#the dinghy floats by the power of love

[baelofthefin]

onwards

#ofmd #the dinghy floats by the power of love #all the muppets are here #my art #our flag means fanart #our flag meets death

[btsrunmylife]

“The Library Keepers: Jamais Vu” - Prologue / Teaser

Word Count: 1,524

Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Action / Adventure / Humor

Rating: Explicit…eventually 🔞

Summary: After two years of being stationed on Space Station Baldur, you’re not really expecting anything exciting to happen anymore. With little by the way of scientific discoveries, you and your team are getting a bit restless. Sent out on “special assignment” with Mission Specialist Kim Namjoon, you really aren’t expecting to find (or even see) much of anything.

What you do find is something beyond what either of you could’ve imagined.

From the dark side of the moon. I know that it's sad, but it's true. I'm tryna get home. I'm a spaceman. 🎵

You groan and smack the off button of the ship’s sound system, sending a glare your colleague's way. To his credit, a sheepish grin tugs at his lips.

“I forgot that was on the playlist,” he admits, scratching at his chin as he adjusts in his seat, tugging at the legs of his spacesuit to get more comfortable. He redirects his attention to the front window and you follow his gaze, taking in the vast expansiveness in front of you. On and on for miles, there’s nothing. Absolutely nothing but darkness and faraway stars.

Since being stationed on Space Station Baldur, you’ve seen your fair share of stars up close. They’re not nearly as breathtaking as you’d think, many looking like smaller versions of the sun, with some burning much hotter with a bluish-white hue. It still amazes you, knowing that all they’re made of is gas and dust that have taken over millions of years to get hot enough to shine so brightly. 

They’re the little spectators of the universe that twinkle in the sky back home on Earth.

Earth. It’s been approximately 734 days since you’ve felt its gravitational pull. Approximately 729 days, 12 hours, and 43 minutes since you arrived at Space Station Baldur with Mission Specialist Kim Namjoon and your team. 8 hours since the two of you left the station to venture out into the great unknown on special assignment.

Special assignment is really just a fancy way of saying go see what you find and report back to us if you really do find anything, but we know you won’t. 

It’s pointless, really. It would take you months, if not years, to actually reach something that hasn’t already been discovered.

It’s why they’ve thrust a camera in your hands and instructed you to take a few pictures while you’re gone. To show the people back home where you are and what it’s really like. But the photos you take don’t do it justice. Sure, it’s breathtaking in a so much different from home sort of way, but it’s quiet. Isolating. Downright daunting.

The black void stretches on for miles, empty of everything familiar. Empty of anything at all, really.

“Do you think Nick Jonas would actually last as a spaceman?” Namjoon questions with a quirk of his lips.

You snort, shooting him a look that says absolutely-fucking-not. Nick Jonas wouldn’t know the first thing about being alone. Well and truly alone. It’s an experience you still struggle with sometimes, being so far away from what you know. From the things and people you love. But you love your job too. You love learning about the world, the universe, the galaxy around you. There’s so much nobody knows. So much left to discover.

You are most certainly not going to discover anything out here like this though, in your little dinghy ship with just enough rations to last the 12 hours out and the 12 hours back, but it’s a nice thought.

“If any of the Jo Bros would last, it’d be Kevin,” you mutter with finality, nodding sagely.

Namjoon wrinkles his nose. “Kevin? Why Kevin?”

You shrug. “He’s the oldest.”

“Doesn’t mean he’s the brightest--”

The comms crackle to life, stopping your impending argument before it can begin.

“Microkosm, this is Mission Control, requesting a status update.”

You want to snort at the name Microkosm, the ship so aptly named due to it being a smaller extension of the space station, containing your little corner of the universe for the next...17 hours and 43 minutes.

Namjoon shifts into work-mode, rattling off your estimated coordinates, determining your location based on your distance from the satellites and the main station.

“Rations are adequate and oxygen levels are at a steady 93%.”

“Excellent,” your commander mutters. “You’re making decent time. Any observational updates?”

“Negative,” you finally contribute. “Nothing but space rock and stardust, sir.”

“As expected,” he sighs. “Regardless, expect to give another status update in the next few hours.”

“Yes, sir,” you and Namjoon chorus, listening to your commander mutter a signoff. Your ship settles back into silence as the comms power off, the low hum of the engine and shuttering of the walls a mere background noise to you now.

“What a waste of a trip,” Namjoon sighs, slumping down in his seat and leaning his head back on the headrest.

You grunt, echoing his sentiment completely. When you first applied to be stationed on Baldur, you were so excited. A mere science geek, itching to make a discovery. You had big dreams, fantasies of planets and moons and otherworldly fauna. Maybe even a world not quite unlike your own. But this...wasn’t reality.

The work you do is important, obviously, but it’s mainly research. Studies to determine how well humans can survive in space. How far they can go and what they need to help them survive.

Is there a way to manufacture oxygen so we won’t run out?

The earth is only going to be inhabitable for so long. Or so they say.

Really, you think all of this is just another way for them to monetize uninhabited property. Not enough commercial real estate on earth? Why not sell space too?

Maybe that’s a cynical way to view the work you do, but after two years of not a whole lot of scientific discoveries, you’re a little disheartened.

“I’m gonna grab some sustenance,” you declare and unbuckle, finally caving to your stomach’s incessant grumbling. “You want anything?”

Namjoon glances at you as you slowly float out of your seat, hands reaching for your headrest to steady you. “A strawberry and banana protein shake?”

You smile, not entirely sure why you asked. His answer is always the same.

“You got it, Specialist,” you say and release the back of your seat, using it as leverage to push yourself toward the back of the ship. Floating in space is a little like swimming on earth, except you don’t sink, you just keep floating.

After strong-arming your way to the back of the ship, you break into your stash of freeze-dried foods. Since the two of you are on a shorter mission in such a small spacecraft, all of your food has to be things that can be consumed without cooking them. No meatloaf and potatoes for the two of you while you’re gone. Just freeze-dried fruit, nuts, crackers, cheese spreads, and dehydrated protein shakes.

You grab Namjoon a strawberry and banana one and add water through the pressurized hose before grabbing a chocolate one for yourself. You eye the coffee, knowing that sooner or later you’ll have to take watch while Namjoon sleeps, but you figure you’ll have time for that later.

Besides, you’re not really all that tired yet anyway.

Balancing the drink pouches precariously between your fingertips, you use one hand to push yourself back in the direction of the front of the ship. You’re just reaching for one of the bars on the ceiling to propel you forward when it shimmies and you miss your mark.

The ship’s rattling is suddenly loud in your ears and, as your shoulder collides with the ceiling, you can feel it in your jaw, rattling your teeth.

“Uh, Joon?” you question, heart beating hard in your chest. You try your best to strong-arm your way back to the front, but the ship shakes and takes you off course. You’re forced back against the ceiling with a hard crack that takes your breath away. You hiss, dropping your drinks to cradle the back of your head. “Joon!”

“Specialist, get back in your seat!” you hear his words, loud in your headset, and feel yourself start to panic.

“Joon, what’s going on?” you demand, but grab a hold of one of the bars to push yourself forward. The ship sways and quakes beneath your touch, your entire body vibrating from the point of contact.

“Fuck, we don’t have time,” Namjoon hisses, voice thin and strained. “Get to one of the emergency seats and strap yourself in.”

“But I’m almost—“

“Now!”

And that’s when you notice it, the erratic movement of the spacecraft, the violent quivering of the walls, the high-pitched whistling of the engine as it struggles to slow you down. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong.

You slot yourself into one of the seats at the edge of the craft and just manage to latch yourself in when you hear a loud pop and feel the ship lurch. Almost as if you’re in a car that’s just been rear-ended. But it happens again. And then again.

“Namjoon, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is happening—“ Your hands are curled tightly around the straps that hold you in your seat, the material digging deeply into your palms as you pray that what little food you have consumed today stays down.

“Damn it, I—“ Namjoon begins, the sound of his voice crackling in your ears. The sound fades in and out and you strain to hear him. “Fuck, brace — impact!”

“Namjoon!”

______________________________________________________________

Back | Next (Planet X)

#bts fanfiction #kim namjoon #bts #fanfiction #sci-fi #bts au fic #bts au #bts x reader #bts fanfic #bts space au #alien bts au #btsrunmylife.story #btsrunmylife

[nationofimaginations]

Safe and Sound // Scott McCall

Prompt: Hey could you make a one shot where Scott tells you not to do something, but you do it anyway and it almost gets you killed, and that’s when he tells you that he is in love with you? Thanks!

Thank you so much of the request! Sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoy :)

Warnings: mentions of death, a bit of blood, heavy feels, hospital stay

Those damn Hunters. Scott was leading the pack into yet another suicide mission. You were no supernatural creature, but in your gut, you could sense that someone was going to get hurt. It was not part of your nature to stand back while your dearest friends risked their lives. Scott’s brown eyes peered into yours with a glare of stern concern and something else you could not put your finger on. “I know you want to help, but this isn’t the place for you. It’s too dangerous for you. It would be better for everyone if you just stayed back this time.”

“I get it. I’m just a fragile human to you. It’s not like anyone else here is exactly invincible,” you seethe through your teeth. This was true. Supernatural did not always equal invincibility as all of you had seen almost on the daily. It was frustrating that Scott never could accept that you were more than capable of holding your own, even after you proving your strength and intelligence time and time again. Yet, he continued to treat you like a burden.

“This is my fight. I decide who fights with me. You will stay here. End of discussion.” Fighting him was useless. There are other methods of getting your way.

“Fine.” Scott’s tense broad shoulders relax upon your apparent surrender. His lips curve into an appreciative smile, a grateful glint sparkles in his eyes — or was that something else? Something that delves beyond being a protective friend.

“Thank you,” he says your name softly as if he didn’t want it to float out of his reach and into anyone else’s grasp. Against his better judgement, he wanted you to be his and his alone. Still, your safety was of the utmost importance to him and he was more than willing to sacrifice his selfish desires to keep you from getting yet another target on your back. “Go home. I will come back to check on you after this is all over. I promise.”

You give him one last look before you turn to retreat to your home. You felt pathetic and useless running away from the fight. It was not your fault that you could not shapeshift or predict the future or whatever. Determination ran through your blood. You were going to prove yourself no matter what it takes. Jumping in your car, you quietly recite the directions to the abandoned warehouse the pack was heading toward. It wasn’t a long journey before you got close enough to sneak the rest of the way on first.

Just beyond the trees, in a decent sized clearing a dinghy building stood. The overcast in the sky passed rapidly, making the moonlight dance against the rotting property. Shadows could be seen through the cracked glass of the windows on the bottom floor. It was the perfect place for an evil mastermind to operate. You crept up to the entrance, hearing familiar voices talking inside. The Hunters backs’ were facing you while the pack stood their ground on the opposite side of the large space. This was the perfect time for you to make your attack. Just run in and knock one of them out, giving Scott the perfect opportunity to join in to overpower them. Absolutely flawless plan of a sneak attack. Nothing could go wrong.

You lean against the wall and clutch your heart, trying to calm its incessant pounding against your chest. You had never done anything like this but it had to be done. Slowly, you rise bracing yourself to run at your victim. Sprinting at the fastest rate your legs could carry you, you jump on the nearest figures back, hitting his head with closed fists. Scott calls out your name, furrowing his eyebrows. Your punches land but do nothing to bring the figure to the ground. If anything, you were a pitiful koala clinging on his back. An extra weight, nothing more.

Another one of the hunters grabs you by your waist, pulling you back to your feet. Your back presses up against a heavy chest as your hands are restricted behind you and a hand squeezes your neck. “It’s so nice to see that your girlfriend decided to join us, Scott. I am truly looking forward to showing her what a real man looks like later tonight,” the lead Hunter smirks, resting the barrel of his gun against his shoulder. He runs a hand over your cheek, looking back over his shoulder at Scott. The minion’s hand tightens against your windpipe, nausea fills your stomach. A rumble emits from Scott’s chest, his face burning with raw rage. It was one thing to mess with the pack, but to hear that monster mention you made his skin boil.

There were only a few moments before you would blackout, this was your time to do something, anything to save yourself. Scott and the Hunter exchange a few more words while you brace yourself. You shift your body weight forward, gathering enough momentum to swing your head back and make contact with your captors nose. A sick crack echoes through the room. He releases you from his constrictive grip and you begin running to safety by Scott’s side. Adrenaline makes you feel powerful as you lunge to safety.

“Watch out!” a voice shouted. Your head whips to the origin of the sound. Shadows of countless arrows and bullets fly in your direction. Metal grazes your skin, knocking you to the ground. Your head bounces off the rocky ground and you can feel a warm liquid trickle down your side

A scream tries to leave your mouth but it comes out in a garbled cry. Face down. Paralyzed. Unable to make out any words. Bleeding out in a secluded warehouse with the worst pain you could imagine. This is it, you think.

“I told you not to follow us. How could you be so stupid? Why couldn’t you stop trying to be the hero for once in your life?” He flips you onto your back and cold regret crawls through his veins. His throat dries as he notices the life drained from your face. Your lips turning blue under the moonlight. Your eyes no longer possessing that special shine he would be more than willing to spend the rest of his life looking at.

“Stay with me,” he cries, holding your cold hand up to his cheek. “There’s so much we still have to do. Just you and me. Please give me another chance. I’ll do things right this time. Please don’t leave me like this. Not before I — ” He chokes on his words. He blames himself for all of this happening. Maybe if he had let you come along in the first place, he would have been able to better shield you from harm. Maybe he should have left someone behind to watch you. Maybe he should have never introduced you to his world in the first place. His thoughts come to a rapid halt as you gasp for air. Your eyes flutter shut, leaving black holes in their place. This is it, he thinks.

“This isn’t fair! Bring her back!” He whimpers your name, punching the bloody concrete next to your body. His knuckles burst with blood, adding to the gruesome mix. Derek roughly grabbed his arm, heaving Scott to his feet. But gravity reunited him back to your side, where he belonged.

