#yall are out here just drawing blind i guess

[jabberwick]

Alright question time.

I'm so shocked that people find it odd that I (usually, but not always) do lines second!

How do y'all know where to put the lines if you can't see the form first?? There's gotta be more lines second people out there!

When adding line art to a drawing I imagine it like wrapping pieces of string around a 3D form to give it definition and to deepen the darkest part of the illustration. I can't wrap lines around a form that I can't see!

#art question #poll #yall are out here just drawing blind i guess #i dont always draw this way #somwtimes i do lines first but i feel like i cant see what im drawing

[alynswim]

Phoebe Cheats Hey Arnold Original air date: October 15, 1997 Part 1

Starts at school with their new teacher, Mr. Simmons, announcing the winner of the best essay. Helga comments on how since Phoebe is "the best at everything" naturally she will win. Phoebe says nothing, but her face says it all, she *also* expects to win. Expect, nope! The winner of the best essay in class goes to their classmate Sheena. Helga makes a comment that perhaps Phoebe is "slipping". Phoebe tries (badly) to brush it off, saying she’s happy to see her classmates win. But Helga isn’t buying it.

Simmons starts to announce the "Citizens of the Month" awards: Helga: "Let me guess, Phoebe, Phoebe and....Phoebe?" Simmons: "Gerald, Nadine, and Harold!"

Again, Phoebe is shocked. Helga is quietly enjoying it.

Simmons announces the next contest. The poetry contest. The winner of which will get a trophy of famous poet, Emily Dickinson.

Phoebe tells Helga how "she must win this contest" and Helga responds to her telling her how she’d better "spill her guts" if she wants to win.

We then cut to both Phoebe and Helga at home, struggling to write their poems. Phoebe approaches her poem in a very...intellectual way. Whereas Helga is clearly taking a more emotional route.

It’s a pretty good way of demonstrating that "intelligence" in certain areas doesn’t necessarily translate to "competency" in others. For sure Phoebe is smart, but this type of writing requires drawing from different kinds of wells. Wells that Helga is already tapped into.

Helga’s about ready to give up until she finds some inspiration.

"Yearning" this, "Longing" that. Lemme show yall some *real* yearning. Watch and learn.

Meanwhile, Phoebe is still struggling. She decides to read a book of poems to use as a guide, but gets discouraged, thinking she isn’t able to write as good a poem as the people in the book. She puts the book aside and tries again.

But she "has to win", Phoebe says. She opens the book back up. She closes her blinds, turns off all the lights except her desk light, and waits for someone outside the room to walk past before copying a poem directly from her book. Word for word.

I do sympathize with Phoebe here. Writing is hard! Not just the physical act of it and not just following all the structural and grammatical rules, but also the constant nagging feeling that what you’re writing is complete dogshit. Especially when you start making comparisons.

It takes a special kind of courage to "spill your guts out" (as Helga commented earlier) on the page. It requires thinking, even for just a moment, that you have something worth saying.

It also begs the question of why out of all things Phoebe chooses a poetry contest to cheat at? She clearly has had the drive and motivation to push through difficult assignments; what makes this any different?

One of my favorite writers ever, Rod Serling, had a quote about writing and rejection.

A lot of writing requires putting yourself out there in such a way that when someone tells you it sucks that’s as if they’re saying *you* suck; not just as a writer, but as an individual.

It’s why you’ll sometimes see rich authors in their 50s on here name-searching themselves and starting fights with teenagers who riffed on their book or whatever.

We cut to Simmons reading Phoebe’s plagiarized poem to the class and announcing her as the winner. Stinky, impressed, asks her if she really did write all those "pretty words’ herself? Phoebe smiles awkwardly (and shamefully).

Simmons goes on to announce the second-place winner. A poem by "Anonymous". Helga immediately knows who it is and withdraws in her seat.

Phoebe goes home and her parents tell her how proud they are of her winning. Phoebe feels uncomfortable from all the attention and decides to retreat to her room.

Once there, she starts talking to the Emily Dickinson trophy and begins to justify her cheating to her: "It’s not as though I cheat all the time. And I know more about poetry than anyone else in class." Which like...oof...lot to unpack with that statement there.

The unresponsive Dickinson trophy pisses Phoebe off and she shoves her in a drawer in her desk.

Phoebe has trouble sleeping and in the middle of the night, her mom comes into her room and sees the trophy in the drawer. Her mom takes it out and places it on the small table next to Phoebe’s bed.

Phoebe wakes up the next morning, puts her glasses on, and is *freaked the fuck out* to see that the trophy is been watching her sleep.

As Phoebe leaves the room, she yells at the Dickinson trophy about how the poem Phoebe plagiarized was "rotting away" and how she "rescued it". Again, lot to unpack there lol.

Phoebe ends up having a one-on-one with Mr. Simmons. She tells Simmons how she ended up writing lots of poems, but how bad they were. Simmons responds by saying that that is part of the creative process.

She is trying to come clean to Mr. Simmons, but before she can, Principal Wartz comes in and asks Simmons for help with an upcoming open house. Simmons suggests having students do a reading and tells Wartz about Phoebe’s great poem. Wartz is impressed.

A funny scene plays out where Wartz says how the school is "proud of our multicultural heritage" and asks Phoebe where she comes from: Phoebe stares at Wartz blankly and says, "Kentucky, sir".

"Well Phoebe, let’s make Ken-tuc-kai, proud with a prize-winning poem!"

Back at home, Phoebe is fencing with her dad, very aggressively. Her dad tells her that he made contact and Phoebe argues that he didn’t. Her dad accepts it gracefully because of how "honest" Phoebe always is.

Phoebe snaps and leaves in a huff. Leaving her dad confused. Her mom goes to ask her if anything is wrong. While soaking in the tub, she responds that everything is fine, but clearly Phoebe is having a hard time with things. Sick bathroom btw.

Later Phoebe has trouble sleeping again. The Dickinson trophy begins to talk, mocking her. Dickinson: "Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Smartypants." Phoebe: "You’re an inanimate object, you can’t talk!" Dickinson: "And *you*, can’t write poetry."

"Cheater....cheater!"

"Cheater."

Phoebe screams and throws her bonsai tree at her. Sitting there and just kind of taking in everything.

The next day, Phoebe decides to bury Dickinson in the sandbox at the park. Dickinson scolds her again calling her "naive". Phoebe finishes burying the trophy and leaves.

After she leaves, a kid jumps onto the mound of dirt that Phoebe made burying the trophy and the trophy ends up popping out onto the sidewalk. At that same moment, Arnold and Gerald happen to come across it and figure Phoebe must have lost it and they decide to return it.

[LINK TO PART 2]

#hey arnold #helga pataki #writing #media analysis #phoebe heyerdahl #phoebe cheats

[many-gay-magpies]

i very much look forward to your heeseung drawing !! i will keep a sharp eye out for any more art and will support accordingly (so btw i have actually interacted with your posts a few times on my old account and it always feels like that "laughs in hidden" meme. i am working on reviving that old account)

NO BC THE IDEA OF AN AROACE PERSON OR LIKE . A LESBIAN BEING IMMUNE TO THE VAMPS' HOTNESS IS REALLY FUNNY BC IMAGINE ONE OF THEM GETTING CAUGHT DOING QUESTIONABLE SHIT AND TRYING TO CHARM THEIR WAY OUT AND THIS LESBIAN STUDENT IS LIKE "oh no you cant flirt your way out of this one, prettyboy. now how the FUCK are your hands on fire." but logically i assume the 'charm' still works on people who wouldn't be attracted to them anyway though– i mean theoretically half of decelis's student body is straight men yet They are all somewhat charmed by the vamps too. so i guess they've just got some kind of charisma/aura that puts people at ease and makes them comfortable. a person can be captivating without the need for attraction, i think

okay but heli stepping out of the shadows like "dontscreampleasei'mjustwalking" is also hilarious like the poor student would be so scared. also someone recognizing solon and realizing that if solon is one of the phantoms walking around, maybe his brothers, the other Weirdos Of Decelis, are the others. the next night the student goes on a walk and catches a shadow with bright green eyes and whispers "hi, jakah" into the darkness, scaring the shit out of the star highball player. "how did you know it was me??? its so dark out here????" "are you aware that your eyes are neon green and light up like glowsticks?"

-vrvr anon

aaaa think you im vv excited (both about finishing/posting it in general and seeing what you think about it)!!!

okay but how would you feel if i admitted that im pretty sure i know what your blog is but i havent said anything or interacted with it because the lil anon ask + answer back-and-forth dynamic is oddly precious to me (and also you mentioned trying to revive it before so i figured you'd interact yourself when the time came)

YEAH THE IDEA IS SO FUNNY SHFBFJBF and im honestly not sure if it would be like. a sexuality/orientation thing necessarily. or if its like all the girls at school (that are attracted to men) are crazy into these seven boys and theyre attractive and (seem) cool and popular, so all the BOYS at decelis (that ARENT attracted to men) either look up to them/want to be like them/be friends with them or they're jealous that they get all the girls' attention. meanwhile idk the lesbians think theyre cool or something?? idk. and in the "new student comes to decelis and immediately sees that the seven popular guys are total fucking dorks, seriously how are these guys the pinacle of cool jocks to you?" scenario im guessing it would be partially aroace influence but also partially the fact the new student hasnt been drenched in decelis school "culture" yet so they're more disillusioned towards the whole popular cliques thing. and yeah totally im 100% behind the idea of the boys being captivating REGARDLESS of someone's orientation, and the new student could absolutely be like "yes i recognize that theyre very pretty and have nice personalities or whatever but this idiot (jino) set the dorm kitchen on fire trying to bake cookies last week and this idiot (noa) got stuck on the roof at 2 am and had to be helped down by one of his brothers, who then ALSO got stuck on the roof. yall have been blinded"

with that being said though the concept of a lesbian student catching one of the brothers red-handed (possibly literally in jino's case) as theyre pulling some stupid shit, and the brother in question trying to flirt/charm their way out of it and failing is just. very funny to me.

YEAH THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE WHOLE CRYPTID THING IS A GREAT CONCEPT . like maybe after heli comes out to comfort the student he accidentally scared that same student starts to notice the other "phantoms" wandering around and think. hey wait maybe theres something else going on here. and they connect the dots for the first time after seeing a "phantom" with heterochromatic eyes LMAO. and bit by bit they start to pick out who each of the "phantoms" are via their eye colors, but they don't say anything for a while because they aren't really sure what there is to DO about it. then they decide to test out the theory by calling out the name of the "phantom" in a completely casual greeting and scaring the shit out of whichever brother thought they were the one doing the spooking in that particular hallway. its all great fun! (and maybe that student pulls all the brothers aside later like "okay so. idk if yall are aware or not but your eyes LITERALLY GLOW in the dark. if theres any freaky supernatural shit going on with you guys i wont tell, but you should probably do less wandering around at night or at least make sure no one can figure out its you.")

#asks #anon 📝 #vrvr anon #dark moon nonsense #dark moon

[retronamic]

Arcane Women (Oddly Specific) Hobbies

Г Vi |

- If I said boxing or any vigorous activity would be tooo damn obvious. Sooooo I slept on it, and vi definitely collected and trained bugs (yes i said trained)

- I mean look at her and tell me she wasn't the type of kid to have some random bug on them

- Ik it sounds gross asf but hear me out.

-In Zaun there isn't much to do to pass the time that won't result in you running for your lives. Soooo the kids of the Undercity held underground ✨bug fights✨ (kinda like dog fights but for bugs)

- Here you brought your best bug didn't matter the species and you made them battle till someone was eaten or turned over

- Vi was the undefeated champion since she snagged herself a stag beatle, who she named Caesar.

- Caesar was a big boi soo was no surprise he became the undefeated champion of the bug fights

- She loved tf outta that bug. So much so that when Caesar sadly passed away, Vi was devastated. They held a funeral procession at the back of the Last drop. Everyone gave a eulogy and paid their respects (No one really cared bout the damn bug they just wanted to make Vi happy)

- It took Vi 3 months to recover. During those 3 months Vander had to help her do the basic tasks of life like eating and showering

- She thinks of him every now and then when she goes collecting. She collects for fun. She finds them, admires them, tries to guess the bug and takes a pic or two. No more bug fights for her, plus it wouldn't feel the sameeeee

Г Sevika |

- Miss Sevika can sewwwww (I prolly saw this from some other creators blog posts yet sadly I can’t remember who they were s but yea she definitely sews)

- Embroider, patch up or make a whole as dress, she can do it allll

- I see her developing this skill as a means of survival. In Zaun, clothes ain't cheap. Sooo it's best to keep the ones you have now for as longggg as you can

- Later on in life, when she began working for Silco, she suddenly could afford more clothes than she needed

- Being one to be stuck in her ways, she still prefers to repair or make her own clothes cuz, one it helps her relax and 2. her body portions like her arms and thighs makes it hard to find clothes that fit her well and still her enough mobility to fight 

- If yall have been together for a while then she would make you a scarf or two and that's onlyyyy if yall have been together for long. She’s not going to wasting her yarn on a one night stand. 

- Those stitches are made with loveeeee ok and you better wear them even if the designs are ugly asf (since sev is more the dress maker rather that the stylists) 

Г Grayson |

- Lovesssssssssssss wood work

- I can see her as the type to make bird houses or build her kids a whole ass tree house from scratch

- All her cupboards, dressers and even the bed frame are hand made by yours truly

- She doesn't do it much as she is the sheriff and duty calls. But sometimes, you catch her wilding a piece of wood to make a cute little animal sculpture

- When she proposed to you, she presented the ring in a hand crafted wooden box (you only noticed that after cuz the diamond on that ring was blinding) 

- THAT SHIT WAS SOOOO CUTEEEE THOOOO 

Г Mel |

- Ik she's the residential arts and crafts bish of the show (she had them 64 Crayola crayons on stand by) but have you seen her family, cause I have (Hiiii miss mel’s mom~)

- Girlie can fighttttttttt. She’s definitely trained in hand to hand and long distance combat. Perks of having a warlording family yk?

- But Mel being the girl boss she is, I feel she would take it a step further and do something like capoeira

- Capoeira is a martial art-infused dance thought to have originated in 16th-century Brazil, which draws attention for having an acrobatic, athletic style. 

- To me that screams Mel, it’s elegant yet deadly (and smth her mother probably hates soooo all the better fit for her)

- You would sometimes watch from a distance and admire how she delivered powerful blows yet graceful blows to the sand bag, all without breaking a sweat

Г Caitlyn |

- Runs a tumblr blog. That’s it. 

- Most specifically a Lana Del Rey tumblr blog (pppfffffttttttt ahhahahhahaa)

- Daily Lana quotes, gifs, and she even used Lana song lyrics as words of daily affirmations (the projection is really shining through with her)

- She mainly did it in her past time as a way to interact and talk with people who shared her love of the goddess Lana herself

- On a date, she accidently slipped up and mentioned it to you and you beggggeeeddd her to show you. Ofc she said “Absolutely not.” She was not bout to relive her tween cringe years, she rather get run over by a freight train than show anyone her blog

- After an hour of begging, she caved and you saw it

- Make fun of her alllll you want, but she had a color palette. The pics were on point, man every post correlated with the main page’s theme

- DON'T PLAY WITH HER INTERIOR DESIGN SKILLS

#arcane #sapphic #mel medarda #sevika #vi #caitlyn #arcane hcs #arcane women #enforcer grayson

[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Bound By Blood - Geralt of Rivia x (f)reader - Part 2

Summary: Geralt has learned of a mysterious witch and her supposed vicious familiar, now he must hunt to bring them down for their crimes.

Warning: blood & gore, angst, bit o fluff, things getting chaotic

Masterlist if yall are interested - you’ll find part 1 there

After an admittedly pleasant couple hours of greatly appreciated morning sex, the two of you are finally up and dressed for the days new adventure into the closest village which is about four miles southeast. Luckily for you, your man has a horse which is very fortunate when trekking through snow.

It only takes an hour or so to finally reach the small village of Thurn that’s located just below huge towering mountains that practically touch the sky. Snow covers the land just as expected though the market place is mussed up with mud and dirt from busy travelers and townsfolk alike.

Considering this place is surrounded by a great thick forest and there’s only one trail leading into it, and it’s not part of the main road, you can’t help but still feel apprehensive about who you may meet even with your Witcher by your side. No one knows who or what you are, and it appears that no one seems to care either, although you do notice how some glare in your direction. It’s not you, calm down, you try and convince yourself.

Geralt reassures you it’s only him that they’re keeping a wary eye on, and by the way he gives you a warm smile you believe him and do your best to forget the strange looks here and there. You’re safe with him, this place is away from the main road and there’s no way a single soldier would be here.

Standing on a building corner while facing the marketplace, you watch as Geralt pays for some dried fish and a fluffy loaf of warm bread. So far your nerves have calmed, though you keep a keen gaze on every opening into the great marketplace in case something or someone was to try and harm him or even you for that matter. You have killed many soldiers after all, not to mention the bear.

Suddenly a hand lays itself onto your shoulder when you’re not paying attention causing you to jump back and just about knock Geralt out with your fist. He barely manages to dodge it when you quickly reel back in shock, not expecting it to be him.

He chuckles lightly, “Just me.”

Rolling your eyes you smile fondly up at him, “Sorry...um, reflexes eh.” You mutter with a breathy laugh.

“Guess you were right about being dangerous after all.” He muses, making light of your slight embarrassment.

Taking the bread from his hand you playfully scoff, “Well then again, maybe not touch a woman before she knows who you are? Next time I might accidentally rip your throat out and you’d never see it coming.” You add while tearing off a piece of bread and popping it into your mouth.

Taking a small chunk himself, Geralt hums, “Wise words, I’ll keep that in mind next time.” Before biting into the bread, as you study his face you can’t help but notice how he appears to be fully enjoying your little makeshift breakfast. 

Suddenly a flash of sunlight rickashays off of something metal catching your sight in the morning light, just about blinding you for a small moment. You blink, eyes darting to a market stall that’s filled with meats. Where two soldiers dressed in black are speaking with the butcher, you freeze, taking Geralt off guard with your new fearful state.

“Y/N what is it?” He whispers as you begin to breath heavily, eyes wide as you watch the Nilfgaardians every move. His grey brows furrow in puzzlement before he turns around to follow your line of sight, only to be met with the backs of two soldiers minding their business.

He can hear how loud your heartbeat has become as it thunders in your chest with rage and building adrenaline, he knows exactly what you want to do next but this is not the place for it. Turing back towards you he sets a cautious hand upon your shoulder, “Not here.” He warns softly.

You keep unflinching, nostrils flared as your fists clench in anger, his hand presses firmer now, “Y/N, not here.” He warns again, with more gumption this time, really meaning it.

Breaking out of your self inflicted trance your eyes shift back up to his golden ones, “It’s too late.” You whisper regretfully, “He’s coming for them.”

“Who is?” Inquires Geralt, unsure of what that could possibly mean.

Letting out a frustrated sigh you look to the slushy hard ground almost in shame, “My companion.......my bear.” You mumble, “I didn’t mean to but he can sense when I need him and now...I can’t...I can’t stop him Geralt.”

The Witcher’s eyes widen in realization, “What will the bear do?”

Bringing your worrisome gaze back up to him you shake your head nervously, “Whatever he wants.”

“Gods, Y/N.”

You cringe, this isn’t going to play out very well for you and Geralt knows it, “I know, fuck I should never have come here! We should have just stayed in bed and starved, let’s just hope he only goes for the soldiers and is satisfied with them.” You exclaim in a hushed tone, pulling Geralt behind a corner and away from any unwanted attention, “No one here will die unless they try and hurt him or me, you understand. We have to lure those fuckers away from the village. Now!”

“Alright then, do you have a plan?” He wonders, not so sure if you’ll be able to get these men away from the village in time.

“Yes.” You sigh begrudgingly, “Though it’s not to late to leave me and ride off into the sunset.”

He gives you a small smile at your attempt to make light of the situation, “I’m not leaving you, though it’s tempting.” He teases before turning serious again.

“My plan is for you to do nothing and I’ll harass those bastards into following me out of here and into the woods before my companion has a chance to find them in town.”

“I’m not just doing nothing.” He protests.

“Yes, yes I know. You’ll be my back up, okay? Now we don’t have time for this just keep close but not too close.” Before he’s able to argue back you’re already gone and halfway across the muddy street with a new fire in your heart that he’s willing to protect with his very life.

Fists clenched in anger you grab a frozen tomato from the stall next to you and without a second thought chuck it right into the back of one of the soldiers helmets with a loud thud. He grunts, whipping around with eyes full of confused aggression, “Now wha?”

Smack! 

Another tomato right into his big ugly face causing him to choke on his words as he stumbles into the guy next to him. Dazed and frustrated he gets to his feet, unsheathing his jagged sword while his friend does the same. “You bitch! I’ll have your head for that you fuckin’ slut!” He cries angrily much to your sick satisfaction.

“Ma’m you have to pay for those.” Mutters the vegetable farmer fearfully, interrupting your sweet moment of anger.

“Shut up.” You snap, turning to glare daggers at the two soldiers. “Call me a slut again and I’ll shove his innards down your throat.”

Glancing at one another they smirk wickedly before charging at you, darting to the right, you sprint for the village entrance and out the giant overhang as they chase you towards the forest where a small group of tired travelers are coming from on a small wagon.

Fuck! Not these people now!

Your feet carry you almost to the safety of the thick evergreens before a thunderous roar is heard huffing and puffing from out of the pines. You fall to the snow just as the great brown bear blunders into the opening, immediately mauling down the closest soldier who gets pummeled into the wet cold earth. He screams in agony as his innards are indeed ripped out, though his cries are muffled when the bear clamps down onto his face, ending anymore unpleasant sounds coming from him.

