep breath and drawing himself up. “He saved my life twice. I at least owe him that.”

Noct continued to examine Gladio, his tail swishing thoughtfully, and then he gave a nod. “We can work with that.”

*****

“Just so I've got this clear,” Prompto said, asking the same question for the third time in the vain hope that he might get a different answer if he kept at it, “we're bait?”

“That about sums it up,” Gladio agreed, only paying a quarter of his full attention. Noct had left them a mile back, and sailing a glorified dinghy this far out to sea was dangerous enough without knowing you were crossing some threshold that would draw a magical lunatic to you.

“Us two,” Prompto pressed, “in this tiny little boat.”

“You could have stayed ashore,” Gladio snapped at him, though it was the dull, inattentive jab of a man with other things on his mind.

“I'm not saying that!” Prompto hurried to protest, his voice rising in urgency. “I just wish we could have brought a bigger boat.” He looked around unhappily. The shore was almost lost in the distance, as was any hope of help, and there was nothing but blue seas and blue sky around them. It was kind of unsettling, really. “Like a galleon,” he added.

“Less whining, more working,” Gladio said, shifting to start reeling the sail in. “We're almost there.”

“Did I mention that I don't like this plan?” Prompto said as he got up to help.

*****

The shine of Ignis' tail had dulled, becoming as drained as he felt as he obediently pushed a stoppered vial onto one of Ardyn's shelves.

“Thank you, dear boy,” Ardyn purred. “Do let me know if you feel like producing any more.”

“Of course,” Ignis answered, and sincerely hoped he wouldn't. It wasn't just the way it felt to cry with no consolation, to sit and wallow with only one's own heartbreak for company. Ignis also didn't want to hand over such a powerful thing as mermaid tears to Ardyn again.

He hadn't been able to help it. Gladio's confusion and grief had flared in his chest and resonated there, and he'd known that somewhere in his castle, Gladio had been alone with his own tears. He could feel them as well as if they'd tracked down his own face, a few minutes spent in helpless fear and loss, and he'd wanted nothing more than to go to Gladio and take him into his arms.

Instead, he'd been faced with Ardyn pressing an empty bottle into his hand, and giving him that shark's smile. Ardyn had let him be for the evening at least, although there was no comfortable hollow for Ignis to nestle into and sleep. Not that Ignis could sleep. He'd drifted off at one point, and his traitorous brain had taken him back to the shore, back into the library and Gladio's arms, where the press of his mouth had been urgent and heated, and Ignis' skin had flamed.

He'd woken, consumed by longing and loss, to find Ardyn still awake, flitting around his lair doing the depths knew what.

Ignis was tired, and the grim determination that had emitted from Gladio since the early morning was both a source of comfort and concern. He hoped that one day Gladio would move on, that Ignis would feel him falling for some eligible girl and finding happiness. Perhaps he could learn to love the princess, if he gave her the same chance he'd given to Ignis. Perhaps he could build a happy marriage out of their betrothal. Ignis would be content with that. He'd know it the day Gladio married, the day he held his first child. It would be enough to feel that happiness through him.

It was late morning when he felt the irresistible pull of a human wearing a mermaid's charm in the water. It made his fins shiver and his scales tingle.

Ardyn noticed it, too, giving Ignis a curious look as he fought the compulsion to swim out, and to Gladio. Ignis backed off as he approached, one hand extending toward his face. Ardyn's touch made him recoil. Those fingers were cold and unpleasant against his skin as they stroked Ignis' cheek.

“He's calling to you, isn't he?” he asked. Ignis flitted back, twisting away from the touch.

“What of it?” he asked, glowering at Ardyn with defiant venom.

“A human that calls to a mermaid is entitled to an answer,” he said.

Ignis could feel the trap opening under him. He didn't know what game Gladio was playing, what fool idea he'd taken into his head, but he could feel him nearby, the charm around his neck beckoning to Ignis with a magic so strong it was hard to resist.

“Then let me go to him,” he said, feeling his chest throb as Gladio pulled on that connection. If Gladio continued, Ignis would have no choice but to respond. But Ignis would rather not lead Ardyn straight to him.

Prompto must have told him how to do it. Noct had likely told Prompto how to call to him with it, and now Gladio was doing the same.

“Oh, but that won't do,” Ardyn said, extending his hand again. “You're currently indisposed,” he said, as the water turned black around his hand and extended inky tendrils toward Ignis. Ignis gave a flash of his tail, pulling out of its reach, but the blackness exploded outward, filling the room, and Ignis felt it choking his gills and sticking to his scales, worming its way under them.