“We have to get her to the hospital. Screaming at the sky isn’t helping anyone.” Derek’s voice of reason gives Scott a rush of hope over his body. He gingerly cradles your head in his arm while the others move under your thighs to lift you into the air. His heart sinks as he remembers fantasizing being in this position at a later date under much happier circumstances.

~

Everything feels heavy including the strong smell of antiseptic. A faint beeping from the machines to the side of the bed and the wires entangling your lifeless limbs let you know that you are in a medical facility of some sort. Breathing alone prompts a stabbing pain in your abdomen. You reflexively reach to hold the pain but a weight on your hand prevents you from doing so. Your eyes open, adjusting to the blinding light as you try to see what is touching you. A strong bruised hand engulfs yours, making it seem much smaller than usual. Small scratches litter the surface, highlighting the prominent veins ever so slightly. The thumb traces soft patterns into the back of your hand making you sigh in comfort. Your eyes travel up the mysterious figure’s muscular arms to a familiar face. Scott was hunched over in the small visiting chair that was most likely not intended to be a place for napping. His head fell to one side and you noticed a small glimmer of drool rolling down his cheek. The sight made you smile. How long has he been like that?

A soft voice makes you turn your attention to the otherside of the room. “You know, he hasn’t left the room since we first got here. Not even to take a leak, according to my professional opinion, a UTI is in the works.” Stiles stood near, leaning against the door. He spoke in a hushed and uncharacteristically serious tone. “He made me promise to watch you while he slept, I swear I’m not a creep.”

You tried to say something, anything, but your throat was so dry that nothing would come out. Stiles held up a reassuring hand, signaling that you can relax. “He really cares about you. He always has. He just has a hard time showing it. Don’t be too hard on him.”

A wave of shivers run over your body. Was that true?  Soft snores recapture your attention. Scott looks so peaceful and innocent as he sleeps. It is so unlike anything you had seen before. You wished to run your fingers through his silky hair but he was too far away.

“I’ll go let the doctor know you are awake.” Stiles turns to leave. The door clicks behind him and Scott jumps to his feet. Teeth bared, ready to kill anyone who dares to threaten his sleeping beauty.

“It’s okay Scott. Everything is fine. We are safe now,” you struggle to say. Your voice comes out hoarse but you try your best to sound comforting.

Scott’s face almost instantly brightens. He takes your hand in both of his hands, squeezing tightly as he drops to his knees at your bedside. His lips connect with the back of your hand, leaving several quick pecks. His eyes gloss over as he smiles so widely for you. He very suddenly leaned over to embrace you in his arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he chants over and over again with his lips pressed against your ear. Who he is talking to is unclear but you don’t mind. His smell is intoxicating. You wish you could live in it like a permanent comfy sweatshirt. Shortly, he pulls away looking back into your eyes.

“I was so worried, I could not live with myself if you would have died.”

“I know, I’m sorry Scott. I just wanted to be more than your useless wimpy friend for once.” Your eyes don’t meet his piercing gaze.

“You have never been useless or wimpy to me,” his hand gently pushes your chin to look back at him. “You are everything I have ever wanted and more. You are strong, smart, capable, independent. You never needed to prove yourself to me. I have been in love with you since the day I first laid eyes on you. I love you, (Y/N).”

The EKG on the other side of the bed picked up on your accelerated heart beat, increasing its steady beat rapidly though you could have sworn in that moment your heart exploded from pure joy. “I love you too, Scott.”

You both exchanged a smile before locking lips passionately. Your lips molded together and moved in a perfect pattern as if you had done this a million times before. This is where you are meant to be. Safe and sound in his arms.

(A/N)

Well, that was a trip. It is kind of rushed. I just wanted to get something out. I have been getting back into writing again lately, however, Teen Wolf has not been as inspiring to me as it once was. As you could probably tell this was a little bit all over the place. I think I might write a few Star Wars one shots (specifically Anakin or Kylo bc I love an emotional bad boy) to get back in the mood. So if you are into that, stay tuned and maybe send me some inspiration.

#scott mccall #scott mccall x reader #scott mccall fanfiction #scott mccall one shot #teen wolf #teen wolf x reader #teen wolf scott #teen wolf one shot #teen wolf fanfiction #teen wolf fanfic #teen wolf fandom #scott mccall angst #scott mccall request #request #taking request #fanfiction #tw fanfiction

[guardianofjunmyeon]

Finding Atlantis (part 10)

Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Lovers, PirateAU

Description: 20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean. But fewer men know the tale of it’s missing child. The key to the ocean, the key to Atlantis but a lost little one. The power one would hold should they find this child would be nearly that of Poseidon himself. Thus, the hunt began.

A/N: these chapters are always so long i am so sorry !!! I love krystal and sulli don’t let the way i wrote them trick you into thinking i dont

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

“MAN OVERBOARD! JUNMYEON HAS FALLEN OVER BOARD.” You stomp over to the edge of the ship and look back where you last saw Junmyeon. You left him behind.

You left Junmyeon behind.

“They bleed blue,” you murmur to yourself. “They bleed blue!” you shout to your crew. “If you have any doubt about whether someone is real or not, shoot first and apologize later,” you command. “Stop the ship now. I need two people with me to go rescue Junmyeon.” You secure your gun in its holster and make your way towards the dinghies secured off the side of the ship. “They’ve seen half of our faces so no one is safe from being assumed an imposter.” You pull your gun back out of its holster and add two more bullets to its chamber.

“Can I come with you?” Jongin places his hand on your shoulder and you tense at the touch. When you look into his eyes, for a second you feel calmed.

“Yes, but we need at least one more person. Have you had to fight a siren before?” you ask him as you make a mental note of what weapons you have on your person.

Jongin shakes his head. “The last time we were here we never left the ship, but I think that Chanyeol would be best to accompany us.”

“Bring him then. We don’t have any more time to waste.” Jongin bounds off to find the other pirate and you take quick steps towards Yixing who has reappeared back on deck crouched next to the body of the siren. “I’m leaving the ship in your hands. Jongin and Chanyeol are going with me. Double check that everyone else is accounted for and actually who they seem to be while we go after Junmyeon.”

“Are you sure you should do this? What if that wasn’t him?”

“Have you seen Junmyeon anywhere on the ship in the last 10 minutes?”

He closes his mouth at the question. You set your lips in a grim line.

“Like I said, we’re going after him. If we aren’t back in a reasonable amount of time, you know what to do.”

Yixing nods and stands up from his position near the ground. “Be safe,” he says gently.

You can’t promise him that you will, so you break eye contact and look towards the rocks that make up the island. There’s no way for you to know what you will face, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get Junmyeon back to safety. Your safety in all of that isn’t your priority.

“Captain, Chanyeol and I are ready when you are,” Jongin says, stepping into your line of vision with Chanyeol close behind.

“We’ll be back,” is all you can assure Yixing. Luckily he accepts it as he watches you set off towards the water.

Once the boat is lowered, Jongin takes charge of rowing in the direction that you point him towards. The ride is silent.

Silent?

“Do you guys hear any singing?” you question.

Chanyeol’s head tilts to the side curiously before his eyes widen. “No…I don’t think I’ve heard anything in the last few minutes.”

“I haven’t heard anything since the screeching…” Jongin adds.

You wonder if the screech was a warning sound to the others. Perhaps they have stopped singing all together to hide –now that one of them has been killed.

“Chanyeol, how often are sirens killed?”

He scratches the top of his head. “I don’t know. Not often. People don’t ever get close enough to be able to kill them.”

“Then they’re probably not very happy that we killed the one that made it on the ship, huh?”

“No duh,” Jongin huffs out.

It’s their own fault for climbing aboard your ship. You wouldn’t have been able to kill it had it not been right there next to you.

Laughter floats from the trees and you feel everyone aboard the little boat stiffen. You catch a glimpse of blonde hair in your periphery. It’s gone in a flash, lost in the trees along with the laughter, but you know that you caught sight of it.

“I’ve always fucking hated sirens,” Chanyeol grumbles out.

You have to say that you are beginning to feel the same.

“Jongin wait, take us to the left. I see something over that way,” Chanyeol points out a spot on the bank of the water where there seems to be signs of a recent disturbance. It’s wet with a trail large enough to be that of someone pulling themselves out of the water.

It looks like it could be where Junmyeon was able to pull himself on land.

Unless he was being pulled down, you know for a fact that Junmyeon could get himself to land. Outside of Yixing, he’s the strongest swimmer on your crew.

The only sounds that fill your ears are the tinkling of the waterfalls and the sound of the paddles hitting water and bringing you closer to shore. The hairs on your body stand at attention. Every sense on alert as you step out of the boat and look around the land.

Chanyeol squats down where the trail is located and touches it with careful fingers. Jongin hefts the boat far enough on land that it won’t be pulled back out to sea. You hear shuffling in the bushes to your right and reach for your gun. You feel itchy to kill something. Whether this be siren or some wild animal, you don’t think that you care. So long as you can shoot and release some of this pent up anxious energy.

Your arm loses all of the tension that had built up –eager to pull out your pistol- and falls limply to your side when Junmyeon comes stumbling out of the trees.

He’s limping and gripping at his arm as if in pain, his clothes are still soaked and he looks dirty and tired, but when his eyes meet yours he smiles.

“Captain,” he rasps.

Your nose burns immediately at the threat of tears. You make it one step towards him before you’re stopped and pulled back. You whip your head around to find Jongin grabbing your bicep with a look of desperation in his eyes. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly.

You don’t even get the chance to question him when the sound of a gunshot rings through the air. Jongin winces, and his grip on your arm loosens enough for you to slip out and turn back to find Junmyeon bleeding from the injured arm he’d been holding earlier.

His blood gushes out blue.

You stand frozen in your spot as the siren sneers and contorts Junmyeon’s face in a horrifyingly angry expression. It screeches shrilly and tries to limp back into the trees, but it seems as though its limp was genuine and that slows it down greatly. Jongin is tackling it to the ground while Chanyeol is busy putting another bullet into his pistol. Your mind whirs back to life and you run towards the siren and hold down its thrashing legs while Jongin controls its arms. It gets a solid kick to your shoulder before you’re able to hold it down.

Despite the dirt covering its body, you notice now that it isn’t bleeding anywhere outside of where it was hurt by Chanyeol. You wonder if they are unable to replicate human blood.

The siren writhes and you grit your teeth trying to hold it still.

“Where did you take him?!” you shout over the rustling of the brush from its squirming.

It laughs loudly and its back arches high enough off the ground that you briefly think it will start levitating. You and Jongin put more of your weight on it to keep it restrained.

“Where is the man you’re disguised as?” Chanyeol tries. He cocks the gun. The siren cackles wildly, nearly to tears, but makes no move to answer either of your questions.

“I don’t think it’s going to talk,” Jongin murmurs.

As if to agree with his words, the siren leans up as much as it can, looks straight into your eyes, and bites off its own tongue.

It spits it out right at Chanyeol’s feet. The once pink tip turns long, slimy and deep blue as it hits the ground. You feel sick at the sight of –what looks like Junmyeon bleeding blue from the mouth with a vile smile across his face. The three of you look at the tongue in surprise.

“No more questions then I assume?” Chanyeol asks you. He points his gun to the sirens head. Despite knowing that it’s just a monster, you don't think you’ll be able to watch someone kill, what looks like, Junmyeon. You close your eyes and turn your head away from him.

You nod your head and screw your eyes tighter together. You hear the single shot and feel the way the body stiffens and freezes beneath your hands. You only open your eyes when you feel a hand on your shoulder.

Chanyeol looks down at you sympathetically, and you let go of a breath that was trapped in your throat. When you look down at your hands where they are still holding down the siren, you see the grey skin beneath your palms and realize that you no longer feel wet clothing but the moist scaly skin of the dead siren.

It’s no longer Junmyeon.

You jerk your hands away and frown down at the body. Despite this being the third siren you’ve seen in its true form, you have yet to grow comfortable with just how horrid they look.

They cannot be something of nature. You wonder what made them into the creatures they are. Perhaps they angered one of the Gods and were cursed.

Whatever the reason may be, it’s none of your concern why they are the way that they are. They’re evil and have potentially hurt Junmyeon.

That's all that you dare care about right now.

“Let’s go,” you grunt out and stand to your feet. If you weren’t in a bad mood before, the sirens are doing a spectacular job of putting you in one.

Unsheathing your sword, you march towards the trees and slice through branches and vines with more force than needed to cut down the weak foliage that hangs down in your way. For a full five minutes you take your anger out on the nature that surrounds you as you walk forward with no plan.

“C-Captain-”

You freeze in your tracks at the tentative timbre of Jongin’s voice and realize in your stillness that your arms are shaking. You clench your fist tighter around the hilt of your blade.

“What?” you bite out, trying your hardest not to let your frustration appear in your voice.

You’re frustrated with yourself –extremely. The sirens have tricked you twice now, three times if you count being fooled into thinking that when you saw Junmyeon in the water that it was fake. The constant trickery makes you feel as though you aren’t competent enough to handle this mission. You are a seasoned pirate, you should be able to think rationally and not be tricked by silly deceptions like these.

You’re the god damned Captain of the Storm Chaser.

A Captain who has been fooled thrice now by illusions and lost a member of their crew in the middle of another trial. You're sick of losing members of your crew, sick of these trials, and especially sick of these god damned mother fucking death mermaids.

“Maybe one of us should lead? You seem a bit…tired,” Jongin finishes cautiously and looks over to Chanyeol.

“No. You seem like you’re on the verge of a fucking breakdown,” Chanyeol corrects easily. Jongin frowns and smacks the taller on the arm. Chanyeol is unfazed and offers nothing but a short shrug. “You do.”

You inhale and close your eyes. When you exhale you try to release the tension that has accumulated in your muscles. It only lessens slightly.

“I’m fine,” you start. You open your eyes and feel a fresh wave of awareness wash over you. You mind feels more cleared than it has in the last hour –even if it is only by a small margin. “I’m fine now. Just…let’s find Junmyeon and get as far away from this cursed fucking island as we can as fast as possible.” You grimace. “And let’s try not to get distracted,” you say more for your own sake.