The family next to you freezes in terror, their horse kicking and rearing at the wagon desperately trying to vacate the situation as her owner tugs on her reigns for dear life. The bear growls at the horse from across the clearing, face dripping crimson as the other soldier slashes the beast across the face with all that he can, still it does little but make a small scar of red on its furry cheek.

You gasp in pain at a stinging sensation on your cheek, however your mind doesn’t have time to weigh on it as the bear tears the man’s throat out with teeth the size of butter knives, claws digging into the soldier’s black armor as he feasts. Soon your companions furry head raises to meet eye to eye with Geralt who’s found his way onto the messy scene.

Your heart beats rapidly as you shake with adrenaline as your Witcher’s golden eyes dance from the large beast in front of him to you who’s behind both of them. Suddenly the bear takes a step forward causing Geralt to step backwards cautiously. Shit!

You move quickly to the creatures side, “Don’t.” You warn firmly, “He’s mine.” The enchanting ember eyes of the familiar meets your stern gaze as he snorts, giving a distinctive nod in understanding just as an arrow thrusts itself into the beasts shoulder.

“No!” You scream in unison with the bears roar of pain as a sharp stinging races it’s way up your arm when he knocks you to the ground, now standing protectively in front of you like a shield of steel. Geralt quickly turns around to find half a dozen more Nilfgaardian soldiers racing out from the village, one drawing another arrow as they ready a charge.

From behind the bears legs you can see what terror awaits, “Geralt!” You cry desperately as his eyes find yours, “Don’t let them hurt him!”

Heeding to your command, your brave Witcher jumps into action, taking out two soldiers before launching himself at the bowman who’s ready to fire. Your companion moves just as a last arrow plunges into the snowy blood spattered earth right in front of your face. You gasp in shock, staggering to your feet as the men that Geralt couldn’t stop attempt to take down your bear with their swords and shields.

Failing miserably they fall to the beasts paw one by one as you watch in relief, then to your great annoyance and admittedly slight fear does a lone man charge for you. One who’s been able to slip past the defenses, you reach down and take a fistful of snow before throwing it into his face, taking him off guard as you race for the wagon.

“Hand me a weapon!” You shout, “Quickly now if you want your children to live!” The terrified father keeps stiff and silent as his wife throws you a shovel of all things. Turning around you clash wood with steel, the soldier grunts as you kick his feet from out under him. Falling to the earth you quickly swing the rusted shovel around before harshly cutting right through his exposed neck in one clean motion.

His eyes gloss over as you pull the makeshift weapon from his bleeding neck, grimacing in disgust as you drop the shovel to the ground. Not feeling keen on witnessing the reactions of the family from behind you, instead your head stays forward as you walk away towards Geralt.

“Y/N! Are you hurt.” Rushes Geralt worriedly as he jogs over to your disheveled side, eyes all over you in case you really are wounded.

You nod, waving him off, “I’m fine, fine...I promise.”

He smiles, grateful to know you’re alright and uninjured, “Good. We need to leave.”

“I know, come on let’s find your hors..arh ahh fuck...” You scream in pain falling to your knees in the wet snow, Geralt catches you as your eyes darken in anger, two black pupils glaring furiously away from him. “No!” You shout, “Don’t hurt him!”

Turning his head to follow your pained gaze, he’s surprised to find some idiotic villagers as they throw rocks and other shitty weaponry at the roaring beast, “Stop it he’ll kill you!” You shout even louder now as he holds you back. Your familiar grunts and growls in protest as the men push him back farther into the woods, though they don’t stop, idiotically they follow. 

“Let me go!” You snap at Geralt angrily as he holds you tight, “Geralt!”

“Y/N he’s a bear what are we supposed to do now, he cut through those trained soldiers like they were nothing, I’m not having you get anymore roughed up then you already are.” Pleads Geralt. No you idiot they cannot kill him!

Eyes darkening in rage you break from his tight grasp and shove him to the ground before grabbing his fallen sword and racing towards the stupid villagers who are disappearing into the forest, the roars of your companion sounding painfully throughout the woods.

“Y/N!” He shouts after you, still you ignore him, to focused on tearing into the woods with determination clear in your heart. Soon enough you find the men in a snowy meadow among the great timber, makeshift weapons pointing dangerously at the bear who’s now standing his ground. 

“Get back!” You shout as they shove their sticks into the bears face that’s not even ten feet from them. “Don’t!”

The bear growls a fearsome roar of protest and pain as it backs up closer to the tree line while the villagers press closer and closer with their steel and wood, shouting insults as they go.

“Stop it he could rip your throats out you fools! Stop-ah..ouch fuck.” You seethe through clenched teeth as one of them knocks you to the ground with his garden hoe. He chuckles maliciously, eyeing you grossly as he holds up the tool readying for another hit.

“This your beasty, huh?” Taunts the dirty man with a smug grin just as your fearsome bear races to your aid with a new found purpose. He throws men that stand in his way before slashing open the mans stomach, entrails slipping out right before your vary eyes.

“Fuck.” You mutter before all hell breaks loose, more of the village men try and take down the bear but it’s no use, he slashes and tears at them, causing most to flee in terror back through the woods and eventually into the village.

“Stop! You’ve done enough for me! It’s time to go now, leave!” Is lost on the wind as the beast mauls down another man. Soon warm arms pull you from the ground and into a strong chest as your Witcher pleads for you to fall back. “Geralt no! I have to make him leave this place, he’ll kill all who try and harm him!”

“Y/N your bear is murdering innocents, this has to end now!” He exclaims while holding you close though he’s just making you more frustrated. No one is innocent.

“What are you implying?” You snap at him, dreading what he’s about to say next as you hold his arms against your chest.

“Y/N.” He whispers almost regretfully, face pressed against your cheek, “We have to kill him, it’s the only way to stop this slaughter from continuing.”

Elbowing him in the stomach you shove him from your side, face a mask of anguish and fear, “I can’t Geralt!” You exclaim loudly, “Fuck, there are just some things you don’t know about me yet! Dammit this is all wrong!”

He gives you a deep frown as he studies your face, confusion clear on his handsome features, “Y/N we have no choice.”

“There is always a choice!” Your voice is strong as you shout at him, he huffs in frustration at your outburst, clearly he doesn’t know why the bear cannot die. Y/N just tell him, he trusts you. Eyes softening you swallow thickly while touching your sore shoulder, “You don’t understand.”

Staring at you desperately, his face and hair undoubtedly a mess of dirt and blood, he looks to you now with deep confusion, “What do you mean?”

Breathing a heavy sigh you look down at the palm of your hand that’s still covered in bandages, “You can’t kill it, that creature is bound to me by an unbreakable link..”

“What?” He wonders, grey brows furrowing in puzzlement at your strange half explanation, “What does that mean Y/N?”

Your gaze falls to the snow covered earth then over to the beast that’s now decided to head for the woods, leaving a trail of bloody paw prints in the snow, no men left alive in it’s wake.

You frown deeply, your features conflicted and almost lost as you find his lingering gaze once more, “It’s complicated.” You begrudgingly mutter, Y/N he trusts you. “Let’s get out of here and I’ll explain everything.”

“Fine, come on.” Urges Geralt as the two of you make haste for the woods where Roach is waiting patiently.

The ride back is deathly silent, a new tension filling the small atmosphere around the two of you as you sit quietly in front of him. He doesn’t further press you for anything until he’s made it back to the secluded old cabin where he clicks his tongue to stop Roach. Boots hit the snow as Geralt looks up to you now, you nod lowly and let him help you down though you don’t truly need it, he ties off Roach before following you into the warmth of the small house.

As soon as you stand in front of the dying fire do your eyes fill with unshed tears while you bite your lip anxiously. Geralt’s gentle gaze falls onto your form as he steps closely in front of you, reaching his hands up to carefully clasp his hands with yours, “Tell me why this bear is so special to you, please Y/N?” He quietly asks.

Blinking the tears away you rest a hand onto your wounded shoulder that’s left a red mark through your shirt, though still letting him hold the other one. “That beast is my twin brother Geralt.” His brows raise in surprise still he keeps silent as you continue, “I don’t understand it myself, and neither does he. But ever since we came into this world something has linked our very souls and vessels together so that if one of us is hurt, the other feels it too.”

Blinking hard, the Witcher’s brows furrow even deeper now, “That’s your brother.” He repeats, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing as he starts to connect the dots, “Is this why your hand is hurt and your shoulder is wounded?”

You sigh, tilting your head up to fully look at him, “Yes. When you cut his paw it cut me too, then earlier when that damn archer shot him in the shoulder I felt everything.”

“I could tell you looked in pain, and your cheek.” He brings a hand up to gently caress your cheek, “A fresh scar. I did wonder how that happened.”

“It’s a quick pain, still hurts of course. But it’s something I have always lived with, and it’s something mages would be very inclined to study so you mustn’t tell a soul.” You affirmed through pleading eyes as you suddenly pull apart from his grasp when a jolting pain hits you on the temple unexpectedly. “Fuck, what the hell?”

Geralt’s at your side in an instant, “Y/N you’re bleeding.” Worries your Witcher as he grabs a spare cloth and applies it to your head. “Will you be okay?”

“Yes, it’s a simple cut. My brothers thick skull is to thank for that. Dammit if I could only find him.”

“Couldn’t you through some twin bond like you said, maybe that would work?” He suggests.

“Ah shit, fuck...okay yes there is another way...but please don’t look at me differently when I tell you. This is the last secret I promise.”

“Nothing is stranger then this twin link, tell me Y/N I trust you.”

Giving him a kind apprehensive smile do you nod, “My brother isn’t the only one who can change form, I can too. Difference is....I’m a wolf.”

Your heart beats with fear as Geralt begins to chuckle much to your confusion, “A wolf huh? Of course you’re a wolf, I’ve heard this could be destiny of some kind. Do you believe in that horseshit?”

You let out a humorous breath, “Well, I’m a skin-changer and if my twin gets hurt so do I. So...uh....I’m not exactly one to not question what weird shit destiny has in store for me, I mean look, I’m with a Witcher and he hasn’t killed me yet.”

Geralt’s hums, golden eyes shinning bright down at you, “And I don’t ever plan on it.” Oh, Geralt.

He smiles fondly at you though you begin to frown, “Well that’s just it huh, my brother has taken bear form for a while now, he won’t want to come back. And those villagers saw me with him, they’ll know...they’ll hunt for us. Geralt I can’t have him hurt anyone else...but what can I do? There’s only one way to truly reason with him....but I’m afraid.”

“Why? What would happen?” Worries your Witcher.

Your eyes briefly drop to the floor before they shift back up to Geralt, “I must take my beast form to speak with him, he understands me as I am now...it’s just, well I can’t really understand him as a bear.”

“Then we’ll find him.” Mutters Geralt reassuringly, causing a tiny smile to appear on your face, “Together.”

#the witcher x reader #the witcher x you #the witcher x y/n #geralt of rivia #geralt of rivia x reader #geralt of rivia x you #Geralt #geralt x reader #geralt x you #the witcher

[rohad93]

Sea Legs

My last fic before i go on hiatus for the duration of season 2.

Have a good one yall!

~ ~ ~

Luz stared listlessly out at the sea as the ship bobbed along; bored. The same rolling blue-green ocean stretched out for miles in every direction just as it had every day for the past month and a half, endless and unchanging. She loved the sea, really, she did; it was why she had left home the first minute she was able to and had joined the first ship that would take her.

The Tawny Owl was a 'merchant' ship. At least that was what it’s captain, Edalyn Clawthorne, or The Owl Lady or Cap'n Eda, as she preferred to be known, called it.

Even though Cap'n Eda used actual finger quotes around the word 'merchant', they definitely did sell things

Just, things that weren't theirs.

Luz didn't mind it really.

They didn't kill anyone… Well, she didn't. If people got unruly while Tawny Owl crew was trying to take their things then Eda was sometimes known to fire off a few rounds or toss someone overboard and 'let the ocean do as it would'.

King also had a bit of a mean streak when the moment struck him. The first mate was a small man with an ego and temper that was much larger than he was and was prone to exploding at a moment’s notice.

He cared though, in his own way.

Hooty, though, was… something else.

Despite their, sometimes, shady nature, Luz loved the Cap’n and the rest of the crew just as much as she loved the sea. She’d grown up on stories of sea monsters and daring adventures across the water in large, gallant ships. People going to far-off places to see new things.

That was what she wanted and she did get a lot of it. She’d met all kinds of people and characters in her five years sailing with Eda and the rest of the crew.

All that being said, sometimes, the long weeks and months at sea could be very, very boring.

Not all the time. Somedays, when they weren’t doing the usual tasks of tightening ropes, repairing sales or swabbing the deck they would fish over the side of the boat.

Most of them fished with a net or string, but Barrelman Hooty, would climb down from the crow's nest and dive straight into the water, knife clenched between his teeth.

Luz would never understand the large, muscular man, but he was nice and took care of her a lot. More than once he’d hauled her out of the way of danger but, even so, he was more than a little strange. Like how he liked to wear two eye-patches… even though both his eyes were fine.

She’s asked Eda once and the answer had been a shrug. There were some things that just defied explanation.

They had been out at sea for a month now, chasing after an actual merchant ship that had been rumored to have some incredibly rare and precious cargo on board that wasn’t exactly well guarded. That had been enough for Eda to have them heave to.

So now, here they were, weeks into a chase, well, sort of. They were sneaking up on the merchant ship a little more each day, waiting for the perfect time to hit it when they pulled into dock near Port Royal.

They should be coming up on it tonight and, in Eda’s words, were going to ‘Rob it blind and then blast it to kingdom come if we have to!’

Luz was content to wonder just what kind of priceless goods the ship could be carrying to not have much in the way of protection. Most of the time they did that so as not to draw attention to themselves. Of course, they’d hit their share of bum ships that they thought would have goods but hadn’t had much of anything, much to Eda’s chagrin. That was just the sort of risk they took.

She leaned her arms on the side of the ship, watching the waves lap at the worn wooden hull. The sun was starting to set and they would be moving in soon.

The plan was simple, in theory. They would pull into the dock and she would slip onto the ship while the rest of the crew made distractions of themselves. Hooty was really good at that too.

She stood there for a long while, getting lost in her thoughts and listening to the distant sounds of seagulls as they flew overhead; the heat from the sun was tempered by the cool breeze that was pushing them steadily through the water at a good clip. The sun had just started to set when she heard Hooty call down from the crows nest.

“Land, hoot!”

Luz shook her head at the strange man’s queer turn of phrase but looked up anyway and turned her eyes towards the horizon. Sure enough, she could see a dark smudge on the horizons, slowly growing  

“Ya ready to go, kid?” A sudden voice called and Luz looked up as Eda walked up to her, grinning brightly, arms crossed over her chest and her maroon and gold captain's jacket hanging off her shoulders.

“As ready as ever, I guess,” she shrugged as Eda came to stand next to her looking out at the sea.

“That’s the spirit!” she laughed, slapping the young woman on the back as she snorted. Luz grinned at her. This would hardly be the first time they had pulled this trick. Luz was by far the quietest and most inconspicuous member of the crew and thus, the best suited for the job when stealth was required.

Quiet in the grand scheme of things? No but definitely the quietest and least destructive member of the crew.

They didn’t wanna fight if they didn’t have to.  

They definitely would though if the occasion called for it.

“What am I looking for exactly?” Luz asked, brows furrowing as she looked at Eda, who shrugged.

“Anything that looks like it might be worth money.” She held up her fingers and rubbed them together with a grin.

“Right…” Luz nodded and Eda clapped her on the back one more time.

“No worries, kid. This will be an easy job,” Eda assured her and, with that, turned and walked back toward the helm where King was glaring at a map that looked suspiciously like it was upside down.

Eda said that about most jobs, but it wasn’t exactly as easy as she made it out to be.

Within the hour, they pulled into port and, just down the dock from them, was the large ship they had been following for the better part of a month.

They waited, watching it as the most of the crew filed off once night fell and made their way to the nearby tavern.

“You ready, kid?” Eda asked her and Luz nodded. “You know what to do.” She grinned as the rest of the crew moved off the ship, to throw their plan into action

Luz nodded and, with a canvas bag thrown over one shoulder, she took a breath before heaving herself overboard into the waiting, dark waters below. She hit the cold water in a sudden rush, becoming all but weightless for a moment as she plunged through the water.

No matter how many times they pulled this stunt, she never got tired of that part.

Except when it was really cold.

She surfaced with minimum noise and shook her head, wiping some water off her face as she swam toward the other ship. The closer she got, the more she could hear the yelling and fighting of metal clanging as cutlasses clashed and musket shots rang out in the night. Eda and the rest of the crew, already creating a distraction.  

She swam up to the ship's hull and grabbed hold of one of the ropes dangling down into the water and tensed as she started to haul herself out of the water, carefully and slowly climbing up the side. The sounds of fighting was growing slightly more distant at this point. Her crew were leading whatever people had remained on the ship away. With a grunt, she hauled herself up, peeking over the side to the deck. It was empty and she flung herself over the side, pushing her sopping wet hair back out of her eyes. She moved quickly to the captain’s quarters and didn’t need to look long before she found the captain’s log and took it with her, flipping through to the back and finding the cargo log. She scanned the list quickly and found all the usual suspects. Spices, wood, soap. Nothing that really jumped out at her except one thing.

A very large crate, marked as exotic meat, heading to a well known and expensive eatery in the capital. There was nothing special about that though so she shoved the book into her bag and hurried back out onto the deck and scurried to the entrance that led below deck, where whatever they were carrying would be kept. Her time was ticking by quickly and she didn’t want to be left on board when the rest of her crew pulled back and this ship’s crew came back.

It was dim down in the hull of the ship; a few oil lamps hung from the wall, their flames flickering and casting long shadows across everything. She walked as quickly and quietly as possible across the creaky floorboards, eyes skittering across all the crates scattered around the room but nothing immediately stuck out to her as being important. She’d been with Eda long enough to have developed an eye for things that might be worth something, most of the time anyway. Most of the crates were marked with stamps for things she knew and had been marked in the log book. Tea, spices and the like but nothing like what Eda had expected to be here. There were a few sacks on the floor that she ruffled through and found some tiny bags or uncut gemstones, which she stored in her bag. It was better to come back with something than nothing at all.      

She moved quickly, searching through everything she could but there was nothing here that Luz would call a ‘great treasure’ she grunted to herself, frowning. Eda wasn’t going to be happy but there wasn’t much to be done about it. As she moved, she caught sight of the large crate sitting against the wall and with nothing to lose, moved over to it. It was longer than she was tall and came up to her waist. She gave  it an experimental kick and jumped when something thumped back.

“Wha-!” She reeled back, blinking at the crate but nothing else happened. She leaned forward, hand raised and gently taped on the box but this time, there was no answer. She blinked at the box for a long second.

Maybe she’d imagined it?

Just as she was about to turn and go, the box thumped again, making her jerk.

Something was in there!

She looked around and quickly found a prybar, not even pausing to consider just what might be inside before she wedged the bar under the lip of the crate and with a grunt and a mighty crack, pried the lid loose, sending her stumbling back

It crashed over the side, falling to the floor and the sharp, salty smell of sea water immediately hit her. She took a cautious step forward and peered into the crate. It was full of dark, murky water and… something else. Something glimmered dimly just under the surface but it was too dark to see.

She ran over and grabbed one of the oil lamps hanging from a nail on the wall and moved back to the crate, holding the light over the lips of the box.

Something, green, glimmered below the surface and she leaned closer toward the water, squinting into the depths.

Suddenly the water sloshed and she jerked back with a shriek, landing flat on her butt on the floor and jarring her tailbone painfully as something broke the surface of the water. She scrambled to sit back up, fumbling for the lamp and holding it up in front of her.

Luz felt her jaw all but come unhinged as she stared back at… a woman?

A woman was staring back at her from the confines of the crate but she didn;t look like any woman Luz had ever seen before.

The first thing she noticed was her hair. It lay wet and flat against her shoulders in a bright shade of pale green that Luz had never seen on someone before with long strands of ruddy brown at the crown, pulled away from her angular face.

The next thing was her ears.

Long and pointed.

“Wha-” Luz continued to gape as a pair of bright, golden-colored eyes stared back at her in a glare.

Just when she thought she couldn’t be any more surprised, something else flipped up out of the water.

Long, blue-green fins attached to an expanse of scaly flesh. The scales seemed to shimmer and shine even in the low light of the lamps.

A tail.

A handful of stories from her childhood suddenly popped into the forefront of Luz’s mind. Tales of sea creatures, half-human and half-fish, that swam faster than any man could ever hope and had no need to breathe.

Old wives’ tales of pulling sailors under the depths to drown. Creatures that would steal and hoard the treasure from sunken ships.

“A mermaid…,” Luz heard herself mumble, almost unbidden. Her shocked stupor was broken only as the tail splashed back down into the water and droplets of warm, seawater splashed her in the face, making her blink. “Wow, you’re…” she scrambled back to her feet and took a step forward but then the creature… woman? The woman in front of her jerked back, spine pressed against the side of the crate, shoulders bunched up around her neck, and Luz stopped, holding up her hands. “It’s okay… I’m not gonna hurt you or anything,” she tried to calm her but those sharp eyes only continued to glare at her silently. Luz frowned, humming. “You probably don’t understand me,... do you?” she asked and, again, silence was her answer.

She moved slowly around the crate, careful not to actually get any closer but those golden iris’s never left her. Not that Luz could blame her. She wouldn't be happy about being shoved into a crate either. She had a swathe of bright magenta fabric wrapped around her chest, studded with what looked to Luz like sea glass and pearls. Their shiny surfaces catching in the light.