“But since you're mine, I'll go in your stead.”

The words settled in Ignis' mind, and he fought against them, and against the feeling of taint and restriction that tried to swallow him. It swamped his senses and blotted out Gladio’s call, enveloping him in something dark and oily that was still somehow comforting. He needed to be free of it, he needed to go to Gladio, he needed to warn him, he needed...

He needed...

Something pierced the gloom, something bright and golden, like the sun. Something reached in, and took Ignis' arm, and pulled.

“You okay there, Specky?”

The voice washed through Ignis' insides, driving the corruption away like the sun chasing shadows, and blue eyes came into focus.

“Noct!” Clean seawater through his gills was as refreshing as the first gasp of air had been when he'd become human, and Ignis shook Ardyn's influence from his mind. “Gladio!” he began, trying to explain in a hurry, “he's—”

“Protected,” Noct said, gripping both of Ignis' arms. “Don't worry, I've got them both.”

“Both?” Ignis asked, and then realisation dawned. Prompto.

“Yeah,” Noct gave a nod. “Now come on, let's get you out of here.”

It was the hardest, longest swim of Ignis' life. Clear of Ardyn’s cloying magic, he could feel Gladio more keenly. He was no longer in the water, but he was pumped with adrenaline, in danger. Noct swam with a fierce determination straight toward the surface, undoubtedly feeling the same from Prompto.

Magic permeated the water as they approached the surface. The waves roiled and the sky was dark, but Ignis could just make out the hull of a boat. Bigger than Gladio's rowing boat, smaller than anything that could stand a chance against the waves, yet it had remained resolutely afloat. Gladio was up there. Ignis could feel him, protected by Noct's charm at full power, holding off against the magic that was trying to pull them under.

Ardyn was nearby, too, churning the water into a storm, darkening the sky above. Ignis doubted he'd noticed their presence with so much of his own magic in the water. Noct gave him a significant look, and Ignis nodded, knowing what he was thinking. It was an opportunity; if they could distract Ardyn with an attack, his influence on the storm would weaken, giving Prompto and Gladio a chance to breathe and regroup.

“Flank him,” Ignis advised, pointing Noct in the right direction.

“You got it,” Noct answered.

Ignis watched him go, and checked on the position of the boat, seeking Ardyn in the water and finding him with pinpoint accuracy. Ignis could feel him, at the heart of the building storm, in the centre of the dark pall within the water. He drew closer, as close as he dared, as pulses of magic threw powerful waves at the boat. Ardyn was trying to capsize it, but Noct's protection held strong.

Ignis counted to three, extending his arm, and released his own magic into the water. The ocean boiled, and a split second later, it glowed as Noct's light burst through as well, dispelling the darkness. Ardyn's attack on the boat ceased, though the waves and the storm did not. He turned, rounding on Noct, and Ignis dashed closer, hitting Ardyn with another wave of his own magic, hot and biting.

It hit Ardyn in the back, and he spun in the water, darkness oozing from his eyes and mouth, and then the water exploded. Ignis reeled as he was blown away by the sudden current, incapable of fighting it. It shot him out of the ocean, and he twisted uselessly through the air before he landed hard on the surface.

“Iggy!”

Ignis felt as if he'd been pummelled all over, every part of him stinging with the impact. There was a splash of something else landing in the water, and Ignis shook himself, trying to recover his senses quickly. Ardyn wouldn't stop at one attack. He was likely going for Noct now, who was the bigger threat. The rest of them were only minor annoyances.

Splashing approached, and Ignis twisted to see Gladio struggling in the waves to reach him. “Idiot,” he hissed, as Gladio's hand found his arm. “I can breathe water; you can't.”

A shockwave went through the water again, and Gladio shielded Ignis' head against his chest as something flew out of the water and over their heads. For a horrible moment, Ignis thought it was Noct, blasted back as he had been, and then he saw the grey colour of some poor shark caught in the crossfire. “Come on,” Gladio said, and paused to spit out the water that lapped into his mouth. He tugged on Ignis' arm, heading for the boat, and Ignis went with him.

Pale and horrified, Prompto reached over the side of the boat to grab Gladio's shirt and help haul him into the boat. The water around it was eerily still, and Ignis could feel Noct's influence holding it steady in the storm that tried to wash over it. He looked up, seeing the charm around Prompto's neck glowing a faint blue as he pulled Gladio over, and then extended his hand to Ignis.

Gladio's hand soon followed, and Ignis looked up into his amber eyes, seeing the relief in them echoing the worry that resonated in his own chest. “You came back for me,” he said.