Even with your head a bit more clear, you think that it may be a better idea for someone else to lead for a while. Wordlessly, you motion Chanyeol ahead of you in an unspoken command. He nods and takes out his own sword so that he can cut through the foliage.

As he trudges forward and you fall behind him, Jongin falls behind as well.

“Are you doing okay, Cap’n?” Jongin whispers. “You seem overwhelmed.”

“I am overwhelmed,” you state bluntly. Leaves and branches crunch under your boots. “This new situation with sirens and being tricked three times is wearing on my mind.” You glance from Chanyeol’s back to Jongin at your side. An empathetic pout rests on his face. You hold in the urge to pinch his lips to make him stop. “If it wasn’t stressing me out, then it wouldn’t be a trial now would it?” You try to make light of it. Jongin doesn’t seem moved by your attempt, so you set your lips in a line and focus back on the sweat dripping down the back of Chanyeol’s nape and into the soaking wet neckline of his blouse.

If you feel stressed, you can’t imagine what Junmyeon is experiencing. These are trials meant to test his commitment to getting home. You know that that must be weighing on him in a way you couldn’t even begin to imagine. This could be the last chance he has to return home and if this fails then it will crush him.

Determination flaring, you turn your attention to your surrounds to look for any signs that Junmyeon has been in the area. You have to finish this for him. Find him. Recuperate. Get him home. Not just for your or his sake. But for the sake of the ocean. Things are much bigger than you.

You have to.  

Minutes pass before you finally catch sight of something out of the ordinary. Something glimmers excitedly in your periphery. “Chanyeol wait. Do you guys see that?”

You point in the direction you see the shining object. Chanyeol and Jongin squint towards it; Jongin gasps.

“Is that a sword?” he walks forward unexpectedly, steps eager, and you and Chanyeol rush after him once the shock of him abruptly walking towards it has passed. A vine smacks you in your face; you pull it down with an unnecessary amount of strength.

You are sick of this fucking island.

As your group approaches the object, it becomes clear that it is in fact a sword. The sword is driven into the dirt –nearly to the hilt- and the sun rays that are able to break through the trees above shine down and illuminate the metal. The sword looks like Junmyeon’s at first glance, and the emblem of a water drop etched into the bottom of the blade confirms it.

Jongin walks over and pulls it from the ground. You don’t even have a moment to consider that it may be a trap.

And then everything happens at once.

From the hole left in the ground where the sword was once buried, green mist sprays into the air. It’s light in color and smells floral –a bit like lavender. It fills the air quickly. Jongin drops the sword as if burned; you don’t see the body in the trees until it’s dropping down onto his back, tackling him to the ground.

Before you can call out, you’re knocked to the ground from the weight of a body landing on your back. Adrenaline pumps frantically and you muster the strength to toss the body off of you. “IT’S A TRAP!” you shout frantically, as if the words alone will save you at this point. With the words you take in a huge breath of the green mist and you feel your muscles weaken immediately. Laughter fills your ears as your eyes get heavier.

Poisonous gas.

The mist becomes thicker, and you can no longer find Chanyeol or Jongin among the fog.