A real-life mermaid, just like in her stories! Luz could hardly believe her eyes.  

“You must be the thing…,” she breathed quietly but then frowned. The thing they had come looking for…

She jerked, suddenly and again the sea creature jerked back, sloshing water out the sides of the crate but Luz didn’t notice as she dug the log book out of her bag and quickly scanned it and found absolutely no mention of any mythical sea creatures or even anything alive on their manifest.

In fact, the only thing that even came close to matching the description of the crate in front of her was the one line of text she had noticed.

Exotic meat…

“Ay dios mio, they're gonna eat you!” she yelped, dropping the book to the floor. She didn’t notice the way the woman’s eyes widened. “I gotta do something…,’ Luz mumbled to herself, pacing the room quickly and chewing on her bottom lip as her thoughts raced a mile a minute.

The ocean was only just outside… she only had to get her upstairs. Luz whipped back around to lock eyes with the mermaid, staring back at her.

She couldn’t just let some stupidly rich aristocrats eat a mermaid and call it exotic meat!

She took a step forward and, predictably, she pressed herself back against the far wall of the crate.

“It’s okay,” She held up her hands as she slowly approached but she could see it in the woman’s eyes, as clear as day.

Fear.

“I’m not gonna hurt you but if I don’t get you outta here soon, someone else will,” she spoke in low, quiet tones as she approached. Time was slipping through her fingers like sand as she spoke. They were both going to get it if she couldn’t get out of here quickly. She took another step forward and the creature’s lips pulled back over a pair of fang-like eyeteeth, trying to ward her away, her tail splashing angrily in the water and Luz paused.

There was no way she was going to let Luz get her out without a fight.

There was no way she was going to let people eat a rare and mythical creature.

“Okay then!” She bowed up and the woman seemed to draw back some but the snarl never left her face and then Luz quickly covered the last few paces to the crate and grabbed her.

To predictably disastrous results.

Apparently, mermaids have claws; who knew?

Luz let out a pained sound as she dragged the struggling creature out of the crate, hauling it over her shoulder and sloshing sea water everywhere as she felt the sharp lashes of claws digging painfully into her back, searching for an escape.

She turned and ran, doing her best to keep her balance as a long, muscular tail whipped around frantically and the woman growled and snarled in her grip as she clawed at her.

“I’m just trying to help you!” she yelled as she sprinted up the stairs, panting. She was solid and the thrashing around while mauling her didn’t help Luz in the least.

She managed to make it up onto the deck, still flailing as she stumbled around, trying to maintain her balance as the woman thrashed in her arms.  

“Please be still!” Luz hissed, voice pitching as she felt another talon dig through her thin tunic, shirt, and skin. Why did she have to be so dang nice!?

Just as she was crossing the deck the woman reared back in another attempt to break free and then blinding pain shot across Luz’s face in a trail of fire from above her eye down her cheek.

“Argh!” She stumbled but managed to keep her footing and made a beeline straight for the side of the ship, despite the warm blood she could feel dripping down her face. She didn’t hesitate to throw the woman over the side, watching as she hit the water with a splash. She didn't resurface but Luz figured she’d swam off the moment she’d hit and then she realized the sounds of fighting had stopped.

“You, stop!”

She looked over her shoulder to find the crew had returned and were darting across the deck toward her.

“Bye!” she grinned, wiggling her fingers.

She threw herself over the side of the boat and fell to the water with a splash. Limbs akimbo as she hit the water like a cannonball and didn’t even pause before she started swimming back to the Tawny Owl, beneath the dark water. The salt water burned her myriad of cuts but that was much preferred to a musket shot through the back so she never slowed, holding her breath as she moved through the water back toward the ship.

When she finally resurfaced with a gasp, it was on the other side of the ship, out of sight. She panted as she swam off to the dock and hauled herself up onto the planks. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off she felt every gash in her skin with striking clarity and she didn’t like it at all.

It. Hurt.

She walked down the dock toward the Tawny Owl , consoling herself with the thought that she had done the right thing. Even if the recipient hadn’t exactly been grateful about it…

She wiped a sopping wet arm across her face and pulled her sleeve back to see the blood quickly seeping into the fabric of her sleeve. She’d gotten her good too.

Eda was waiting for her when she finally climbed up the plank.

“Hey, Kid, how was - What the hell happened to you?!” Eda’s shout got the attention of all the rest of the crew as she jogged forward, eyes darting over Luz’s bloody face.

Luz paused. She couldn’t very well tell Eda she had rescued a mermaid from being someone's dinner. She probably wouldn't have even believed her to start with and, even if she did, knowing the opportunistic captain, Eda would’ve wanted to sell her for sure.

“They had… dogs,” she said after a moment.

“Dogs?” Eda repeated and Luz nodded.

“Guard dogs, they attacked me down in the hold,” She quickly lied as Eda looked at her back and chased a breath at whatever she saw.

“They tore you up, Kid…, You best go down and see Viney,” she said and Luz nodded; it felt like it.

“So what, we got nothing from all that time?!” King’s sudden squeal made her stop and Eda looked at her questioningly.

“I did manage to grab these, that was really all there was except some crates of tea and stuff.” She dug through her bag and handed over the little bags of gemstones, which Eda appraised for a moment before nodding and slipping them into the inner pocket of her captain’s coat.

“We can make some decent money off these, not a total loss, good job, Kid. Now, go see Viney, you’re bleeding all over my freshly swabbed deck!” She ordered and Luz didn’t need to be told twice before hurrying down to see the ship’s doctor.

Viney whistled loudly as she examined the litany of long cuts in Luz’s skin as she wiped away the blood.

“Them things got you good, didn’t they?” she commented as Luz sat on a stool in front of her, bandages in hand.

“Yeah,” Luz mumbled with a nod. Her whole back was a mass of throbbing but Viney assured her she would be fine, so the deckhand contented herself with playing with the doctors large, black parrot, Puddles.

“Strange though….” she hummed and Luz glanced at her over her shoulder.

“What?”

“You don’t have any bites… just all these long gashes… are you sure it was dogs?” she asked and Luz paused in her petting of the bird.

“Oh yea… big ones,” Luz nodded and Viney just hummed but said nothing else about it. Once she was all patched up, Viney sent her on her way with orders of no heavy lifting till her gashes closed up some.

She caught sight of herself in the dirty mirror as she stood to go and saw the bloody gash that trailed from just over her left eyebrow and down her cheek, thankfully, missing her eye. That was going to leave a mark for sure.

“Hey, I finally got my first cool scar!” She grinned and from behind her, Viney just laughed.

~  ~  ~

The day was bright and a gentle breeze was blowing across the sea as Luz sat on a plank lowered down the side of the ship as she used a knife to scrape the barnacles off the hull.

It was ‘chore day’ on the Tawny Owl and that meant all of the general maintenance required to keep them afloat like mending the sails and replacing old, frayed ropes. They sat out in the middle of the ocean so they wouldn't be bothered while they worked.

Since she was off any kind of heavy lifting duty’s, per Viney’s specific orders, Eda had given her the easiest job on the ship. Luz was pretty sure she felt bad for sending Luz down into a ‘dog infested’ hull to grab loot too.

The truth was a secret Luz would take to her grave.

She and Eda were pretty close but she didn’t want to test that by telling her that she’d been mauled by a honest to goodness mermaid; a mermaid that someone would probably pay through the nose for. Luz had literally thrown a fortune overboard. That wouldn’t be a fun conversation to have.

She hummed along to the sound of the song the rest of the crew was singing up on deck as it wafted down to her by the water.

“To bring us sugar and tea and rum!” she sang quietly to herself, head bobbing along to the jaunty tune as she wedged the blade under another barnacle.

She let her mind drift back to that fateful night. She could still clearly see the glint of those scales in her mind, could still see the pointed ears and eyes as bright and shiny as the doubloons Eda was always running through her fingers in her quarters.

A real, living mermaid. She could still hardly believe it and might have thought it all a dream had her throbbing back and newly scarred up face not confirmed the reality of the situation.

Luz was still struck by how otherworldly and pretty she had been… despite the whole mauling thing...

Who in their right mind would think to eat one?!

She was lost in her thoughts when the sound of splashing water made her look up and turn. The gentle waves lapping at the boat seemed undisturbed and she didn't see anything. More than once she’d been down here and something had jumped out of the water and smacked her before, so she kept a careful eye out. You only needed to be smacked in the face by a tuna once to learn that lesson.

Seeing nothing, she turned back to the task at hand but as she turned she did spot something, sitting on the plank beside her.

An oyster shell sat on the wood beside her and sitting there, inside it, was a pearl.

“Huh?” Luz looked around but was greeted by nothing but ocean waves. She set down her knife and picked up the oyster, it was still wet and dripped as she carefully rolled it out onto her palm. It was perfectly round and smooth between her fingers.

“Where… where did it come from?” she mumbled, scratching her head with her other hand as she gazed down at the small jewel. With a shrug she slipped the pearl into the front pocket of her shirt and turned back to the task at hand but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

She nearly forgot about it entirely until a few days later.

They had come to a stop in the middle of the ocean to fix a tear in the mainsail at about sundown and while they did, Luz lowered herself down to the water in one of the rowboats, determined to do some fishing while she had the time and Hooty was too busy helping with the sails to go diving into the water, scaring them all away.

The boat bobbed along in the, for once, placid water. There was hardly a breath of wind, as was often the case at this time of day. When the sun began to sink over that distant horizon it caught the sea ablaze in sparkling hues of red, orange, and pink. The ocean sat quiet, or, as quiet as it ever got.  

The tear in the sail came from a little... incident between Hooty and King rather than any storm or winds. Luz hummed to herself as she cast out her line and set her little driftwood pole against the side of the boat. Now all she had to do was wait.

Admittedly, that was not her strongest suit.

So, she picked up the old worn book at her side and flipped it open, the pages filled with a great number of charcoal sketches. Some were messy, a jumble of lines and shapes with no rhyme or reason while others were smooth, refined, and accurate to life in their detail. Fish and other sea life spread across the parchment.

She was pretty happy with some of them.

She flipped to the last sketch she had been working on and frowned to herself. Sketchy lines and rough shading of a long, scaly tail and a face with pointed ears. She wasn’t happy with it. She needed more than a few moments of seeing her but that wasn’t going to happen now, so she did the best she could.

The warm, waning sunlight glared into her eyes as she sat hunched over her sketchbook, looking up occasionally to check her line. In an hour she’d caught one measly little fish about the length of her palm and not much else.

She sketched out another line and frowned to herself when she pulled back to look at it. It was all wrong! She grunted and set the charcoal between the crease of the pages and closed it with a snap, setting it off to the side.

She leaned back in the boat, looking up at the clear blue sky, and sighed. Her mind inevitably went back to thinking about the mermaid whenever she had a spare moment. All those stories she had heard and read as a kid, all the tales of grand adventures and mystery that had led her to this life to start with and she had finally come face to face with something truly incredible…

...and it had tried to maul her.

To be fair, she probably would have been scared and less than welcoming if she’d been stuffed in a crate and was being shipped out to be some governor's exotic dinner. They had been trailing that ship for a month. She had to have been in there for at least that long, probably longer. Did they feed her or just leave her in a dark, water-filled crate?

Luz frowned to herself and closed her eyes. The thought made her angry.

At least she was free now.

Probably somewhere far away.

There was a sudden splash and, before Luz could even open her eyes, something large, wet and wriggling slapped her in the face.

“Argh!” She sat up, eyes snapping open as a large tuna fell into her lap, flopping and flinging seawater everywhere. “Mierda!” She tossed it off her onto the floor of the boat where it flopped around. “What the hell?!” She blinked at it for a long moment before the sound of sloshing water made her turn and her jaw hung open.

A pair of golden eyes were peering up at her from just above the water a scant few feet away.

Luz sucked in a sharp breath as she stared back at the eyes looking back at her.

“You…,” she mumbled. She could hardly believe her eyes.  “You’re here!” she jerked forward and the eyes reared back before disappearing beneath the water. “No, don’t go!” Luz called, scrambling for the other side of the boat and half throwing herself into the water.

She didn’t even register the saltwater stinging her eyes as she looked around frantically. The water was bright and clear and she blinked, coming face to face with those eyes again, blinking back at her in clear surprise. Luz opened her mouth to speak and bubbles poured out as saltwater rushed into her mouth.

She reared back, flinging water as she flopped back into the boat and choking on the water she’d swallowed.

Luz hacked and coughed, spitting up water, not noticing the eyes now peeking up over the side of the boat, watching her.

“Ugh!” she spat out the water and pushed the wet hair out of her face, blinking to clear her eyes. “Right… air,’ she grumbled to herself and wiped the water off her face.

She looked up and saw the creature looking at her over the rim of the boat.

“You’re here…” She honestly didn’t know what else to say in the face of a mythical creature staring back at her from the water with bright, curious eyes.

Till she did.

“Why are you here…?” she seemed to mumble more to herself than anything and she moved forward. Once more, the skittish creature dove under the water but Luz didn’t follow this time.

Not as far anyway. She leaned over the side of the boat and glanced into the water.

Just below the surface, the woman was staring back at her.

The large fish flopping around hit her leg and she glanced at it before turning her attention back to the water with sudden realization.

“You threw that up here… why?” she cocked her head.

The woman’s eyes seemed to linger on Luz’s face. It took Luz a moment to realize she was staring at the long, scabbed-over gash running down her left cheek.

She flicked her tail in a slow, almost sorrowful movement and Luz found herself mesmerized by its floating path through the water behind her, smooth and languid.

She dragged her eyes back to the mermaid's face. The creature brushed back floating tendrils of green hair and blinked slowly at her. Golden eyes lowered demurely as the face twisted in an expression that Luz recognized immediately: regret.

"You… wish that hadn't happened?" she asked.

The mermaid looked at her for a long moment and nodded. Then she darted forward, emerging from the water with a splash that made Luz lunge backward in fright.

The mermaid looked at the human, huddled in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the boat and sighed.

"I'm sorry... for what happened," she said finally, her voice low and her eyes quickly darting away from Luz’s.

Luz blinked up at her for a long moment as she held herself up on the side of the boat, making it tip dangerously under her weight.

“You do talk!” Luz jerked forward and the woman tensed but didn’t dive back into the water, though she did flinch away slightly.

“Yes…,” she mumbled and glanced back at the human only to find her staring up at her in wide-eyed wonder. Eyes, all but sparkling in the glinting light of the setting sun.

“This is amazing…” Luz mumbled to herself, absolutely flabbergasted, eyes darting everywhere. She was back, right here in front of her!

Suddenly, her brows furrowed as a thought occurred to her and she looked up at, brown meeting gold.

“Why are you here?” she asked, cocking her head and the mermaid turned away from her, pushing a few strands of wet, green hair behind her ear.

“I wanted to say thank you… for saving me… and I’m sorry… for the… clawing,” she mumbled, waving a hand over her own face. Luz reached up to touch the rough scabs over her cheek.

“It’s okay,” Luz said simply and then those gold eyes swiveled back to her. Shock and confusion clear in their metallic depths.

“It’s… how can you just say that… I…” She glanced down at the long, sharp claws that tipped each finger.

Luz arranged herself more comfortably on the floor of the boat, tipped precariously under Amity’s weight leaning on it.

“I probably woulda lashed out too if someone shoved me in a crate for who knows how long…,” she said with a little shrug. “I’ll heal” She waved a hand dismissively.

The creature still didn’t look content with that but nodded.

“Thank you…” she trailed off and Luz perked.

“I’m Luz.” She grinned, holding out a hand.

The woman blinked down at it for a second.

“Humans shake it when you meet new people,” Luz explained. Mermaids probably didn’t do that. Why did humans? Something to ask Eda later.

Hesitantly, she reached out and wrapped her hand around Luz’s, who gave a gentle shake. Her skin was damp but soft and smooth under Luz’s calloused grip.

“Amity,” she said and Luz grinned even wider.

She pulled back and happened to catch sight of the sea glass attached to the fabric wrapped around her chest and had a sudden realization.

“You left the pearl!” she suddenly yelped, making Amity jerk back at the sudden yell. “A couple days ago, when I was down by the water…”

“Oh… yes, that was me…,” she nodded.

“Have you… been following us this whole time?” she asked and Amity nodded her head. “Why? Just to tell me thanks?” Luz cocked her head and Amity’s eyes darted away, her tail flicked lazily out of the water, slapping the surface and disappearing again. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding.              

“Yes, I… I didn’t know where I was being taken or what was going to happen until you showed up and said…” she seemed to trail off.

“That they were going to eat you?” Luz asked and she nodded.

“Yes… so, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Luz smiled and before she could think to say anything else, a voice from up above called out to her; Morton.

“Hey, Luz! The sail's fixed, so we’re gonna get going, you ready to be hauled up?”

The boat suddenly rocked violently, sloshing water and Amity vanished beneath the rippling surface just as Morton stuck his head over the edge up above her.

Luz blinked at the water where she had vanished before turning up to the deckhand and nodding.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she called, frowning and Morton nodded.

“Hey Hooty, come help me haul up Luz!” She heard him call, followed by an excited yell of agreement. A second later she was being hauled quickly up the side of the ship but her eyes were glued to the water below. A shadow moved through its depths before disappearing.

The second she hit the deck she grabbed her book and her fish and hurried off down to the kitchens.

~ ~ ~

A week later, Luz was still thinking about her meeting with Amity and wondering if the mermaid had left now that she had finally said what she wanted to Luz. They had been sailing along at a quick clip, heading towards Eda’s favorite place in all the seven seas; The Boiling Isles.

A collection of islands in one of the more dangerous areas of the sea. It housed a number of ramshackle little towns and bases, the majority of its residents being of the… non-law-abiding variety.

They managed to knock over a couple of merchant's vessels along the way and finally got a hoard that Eda was happy with, so she declared that they could take a couple week's rest and they returned to their own little reinforced hamlet in one of the Isles' many coves.

It was dark when Luz threw her things down in the meager shack nestled between Eda’s and Viney’s before heading back out to the beach. The moon was full and cast enough light in the clear sky that she could see just fine. It was late but the rest of the crew was in full swing of a drunken stupor and the yelling and screaming of their revelry echoed out into the bright, starlit night; there wasn’t going to be any sleep even if she wanted to.

Instead, she picked her way over the large black rocks that lined the shore and led out into the water. Her steps were careful, the lapping waves making the rocks slick in places but this was hardly her first time.

It wouldn't be her first time falling in either, and probably wouldn't be the last either.

Still, with her sketchbook firmly in one hand and a small bundle of goodies in the other, she made sure not to step anywhere the moonlight bounced off the wet stones before settling herself onto a large, flat rock that jutted out over the water. She flipped it open and grabbed the charcoal laying between it’s pages.

After the other day, she had a much clearer picture in her head and set to sketching. It was kinda rough at first. It had been a few days but she’d had a dream about glinting, blue-green scales and sharp ears.

She really wished she had some way to color it. Black just didn’t seem to do the lines justice; it would have to do though.

The distant sounds of her crew drinking and singing were nothing more than a whisper over the sound of the gentle waves lapping against the rock. She was zoning out, tongue poking out of her mouth as she worked carefully to get a line just right when a splash, not loud but distinctly louder than the rest, made her look up.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she caught the pair of dimly glowing, gold eyes staring back at her from the other side of the rock.

“Amity!” She jerked, scrambling to the edge of the rock as the mermaid lifted further out of the water as she approached.

“Hi, Luz.” She smiled up at her and Luz couldn’t help but think how pretty she was when she wasn't snarling and growling at her anyway.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, setting her book to the side, careful to keep it away from the water dripping off Amity as she leaned her arms on the rock.

“I… uh…,” she mumbled, claws clicking on the rock as she tried to think of something to say and Luz couldn’t help the smile working its way onto her face.

“Did you follow us here?” she asked and grinned wider at the pale pink that seemed to break across Amity’s face. “Not that I’m complaining about seeing you again but don’t you have anything better to do than follow around a bunch of grumpy pirates?” she laughed.

Amity grew quiet at that and Luz frowned at the sudden tight look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly. Amity seemed to hesitate before looking up at her.

“I don’t know how to get back home,” she quietly admitted. “I don’t know how long I was in that box or even what direction it went,” she mumbled, voice tight and Luz’s eyes widened. She hadn’t thought about that.

They had been chasing that ship non-stop for the better part of a month and there was no telling how long Amity had been on board beforehand. She could be hundreds of thousands of miles from where she started.

“You don’t have any idea where you came from?” Luz asked and Amity shook her head, eyes trained on the rock beneath her. Her claws creating little gouges in the stone as she clenched her hands. Luz didn’t know what to say. ‘Sorry’ seemed sorely lacking but what else could she say?

“Do you want some candy?” was the next thing to pop out of her mouth and Amity looked up at her, questioningly.

“Can..dy?” she repeated the unfamiliar word and Luz nodded and scrambled back over to where she had left the little cloth-wrapped bundle. She snatched it up and hurried back over to Amity, sitting cross-legged in front of her as she untied the knot. A small pile of crystalline-coated fruits rolled around in her lap as she looked through them before selecting one and holding it out to Amity.

“It’s a type of human food. It’s sweet and they're really tasty. This one is my favorite,” she offered it out and the mermaid hesitated a moment before plucking the rock-like food from Luz’s palm. She hesitated, eyes darting up to look at Luz, searching and the human just smiled.

She popped it into her mouth and paused.

Luz watched her, silently, feeling herself grin as Amity’s eyes widened, sparkling with awe and delight. Her amazement doubled as she watched the two pointed ears twitch and it was maybe the cutest thing Luz had ever seen.  