Gladio gave a small huff. “Like I was gonna leave you,” he replied.

Ignis swallowed and reached up, taking Gladio's hand, and then Prompto's. Their palms were warm in his, and Ignis gave a hard flick of his tail as they pulled, dragging him onto the boat. “Whose foolish plan was this?” Ignis asked.

“Uh, Noct's,” Prompto said, betraying his friend in an instant, “and Gladio's.” Gladio shot him a look. “Well, it was!”

Ignis shook his head. The boat lurched as the water roiled around them, but Noct's charm held fast, and Ignis gave up on reprimanding the two idiots to look out across the sea. “He can't win alone,” he said.

“He's not alone,” Prompto said, reaching up to curl his fingers around Noct's charm.

Ignis looked at Prompto, at the fierce determination in his eyes despite his pale skin and the nervous set of his mouth, and he gave the boy a nod. “Give it to me?” he asked, holding his hand out for it. “He needs it now.”

“Iggy,” Gladio protested, his hand going to Ignis' shoulder, “you can't go back in there.”

“I'll be fine,” he said. “I told you; I can breathe underwater, you can't.”

The boat rocked on the water as Prompto removed the charm and dropped it into Ignis' waiting hand. The magical protection that was keeping the boat stable in the churning sea had begun to fade, and Ignis swallowed as Gladio gripped the side of the boat and held fast against the rocking swell. Prompto sprawled to the floor, pushing himself back up hastily. “Hurry!”

Ignis took a deep breath and threw himself at Gladio. The kiss was quick, clumsy, a mere graze of lips. “I'll try and hold the protection,” he said as he pulled back just as quickly, and then hauled himself over the side of the boat before Gladio had a chance to grab at him.

Keeping one thought on the boat was hard as he fought through the churning water. Ardyn's dark influence, and Noct's dispelling light, wove through it like currents. Ignis found a stream of bright, pure magic and followed it, unable to pinpoint their locations from their magic alone; there was just too much of it all around. Noct was a flash of glimmering blue in the dark, and Ignis powered after him. He was dragged off course by a dark sweep of current, but fought against it, blasting his own magic back into the stream to lessen its power.

Noct was tiring when Ignis reached him, sagging in the water between pulsing waves of his own magic. “Here,” he said, putting his arms around Noct.

“Ignis.” Noct looked at him, his eyes half glazed. “You have to get out of here. I can't hold him off.”

Ignis shook his head, his fingers fumbling with the charm as he fastened it around Noct's neck. “We're with you,” he said. As the charm settled back against Noct's skin, Ignis saw it glow once more. “You're not alone.”

Noct looked at him, and Ignis gave him a small smile. “Be quick, I can't hold them safe for long.”

Noct's eyes widened. “Specky—”

Ignis placed two fingers on Noct's charm. It was like touching sunrise. It was warm, and kind, and filled with laughter, but it burned, too, and Ignis added his own heat, as much as he could, as much as he dared when he had to protect the boat on the surface, too. He felt the heat leaving him, and the cold creeping into its place, up his tail, sweeping in and around his scales. It slithered up his back, and through his chest, and down his arms.

Ignis let go, exhausted and cold, but Noct shone more brilliantly in the darkness than he had before. “Go,” he said.

Noct's lip trembled as he struggled to find something to say. A swath of dark magic was coming their way, and he raised his arm and threw it aside like it was nothing. “Hold on, Specky,” he said.

Ignis watched as a blue glow suffused Noct's entire body, and then erupted out into the water around him, forming weapons that began to circle him. It was the last thing Ignis saw before Noct swam, with a strength and power he'd never managed alone, looking every inch the King Ignis had known he could one day be, to face Ardyn down.

Swimming was hard, and each breath was an effort as Ignis made his way to the surface. The currents and shockwaves from Noct's continuing battle tossed him this way and that, and it grew difficult to keep track of which way was up. His only tether to the surface was Gladio, and Ignis headed toward him.

He barely heard someone shouting his name, didn't feel it when he bumped into the side of the boat and floated there listlessly. He didn't fight the arms that reached down and grabbed him, but he couldn't help them either as they fought to pull him in, scraping his back against the boat as they hauled. Arms wrapped around him, and a hand cradled his face. A familiar voice called his name over and over, but responding to it was too hard; it was all he could do to stay conscious, to keep the safety of the boat and its passengers in mind as he used what little energy he had left to maintain the barrier around it.