“Get…help…” you murmur. The gas seeps into your lungs, into your pores, into any entry point that it can and paralyzes you. First your muscles, then your nerves, and then finally your brain. You slip into darkness without even being given the chance to put up a fight.

~~~

The recognizable sound of a rushing waterfall startles you awake. With a gasp your eyes fly open.

You can clearly remember the green mist and being tackled to the ground. Whatever was in the cloud that numbed you must have been some kind of a sleeping agent.

Everything is dark around you and stars speckle the sky above.

Hours must have passed since you were ambushed.

Though the sky is dark, the ground is alight with life. Bioluminescent mushrooms and plants speckle the dirt around you and are placed deliberately to your left and create a path towards the waterfall. Your shoulders are tense from the amount of time you’ve spent with your arms tied behind your back and crushed against what feels like a dead body. You wiggle your fingers to make sure that you can feel your hands with your wrists bound. The rope around your middle, securing you to the other mass, is tight and digs painfully into your abdomen.

You crane your neck to the side to see who exactly you’re tied to. Their neck is crooked in what has to be an extremely uncomfortable position, but they’re definitely breathing and just sleeping at your side. If you had to guess from the neck and shirt that you can just barely see, you’d guess that this body is Chanyeol. When you look to your other side you see what has to be Jongin hunched over the rope asleep and tugging you and Chanyeol’s bodies in his direction. You struggle to sit up and alleviate the strain being put on your body trying to accommodate Jongin’s position.

“Fuck, why’d they tie us together like this?” you hiss under your breath. The rush of the waterfall is loud and you feel droplets of water reaching your skin even from where you’re tied up a ways away. No matter how you try to twist your hands you can't loosen the hold of the rope.

Jongin and Chanyeol remain asleep.

The three of you are going to die here.

You are ready to accept that fate, but you continue to search for any way to escape. You might die, but not without some kind of a struggle.

In the middle of you rubbing your wrists bloody and raw from pulling and scraping against the rope, the waterfall begins to split down the middle. It parts like a crystalline curtain to reveal what appears to be a cave hidden in the rock face. Jewels twinkle inside of it. Through the cascading curtains out steps a figure that has become oh-too-familiar to you. You scowl and tense in defense.

The blonde siren smiles when she finds you awake and staring her way. She looks relaxed in her gown of water, illuminated by the greenish glow of the plants and fungi around you. She looks as if she has not a single care in the world. After neutralizing you and your men, you suppose she doesn’t.

Languidly she struts towards you, almost like she’s gliding on air. Her hair billows behind her even with the distinct lack of wind blowing. She looks ethereal.

“Our first riser,” she coos. Her skin is as smooth as porcelain and you can see now that even when she smiles, there is not a single eye crinkle or smile line. Clasping her hands behind her back she leans to each side of you to take a look at each of the still sleeping crewmen you’re tied to. “You must not have inhaled as much as they did. Interesting,” she comments offhandedly –as if making an observation to use later in further research after an experiment.

You can’t stop yourself from asking, “Who are you?”

The smile doesn’t leave her lips.

“I know you’ve been watching us. Are you the one who planned our ambush? The one who had my crewman fall off the ship?”

“You’re an inquisitive one, aren’t you?” She chuckles. A hand with immaculately decorated nails reaches out to stroke your cheek. Her nails shine like freshly cut diamonds in the dark. “Not quite as dumb as you look either. I was almost sure that first illusion of your little friend would be enough to distract you from the prince falling into the water.”

You flinch at her touch and feel anger at the insinuation that a single conversation with Baekhyun would mean more to you than Junmyeon’s life.

“Ah, but your question,” she yawns and stretches out long slim limbs. The crack of her bones is loud, unnatural. “I suppose I could spare you an explanation. You are to die here, so it would be kind to allow you the privilege to understand why you have met this fate, no?”

You decide not to respond. She continues on.

“I am the leader of this island, the head siren –a queen if you desire a more relatable title. I have led those who inhabit this island for centuries. We have seen many ships come and even fewer go, but you…strange one, are the first to kill multiple of my subjects.” There is a flash of rage in her eyes before cold indifference settles back in them.

“Wouldn’t have happened if you'd stayed off my ship and left my crew alone,” you say curtly.

She rolls her eyes. “Where’s the fun in that?”

You pull against the ropes again. The knot is tied too well. You won’t be able to escape unless you cut it. Your jostling seems to wake Jongin –if the groggy groan from him is anything to go by.

“Where’s Junmyeon?”

“The prince?” she waves a hand in the air dismissively. “Do not worry. He is safe. We do not plan to hurt him yet. He is too useful.”

“Useful?”

“His father. That cursed man,” she hisses. Insanity swirls in her eyes. “We were all beautiful, you know? Me and my subjects. Our beauty was coveted by everyone, but that damned God Poseidon turned us into- into this.” She stands to her full height and the illusion of a beautiful maiden changes into that of the monstrous figure that matches all of the other sirens you’ve encountered. Bile immediately rises in your throat. “He turned us into these disgusting creatures all because we let a single ship escape our island unsunk.” She laughs bitterly, but in her natural state it comes out gravelly and deep.

Jongin moans again at your side. The siren’s eyes flicker towards him in anger. “One ship of men got away and now we are doomed to live out our days as disgusting fish creatures. The prince will be our way back to beauty.” Her eyes slide back to you. She seems less unhinged as she continues on. “He will guarantee that we are restored to normal.”

Understanding hits you like a brick. “You’re going to use him as bait to get to Poseidon…”

You almost want to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. If his father cared about him, he would have stepped in long ago. Junmyeon has told you about his estranged father and knowing what you’ve been told, you’d be truly astounded if he bothered to step in to save a single demigod son when he has tens of other ones. Especially not one who isn’t even in line to be king of Atlantis.

“Good fucking luck with that,” you scoff out.

A displeased grumble emits from her throat before she transforms back into the blonde maiden.

“Krystal!” She turns around at the new voice.

Another woman comes bounding out of the cave –her hair black, lips plump and a similar (almost translucent) complexion. “Krystal,” she says again. “There is trouble on the eastern side of the island.”

“Thank you Sulli. I will be there shortly,” the blonde siren, Krystal, says to the other. You hope whatever the trouble is kills at least half of them.

The siren Sulli nods after the acknowledgement from her queen and then runs back off without a single glance in your direction. You’d be annoyed if you weren’t already completely done with this entire situation.

“Looks like it’s about time that we kill you and your friends. Pity, I would have liked you to join us,” she looks beyond you and you feel a tug in the rope.

Jongin is awake. He doesn’t speak but the noise of discomfort he makes at her comment towards him is enough of a response you think.

“I think he’ll pass,” you say mockingly.

“Quite the mouth on you.”

“I’d like to think it’s my charm,” you smile, all teeth, without any emotion. It’s as empty as you feel.

Her lip turns down in discomfort. Done humoring you after your comment, she turns back around and walks towards the waterfall.

Rude.

You watch her receding figure until the water closes behind her –naturally, as if never disturbed.

When you turn back around, you knock your head into Jongin’s. “What the fuck-”

“Sorry I was…watching her,” he explains. He moves back into his space and you both squirm uncomfortably against your restraints, surrounded only by the rumble of the waterfall.

Minutes pass of nothing.

What is there to say?

You know that it’s been far longer than a “reasonable amount of time” that you’ve all been missing. The protocol that Yixing should be following is to search for you all for a total of 12 hours and then leave you behind if there is no sign of you all. It’s been at least 8 since you left the ship and from the way the sirens were able to trick you all, you think that making it seem like you’ve all vanished or are dead for another 4 will be an easy enough scene to conjure up.

After all you still have no idea where they’re keeping Junmyeon.

At the very least, you hope that they find him and get out and continue the mission.

“So…” Jongin flinches hard next to you at the sudden sound of Chanyeol’s voice. You aren’t as shocked to find him suddenly awake. “We’re gonna die here, huh?”

You take in a large breath and pull at your sore wrists again only to be met with the same amount of resistance. “Yeah…looks like it,” you mutter tiredly. Jongin lets out a whine from the back of his throat.

“Any last minute confessions before we die?” Chanyeol throws out. “Anyone in love with me? Now is your last chance to say it, unfortunately I will have to reject you.”

You’re too tired to snort in annoyance. You settle for an exasperated exhale.

“I put shoe polish on my lips once because I thought it was lip balm,” Jongin rushes out in a single breath –as if the confession winds him.

There’s a pause of silence.

Chanyeol giggles. You blink dumbly.

“You what???” You ask.

“We’re about to die, I can’t confess without judgment? I thought it was lip balm okay?!”

“I once stole one of Kyungsoo’s swords and blamed it on you Jongin.” Chanyeol’s confession comes next in an equally nervous rush of words.

“That was you?!” Jongin asks Chanyeol incredulously. The rope pulls as he strains to look at Chanyeol. “Kyungsoo was pissed at me for weeks! When we get out of here I am telling-”

“YOU CAN’T! IF WE DON’T DIE HERE THEN HE’LL KILL ME!” He lowers his voice in embarrassment. “You know I like him-”

“YEAH WELL TOUGH SHIT YOU DESERVE IT!”

“WELL I KNOW YOU LIED TO SEHUN AND TOLD HIM THAT THE DOG HE HAD FOR A MONTH RIPPED HIS FAVORITE PANTS BUT IT WAS REALLY YOU AND I’LL TELL AND THEN WE’LL ALL FUCKING DIE!”

Jongin nearly screeches. You barely follow the conversation since this seems to be stuff that happened from before they joined your crew. You listen to the two of them go back and forth whining and complaining for longer than you’d think they could keep up an argument as you contemplate sharing your own secret.

The Chanyeol liking Kyungsoo thing is news to you, but you aren’t all that shocked by it. If the way Chanyeol seems to all but live in the kitchens when he’s not needed in the artillery is anything to go by.

His confession makes you feel a bit braver about voicing your own. It feels like acid sitting on your tongue, but knowing that this could be your last night alive, you feel the urge to just say it. Aloud. You’ve been thinking it over for a few days and you may be dumb and stubborn but you are anything but stupid.

Jongin and Chanyeol are still going at each other and Jongin’s whining is almost teary as Chanyeol switches to lightly bullying the younger instead.

“I like Baekhyun.” You whisper the words to yourself, so soft that the crashing of the waterfall can drown it out. When neither of them acknowledge your nearly silent words, you sag forward in relief. You feel a bit lighter having said it and even more at ease knowing that you went unheard by the two men tied to you who are still arguing childishly.

“Shut up I don’t actually hate you, big cry baby.” Chanyeol huffs out.

“Really?” Jongin sniffles.

“Yes really, dumbass.” Chanyeol’s head turns as far in your direction as he can given your positions. “Wait what did you say Captain?”

You’re quick to try and brush it off. “Nothing-”

“That she likes Captain Baekhyun but everyone already knows that. That’s not a confession,” Jongin warbles out before just flat out collapsing forward in another wave of sobs. You have no idea how he’s able to have a full on breakdown but still angrily complain about your words. You’re so stunned by his crying that you can’t even try and deflect or defend yourself.

“Jongin…are you…okay?” you ask tentatively.

“No! Chanyeol is mean and you’re dumb and so is Baekhyun and we’re gonna die and no one is going to be happy!” He manages to whine out.

“He’s fine he just gets emotional easily,” Chanyeol whispers to you loudly (read: not at all). “It’s okay Jongin. I still love you even though when you cry you get extra cranky at everyone because we get to see how ugly you look with snot on your face.”

“Fuck you!”

The outrageousness of your situation makes you start to laugh so loudly that you startle yourself. There’s so much going on, you’re laughing more from the fact that you cannot believe where you are and what is going on rather than you finding a single thing happening funny. Tears fall from your eyes as the laughs keep bubbling out of your chest.

“She’s officially lost it,” Chanyeol grumbles. “It was only a matter of time. You’re crying and she’s laughing. This is not how I imagined I’d spend my last night alive.”

“For people tied up, you all sound like you’re having a lot of fun.”

“Holy shit! Where’d you come from?” You can’t see who Chanyeol is talking to, but you know the voice well enough to place it even in a thousand voices.

You try to crush the happiness that blossoms in your chest at being found.

At Baekhyun being here to save you.

You would retch at your reaction to him if there was any food in your stomach to throw up.

It’s not like he would leave Jongin and Chanyeol behind to die, you should have expected that he would come after them.

You close your eyes to try and squeeze away the last of the tears that had sprung to your eyes during your fit of uncontrolled laughter. The rope around your torso loosens and falls to your lap and you can finally take in a full breath for the first time in hours. Once the rope around your wrist is cut free you open your eyes and bring your hands up to your face to take in the crusted blood encircling your hands.

You’re hefted off the ground by your upper arms.

Spots dot your vision and you wobble dizzily on your feet. When you blink them away you come face to face with Baekhyun. If you weren’t exhausted and seeing stars, you’d think that you might see relief in his eyes. Fingers come up to wipe away the last of the hysterical tears lingering below your eyelashes. He’s shaking a bit.

There’s blood on his face. A mix of blue and red.

He’s real.

You fall forward to hug him before you can stop yourself. You feel him tense in surprise but he doesn’t shove you away the way you anticipated. Before he can reciprocate or even process what you’ve done, you let go and move away. You realize that Baekhyun hadn’t come alone when you see Kyungsoo being crushed in Chanyeol’s embrace and Jongin sandwiching him in. Jongin is crying into Kyungsoo’s sweat soaked back.

“How’d you guys find us?” you ask.

Kyungsoo forcefully pushes his way out of Chanyeol and Jongin’s arms. He acts annoyed, but you see the signs of happiness on his face. “We-”

Baekhyun jumps in to cut Kyungsoo off. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get out of here.”

“We can’t leave without Junmyeon.”

“Minseok and Seulgi have gone after him. They’re going to meet us by the dinghies,” Kyungsoo supplies. You notice now that he is also covered in blue and red blood. He’s real too.

You look down at the red blood crusting over your wrists and find matching cuffs of blood around Chanyeol and Jongin’s.

“They can’t fake human blood,” you tell Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

“We know. We figured that out after we killed a couple of them,” Baekhyun says. You wobble again on your feet but catch yourself. “We should get you guys back to the ship. You need medical attention.”

“I don't know what was in the gas they used on us, but I know that I’m going to pass out if I don’t get food and water soon,” Jongin says.

You nod in agreement and your knees buckle.

“Kyungsoo, carry me back I can’t feel my legs,” Chanyeol whines dramatically before draping himself over the shorter. Kyungsoo sighs but doesn’t put up much of a fight outside of grabbing a handful of Chanyeol’s hair and yanking it hard enough to pull a shout out of the taller.

Jongin shakes his head but a smile graces his lips as he follows behind them.

“Can you walk?” Baekhyun asks you.

You look away from the receding figures of the others to look at him. “I’m fine,” you murmur. He cocks an unbelieving eyebrow. Stubbornly you take a step forward.

And your knees nearly give in.

Baekhyun catches you before you can fall and laughs one of his stupid laughs where it fades off and he sounds like he’s swallowing a load of his own saliva. You let him toss your arm over his shoulder and hobble beside him like a newborn with little use of their legs.

His arm around your waist is secure and he’s patient as he leads you out the way he and Kyungsoo came in.

“Thank you,” you start quietly. “For coming back for us.”

“We couldn’t just let you die,” he scoffs out. “Yixing would have probably had me and my men killed without you and Junmyeon there as insurance to show we’re needed.”

You doubt that. Yixing wouldn’t do that. Minseok maybe, but not Yixing. But you keep that to yourself.

For now, you’ll just enjoy being given the chance to live another day. And if you also indulgently enjoy the warmth of Baekhyun at your side holding you up…well, no one has to know about that.

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo fanfics #exo story #exo imagine #exo pirate au #baekhyun #byun baekhyun #baekhyun story #baekhyun imagine #baekhyun fanfiction #baekhyun fanfic #baekhyun pirate au

[thchiddenkiss]

Lady Hawke’s memories, perhaps not entirely lost to Neverland’s forgetting ...

An original character backstory for ‘Lady Margaret Hawke’ - an 17th/18th century past reincarnation of Mrs Mary Darling, and her doppelganger in Neverland. tw: miscarriage, death, near-drowning

Once Upon a Time, many centuries ago in England...