“It’s… really good,” she mumbled around the treat, face breaking out in a smile. Her tail flipped out of the water, to flick lazily this way and that, sending droplets of water into the air.

“Right?” Luz asked with a chuckle as she popped one into her own mouth and set them on the rock in front of her, within Amity’s reach. Gold eyes flicked up at her, a silent question and Luz smiled. That seemed to be all the encouragement she needed to grab another.

“So, what are you going to do?” she asked and Amity frowned around her treat.

“I don’t know yet…” she admitted and Luz pursed her lips.

“Well, you’re welcome to hang out here with me till you do,” she offered and Amity looked up at her.

“Okay…,” she nodded.

They sat there for the next few hours as the moon made its way across the sky, talking. Luz told Amity about all the different places she had been and things she’d done since joining Eda’s crew. It amused Luz how fascinated she was by the simplest of human things. Some things, like ships she was familiar with but anything on land was new and wondrous to her and Luz happily explained everything to her; as best she understood it anyway.

“What’s that?” amity pointed a finger to the book in her hand.

“Oh! It’s my sketchbook.” She flipped the pages open to show Amity some sketches of the crew and a few animals.

“Oh…”

She flipped through a few more pages, Amity asking questions about the things like the horses, and dogs sprawled across it’s pages. Luz was hardly paying attention to the pages, more content to watch Amity’s face light up at each new drawing.

Till she flipped the page and Amity blinked.

“Is that… me?” she asked.

“Huh?” Luz leaned the book back and felt her face heat up as she stared down at her first, rough sketch of the mermaid. “Oh…. uh… yeah,” she finally said and reached up to rub the back of her neck nervously. She hadn’t meant to show her those.

“It doesn’t look finished…,” was all she said.

“No, I started this right after…”

You mauled me.

She wasn’t gonna say that!

“...after we met. I couldn’t remember everything well enough, so I gave up on it.” she shrugged as they lapsed into, what felt to Luz, tense silence. The gentle sound of the surf breaking against the rocks and shore was the only sound for a long few moments.  

“What about now?” she asked and Luz blinked at her. Her confusion must have been apparent because she carried on. “Do you think you could finish it now?” she asked, looking up at Luz, eyes filled with such bright curiosity and wonder that it made her breath stutter in her chest.

“Yeah… I think so,” she nodded. “I’ll work on it,” she promised and Amity nodded, seemingly indifferent but Luz could see the subtle rise at the corners of her mouth.

Eventually, the hour grew quite late, or early, and Luz noticed that the sounds of her crew had petered out into silence, no doubt they had all passed out by now. She herself was growing tired now.

Amity noticed too as her head started to bob down to her chest more and more often, eyes drifting closed.

“You should sleep…,” she said as Luz let out a jaw-splitting yawn and nodded drowsily. She stood and stretched, back giving a satisfying pop.  

“Yeah… will you be here tomorrow?” she asked, turning her gaze back to Amity as she picked up her things.

Amity stared up at her, face a mask of surprise and wonder before she schooled it into something more neutral and nodded.

“See ya tomorrow then!” Luz called before picking her careful way back down the rocks toward the shore.

Amity watched her go.

~ ~ ~

When they were docked, everyone kind of did their own thing if there wasn’t any repair work that needed to be done to the ship, as was sometimes the case after a raid. So no one really questioned it when Luz went darting down to the sea around noon the next day after throwing a canvas bag with some things in it into one of the rowboats sitting on the shore.

No one except Eda, who was down by the water, looking at the ship.

“Where’s the fire, kid?” she asked as Luz started shoving the boat out of the sand and into the water. “Don’t you get enough sailing already?” she laughed as Luz hopped in the boat.

“Just… enjoying the peace and quiet on the water, ya know how it is!” she laughed nervously but Eda nodded.

“Be careful,” she called before walking up the plank onto the ship.

Luz picked up the oars and rowed out into the ocean. Once she’d muscled her way through the swells moving inland the open water was smooth and placid, as gentle as it ever was anyway. The peaceful, constant movement bobbed her boat gently as she threw down the anchor.

She’d never exactly discussed with Amity where they would meet but the mermaid didn’t seem to have any trouble finding her either.

She waited, listening to the sounds of the surf for a little while before a gentle splashing made her grin as a familiar head of green hair broke the surface of the water.

“Amity!” Luz grinned down at her.

“Hi, Luz,” the mermaid smiled up at her shyly, brushing a few strands of wet hair out of her face.

“Where did you stay last night… Do mermaids even sleep? She asked, tapping a finger to her chin, suddenly curious and Amity snorted.  

“Yes, I sleep. I stayed in the coral reef below us,” she said.

“There's a coral reef below us?” Luz asked wide-eyed and Amity nodded. This was the first time she had heard of it but then again, she wasn’t surprised her crewmates didn't appear to know about it. One of the most surprising things she'd learned as a pirate was that a great majority of sailors couldn’t swim or were even afraid of the ocean. That was just crazy to Luz, she loved to swim.

That little fact was one of the reasons Eda often put her on duties that took her very near or in the water. As far as she knew, herself, Hooty, and Viney were the only members of the crew that would get within ten feet of water deeper than their waist.

“As in, directly below us?” she asked, and again, Amity nodded. “Can you show me?” she asked and Amity’s eyes widened.

“You can swim?” she asked, seeming to peer over the edge of the boat at Luz’s legs, looking in disbelief. That only made the pirate laugh.

“Of course I can swim. I am an excellent swimmer!” she jerked a thumb toward herself but faltered. “I mean, not even half as good as you probably, but for a human, I'm great!” She asserted and Amity giggled under her breath.

“Okay, I’ll show you,” she nodded and Luz dumped her canvas bag out, pushing everything under one of the slatted benches to keep out of the sun and slung it over her shoulder.

“Why do you need that?” Amity questioned as she moved around.

“Coral makes great medicine, the ship's doctor, Viney, crushes it up to use in ointments and stuff. She mentioned we were running low and would need to stock back up before we left the Isles. I can kill two birds with one stone!” she explained.

“Why would you kill birds?” The mermaid cocked her head.

“It's just an expression, nevermind that. Let’s go!” She grinned before taking a deep breath and diving over the side of the boat, into the water with a loud splash.

Luz opened her eyes and the water briefly stung but she was pretty used to it and glanced around before finding Amity, looking at her curiously and she grinned, careful not to let out any air or let water in.

She definitely wasn’t as good a swimmer as Amity, whose every movement propelled her quickly through the water with ease, down toward the ocean floor.

They weren’t too far out, so the water wasn’t terribly deep here and she got down there quick enough. She could see all the brightly colored plants and fish moving about the coral. She dug the knife out of her bag and quickly set about cutting off some of the long branches before the burning in her lungs made her shove both back inside and move quickly back toward the light.

She broke the surface with a gasp, panting as she sucked in large lungfuls of air.

“Are you okay?”

She glanced over at Amity, who had surfaced next to her and she nodded.

“Yeah, it's just deep enough that I can get there for just a minute before I need air,” she huffed, finally getting her breath back.

Amity hummed before grabbing her hand, making Luz blink.

“Hold your breath,” she instructed and Luz did so just before she was pulled under and they were moving quickly through the water toward the ocean floor.

The water rushed past her face as Amity pulled her down.

Yeah, definitely not even half as good a swimmer as her.

She was able to cut off a good bit and stuff it in her bag before she had to resurface again.

“That was way faster!” she turned to Amity and grinned. “You are a good swimmer!” Luz laughed.

Amity’s face seemed to color some at that and she shrugged.

Luz tossed her bag into the boat before taking a breath and diving back under. Moving back toward the bottom before a hand wrapped around hers and pulled her down to the bottom. The water rushing past her was exhilarating.

As was the hand wrapped firmly around hers and the blurry grin she could see on Amity’s face through the bubbles.

When she finally came to a stop, she grabbed hold of the coral to stay anchored and couldn't help but smile at all the colorful little fish and bright plants that moved about. She reached out to touch a cobalt bluefish but it quickly darted out of her reach.

They spent a long while exploring the depths around the shore before Luz finally had to climb, exhausted, back into the boat, flopping onto the floor. She was exhausted but didn’t wanna head back in yet.

Amity laid her arms on the sides of the boat and it dipped a little, making Luz slide toward her and she laughed, sitting back up.

“Oh, I brought you something” Luz pulled her things out from under the bench and unwrapped it. Amity peered at her curiously as she held out… something.

“It’s sweet bread,” Luz explained as Amity took it. “They were selling them over by the docks. I thought you might like to try it.”

She watched Amity take a tentative bite… quickly followed by several more.

“Good, right?” she asked, still holding her own in her hand. Amity nodded as she polished off the rest of hers quickly. Her eyes darted to Luz’s and she couldn’t help but grin and hold it out.

“That’s yours…” Amity frowned.

“I can get more later,” Luz assured her, still holding her hand out. Amity still hesitated but Luz just patiently held out the treat and after a moment she finally took it and devoured it like the first.

“Thanks,” she mumbled and Luz just grinned, pushing back the wet hair that had fallen in her face. Amity watched her intently.

“What?” Luz cocked her head and watched the mermaid's face flush.  

“Nothing!”  

“Uh, okay?” Luz blinked.

They spent the rest of the afternoon sitting there, talking and enjoying each other’s company before Luz finally had to go back in.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” she called with a wide smile as she rowed back toward the shore.

“Bye, Luz,” Amity waved, then vanished under the waves, tail flipping out of the water for a moment before she was gone.

Luz felt her heart stutter in her chest.

~ ~ ~

The two weeks they spent docked on the Isles seemed to fly by for Luz. She woke early and got all the things she needed to do for the day out of the way and then made a beeline for the water.

She spent hours at a time bobbing along in the rowboat with Amity and always made sure to bring her treats from the little market in the Isles ‘capital’ Bonesburough.

The mermaid had proven to have quite a sweet tooth.

She often brought Luz things too, from the ocean floor. She’d amassed a small trove of gemstones, pearls, and shells that Amity had picked up out of the sands deep below them.

Luz laid, floating on her back on the water. Amity had her head laid across her stomach, her eyes closed. Where she was so heavy on land, she was nearly weightless in the water.  

Her head on Luz’s abdomen did funny things to her stomach and she briefly wondered in the back of her mind if it was weird… to have a crush on a mermaid.

It took her a week to figure it out. Once she got past the awe of a real living mermaid hanging around with her, a sense of giddy excitement had remained and it was only after talking to Viney, very vaguely, that she came to realize just why being around Amity made it feel like she didn’t know what to say or do with herself.

She still wasn’t really sure what to do. Could you have feelings for a mermaid? She didn’t have any reference for a regular crush, much less one on a mythical creature.

Not to mention the fact that Amity was… amazing and wonderful. Why would she ever want a regular old human like her? She pushed all those thoughts away for now.

“So, we’re setting sail first thing in the morning,” she said and glanced up to see Amity’s eyes open, looking back at her.

“You’re leaving the Isles?” she asked and Luz nodded.

“Eda got news of another ship that's going to be sailing near here soon and… well, she wants what’s on it.” She waved a hand.

Amity hummed, tail flicking out of the water quickly. Luz had started to pick up on her bodily mannerisms and the quicker than normal flicking of her back fins, though not so fast as to indicate annoyance, told Luz that she was, maybe, a little upset.

“How long would you be gone?” she asked quietly and Luz gave a little half-shrug.

“Could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months. It depends.”

“I could follow the ship…?” she offered and Luz had thought of that but she had thought of a few other things also. To what end was Amity sticking with her?

True, she didn’t know how to get back home but she couldn’t follow her forever… even if Luz kind of wanted her to.

“Is it safe for you to do that?” she asked, finally moving to float upright, next to Amity. “It can’t be safe for you to be out in open water all the time, can it?” she asked and Amity frowned, gaze skittering anywhere but on Luz. She’d told her a story or two about having to hide from sharks and things, which made Luz worry.

That wasn't the only thing that bothered Luz though. It would be much harder to get down to the water to see Amity, which only elevated the chances of someone seeing them and Luz still lived very much in fear that if Eda or the rest of the crew found out about her they would try to sell her.

“It’s… not the safest option,” Amity admitted.

“Then… maybe you should stay here while I’m gone…?” Luz offered and Amity’s frown deepened, as well as the quick back and forth of her tail.

“If you don't want me to come along then just tell me so, Luz,” she rumbled and Luz frowned.

“No, no. It’s not that I don't want you around, I do…!” she quickly hurried to say. She did. She very much wanted Amity around. Amity was the only thing that seemed to occupy her mind these last two weeks. Not to mention how badly Luz wanted to kiss her every time she smiled.

She quickly shoved that thought away and rested her hand on Amity’s shoulder.

“I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Amity.”

Reluctantly, Amity nodded and Luz smiled sadly at her.

“I’ll be back before you know it.. Oh! I have something to show you!” she smiled and crawled back into the boat, shaking off as much water as she could before she went digging through her bag. “Look at this!” She pulled out her sketchbook and turned the pages, careful not to drip on it before she turned it around to show her.

Amity’s eyes widened as she stared at the clean, smooth sketch staring back at her from familiar eyes.

Her own.

Luz’s sketch covered two pages and was done in the most excruciating detail. Every line and curve was sharp and clean. Each scale was accounted for on the length of her tail and every gem and accouterment on her wrap in its place.

“What do you think?” Luz asked, grinning proudly to herself. It had its flaws of course. She was still learning but it was a pretty good likeness of the mermaid if she did say so herself.  

“It’s beautiful, Luz.” Amity said, quietly, eyes still darting across every dark line.

“Ah, thanks. It kinda pales in comparison to the real thing but,” Luz shrugged, grinning sheepishly at her as she leaned over the side of the boat with the book.  

Gold eyes turned upward to her and seemed to stare back at her for a long moment, something behind them seemed to flicker and the next thing Luz knew, she tasted saltwater and all she could see was Amity.

It took her far too long to realize what was happening and when she did, Amity had already pulled back and was staring back at her, face pink and looking unsure.

Luz just stared back, mouth hanging open.

Amity had just kissed her.

Luz’s jaw moved soundlessly, unsure what to say. She’d been thinking about it but she hadn’t even entertained the idea of just… doing it.

“I…” she managed to get out but not much else before the pink across Amity’s face turned red.

“I’m sorry!” she suddenly squeaked and then turned and disappeared under the water.

“Wait, Amity!” Luz tossed her book aside and dove overboard, into the water but already, Amity’s form was becoming a blurry spot in the distance. She would never catch her.

Luz resurfaced, hands tightening into fists.

“Mierda!” She slapped her hands across the surface of the water.

~ ~ ~

Luz sighed to herself, not for the first time that day as the ship moved through the seemingly endless expanse of sea. The sky was dark and gray, promising storms; much like her mood.

They had been at sea for four days now and she hadn’t seen Amity since she had swam off. She hadn’t been waiting in the usual spot the next morning when she’d run down to the shore before they had set sail.

Why? Why hadn’t she said something… anything! Now, Amity probably thought she had rebuffed her when nothing could be further from the truth.

She could still feel the fleeting press of Amity’s lips on hers and she really wanted a do over there! She’d been taken by surprise!

Who knew if Amity would even still be there when she got back, or even want to see her. A cool, gust of wind whipped through the air and she sighed again, staring down at the water.

“You okay, Kid?”

Luz looked up to see Eda walking up to her, frowning and Luz frowned.

“Not really,” she admitted.

“Is it your lady friend?” Eda asked and Luz’s head shot up, jaw hanging open.

“How did you…?” she started and Eda grinned.

“Come on, Luz, I was young once. I used to sneak off at all hours of the day and night once too to meet some… ‘friends’.” She said with a smirk and Luz flushed. “Also, Viney told me you came to her asking for advice,” she laughed and Luz grunted.

‘Of course she did.’ Luz thought bitterly.

“So… what happened, she turn ya down?” she asked and Luz frowned.

“No... the opposite actually… she kissed me,” Luz said.

“So why do you look like someone spit in your rum?” Eda frowned.

“She surprised me and I just… stood there!” She threw up her arms. “Then Amity sw- ran off and I couldn't find her…,” she grumbled, slouching on the railing.

“Ah, that’s tough, kid. Maybe you can talk to this ‘Amity’ girl when we get back?” she suggested.

“I dunno if she’ll even still be there when we get back,” she grumbled to herself.

“Chin up, Luz. You’ll just have to wait and see.” Eda patted her shoulder. “We should be coming up on that ship within the hour so put your game face on!” Eda said before walking away and Luz nodded.

They had a job to do.

She stood up and gave herself a shake. There was nothing she could do about Amity right now and if she didn’t get her head in the right place she might end up on the wrong end of a saber.

~ ~ ~

The rain was pouring down in sheets and thunder rumbled across the sky; the occasional streak of lightning flashing in the dark was nearly indistinguishable from the flash of the canons as they.

“Keep firing!” Eda was yelling somewhere over the din as they constantly fired shots at the galleon bobbing along only about one hundred yards away.

Luz grunted as she loaded another canon, sharp needles of icy rain stinging her face as she did and the second the shot was in place, King was firing with a strangled cry of rage.  

“We’re gaining on them!” she heard Jerbo yell from somewhere behind her and Luz squinted into the rain. The ship definitely seemed to be getting closer… but not because they were gaining on it.

“Eda!” she whipped around to scream. “They’re heading straight for us!”

Sure enough, the ship had turned and was making a line straight for them through the storm.

“Prepare for a fight!”

They fired at the ship still till it all but rammed right into them, the force of the impact nearly sending everyone aboard stumbling to their feet.

“We’re being boarded!” someone yelled and thick boards clattered down across the expanse of sea between the two ships and the next thing Luz knew, fighting had broken out on the deck.

Shots rang out, almost muffled by the thunder.

Hooty had swung down from the crow's nest and went sailing right into a naval officer trying to board them, sending him into the dark waters below before he dropped onto the deck to grab the nearest barrel and chuck it into more trying to cross.

“Ha ha!” the man laughed crazily as Luz ducked under his next projectile. He still had both eyepatches pulled down over his eyes as he flung cargo around like it was made of paper.

Luz drew her knife; she hated this part of pirating.

A grappling hook flung over the railing, hooking in it and Luz rushed over and sliced the rope, sending the man on the other end plunging into the water with a scream.

She looked around, water running into her eyes and blinding her.

She could very easily see the man on the boarding planks, leveling his pistol at Eda, standing in the middle of the deck and firing shots.

“Eda, look out!”

She was much closer to him and jumped onto the planks and rammed herself into him, he tattered back over the edge, but not before his hand fisted into Luz’s soaked shirt and then she was plummeting into the dark water below with him.

She barely had time to scream before she hit the water and water rushed into her mouth.

She kicked up to the surface and sucked in a gulp of air before a wave broke over her head, forcing her back under.

It was dark and everything was moving too fast. She barely had a second where she was able to surface before more water rushed back over her, pulling her deeper into the water.

Then, she was pulled too far under and she could feel her lungs burning as she tried to swim back to the surface, only to be dragged down by the undertow.

She couldn’t hold her breath any longer and her mouth opened of its own volition. She sucked in a lungful of water and choked. Everything was going black as her eyes drifted closed.

A flash of green from the corner of her eye was the last thing she saw before the darkness overcame her.

~ ~ ~

Luz was vaguely aware of someone calling her name.

It was distant at first but steadily growing louder.

“Luz!”

Her eyes slowly slid open, everything was blurry at first but quickly coming back into focus as she stared up at Eda’s concerned face.

“Eda…?” she gurgled and the captain sighed in relief.

“I thought you were a goner, Kid,” she said, sliding a hand under Luz’s back and helping her sit up. Luz coughed, spitting up some water.

It was still dark and the thunder rumbled overhead but the rain had stopped.

“Did we win?” she asked, groggily looking around. The crew was moving about, cleaning up the mess that often accompanied the end of a battle.

“Sure did! Sunk them suckers to the bottom of the ocean! Got an extra prize out of it too, thanks to you!” Eda grinned and Luz blinked at her.

“Whaddaya mean?”  she asked and Eda only continued to grin as she stood and helped Luz to her feet.

“I’ll show ya,” she jerked her head and Luz followed her across the deck and down into the hold. “We couldn’t find you and I was… the crew was afraid you’d drowned… till something pulled you up…”

“Something…? Luz asked as they rounded the corner of some crates down below and came face to face with the last person she expected to see.

Amity.  

She was strung up in the rafters in a net and looked absolutely miserable till her eyes fell and Luz. Gold eyes lit up and she sat up best she could in the tangled net.

“Ay dios mio!” Luz darted forward.

Eda blinked as Luz ran across the room to the net hanging off the floor.

Luz’s fingers tangled in the nets' holes. “Are you okay!?” Luz cried.

“I’m okay…” Amity’s fingers wrapped around hers through the netting.

“What are you doing here?” Luz hissed and Amity frowned.

“I… followed when you left. I wanted to tell you I was sorry for what happened…”

“No!” she all but yelled, making the mermaid jerk. “Don’t be sorry! It was my fault… you surprised me is all…,” she mumbled.

“Okay, what’s going on.” Eda walked up behind her. “That thing can talk and you know it.” Eda frowned.

“It’s not an it! This is Amity…,” Luz admitted.

“Wait… Amity like, your lady friend, Amity?” Eda blinked owlishly at her and Luz pinked but nodded. “The mermaid?” she gestured and again Luz nodded.

Eda stared at her for a long hard moment.

“You have some strange and exotic tastes, Kid…,” she finally said and Luz flushed darker. “Explains why she hauled you out of the ocean… we got both of you in the net cause she wouldn’t let go… I figured we’d sell her at the next port city…”

“No!” Luz jumped in and Eda reared back at that. “Please, Eda, no!” Luz begged. “She’s… important to me.”