Lips pressed against his forehead, and a warm hand enveloped his cold one. Arms bundled him tightly into a delicious warmth he never wanted to leave again. “Gladio,” he murmured, knowing it was him.

“The storm!” Prompto's voice barely punched through Ignis' consciousness, but he knew what it meant. If the storm was clearing, then Noct had won.

Ignis fought to open his eyes, fought to squeeze the fingers holding his hand. “It's all right,” he said softly, “you're all right.”

He was drawn away from the warmth, but it didn't matter as he looked up into amber eyes and smiled. Then Ignis let go of his hold on the boat, and let himself slip into the beckoning arms of sleep.

*****

“Iggy? Iggy!”

“Noct!” Prompto's scream near deafened Gladio, but he didn't care. Prompto could hang over the side of the boat and shout for the other mermaid all he wanted. Gladio was preoccupied with running his fingers over Ignis's throat, checking for a pulse. He was breathing, weakly, but Gladio could see his gills flexing more slowly, more desperately, like a stranded fish gasping for water to breathe.

Ignis breathed water. He'd always seemed to breathe air, too, but Gladio didn't know if he had to concentrate to do that. He picked Ignis up in both arms and jumped into the sea with him. Staying above the surface was hard with another body's weight dragging him down, but he kicked, and tried to keep Ignis' gills beneath the water line.

Noct broke the surface a short distance away, and then dived below again with a flash of blue tail. He looked exhausted when he surfaced in front of Gladio, placing his hand on Ignis' chest.

“You said we'd save him,” he said, accusing, and angry, and hurt. Ignis was dying in his arms, and if they'd just left well alone he'd have lived, if miserably.

Noct shook his head. “He gave me his magic. He knew.” He paused and swallowed as he moved his hand to Ignis' forehead. “He knew what it would do.”

Gladio glared at him. “So give it back! You're done with it now, right?”

The pain and despair on Noct's face hit home for a second as he gave Gladio the lost look of a little boy watching his brother die. “It's not that simple.”

“There has to be something!”

Noct looked lost, glancing up at Prompto, and then back at Gladio, and then his eyes fell lower, and his expression changed to one of grim purpose. “Promise me you'll take care of him,” he said.

Gladio looked at Noct as if he was mad. “What?”

“Promise me,” Noct said. “Will you take care of him?”

“Of course I will!” Gladio snapped. This was pointless time-wasting. Of course he'd take care of Ignis. He'd take care of Ignis every day for the rest of his life if it would save him right now.

Noct reached forward, carefully unfastening the charm around Gladio's neck. Gladio tried not to be too concerned by the way Noct's hands shook; if he had an idea, it was worth a shot. Gladio would try anything right now.

He cooperated when Noct placed the charm in Ignis' hand, and then placed Ignis' hand in his. Prompto leaned on the side of the boat's railing, a silent, worried presence at Gladio's back, watching Noct work. Noct took a deep breath before he closed both of his hands around Gladio and Ignis', and then Gladio felt warmth suffusing him.

It started in his fingers, and swept down to his chest, swirling around his heart. Slowly, Ignis' hand in his began to warm up, too, and the colour seemed to come back to his unnaturally pale skin. His gills closed, and Gladio watched as Ignis took a deep breath through his mouth, his chest rising and falling. He was warmer in Gladio's embrace, and Gladio felt something shift below the surface as the texture of Ignis' scales changed and became skin, became legs.

Ignis opened his eyes and met Gladio's gaze, and Gladio felt relief wash through him. Prompto gave a whoop.

“I've tied your life to his,” Noct said, as Ignis blinked and seemed to start coming back to himself. “As long as you live, so will he.”

Noct's hands fell away, and Gladio pulled Ignis upright in the water, smiling at him like he'd seen him for the first time in years.

“Gladio?” he asked.

Gladio shushed him, drawing him close. Ignis clung to him as Gladio murmured, “I got you,” and tied the charm back into its rightful place around Ignis' neck.

“Noct?” he asked, turning slightly in Gladio's arms to look at his prince.

Noct gave an awkward shrug, the kind only a teenager could truly manage. “Sorry,” he said, “you're going to have to live happily ever after.”

Ignis gave a cough of laughter, turning back to Gladio, who smiled down at him like he'd never been happier.

“Looks like you get your chance to really fall in love after all, big guy,” Prompto said, leaning over them both.

Gladio glanced up at him, and then back at Ignis, cupping his face with one hand. “I already have,” he said, and then leaned in to claim Ignis' mouth.

#ffxv #final fantasy xv #gladnis week #gladnis week day 7 #fantasy au

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