A little girl named Margaret would play along the harbors, among the tall ships and fishing boats in port. She was one day mistaken for a young ship’s boy and accidentally brought aboard a Royal Navy ship for months at sea. This is where she learned to sail. The littlest sailor later grew to be the loveliest lady in the lands. But as she dreamed of romance and a handsome fairytale prince, reality would have other plans. She would enter an arranged marriage to Lord Richard Hawke, to elevate both her and her family’s prestige at Court, all while navigating the tides and currents and games Court had in store. This is what made her cunning. It was a marriage that was neither happy nor unhappy, neither loving nor loveless, in a word - tolerable (at least Margaret had her books, her hobbies, and her husband’s money to escape). He did his duty and she did hers. But she could not produce the heir her husband wanted - fate was cruel to instead give them a miscarriage which she nearly died from, and it made her already unromantic husband turn aloof and distant. And before she could complete rekindling their affections or trying for another child once she is recovered -- her husband had suddenly died. Whispers carried about her. And yet in spite of even the ghastly rumor that she played a role in Lord Hawke’s death, she weathered the storm. This is what made her strong. As a widow, Lady Hawke had to maintain and manage her late husband’s estate and responsibilities and his absent presence at a court, all now without him. Tolerable had become bearable. There was no balm to soothe her loneliness, but she realized that as the dutiful mourning widow and sole Mistress of the manor, she could make her own decisions and have her own authority.

This is where she found her liberty.

Margaret could attain and relished her fierce independence, her freedom far greater than before or while she was married. Eventually, she followed the call of the sea and she returned to her love of sailing. The hawk soars. But then the Count of Highbury came chasing her heels, seeking the still-beautiful widow’s hand… and assets. The Count - a widower himself, popular among the court, and not un-handsome - was controlling, landlocked, and charismatically belligerent in his personal life. (Which made Margaret question the circumstances his first wife has prematurely died as well.) But his wealth and influential power at court and his vast property and allegiance with the King and Queen were what enticed Margaret’s family to persuade her to accept his offer of marriage. (Besides, it would aid settling and shielding them from their accruing debts)

The day Margaret accepted the Count’s proposal, she feared that she had made a terrible, irrevocable mistake. She had traded her obligation and duty to centuries-old protocol and whatever else they all justified... for her personal happiness and her autonomy.

And so this was to be her remaining days? To submit to a husband again, only, worse, this time with someone she as growing to loathe the longer they were betrothed? And til death do us part... again? After tasting the sweetness of living a life for herself she would have to return to being a pet bird with clipped wings in a gilded cage? Perhaps she could travel to put physical distance between her and the Count. Perhaps she could take a secret lover. Anything, so not to be anywhere near her to-be second husband as much as possible. The sands of time passed. The arrangements were prepared. In a month’s time, Lady Margaret would become the Countess of Highbury. Before this would all drive her to madness or illness, she needed time to herself to reconsider. She needed to take a holiday, an excuse to visit her brother as one last excursion with what was left of her independence. And what better way but to return to those harbors she once stood and watched and played and accidentally boarded a ship as a mistaken ship’s boy? But things are different now. And they would be different still. Docked in the harbor her brother had an old but trusted dinghy, the Tempest. There would be no harm taking it out for another sail over the next number of days, to be free of her obligations ashore, free from her impending second marriage and the odious Count, to escape upon the vast oceans.

On the last day of her stay, there was word of an overnight downpour, but the skies were still clear that morning and the seas calm. She told herself she’d return before sundown and before the storm would arrive. It would be the gravest miscalculated decision she would later come to regret worse. The further her hubris sailed her out to sea and into deeper ocean currents and stronger winds away from shore, the further doomed her fate. By the time the storm clouds visibly formed on the horizon, it was too late. The winds changed in the opposite direction, and she could not sail back to shore. The ropes slid burns past her palms as the storm gusts proved to be untamable to sail. The peaceful cerulean waves grew dark, rougher, larger. The Tempest was thrown to and fro like a floating bobbing cork. When the rains came, it was only a matter of time before Margaret and the Tempest were at the storm’s mercy. A great wave came up from behind her and as it crashed down capsized the dinghy, snapping the mast like a twig. She tumbled into the ocean, dragged by the rope she tied herself to the ship, and eventually made it back to cling to the wreck as the storm raged on. Was this how she was to die? Alone and in the heart of the sea? Or would fate have other plans for her?

Somehow, as the storm finally subsided, the currents somehow drifted her towards the mysterious island unmarked on any map, the luring destination of runaways:

Neverland.

#;; biography #;; headcanon #mrs darling #neverland #lady hawke #;; about

[peachhoneii]

❛❛ We’re rivals. Not soulmates. We’re supposed to be at each other’s throats. ❜❜ + Scroldiee

A smart man would seek safety and let her drown. A wise man would shut up and drag her out, kicking and screaming. Scrooge liked to think he was smart and wise, and on every other occasion, he was. Goldie unraveled him with a power even she didn’t understand.

He didn’t know if it was her eyes or mouth or attitude. He didn’t know if it was her laughter or her insatiable hunger for gold. He knew it wasn’t one or the other. Maybe it was everything. He wished he knew.

Whatever it was, he knew this wasn’t the place or time to debate. The unsinkable ship was doing the one thing the world claimed it couldn’t do. Sink.

“Goldie, blast you,” he shouted, pushing one larger dog faced man to the side in an attempt to close their widening distance. “We need to get to the dinghies.”

She was fast and slimmer, maneuvering around rushing people in her attempt to find what she boarded for. Sweat threaded in her hair; accented under the moon’s observance. He ran between a man’s leg and watched her make a sharp left. His heart sank. She was going to drown.

“I saw them go this way,” she panted aloud, loud enough for him to hear. “There’s no way I’m leaving this ship without it, Scrooge.”

“At this rate, you won’t leave this ship at all.” He didn’t want to lose his temper in a place like this. Terror was deadlier than a coal mine. “Do you want to die here?”

They descended into the ship’s lower compartments where water was up to their thighs. Scrooge swallowed thickly and nodded, agreeing with his inner turmoil.

“I saw them down here,” she whirled at him, eyes panicked. “A blonde and red-head. I think her name was Rose, but I know she was with Jack.”

“Jack? Who’s Jack?” What a terrible place for jealousy to prick him, but prick him it did. “Goldie, the ship is sinking.”

“Sinking?” Goldie threw her head back, laughing. “Scroogey, if I am going to die, it is not going to be like this, and if they’re going to die, well,” she paused thoughtfully, “I can see Jack dying here. But Rose? Please.” She snorted. “She’ll marry some other wealthy man, and they'll have ten children, four will probably live to adulthood. She'll grow old, surrounded by twenty grandchildren and forty grandchildren, and right before she dies, she'll toss the diamond into the ocean as some god damn poetic gesture. I can see her doing that. I warned him about girls like her.”

Scrooge had no idea what she was talking about, but he presumed she’d taken a fancy to the working and upper class guests. He didn’t care, not now. He gripped her waist. Without another word, he threw her over his shoulder.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She screeched, clawing like an angered polecat. “How dare you? Put me down this instant. They’re getting away with the Hope of the Ocean!”

“And you’ll live to steal it another day.”

“Oh, you’ll probably just buy it, and,” she blinked. An idea formed in her head, and she relaxed in his hold. “Okay, sure, let's find a lifeboat. We’ll be lucky if there’s any left.”

Scrooge rolled his eyes. “Ack, yes, the love o’ my life plans to rob me again. I hope the girl loses the blasted jewel, just so you can’t get it.”

Goldie gasped, smacking him on the back of his head. “We’re rivals,” she complained, punching him on the back. “Not soulmates. We’re supposed to be at each other’s throats.”

“Whatever you want,” he grunted, reaching the front deck at last. “As long as we’re alive to do it.”

“So what? You were going to drown with me?”

“If it came to be, yes, I would.”

Goldie went quiet, craning her neck to catch his expression. Aged lines creased his feathers, pronouncing his forty-five years, but the determination - the simplicity of said determination was present as it’d always been.

What a stupid thing to say, a stupid thing to shout at him. Goldie knew. She’d always known, so why would she try to bait him with that? He turned it on her effortlessly, leaving her dumb and shamed. She reckoned that was his intent, but Scrooge never thought far enough for things like that.

She looked out to the chaos, the men and women and children clamoring for safety. Soon, very soon indeed, the ship would enter its final encore, and there’d be no way out for those unable to secure a lifeboat. She swallowed the knot in her throat and felt the tangled ball explode in her chest.

“He’s seventeen,” Goldie whispered. “Just a boy…”

“Hm?” He set her down. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she crossed her arms, turning her back to them. She entered the lifeboat with another group, scooting over to the side as he took a seat beside her. “I’m going to get that necklace, you know.”

“I know,” he replied, taking her hand into his. “I know.”

She didn’t look as the lifeboat was lowered into the water. She didn’t hear the screams become distant cries in the night. She didn’t see the unsinkable ship descend as a blot, an empty blot under the sea with its captives held prisoner.

She refused to look back - never, ever would she look back - to see the bodies floating on still, quiet waters.

“Dear?”

“What, Scrooge?”

So soft, so frustratingly kind. “There was nothing you could do,” he tried to comfort her. His thumb ran circles over her knuckles. “He went back. He made his choice.”

She closed her eyes, taking a deep, liberating breath. “I know,” she said, tightly. “I know.”

Of course, knowing didn’t mean she believed it. Believing was an entirely different matter neither were strong enough to discuss, so her thoughts strayed to the gorgeous diamond instead.

Maybe it was better for the ocean to claim it, Goldie mused. Its gleam was tainted, somehow.

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #scrooge mcduck #goldie o'gilt #scroldie #duckprompts #mywriting

[lovecraftian-druid]

Pactborn VI

“You ready to do some treasure hunting today, kiddo?” 

K’Sirr’s voice broke Ka’l’s concentration as she stared absentmindedly at a pod of blue whales swimming along the surface of the Rocsanee Ocean, their blowholes spewing water like great geysers.

Ka’l never fully understood the liking K’Sirr had taken to her. Perhaps it had to do with feeling responsible for her after inviting her to join his crew; or maybe it was because she was so much younger than any of his other shipmen; or possibly that he felt a kinship based on their mutual love for sailing; some even speculated that it was because of her relation to a famous admiral of the Felgran Fleet. Whatever the case, it was no surprise to the rest of the crew when Ka’l quickly rose through the ranks. It was even less surprising when K’Sirr - after only seven months aboard the Sea Wolf - invited her along on a Trover quest, a type of hunt for great treasure hoards. Lore of these massive bounties were usually only learned about within the Trovers Guild, a group of pirates whose life’s work was to discover legendary riches and wondrous items. 

The young pirate pocketed her compass as she made her way to the side of the ship that housed the utility boats: there, two other Trovers perched on crates, preparing for the dive ahead of them. One of them - a blue dragonborn sorcerer by the name of Zandynn - sat cutting a small reed into pieces in preparation for a ritual spell while the other (Candid, a roguish tiefling) fitted her many daggers into her belt. As K’Sirr arrived on the scene, a lumpy roughspun sack clutched tightly in one hand, he looked expectantly at Ka’l: “Aren’t you missing something?” He smiled a toothy grin as he lifted the weighted bag in his hand, and Ka’l realized that the others also had similar sacks waiting on the deck next to their feet.

“Oh, uh, no, I didn’t think I’d need one - I’m a pretty strong swimmer,” Ka’l stammered, trying her best to speak with confidence.

The three of them chuckled wryly before Zandynn spoke: “Little lady, the way we’re traveling, you won’t need to swim.”

“It’s Ka’l,” K’Sirr corrected him with a sidelong glance, “she prefers Ka’l, so that’s what you can call her.” Zandynn rolled his eyes as he commenced his casting of the ritual spell, and K’Sirr turned his focus back to Ka’l, winking at her as he lifted the lid of a nearby barrel to retrieve one more bag that - as she learned upon inspecting it - was filled with a single large rock. He handed it to her and explained, “You’ll tie this to your waist to keep your body from trying to float back up to the surface.”

Ka’l gave a nod of understanding and began tying off a neat square knot about her mid-drift while Zandynn finished his incantations. She wasn’t expecting the odd sensation of the set of arcane gills that suddenly formed along the sides of her neck as he finished the casting of the spell with a somatic flourish, and it took her a moment to realize that she could still breathe air normally as she ran her fingers over the foreign bodily addition. Her eyes widened as she turned to face Zandynn: “this is amazing!” she gushed, genuinely.

K’Sirr smiled proudly and stepped to the edge of the ship, motioning for the dinghy to be run out for the small group. “With that, I believe we should be ready to depart - Gahjeel, you’re in command while I’m away!” he hollered up to the black tabaxi as he lept gracefully into the small boat. Ka’l and the others followed, and as they rowed out towards some shoals, Ka’l continued to play with her strange new gills.

The two shipmates carried on a lighthearted conversation as Ka’l watched K’Sirr, his eyes pressed shut in concentration as he twirled a forked twig around with his thumb and forefinger, all the while humming a tune under his breath. Ka’l always marveled at the use of magic and was so impressed by K’Sirr and those with whom he associated: she hoped to one day be able to achieve the same arcane wonders these folks were able to accomplish.

Lost in thought over what it must be like to cast such incredible magic, Ka’l jumped a little when K’Sirr declared loudly, “Here! Stop!”

The rare and elusive Necklace of Fireballs: K’Sirr and his crew had been seeking this treasure for the last few months now, since before Ka’l had joined the Sea Wolf. Now, thanks to a reliable tip and a handy divination spell, they were merely a dive away from having it within their grasp.

The others situated their things securely in the small boat as Ka'l dropped the anchor and peered down into the waters below: the shallows afforded her a view of what looked to be large shoals of multicolored coral growing all shapes and sizes. The dinghy began to rock a little, and Ka'l turned to see the others holding their stone-filled bags, ready to take the plunge. Ka'l followed suit, gathering up the rough sack in her arms.

"Are we ready?" K'Sirr asked, making brief eye contact with each member. Nods gave him the affirmation he needed, and he looked at Ka'l with an ornery twinkle in his eye as he patted her on the back. "After you, my dear."

Eager to impress her captain and establish some credibility among her crew, Ka'l scrambled to her feet in the wobbly boat as it swayed unsteadily. Without hesitation, she pulled the stone close to her chest and made an attempt at jumping overboard - this exciting milestone quickly developed into a bit of an embarrassing one though as her toe caught the lip of the dinghy, throwing the boat off-balance (to the gasping surprise of the others) and sending her splashing torso-first against the surface of the water before sinking deeper, her stone having knocked some of the wind from her now-waterbreathing lungs.

As bubbles floated with urgency from her mouth rising rapidly towards the light of day above, Ka'l opened her eyes to behold the beautiful underwater world she had just entered: schools of fish flitted in and out of reef croppings while small crustaceans skimmed the currents for tasty food particles; a neon-colored parrotfish crunched its hard beak down on some faded coral as a eel lunged from within its kelpy hiding place to catch its prey.

Enraptured by this tropical wonderland, she took a moment to explore the tiny reef. It wasn't until she felt something aggressively ram into her followed by a sharp, piercing pain that she realized something was wrong - as the water around her plumed with crimson clouds of her own blood, Ka'l twisted at her hips to find her thigh locked down upon by the jaws of a hungry tiger shark, seemingly drawn by the sound of her loud dive. More bubbles escaped her mouth as she tried to scream for help, flailing violently in an attempt to tear herself free of its razor-sharp teeth. With her hands extended before her, pushing with all her might against the creature's sandpaper-like snout, Ka'l felt a surge of arcane power course through her panicked body. 

Something happened in that moment of terror: something Ka’l would ever forget, something that would change her life forever. As she felt her body begin to go into shock, the blood pumping loud within her ears, two golden slitted eyes flashed within her mind, sending her body into overdrive. With her hand pressed against the shark’s face, her eyes shot open again as her hand released an unbridled beam of crackling turquoise energy: as the eldritch blast struck the creature in the face, it sent a shock wave of force rippling through the water between them, swirling the streams of bloodied water billowing through the reef. 