Eda looked at her for a long time, amber gaze flickering back up at the mermaid hanging in the net, fingers still wrapped around Luz’s and sighed heavily.

“Fine. If you hadn’t shoved that boot licker off the plank I’d have a new air hole and The Owl Lady doesn’t leave her debts unpaid. I’ll get Hooty and we’ll toss her back into the sea.” Eda grumbled before turning on heel and walking out of the hold.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief before turning back to Amity.

“Why did you let yourself get captured?” Luz asked with a frown.

“I couldn’t let you drown!” Amity shot back and Luz sighed.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she finally said, fingers tightening around Amity’s.

“You… you’re not upset about the other day?” she mumbled, looking at Luz from beneath her lashes.

“No, I’m not upset, you just surprised me… I…,” Luz pursed her lips, trying to think of the words to say. “I like you too… a lot,” she admitted. “But… I don't think it’s safe for you to just be following the ship day and night,” she said and Amity frowned but didn’t argue, Luz was right. She ran the risk of being captured like she was today.

“I don’t wanna wait at the Isles for you to come back for so long at a time,” she mumbled and Luz frowned, thinking.

There had to be something they could do.

A sudden thought struck her.

“I think I have an idea!” she grinned and Amity blinked.

When Eda came strolling back down the stairs with Hooty in tow Luz turned to her.

“Eda! I have a proposition for you!” she said, a toothy grin stretched across her face. Eda cocked a brow at the young woman; intrigued. She was a businesswoman afterall.  

“Oh yeah? I’m listening…”

~ ~ ~

Luz bounced with barely contained energy as she stood next to Eda on the deck, the crew standing before them.

“Alright, all y'all listen up. We have a new crew member joining us, so if you’ll turn your attention to the starboard side…,” she trailed off and the confused looking crew did just that, only to find the mermaid they had captured, down in the water, looking up at them nervously and giving a tentative wave.

“Wait.. what?” Viney looked over at the captain, who grinned.

“Yup, you’re looking at our newest ‘deck’ hand.” she fingers quoted. “In charge of collecting all your medicinal water plants and all manner of things from the ocean floor,” Eda said, rolling around a handful of pearls Amity had brought up as proof of her usefulness.

“Welcome aboard!” Hooty grinned and waved enthusiastically down at her.

“Do… do you think he even realizes she’s a mermaid….?” Viney leaned over and whispered to Luz, who shrugged.  

“Alright, now get back to work, we’re setting sail!” Eda called and once their surprised stupors had passed the crew jumped to attention, still murmuring amongst themselves about their newest crewmate.

Once they had dispersed, Luz threw down a rope and slid down to the water where Amity was waiting for her.

“So, ready to start life as a pirate?” she asked with a grin.

“I guess we’ll find out,” she smiled.

“You’ll be great! At night we’ll haul you up top, Hooty got a big barrel for you for now. Just till we figure something else out so you can be safe at night,” she said and Amity nodded.

“Luz, we're going!” King called down gruffly.

“I’m coming!” she called back before turning back to Amity. “I’ll see you later, okay?” she asked and Amity nodded. “Oh! One more thing,” Luz said.

“Wha-” Before she could even finish that sentence Luz darted forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. When she pulled back she was grinning, but the dark tint to her cheeks betrayed her, though she was pleased to see a similar splash of red coloring Amity’s cheeks. “Now I'll see you later.” She grinned.

“Luz!” Eda’s voice called from up top.

“Coming, I’m coming!” she called, shooting another look at Amity before climbing back up the rope.

#Lumity #the owl house #mythical creature #mermaid #pirate #fanfiction #TOH #Amity blight #Luz Noceda #Eda Clawthorne #Hooty #King #Viney #Jerbo #Morton #AU

[doodlebeeberry]

Vicarious

Shieldy blinked, rubbed at his eyes a bit, and looked back despite the sunspots currently speckling his vision.

A few seconds later, his reflection blinked back.

(In which a couple of old ghosts rear their heads)

GOD I have so much boto on the brain. I really like the concept of like a post-cannon-ish ghost/haunting au sorta thing so! some sheildy meeting rook for the first time for yall. warning for like paranoia if that kinda stuff skeeves you

(ao3 link in source)

It was fairly cool for July, all things considered. Very slightly cloudy, and with a gentle breeze that rippled across the lake from time to time. Summer wasn’t really Shieldy’s favourite season, not usually. One of the more annoying side effects of being metal, he tended to just soak up the heat and sunlight, overheating a bit quicker than most of his friends did. He had the same issue with winter: he’d get freezing to the touch, cold enough that just a short brush could sting your fingers if he stayed out too long.

The mellow morning weather was a relief, then, as he waited for his friends beside the lake. They’d been planning this trip for about a week now: a day spent out in town, at theaters, arcades, and anywhere else they could mess around and, more than likely, cause trouble. They wouldn’t be leaving for another few hours, at least, but he’d woken up early, and the thought of laying around in bed just didn’t sit right with him. He was restless, more than likely from excitement, he guessed, and despite his best efforts to go back to sleep he just had to do something before he completely lost his mind. So now he was here, one relatively short walk later, doodling anything he could think of in the sand as the water lapped at the shore, just below his toes. Friends, mostly: Big Orange Chicken, Shelly, a few Party Hats. A few plants worked their way in as well, mostly little trees and bushes that dotted the environment around him. He was about halfway through a drawing of himself when he paused, studying the uneven points.

Hmm

He scribbled them out and tried again.

And again.

And again, and when the spacing still looked off he grumbled and leaned out over the lake for a reference.

The water was clear, visible right down to its shadow-laced floor. Bright sunlight rippled across the surface, brushed along by the wind, reflecting back into his eyes after a moment and nearly blinding him.

Shieldy blinked, rubbed at his eyes a bit, and looked back despite the sunspots currently speckling his vision. A few seconds later, his reflection blinked back.

He flinched away, eyes wide. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach.

Just the sunlight, he thought, shaking his head clear, it must’ve messed with my eyes.

But despite letting his vision fully clear, the unease remained.

He hadn’t even noticed at first, but his hands had brushed over his drawing when he’d pulled back. A great arc passed through his little face, obscuring it completely, dissolving the points at the top of his head into nothing but tiny grains of sand once again. He regarded this, frowning slightly. He would’ve tried to fix it were it not for the strange stillness that overcame his hands. Like they’d been weighed down or drained of all their energy, they stayed pressed in the sand, burrowing deeper and deeper holes the more he tried to move them, fingers only twitching as to dig further. Only when they’d dug past the water level could he collect himself enough to pull them away.

The small pits flooded, soddening the already soaked sand further. In the tiny puddle that formed he could only just catch the blue of his face shining back. He sighed. Maybe he should’ve tried harder to go back to bed. Or at the very least stayed in the house.

Instead he shifted until he could just see his left eye in the little pool, staring up at him. It followed his own, blinking when he did. A perfect mirror image. He looked left, so did it. When he looked away it no longer saw him. He watched it, it watched him.

It watched him.

It watched him.

Something was watching him.

Near frantically he searched for his friends’ faces among the trees. The air fell dead. A wide silence settled in its place he was desperate to break.

“Guys, come on! Quit messing with me!”

Nobody replied. No one broke through the tree line to greet him, not a friend or a stranger or even a bird or squirrel. His throat felt tight, and the unease turned into a steady chill that spread to the base of his spine. He was alone. All by himself, sitting on the lakeshore, but he knew something was watching him. He could feel it.

Looking back out across the water, he got some kind of answer. Not in words, nor sounds, but something like an instinct, a calling, a knowledge. A bone-deep sensation, the same that’d forced his arms still, flooded him. The water, lapping ever so gently, filled his ears. Knowing where to look, he leaned out over the lake, staring at its reflection, broken up only slightly now by the sun.

Staring back was someone taller than himself, somewhat thinner too. Pale yellow, nearly off-white really, with three flat points at the top of his head that, in Shieldy’s mind, resembled a crown. Their eyes were wide, almost curious, almost frightened, completely devoid of shine. They mimicked his pose exactly, taking the place of his own absent reflection. They distorted as the water moved.

“Wha-”

They spoke in sync, and while his own voice was clear, theirs seemed muffled, like it came up from the depths in bubbles. They startled a bit at the sound seemingly, eyes widening and trying to look at their mouth. He moved slightly closer, watching with a tense fascination as they did the same. He lifted his left arm, dropped it, and again they mimicked him.

“Woah”

Was someone under the water? Shieldy didn’t know how they’d keep from breaking the surface, nor how they seemed almost flat, unaffected by the lighting. He furrowed his brows, looking them over in full once again.

Something seemed almost familiar about the stranger. Pale yellow, dull eyes, three points.

He reached out across the surface.

“What are you?”

The water was freezing. It felt less like water and more like ice, like dry ice. He thought his hand would freeze through right then and there, but for several moments he held steady.

It wasn’t really the water he was touching, he realized, so much as it was another hand. Their hand. It was just slightly smaller than his own, feeling distinctly unlike skin. His thumb twitched against theirs.

He pulled away. They followed.

The water rose up, up, up against his palm. A small wave, growing bigger. The reflection distorted until it was incomprehensible at which point they severed. He fell back, overcome by a great thrill of impossible freezing that paralyzed him. His hands and feet went numb from the sudden cold, he couldn’t even shiver. There was water in his lungs, in his throat, he felt, and for several unending seconds he couldn’t even breathe. And still the water rose higher, until it crossed over the sun and scattered its light in thin beams in all directions. It roared, churning madly, and inbetween sunlight and stirred water he caught flashes of yellow, hands straining for the surface and the sand, desperate to be free. Like some awful lady of the lake. Like a monster. Like a ghost.

His heart raced faster.

It pitched forward slightly, palms against a watery film, overshadowing him completely. Wide eyes met his own. Several droplets pittered against him, shocking him. He breathed out, a short wet gasp, watching his breath puff into a pale cloud that filled the space between them, and, like it’d broken a spell, the wave shattered from the lake at its center. The lower half returned with a great splash that rushed the shore, climbing past his wrists before retreating. What remained in the air was blown back as he regained his breath, each one forming a fog. They regained form, starting with their head and moving down, freezing stiff inch by inch as they took shape. Their base was jagged as it formed, sharp and broken off in uneven points, like shattered bits of glass. What water dripped from them froze in place, midway through its fall. bits of ice lined their lower eyelids.

The water steadied, and the horrible cold left him, putting his muscles back into his control. He sat up, slightly shaky. They both spent several moments watching each other.

“What do you think that chess guy does when we’re not around?” Slurpy asked. The lot of them were crowded around three tables, all pushed together in a small pizza shop downtown. They’d spent the past several hours floating in and out of every shop on the strip before pausing for a quick dinner. Outside streetlamps and store signs stuck out against the dark sky. Sheildy watched her bite into her slice, mushrooms and extra peppers, curious.

“I don’t know,” Boaty swirled her soda. “Isn’t that whole place just a dream anyway? He probably doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Slurpy chewed, humming. Party Hat spoke around his own slice.

“‘Chess guy?’”

“Yeah, you know, yellow-y, kinda looked like he had a crown on or something? The chess guy.”

He blinked up at her.

“Who?”

“He wasn’t eliminated until the finale,” Popsicle chimed, leaning across the table to steal another slice.

“Oh yeah, right. You wouldn’t know him them”

Boaty set down her cup.

“Do you even remember his name?”

“Course I do. It was...Chess?”

“Mm—“ Popsicle swallowed—“No, it was, like, a specific piece I think.”

“Pawn? Is that it?”

“Nah…” Slurpy drummed her fingers against the table for a moment before perking up. He could practically see the lightbulb blinking over her head.

“Oh!—”

He shifted, floating slightly lower as something clicked in Shieldy’s head.

“Hi.”

It took a bit, seemingly, for the greeting to fully register in Rook’s head.

“...Hello.”

#apologies if this is like. SO ooc despite having boto on the brain I haven’t rewatched most of it in a while #i wanna just like prattle about this so bad I have. many thoughts #boto #brawl of the objects #boto shieldy #boto rook #im not taggin everyone else lol theyre only a bit relevent #paranoia #writin and ravin

[fandomgodmother420]

Okay so I saw

This post ^^

And I was like

Wait wait wait okay okay hang on wait a damn minute-

Because this is cursed rite we all know this is cursed but somethin about it got me thinkin it got me thinking quite a lot and it’s the idea of Callahans character being deaf and like obviously the way it’s done here is bad but it got me thinking okay well what if you did it well? What if it wasn’t garbage? What if it became a super important part of the show?

I think I have a new favorite au now?

Okay listen listen let me explain right-Callahan would still be a side character to the side characters but first things first he’d talk using sign language and literally the first thing that he signs when people try and talk to him is that he’s deaf. He also wouldn’t be able to understand people who talk to him, they’d have to either sign, write something down, or be super expressive. (Ik a lot of deaf people read lips but I feel like in media with deaf people almost all the time they like fully rely on lip reading and their almost superhumanly good at it and idk I think it would be cool for a deaf character to just not lip read-hardly ever) so now the fact that he’s deaf isn’t just something that you can drop in interviews for brownie points. Still, he’s hardly ever there and he’s not really a part of the story and that’s just kind of annoying and for a while it seems like that’s just how it’s gonna be, just one background background deaf character who’s pretty cool but who we almost never get to see...

But the explosions that went off during the pogtopia manburg war where pretty fuckin loud

And Quackity was right on top of them. He might’ve lost a cannon life to them-it’s kinda up for debate but for the purpose of the au we’re gonna say he did, because losing a cannon life affects your body. Your body changes to suit how you died-you get scars from losing a cannon life.

Here’s where it gets good

One of the next episodes post war is 100% Quackity focused and he wakes up in a bed and he’s like welp lets just hope I’m not as bad off as Tubbo was. There’s no rustling noise when he moves the sheets and blankets to look at himself, at this point the viewer might realize there’s no music in the background either, there’s no ambient noises from outside. Quackity sees he doesn’t have visible scaring anywhere and he’s like that’s weird but good for me? I guess? He walks outside and his footsteps don’t make any noise. Tubbo runs up to him and starts talking-except he’s not making any noise either. His mouth is moving but there’s no sound coming out of it. Both quackity and the viewer are currently experiencing what’s going on in 100% silence and Quackity starts to panic. A scar would’ve been fine, a limb he can live without, but this??? He can’t hear! He can’t hear anything! Fuck is he supposed to do now?

He runs to Sapnap and Karl, they’re not dating yet but they make him feel safe and he doesn’t know where else to go or what to do and Sapnaps like “I know a guy” but neither the audience nor Quackity hears him say it. His mouth moves but again, no sound. Nothing. Still he makes it clear that he has an idea and that he’ll be right back. Mans fuckin books it to Callahan and after a bit of frantic gestures and sloppy sign language because ya know of course Sapnap did try to learn sign to talk to Callahan at some point he just doesn’t practice nearly enough, Callahan comes over to Quackity and starts teaching him and Karl ASL and gives Sapnap a much needed review course.

That’s it. That’s the episode. An entire episode that’s 100% silent with no subtitles, that’s just Quackity learning how to function without being able to hear. In the places where Callahan can’t help Sapnap and Karl come in. Tubbo gets in on it too since he’s deaf in one ear ever since the festival. (Quackitys like damn cheif I didn’t even kno that and Tubbo admits to thinking it was just him being in shock for a long time until a bee flew around his ear for 20 minutes straight a week after the festival had happened and he didn’t know it was there until Tommy asked if he was gonna name it.) Quackity learns how to talk when he can’t hear himself speaking, how to read lips, what music is like when you can’t hear it, how to speak sign language, all that jazz.

One of the things about being deaf that scares the shit out of Quackity is not being able to hear people sneaking up on him and Tubbos like “oh you need a spotter” and Quackity makes it clear that he has no idea what the fuck that means. So Tubbo explains “a spotter, I don’t know if they actually have a different name but I call them that cuz they cover your blind spot. They’re like your eyes and ears where you don’t have any. That way nobody can sneak up on you.” If the audience is particularly observant they’ll realize that ever since the festival Tommy has always stood on Tubbos right, witch is where Tubbo had gotten scarred. (Later on after Tommy’s exiled Quackity and sometimes Fundy become the ones to cover Tubbos right, but Tubbo is more clearly on constant high alert than he used to be. On a few days like the one before the capturing techno and the one before the second festival he’s straight up jumpy and he hates it) So Quackity of course has a lot of questions is this is pretty important. “well how do I know who I should get to be my spotter? Do they need like training or something? Should I just get a service dog? ???” And Tubbos like “No. Well-maybe that’s the proper way to do it but I’d just go with someone I trust my life with-whoever makes you feel safest, go with that” and Sapnap and Karl start laughing like idiots because Quackity IMMEDIATELY grabs them-like Tubbos barley finished his sentence and Quackitys like ah yes

The hardest part is preserving Quackitys ability to speak Spanish, because he’s the only one who knows it so Karl Sapnap and Tubbo can’t tell him weather he’s pronouncing it right or not and none of them know Spanish sign language. Hell Karl and Tubbo didn’t even know Spanish sign language existed until that day. After a bit of panicking Sapnap is like “wait I know a guy” and Quackity can actually tell what he’s saying this time. (Woo parallels) So sapnap and Co. go to George who’s king now and has access to all of Erets king stuff. Turns out Erets castle has a whole shelf of translation guides for different languages and their sign language counterparts. She kept them for diplomacy reasons. It’s much harder to learn without Callahan teaching it, but progress is made and the gang decides they’ll keep working on learning it together. There’s still the problem of Quackity not being able to speak Spanish though, they end up going with does Quackity sound like how he normally does rn? for figuring out if he’s pronouncing things right. Karl and Sapnap are surprisingly good at being able to tell.

But here’s the best part rite:

So after this episode Quackity, Karl, Sapnap, Tubbo, and obvs Callahan all know sign language-they don’t all know it perfectly nobody’s gonna master it in a day but they’re working on it. And so now in later episodes in addition to the gang talking in sign language a lot when they’re the focus of a scene, you can make them talk to eachother in sign language while other stuff is going on!! No subtitles to translate or draw attention to it, some people might not even notice its happening, but if you watch them you can see them signing to eachother. You could add so many convos and lore and secrets and the best part is if the audience wants in on it they also have to learn sign language!!

Literally just-oh my god it would be the coolest thing okay like immagine:

Ranboos doing his dramatic speech to everyone. Y’all know the one-the one before doomsday after Tommy gets out of exhile. So like Ranboos doing his bit and Fundy and Nikki are arguing with him and :0! what’s this? Look in the background and Tubbo and Quackity are signing to eachother, Quackitys angry and Tubbo is somehow angrier and you watch them more closely to see what the hell is going on and realize (with your sign language knowledge)-they’re fighting about executing Ranboo.

LIKE HOW FUCKING COOL WOULD THAT BE HOLY SHIT

Anyways I have so many headcannons for this now I think it’s the coolest thing if there’s like a tag? Or something? For this thatd be so fuckin cool if there isn’t I feel like I should make one but idk what to call it ion know man I just think this is poggers as hell. To think it all sprung from someone making a DreamSMP as a garbage riverdale show joke

#dream smp #mcyt #tommyinnit #tubbo #clingy duo #quackity #karl jacobs #sapnap #karlnapity #karl dream smp #quackity dream smp #sapnap dream smp #callahan dream smp #dream smp callahan #tubbo dream smp #dream smp tubbo #dreamsmp au #dream smp headcannon #eret #ranboo #king georgenotfound #dream smp quackity #hearing loss #dreamsmp festival #DreamSMP tv show but it’s actually good

[babbling-idiot]

Colin gray x reader

Prompts

Request: "Love this blog! um could you do fluff #6 + kiss $12 with Colin gray?? I love him. Also sorry if we're not supposed to combine prompts. If not just ignore this plz!" -By Anon

Warning: non but smooching, my writing is cringy so excuse me lmao

Prompts

Fluff

#6. “Please just kiss me already.”

Kiss

#12. Against a wall kiss

(Hey anon! So, it's totally fine to combine prompts, I want yall to go wild! I had an amazing time writing and thank you so much in happy you like the blog, I'm trying and also hope you enjoy!)

So, when it came down to liking people at the school it was slim to none. There was one that you were sure of. That was colin. Colin was what alot of people would call emo, he didnt mind it and plus he was cool. He was a great guy and you hug out alot. Or more like he hug out with you. You never understood why, one day your not even acquainted with him but by the next day he was following you around like a lost puppy.

Alot of the time people would tell you that you just didnt see it. See what, what weren't you seeing. They'd respond with a 'you'll see' or a 'you'll figure it out' but you didnt understand where they were coming from. You never really thought much about it. You never understood why people had to make things difficult. Why not just say it, save yourself time. It didnt matter though, you'd figure it sooner or later. Much sooner than you thought actually.

Today in art class the teacher was talking about a banner that needed to be made for the pep rally. Colin was the first to raise his hand. No one else wanted to do it and luckily you weren't busy at all so you raised yours as well. Colin saw this and his eyes grew wide and he started to smile like a dork. This made you smile as well. "Alright, colin and y/n! This banner needs to have a good quote on it, positivity and energy is what we want. Bright and fun colors. Draw some cool designs and make sure to put this classes grade on it." She says as she goes on about how we should try our best to be as energetic as possible. Me and colin both decided to stay in the art room. It wouldnt be occupied and you had access to both art supplies and music.

So, after school you both were in there with a huge ass piece of paper and loads of art supplies. Music was blaring through the small speakers. Over the music you made small talk, mostly on the task at hand. At one point though all talk had ceased and all you could hear was colin breathing. You had thought he was busy drawing so you didnt bother him. You were leaning over the paper finishing out a sketch. When you came back you were satisfied with what you did and went to the back to get a black marker. When you turned you glanced over at colin. He was looking at you, lips partially open and his eyes blown wide. "Colin you ok?" You say as you walk slowly over to him. He walks towards you, grabbing you by your arm and pushes you toward the wall. He was just staring at you. He wanted to saying something, you could tell he was struggling to get it out, "I'm sorry its just....I'm just really....I like you...alot." too shocked and surprised to say anything. You snap out of it and go to say something but he cuts you off, what he says shocks you even more "Please just kiss me already.” You grin and pull him towards you attaching your lips to his. His groans into your mouth and holds onto your waist. He pushes you flush against the wall. His lips tasted like mint and so soft. You could have kissed them all day if it wasnt for the need of breathing. When you started to pull away you nipped at his bottom lip were is peircing wand he sighs out. Bringing your hand up you run your hand through his mop of curls, finally your hand comes to rest on his cheek. "I like you too colin." Instead of saying anything he wraps his arms around your waist and lays his head on your shoulder "I'm sorry I didnt tell you sooner or did it in a more normal place. This was just the only time I had alone with you. "He says as he looks up at you shyly. "You dont have to be sorry, I'm just glad this is what they were talking about!" "What they were talking about? Who are you talking about?" "Our group of friends. They kept telling me that you'll see or you'll figure it after they practically told me I was blind for not seeing that you liked me sooner" he groans again and puts his head back on your shoulder. "I told them about my crush on you and they kept teasing me about and said I'll have the chance to tell you someday. I guess they meant this." You scoff and chuckle a bit "Well I'm happy you told me." He nods his head "Me too. I hate to ruin the moment but I think we should go back to the banner now." You nod back and you go and sit down. You sit in comfortable silence and continue the drawings. Making little light hearted jokes here and there. It was the best day you've ever had at school yet.

(Hey again, thank you for requesting and please know that combined as many as you want. I'm having an amazing time with these prompts so thank you and remember requests are always open. Have a wonderful day and stay safe out there in the world!)

#colin gray x reader #colin gray imagines #colin gray #jennifers body #kyle gallner

[legends-live-in-memories]

I Have Too Many Opinions. ep. 1

lmao. i got encouragement to post my opinions on fandom things and now i want to make a miniseries doing just that. so here i am. doing just that.

im putting it under the cut cuz this was 4 whole pages including the disclaimer. yes i put a disclaimer and i explain why.

Anyways, here is the first piece in what inevitably will become fandom info dump, this time on thomas astruc’s writing on miraculous ladybug. but only some of my opinions cuz we would be here all day otherwise.

So… a disclaimer before I begin… 

I do not hate Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir (yes i'm using their government name). I am quite a fan of the show actually despite its faults. I am also older than the intended audience but was obviously younger when the show first aired which is how my interest was piqued (the fact that its been 6 years and only 3 seasons says more about the show than me being a fan for that amount of time but also i never want to rush content creators cuz they're doing their best) and due to my age, there will be inherent bias in my approach of what i'm about to say as there is in EVERY opinion. The fact that it is an opinion should imply the presence of bias but most people tend to lack the critical thinking skills required to draw that conclusion ANYWAYS…

If I did hate the show I would not have this blog nor would I be even writing this because i tend to not give more than 2 seconds of thought to things i actively dislike (some of yall should give this a try) and i'm allowed to like things that are designed for an audience that i was originally a part of but grew out of. (I don't suddenly stop liking things because I'm older despite what many younger fans seem to believe about older audiences. I also don't need to be ‘allowed’ to do anything cuz i wasn't asking for permission anyways.)

This will not be character bashing, astruc bashing nor fandom bashing cuz, again, that would imply i hate any of those elements and if i did, i would not dedicate brainpower to them. Analyses and criticisms of media are fun and engaging and required if you wish to produce good enjoyable content. Now most of this should be already assumed and self-explanatory but people on the internet like to play morality roulette roll dice on purity culture and I rather have documentation that I am in fact not bullying fictional 14 year olds or a grown man. But alas, people get trigger happy whenever someone has less than 1000000% positive opinions on something they like and will throw out words they can't define (gaslight, baiting, toxic, problematic, gatekeep etc) in an attempt to defend their blind devotion, 

which is not needed, if you like something you never have to defend it, even if i don't like it. If you respond to anything I post saying you disagree with me, I will not argue with you. I won't debate back and forth and try to convince you that the things you like are wrong. Unless you are being absolutely tone deaf to what i'm saying, you wont get a negative reaction from me. So don't try to fish for a fight. Please. I got metaphorical hands for days and I'm mean, you don't want me hurting your feelings on the internet. Do yourself the favour. Difference of opinion is how we get diversification in media and is inherently a good thing. Now that that's out of the way, please don't ever let me have to say that again. I beg.

Now onto the fun stuff

I didn't know what I wanted as a first topic so my trusty internet friend @moonlitceleste suggested astruc’s writing… 

AND BOI do i got some opinions on ole tommy boi. Again I don't hate the dude. In fact, he has worked on a few shows that had defined my childhood, including but not limited to W.I.T.C.H. (all eps available on youtube for those interested, 2 seasons, general fun time all around).

So I don't think he’s scum of the earth but I do think his approach to writing mlb specifically has more misses than hits.

The first big miss is that he has no idea how to write 14 year old girls. At all. Almost every girl he has ever written feels like some terrible archetype built entirely for marketability and childish projection and pubescent self-insert (kind of). He has never been a 14 year old girl. I have. In fact when the show first aired, I WAS around the (assumed) age of the mlb characters. The behaviour he passes off as quirky or awkward or just the character’s genuine personality tend to perpetuate harmful stereotypes of teen girls found in the media and are never actually addressed as harmful. they just get swept under the rug. Marinette’s exuberant collage of teen heart throb model boi Adrien Agreste and her very painful almost fan worship she has of him (which flip flops like a paper sandal in the rain) being portrayed as a cute school girl crush uwu, Chloe being the y7 Regina George, Alya being the token best friend of colour with her ‘sassy’ personality (i want y'all to imagine me eyerolling so hard i bust a vessel in my eye), Kagami being the very damaging Perfect Asian Child stereotype. And before y'all get on your dusty soap box and defend going on about “BUT IT'S FOR CHILDREN”,,,, know this.

 i don’t give a solid fuck. 

Not one. 

Children arent stupid. Children are always going to remember the richy bitchy blonde who bullies the art kid, and the big kid, and the shy kid, and the non white kids, and was only nice to her equally rich white friend who she probably had a crush on or was only ever civil to her equally white lapdog. They're going to remember the half asian girl who was never allowed to actually be asian or the only black girl who existed solely as a soundboard for enabling bad habits or chastising the main character for the same habits she enables in the first place (boi aint THAT a topic for later). Like do i really need to explain that alya chastising marinette for taking max’s spot in gamer just to play with adrien rings absolutely hollow when she actively encourages her to sabotage the contest she’s in just so Kagami doesn't win?? Like I don't have to explain that right?? Again kids arent stupid and its quite something that Mari gets chastised for proving herself the best video game player regardless of her intentions just cuz it comes at the expense of max’s feelings/ego but is actively encouraged to sabotage not only kagami but herself by extension cuz kagami is ‘competition.’ Adrien is not a trophy to be won. And no I don't expect 14 yrs old to be perfect and to always make good decisions but these decisions are never addressed as being bad decisions. they get swept under the rug cuz those decisions were necessary for the ‘plot’ but astruc can barely keep characterization consistent and his characters suffer for it and it's the same children you preach are watching it that suffer as well. Cuz guess what? I KNOW 14 yr olds aren't like that cuz i've been there done that (this is the last time i'm saying that i promise) so I know astruc is just metaphorically throwing darts to figure out who says and does what without consideration for pre established personalities to drive the stalemate plot along. The same kids you say are watching this don't know that that's not how preteens work and will absorb and internalize those dynamics like baking soda and vinegar. Cata-fucking-strophically. 

And I haven't even gotten to the boys yet. Which honestly doesn't require much explanation anyways cuz they suffer the same fate as the girls. Tired archetypes with nothing to give them life. Nino falls into Adrien’s person of colour token best friend who dates the female lead’s person of colour token best friend so they can have cute double dates uwu. Except the plot goes nowhere and we have no inclination of romantic development beyond moments that only act to actively convince me to anti ship the lovesquare (i don't want to do that so i self indulge in fanon that actually cares about the characters and plot. may i interest you in True Sight on AO3?). Max is the residential nerd but it doesn't matter (cuz he and everyone are dumbed down for the sake of ‘plot’), kim is the sports jock (which interestingly subverts the asian comedic relief stereotype but only barely) and luka is cute older guy ™ that wears black nail polish and is in a band. The point of all this is to say there is no depth in the characters. It's especially blatantly obvious with the characters astruc doesn't like (chloe). Again, it being a show for kids is not an excuse to be absolved of putting effort into the characters you make.

This is one of the biggest misses astruc has. I haven't even gone into all the nuances of this particular miss. And i havent gone into how that works against him in the plot either. Mostly because the plot itself hasn't gone anywhere and partially because I wanted to go into the plot (or lack thereof) separately as its own miss. 

AND BOI is it a miss. 

SO home boy astruc wanted to reap the benefits of a serial show with ‘engaging’ plot without putting in any of the work to make a linear storyline and relying on the episodic format for, again, marketability. You can't have the best of both worlds, you are not Avatar: The Last Airbender. Which btw has a lot less episodes and a desired end goal that didn't involve top dollar. Legend of Korra did but that's not the point and it had its failings with that too. I challenge you, tell me how many episodes actually contribute towards a plot point or introduce new thematic elements to the show? Can you name them? I can and I'm going to include the plot points that moved the story in some direction if only temporarily. Yes only temporarily for some of these and i will explain later. (if you're in the server you already saw this list *wink*)

25/26. Origins- self explanatory, the beginning of the story, 

24. Volpina- introduction of the grimoire and Master Fu (kind of) and no, Lila is not a plot point,

28. The Collector- proper introduction of Master Fu,

37. Sapotis- introduction of Rena Rouge,

41. Syren- introduction of new aquatic power ups,

44. Anansi- introduction of Carapace,

47. Frozer- introduction of new ice power ups,

48/49. Style Queen- introduction of Queen Bee,

51/52. Heroes’ Day- introduction of Mayura and mass akumatization,

66. Startrain- introduction of Pegasus,

67. Kwami Buster- Marinette wears multiple miraculouses,

68. Feast- backstory as to how the miraculouses were lost,

69. Ikari Gozen- introduction of Ryuko,

70. Timetagger- introduction of Bunnyx,

71. Party Crasher- introduction of Roi Singe and Viperion,

73. Chat Blanc- alternate timeline that essentially means nothing but got a reaction out of fans anyways (myself included)

 77/78. Love Eater/Battle of Miraculous- Marinette becomes guardian and other heroes lose their miraculous,

New York Special- other heroes exist and there is an American miraculous box,

That's 21 episodes. 21 out of a heaping 78 plus 2 specials. Everything else was just your typical akuma of the day episode and everything that happened outside that had no lasting consequences on the plot thanks to the miraculous status quo. Was it entertaining to watch Lila stir the plot of the class dynamic? Hell yeah. Too bad it meant nothing by the end of the episode cuz we were struck with miraculous status quo. She literally doesn't appear again until Heroes Day. that is from episodes 25 all the way to 51, she means nothing and yet she is treated with the severity of a b-villain/rival thing. She means nothing by the end of Volpina if I'm being honest. She is only relevant for 20 mins of episode time she’s in then it's back to magic status quo that undoes any shift in dynamics and relationships. It's like Spongebob who can't get his driver’s license. The worst part is I actually like Lila and I wish the story treated her with the seriousness we as an audience are expected to treat her with. Despite being painfully inconsequential by the end of each of the 3?? 4?? episodes she’s in, it's entertaining to watch a character create drama just because. 

Too bad it means nothing.

Astruc is constantly building up suspense to something ‘important’ only for it to not deliver and fans are constantly having the rug pulled out from under us. Oblivio teased us with a reveal only that gets undone cuz memory akuma. Chat Blanc teased us with romantic development but that gets undone cuz time travel bullshit. Feast introduced more miraculous lore and the history of the guardians but that means nothing by the next episode or ever (i'm not including any reference to the season 4 trailer cuz i've been around the block a few times and im familiar with this lil dancy dance). Heroes Day teased us with a possible future team of heroes but that gets undone in Battle of Miraculous cuz ????? why?? (here's why; astruc was having a jolly ole time letting us know how irredeemable Chloe is at the expense of shooting his own stagnant plot in the foot. Again, discussion for later.)

Too bad anything that slightly swerves off course from the akuma of the day gets undone or ignored. Too bad nothing has any lasting consequence. I mean, if anything did, the episodes would have had a consistent order and release schedule so im not scrambling to watch the leaked ep in Portuguese or something while the french dub is two episodes behind while the english version hasnt even been dubbed. I really wonder how he plans to conclude the show when he’s so afraid to step out of the corner he painted himself in.

Again, not going into nuances. If you want you can ask for more specifics (i doubt anyone would) but this is really just a slightly detailed general overview of my opinions on astruc’s writing. 

I was going to include another miss in his approach to this show but imma save that for another time. 

How’s that for a ‘first’ post?

#mlb #opinions my guy opinions #i dont wanna tag this as salt #but mlb criticisms and analyses #IHTMO #the hashtag for this series #thomas astruc #miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous: tales of ladybug and cat noir #yes the government name again #come get yall juice #miraculous

[whumpqin]

Day Five: Put in a Tank

Oof, this one struggled a little bit, but I managed to get it out! I’m happy with how it turned out, too! Hope yall enjoy <3

Masterlist

Tag list: @spiffythespook @lonesome--hunter (if you want to be added just message me!)

CW: Stuck in a tank, near drowning/struggling to get air, rope burns, begging/crying, salt(water) in wounds, trapped in the dark, freezing, conditioning, vague dehumanization, slight emetophobia warning, sickness mention, and maybe some other things I forgot! feel free to send me a message to tag something else!

Word count: 1,563

He shivered in the cold, unrelenting northern waters. Darkness poured everywhere, blinding his view from within the small box that he had been placed in. It was so cold, so dark, he couldn’t figure out whether or not he was even upright beyond the ability to breathe-

Nereus hissed as he brushed an arm against his rope burns. Every coiling mark against his skin ached as the saltwater seeped in, dirty and disgusting from the fish that lived in it. His throat ached as its overuse made itself known, not even letting him keen from the pain and instead forcing him to bang his head against the side of the tank.

He doesn’t remember how long he’s been here, but it felt like an eternity already.

After the crewmen had left him alone, stuck in the net trap Eilif had set, he had cried and screamed his voice raw, hoping that someone would have enough compassion for him to let him go. After that he struggled, nearly choking himself in the process, before being forced to lie still until the evening.

At some point the door to the Cabin had opened, and Eilif had walked in. He was a large and burly man with a crazy look in his gray eyes. Nereus had heard tales of when some of the crew had angered him, and they were tossed overboard and never seen again. In that moment, staring into his eyes, he knew that all of the rumors spread about Eilif were true.

In typical, wordless fashion, Eilif untied Nereus from the ropes that bound him. He tried to thank him, but before he could Eilif got a fistful of his shirt collar and looked at him with a hard, furious gaze that made all the words in his throat die.

He was dragged above deck, into the prying eyes of the crew members who exchanged money behind Eilif’s back. They laughed and mocked Nereus as he was dragged to the nets and boats that they used to go fishing with, as Eilif opened up the lid to the tank where they kept live fish to eat later.

Nereus had apologized over and over, even knowing that it fell on deaf ears. All he got in return was Eilif’s fury, and a promise.

You’ll be sorry when I’m done with you.

Then he was thrown into the tank and the lid was closed.

Nereus had made himself as comfortable as he could. He pressed up against one of the slimy corners and waited, taking breaths in tune with the gentle rocking of the ship. Sometimes the water would sway his way and cover his face, but after it had happened a couple times, he figured out how to hold his breath though it. Thankfully he was tall enough to just barely be able to stand in the tank, able to breathe if he angled his head just right. 

Then the cold set in. Then the burning from his raw skin began. Then something brushed up against Nereus’ leg and he let out a startled yelp followed by a whimper, unable to remember if they had caught small fry or hungry carnivorous fish that morning. 

You’ll be sorry. The thought repeated over and over in his head, the only thing he could really cling to in the presence of nothing.

“I am,” he croaked, his voice sounding like he was stepping on gravel. “I am sorry, please, please let me out! I’ll be good, I swear it! Please…”

The ship rocked back towards him again, and he got a mouthful of water. Nereus coughed and sputtered it back out, retching at the disgusting fish and salty taste of it. He tried to press himself further against the wall in an attempt to raise his head above the water, but his fingers slipped, ruining all his effort.

He gasped for air when the ship finally rocked the other way, panic rising out of his throat before he could calm himself.

“Help me, please! Someone! Anyone! I’m sorry, I’ve learned my lesson!” he cried, ending it with a coughing fit from the water he’d accidentally breathed in. 

Like always, no one came to his rescue. Instead he was left alone in the cold dark, forced to gasp for air just to survive. A part of him felt exhausted, but Nereus knew very well that if he were to fall asleep he’d be as good as dead.

After what felt like several eternities wrapped into one, when Nereus was beginning to wonder if anyone would find him here while he was still alive, the lid finally opened back up. 

“Hey. Still alive down there?” Eilif’s voice echoed into the tank. Nereus made a small sob in response, relief and fear flooding through him at the same time. Was he going to shove him under the water, finish the job he started? “See? Still kickin’ around. I was going to come back for him later.”

“Like hell you were. Fish ‘em out,” another voice commanded, higher pitched and pissed, but one that Nereus recognized. The Captain. 

He struggled to get his sluggish limbs to move to where the lid was, looking up like some washed up fish struggling to breathe. The Captain was staring down at him with a hardened gaze that softened when their eyes met. It was replaced by fury when Eilif sighed.

“I ought to throw you in there with him,” the Captain hissed. “What were you thinking, huh? You going to leave em in there all night with the fish, hoping he didn’t drown on you?”

Eilif didn’t say anything and instead reached a hand down to Nereus. He reached upwards like it was God himself, clinging onto the thick arm with desperation. He was so light that even sopping wet it hardly took any effort from Eilif to lift him up out of the tank. 

Nereus collapsed to the deck, shivering and wet and sobbing. His fingernails dug into the wood of the ship, not even really feeling the sting in his nails over the euphoria of being freed. After all this time he could finally move and see, even if he didn’t have the strength to do it.

“Boy’s a lot stronger than you think, Captain. He woulda lasted the night,” Eilif said simply. 

“Well, I hope you’re satisfied.” The Captain took a foot and rolled Nereus over, watching how he moved limply. “My trophy ain’t gonna be swabbing the deck anytime soon like this, thanks to you. Guess we’ll have to find someone else, huh? Don’t suppose you would want the job?”

“Captain, he was snooping around where he shouldn’t! You’re lucky I didn’t leave the sharks to deal with ‘em.” Eilif shot a mean glare over to Nereus, and he pulled away with a pitiful whimper.

“You talking back, Eilif?” The Captain gave him a venomous look. “You could’ve just beat the thing. He learns well enough from that. Doesn’t take potentially spoiling the whole crew’s food supply to teach Roo here a lesson.”

“Well, it’s like you always said. Humans got thick heads on their shoulders. Wanted to make sure this lesson stuck.”

Warm hands found their way to Nereus’ shoulders as the Captain bent down. He grabbed his chin to force his barely-conscious gaze over to him, light blue eyes scanning him. Nereus raised a hand up to hold his hand close, even knowing he likely shouldn’t touch the Captain without his express permission. He was just so warm…

He could have sworn he saw the Captain swallow.

“Have you learned your lesson, Roo?” he asked. Nereus nodded instantly. He had. He learned. He could be good now. He’d never go snooping again, even if he hadn’t meant to. “Good. As for you.” The Captain turned his gaze over to Eilif. “He’s not the only one with a thick head around here. You’re taking swab duty until he’s fit to work again. Do I make myself clear?”

Eilif watched the two for a moment, an indiscernible expression on his face. He was always too hard to read.

“You better watch yourself Captain. The crewmen might think you’re going soft on the boy,” he muttered.

“Do I make myself clear, Eilif?”

Eilif swallowed, glancing to the side. “Crystal.”

“Good. Now go the fuck to bed while I deal with your mess. We don’t need sickness running rampant on the ship because of this.” The Captain drew Nereus into a sitting position, and didn’t bother pulling him off when he clung to him.

Nereus heard the sound of footsteps disappearing off to somewhere. He curled closer to the Captain, readily taking advantage of the rare closeness to draw as much heat as he could, sobbing hopelessly into his coat.

“...Alright, get off. You’re coming with me back to my quarters.” he muttered angrily, unhooking Nereus’ hands from himself.

He looked up, eyes going wide out of fear of the unknown. There was no telling what the Captain might do to him for being so awful, what might go on behind the closed doors of his cabin room. Nereus wasn’t about to find out himself, either. “Captain, Captain no, I’ll, I’ll go down with the crew. I can be good, I’ve learned my lesson - nono, please!”

His cries went unanswered as the Captain picked him up and put him over his shoulder.

#whump #whump community #whumpblr #whump writing #my writing #writing #WaterWhump2020 #ww-no.5 #Stuck in a tank #Put in a tank #Near drowning #drowning tw #struggling for air #rope burns #begging #crying #salt in wounds #tapped in the dark #freezing #conditioning #brief dehumanization #brief emetophobia warning #sickness mention #The Captain #Nereus #I feel so bad for Nereus but don't worry you'll be okay #eventually #even tho I have no idea how long it's going to take #The Fallen Seekers

[its-norea-wong]

Yall don know crap about me so here:

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? More cereal than milk. I don like to have a bowl full of milk after.