The shark - surprised and perturbed - released its hold on Ka’l as it felt itself pushed back a bit from the force; however, this was not enough to frighten it away. With resolved bloodlust, the shark circled back for another attack. Her head still swimming with adrenaline, confusion, and blood loss, Ka’l looked on in absolute horror as the massive beast swam hard in her direction. As the rock tied about her waist began to sink her like a stone, she was able to see the familiar form of her captain standing at the bottom of the shoal’s sandy floor - with one hand extended, she watched as K’Sirr pointed up at the tiger shark and conjured a great sphere of yellow gas right in front of its path. The shark, writhing and reeling as the stinking cloud’s poison assaulted its hypersensitive sense of smell, began thrashing in the water, mingling the red of the blood with the yellow of the gas in a beautiful disaster of brilliant orange for a moment before it turned and swam off at full speed. 

Taking the opportunity to act without risk of attack, K’Sirr cut the rope that tethered his weight and swam with haste towards Ka’l. Pulling her into his arms, he pressed his calico hand firmly against her leg, humming a tender ballad as he comforted her. Ka’l felt the warmth return to her body as the wound slowly closed up. As her eyes regained focus, she tried her best to form the words “thank you” through the water.

Pointing to the noxious cloud of stench that was beginning to thin as the sea cycled the current about, K’Sirr did his best to communicate to her that time was of the essence. 

Ka’l scanned the watery depths for Zandynn and Candid: she saw them striding towards them, kicking up small bits of sand as they moved. Candid appeared to be sheathing two of her daggers as they walked - it looked as though they had not fully escaped without an encounter of their own. 

K’Sirr waved them closer, pulling the forked twig from his pocket and casting his locating spell once more after fetching his weight stone. Like a divining rod moving in response to hidden water, K’Sirr concentrated as his material component began leading him in the direction of his prize. Ka’l and the others followed closely, looking about in all directions out of a well-founded fear for what else might be lurking in the waters around them. 

After only a minute, Ka’l noticed that K’Sirr’s pace had quickened as he followed the path bestowed by his spell. Nearly beelining towards an embankment of fuchsia coralline, K’Sirr stashed his component and dropped to all fours, digging in the silty sand at the base of the coral and fan-like seaweeds. Ka’l joined in, shoulder to shoulder with him as she dug. Dirt and soggy debris littered the water around them as they clawed at the loose ground while Candid and Zandynn stood watch like sentinels. 

Ka’l felt the contagious excitement of the hunt creep up on her as they scooped more and more sand aside - tossing a glance in his direction, she saw the boyish look of absolute joy on K’Sirr’s face as he dug for the long-awaited treasure. Plunging her cupped hands into the granulated floor with renewed enthusiasm, she felt her nails scrape against something hard and metallic. She paused, her head spinning like a swivel to lock dilated eyes with K’Sirr in unspoken amazement. Sinking their fists deep into the sand, they groped about to find a pair of round anchor-chainlink handles. With a few struggled heaves, Ka’l helped K’Sirr dislodge the chest from beneath the seafloor. 

Stepping forward from his post, Zandynn put his face close to the lock that dangled from the chest, its metal crusty with rust and barnacles, as he spoke a muffled incantation. At the last punctuation of the spell, the padlock slid down, unlocked, as it dangled loose at the front of the chest. Wiggling its corroded loop free, K’Sirr slowly and almost reverently lifted the lid of the iron trunk.

Ka’l had never seen so much gold in all her life. 

Candid and Zandynn moved in, discarding the stones from their sacks and replacing them instead with fistfuls of coins, while K’Sirr - unconcerned with the monetary treasure - sifted through the riches for his trophy. Finding the necklace, he held it up to his own chest for a moment as if to mockingly model it to Ka’l as he brimmed with exuberance from ear to ear. He delicately draped the piece of jewelry into his chest pocket (careful not to jostle its eight magma-colored beads too roughly) before reaching back into the iron box to retrieve a single ruby gemstone along with a simple gold chain, its middle links slightly damaged. Pulling two lodestones from his pouch, his wild jade-colored eyes met Ka’l’s as he touched the stones against the chain and the gem, causing them to fuse into one. 

With a circular motion of his index finger, K’Sirr had Ka’l turn around so that he could gift her his creation: a beautiful maang tikka which he helped fit to her forehead. Ka’l pawed at the piece of jewelry - she wasn’t usually much for wearing any sort of ornamentation, but she could sense already that this item would hold much sentimental value to her for years to come. 

At long last pleased with his find, K’Sirr motioned for the group to wrap up their adventure. Excited to return with her own plunder, Ka’l emptied her bag of its rock as well and quickly shoveled the remaining gold and gemstones into the woven sack. Zandynn and Candid gave her a pat on the back and a sincere thumbs-up as they tied off the openings of their stuffed bags.

With a hard push off the ground and several propelling kicks, Ka’l swam upwards towards the glistening fractal rays of sunlight; and for the first time since joining the crew, she finally felt like she belonged.

=============================================================

Sorry for the delay in posting: I had a terrible case of the flu last week and just COULDN’T.

If you enjoyed this chapter of Ka’l Bahriin’s story, please be sure to read the previous five chapters of her series, Pactborn.

Ye Olde Taglist: @serenewrites​, @mayvinwrites​

If you’d like to be included in the taglist, send me a message. :)

#writing #fantasy writing #DnD #DnD PC #character backstories #DnD backstory #aasimar #warlock #pirate #buried treasure #shark attack #Ka'l #K'Sirr

[protectorsofthewood]

Abby and Wendy - Episode 35

THE VOYAGE DOWN THE RIVER

Phoebe appeared from under the bridge and said in a whisper: “You’re still here. Thank you! Let’s go.”

“Abby in the bow, just behind the mast. Phoebe in the middle.” They jumped in, Lluvia pushed off, and the canoe was running with the current. “Take that paddle, nice and easy on the left. Watch carefully.”

A blue sail was wrapped tightly around the mast. The motor was not running. The boat drifted into the fast current in the center of the river. For a while no one spoke. The view of the rushing water, the Winkle Family farm, the hills and the cliffs in the distance… It was all enchanting. The light breeze and the roller coaster feel of the current stirred their blood. The dark water glittered in the setting sun. Abby felt the warm sun on her back. All was calm. Abby and Lluvia didn’t make any great effort, but just kept the canoe straight and clear of other small boats coming upriver near the bank. They had a brief view of the town of Half Moon on the left and the park and docks on the right, passed by a few more farms, and then entered a more suburban landscape.

“Sorry to be late,” said Phoebe. “We had a surprise.”

Abby turned her head to look at Phoebe’s face. She doesn’t seem too worried. “Tell us!”

“Zoe had news. One of the reporters from the River City Post – name of Jerry Norris – is known to moonlight for political campaigns. Its possible he’s employed by Confidential Investigations, a well-known creepy outfit that works for big money. The same people stalking you, Abby. Norris is short, thin-faced, blue eyed, pale, receding hairline, in his thirties. Goes around with a broad-shouldered guy. I remember them from the churchyard gate. We were standing there a long time with nothing to do but look at reporters. According to Zoe, Jerry Norris is the most likely ‘reporter who’s not a reporter’, to quote what Marcus told Nico. We’ll have to watch out for him at the event tomorrow.”

Abby was trying to concentrate on her job, looking for dangerous floating objects in the river. “Tell Sara,” she said.

Phoebe continued her story: “Later on, Sulay came bursting into the toy store. She pulled me into the back room and said Marcus had just come into Phones and More to buy a fancy new smart phone. When her father was occupied with another customer he whispered to Sulay: ‘Change all your passwords. Wipe your phones and start over’. She hung around him and made the sale, but that’s all he said that’s of interest to us.”

“Wow,” Abby exclaimed. “Go, Marcus! What did you do?”

“It was already 4:15. Sulay said she’d do her job for you and then find Nico and make security changes in their phones and computer. I ran down to their store and asked her father to wipe my phone and help me get started again. He thinks my phone is too old to be any good, but said he’d wipe it later today. He recommended a new one but I don’t have the money, and now I have no phone. Thank God I never use my computer. And I barely got to you in time. I was panicked I’d miss out.”

Abby looked at Lluvia. “It’s a good thing we have no phones or computers.”

Lluvia laughed. “How did you know?”

“Oh, Jeremy told me about the Phone Rules, and I just didn’t think you’d go in for all that media. You like to be secret, and aren’t afraid of being alone.”

“That’s me.” Lluvia wore a smile during the whole conversation, with her eyes on the water. “But I do want a taste of all of this new action. I’m really glad to see both of you. We know the big change is coming, and this weekend we’ll see for ourselves.”

“And I’m so relieved to be with you,” Abby said. “I really have no idea what I’m doing. Like, what’s the schedule? Where do we sleep? How do we handle this meeting tonight? Who will even show us where to go?”

Phoebe had been glancing back at Lluvia. “I’ve seen you before,” she said suddenly.

“Oh my God,” exclaimed Abby. “You don’t know each other! Phoebe, this is Lluvia!”

“Watch the water, Abby. Don’t turn around. We can hear you.”

“Oh, I’m such an idiot!” Abby muttered. “I was better at this when I was ten. I can’t even remember which of my friends know each other.”

But Lluvia and Phoebe were not listening. They were studying each other’s faces. Even Lluvia had taken her eyes off the water.

“I know I’ve seen you before…” murmured Phoebe. “Somewhere.” 

“Of course you have. Can you remember?”

“In the toy store. You buy paint… and brushes, every once in a while.”

Lluvia laughed. “Oh you do remember! And I remember you, and your mother and father. But I’ve seen them more recently… in Rivergate and the forest.”

“Ah. You probably see my parents more than I do. Maybe you paint like my mother.”

“I’ve seen some of her work. But I’m not that kind of artist. I add detail to boats. Like names, and where they’re from. And sometimes fancy little extras. Some people want a lot of detail. We build boats and I ride them all over, taking people and supplies here and there, and fishing. Or just exploring.”

Lluvia glanced at Phoebe’s face again. “You play soccer. I’ve seen you in uniform, working in your store. And we read about your high school team.”

“I destroyed my knee in college this year. But now I coach.” Phoebe’s voice was not full of despair. She seemed to have accepted the fact.

Abby was listening, and trying to maintain her concentration on the water. But she wanted to watch the faces of her friends. Boats passed them going upstream, always close to the bank, and power boats passed them from behind. Lluvia’s canoe held the center of the river. Along the way various streams flowed into the Half Moon, and the river grew wider, and the number of boats increased.

“Are we going to sail?” asked Phoebe. “I’d love to try it.”

“Not today. We don’t need any help going with the current. I use the sail going upriver, and in the open water in the wetland. A few times we’ve gone all the way to the bay and the ocean.”

“I’m envious,” Phoebe said. “It’s different seeing things from the river.”

“Is it ever! I’m kind of addicted to seeing things from the river. But I’m not going to miss out on these new events. I have the feeling I’ll be involved somehow. Chi Chi told me about the meeting tonight, and some kind of event tomorrow.”

“And who’s going to meet us?” asked Abby. “Who will show us around? Where do we sleep?”

“Sara’s supposed to meet us at the dock,” answered Phoebe. “But I was going to text her when we got close, and now I can’t. I hope she shows up anyway.”

“I know my way around a little bit,” Lluvia told them. “I’ve delivered vegetables and biogas to Evansville more times than I can count. And I have a friend there. We’ll stay at his house tonight.”

“So who is it?” Abby almost turned around to see Lluvia’s face. “We’re curious!”

“I was going to surprise you, but I should tell you now. It’s Alex Johnson.”

“Alex… Alex Johnson… Alex and Lexa? You’re kidding me!”

“No, you’re just out of touch.” Lluvia spoke with a wide smile, her eyes on the water.

“Well, how did this happen? I was just thinking about them. About all of us in the Young Warriors’ Club.”

“The Young Warriors’ Club?” asked Phoebe.

“It was our Sunday school when we were children,” Abby explained. “I lost all my friends when I was ten and my family moved.”

You’ll be surprise to hear this,” Luvia said. “Not long after you left Rivergate, Lexa and Alex left too. Their parents had long been separated, and their mother died. Their father took them to River City where he lived. None of us had ever met him, and he had no interest in us. He just took Lexa and Alex and never came back. But then a year ago they showed up out of the blue! Well, Lexa and Alex did. Not the father. It turned out their father had died.”

“My head is spinning,” Abby said. If only I could see Lluvia’s face! she thought.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot of news.” Lluvia obviously enjoyed surprising Abby. “We didn’t know it, but their father had been a part of some big real estate family, owning tons of property in River City and even in Evansville. Alex’s father left him a little house near the Evansville College campus, and money for his tuition, but otherwise Alex is broke, barely getting by. His father didn’t trust him or something. It’s complicated, and he doesn’t like talking about it. But we’re friends now and we’ll stay with him.”

“So how does he survive?” Phoebe was clearly interested, risking quick glances at Lluvia behind her.

“He’s an artist, and sells woodcut prints. You’ll see at least one of them. The students have adopted the image of Noah’s ark as a kind of insignia, like a badge of identity. I’ve brought some prints to Rivergate, and even up to students at Northern State, where Students Against Fossil Fuels is organizing.”

“I think I did see it from a distance at the churchyard festival. It was big like a flag.” Abby’s mind was racing, but her eyes still looked for obstacles in the water. “Hey! Something floating up ahead! Look. It’s… yes, a loose boat!”

A small dinghy was floating free on the current with no passengers. Lluvia and Abby maneuvered the canoe alongside. Phoebe managed to tie a line to the metal ring on the bow of the little white rowboat, and they began towing it along behind them.

“We’ll leave it at the college dock and see if they can find the owner. Otherwise it’s ours. Who needs a boat? You’d be surprised how often this happens.”

She’s so happy, Abby thought enviously. I wish I felt that way. Is happiness something you can learn?

I’d like a boat!” Phoebe exclaimed. “Can I have it? It almost like your boat, Abby.”

“I wish I had a chance to use mine. You take it, Phoebe. I’m jealous of the boat we’re in. I’d like to get a sail and a little motor like Lluvia’s got.”

“It’s yours, Phoebe, unless someone at the dock locates the owner. It’s good luck to find a boat. And Abby, I’ve got a special present for you, back on the West Isle. We’re going to get you fixed up good.”

“I can’t wait!... Hey, look, there’s Evansville. A few tall buildings and the bridge.”

#Environmentalism #ecofiction #environment #teenagers #protectorsofthewood #Teenagers

[yachtchartergal]

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[sneil29]

May Day is coming up this Saturday May 25th!

MAY DAY is in just a few days!!! Get wild wonderful people and prep your floats and costumes!!! Be as crazy and wild as you want, anything "WILD" and wonderful goes!! Here is the schedule of events for you again: Quadra Island Recreation Society