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a winter-y day? Yes.

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? Random pieces of old sketch paper I have lying around everywhere.

4: how do you take your coffee/tea? I drink green tea as is. I’ll have that or cocoa, with milk and sprinkles.

5: are you self-conscious of your smile? Yes, I don smile often.

6: do you keep plants? Yes, I have a small sunflower in my window.

7: do you name your plants? Yes, her name is Vivi. Don fuking judge me.

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? I use oil paints.

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? Yeah, I hum to the music I play when I draw, sketch and/or paint.

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? Sleep? Hah, I don’t, but If I take my sleeping pills like I’m suppose to, usually on my side.

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? Er allein, dem die Jugend gehört, gewinnt die Zukunft.  

12: what’s your favorite planet? Saturn.

13: what’s something that made you smile today? Watching Shiloh trip and fall.

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? I’m not going to live in the city once I finish school.

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! It would take nine years to walk to the moon.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish? Ramen.

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? I want to get rid of the blonde patch at my routes.

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.  When I learnt German only to give our Jewish history teacher wwII flash backs. Nate was mad. I didn’t care.

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? Yes and just small outfit ideas.

20: what’s your favorite eye color? Blue, purple or orange. Why? Idfk.

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. My hello kitty little backpack that I brought with me from japan, I now use it as a purse when I go shopping. It confuses people.

22: are you a morning person? hell. no.

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? Lay in bed till 4 pm.

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? Fuck no.

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? The boy’s dorm room.

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? My black and pastel coloured converse.

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? bubblegum.

28: sunrise or sunset? sunrise. I’m not a morning person but it looks nice.

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? no.

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared? yes, when? I wont tell, unless asked.

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks. They’re okay ig, yes?, no, no, and no thanks.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends. I can’t really hang out with friends at 3 AM.

33: what’s your fave pastry? dessert mochii.

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it? It’s name is Kuma. It’s a brown fluffy bear. yes i do.

35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? not anymore, I used to write to my mom while I was at school.

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? Bo burnham. That’s it.

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? Clean.

38: tell us about your pet peeves! JB. just JB hitting on. every. single. guy. That or Shiloh. Just Shiloh being Shiloh. Also Bae thinking he’s better than everyone else.

39: what color do you wear the most? Black.

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you? I own a small necklace with purple beads. It has meaning to me I guess.

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?  The One Safe Place.

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it! No.

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? JB. 

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? When I was 11.

45: do you trust your instincts a lot? Yeah.

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of. uhhhhh. To the guy who invented zero, thanks for nothing.

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? Store bought ramen. It’s so gross.

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today? Thunder and Lightning, and yes.

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought? The last CD I bought? Beetlejuice the musical.

50: what’s an odd thing you collect? Knifes. Pencils.

51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? uhh. Jeremy with sad song by scotty sire.

52: what are your favorite memes of the year so far? Ugandan knuckles, i know its dead but it’s still my favorite.

53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? i love beetlejuice.

54: who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? idfk.

55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? I climbed up a shelf at the library to prove that I could be tall.

56: what are some things you find endearing in people? no.

57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? im not answering this one.

58: who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? why? uhh idk.

59: what’s your favorite myth? Any Japanese urban legend.

60: do you like poetry? what are some of your faves? uhh. no.

61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? I once gave away some floppy hat that my step dad gave me.

62: do you drink juice in the morning? which kind? Yes, pineapple.

63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be? Yes. I make sure they’re organized on genre and then in the genre it’s alphabetized.

64: what color is the sky where you are right now? blue.

65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? My mom, but in order to do that, i’d have to die. :)

66: what would your ideal flower crown look like? Pink daises and sunflowers, small ones, plus some bits of lavender.

67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? Happy, it’s nice.

68: what’s winter like where you live? no snow, it’s like 60 degrees.

69: what are your favorite board games? idk.

70: have you ever used a ouija board? ya.

71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? green.

72: are you a person who needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? No, i have an okay memory.

73: what are some of your worst habits? I bounce my leg around whenever i’m not moving, that or I flick my pencil around.

74: describe a good friend of yours without using their name or gendered pronouns. big ass hole.

75: tell us about your pets! I only have one and she’s a blind kitty. She’s white with spots and has a fluffy tail.

76: is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? My homework.

77: pink or yellow lemonade? pink.

78: are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? uhh i really don’t care

79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? I was given a flower by some girl during lunch, i never got her name though.

80: what color are your bedroom walls? did you choose that color? if so, why? white, i didn’t get to choose cus I live in a dorm room.

81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. northern star.

82: are/were you good in school? ya i am.

83: what’s some of your favorite album art? idk.

84: are you planning on getting tattoos? which ones? no.

85: do you read comics? what are your faves? Ya i guess, and deadpool.

86: do you like concept albums? which ones? no. not really.

87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? my neighbor totoro, kikis delivery service.

88: are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? not really.

89: are you close to your parents? I was close with my mom.

90: talk about your one of you favorite cities. tokyo. i don’t have to explain.

91: where do you plan on traveling this year? no where.

92: are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? i don’t put cheese on my pasta.

93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? Shaved under my lil floof bangs.

94: who was the last person you know to have a birthday?  Jeremy.

95: what are your plans for this weekend?  Draw.

96: do you install your computer updates really quickly or do you procrastinate on them a lot? I update immediately.

97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? INTJ - The Mastermind, libra, and huffle puff.

98: when’s the last time you went hiking? did you enjoy it? idk and no.

99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. no.

100: if you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go 5 years into the past, the other 5 years into the future, which one would you press? why? 5 years into the past, and for reasons.

#norea wong #about me #ya'll don't know shit #so here we are #idk lmao

[octaviadblake]

Ὀδύσσεια + τό ἑκᾰτόν part 2

OR The Odyssey + The 100 part 2, an in-depth look at parallels to Homeric canon in season 6 (specifically 6x12 & 6x13), and how the themes and motifs present on Sanctum mirror Odysseus’s return to Ithaca.

You can read the original meta here, where I explore how season 6 mirrors Odysseus’s 10 year journey back to Ithaca. In today’s meta, I’ll be talking about how the last two episodes of season 6 reflect Odysseus’s return, as well as looking into the events that occurred on Ithaca while he was gone.

DISCLAIMER: As I mentioned last time, I was a Russian Lit major, not a Classics major, so I’m not an expert on this. I studiede Ancient Greek and Ancient Greek Drama for 6 and 2 semesters in college, respectively, but my expertise is more on The Iliad than The Odyssey. Fellow Classics nerds, feel free to jump in with your thoughts/commentary!

Ready? Let’s do this.

So, last time, we talked a bit about the theme of “cunning over strength” and discussed the motif of “disguises,” particularly in Odysseus posing as “Nobody” in order to blind the Cyclops, and how this reflects Clarke posing as Josephine in order to “blindside” the Primes.

But wouldn’t you know, upon Odysseus’s return to Ithaca, he again disguises himself. With the help of the goddess Athena, Odysseus poses as a beggar in order to make it into the palace. While he was gone, the palace has been overrun by suitors, hoping to win over Penelope (Odysseus’s wife) because her husband, who has been gone for 10 years at this point, is presumed dead and she is expected to remarry. 

Of course, we see this in 6x12 when Clarke returns to Sanctum. 

(gif credit: @clakregriffin)

With Gabriel’s help, she has been disguised as Josephine. Here is where we see her using cunning rather than strength. Rather than storming the palace with the Children of Gabriel, Clarke plans to infiltrate the Primes and defeat them from the inside. 

In The Odyssey, there are only a couple of people who see through Odysseus’s disguise, one of whom is Eurycleia, a housekeeper who recognizes one of his scars. Where most of the maids have betrayed Penelope or pursued sexual relationships with the suitors, Eurycleia has remained loyal. Odysseus’s dog also recognizes him, but that’s...kinda sad bc the dog gets so excited that it dies and that hurts my heart so I don’t like to think about that. 

So anyway. 

Guess who sees through Clarke’s disguise? Murphy. 

(gif credit: @shialablunt)

Even while she is still fully in character as Josephine, he puts the pieces together without needing to be told that it’s actually Clarke (unlike Abby and Raven, who have no idea until Clarke tells them). Murphy and Clarke have always understood each other on a fundamental level, and in season 5, even Murphy calls Clarke out on being a cockroach, like him. The two of them share a proclivity for survival. They understand one another in a way many others don’t.

Earlier in the season, in 6x02, we saw Murphy protecting Clarke from herself, also. We’re supposed to be seeing these parallels, seeing that Murphy does truly care for Clarke in his own way. He’s the only person who sees through the Josephine ruse without being told. And not only does he not reveal her, but he stays behind to save their people because Clarke can’t.

So, it looks like Murphy is Eurycleia.

Many of the maids/housekeepers have betrayed Odysseus’s legacy. While Penelope is doing her best to stave off the advances of the suitors, the maids are busy laughing and making merry (and yes, sleeping with them, too). The maids are the ones who force Penelope’s hand by telling the suitors she has been stalling so as to not have to marry one of them.

Eurycleia alone remains loyal. She cares for Penelope. She keeps the house in order. She does what she can in order to care for and protect Penelope. Also, if Penelope remarries, someone else will become king of Ithaca, meaning the people of Ithaca will suffer. Eurycleia protects Penelope so that she may protect her people. Sound familiar?

(gif credit: @stevenrogered)

I’m not defending Murphy’s actions mid-season but...at the end? He got what he wanted. He could’ve gone to space with the rest of the Primes, become one of them, taken the easy way out. But he doesn’t. He stays behind to help fix what they broke, to keep their house in order, to save their people. He is Eurycleia maintaining order and trying his best to keep the peace, while Clarke is Odysseus, going off to win the war. 

(i dont mean to imply Murphy is Clarke’s servant or anything like that, bc he’s very much not that, but this seems a fair parallel to draw)

Anyway.

The past ten years, Penelope has managed to put off selecting a suitor by telling them she is weaving an honorary funeral shroud for her husband. Upon its completion, she says, she’ll choose one for her new husband. However, she’s been unravelling the knots so as to prolong the process. The other housekeepers have revealed her secret to the suitors and now they’re insisting she make her choice. Athena tells Penelope to pose a challenge to the suitors: she will give them Odysseus’s bow, and whoever is able to string it and fire a single arrow through a dozen axe heads will win her hand and become her new husband. Unbeknownst to the suitors, Odysseus is the only one who is able to do this. 

Frankly, I don’t remember if it’s bc he was the only one who was strong enough or if there was some trick to it or whatever, but Odysseus is the only person who can string this bow. So he does. And then he throws off his disguise and reveals his true identity, before slaying every single one of the suitors.

I....don’t feel like rewatching the episodes so I don’t have perfect comparisons right off the top of my head, my apologies, hoping some of yall will come to my aid in the replies but....

Remember how Clarke is Odysseus?

(gif credit: @shialablunt)

Clarke reveals to the Primes her true identity because she refuses to let them hurt the people still in cryo on the ship. Then, she pulls the lever, and she kills the Primes, “the suitors,” those who would take her kingdom, her people, her family from her. 

Odysseus and Penelope reunite and live happily ever after.

I...don’t think I need to explain that parallel ;)

(gif credit: @clarkgriffon)

A lot of scholars say that’s the end of The Odyssey, but Homer does go on briefly. Odysseus and his son go to visit Odysseus’s father and the citizens of Ithaca follow them to confront the king. They plan to avenge the deaths of their sons, both the suitors and the soldiers who accompanied Odysseus to Troy and perished before they could return. 

Odysseus has effectively wiped out two generations of young men (indirectly in the sailors case, but the people still blame him). Just like how...so many people...in this show...blame Clarke for everyone dying...without considering if she had other options. 

Odysseus feels guilty for killing the suitors, despite the fact that it was the only option in his situation. The Ithacans blame him as well. Only Athena’s divine intervention is able to assuage the vendetta and return things to some semblance of normalcy.

(gif credit: @clarkegriffinblake)

Clarke feels guilty about killing the Primes even though they gave her no other choice. It was her people or it was them. And she did what she had to do, just as Odysseus did. But she still feels guilty. 

(gif credit: @clarkgriffon)

And along comes Bellamy “We Did Do Better” Blake. Bellamy “I Have To Believe That Matters” Blake. Bellamy “Will Always Forgive Clarke Griffin” Blake. Bellamy Blake who gives Clarke some degree of solace, offers her what redemption he can, just like he always has and always will.

Of course, there are other characters who played pretty big roles in the finale that I haven’t looked at here, and I have my own theories about them. 

I could see Jordan becoming a Clytemnestra type character. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if season 7 looked a lot like The Oresteia, particularly Agamemnon, especially since this would continue with the Homeric themes we’ve had on the show thus far.

I honestly could see Octavia as Agamemnon in the way that Clarke is Odysseus. Both kings, but Agamemnon certainly had a bloodier reputation. And that would definitely go along with @bellarke-addict‘s theory that the “He” in the anomaly is Jordan. Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon. This mysterious man wants Octavia dead. Could be something to that.

Although, Jordan and Octavia are as far from romantically involved as we can possibly get so there’s definitely a wrench in the works there lol. Who knows? I’m not one for theories as much as I am one for analysis. I’m excited to see where season 7 goes, though. 

I know this was rambly and it kinda got away from me, but I hope you guys enjoyed! Come yell about Classics with me!!!

Tagging a couple people who I know wanted to see this once it was up: @absolutelynotclassicusernam-blog @oh-bloomin-heck @little-oxford-st @tainted-ones-stuff  and some folks i think will enjoy: @braveprincess @itsyagirlkath @charmaine-diyoza @daddyperun

#the 100 meta #my meta #meta #the100meta #the 100 is homer and you cant convince me otherwise #i didnt reread or proofread this sooooooo fair warning there lol

[singingunderthecurtain]

Secret Santa [Pt. 1]

Author: julietsoddeye AU: coworker Genre: fluff | light comedy | office romance Pairing: Kyungsoo x Reader Word Count: 1,578

Plot: #exodecembercollab18 Prompt #4: Your office Secret Santa gives you something you certainly weren’t expecting. You’re positive when you found out who he is, you’re gonna punch him in the face.

A/N: This is a collab work with @thesammtimes for @exo-writers-net #exodecembercollab18 event! You can find Samm’s work [here] READ IT YALL!

For this year’s Christmas potluck, you all decided to do it in your boss’ house instead of the same old boring office. Junmyeon volunteered to host this year since his bachelor pad is big enough to house all twelve of you in the team.

The house even has a patio and a pool. But it was too cold tonight so you stayed indoors.

Gosh, how much is this man’s salary? It must feel great to have this much space. You thought as you and Chanyeol look around the place to check every room you can.

“Any plans for the holiday?”

Chanyeol nonchalantly asks as he takes selfies in front of Junmyeon’s different kinds of Star Wars figure set collection. You just dumbly follow him around with nothing to do. You’ve been working for the company for two years already but Chanyeol is the only one you’re most comfortable with.

Kyungsoo is nice, but he mostly keeps to himself. And he sometimes glares you down like you murdered his dogs or something when he doesn’t wear his glasses, so you’re kind of afraid of him.

Joy and Irene were really nice girls, but they were also too beautiful that you can’t relate with them on any level and they intimidate you and constantly blind you with their grace.

Jongin too, the Adonis of the office. You don’t dare interact with him unless he initiates it. Some girls from different office floor visit your department for no reason just to get a glimpse of him, that’s totally not creepy at all...

Sure, you’re civil towards everyone, even the ever annoying Baekhyun, but you and Chanyeol are like two peas in a pod, he is your work best friend. You two are kind of the weirdos, but everyone at the office is nice to you.

“Nah,”

You paused, letting out a single puff from your lips.

“My parents forgot that they have a daughter again.”

“Why?”

He asks, snapping another photo now holding a Yoda figurine. Wow, the resemblance is quite uncanny…

“Well, they planned a whole trip until the New Year’s without me again, so…”

“Wow, two Christmases in a row?”

You cross your arms in front of your chest, pout growing bigger.

“Hey, kids it’s time to open presents!”

Junmyeon’s head suddenly pops out by the door frame, his smile was so huge with his cheeks flushed you can tell he has had a few drinks already.

As you reach the living room, you see everyone has their gifts already. Two decorated paper bags sitting prettily on the space of the couch you and Chanyeol previously occupied.

“Should the latecomers open their gifts first?”

Baekhyun blurts out when he saw the three of you emerging from Junmyeon’s home office.

“Ladies first.”

“Fine.”

You grumbled as you snatch the paper bag that has your name on it from Chanyeol.

You’re not exactly excited to know what’s inside the bag. You’re lucky if you got picked by any of the girls in your team because usually, only girls put effort into exchange gifts like these.

Hell, even Chanyeol and Junmyeon asked for your opinion on what to give their giftees. You have to find out what people liked for the three of you.

Slowly pulling out wrapping tissue papers one by one, the first thing you saw was a white envelope. Inside was a basic as hell Christmas card with even more basic greetings printed on it.

“You might need this. Sincerely, your Secret Santa.”

You read the card.

What you pull out next made you lose color on your face.

“Oh my gosh…”

Junmyeon tipsily giggles as he slaps his mouth shut, trying to stop himself from losing control of his laughter.

“IS THAT BAKING FOR DUMM—”

“SHUT UP, BYUN BAEKHYUN!!!”

You screamed, countering Baekhyun even before he finished what he was going to say as if it’ll save you from the already impending embarrassment.

Memories of last year’s charity bake sale came flooding back to your mind.

It wasn’t your fault you have suddenly been bombarded with emergency work a week prior the Office event for your company’s chosen beneficiary!!!

“Is this from you, Baekhyun?! Are you my secret Santa?!?!”

You accused, he’s the only one you know who was brazen enough to do this to you or to anyone at that! Baekhyun is known to pull pranks around the office, he probably thought about this stupid gift even before he found out who his giftee was.

Most of your coworkers are silently snickering at you and the Baking For Dummies book in your hand. Some, aka Junmyeon, Baekhyun and even freaking Park Chanyeol are straight up laughing shamelessly out loud.

It wasn’t your fault that you literally ran out of time and wasn’t able to ACTUALLY bake something for the charity drive! You opted to buy pre-made plain cupcakes at the store and just decorated the sweet treats yourself.

Everyone was so impressed by the cupcakes you brought until ONE freaking customer pointed out that the cupcakes taste exactly like the ones they always buy from Walmart.

Everyone found out your purchase and you were the butt of every joke for a few solid months. Baekhyun especially didn’t let you hear the end of it!

God! It was awful. Your actual baking skills and pride were hurt.

You tried bringing different cookies to work, but they never believed you made them yourself.

Even Chanyeol ride in on the joke. So much for a best friend!

“No, it wasn’t from me!”

Baekhyun continues to laugh, his cocktail spilling all over Junmyeon’s carpet.

“I don’t believe you!!!”

“Trust me, I would brag about it if it was from me.”

And you believe him. He would totally gloat about him pulling this stint. He is a proud mischievous little devil.

“Chanyeol?!?!”

It’s now your best friend’s turn to be blamed.

“I literally showed you the person I got the moment we get to pick the names!”

You turn to Junmyeon this time.

“You know who I got!!!”

Before you can even accuse your boss, he already has his hands up in the air as if he’s surrendering to something.

“I swear I will punch the shit out of whoever gave me this!”

“That was already three chances, next gift!!!”

Irene exclaims!

You silently sulk in your seat as they all continue to laugh and be merry.

Out of nothing at all, when it was Kyungsoo’s chance to open his present, he cleared his throat before facing your direction.

“It was from me—”

He paused as he simply and directly declared.

“The book, it was from me.”

He continued. His big eyes staring right into your soul.

Seriously, right in front of your salad?

Everyone fell mute.

Everyone was both shocked and amused that the quiet, never really speak much unless really important or spoken to first, usually reserved and gentle Do Kyungsoo would pull something like this.

When you said you’re kind of afraid of him, well it’s different now.

You’re just straight up bitter. I guess Baekhyun is the better person now, huh?

How could he?

The audacity!

You don’t even speak much!

You don’t remember a day that you sat down and had a conversation with this man.

“Hey, you okay?”

Chanyeol raised a single brow at you as he shakes you awake from being idle.

You must have frozen down or turned into stone.

You wish you could turn into a stone so you can throw yourself at Kyungsoo.

Wait, NO! That’s nOT WHAT YOU MEANT!!!

“Do Kyungsoo-ssi, I am so offended…” _

“Ohooo, she’s offended. Kyungsoo what are you gonna do?”

Baekhyun incites, adding fuel to the fire.

“That is so rude.”

Joy whips up jokingly as well.

Everyone has some type of alcohol in their systems except for you. You are Chanyeol’s designated driver.

Maybe Kyungsoo as well, you haven’t really seen him drink anything other than water and the fruit bowl punch.

Maybe they spiked the fruit bowl punch, that’s why he’s so bold to go forward about the blunt gift.

“I’m good at baking, okay!”

“i’M gOod aT bAkiNg, oKaY!”

Baekhyun repeats after you in a playful mocking way and everyone laughs, including Chanyeol… ESPECIALLY CHANYEOL, WTH?

“Guess you didn’t see the back of the card.”

Kyungsoo purses his lips into a thin line.

Your boss snatches the Christmas card that came with the gift from you and flips it back, showing what looks like a chibi drawing version of him with a speech bubble.

“Would you help this dummy learn how to bake?”

Junmyeon reads and his face immediately turns smug.