May Day, Saturday May 25, 2019 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS …who does what, when "WILD" is this years May Day theme. What is wonderful about “Wild” to you? Maybe you are inspired to go into the wild, be wild, to love our wilderness or wildlife, to keep it wild, save our wild or to be a wild child! Welcome to our wild place, where the wild things are wonderful! It’s WILD and whimsy galore and YOU get to be wildly creative! Whatever “WILD” is to you do that, you wild thing! Join your friends and neighbours in a big community picnic at Rebecca Spit, Saturday May 25th, 2019. Celebrate the coming of spring and summer with colour, costumes, floats, and music – the more zany and bizarre the better! Let your imaginations soar and unveil your creativity! The best way to get to the end of the Spit is on a float! 8:30 am Gates open for parade entries 9:00 -10:00 am Shuttle starts at the HBI (thanks to Spirit of the West!) 10:00 am Parade starts at Rebecca Spit 11:00 am Concession opens 11:00 am Face painting starts. 11:00 am Official ceremonies 12:00 -ish Box Lunch auction 12:30 -ish Afternoon entertainment begins 1:00 - 3:00 pm Fort building 12:30 -ish Foot races begin 1:30 pm Sailing races begin (weather dependent) 2:00 - 3:00 pm Shuttle back to the HBI (please bring your own infant & child car seats) PLEASE LEAVE YOUR DOGS AT HOME Let’s keep May Day happy and safe for everyone by being aware of any potential dangers and acting accordingly. Parents, we need your help with this! MAY DAY is a volunteer-powered, non-commercial, community event first held on Quadra in 1898. The Recreation Society Board of Directors thanks the many dozens of people who contribute to the event in big and little ways and wishes everyone a happy, joy filled, sunny day! POSTERS: See posters by Candace Holmes up around the island. PARADE: Get your neighbourhood, business, or group together and challenge other groups to out-do your float! There is the Trophy for best float; prize money for costumes, bike, walkers. [Many say the best fun of May Day is in the parade line up...so come on and get involved!] Thank you judges (anonymous) and parade marshals, Jeanie Stoppard and Linda Jeffrey-Pillon. PARKING: On arriving at Rebecca Spit, please do not park beyond the park gate, as the parade floats will need room to set up. All floats will end up in the parking lot after the parade so please don’t expect to follow the parade up to the parking lot, as It will already be full! Thank you to Paul Ryan for gate control. If you have any physical challenges you may ask permission of the gatekeeper to drive to the parking lot. GREASE POLE: Doug and Gretchen Peters (and helper Adam Pullman) grease the pole and monitor the contestants. No pyramids please. Note at the top tells the winner to collect $50 from Doug Peters. GRADE 5/ 6 PICNIC: May Day is a time to honour the Grade 5 class which will be leaving for Campbell River next year. Check out the last picnic table with the balloons. Thanks to Fern James and Grade 5/6 parents for organizing this. Thanks to the Coastal Community Credit Union for donating their tent. (Grade 5 & 6 homeschoolers are welcome to join as well.) QUEEN AND COURT: Speech contestants in Grade 6 deliver a speech at the Community Centre 2 weeks before May Day. The winner is the May Queen and runners up are in the court. Thanks to Robin Beaton for guiding this process. Former May Queens are the speech contest judges. STAGE: Thanks to Mel & Ross Doak for supplying and setting up the stage; and grade 5/6 parents for decorating it. Special thanks Mel & Ross, for also donating the porta-potties! MAY DAY DEDICATION: Each year a citizen or group who has given positive service to the community over a lengthy period of time is honoured. SOUND: Thanks to Daniel Sutherland who will supply the sound equipment and be the sound techie. MAY POLE DANCERS: Linda McCluskey & Mandy Hart prepare the Grade 3 and 4 dancers for the traditional May Pole dance. Thank you also to the staff of Quadra Elementary. Bravo! BOX LUNCH AUCTION: Please support all the local businesses who donate magnificent “box” lunches each May Day. This is a big fund-raiser for next year’s May Day. Get your friends together to bid and have a marvelous banquet. Huge appreciations go out to our fabulous Deb Manery for organizing this and to Terryl Bertagnolli for being the auctioneer. CONCESSION: A BIG Thank you to Mornay Vanzly for organizing, the Heriot Bay Tru Value for their support and thanks to the dozens of volunteers who do a shift or two. Phone Q.C.C. at 285-3243 to volunteer. RACES: Thank you to Michael Redican, Helen Lee, Murray & Marion Garland for organizing this. ENTERTAINMENT: After the box lunch auction, stay tuned. There may be some action on the stage lead by local musicians! SAIL BOAT RACES: If dinghy sailing is your sport, call John Barclay at 285-3897. Start time is 1:30 for the dinghies (weather permitting). If you want to participate in a “big sailboats race” then Brian Simmons is your guy: 285-3128 FACE PAINTING: FACE PAINTNG VOLUNTEERS WE NEED YOU! Thanks to Megan Hartley for organizing face painting this year! Some four hundred faces are decorated by the end of the day! It’s free and starting at 11:00 a.m. Phone Q.C.C. at 285-3243 to volunteer. FORT BUILDING: Barbara Mindell (with helper Vaughn Collins) organizes this for the kids, from 1:00 to 3:00 on the Drew Harbour side of the Spit. Kids will comb the beach for items, and then build forts with their findings. People can vote on their favorite fort by buying a flag for a loonie (all money goes to the kids); voting is from 2:00-3:00. VOLLEYBALL: Pat Field and family will start you off. CREDIT UNION DISPLAY WINDOW: Check out the theme based display at the Coastal Community Credit Union in the weeks before May Day thanks to Sonya May McLaren and Tracy Sinclair PHOTOGRAPHERS: Don Mottershead is the official Q Rec photographer this year, thanks DON! We would also like YOU to be a May Day photographer! If you get some good shots, send them to: [email protected] and be part of our archives. EQUIPMENT GUARDIANS: Thanks to Jane West & Derek Jean for care-a-taking over night. CLEAN UP AND RECYCLING: Thanks to Waste Management for donating dumpsters and recycling bins. Please do your part in helping to keep the park clean. Please pick up litter when you see it. Have a great May Day and thanks to all who made suggestions for themes and put them in the theme suggestion boxes, and to the theme selection committee; and of course HUGE appreciations to all the volunteers! Thanks from Quadra Community Centre staff, Rebecca Young & Jane West 285-3243

#mayday2019 mayday quadraislandmayday quadraisland quadraislandrealestate quadraislandrealestateteam

[jamessandersweb]

Adrift

In September, 1983, Tami Oldham Ashcraft and her fiance, Richard Sharp, were hired to take a 44-foot yacht on a 4,000-mile journey from Tahiti to San Diego. About halfway through their cross-Pacific journey, they ran into Hurricane Raymond, a tropical storm which had been building in power for a couple of weeks. They struggled to control the yacht in 145-knot winds, and Sharp was washed overboard, lost in the mountainous seas. Ashcraft had a head injury, and the yacht was badly damaged, but she managed to jerry-rig a sail and then navigated her way—manually, using a sextant and a watchover 1,500 miles to Hawaii. It took her an astonishing 41 days. She survived on peanut butter. In 2002, Ashcraft wrote a book about her experience, Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea. "Adrift," the film adaptation directed by Baltasar Kormákur, wears its heart on its sleeve. It's not just a story of an incredible feat of survival. It's also a love story, presented with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. 

When Richard (Sam Claflin) and Tami (Shailene Woodley) meet in Tahiti, she's working in a marina, a girl already somewhat "adrift" but not really worried about it yet, and he is a yacht-owner who wants to sail around the world. Their love story involves jumping off cliffs, random laughter, and a conversation about flowers. There's not much substance to it, and the script (by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell, David Branson Smith—apparently, there wasn't one female writer in a 4,000-mile radius who contributed to this story of a woman alone at sea) is low on subtext. The two speak their feelings bluntly ("I sailed half the world to find you"), with music swelling up on cue. All of this is pretty standard stuff, and forgivable, really. Nobody's looking for intricate relationship subtlety and subtext in a movie like this. What we're waiting for is the storm. 

The film starts with Tami lying injured in the interior of the yacht after the storm. The cabin is filled with water and debris. She staggers onto the deck, only to find Richard's safety line dangling overboard. She thinks she sees Richard floating on a dinghy in the distance. Filled with determination to get to him, she mends the yacht as well as she can, pumping water out of the cabin, fixing the sail. She eventually makes it to the dinghy, and—with a superhuman effort, drags the injured Richard through the water back to the boat, and somehow (Kormákur doesn't show us how) pulls him up the ladder onto the deck. His ribs are collapsed, his leg is badly wounded. Because this is a true story, we know Richard was swept off the boat, never to be seen again. So it's not clear at first if they have decided to fictionalize the story, or if she is having some kind of sustained hallucination. 

"Adrift" flips back and forth between their burgeoning romance on Tahiti and the increasingly dire situation after the storm, as Tami struggles to keep herself and Richard alive. It is she who makes the decision to turn north and try to reach Hawaii, as opposed to continuing on to San Diego. It is she who rations out the food. When problems arise, she has to figure out solutions. She hovers over maps, peers through the sextant, makes calculations, all while battling dehydration (and possibly a lingering concussion from her head injury). "Adrift" shares many similarities with "All Is Lost," the 2013 film starring Robert Redford, with some crucial differences. Redford is the only person in "All Is Lost." There is no dialogue. He doesn't talk to himself, to let us in on his thought process. There is no "Wilson" like in "Cast Away," a device allowing the stranded character to verbalize his feelings. "All Is Lost" takes place in a vast and eerie silence. We don't know anything about the character, we don't know why he's out there alone, we don't know his onshore life. All we do is see him try—step by gritty step—to survive another day. "Adrift" avoids many of the challenges "All Is Lost" faces head on. 

Kormákur is drawn to stories about feats of survival ("Everest," "The Deep"), and the sea and its storms feature strongly in his work (much of which takes place in his home country, Iceland). He's on familiar turf. Cinematographer Robert Richardson, a frequent collaborator of Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone, does tremendous work with "Adrift." The frequent aerial shots of the tiny yacht surrounded by immense ocean are chilling: the frame looks almost existentially empty. There's one dizzying scene in Tahiti where first Tami and then Richard leap off a cliff into a deep pool below, and it seems like Richardson must be perched out in mid-air beside the cliff (and when Richard jumps, the camera follows him all the way down). The sunsets ooze fiery colors, with the yacht in black silhouette in the foreground. 

This must have been an extremely rigorous shoot for all involved, and Kormákur has maintained remarkable control over the images. Shots match, even as they're filming out in open ocean: the weather, the sky, the height and dip of the waves in any given sequence, all maintain consistency. The storm, when it finally comes, is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking and effects. In an interview when her book came out, Tami Ashcraft was asked about whether or not the storm depicted in the film adaptation of "The Perfect Storm" was an accurate depiction of what such a storm is like. She replied, "There wasn't enough spray and the wall of water was a little hokey." There's nothing hokey about the storm in "Adrift" (Dean Clark supervised the visual effects). As the yacht surfs up the side of a mountain of water, the entire background of the screen is filled with heaving ocean. There's no sky in sight, just flailing waves the size of three-story buildings. And they clearly listened to Ashcraft, because the air is filled with spray, splashing against the camera. It's chaos. The entire scene is a screaming nightmare come to life. 

There's minimal chemistry between the two actors, who aren't given much to go on in terms of who these characters are. It's hard to "buy into" the Great Love they're "selling" here. But there's a fascination in stories like these, stories like "Touching the Void" or "And I Alone Survived." What human beings will do to survive, facing a Mother Nature who seems to have a vested interest in killing them, is, yes, awe-inspiring. It makes you think, "How would I face such challenges? Would I be as resourceful as Tami? Or would I give up?"

Adrift published first on https://filmstreaminghdvf.tumblr.com/

[arplis]

Arplis - News: Mount Hope Hopscotch

Church Cove offers a protected anchorage in a southwest breeze. Photo Cate Brown

Overlooked by many boaters, Mount Hope Bay offers a host of attractive spots in which to wile away a dayor weekon the water. By Capt. Dave Bill; Photography by Cate Brown

Mount Hope Bay, shared by Massachusetts and Rhode Island, doesnt get a lot of attention from boaters. But it should. The bay is filled with interesting places to dock, drop an anchor or explore in a small boat, so you could fill an entire week visiting a new spot every day.

Every summer, I spend a significant amount of time on the bay aboard a 36-foot Union cutter, so Ive gotten to know and love this body of water, which offers everything from interesting things to see and do to great dock-and-dine restaurants to scenic spots where one can drop the hook and take a dip. Here are some of my favorite places to visit, as well as some points of interest.

The main gateway to Mount Hope Bay (which is named after a small hill on its western shore) is via the center span of the Mount Hope Bridge, with Hog Island Shoal to port and Musselbed Shoals to starboard. You can also enter, from the north, via the Taunton River, and from the south, via the Sakonnet River. Although the Army Corps of Engineers maintains a 35-foot-deep shipping channel through the bay up to Fall River, be mindful of navigational aids that mark obstructions such as Spar Island or Old Bay Rock. If sailing, youll also need to plan your itinerary around the strong tidal currents.

The Cove in Fall River is a popular dock-and-dine. Photo Cate Brown

FALL RIVIERA

The city of Fall River, once a thriving textile center, often gets a bad rap, but it offers a treasure trove of things to do and see. One if the main attractions is Battleship Cove, home to the worlds largest collection of World War II naval vessels, including the battleship Massachusetts and the attack submarine USS Lionfish. Reserve a mooring through the harbormasters office and you can spend the night in the shadow of these historic warships.

If you wish to explore downtown Fall River, you can tie up at the public dinghy dock on the south end of Battleship Cove. If traveling with small children, dont miss a ride on the 1920-built Fall River Carousel. You can also stroll along the waterfront boardwalk through Fall River Heritage State Park or take in a show at the Narrows Center for the Arts, a premier destination for the visual and performing arts.

Few people realize that Fall River was an important stop on the Fall River Line, a combination steamboat and railroad route between New York City and Boston from 1847 to 1937. The steamboats of the FRL were some of the most advanced and luxurious of the day, and you can learn more about this era at the Marine Museum and Visitors Center in Heritage State Park.

The Boat House in Tiverton is another boater-accessible eatery on Mt. Hope Bay. Photo Cate Brown

DOCK & DINES

Mount Hope Bay also has a couple of dock-and- dine options worth checking out. My favorites are The Cove in Fall River and The Boathouse in Tiverton. Both offer transient dockage, plus some pretty good food. Its best to call ahead at The Cove to arrange a space, but its first come, first-served at The Boathouses pier.

If youre in the mood for a party atmosphere, take a funky detour into Borden Light Marina, directly east of Borden Flats Lighthouse. The marina always has a few slips available for transients or free dockage for daytrippers on either side of the Tipsy Seagull, the marinas double-decker floating pub and restaurant. Take in the sunset while sipping a Tipsy Sunset and enjoying a Seagull Stuffy appetizer. You can also take the gratis Tipsy Taxi, a 1972 four-door Cadillac convertible, to visit downtown Fall River. In late August, Borden Light Marina plays host to the Fall River Grand Prix, New Englands only offshore powerboat race. Contestants compete for $35,000 in prize money on a 2 1/2 -mile course on the bay and lower Taunton River.

In this photo, Borden Flats Lightnow privately owned and available for overnight stays) is dwarfed by the towers of the former Brayton Point power plant, which was destroyed in 2019. Photo by Cate Brown

RENT-A-LIGHT

Approaching the Braga Bridge, which connects Fall River to the town of Somerset, youll notice the white-and-red, 47-foot tower of Borden Flats Light, which marks Borden Flats shoal. Built in 1881, the light is now privately owned and available for overnight stays. Renters can take a water taxi from Borden Light Marina to access the light.

Breathtaking Mount Hope Farm borders Church Cove, on the bays western shore. I regularly anchor in the protected 9-foot hole between Seal Rock and Mount Hope Point. Although there is no public landing on the cove, you can beach a kayak or dinghy along its shore and explore the property. On the north shore of the cove is Cove Cabin, one of the propertys function venues, available to the public for rent.

The farm offers lovely walking trails, a Saturday morning farmers market, gardens, a beautiful bed-and-breakfast and more. History buffs take note that the farm occupies the spiritual grounds of Metacomets Pokanoket tribe. The scenic cove deserves exploration in a kayak or dinghy, and is a great spot to cast for stripers, but larger boats should be careful of the many hidden rocks therein.

THREE RIVERS

The Kickemuit River, in the northwest corner of the bay, is one of my favorite gunkholes, and makes a fine anchorage in any weather. When entering the river, mind the channel markers carefully. Once through Bristol Narrows, the river opens into an expansive area. The center is deepest, with shallow water on all sides, and you can usually find plenty of room to drop the hook.

In the north end of the bay, on either side of Gardiners Neck, are the Cole and Lee Rivers. The Cole is my favorite of the two, with a nice day- anchoring area just off Ocean Grove Beach. You can explore further past the small entrance at the sand spit in a kayak or shoal-draft dinghy. The neighboring Lee River is less attractive than the Cole, plus it lacks a protected anchorage. Still, the upriver areas offer some interesting paddling opportunities.

Mount Hope Bay Names & Numbers

DOCKAGE, MOORINGS & SERVICE

CITY OF FALL RIVER [phone]

Transient moorings in Battleship Cove, just above the Braga Bridge.

BORDEN LIGHT MARINA [phone]

Fall River marina offering transient slips, a swimming pool, hot tub, laundry, showers, grills and more. Home of the Tipsy Seagull restaurant and bar.

THE COVE MARINA [phone]

Transient slips for boats over 25 feet. Onsite restaurant with free tie-up for patrons.

SAFE HARBOR SAKONNET MARINA [phone]

Full-service marina on the Portsmouth side of the Sakonnet River.

LAUNCH RAMPS

BRISTOL NARROWS, BRISTOL

End of Narrows Road, on the Kickemuit River.

MT. HOPE FISHING ACCESS, BRISTOL

End of Annawamscutt Road in Bristol. Trailer parking available.

SAKONNET BRIDGE, TIVERTON

Public access to the Sakonnet River and lower Mount Hope Bay. Concrete ramp and parking.

BICENTENNIAL PARK, FALL RIVER

Access to the Taunton River and Fall River area. Concrete ramp with floating dock and 46 parking spaces.

GULL COVE, PORTSMOUTH