“Ooooooh”

Both Irene and Joy said and gave the same smug look as Junmyeon.

“I wanted to give you something nice, like a necklace or something. But you might find it creepy so I asked Jongin what to get you and he suggested that.”

Kyungsoo pointed at Jongin who in turns scratched the back of his head and gave you an apologizing smile.

“I always knew you’re great at baking, cuz I haven’t found those cinnamon roll sugar cookies you brought last time anywhere—”

He explained some more and you were out of words.

“And I wanted to learn how to make them, so…”

Completely speechless.

“She has no plans for the holiday...”

Chanyeol answered for you with a shrug. Making you turn to give him the look.

“It’s a date then.”

Everyone howls happily, wolf whistles and teasings left and right.

Aikie Masterlist | Michiko Masterlist | FIC RECS | FIC REC SIDEBLOG

#exosnet #exowritersnet #smtownnetwork #kloversnet #exodecembercollab18 #D.O #Do Kyungsoo #kyungsoo x oc #kyungsoo x you #kyungsoo x reader #kyungsoo and reader #kyungsoo and oc #kyungsoo and you #fluff #office fluff #oneshot #exo #exo oneshot #exo office fluff #exo fluff #exo co worker au #coworker au #light comedy #office romance #idk what to tag anymore #my head is so heavy im still sick lol #aslkdanskdnaskjdnas

[madokasoratsugu]

thursday afternoons

[haibara + amuro; platonic (kind of introspective)]

summary:  haibara visits poirot, amuro notices her (and wonders why)

a/n: yall ever kick back and realise how amuro and haibara are connected by akemi and her mum. and that they dont even fuckin know. what the heck.

read on ao3

It’s an odd happenstance that began in early May.

Every Thursday afternoon, an elementary school girl with poise of someone ten years older walks into Poirot. Without fail, she’ll take a seat at the table in the middle of the store, and quietly order one glass of iced tea which lasts for the entirety of her stay that consists of nothing but reading a heavy tome pulled from her comically small red backpack.

On Thursdays, the store is always half empty. Needless to say, it’s difficult not to notice her, especially for someone like Amuro.

“Oh, that’s Haibara Ai-chan. One of Conan-kun’s friends.” Azusa-san had chimed in when she caught Amuro staring once. “She doesn’t come here alone often, though.”

Facts that Amuro already knew, but was still polite enough to smile and thank for.

Facts that irk him, with how effortlessly she adopts an unassuming nature.

Any other child, from the Detective Boys to a stranger, Amuro would simply turn a blind eye to.

But this girl sits as if she waits.

It’s a trained posture, one of a figure not quite prey or predator.

A page flips, and still he can tell her ears and eyes are trained on her surroundings instead of her book.

It’s a sort of stance he recognises from hardened black cloaked criminals or too smart bespectacled detectives.

Yet he cannot fit her in either category; in any category he has neatly alphabetised in his head.

She slips between the labels, balancing on the cusp of endangered and dangerous.

Another page flips.

Amuro puts down the next cup of coffee a little too harshly, and smoothly apologises for the ordinary clack of glass against wood.

She’s just a child, he tells himself.

But the nagging gut feeling of something being wrong with the eight year old girl who reads Frankenstein are too loud to ignore.

Honed instincts are vital to any policeman. Juggling three hats filled with timed bombs, Amuro thinks he should know this better than anyone.

The only thing that’s keeping him from walking over and striking an interrogation beautifully fancied as a conversation is another eight year old child by the name of Edogawa Conan.

The spectacular double take the boy had had upon seeing Haibara one day did not go unnoticed by the blond.

Conan had hurried over to her, hissing questions that she calmly answered with a brow raised.

Snippets of their low conversation was enough for Amuro to piece the picture of the Thursday afternoon visits together.

A Science convention coming up, the professor and Subaru-san too busy to watch her - not like she really needed to be watched, but the professor insisted, so where else could she go, Edogawa-kun?

Conan rolls his eyes as Haibara flips another page boredly.

He says something about Poirot being safe he guesses, and Amuro catches his glance from the corner of his eye.

As Conan leaves, he all but barrels Amuro into a corner of the shop, narrowed eyes possessing a glint so sharp Amuro feels not for the first time the tenacity of a man within the child pointed against his throat.

“Watch over her.” He simply says. Raw protectiveness is clearly heard through his calmly spoken words. He knows well enough that Amuro listens in on more than he’s invited to. “And leave her alone. She won’t do anything if you don’t start it first.”

“Why would I pick fights with an elementary school child, Conan-kun?” Amuro asks lightly, smiling at the way Conan easily picks apart his curious question to its bare bones as an investigative statement.

Conan shakes his head, the hard lines on his face easing out into a grin. It sparks with mirth and dare Amuro say, trust.

“Just give her an easy time, Amuro -niisan .”

So Amuro had, and so he would.

Haibara isn’t a child who causes a ruckus, anyway. Azusa-san serves her, and she remains a model child for the rest of the day.

There isn’t a reason for Amuro to be this unnerved.

Yet he is.

So reservedly she holds herself, so delicately she handles the atmosphere, Amuro cannot help but be aware.

In the calm silence of her, Haibara flips a page soundlessly.

She never chooses a seat near the windows.

Amuro thinks it means she has something to hide, someone to hide from. Or maybe she just doesn’t like the sun, the way it bathes one in warmth and gentle light.

She never gets a second serving of tea.

Amuro thinks it means she doesn’t want any attention drawn to her, that she cannot afford more conversation than necessary. Or maybe she just needed a reason to stay, and one glass is all that’s required.

Haibara Ai is a mystery Amuro doesn’t have the clues to solve.

It isn’t for the lack of it, but rather the surplus.

He knows too much of Haibara, but not enough of Ai.

But he catches glimpses.

In the moments when the sunlight catches the tilted sheen of her rosy hair; when she lets slip a smile as she reads; when she angles her face toward the window, soft sadness directed at girls in high school uniforms, at women with dark, flowing hair.

But it all melds into neutrality as she turns back to her book, a trained restraint unseen in other children her age.

Her steadiness intrigues him like Conan’s genius does.

Like a crisp ring of the bell, it appears in instances and echoes.

Even in the thundering of an afternoon downpour, it remains.

Clear and unbroken, unaffected.

Haibara curls a hand around her ear, pushing her hair behind it.

Today it’s a simpler novel, one of the latest releases from the local bookshop.

The minimalist cover gives it away.

For all that Haibara cloaks away about herself, she is terribly open about the smallest potential trip ups.

But Haibara is open in the way that threatens. A well polished blade for anyone she doesn’t like to test how well it may or may not cut.

It works well enough for everyone except Amuro.

For everyone except those that really matters, he might even guess.

And in the coffee shop that’s empty for anyone else bear the two of them, it entices Amuro to see how well Haibara can wield it.

A memory of a trusting smile flickers, and the thought wavers, disappears.

It’d still do well for Azusa-san to hurry back from her delivery, though.

A kettle whistles.

Moments later, the sweet fragrance of steeping coffee beans punctures the drearily lit shop.

Haibara barely startles.

Droplets of water slick down the side of her untouched glass.

Increasing patters of the rain fill the shop, drowns the occupants in the white noise, the growing ocean.

Amuro’s breaths slow just the slightest, to adjust to their faux undersea.

Thunder claps.

Atmosphere rippling, Haibara shifts.

As she does, Amuro thinks he sees saltwater clinging to her hair, the corners of her eyes.

Hands paused in a mid-turn of page, gaze fixed on the empty streets outside, the grey clouds.

Submerged, her lips are parted in a soundless whisper.

Words unheard, unspoken.

Unknowing of what might be spoken of.

Another bout of lighting flashes, and something foreign too flashes across Haibara’s face.

The surge of electricity cuts her rose coloured hair white, and a smile grazes the edges of her lips.

In the resound of the rain, Haibara resides; keeps within her blue eyes.

Sinking deep, deeper still, into the echoes of the rainwater all around.

The tea towel crumples in Amuro’s hand.

Recalls the glassiness of a sea surface in his own mirror.

Then the page is set down, the heaviness of the rain already replaced with blank focus.

Amuro licks his dry lips.

It’s uncanny, still.

But it’s a trait he’s suddenly has lost all interest in prying.

That bittersweet fade in her demeanor akin to a mourning shroud convinces him of so.

Haibara Ai still intrigues him, but Amuro thinks he might be able to let it be just that, for now.

Even Amuro cannot bring himself to drain their self-made oceans just to fulfil his own ego.

Sometimes drowning is more preferable to choking on air, after all.

Polished porcelain clinks gently against the wooden table. He doesn’t apologise for the ordinary sound.

There isn’t a need to be more than he is. Not in front of her.

Haibara’s nose twitches at the whiff of fresh coffee.

She looks up, and Amuro gives a customary smile.

“Today’s chilly. This is on the house.”

Haibara eyes him warily, but she takes the mug between her hands.

Warmth seeps into her little frame, but not a single muscle in her body reflects it.

Such slight shoulders, yet it held the grievances of a world and all it had to offer.

For the first time in all the months she’s visited the establishment, Haibara looks him in the eye and speaks directly to him.

“Thank you.”

Her voice is a steady, quiet thrum.

Mute aching tugs at Amuro’s heart strings.

“You’re welcome.”

He doesn’t have to try for his words to come out genuine, this time.

Clatters of the cafe door draw both their attention.

Their crafted undersea washes out the front door.

As laughter, the scraping of furniture, loud conversations trying to one up each other in volume replaces it, Amuro almost spies what looks like disappointment in Haibara’s stiffened stance

Azusa-san returns just as Amuro finishes seating all of them.

Within the blur of motion, food and coffee, Haibara’s time of departure comes alarmingly quickly.

At six on the dot, she quietly returns her book to her bag.

Taking a folded umbrella out, Haibara unfurls it as she makes her way to the door.

Weaving expertly between the throngs of people, a motion too smooth to have mastered in eight short years.

But her steps are lighter than usual, even a softness to her usual taut gaze.

What was the use of dwelling over someone like her, really?

Why was he so drawn?

Setting a plate of sandwiches down, Amuro finds himself just in time to hold the door for her.

Haibara glances at him as her umbrella snaps open like a new bloom.

“See you next Thursday.” Amuro says, gentle in a way he thought he forgot.

And a silver of a smile she offers back strikes him as - familiar.

Familiar in a way he thought he forgot, amidst blood and antiseptic and alcohol coded names.

Haibara nods.

When she turns, pale hair swinging over her shoulders, Amuro almost expects to see flowing black locks instead.

The door shuts.

Through the condensed glass, Amuro finds it hard to tear his eyes away from her umbrella, still.

Watching her leave, mixed with the gentle cascade of rain, Amuro thinks he might miss these Thursday afternoons, after all.

#detective conan #amuro tooru #furuya rei #haibara ai #miyano shiho #melon writes

[groundramon]

Homph I finished tri and I wrote down my thoughts as I was watching because I had too many funny shitposts and nobody to share them with bc charlie hasn’t watched tri yet

PS i wont be reblogging tri spoilers (besides MINOR stuff like, digivolutions of already confirmed digivolution lines or non-spoilery shitposts, but I’ll try to tag shitposts as #tri spoilers anyways [digivolutions specific to tri ill tag as well but not ones that were already basically confirmed]) for a while so ur safe here!  I’m just gonna like everything/most things because then I can rb em to hisyaryumon lmao (also u should check out hisyaryumon....its me n charlie’s digimon blog)

EP 1:

- ok. alright. ok. good. they’re dealing with kari’s emotions now instead of just. nothing.  ok. alright. cool.  Still dont like how obscure/”artsy” they’re being with it, this is digimon not kagerou project, but ok.

- Also. I stand by tk and kari being one of the few good straight ships in digimon.  just saying.

- kari: this is my fault... me: god damn it shut up you little brat also me: god relatable ALSO me: ill take whatever display of emotions i can get

- I love how nobody believes tai is dead like.  They’re upset and worried but they’re also like “nah. he cant be. that fucking asshole just left us in our time of need” (actually only matt is the last one)

- Gabumon i would die for you also im crying and I think that’s the first time tri managed to make me fucking CRY

EP 2:

- I had thoughts but then the 02 kids happened and I entered another plane of reality.  I don’t feel real right now

- the only one I can remember is evil!gennai being a dumbass and being like “SUFFER AND SQUIRM YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AS YOU FIGHT OVER THE LAST SEAT” 1. humans are KNOWN for their ability to care for others you dumb obvious fuck and 2. is. is the entire tube going? because that tube can fit too people if they squish.  This isn’t a joke I’m serious it can.

- oh yeah also when i saw whomstever the fuck his name is (adult guy who i love but fuck names) and he was all bloodied i was like “its a cold day in hell when i see blood in digimon” (I think there was blood in an earlier ep but shh idc)

EP 3:

- didn’t nishijima start off as a fucking life coach to these kids.  What the fuck he was supposed to help them find a career not emotionally scar them by bloodily dying in front of one of them

- im realizing that the reason hackmon was always in his cloak, in the shadows, standing still is that they cannot animate him in any normal position for the life of him.  I drew him with better anatomy when i was 14 and didn’t have a tablet.  No seriously, look:

I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, you guys are just underestimating how bad the anatomy on this poor creature is.  Why cant ppl draw dracomon or hackmon correctly imma cry

- ordinemon has the best reaction faces

the best part about these two screenshots is that they literally cut one to the other, first the first one to the second one and then it cuts back to the first one.  They were really proud of these stupid ass expressions.

- I started overcoming my dissociation shock from the second episode and my hypercritical mind was analyzing the shit out of everything that happened (it is Not happy) but then evil!gennai called kari and evil goddess and idk if he’s exaggerating to make her feel bad or if she’s literally a fucking god of chaos and destruction and either way im like

she did kinda like.  Watch wizardmon die, watch tai die, watch gatomon get absorbed.  The dark ocean is just a metaphor for depression and honestly if 02 wasn’t all over the fucking place I think Kari would’ve had some pretty decent development in it.  Actually you know what, I’m using that as an angle to approach Tri at now, wish me luck bc i might actually give it more leeway now

EP 4:

- I’m not dissociating but I forgot to say anything again and I already forgot what happened

- Cant believe mei is fucking dead

EP 5:

- I like to imagine that Tai got there like a few minutes ago, but he was like “well damn guess yall figured it out without me.  alright ill just. see if I need to do anything” and then meicoomon was Still Bad so he waited for when she struck just to make the most badass entrance possible.  Fucking extra ass bitch

- I forgot to write anything again but uhhh I wasn’t satisfied so anyways lets just get into the Juicy Details

Originally I was actually planning to be kinder to Tri than I expected.  Was very invested during it.  ‘Round the end of the last ep I realized hmmm no this isn’t working out.  Where are the 02 kids.  You should’ve brought them in to save the day.  That would’ve been SO cool and SO fun.  Fucking cowards.

god I’m kinda tired so I’m going to address a couple things I still had problems with, note that this isn’t everything it’s just everything I felt comfortable yelling about without rewatching past eps.  Like I forgot nishijima was all bloodied and presumably died in the last part until they brought it up and I was like “????” ALSO DID THE LADY WHO WAS HIS PARTNER OR W/E KILL HERSELF WITH THE GUN SHE FOUND, I JUST REALIZED LITERALLY AS I WAS TYPING THIS THAT SHE FOUND A GUN AND THEN I THINK IT CUT TO BLACK AND I’M

DID SHE FUCKING KILL HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK

anyways my problems:

1. They did joe. really dirty.  I’ll write a more proper rant on this sometime later (mostly bc charlie is MUCH better at talking about joe than I am) but basically I can tell you that his character development in the movies squandered his OG character development.  He’s basically an entirely different person.  Like Tri joe isn’t bad, besides being largely neglected (yes he has a whole half a movie to himself, no that doesn’t make up for it all), its just...not OG joe.  He’s a fine character just not the same character, and its NOT fine when you put the two together.

2. THEY DID THE 02 KIDS EVEN DIRTIER IM SO BITTER sorry you nostalgia-blind, money-hungry fucks at bandai, but the 02 cast is PART OF THE ADVENTURES UNIVERSE.  The only people who hate 02 are ones who like the characters but hate the mess of the storyline at the end, or are completely irrational and elitist about their love of the digimon series and would greatly re-evaluate their opinions if they watched the original series and 02 back to back.  They couldn’t even show them in some kind of group montage at the end??? Standing in the background when they call Mei???  Why couldn’t they call mei from a home phone also, but that’s a less important problem idc that much.  It was a cute scene besides the lack of 02 characters.  Whatever.  AND THE PROBLEM IS LIKE kari and tk?  This entire time???  Were like “oh they disappeared. oops” instead of being frantically searching for their lost friends???  Like i get tk and kari probably have fucking ptsd and can’t express any emotions because they watched important people die in front of their eyes at an incredibly young age but also 1. they didn’t address the ramifications of ptsd, so fuck that theory/excuse and 2. THAT??? WOULD ONLY MAKE THEM LOOK HARDER??? and put on a brave face as they look, but inside they’re so scared and so worried.  Not just “oh sweet, they were found/saved, theyre in the hospital but that’s fine” like WHAT theyre fucking assholes if that’s what they’d canonically do lmao.  God I am SO bitter over the ENTIRE thing with the 02 kids, it would’ve been BETTER if they were deleted from the fucking canon entirely.  Would I have still been bitter?  Yes.  But at least I wouldn’t be madder at TK and Kari too.

3. I stand 100% by the notion that Digimon is not and will never be cut out to be an adults’ franchise.  It wasn’t designed for adults, and it can’t be skewered towards adults.  These particular characters were designed for kids to relate to and find entertaining.  They do not work when placed into an adult setting.  Like, can you imagine a character like Ed from FMA going to the Digimon world?  I guess in a way that’s just Marcus but like.  Just imagine the FMA cast in Digimon Adventure.  It doesn’t work.  Digimon Tri is basically that except real.  Also Data Squad was darker than Adventure so my joke doesn’t even work.

I guess my primary point is that Tri isn’t mature enough of a setup for an adult audience.  It puts a focus on being “complex” and “philosophical” instead of working within Digimon’s constraints and making something good and adult out of that.  Like!  Digimon is a fucking TOY COMMERCIAL.  Don’t give me messages about the futility of human life.  I want bad puns and emotional characters.  That’s what Digimon has ALWAYS been, and ideally always will be.  Tri could’ve made itself more mature by dealing with the ramifications of the Digital World’s events, how it affected the kids psychologically and dealing with healing old scars.  It would’ve been a more mature take on a story we loved and would use things we loved about the story already - the fact that it took so much time exploring characters’ emotions and was surprisingly mature for the time - to make itself better.  You need to take the aspects that drew adults to the show and amplify them, not just slap on a complex story and unfunny dialogue and be like “oh this is fine, right?”

It’s not that Digimon can’t exist as an adult property, its just that if it repeats what Tri did, it’s got no merit and in my eyes the franchise is dead.  If it survives I guess I’ll be happy that people can still enjoy it but I find it unsustainable and unsatisfying to fans of the older series.  Tri is just a fuckfest of highly specific nostalgia that tries too hard to appeal to old fans without capturing what made the original series so magical, and in part thats because the original series WASN’T FOR ADULTS.  I don’t know about the Digimon Story games, bc they’re T-rated so perhaps they’re a better take on an adult Digimon story than Tri?  But you either need to make your own characters and lore specifically for an adult-oriented Digimon season, or perish.  Also, please make it a series and not a group of movies.  Getting four eps every 6-9 months was hell.

I stand by saying Appmon is a more faithful Digimon season than Tri to Digimon’s original spirit.  I believe it holds more potential for success than Tri and better embodies the spirit of the older Digimon seasons.  It’s dumb, its corny, it has horrible puns, but I LOVE it because it also has a deep dark story and emotional moments.  If you dislike Tri and you agree with things I said that make it unlikeable, I highly recommend giving Appmon a chance - if you watch a few episodes and think “oh yeah, I guess this is decent” you’re going to like it.  It’s everything Digimon has always been and hopefully always will be, just with a different concept.  And hopefully the end of the series doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth and I have to redact this statement haha since I’m not done with it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it so I’m hoping not so.

Overall, if you watch Tri, don’t get your hopes up.  It resolves everything okay-ish but it’s a pretty forgettable anime on its own and simply doesn’t work as part of the Digimon franchise.

I am, however, pretty interested in what evil!gennai said at the end about Diaboromon and Daemon.  It raises interesting questions about the timeline too.  We know Daemon is in the dark ocean, so perhaps that’s a hint at a future project?  (They did confirm a future project btw, in conjunction with tri being over)  But what about Diaboromon?  I dont believe that Our War Game (I think thats what its called?) took place after Tri, based on the outfits and ages and stuff, but I also don’t remember the movies that well.  Could Diaboromon still be out there too?  It’s interesting.

However, because of the lackluster performance of Tri, I don’t have my hopes up and I really hope that this “next project” goes in a different direction.  Although I guess if they include the 02 kids, I’ll be somewhat less salty...

Side note, did they ever explain why the gennais went evil?  Like ?  That’s a pretty important thing.  The gennais helped SAVE the human world in 02.  And I get that apparently Tri is ignoring 02′s ending but still.  It’s shitty, because Gennai was still a good guy in the original too (and also they cant just keep is younger look and act like 02 never happened)  MAYBE its something I missed but I dont think so.  God there’s just.  So much wrong with Tri.  I’m very displeased and very bitter and I wanna get back to Appmon asap.

It’s got good moments, its got bad moments, I dont know, I don’t care.  There’s nothing wrong with you if you like it, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you flip flop and are split like me.  I just wish Tri fulfilled its potential instead of becoming a boring mess.

#stormy speaks #digimon