Public access to The Cove, which opens into the narrows of the Sakonnet River.

WHERE TO EAT

THE COVE [phone]

Fall River eatery offering good food and transient dockage.

THE BOATHOUSE [phone]

Tiverton-based restaurant offering upscale cuisine and transient dockage for a small fee.

THE TIPSY SEAGULL [phone]

Festive dock-and-dine at Borden Light Marina offering live music and outdoor patio overlooking the bay.

THINGS TO SEE & DO

NARROWS CENTER FOR THE ARTS [phone]

Visual and performing arts venue in Fall River.

FALL RIVER HERITAGE STATE PARK [phone]

Boardwalk, benches and a 3-acre meadow bordering the Fall River waterfront.

BATTLESHIP COVE [phone]

Non-profit maritime museum and war memorial featuring the worlds largest collection of World War II naval vessels. Tours available.

FALL RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM [phone]

Nautical-themed museum featuring memorabilia, artifacts and models of the Fall River Line steamboats and the Titanic

MT. HOPE FARM [phone]

Wander the public walking trails of this beautiful property in Bristol. Also offers a year-round farmers market, bed and breakfast, and venues for weddings and other events.

BORDEN FLATS LIGHTHOUSE

Spend the night in this historic lighthouse off Fall River.

The post Mount Hope Hopscotch appeared first on New England Boating & Fishing.

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/mount-hope-hopscotch

[terryblount]

Sea of Solitude Review

This may sound like a joke, but I actually studied psychology for an entire year during my student days. I will admit that I came to hate the subject in the end, but the course had a few interesting moments. A particularly fascinating section was on the hidden part of the human mind not accessible to conscious thought, known in psychology as the ‘unconscious’.

The unconscious is the deepest and most primitive level of our psyche where our urges, emotions and instinctive thoughts exist in their most undiluted form. These impulses and feelings lie so deep beyond our awareness that we cannot describe them through rational language sometimes. Still, their effect on our mental reality can be very real, and very palpable.

This is the opening screen. A disclaimer like this, and you know you’re in for something a little more serious.

This is why people are so captivated by monsters and horror. These things represent an outer expression to some of the fears and aggressive instincts we house in the unconscious, particularly as a result of trauma or mental illness. Several games have tried to explore what it would be like to travel into the unconscious, with the Silent Hill and Evil Within series (Hellblade as well) being some notable examples.

Sea of Solitude by Jo-Mei Games, a Berlin-based studio,  has tried to capture this experience within an indie game.  This represents something like a catharsis for its creative director, Cornelia Geppert, as she takes the player through the darkest and most isolated moments of her life.

Meet Kay

It is tricky to describe the story behind Sea of Solitude since the game plays more like a series of puzzles for the player to solve rather than adhering to a linear plot. Come to think of it, I cannot recall being offered a proper intellectual challenge at any point, so calling them puzzles is perhaps an overstatement. Instead, you could say that Sea of Solitude is focused mostly on the experience and atmosphere it has to offer.

Learning how to let light guide my path

The player takes on the role of a young woman named Kay who wakes up floating on a little motorboat in the middle of a stormy ocean. The scene that greeted me was actually uncanny because Kay herself has sharp, black feathers with gleaming red eyes, and there is also the razor-toothed leviathan creeping just below the surface.

What I liked about the opening (despite the lack of any narrative exposition) is that I somehow understood the underlying message. I have been following the development of Sea of Solitude for some time, but this studio still surprised me with their talent for conveying imagery to the player. I suspect, the stormy waters represent Kay’s troubled mind, and her frightful appearance must represent how this inner state is psychologically turning her into a monster.

Kay then starts up her little dinghy, and a small light blips on in the darkness. On the turbulent waters the light looks like a haven, and I instinctively start to steer the boat towards its glow. It turns out to be a luminous, younger version of Kay floating angelically above the water. She assures me that she will keep me safe, and with a twirl of her hand lowers the water level, and changes the entire atmosphere to a bright sunny day.

Kay the monster

A floating city resembling Berlin appears from beneath the waves. Buildings, streets and cafés are rendered in a soft, pastel-coloured palette. Kay still looks ominously black in her little boat, but everything else appears serene and safe. The younger Kay plays a game with me in which I learn how to summon a little ball of light that will direct me where to go like an in-game compass, and Kay the Monster sounds almost happy for just a moment.

The experience

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling voice emanates from the water, and mini Kay zips off to investigate, leaving the atmosphere black and ominous again. Kay begs the little girl to come back right before a shell-dwelling creature rises out of the water. It utters profanities at Kay and insults her, which immediately led me to deduce that the beast represents Kay’s own self-loathing (because it looks a bit like her).

There is a way to defeat this monster so that I can proceed past the exit behind it. I need to clamber over some of the buildings, and clear away the worm-like strands of corruption slithering around balls of light (or are they energy?) using a trick the little girl taught me.

Clearing the corruption.

Unfortunately, I have to cross open water on a series of floating, garbage dumps, because the leviathan is back and starting to circle like a shark. This was utterly terrifying because the platforms are just out of Kay’s jumping range. Also, the monster can sense when I land in the water, so I have to wait for it to circle far enough, jump, and scuttle frantically on to safety before Kay ends up skewered on its gigantic fangs.

Eventually, the last ball of light is purged from corruption and its beam can be directed onto the creature. Turning the light sounds like utter agony, as Kay screams and moans from the effort. This must be a commentary on how difficult it is to escape the toxic circle of self-hatred and self-deprecation. With the monster defeated for now, I sail back into the sunlight, but it doesn’t last for long…

Techniques in narrative

My apologies if that dragged on quite a bit, but this would be a laughably short review if I only described what the player will actually be doing in Sea of Solitude. As I mentioned, this game’s strength is in the experience, and very little has therefore been invested in gameplay mechanics. The majority of my playthrough in Sea of Solitude was dedicated to helping Kay deal with the rest of the monsters lurking in her unconscious through mostly the same way I just described earlier.

These monsters range from a gigantic, fire-breathing, hairy chameleon representing Kay’s father (enraged by the constant conflict with her mother) to a werewolf-like dog representing Kay’s boyfriend. Get it? Puppy love? The monsters in this game are therefore not inspired by fantasy, but are instead the projections that Kay forms in her unconscious of real people, and the trauma they have enacted upon her.

Don’t let that beautiful exterior fool you. Every time Kay touches him, a monster starts to break through the white fur. It serves as a symbolism for how we sometimes hurt the ones we love.

There is a little bit of light platforming in Sea of Solitude, but what really steals the show is how damn interesting this game makes this minimalistic emphasis on gameplay. Sea of Solitude likes messing with your head and getting under your skin without resorting to outright horror or overly grotesque imagery. What unsettles the player is how they experience Kay’s story with her, and seeing how the drama of her external life has manifested as internal psychological horrors.

I mentioned how Jo-Mei Games constantly uses the power of imagery, which in itself was well done and engaging. I was constantly trying to connect what was happening in Kay’s mind to the snippets of dialogue from her life that plays as she proceeds through certain areas. I am also certain that many players will find the dialogue strangely familiar and relatable to their own lives.

Then there are the visual aesthetics themselves which are constantly supplying the mood for the player in certain scenarios. For example, Kay’s brother experienced horrific bullying and sexual assault at school, causing him to be represented in her mind as a forlorn and sad bird.

The form of Kay’s brother in her mind. I think the developer’s chose a bird to represent him due to its mournful and slumped form.

To save him from this bird-like form, she must share in the suffering he experienced by making her way through a flooded version of his school. This was one of the more creepy scenarios that the game has to offer since the sunken school is infested with red-eyed bullies made from smoky shadows. The dialogue that plays in Kay’s memory is also rather disturbing, as she experiences how bullies told her brother: “We’re going to find you… we’re going to kill you…”

Lastly, Jo-Mei Games have also used colour as artful visual cues to explain Kay’s memories.  The blacks in this game have been done particularly well in the Unity Engine as they look dark and bottomless against some of the more colourful and soft backdrops. This instantly alerts the player to when something is sinister or dangerous to Kay.

While Sea of Solitude has been rendered in a relatively simple, cel-shaded style without too much visual sophistication, the particle effects and use of light make the submerged dystopia a splendour to behold. The animation is also pretty good (particularly in how water has been rendered), and wandering around in this surreal world that Kay has shaped within her mind instills that tourist feeling I used to enjoy when I first started playing games.

An ocean of experience

I would be hard pressed to call Sea of Solitude a game about mental illness regardless of how many reviews might say otherwise. I never got the message that this was about a young woman’s struggle with depression or the like. Instead, this is a game about Kay’s journey through an immensely difficult time in her life when her loved ones where just flaking around her.

I actually made this my desktop wallpaper. This game has some serious beauty on display.

Which brings me to the problem. Namely, not everyone would appreciate or even enjoy this game. I loved it because Sea of Solitude was a short but powerful experience that I could link with times in my own life when I experience hardship or troubles. Yet I understand that it therefore makes my outlook biased, and players that are looking for a more gameplay-centred indie title would definitely find more satisfaction elsewhere.

If you are willing to sit back for about 2-3 hours, and you can permit yourself to get utterly absorbed in a game’s story for just a moment, definitely play this. Sea of Solitude is obviously a very personal game to its development studio, and their investment shines through every wave. The EA Originals program is producing some excellent content, and I think we should support games like this one before that awful CEO insists on anti-depressants as a microtransaction within the game.

Appealing visual effects

Thought-provoking content

Short and sweet

Unusual voice acting

Some sterile environments

Gameplay  sometimes basic

30 fps cap!?

        Playtime: 2 hours total.

Computer Specs: Windows 10, 64-bit PC using Nvidia GTX 1070, i5 4690K CPU, 16GB RAM – Played using an Xbox One Controller

Sea of Solitude Review published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

[lucianaseabolt-blog]

Foods To Avoid.

The Maine Coon cat has actually been actually contacted the king of the domestic Onlinesportportal.Info kitty globe". Each another legend when Brahma accumulated divine earth coming from the Palar waterway to put together the Yagakunda in Kanchipuram, the idolizers of God Varadaraja and also His Consorts were actually uncovered as well as he kept them in this particular temple built due to the blissful sculptor and worshipped all of them.

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[sailboundless]

 SATURDAY 16th JUNE

Departure:  Clipper Yacht Harbor Arrival: Ayala Cove, Angel Island Distance (nm):  18nm Engine Hours:  1.5 Crew & Guests:  Julian, Colin, Jon & Candace Weather:  Sunny, but cool, and then overcast in the Cove

Log:  A surprisingly cold start to the day, which didn’t get much better, we headed out with the loose plan to go to Ayala Cove for the night, but thinking the cool weather might drive us back to Sausalito.  The obligatory sailing under the Golden Gate and run back in over to the City Waterfront, and we thought we’d just go check out Ayala Cove, and decided to stay.  A bunch of firsts … Incredibly, this was the first night we’ve actually spent away from the Sausalito slip since we bought Boundless, First time using the dinghy and outboard from the boat, first time using the boarding ladder, and, very happily, first overnight guests.

And, after a bit of finagling with the tying up process (Jon and Colin bonding in the dinghy with an aft line), it was to shore quickly with me promising Jonathan something savory from the concession only to see the “kitchen closed’ sign … “Packet of chips, Jon?”.

A lovely, if a bit cool, evening aboard with Nick and Johnna over for a quick drink, then dinner and ‘Cards against Humanity’, and off to bed.

First time out in the dinghy!

  SUNDAY 17th JUNE

Departure:  Ayala Cove, Angel Island Arrival:  Clipper Yacht Harbor Distance (nm):  8nm Engine Hours:  1 Crew & Guests:  Julian, Colin, Jon & Candace Weather: Better, sun!

Log:  We woke to a very still morning … mostly because we we fast aground, which was not a surprise, we had tied up with 6’6″ underneath us with a couple of feet to go until the early morning low.  A blessing as it forced a period of patience and relaxation, as the water slowly rose to float us again.  Others were not so patient, and we watched a lovely older couple make considerable preparations for getting under way, including raising their mainsail, only to cast off the mooring and travel, very slowly and under full power, just twenty or thirty feet before they could go no further and were too resigned to enjoying the morning in Ayala Cove.  We had a great bacon and eggs breakfast, then Colin and I took a trip ashore, taking a walk to find a good vantage point for a photo of our pretty boat away in the Cove while Jon and Candace played cards in the cockpit.  A good Sunday morning scene!

It was almost noon when we left and seeing a stiff breeze in Raccoon Straight, we left with a reef in, and with the staysail.  Much to Jonathan’s chagrin, we had a comfortable couple of tacks across the Bay and headed home.

An extremely pleasant weekend, and very special to share it with Jonathan.

  Stuck in the mud with Jon & Candace  SATURDAY 16th JUNE Departure:  Clipper Yacht Harbor Arrival: Ayala Cove, Angel Island Distance (nm):  18nm Engine Hours:

[coolbviwatertoys1-blog]

Things to be Remember while Hiring and Using the Watertoys : Island Surf and Sail

If you’re planning your British Virgin Islands (BVI) charter this year, local businesses need you, so don’t forget the water toys. We’ve been talking to our affiliate partner, Scott Hustins, the helpful owner of Island Surf & Sail Ltd that guides about what you need to think about when hiring and using water toys, as well as his insider recommendations on where to use them across the BVI

Things to consider when using water toys If you love the adventures and watersports like SUP Windsurfing Surfing Kayaking Fishing, The essential kit for a charter around the BVI includes a couple of paddleboards and a couple of floats to have a fun time. The dinghy ladders are very popular if you don’t feel strong enough to drag yourself back into your dinghy after a snorkel.

Our advice when renting water toys is to know your limits. Always let a crew member know if you are going for a paddle or kayak and make sure you know what the wind and currents are doing. It may be a breeze to go in one direction but a big struggle when you turn around to get back to the boat! A general rule of thumb is to always start a paddle, or snorkel against the wind and current so that when you get tired, it’s easy to coast back.

Expert tips on paddleboarding Paddleboarding is a skill, so find a calm bay and choose a day with minimal wind. Start on your knees and make sure you are holding the paddle correctly. Slowly stand up with your legs straight, either side of the handle and shoulder width apart. Make sure you take your time. You will fall in the first few times so give it a chance and persevere! If the nose of the board sinks, you are too far forward and if the tail of the board sinks, you are too far back. Usually, the handle of the board is a good place to stand and you can adjust your feet from there.

Top BVI spots for using waterways There are so many gorgeous places to kayak in the BVI. If you prefer paddleboarding, it’s fun to paddle from Apple Bay to Smuggler’s Cove when it’s calm and Little Harbour at Peter Island is also great for paddleboarding.

Awesome places to eat The most famous island eating spot in the BVI is Cooper Island. They are an eco-friendly, solar-powered boutique resort with excellent, reasonably priced food in a delightful beachfront setting.

One of the most important things is don’t feed the fish at any location, even if you see others doing it. Among many reasons, feeding the fish deters them from eating the algae off the coral. The algae will eventually suffocate the coral and the coral dies. Our ecosystems are so fragile and everything is interconnected so please refrain from doing this – not to mention cheerios, bread, and popcorn. They are not high on the list of nutritious food for fish.

Come and discover the new BVI with us. The warm welcome is waiting here for old and new customers.

Request a quick quote for making your vacations more special Island Surf and Sail Soper’s Hole Marina Email us: [email protected] Call on: [phone] Website: http://www.bviwatertoys.com/

#SUP Windsurfing Surfing Kayaking Fishing #Island Surf and Sail Tortola BVI #island surf and sail